The Pat McAfee Show - SmackDAHN Happened, Ian Rapaport, and Dalvin Cook. Happy Monday

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

Fresh off of my Friday Night SmackDAHN debut, I chit chat about my thoughts on it all. Twitter breaking, reactions, expectations going forward and all of that happy stuff.. Nigel Seeley, known soccer bettor and  British fella, stops by to explain what the hell the European Super League is. Ian Rapaport brings all the tea in the NFL world. Dalvin Cook stops by for an absolutely fantastic conversation about the current state of the NFL and also his offseason.. AJ Hawk joins us to discuss all things happening in his world/the world. Not a bad show for a Monday. I appreciate you allowing us in your earholes. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, Monday, April 19th, 2021. Hope life is fantastic. Can't thank you enough for listening. If you enjoy this show by the end of it, please be a friend, tell a friend. If not, please act like this never happened. Cheers, I'll see you then. On Friday in the Thunderdome in Tampa Bay, Florida,

I got a chance to be a full-time commentator alongside the greatest of all time in Michael Cole. Now, a lot of people will say there was a good rib that happened immediately upon Smackdown beginning Friday night, 8 o'clock Eastern on Fox, which is Twitter shutdown. Twitter just absolutely shut down, stopped working. Twitter, five minutes into the show, just stopped working. Now, I guess my account was able to tweet videos out, which shout out to Nicky Tweets, who was doing that while I'm live.

A lot of people were tweeting me, oh, you're tweeting out videos of yourself live while you're on the air. I was not, okay? I'm not that talented. It was actually old Nicky Tweets up there. He was tweeting them out. And then he texted me and was like, hey, we could tweet out things,

but we can't see anything that's going on. I'm like, what do you mean? And it was in the middle of the show. So I had no idea what was going on. So then it wasn't until after the show, whenever I was, you know, flying back to Indianapolis, Indiana, uh, kind of taking it all in. Normally that's a time for me to scour the internet, kind of see what everybody's thinking. Twitter was down, just completely broken for me all weekend. So I didn't have a chance to really see how people thought I did, which I take into very serious consideration on how I act, but I will be able to give you some of my thoughts on how I thought it went. The day was... So sorry to interrupt, but I want to let you know that if you're not gambling with FanDuel, you're wrong. FanDuel Sportsbook is available in seven states, I believe at this point, six, seven, eight. You get it. If you're

not gambling with Fandle Sportsbook though, you're completely wrong. And if we're not in your state yet, we are coming to your state. We have better odds. We have a much easier to use app. The convenience is next level. The people at Fandle actually refund people when they shouldn't refund people giving back hundreds of millions and millions of dollars to their users Fandle sportsbook is the best sportsbook going for a lot of reasons most of them what I just said uh we are very thankful for our partnership with Fandle obviously there are so many different ways to win there's more things to bet on their boosts seem to always hit, which is just fucking themselves over time and time again. We love the hell out of Fandle Sportsbook, and you will too.

If you haven't used it yet, use it now. Also, there's fantasy on there, daily fantasy, and free-to-play games where you can win money. Shout out to FanDuel. Shout out to you. Let's get back to the show. Awesome. We left the FanDuel Beach House, drove up to the Yingling Center, went in there, kind of walked around, got a chance to chit chat with Michael Cole and also an asshole named Baron Corbin, who's down there, who I used to be teammates with. Guy slept on my couch at one point. He was wearing a dumb shirt. He was wearing a dumb shirt. And he was wearing sweatpants that he was trying to act as if they were jeans. He might as well have been in his goddamn pajamas

out there looking like a slob talking to me. Is he still in a court jester? Yeah, he is a bum. No, he's no longer the court jester. No, he's not that. He's not the king either. He's the bum from Florida sitting on the side of the show there. But I got a chance to chat and talk to everybody. It was very cool But I got a chance to chat and talk to everybody. It was very cool.

I got a chance to get my makeup done. All right, you're not attractive. Need the makeup done. By the way, the spray tan that I was having cook on Friday during the show, it has settled in, and it is a lot deeper now than it was on Friday. Food for thought going forward. Cannot get spray tanned same day of needing a spray tan is what I'm learning. Do they have special model cameras for the modeling headshots that you guys did beforehand or at

tone digs brings me to my next point i then went up to a still shot area which had 40 lights and maybe the nicest camera i'd ever seen in my entire life eric no knees is the guy's name and he goes uh hey you want to get some photos uh uh for the night or whatever and i'm like absolutely i don't know how to work this whole thing i've only done i think two photo shoots ever the one happened out here and it's always the same photo you see of me pointing at my chest smile that's because that's the only like real professional photos we have so i start doing the rock poses that i've seen on instagram the influencer poses i start hitting those things i I go look

on the computer and he goes, how do you feel about these? I'm like, that's the best I've ever looked at my entire life. Thank you so much. The filter was already built in, in the photography. So then obviously, as we're about to leave, Foxy forces this guy to take some photos of him. Foxy's like, Hey, you got nothing going on anyway. You can take some photos of me. Foxy gets some photos done. That was a lot of fun, right, Foxy? That was awesome. Yours looked a lot better than mine. No, no, Foxy is a model full time.

And at this point, I had already had makeup on. So I think the light changed a little bit. But then I cut my hair. Then I had to go do Spaces with Aaron Rodgers, which was originally going to be, I think, for five-ish, went to six-ish. We did a Spaces for 25 minutes. We talked about his last day hosting Jeopardy. Then that wraps up. I walk into a meeting, shake a hand real quick, meet somebody that I'd never met before, go to the thing, show starts. So we're talking about, there was no real,

there was no real sit down. Hey, expect this. I had no idea what was going to happen all night. No clue. I do believe that is the plan going forward to just keep me completely out of the loop and if so i had an absolute blast i do not think i was anywhere near where i can get to as a commentator for professional wrestling i used a lot of the words a couple times over and over i was scared to have too much bass in my voice because i didn't want people to think i was trying to dominate the call or anything like that but sometimes i sounded a little bit too soft uh the standing i thought was that natural instinct was for me to stand when something happened i guess a lot of people did enjoy that i appreciate that

because that was potentially something that could get me into some shit. A lot of people say like, oh, you need to stay so we can, the clip of us coming back to the two shot of me standing, him sitting and me kind of being caught in a situation where I'm like, well, I don't know if I should stand or sit right now. That was, you know, one of those kind of ad lib moments that pop up. That is incredible so i had a blast i think i stunk but i have a chance to get better i enjoyed it i'm very thankful to all the people at the wwe and to anybody that happened to tune in i couldn't see your twitter because i was mine was broke at tone digs uh weekend in cincinnati how are you doing pal yeah so Yeah, so I went to Cincinnati so I just relived or just

was made aware of how hectic your Friday was. When I got to Cincinnati though and I saw that you were on Spaces with Rogers I don't know, an hour and a half before you were supposed to go live for Smackdown. Bingo. And then I also heard the interview with Cole where you were missing meetings

for that. And I was fucking wild moved to just go in there on your first SmackDown Friday and just fucking and just go for it. Like just wing it. It seemed like it was wing. And how was how many people at SmackDown knew before the announcement? Nobody. So it was very tight. It was unbelievable how tight this was kept this entire office knew never got out uh for like a week or so before i think uh

that's a long time in the internet by the way a week in the original announcement and fox who have a vlog that comes out uh what day tomorrow a vlog will come out tomorrow but behind the scenes the original announcement was going to come out thursday night it was going to come out thursday night we're going to announce this thing thursday night because had to go get a covid test and everything and they figured if we didn't announce it by the time i go get covid test somebody could potentially leak it or whatever it was like okay we'll go out thursday night then on thursday something happened in the wwe that none of us knew about. I was like, this does not feel like the right move here.

So we actually delay it, get COVID tested, delay it, and it's like there's no way I wake up tomorrow morning and there isn't somebody somewhere with something. And we were able to break it. Very thankful for all the parties involved and so incredibly lucky to be able to do that thing week in, week out.

Can I ask how the interaction was with the big man so he wasn't there oh vince wasn't there i know this is a big deal a lot of people because once my twitter came back to life on sunday i was able to see some things that people said and all anybody was saying is i can't wait to hear what he becomes whenever vince is in his ear when vince is in his ear or whatever and i had to talk about this on busted open radio i do believe i kind of get, a miss a misperception about me is that I'm not coachable or something like that. Okay. Or that I,

I don't like whenever people, you know, potentially say things it's not, it's not, you know, that I I'm not rich Rodriguez was my coach. He might as well have been bear Bryant whenever he was coaching West Virginia.

I don't know what he's like now, but I, I, I enjoy getting coached, actually. If I get coached by somebody I respect, and if I appreciate what that person is saying or how they're saying it to me or if it makes sense and it relates to me, I can appreciate it. Because there's a lot of people giving out a lot of advice unwarranted these days when they shouldn't be giving out advice.

And there's some people that have done that to me, and I'm like, hey, fuck you, pal. I don't need – I'm not – hey, hey excuse me i'm not asking you for advice or whatever so that has happened at a couple different situations and a lot of people assume because michael cole got mad at me for wearing shorts on my shorts tuxedo that i i don't like coaching because he wanted to it was like no what i got mad about is i was sitting there for six hours dressed like that he was punking me out in front of Dave Bautista and Vince McMahon. And I'm like, yo, yo, yo, there is ways to go about this. The way you're doing this is how I like it.

So I actually enjoy being coached up. It's why Mitt is actually here because the way Tom McMahon, who was a guy who was like a pretty much a coach, I enjoy getting coached. I do. I am a little bit like I need to know why. And it has to come from somebody that I would be seeking advice from. That is a pretty big thing. Vince McMahon is somebody who, if he was to say something to me, no matter how he says it,

this is a self-made billionaire that turned something from a local situation to a worldwide phenomenon. So a lot of people on the internet are like, oh, he's not gonna be able to handle vince mcmahon the way vince mcmahon talks to him it's like if you talk to me the way vince mcmahon talked to me i'd smack you in the mouth at boner garage 124 okay that's but it's fucking vince mcmahon you know what i mean and also there's a lot of people at that wwe especially people that i met on friday that maybe i hadn't met before whatever there's a lot of

people over there that if they have advice or something to tell me or something to, hey, think about this, they created their business. So I'm going to listen to these people. Now, there was a bunch of blogs about how they're going to try not to overproduce me and all that shit. It's like, I am 33 years old. I want to let everybody know I have not changed. I will not change to my own detriment, by the way. I will not change. But I am very, very open to when people give me critiques on what they think will be better. And I'm like, you know what? Right. 100% right. Let's go and do it. I do that every single day. I'll do that on Twitter, by the way. People will say something. I'm like, yeah, valid. That's actually a valid point right there. I'll do that. So I think that

narrative is something that I don't appreciate about me because I feel like it's the opposite it just depends on who's doing the coaching in this particular world i don't get a chance to experience old vkm you're hired until friday or whatever i'm very excited about that was awesome and to your point there as far as the coaching that's how 99.9 of every single human being on this planet is like if you respect someone and you know that they know more about you than the thing, like you're going to let them help you be a better person or be better at what you're doing versus some fucking douchebag off the street.

Well, it's not just some douchebag. Maybe it's somebody who's in a pretty good position, you know, in a pretty powerful position at a company that I just think is a bad company. You know what I mean? Like,

like I think I hear what you're saying, but I also know your resume of who you've hired, who you've put, where, how they've done, how they are doing. I know exactly what you've done. So don't come talk to me as if I'm some idiot because I know some stuff about you as well. It's just, you know what I mean? It's one of those situations. And I think that has been something where there's only been a few times where this situation has popped up, but I think those people have told people like, Oh, he doesn't like being

told whatever it's like, well, he doesn't like being told from fucking idiots. What's the, the Instagram influencer or all these influencers started posting there for a little bit. The life coaches, the life gurus are like,us don't see he was probably one of them which by the way he is the uh the don't seek advice from uh no don't listen to advice don't don't do the don't be don't be an ass don't don't be with turd but that's heard by criticism yes there it is hey you've seen it too. Yeah. You saw the meme too. Yeah, I live with Gary. Yeah, it's literally,

I don't know if it's just Gary that sent that, by the way, that's like all of them. That's kind of been a narrative about me, I think. And I want to let everybody know that Vincent Kennedy McMahon, if I could talk to him for 10 hours and get information on him, I would. Now, that's not how it's going to go.

He's probably going to be yelling at me and saying that I'm potentially doing something that's affecting his show and I'm going to digest that. Hopefully, you know, one of my most natural reactions in those situations is to go, oh, jeez, okay. You know what I mean? But I can't do that because I have a microphone in my ear. So there will be some sort of

adjustment, but what I'm saying is, if Vincent Kennedy McMahon's talking to me, I'm cool. I will listen to Vincent Kennedy McMahon. The wildest thing, Pat, like I spent my formative years, if you will, professionally around Vince, 11 years around Vince. And the cool thing about him is that outside of having a direct approach, he's also got a very Mr. Miyagi-like approach where you think you're learning how to sand the floor, but you're learning a couple things in there

that you never even realized until you truly pay attention and apply the shit. Well, that's what – I talked to Jim Irsay. So I got to talk to Jim Irsay for an hour and a half. And I told him about my retirement or whatever I was retiring. And he wanted to talk to me face-to-face and have a conversation. And Jim Irsay has always been judged for a lot of reasons.

You know, he has battled his demons and then obviously he's been caught up. And then when he talks, a lot of people think, oh, this guy has no idea what he's talking about he seems a little flighty or whatever i got a chance to sit down and talk to him whenever i told him i was gonna retire like hour and a half or whatever and if you the words in between his words were telling me some sage advice that i didn't even like he'll put out a tweet and everybody's like oh the old billionaires lost it again it's like no no no reread that okay there is there's a message coming through there at some point that you just have to know. And if somebody is a billionaire, I am

a hundred percent willing to listen. Now that billionaire has the same exact amount of opportunity for me to say, okay, yeah, I'm not listening to this fucking person ever again. You know what I mean? But normally there's a reason why people are in a position. They're trying to learn as much as you can. And I've respected and appreciated a lot of coaches throughout my life. So whenever that was kind of making its way around about coaching or producing or whatever, it's like, and I'm cool with being coach. It's just like, it can't be stupid. Like, I will be like, no, that doesn't work.

Hey, probably tried that. We're not doing that again. Can't do it. Won't do it. Anyways, I loved it. I had the time of my life. I'm very thankful. We'll be back down there on Friday. Shout out to WWE and for

Michael Cole for carrying me through that entire thing. Now, there's some things going on in the sporting world, Tone. And we'll be joined by a British man to talk about it. Now, we do have Gumpy. Gumpy was also at the Super Spreading event, so he cannot be in this glass cage of emotions

here. Hope he is also okay, by the way. Hope everybody's okay. Hope to find out here in the next couple days or whatever. Gumpy tried to explain to me what this Super League is and why everybody hates it. I checked out their website. Good looking website. Website looked unbelievable. Good UI,

good UX. So what's going on in the world right now, for those that don't know, is the world of soccer is comprised of these little leagues. There's like five of them, I guess. There's the Premier League, La Liga, the German one. There's an Italian one. There's another one. All these little leagues. And then they all compete to be in the top three in their leagues top four top four in their leagues and if

you're top four in those leagues you get a chance to be in the champions league the local leagues the state leagues the MLS is just for lack of a better metaphor but for each of these countries or whatever they play on the weekends. Champions League plays Tuesday, Wednesday. These are running concurrent to each other. And while seasons are going, the country leagues, you're competing to try to get into the Champions League and to win your own independent championship or whatever. And then those change throughout the years. There are times where you're in the top four in the league you're in the champions league you're playing in the champions league and then you end up not in the top four of your own league the next year and you get dropped the fuck out of

the champions league see you later you don't get to play with the big boys yeah so that's called delegation and relegation and all this other shit right so the relegation is actually the country's league if you finish in theation is actually the country's league. If you finish in the bottom four of your country's league, you then drop down to, say, like the XFL. Okay, so you could potentially go from the AAFL, the XFL. You play good enough. These teams play bad enough.

You can get into that league. Correct. We'll call it like the NCAA. So then whenever, if you play well enough in that league correct the the we'll call it like the call it the ncaa so then whenever if you play well enough in that league and get in the top four you can then go play in the champions league which is the biggest league right yeah so so you could potentially go from like farmer uh beer drinking throw together team in the aafl xfl have a bunch of studs win, get into their MLS, the English's MLS, play really well for a year, bang, get in the top four, get into the Champions League. So now that the Europe Super League has been put together with the backing of JPMorgan Chase, who's put together like $5.5 billion to launch this thing, they're trying to replicate and replace the Champions League.

They're trying to replicate and replace the Champions League, and they're trying to play on Wednesdays, but they allowed for five spots to be opened up for, I assume, somebody from each league to come play. This now has caused a massive, absolute backlash situation for all of soccer in Europe. This is not a big soccer show, okay? Played soccer. Was pretty good at soccer.

Loved playing soccer. Never been able to watch it because I just like things going on. And American football is here in America. So I watch that. I'm like, oh, this is much better than that. But I'll watch, you know, whenever. For instance, I got in with Pulisic whenever he was rolling with Chelsea last year. Now we got Gio Reyna.

I'll watch and see what's going on because I like the United States men's team to have success. That'd be great. In the United States women's team, whenever we're just beating the shit out of everybody, I'll watch that. But I don't watch. This has become something that has now become a global conversation because the tradition and legacy of soccer is about to come to an end because the greedy

corporate fat cats that own the big name franchises want to do without the Champions League. Am I getting the proper reading on this? Yeah, and the best way that I can potentially compare it to, from my understanding, is take the 15 biggest college football schools. Not the best college football schools, the 15 that make the most money. By the way, we were pitching this in the fall.

Take those 15. They separate from the NCAA. They make their own tournament, their own league, and then potentially have maybe whoever finishes first in the top five leftover of the top five conferences or whatever, maybe they get to come into the league if they win for the next year or next season like that. So it's getting rid of, like, a few years ago,

Leicester came from the very bottom. They're supposed to come in last in the EPL. They came in first, so they get in the Champions League next year. West Ham this year, who is not a big club, is in the top four this year for EPL. It takes away their possibility of getting in the Champions League and compete against the bigger clubs from other countries and stuff like that. Basically, I think the outcry is that it's taking away

from potentially the little or the smaller market clubs from being able to compete against the bigger. And I assume what the Super League would say, well, that's why we have the five spots to come join us. But then now the English Premier League and the other leagues, I guess, are saying if you play in the Super League, you're banned. FIFA came out and said you play in the Super League, you're banned. You can't play in the World Cup.

The UEFA, which owns the Champions League, is obviously saying that they're very against us. Joining us now, a man who can hopefully make sense of this all, an incredible footy, handicapper, owner of Premier Sports Plays and Premier Sports Days, Nigel Seal. Hey, Nigel. Hey, Nigel. How's it going, mate? Hello, guys. Good to join you. Hey, Nigel. How's it going, mate? Hello, guys. Good to join you.

Thank you very much for having me on. I wish I was coming on to talk about something better than this because I'm absolutely paid off about it. But good to have you on. Thanks very much for having me on. Hey, okay. So, no problem. It's an honor.

Immediately, soccer conversation, British guy who has the accent. You make us look a lot better. So, thank you so much for joining us and maybe smartening me up a little bit. Let me talk about this real quick from my side, Nigel, and then you kind of give your thing. So I read about this Europe Super League, and I don't pay close enough attention.

I will gamble alongside Gumpy, who is giving out footy picks at a high level, much like yourself. I'll watch Pulisic and the U.S. guys are starting to really get good over there. Think, you know, it's good for everybody that this is happening. This Europe Super League comes out, and it's all these

massive name teams. You know, teams that the world recognizes. Teams that everybody in there is like, hey, this is going to be a league. We're going to play against each other. I look at the website. It's like, we're in this. We're going. It's a beautiful website. I say, this looks awesome. You know what I mean? Because it's a bunch of teams that I've heard of about to play for each other. I got buried, Nigel. I got buried. So I think the reason why I

thought it looked awesome is because I thought players were the ones behind this wanting to do this to maybe make up for more money and everything like that. Turns out that's not the case. And I think all of Europe rallied around two things. They hate the Super League, and they fucking hated my tweet. Nigel, tell me why I was wrong, and tell me what the hell's going on over there. Well, the whole of Europe wasn't wrong. They were dead right.

It was a fucking shit tweet, but there you go. Let's just start with it. Well, first of all, what gives these clubs any God-given right to be considered the top 15 clubs in European football? Spurs haven't won a Premier League title or a First Division Championship title for 60 years. Arsenal, not in the Champions League. Manchester United have never been the same since Alex Ferguson left. Manchester City in 1999 were playing in the third tier of English football.

And Liverpool, up until last year, well, they haven't won a Premier League title. So suddenly, at the moment, they decide to consider the best teams in European football, which is totally farcical. What they're doing is they're basically guaranteeing their fortunes and not giving anybody else any hope or aspiration of meeting them. It's like playing poker with a mate who wins all the hands and then pisses off and doesn't give you your money back. It's like playing poker with a mate who wins all the hands and then pisses off and doesn't give you your money back. It's absolutely scandalous.

Let me just tell you one thing. The other thing about English football is that all those clubs I've mentioned are owned by foreign owners. Arsenal are managed by Americans, Manchester United are managed by Americans, Manchester City are managed by

Abu Dhabi, Liverpool are managed by Americans, Manchester City are managed by Abu Dhabi, Liverpool are managed by Americans. These clubs have 150 years of history which have been brought up by locals, by fans, by players by fathers generations.

But the thing is you just can't write that history off. Now, these players when does it get to the point where they have enough money? At the moment, they're in 100 grand a week, 150 grand a week. What's another 50 grand a week to them? What's another 50 grand to me? The gap between the top and the bottom in English football is much bigger than it ever should be. Years ago, it should be a feeder club.

You had aspirations. You wanted to play in League 2. You wanted to play in League 2. You wanted to play in League 1. Those clubs made money by selling those players to the better clubs. Now, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. And what happens is English football, the lower league football, just becomes a non-entity.

And for me, it has a knock-on effect, not only in the lower levels, it had an effect on international football. World Cups won't become as important important and everything will hinge on this thing and to me it's the totally wrong thing and it's all about money and greed and i think there's enough money in the game and the people have made a lot of money out of it oh nigel i appreciate all your information there knowledge i did not know until your answer there that this is probably americans fault i mean i should have assumed.

No, no, it's a business fault. What's happened is it's a business fault. So people have come into a ball sport, seen it as a business, if I was the owner of the football club, then I'd be looking at it on the monetary side of you. But as a player, they're looking at it. But what they're doing is they're devaluing the history of these clubs. Yeah, that's terrible, by the way. That's just like that's it's very different over here how we run our sports

we have a promotion we have a relegation and what we do is we want to beat our local rivals and we want to go up from the aspirations to take a team from league one the championship playing the premier league it's like the golden goose that's what we want to play we want to be in it, what you're doing is now is you're taking these top six sides and putting them into this league and giving them sort of some freedom to play at that level with that kind of revenue and no one else is allowed in, that to

me is unfair, now what I'm saying is these teams have hauled their ups and downs in their season Manchester City were in the third league of football before in 1999. So it's an elitism thing that's just not allowing people to come in. Now the problem

is what these clubs want to do is they want to play that league and then play in the Premier League, but they will get £300 million for playing in the Invitational League, which means the gap is bigger and better and they won't play their best players now these clubs have been built on local traditions they've been put on local local families local everything from the from 100 years ago and it won't go down well with fans fans will boycott it my general impression is this will not happen because if you

ask a liverpool fan if he could play Everton, that would mean much more to him than playing Real Madrid on a Tuesday night in this league. It means nothing. It means absolutely nothing apart from the revenue you bring in the club

and the revenue for the player. And the player will not be able to play international football for his country, which means everything for me as a kid, if you wanted to play football football you wanted to play for your country when they're playing a World Cup that was the pinnacle now it's not the pinnacle and the whole demographic of football or soccer worldwide now has changed because it's

running as an organization as the company and a franchise which brilliant simply will not work in this country. They might try it, but the fans will boycott it. I'm absolutely certain of it. Now, it's what's happened for years and years in American sports. We've had no promotion, no relegation. It's a collegiate system. I understand that. But what we've had here, we have four divisions and people come into Manchester City and bought that club when they were in League Two of English football, League One of English football. Now they could win the Champions League. They've hit the pinnacle. You're not given the opportunity for other teams to emulate what your success

has done. So that is my problem. My problem with it is at the moment, these six clubs are ranked the best teams in English football, But they weren't 10 years ago, and they may not be in 10 years' time. So why not let the other clubs have a chance? The other thing is as well. Hold on, Nigel. Hold on a second. People go through many changes as we get older, isn't that right? Oh, yeah. For men, one of the less fortunate changes is that

testosterone production begins to naturally decrease in the body. Did you know this, AJ? I am aware. For most men, it begins around the age of 30, and testosterone production declines by roughly 1% per year. My God. So if you live to 130, you ain't got shit left. No. Minus 30.

Mine is 30. Well, if it starts around 30, this is one of those questions on a test where, you know, begins around 30. And the testosterone production declines by roughly 1% per year. So does it start at zero or does it start at 30? That's the thing. This is where they can get you. It's one of them damn word problems. This is one of those rounds where you're like, well, wait a minute.

Which, can I ask a follow-up? Anyways, I was good at those tests because I always viewed it as me versus the fucking teacher. That's right. I don't know what's going on, but this is me versus you. Fuck you. That's how I view it. That's why friends at Roman have a new supplement designed to support testosterone production.

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That's GetRoman, G-E-T-R-O-M-A-N.com forward slash USA. That's good news. Let's try that stuff. Okay. I've been looking for that type of stuff. That's good news. That's what I want. Now we know.

Hey, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Thank you of stuff. That's good news. That's what I want. Now we know. Hey, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Thank you, Roman. Thank you, Roman. To your point right there. So, because I was just about to ask, how could they make this better? How can they make this Super League work? Because they're obviously trying to take out the Champions League,

which the Champions League has a great relationship, obviously, with the teams because it's ever-evolving who gets in there, who doesn't get in there, who's a mainstay, who's not, who's a superstar. Is there anything the Super League could do to stick around? Or do you think this is an absolutely dead idea that you don't think anybody will ever get behind? Well, I think the first thing they've done, they've done a PR disaster from the way it's been going. I would say. I would say. I would say. If they had done this gradually and got people to have the

idea and come up with some more planning, then potentially it could work. But every club in the Premier League wants to make the Champions League. If they don't finish first, second, third, they can finish fourth and get in the Champions League and earn money. And they're guaranteed they're right. Now, the problem with these clubs is one of the

reasons I feel as well is the pandemic has had a real detrimental effect on these clubs and a lot of them have overspent. So they've overspent and they've realised they're buying players, they've got new stadiums, they haven't got the money. By getting in the Super League it gives them 20 years of revenue

stream to reimburse. But what about the poor clubs that have had no fans, that rely on 4,000 and 5,000 people? And this is where, and I'm not, I wasn't being critical of the American ownership. They're running it as a business, which I understand. If you run your business, I run my business. We all want to make profit from our business.

But what they haven't understood is is these the is the way the english football league works kids at 17 18 play in front of three or four thousand people they then want to go up and get a job then and their survival is by selling that player to a premier league cup to get a million quick which will keep them in in the business for a year and keep that club going there's 92 football teams soccer teams in this country. The way that we're reading this from the world, you think there's only six and there's only 20 teams in the Premier League. There isn't. It's a selling process that goes on.

We don't have a collegiate system like America. We don't have that. So these clubs will go to the wall because the players, the elite players will have the money and they'll spend it around themselves and they'll put their teams, the feeder teams and younger teams, they will not be able to progress. From a commercial point of view, it's ridiculous. And from a fan point

of view, the fans, honestly, we're a very small country going to watch our team away from home, doing a two-hour journey on the train. That's what English soccer is about. It's about camaraderie. It's about joining together.

This is making it more of an elitist sport. It's about the rich getting richer and a lot of people going to the wall. And that's what we feel very bad about. And I think unless you knew the whole demographic of the English football leagues, then it was very hard for someone to understand. But from your point of view, I understand it completely. You look at it and go, you've got 15 teams, Real Madrid against Barcelona.

Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I feel like the American owner. I feel like the American owner is being like, I get a chance to see who play who. Who's all in? I get to, as just a stooge, you know, who's not really in it. I'm like, I get a chance to see who play who. Who's all in? I get to see as just a stooge who's not really in it. I'm like, this sounds magical, but then

once you started piecing together there how literally this would potentially systemically tear apart the fabric of soccer in Europe, I want to let you know I'm out on it, Nigel. I fucking hate it. I'm out on the Super League. What do you have, Diggs?

Nigel, there's actually some breaking news. Jesper Moller, who is the Danish FA chairman and UEFA executive committee member, said that he expects on Friday all the teams in the Super League will be expelled. So how do they finish the regular season? How do they go about Champions League? Hold on, Nigel. And can they back out of the super league already or do you know enough about it that they can't back out well i'm not the thing is it's an ever evolving news story so things are happening all the time whenever i hear stories like this the first thing

i think of is how do i make money on it how do i cash how do i how do i that's all i think about you know first of all as i'm a football fan i don't want to happen then of is how do I make money on it? How do I cash? That's all I think about. First of all, I'm a football fan. I don't want to happen. Then I think, how do I make money on it? And my first reaction was, if all these teams suspend all their players for the European Football Championships coming, that decimates the English team. That decimates the Spanish side.

But the only team that, you know, there's no German team in it. So my first reaction was to bet Germany to win the European Championship. By the way, let's hammer that. That's the first thing I would do. So I think there's a knee jerk reaction. And I think it's like a game of chess. Everyone's trying to outmaneuver each other and try to make threats. But what this has clearly shown me is that the Premier League

has become its own beast. It's made the clubs that really weren't powerful, they didn't have so much money. I mean, my parents lived in the street when I was a young kid. They didn't have much money. They were okay. But we used to live in the same street as a guy who played football in the Premier League.

Now the footballers live in a big estate. The gasp, the gap between normality and these football stars is huge. It's always been that way in America, but it hasn't been this way in this country. And I just think if you're earning one, you're talking about Mbappe and Haaland and they want a million pounds a week to move to Barcelona. Really, does it make much of them to play a million and a half a week? I think as a football player, as a soccer player, you wanted to represent your country. That was what it was here.

You wanted to win the World Cup for England. You wanted to win a European Championship. It was never about winning leagues, but now it's completely changed. We have this mentality, and I think that if FIFA and UEFA stop these players playing from their country, I think the players will absolutely like that,

because they have the summer off with their families, they can go to the beach, they can go to Dubai, they don't have to play, and then they can come back and play in the Super League and get played an extra 200 grand a week. That's not something that happens

but I think the only thing that can stop this from happening is fan power and we've seen this season in the Premier League and we've seen it across Europe and across the world how much sport needs fans. Watching these games of Premier League football I swear I've watched football all my life they are shit and the thing is the reason

they're shit is because there's no fans and we boycott it they won't do it okay so I like the thought of hey we ain't doing it we're not going I I hope that is something that happens do you think there's a chance and this is also me being a stooge again, by the way, because you talk about the international play and FIFA banning any Super League. FIFA has not been known to turn down money before, right? Couldn't the Super League go to FIFA and just say, we're the captains now?

Isn't that something that could happen? Or do you think FIFA, UEFA, Champions League, they're all too tight at the hip? Well, I'm sure there'll probably be a deal done in a car park somewhere between FIFA and the owners of a couple of brown envelopes. I think what will happen is I think it's just a game of chess and a threat.

I don't know how far it will go. I really don't know, but I'm hoping that there can be some kind of deal struck. We know this could be one of the reasons why the clubs are doing what they do, because they don't trust FIFA as an organisation, and they want to form their own organisation with the people that run the clubs running it. But at the end of the day, I mean, it's very hard for people to understand. I mean, I support Queen's Park Rangers in the day, I mean, it's very hard for people to understand. I mean, I support

Queen's Park Rangers in the Championship and our big game was playing Fulham and Brentford and it never meant anything to me to beat Manchester United. But as long as we beat that team, that was all that cared to me and my family and my dad. My uncle supported it. And there's this generation. And the prime example that I can give you is Liverpool against Everton. They've been playing since 1894. 268 fixtures between these two sides separated by a park. If you

asked a Liverpool fan what would mean more to you to win the Super League on a Wednesday night away at Atletico Madrid or playing in that fixture I think that fixture will be more than anything. But I do understand the business we're in. I do understand money.

I understand where it's coming in. The world is changing. But I do think these clubs have overspent in the pandemic, and I think their wage bills are astronomical, and they want to just basically secure themselves to get that revenue for years. I hope it doesn't happen, and I'm glad you got stick got stick pat for your tweet because you deserve as much stick as you can okay obviously everybody's everybody's comments were about spot on by the way like you're a wanker who doesn't know anything it's like well you're 100 right actually and uh nigel thank you for

coming in here and smartening us up i feel like we all learned mightily that although globally those fans from the nostalgia, like you said, the Spurs haven't been good and whatever. I remember them having a good global push, though. Manchester United, whenever Beckham was on that team and Ronaldo was on that team, as a kid it became a big global deal. It sounds like what's going on is a bunch of bullshit, and thank you for smartening us up, especially on the bottom end, really learning about soccer over there.

Now, before I let you go, Nigel, I've got to ask. Do you have an Oculus over there? Yes, I do. What are you doing there? You play ping pong? No, I bought it for the kids, but the kids said it was rubbish, so I put it on,

and I do a little bit of a bit of workout, the boxing workout. Yeah. Yeah, a bit of workout the boxing world yeah yeah as you can see not much I do a fair bit but uh and I've tried the boxing but I can't last a round on tap I'm I'm absolutely done in after one round yeah you gotta throw hey let me tell you left hand sternum right over top it's the cheat code for that game. I didn't love the hell out of it. Maybe I'll see you in there for some ping pong as well, Nigel.

Take care. All the best. Love you. Speak to you. Thanks for having me on. Thank you. No, no. Thank you for smartening us up.

Ladies and gentlemen, Nigel Stahler. All right, Nigel. We're being joined now by a man who is an absolute stud running back for the Minnesota Vikings. A man who was number two in the NFL in rushing last year. I assume he'll be number one next year. Ladies and gentlemen, out of Florida State, Dalvin Cook. Hey, Dalvin. What's up? What's up?

What are you doing, buddy? Just chilling, man. Workout this morning. Just relaxing out. What you do during the workout? You run a little bit? Do we lift a little bit? Do we play catch?

Was it a full morning? How long are these workouts? What do we got going on? Yeah, I go four days a week. And Wednesday is recovery day for me. But Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, we're on the field in the morning, then we go in the weight room.

Who do you work out with there? Do you have a personal trainer? Is it a group? I assume you're back in Florida? Yeah, I'm back home. I'm back in Florida. I work with a guy named Nick, me, J.K. Dobbins, Motor, all of us.

We got a couple of running backs, you know, getting some work done. Okay, so this is going to lead immediately to this question aj hawk has a question for you as well but for this first question here to start this whole thing the topic of conversation in the nfl right now is the otas the virtual the everything like that after experiencing the virtual offseason last year getting to do what you're doing right now is it going to be difficult you think to you know potentially go back to the old

way where you maybe don't get this specialized work with who you have right now or what are your feelings on the entire OTA situation yeah due to the circumstances of you know the pandemic and all that and I'm still creating the protocols and you know getting this thing back rolling whatever I'm asked upon to do I'm gonna do it you. You know, if it's hard to show up, I'm going to show up. You know, if the team, you know, virtually, I'm going to be virtual. You know, today we had our first virtual meeting, and, you know, everybody was on, and, you know, I think it was pretty productive.

You know, they laid it on the line. We got to lock in more. We don't get to be in person, so we got to patch into the details. I don't know if you've seen these other teams putting out these statements saying a lot of them or the majority of their players may sit out of their off-season program. Is there much talk with the PA and the players individually on what the plan is moving forward, at least as a team,

like what you're going to do? Us as the Minnesota Vikings, we haven't had that talk with the PA as players, not from my knowledge. But as a whole, you see everybody coming together and saying, we're just going to do this thing virtually. So like I said, whatever my guys in the NFL stand for, that's what it is. Hey, isn't it funny, though, too, that all this is happening? And granted, last year, the ramp-, everybody, we had Aaron on the show

Aaron said that's the first time in his entire career where his arm didn't hurt because OTAs go and then there's an off period and then training camp comes. He said he enjoyed actually the ramp up period, getting to work with his own people. It feels like that's a statement that is coming from a lot of veteran players who've been around and I can't help but know that this is going to get blown out of proportion because it's the nflpa it's the nfl which changes is how it goes but man ota's i mean this does not matter in the grand scheme of things i mean the only thing that matters is this season you know like how do you maintain the thought like okay i can get better right now i get better right now but all this stuff is just dramatic

do you just try to block out all this stuff is just dramatic bullshit. Do you just try to block out all the noise and just do whatever the hell you're asked to do? Yeah, definitely. That's my approach. You know, you got guys like Aaron that's up in their career that just need more rest and not more preparation. You know, that they're going to be ready when they're called upon. But I think, you know, my thing is I like being around my teammates. You know, I like building that continuity early.

You know, I think OTAs and things like that, you know, can build that and can start that process. So it's whatever with me and whatever we lean toward, you know, I'm going to be ready to go. How are you feeling this offseason? Body feel good? What do you think at this stage? Is there anything where you're like, you know what, if I get better at this

or maybe take advantage of this a little bit more with the game changing? Is there any strategy going in the offseason for you, both as a runner and your physical? Yeah, this is the second offseason that I came out clean from the season, so I'm able to just get faster, stronger, and work on the things I need to work on. And just as far as what I need to work on is just being more consistent as a player, as a teammate, and leading my guys the right way

and just having that same mindset every day I approach the facility or the field. When someone's trying to coach up a running back, I guess, what can they tell you to help? I feel like a lot of playing the running back position, it's instincts. Like, you feel where the holes are opened up. You know how to set up defenders. Like, what can a running back coach do if they want to coach up a young kid in high school and how he can get better? Yeah, just developing his talent. I think, you know, knowing the talent that the player has. And, you know, with me, it was more of, you know, I got the instincts. I know I can play the position.

I got the vision, the speed. But it's what can make me more better than the guy on the opposite side of me. And that's what my coach always gives me, a lot of cheats to runs. You know, where it's going to open up at. So I just don't think I react. And that just be the step from a young player to, you know, where it's going to open up at. So I just don't think I react. And that just be the step from a young player to, you know, a year five player. Hey, when you carry the ball, you're pretty, I feel like you're pretty, you know what I mean?

Like you're pretty straight up and down whenever you're running. It is. And you're pulling away from people too. Do you have to work on the old uh or is this just like a fumbler's a fumbler and a guy who can hold the ball can hold the ball is that something you have to work on every single day because the ball is the program is that something you got to work on every day or is that just something you just naturally do now at this point yeah um i got a routine that i'm naturally into and that's's my coach put me in that routine, my running back coach.

I work on ball security a lot because, like you said, I run with the ball naturally loose a little bit, so I like to make a play. So that's what comes with making a play is taking care of the football. Yeah, when I run, by the way, I'm loose with it too. Just worry. I got two runs, had one fumble. I mean, my fumble rate i would argue i was

down i mean ed hockey league kind of fucked me there uh but it definitely counted as a fumble on my record what do you have digs david i don't know if you saw but uh this off seasons for everyone's pro days they were running maybe the fastest 40s of all time um how do you think you would have ran in your pro day if you didn't have to have an official time at the combine? Actually, you know, that's a good example for me because at the combine, I ran 4-5 flat

and at pro day, I ran in the 4-4. It's like easy. And it was never talked about because my combine time was so important. So, you know, just coming up in this new generation, I guess, it's beneficial a lot for them guys because, you know, once that clock hits, no matter who's said, it's out there.

How do you feel about the draft process in just the entire thing? You were obviously second-round pick. Hindsight, everybody would say, like, oh, it should have been a very high first-round draft pick. But going into the draft, because that's the world we're in right now, and probably a lot of guys who potentially are getting drafted are watching this. What was your mindset going in? Did you have any idea what was going to happen?

Did you think it was potentially going to be a long weekend? What were your thoughts? I actually didn't know, so I prepared for whatever was for it to come. But it's definitely a long, tiring process. And then once you get to the combine, now it's time to perform. I've been getting up at 7 in the morning, sometimes for the drug test, 5 a.m.,

and it's just a long week. You're meeting with coaches. They're trying to throw curveballs at you to see what you know. So it's just a long week, and I think if you get through it, you could gain a lot of knowledge from it. Were you surprised at all when you were at the Combine

or had any of these meetings with coaches and teams, like by some of the dumb questions that they may have asked you? We had a kid on last week who said they asked him, what did they say, Pat? You're the last man on earth. What would you do? Anything like that? Anything like that? Anything like that?

No, you just get the repeated questions, and I think that's where the part coming out like, oh, it's draining because you're getting the same question from a different team but in a different form, and you just know it's the same question. What do you got for the rest of the day? We cooking? It sounded like there was maybe some food being made behind the scenes there. What do we got the rest of the day?

Maybe watching some movies, binging, watching film. What do you have? I'm on meal prep around this time. Just trying to keep, maintain, stay lean a little bit. But the rest of the day, I'll probably just chill, play the game, and relax. You play video games? Which game? Whatever, Madden, Fortnite.

I don't play Call of Duty, though. Why not? Too real? Too serious? You feel like you're actually snubbing? Yeah, I think they take it too serious. Don't want to see somebody's actual head blow up? Is that what it is?

Is that what it is? Can't kill nobody over there. Madden, are you good? Good. Great? I'm up there with the top NFL players. What's his name over there in L.A.? Corner.

Darren James. Hey, he was unbelievable to watch. Have you played against him? That's my guy, yeah. We've been playing since Florida State. Who wins? Darren wins. So you're up there, though.

You're up there. You're up there in our conversation. I appreciate you taking time with us. Enjoy OTAs, whether it's virtual or in real life. Can't wait to see you back on the field, man. Appreciate you, Pat. You too, AJ. Ladies and gentlemen, Dalvin Cook in the band. That a boy, Dalvin.

Join us now. From NFL Network, ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rapoport. Ian, have you heard anything about this European Super League at all before we get to your world? I've asked a couple friends who are into soccer about it. I'm not a soccer guy at all.

Me neither. But based on my knowledge from the people I've spoken with, trusted sources, friends of mine, this is causing quite the controversy over there. Everyone's going to make a lot more money, which I don't

know a lot about sports or business, but I do know that when the end result has people involved making a lot more money, usually whatever ends up with people making more money is what happens. And by the way, whatever we can discuss,

like in the end, they're going to go with whatever makes them richer. And by the way, Ian, what you just said there was my exact thought as well. And it turns out that you and I aren't the only ones

that feel that way. It turns out a lot of Americans feel that way. And it turns out it's the American owners of these teams over there, basically, that were like, hey, we need to need to do this yeah so it's our fault

it's our fault yeah it is our fault that this is happening and you and I yeah exactly you and I shared the same thought it was like okay so I'm getting like marquee games there's going to be more money for everybody here we go how you doing that sounds sounds good and then all the people in England are like you stupid wanker you have no

idea about any tradition it's like I got smartened up, Ian. It is going to be a long fight over there because of the amount of tradition of the beautiful game. Let's move along, though. Joining us as well, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. joining us. Let's get to this conversation. Ian, today, Trey Lance's pro day. Is there any chance that Trey Lance potentially throws his way to number three today with all the reports that Shanahan and the Niners were a part of setting up this pro day? They asked Trey Lance to start working with a certain quarterback coach so they can learn more about how is this thing developed and is Trey Lance potentially going over top of Justinin fields now who is the odds on favor to go to the niners at three that they just traded up for yeah first of all i don't know how everyone comes up with the odds on favor like the actual odds for when a guy would get drafted the over unders whatever like that's i'm not in tune to that but for for Justin Fields to now be just the odds-on favorite

at number three seems wild to me. I mean, because I don't know. I mean, to me, I know the organization likes Mac Jones a lot. I don't know for sure it's going to be him, but I don't know what's happened in the last two weeks to make Justin Fields just be the favorite, whatever that even means. But as far as Trey Lance goes, I mean, I think he's got a chance. I know he's someone the organization likes.

He is incredibly smart. 49ers obviously value someone who's incredibly smart. He's also very mobile. So in their offense, he would fit perfectly well. And, you know, I've heard some of the things that you mentioned about, you know, because of him working with John Beck, you know, the 49ers were involved. And I think the main thing is the 49ers can get really good information from John Beck. Him and Kyle Shanahan are close. He actually works with a lot of the top quarterbacks as well. So I think the main thing is whatever they want to know about Lance, they can get,

and they will ask him to do some things in his pro day today that are specific to them. They will see it. And then they'll use the next, say, nine days to hone in on a decision. What do you think the Niners are looking for when they're looking at all these quarterbacks? I mean, it's a giant decision they have to make. And it doesn't seem like an easy one at all. Is there anything that you could single out that they're looking for that they need? doesn't seem like an easy one at all. Is there anything that you could like single out that they're looking for that they need? Well, I mean, as an organization, you know, there's,

there's the typical scouting and there's, you know, so much, you know, so much that goes into it, the interviews and the measurables and the workouts and all that. And then, you know, this really is an organization where, you know, Kyle Shanahan has a lot of say, and I don't want to say it's coach driven, but he clearly has his fingerprints on personnel decisions, similar to a lot of the sort of successful franchises. So in my head, when I think of a quarterback that the 49ers are going to take, I think of one that Kyle Shanahan would want to coach. Who would he want to be on the field for the next, let's say not this year,

because that would probably be Garoppolo, but let's say the next nine years or 10 years after that? Who's the quarterback that he's going to want to send out onto the field for fourth and two with the game on the line? That to me is when I try to come to grips with the 49ers decision. That's kind of what I come down to. And that's why to me, Mac Jones still makes a lot of sense. He's got incredible recall. He's got a photographic memory. I know the Shanahan's really like him. To me, Mac Jones still makes a lot of sense. He's got incredible recall. He's got a photographic memory. I know the Shanahan's really like him. To me, I know there's a lot to kind of put together there.

He has a photographic memory? How do we know that? That's what I hear from reliable sources with deep knowledge of his memory. Okay, so Justin Fields, allegedly, the Goldman standard, Dr. Goldman, who's got two PhDs, allegedly, Justin Fields also has a potential, like, photographic memory. You hear the same thing or no? I don't know that he has a photographic memory, but I do know, and the sort of IQ test that they've given, I believe Fields did very well.

And it's so interesting to me why he's gotten sort of pushed down a little bit in this process. Like, I've talked to, God, I think by now almost all the teams, decision makers. I haven't heard anyone really criticize Fields almost at all. You know, psyche-wise, no real criticism. He's smart. He's had unbelievable success. Some of the games they watch, it makes people's head like watch him against Clemson a couple years back. And you're like, well, that's like a perfectly quarterback game. There's just, there's a lot to like with Fields. I just don't know why he has received the criticism he has. He's been inconsistent. Yes. he's also played against the best competition

trey lance has played in one game um which was kind of up and down so i just i don't know why we all decided that fields was the one that's going to get all the criticism this time around yeah trey lance in his one game in 2021 due to covid ran for 140 some yards but also through his first ever college football pick we're talking to to Ian Rapoport at Rap Sheet. Rap Sheet, not Rat Sheet. Rap Sheet, host of a once very popular show that will come back after the draft. Waiting on pins and needles. Rap Sheet and friends.

We're hoping that show comes back. It was canceled. It was absolutely canceled. Diggs, what do you have? Rap Sheet, some say you guys ruined the draft. Some say you guys help it. Are you going to be tweeting out picks before they are announced by Raj next week? I will not.

Not only am I not allowed to tip picks, I also don't believe in it. So it's really nice when my philosophical beliefs align with that of my employer. Because to me, tweeting out tipping picks is kind of like watching a game live and tweeting it before people have the

seven second delay at home. It's like, let them watch the ball go through the hoop. No spoilers. Also, it's really just like a contest with reporters. Like, we all can do it. So I don't think it's like that cool, honestly. So I will not be tipping. You know, there's a trade when I'm here, and obviously I'll be sharing that,

but I will not be tipping. Are you hearing any potential, hearing any rumors for draft night yet? Are people starting to maybe say, hey, we might get active? I'm hearing some rumors, yeah. You know, I would say the biggest thing for me is, well, who's going to go at number four is probably the biggest question, right? Because if the Falcons take a quarterback,

then it makes the draft go one way. If the Falcons don't take a quarterback, then it makes the draft go a completely different way. Like, let's say the Falcons take a quarterback at four, then someone's probably trading up for the fifth quarterback, and then who's that going to be? Is it going to be Denver? Is it going to be New England?

Is it going to be Washington? Like, who trades up for the fifth quarterback is interesting. And then if there are two quarterbacks available as you get past the top five, then it gets really, really interesting because that means one probably slides out of the top ten and then which team in the teens comes to get him. So that's kind of, I would say of all the unknowns that I have,

that's probably the biggest. Ian, I know there's reports that the Falcons sit there number four, their owner, Arthur Blank, is what does it say? Infatuated with this quarterback class. How does stuff like that get out? And do you believe it? I don't know if you're the one that reported that.

You may have. It probably was you, Ian. No, it wasn't. No, it was not me. Peter King reported it. But I do believe it's true. And the way it was explained to me was Arthur Blank wanted to make sure that whoever he hired as coach and GM, and obviously he's got a coach and GM now, took a hard look at the quarterbacks because you hope you're never picking number four ever again. So it's not like he told them to pick a quarterback, but he needed them to examine it very, very closely just in case because if you you know you find someone you like now you take him at four

he could sit for a couple years and then that you just have your franchise quarterback so that's kind of my understanding there is that Arthur Blank wanted to make sure they did all the quarterback research which I mean just uh Trey Lance Prode is going on right now and Falcons Rass is there seeing it in person all right well i appreciate you pal uh it sounds like there's potential a bunch of bullshit that's about to take place in your life we appreciate following along well who knows everything's a lie feels like everything's a lie rap at this point it does it feels like everything's a lie i have no idea what's real what's not real i'm kind of sick of it to honest. I'm kind of sick of dealing with it right now.

I kind of like it. Draft is the best for me. Now, I take very good notes to see who lies to me, who doesn't. I go through everything after the draft. But it is fun, though, because I've had very good sources tell me they know a team is taking this guy. Not that I would report it anyway,

but I'm like, okay, we'll see how good your sources are, because team is taking this guy. Not that I would report it anyway, but I'm like, okay, we'll see how good your sources are because that's what this time of year is about. It's really, to me, it's kind of fun. I'm sorry that you hate it. Well, for me, you guys put me in just bad position after bad position every day with your reported news, and then I tend to overreact to things, and then all of a sudden two days days later, the exact opposite happens.

And it's like, oh, what was this all about? It's like, well, I'm just telling you what my sources tell me. But now I'm learning that my sources potentially have sources that have sources that are potentially giving information. So I don't know who to believe. Move the sticks. Daniel Jeremiah, he told us the other day that he had a conversation with somebody that was within the Bears organization that told him there's no chance we draft Mitchell Trubisky. This person said no chance, no chance. Then they draft Mitchell Trubisky.

He goes back and he's like, I'm sorry, I did not know or whatever. There's a lot of that that happens around teams. Is there like like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West? Rest in peace to their marriage. But whatever. When they had their kid, they were leaking fake names through their inner circle and then whichever name made it out

to the tabloids was like, okay, you're fucking out. Let's cancel that person. Let's cancel that person. Do you think that is happening in the NFL where misleading messages are even sent through their own organization to leak different shit? Do you ever get that feeling?

I've not gotten it specifically like that, but there are definitely some things where I would say, like, all right, how true is this? Like, yes, it's true, but what does it really mean? Like, I would say last year, the Giants, and I reported it and it was true, but it didn't mean anything. The Giants were having quarterback conversations. They interviewed some of the top quarterbacks. I think Herbert was the one that I had heard. And it didn't mean anything. They were still high on Daniel Jones

and he's still their quarterback. They didn't take a quarterback, but they just wanted to investigate. And I found out, I reported it, it was true and it didn't mean anything and it was like a perfect draft rumor because it was true but it didn't like it didn't tip anyone's hand and it kind of was a little bit of a draft misdirection I would say this about the Bears by the way talk about Daniel Jeremiah I talked to someone who was very involved in the offense you know five years ago when they were going to take Trubisky. And Trubisky was, for many people in the organization, not their number one. And what happened was, obviously, as we know now, Ryan Pace was making the decision.

And it was his, and he just didn't share his evaluations with others. So people can tell you info, but unless you're getting it from the guy who's making the decision, it's not that valuable. Yeah, Kevin Costner, he had that post-it note. You know what I mean? That's the person making the decisions. Everybody else is just kind of along for the ride. Ladies and gentlemen, we follow this man at Rap Sheet, NFL Network analyst and insider.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rap. Thank you, Ian. Hey, good show to lay out of you, Ian. Yeah, killing it as usual okay so he said yeah i know is what he just said to me classic sales gonna get past the gatekeeper to the decision maker yeah hey listen i need to talk to whoever's talking to you who are you gonna go talk to about what i'm talking to you right now and then whenever you go talk to them tell them i'd like to talk to them that is a real that's sales you said yeah so whenever you just cold call this

when you cold call folks get past the gatekeeper need to talk to them. That is a real, that's sales you said? Yeah. So whenever you just cold call, that's when you cold call folks? Get past the gatekeeper, need to talk to decision makers. It's also, by the way, you can just do that in regular life here. Middle management

is maybe the worst place to ever get stuck at if you have to get anything done, isn't it? Yes. Hey, listen, I understand you've been given a role because you've been around here

long enough, pal, but I need to know whoever you're going to run this decision up to. I think I could explain it a little bit better. They think they have power, but they don't. So you get stuck in the mud for fucking three weeks.

Yeah. By the way, you have time invested here. You don't got power. The person you're going to go talk to has power. And I would like to talk to that person potentially to lay out what I'm thinking instead of you doing it. Well, that's what I'm here for. Well, thanks, Buffer.

I appreciate that. We got to get to the gatekeeper. What's going on, AJ? There's a gatekeeper. How you doing, AJ Hawk? I'm here for. Well, thanks, Buffer. I appreciate that. We've got to get to the gatekeeper. What's going on, AJ? There's a gatekeeper. How are you doing, AJ Hawk? I'm doing good, man. How's it going over there? It sounds quiet without some of the boys there.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, they were at a super spreader this weekend. I can't get COVID right now. I can't get COVID. It's literally not because, and listen, maybe I'll die if I get it or whatever. I cannot have a COVID positive test right now. I completely forgot about this life. We were doing it with NXT when I was going on the run.

I was getting tested like three times a week, two times a week, because it was delays and responses and how long they were coming back or whatever. But every other decision that gets made, it's like, oh my God, if I get a negative or if I get a positive COVID test, there's a lot of people that are in shit. It's like, will I die? Maybe. Will I be sick? Potentially. But what else? Oh, it fucks up a lot of people that are in shit it's like will i die maybe will i be sick potentially but what else oh it fucks up a lot of things so it's just you know i it's people have to live their lives as well though so i'm kind of torn you know i'm kind of in an interesting i'm

in a very interesting spot here mr hawk you are i didn't think about that until you mentioned it earlier but i would assume you're gonna head in there friday for smackdown and vince is just gonna have a nice syringe just to jab your arm with the vaccination. I should get one right. They did not. By the way, there was no there has been no conversation from them that I said, like, you need to be this or this is there was mask wearing. Unless you were potentially in an area, we all everybody in there had to get tested and everything like that. I mean, it felt like they were trying to go above and beyond.

And there's a lot of spacing. You don't really see a lot of people in a lot of places. So it feels like, you know, that whole thing. But nobody was like, yeah, you go get the vaccine or whatever. You won't be allowed to be around here. But my quick intuitiveness from looking around, it was like, it feels like this would all be much easier if I just got a vaccine. I didn't have to just sweat my ass off while that COVID result is coming back.

It is terrible. vaccine i didn't have to just sweat my ass off while that covid result is coming back i it is all right so pierre garçon signed me up for a uh when i was pierre garçon and our teammates we were hanging out a lot it was probably my rookie year if i had to guess i was driving down the street and i heard via the news that pierre garçon had signed me up for like a a free hiv and std testing uh like testing event or whatever. And the people could win a date with me and Pierre Garçon if you go and take one of these tests or whatever. I'd learned about this via the radio while it was on.

I was like, what are we signing up for here? He was like, oh, they're doing a free test. They want to help people promote getting tested and everything like that. We're doing it for free or whatever. For HIV? It was for HIV and for STDs. It was for AIDS, HIV aids hiv and for stds it was just basically like a hey come get tested type initiative which by the way i'm for like hey i'm all about it and i said i didn't know

about this you oh they didn't tell you i was like no he's like oh they're supposed to tell you that's on me or whatever i'm like okay so i go down there i walk in there and they're like pierre and patter here and there's like a round of applause they're like they will now go get get tested and then they will come back okay so we walk out a door there's this entire event happening I get tested it's like a 10 to 15 minute thing where you got to like wait to see if you have something inside of you that would lead for them to have to do more testing potentially so that 10 to 15 minutes I'm'm thinking to myself, like, oh, I may be, I mean, I have no idea. I don't think so. But then you walk right back in

to where all these people were, and it's like, okay, you get like this card, basically, that says like, hey, I don't got it or whatever. You know what I mean? It feels like every single time I get tested, I'm scared to death. I'm like, maybe I do. Maybe I do have it.

And then when it doesn't, it's like, thank God. So I'm trying to get the vax thing expedited here, I'm scared to death. I'm like, maybe I do. Maybe I do have it. And then when it doesn't, it's like, thank God. So I'm trying to get the vax thing expedited here, I think, so I don't have those moments. My heart gets like real racy. I'm like, I'm going to fuck everything up right now. I had to get tested before went to honeymoon and on the way back from honeymoon.

Scary as hell. Scary as hell. Hey, has anyone set up their pat to be a backup for you or an alternate in case you do test positive i do not know but i do know last week there was a couple texts between me and michael kohler could you imagine if we put this whole thing out it would be it would be a nightmare i think so i don't know i'm not going to be in that position i will go back to full hermit life, which is basically what I live. And I just have to be smart here for the sake of everybody.

And I know people got to live their life. I just have to make sure I am kind of in a bubble for at least a little bit until I get the fachiacci. Makes sense. You're down in Florida doing SmackDown. When are they letting fans back in? We've seen other events with them. Yeah, WrestleMania had 25,000.

I don't know. I'm not privy to any of those conversations. They don't really tell me anything by the way. It's just like, need you here at this time. Makeup's there. Your face doesn't look good. Haircut's there. Fix that whole thing. I gotta go do a Spaces with Aaron Rodgers.

I'll host it. By the way, I thought he was hosting it. Here's some questions you can ask him if you'd like. They emailed me. Okay, I'll read these word for word, I guess. Then I gotta go back down the side and then it just kind of started so i don't know anything i know absolutely nothing but i do know the fachi ouchy would probably make me not be as sweaty for that the results of that test do i still can i still can i still fail a covid test if i get the vax i know you could still get covid potentially it's like 95 or something like that so 95 effective so you might not have to get tested it's like 95% or something like that. So 95% effective.

So you might not have to get tested. It's like wearing a vaccine. The PGA tour just said that if they're encouraging players, I guess, and caddies, and if you get vaccinated, then they don't have to get tested like week of the event. So the new test,

not that bad, by the way, it's just a little nasal swab. Barely. It's much different than what we had to do for NXT. That first one was so brutal, much different than what we had to do for NXT. That first one was so brutal. Much different than what we had to do for NXT. I mean, that was like two, three times a week.

We're just getting the bongos played on our goddamn nasal cavities. They were just shoving it up in there. I was like, is that the only place we can find it? I'd almost rather. No, there's one other spot they can find it. Well, that's what I was about to say. Can you just give me something? I'll do this myself or whatever.

Because it was just like uncomfortable i cried every single time i mean i was crying every single time you're an emotional guy man it's all right well it's not just because that because i think they actually pushed the tear ducts whenever they were up in there like testing i think they're like get the tears out of his face or whatever so the new test is not bad at all but man the worry of uh it's going to be a positive i'm gonna ruin everything is very real and the old ones used to be a positive i'm gonna ruin everything is very real and the old ones used to be a full two-day wait and that was the worst yeah two days of like i'm gonna fuck this up for sure it's gonna bring we actually land we didn't get results back before

we got on a plane one time we landed yeah it could have been a waste of like 25 30 000 we landed and then literally as we land, we get an email. It's like, you are good. It's like, thank God. It could have been a no. That's why we started getting it two, three times a week, because we didn't know when the results were going to come in. Thank you so much for listening.

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