The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Instant Replay and Booger McFarland on 'MNF,' Leadership, and Football Stories | The Ryen Russillo Podcast

Episode Date: September 27, 2019

Russillo addresses the state of the instant replay in sports (1:47) before he’s joined by two-time Super Bowl champion and 'Monday Night Football' analyst Booger McFarland to discuss the Bears' win over the Redskins on Monday night, an awesome Aaron Rodgers performance, leading a football team, and some stories, including playing with Warren Sapp, being traded to the Colts, college recruitment, and more (13:45). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

it's a rassilo podcast and thank you thank you i can't believe how great these episode rankings are but right there with the top ones the overall rankings have been great so please keep subscribing rating and reviewing because that's how they measure this stuff and to have this consistency a few weeks in so i'm not trying to turn into an arrogant thing here, but sometimes you have to and also admit that you really appreciate it. So whatever the hell I just said, feel appreciated. We have Booger McFarlane, Monday Night Football. We had him on last year right before the Chiefs-Rams game,

which is probably one of the great regular season games of all time. And we're going to talk with him about all the stuff. We're not going to necessarily go around the league, but I just want to spend a bunch of time with him, a bunch of different things, get some stories from him and his recruitment at LSU, getting drafted, playing with Warren Sapp. So that's going to be a lot of fun. I've known him for a while, and he's terrific.

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Are you banned from road shows? What's going on? So you just got to advocate for me, man. One Shining Pod gets it done every once in a while. It's like 50-50. Okay. Next road show, we'll try to get you out there, all right? Sweet.

You would have been great in Atlantic City. I mean, you would have. I actually can't think of a city that you would fit in better. I'm going this summer. You're going to be great. Let me know when you go, and I'll give you a couple tips. And remember, when you go to Atlantic City with Kyle to always drink responsibly.

So Booger coming up here in a bit, but today's open is about replay. Instant replay. And you know what? I fucking hate instant replay. I hate it. It takes too long. And there's so many nights

or days where I'm at home watching a game specific to the NFL, sometimes in college football as well, where I'm like, oh, okay, well, I'm glad they reviewed this and they'll clearly change this. Oh, they're not going to change it? So what's the actual rate of the replay being corrected correctly? And if I said it was less than 50%, that would be being too harsh and really trying to sell my overall take here. It's not less than 50%,

but it's still too often where I go, oh, okay, this is pretty simple. It will be this. And you're like, nope. I mean, we all can't be fooled like Mike Carey was in just a comical way that almost became just nationwide sympathy for how bad Mike Carey was as a review guy when he was working with CBS.

But there'll be goal line plays where you're like, okay, the guy's thigh pads are at the goal line diving. So unless he's smuggling the football in his calves, I think that's going to be across the plane. But we don't have the perfect camera angle, so it's not a touchdown. And that's the thing is the pro replay people, they have one mission statement they repeat over and over and over again. They say what? Hey, I just want to get it right. That's a great idea.

I too would sign up for something where we just get it right all the time. The problem is they still get it wrong, and yeah, it's taking too long. This isn't new, but when I watch especially some of these college games and it is play calling it is more passes it is the clock changes that they've made years ago but on top of that the replay and there was a stretch there when college first started doing replay you're like who's in charge of this my mom like it was taking forever and then when there's a four-hour college game after I've watched like 12 that day that's just a little too long so if you think about replay in general basketball it's awful there too baseball I'll give it this baseball

and home runs that's a no-brainer it seems like they have that one figured out there are some baseball plays where I don't like the gray that we lived with or excuse me I should say it this way I liked or appreciated the gray that we lived with I don't like that the gray that we lived with, or excuse me, I should say it this way. I liked or appreciated the gray that we lived with. I don't like that the gray carries over in this replay thing where now if a guy slides in the bag and his foot slightly comes off it, it was kind of like, hey, if you're at the bag before the tag and you're kind of the momentum and maybe your foot comes off the bag a millimeter for a half a second,

and now if you challenge that with a replay, the guy's out when that guy was always safe all the time. I was okay with that guy being safe. Now, replay in baseball is only because baseball just was like, well, what's everybody else doing? I mean, Bud Selig was, I believe, the worst of the modern commissioners. And that's including Gary Bettman. I mean, Selig would be the guy who owned Blockbuster Video and they'd go, man, I don't know, Netflix, DVDs in the mail, streaming and Seelig would sit there at the corporate meetings going, hey, it's not like people are going to stop watching movies, guys. So baseball, I'm okay with. Basketball, though, is out of control with it.

It makes a game that at the end, like as much as I love basketball, and you guys know that when somebody who doesn't like basketball is like, oh, yeah, this is awesome, like the last two minutes takes 30 minutes. I have no counter to that because you're right and because we review more and more stuff that doesn't make any sense, some of the elbow stuff that doesn't even happen. We're both guys like, no, we're totally fine. I actually got elbowed sort of but not really,

and I don't want you to review it. Remember that Portlandia episode? Yeah, deep cut. Great show. Brilliant. Where the two main characters are like, Fred and Kerry say, hey, we can pickle that. Where they just spend this whole bit talking about how they can pickle anything. Somebody drops an ice cream cone.

They're like, we can pickle that. The NBA, instead of it's fantastic, could say, hey, we'll review that. Because they want to review everything. And the reviews in basketball are out of control. Because so many times it's like, yeah, we reviewed it that because they want to review everything. And the reviews in basketball are out of control because so many times it's like, yeah, we reviewed it. Why? Just to take longer and still get it wrong. So the guy had the ball in his hands.

The defensive player came over with a tomahawk chop onto his forearms. The ball went out of bounds and it may have just slightly nicked his fingernail on his left hand last on this replay where we're trying to slow frame it like we're watching neutron stars collide. And you're like, yeah, actually it may have been off his fingernail. When forever in the history of forever, whenever you played pickup basketball, when somebody smashed your arms and the ball went out of bounds, and then, and trust me, it's happened in pickup, where then the guy fouls the shit out of you and looks at you and goes, off you.

And you just go, take that. Don't even think about checking the ball after that. Okay? It's not happening. And it happens in NBA games and we're giving it to the other team after the guy fouled, knowing the guy fouled and saying, well, we can't really review fouls because, you know, we just can't. And I'm okay with that because I don't want you to review fouls.

I actually would be okay if you didn't review anything. I know that sounds ridiculous because we couldn't have that because we would have this thing I call moment hysteria. And that's what we had last year in that Rams-Saints game. That's why we have pass interference being reviewed. Moment hysteria, where all of a sudden everyone is watching at the same time, and in that case it's an NFL playoff game, so in our bubble of sports and social media we decide this is the thing that is the most important because it is happening right now and it was an egregious call it was a horrible non-call

I was on the couch watching that game and I'm like oh my god that guy just killed that guy well they're throwing a flag right oh? Oh, did they throw the flag? I was so blown away that a flag hadn't been thrown. I was convinced I blacked out for a second and rewound the DVR and was like, did I miss it? And of course, it should have been a flag. Of course, it was an important play. And of course, the NFL in the aftermath of that had to react. And it all seemed like a good idea, right? All of this seems like a good idea in the meetings when that moment hysteria takes over and you just start to think everyone is crushing us

right now for this thing. We have to figure out a way. My main concern when the NFL decided to implement a review system for pass interference was like, man, everything looks like pass interference in slow motion. Like this is going to be ridiculous. But now we've had all these unintended consequences, right? Where we're watching pass interference like we did in the Eagles-Packers game last night. And we go, I think that looks like pass interference. But the NFL, what they didn't tell us or they didn't explain to us or maybe that's just sort of organically happened, which I'm okay with. Because anytime anybody explains anything, then we want seven more explanations for the explanation.

So in a weird way, the Belichick theory can be smarter, even if it makes everybody hate you. But the NFL has basically told us through these first few weeks that, yes, even though we're going to review pass interference, and now guys are challenging offensive pass interference in a way we've never seen before because we couldn't, or even blocking downfield past the line of scrimmage where you're like, oh, wait, we can do this. All these unintended consequences.

But what's actually happening is this has to be egregious. So I don't know that we ever knew that, but we're learning it now. And because we're learning now, we're like, wait a minute, I thought we were going to start reviewing pass interference. I thought we saw this. I thought that was PI. That needs to be PI. I was afraid everything was going to be PI. And instead, nothing is. I don't want to say nothing, but it feels like slow motion replays of these things that all look like pass interference and clearly that looked like pass interference on that right

sideline throw last night. It isn't. And you know what's weird is I'm actually okay with it because when change happens, a lot of times it feels like a bunch of smart people are on Twitter and something that doesn't need to be fixed and smart people get together at Sloan and they're like, Hey, I just wrote a 70 page thing on why block shots aren't any good. Why? That seems weird. Wait a minute. This whole time block shots aren't good. Yeah. They're not good. Cause you don't get the possession. Okay. But what about when somebody swats your shit to the baseline? You never want to go into the post again. Yeah. Well, um, you know, you, you just don't get possession. Okay, yeah, but, yeah, you just don't get possession, though.

Okay, hmm, that seems weird, but it seems kind of smart, right, because you wrote all these things down. So we're all in this contest, and I am included in this, and trying to figure out new ways to be smart all the time. Maybe if I tweet out this and suggest this kind of change, then maybe everybody would pick up on it, and then they're going to be talking about it on GetUp the next day, okay? So it's happening now in the G League where they're going to decide

to implement this new rule change that if you're fouled on a two-pointer or a three-pointer, you're just going to take one free throw. And if it's an and one, it's the one free throw. So the one free throw will count for the total points of where you were on the floor or whether or not it's an and one during the

foul violation. And there's a lot of smart people that I like that were like, this is awesome. And I'm like, is it? Did we need this? Did we need this? Now, if the NBA is going, hey, we need to speed up the games. Why don't you just get rid of replay in the first place and these stupid reviews that take forever? And it's not even just the reviews. It's just what the hell are you guys talking about when you're over there looking at this

stuff at the scores table? So if the game got longer because of a review system that really isn't as efficient as it needs to be, so now we're going to change the free throw thing to make up for that? Now, maybe. Now, maybe. And I've tried to do this more and more, as I say all the time. Have more of an open mind about stuff instead of just saying everything new sucks because I'm definitely a guy that's done that in the past.

But could there be an unintended consequence to this? Will we see games? Now, granted, you're not going to be watching a ton of G League games. But say the NBA did this. Would you have a guy at the line down one where he normally would have always had two free throws, have just this one free throw on a two-point foul shot where it feels like wait a minute now I can either lose or win

but I can't even tie is that wrong would somebody write a 2,000 word piece on that and why we don't know how to talk about free throws anymore this month in the Atlantic so I don't know if that's a great thing I don't know if it's needed. Now, if it eliminates dapping in between free throws made or missed, which is the dumbest evolution in all of basketball in the last few years, whoever came up with that thing should be just one-way ticket to shithead island because I

hate the dapping up and now everybody feels like they have to do it the whole time. I remember there was a study, I think, in the New York Times where successful teams were teams that touch each other more. So I think that may have something to do with it. My counter to that piece in the New York Times would be a study, I think, in the New York Times where successful teams were teams that touch each other more. So I think that may have something to do with it. My counter to that piece in the New York Times would be, actually, I think it was a Wall Street Journal, would be teams that are good high five more because they're good. Because they do better stuff. So as I run through all of this, okay, I don't know that I'm happy that replay still be messed up in the NFL.

I think I'm more happy that the people that complained about pass interference so much and granted it was a massive missed pass interference call in that Ram Saints game. I think I'm just happier that the people that were really mad are mad in a different way. And I know that sounds fucked up. Get to Bo that were really mad are mad in a different way. And I know that sounds fucked up. Get to Booger McFarland here in a second. When's the last time you thought about your tires?

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Monday night game, and because you didn't crush the Washington Redskins front office, then Redskins fans are mad at you, and then, you know, you question Trubisky, then Bears fans are mad at you. So you got everybody mad at you on Monday night, so it must have felt good to kind of, you know,

week two, feel like you're right at home with the entire country watching you, being upset with you as a national broadcaster. So now you know it's official because everyone was upset. Well, you know what, man? I don't even worry about people being upset. What I try to do, Ron, is be honest. And, you know, when you look at the Redskins, you can complain about the ownership. But here's the thing.

The owner's not going anywhere. Like, he owns the team. So you can talk about, dang, it's not all you want to. All he's going to do is turn a deaf ear. I think that Jay Gruden, as I said on the broadcast, is on borrowed time. I think his record speaks for that. You know, people are a little, you know, people are kind of bothered I didn't mention Bruce Allen. And I can understand that.

But, you know, generally speaking, you know, Bruce, you know, Bruce is going to follow Daniel Snyder's lead. You know, Doug Williams is doing some of the things behind the scenes, and, you know, they're trying to put that team together. All in all, it's going to be a new regime up there pretty quick, and I think Jake Gruden is going to be the first domino that's going to fall. I think Jay Gruden is going to be the first domino that's going to fall. As far as the Bears, man, I mean, the Bears are a championship team if Trubisky just remembers what color, you know, that they're wearing and throws it to his color and doesn't turn the football over and can put together a drive or two during the game. And, you know, I just got to be honest about the teams, man.

You know, some people like it, some don't. I mean, I'm not going to say everybody's great when everyone across America knows that everyone's not great. The thing I try to do and the thing I've said is I'd rather be respected for my work than liked. At the end of the day, I think people

have to respect my knowledge and acumen of football. I love hearing that because whenever I watch the national broadcasts i've always felt like and there's there's a real human element to this because i understand it because i was around so many guys not necessarily in those production meetings that you do as the main broadcaster because no one really you know i wouldn't really need to ever have that kind of access but different access where i can tell when al michaels and chris collinsworth love

this coaching staff or this quarterback who they've interviewed for 10, 15 years. Like Peyton was a protected quarterback the last year he was in the league, and he was awful. And I know they still won a Super Bowl, but I'd watch all those games. He was terrible. And yet all those guys kind of felt bad for him because they were in the booth. So I feel like your criticism criticism is always it's never

nasty you have a great way about you you know i'm biased because i've known you for a long time but the national broadcast needs more people like you to tell you what you know you think instead of well i've been in a production meeting with this guy for 10 years of his career and i really like him so i'm going to kind of lie through what we're actually seeing there's just too much of that especially in the NFL yeah I'm not trying to do that I'm going to go in and I'm going to gather my own opinion uh I do my homework I do my research I watch the tape and I come up with what I think is the storyline for the game what I think is the storyline for the players that are going to be the you know the, the eye-catching players, the players that we all want to show up and watch. You know, like this week, we got Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and everyone wants to know,

well, who is Mason Rudolph, and what does Mason Rudolph bring, and, you know, what are they losing because they don't have a big band? And Cincinnati, you know, what's the deal with the Bengals? And it's going to be fun sharing that because i enjoyed that part of it because my studies didn't come to life i get to take everything that i do behind the scenes and bring it to national television and i get to do it with my personality um i have players in this league that i like i mean i'm a fan i'm a fan of the game of football but i'm not going to compromise um my job and my integrity of telling it how it is for someone that I'm a fan of.

And I think that, you know, everybody can't do that. And I'm not saying that there's a right and a wrong way to do it. I just think you have to do what's comfortable to you. And for me, it's very comfortable. I think growing up, and you'll get this, growing up in radio, in the entire radio world, where you're paid to give opinions, that's basically all radio is. So I went from radio, three to seven afternoon drive in Tampa, to now national analyst. And my background has always been giving opinions.

And so that's just kind of natural, like, breathing to me. That's just kind of natural, like, breathing to me. And so to analyze football and package that with my personality, and then you add on my background of having to do radio and talk about the lightning and the bucks and the rays, I think that's what I bring that's different and unique to this job. So when you're studying these quarterbacks, and McShane and I did this long thing on Wednesday where at the beginning I basically admitted, right now I've never been less confident about what a quarterback is

or isn't going to be and whether that's watching them on Saturdays or watching them at the start of their careers on Sundays I think I know exactly who Trubisky is and for anyone to say it's going to be anything different you're lying to yourself I watched Mason Rudolph in college I watched the San Francisco game it's. It's one game. It's totally unfair. But if you ask me, I go, no. How quick do you think you know and how often are you surprised? I mean, usually I go in with a gut feeling, and then you turn the tape on,

and the tape will tell you everything you need to know. Sometimes guys can surprise you, especially early in the season, because guys improve. You know, this is not like we're dealing with week 12 or 13 where you pretty much solidify who you are. You know, we're only dealing with week three, week four, so guys can show improvements early in the season. So I tend to have an open mind this early.

As we continue throughout the season and we get in the past Halloween, usually at that point, guys are who you thought they were based on what you've seen in the first seven or eight weeks of the season. So it varies. But right now, I'm giving guys an opportunity. Like Mason Rudolph. I think, you know, if you understand and you watch Mason Rudolph when he was at Oklahoma State, I mean, the guy can spin it.

He threw it all across the lot there, and Mike Gundy and Bullitt, I mean, they just kind of slung it everywhere. So he's thrown a ton of passes, and his ability to see the field and read a defense is there. He's a cerebral guy. He's a smart guy. He understands playing a position. My biggest thing watching him is how comfortable is he?

He made his first start against San Francisco. This will be his second start. It's going to be at home. So how comfortable can he play? And you can tell when a guy's comfortable because if he's doing what you know he can do and what you've seen him do in the past, then he's comfortable. If the game is speeding up for him, if he's doing things that are abnormal, then you know he's not comfortable.

So for a guy like Mason Rudolph, I just want to see if he's comfortable and see how he can play the game. And then you see, okay, Randy Fickner, the offensive coordinator, what situation or how is he going to best tailor the game plan for Mason? So those are all the little nuances that go into watching a young quarterback. Now, this is Ben Roethlisberger. I think we all know by now what Ben is. Ben is a Super Bowl winning quarterback that he's made his claim to fame from staying in

the pocket, shrugging guys off, extending plays, throwing the football down the field. Like he is a guy who he ad-libs and his improvisational plays are as good as anybody maybe in the history of the field. He is a guy who, he ad-libs and his improvisational plays are as good as anybody maybe in the history of the game. And so, you don't really have to watch a lot of tape because you've got years of footage on Ben and you know what Ben is. But for a guy like Mason, it's fun seeing

where he was at Oklahoma State and now where he is going into his second start against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. I thought Rodgers was awesome last night, despite the loss against Philly and what Philly was able to do to come back. That deficit, I know Matt LaFleur is the enemy number one now because of not running the

football and goal line and all these different things. But you know, when you look at different numbers with Rogers last year, you go, okay, there's some numbers here that are a little weird and then they, they don't win any games. And then it turns into a summer of of articles about Rodgers is actually this bad leaders all these different things and then I look at him last night I'm like all right

this guy still might be the best I would still right now say Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL but if somebody wanted to argue Rodgers that's fine but I felt like you know too many times we don't admit that both things can be true and that Rodgers, by his standards, probably had a down year in some areas, and yet he still could be the most talented thrower I've ever seen in the football. So when you think about guys that you've played with, and let's keep this specific to Rodgers. We know the talent. We know those things. But can a leader still be abrasive?

Can a leader just be respected on talent, not necessarily personality, if that's true about who Rodgers is? It depends on who's going to follow you. I judge leadership not necessarily on talent. I judge leadership by who's following. So your talent really doesn't matter to me. I learned in life a long time ago, Ron, that the best leaders are the people that get the majority to follow behind them.

That's how you judge leadership. I mean, otherwise, you're just a talented guy with nobody behind you, and then you're not a leader. I mean, you're just walking alone. And so I think Aaron Rodgers, his talent gives him a little bit more leeway to do that. But all in all, he's still got to get guys to respect him and follow him and appreciate the work that he does. And he may be the most talented quarterback we've ever seen. And, yeah, he's rubbed a few people the wrong way. If you read articles about his time with Favre and McCarthy, et cetera.

But I think the way he plays the game and the level that he plays the game at, I think people respect it. By now, at this point in his career, if he didn't put the work and the effort and the time in, I think people would call him out on it. And I haven't heard that. You know, what you hear is a guy who is maybe hard to coach because he wants the best. He wants excellence. He wants a coach to challenge him. He wants to be challenged. And I have nothing wrong with that because, hey, if I'm going to be the best, I need somebody that's going to coach me hard

and, A, they have to know what they're doing, okay, and then they have to be able to convey that to me where I can get better. And so I think Aaron does that. He challenges that. Also, you can tell on that team the way his offensive line protects for him, that they respect

him. You can tell the way that they follow him that he's a leader. And he may lead in a different way or a different manner than some of us are used to. But again, I judge leadership not by talent. I judge leadership by who's following behind the guy that's leading. And that tells me everything I need to know. I remember one time we had Lomas Brown in studio, and he admitted that he got so sick of Scott Mitchell that they let him take a couple hits.

And it actually turned into kind of a big thing, at least in Detroit. And I think that's really – did you ever remember a time playing on the D-line where the offensive line guys would be looking at you, rolling their eyes? Did you ever pick up on that, where you saw in a game you were playing in the way an O-line was playing? No, because usually – you know know lomas was an established veteran and and i get that usually the guys you go against like their jobs on the line and so they don't want to put some bad tape out there where you're just smashing a quarterback where they give you the old lay block and and you know next thing you know the guys hurt uh there have been some scrubs that kind of, let's just say,

they didn't put up too much of a fight and gave you an opportunity to go hit their quarterback. But all in all, most of the guys are going to, when you step on the field, you've got to be a pro. You know, it's not like high school where the guy took your girlfriend and you can just kind of throw the old A block and let him get hit. Like, this is professional football, and whatever you put on tape is going to live for a long, long time.

And so, although that would have been nice, though, especially with a couple quarterbacks I played against that I didn't really like. I would have loved to hit them. But now, that never happened to me. And when it comes to the NFL, the quarterbacks aren't dating the same women as the O-linemen anyway. So, once you're at that pro level, that's a little different than high school.

Who was the best leader that you played with then? Who was your favorite teammate as a leader? Derrick Brooks. And it wasn't even close. He led by example. You always hear the cliche, if he's the first one in

and last one out. That doesn't really make me think a guy's a leader. What made me follow Brooks is I watched his actions day in and day out. And most of the great leaders, Ryan, that I've been around, they never announced that I'm the leader. They never say, hey, I'm the leader of this team. Most of the great leaders, people just gravitate toward them because of what they do and how they act and the life that they lead. And Derrick Brooks was that guy.

He never once said, I'm the leader of this team. We voted him captain because of how he played, how he led, what he did, not only in good times, but in bad times. You know, he's one of my best friends to this day, and he's still what I would consider a leader now, maybe not on the team, but in the community, just because, you know, certain people have that pull where everyone wants to be around them,

and everyone wants to just kind of get a little bit of whatever he's drinking in his cup. And, um, you know, Brooks has been that for me. Uh, he's been that in the city of Tampa. Uh, he was that for our team, uh, just a, a great, great leader. Oh, and by the way, he was a great player also. Yeah. I was inspired walking past him in the hallway at ESPN. He's, uh, he's the real deal yeah you just have to talk to him for two minutes you're like all right i totally get it now when you came in in your first rounder um kind of based on some of the quarterback stuff right that that i

test of okay because i've talked with you guys enough over the years where i love hearing the stories about this quarterback came in or this corner came in and like the first day we're going this is a huge mistake because i mean there's just something to be said about being in those pads and running around with guys that have been doing this a long time. Were some of those Tampa guys, cause that was a really talented crew and some vocal dudes or some, some outlandish guys on that team. Were they skeptical of you,

even though you were first rounder playing at LSU? Yeah, because you know, kind of how it was built up, you know, people said he's a second coming to Warren Sapp. Well, guess what? Warren Sapp was there. So the moment I step on the field, they want to see my size.

Does my size compare to Warren Sapp? What does my calf look like compared to his? What was my take off the ball, like my get off? Like every little thing I did was compared to Sapp. And, oh, by the way, we were in the same room together from a defensive line standpoint. So usually it takes probably about a couple of weeks or there has to be a play or something that happens where they say, OK, now I see it. whether it's a freak athletic play that you make at practice, whether it's a drill you do, something where you show your teammates,

man, that guy's got it. And then you've got to be able to do it consistently over time. And I think, you know, coming in, you know, Sapp didn't make it easy for me just because his standard was high. I mean, you're talking about a future Hall of Famer. And I didn't start my rookie year. I was kind of a spot player playing behind Brad Culpepper. And I'll never forget my second training camp in Tampa.

And, you know, I'm still running second team behind Brad Culpepper. And one night, this was probably with about a week left in training camp, my phone rang at home and it was Sal. And he said they cut him. I was like, who? He said they cut Brad Cul was like okay he's like it's your show now it's me and you it's time for us to be the best tandem of dts in the national football league and man i hung that phone up and it was like i'm not gonna say that the light went on but what happened with him reaching out to me saying hey not only are you playing with me let's you and i go be something in this league together and there was a period of about three four years there where i i thought we were the best fandom inside in the league and just for him

somebody who you were uh compared to somebody who you looked up to for him to reach out and to feel that way. It was a great feeling, man. And only then do you get the respect from everyone, uh, in your organization. So SAP ended up, and I know you've been asked about a million times and I've gone through it and you've, um, you've defended him as a teammate, you know, when, when some stuff came out saying that SAP was, cause I never look, I'm, you know, I don't, I've had a couple of interactions. I would never use those as any sort of test of what it's like to be his teammate. But I mean, how, how was it being on the field with somebody like that? Who really, I mean, people could talk about not caring and wanting to get into a fight. I mean, that part of it was real for him. Like, what's the best SAP story that you can actually share that's from the field playing alongside that guy?

We were playing a different Broncos, and to me, this epitomized one, Sapp. We was. He's talking a lot of noise. He's talking to the Broncos' offensive line coach. I think it was Alex Gibbs at the time. And they wasn't going so well. In the middle of the second quarter,

Tapp makes a tackle, and he grabs his hand. He's broken his hand. The hand is broken. He tells me, he looks at me, he says, the hand is broken. And he goes in at halftime, and he comes out, and he's got a cast on. Broken hand, 99 degrees, he's got a cast on broken hand. It's 99 degrees.

He's got a cash. He's basically playing with one hand and the second half he goes out and he dominates. And not only did he dominate, he talked more noise and more junk. The second half that he did the first half with a broken hand. He was one of the ultimate competitors that I've ever been around. And he was a fast talker. It was nonstop.

It didn't matter the game. It didn't matter who. You know, people give him a lot of grief for a lot of things that he's done on and off the field. But here's what I know. When he stepped between those white lines, man, at defensive tackle, he revolutionized the position that, you know, you could say John Randall, Joe Green, those are the only couple of players that have ever really done it how he's done it at the level. Now, I know Aaron Donald is doing it now,

but for my money, until I see Aaron Donald do it, you know, continue and finish off his career, because right now he's headed toward being a Hall of Famer, once that was something, man, that was just from a competitive level, that was fun to watch. Hey, more with Booger in a second here. Let's talk about the holidays. Wait a minute, what?

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slash Rosillo. Code Rosillo. Get your tooth fixed. Then you got traded to Indy and I'd forgotten that it was, you know, kind of that last run and then it was over. How did that all go down? you know, kind of that last run, and then it was over. How did that all go down? You know what, man? You know what was crazy? I'll tell you this story. I don't think this story has ever been told.

I was – it was a Tuesday. I think we were like 0-4 at the time. And I'm like, we're getting smashed in Tampa, man. Like, we're not winning. It's a long season. And so, any time I need to clear my head or think or just kind of get away from it, you know, you go to the gym and put on 450

or 475 and do some bench press. I grab my golf clubs. I go out to the golf course and I hit golf balls. So I'm actually playing golf Tuesday morning. This is our off day. And a family friend sent me a text message just out of the blue and like, Hey, are you okay? I was like, yeah, I'm fine. Like, I just had something to kind of in

my spirit that, you know, you weren't doing so well. I want to check on you. I was like, no, I'm good. Everything's fine. You know, we're, we're terrible right now as a team, but overall, I'm good. And that was at like nine 30, 10 o'clock in the morning. Now, fast forward to about 4.45 in the afternoon. I get a call, and I had a Blackberry at the time. I'll show you how long ago this was. I look at my Blackberry, and it says, Bruce Allen. I'm like, okay, this can't be good.

I answered the phone, and the conversation went like this. Anthony, which is a problem because nobody calls me Anthony. You know that. I said, yeah, Bruce, what's up? He says uh well Indianapolis called and they wanted you and I'm like in my mind I'm like I want a lot of things but just because I want them doesn't mean I can get them and he's like they made us an offer we can't refuse and uh so we're gonna send you to Indianapolis uh it'll be good for you you know

they're winning you can go up there and you can help them. And he's trying to package this whole thing for me to feel good about it. And I said, okay, okay, and just hung the phone up. And when I hung that phone up, man, my life changed, dude, because I didn't want to go to the Midwest. I hated cold weather. And I just got traded from the only place that I knew. And I got on the plane the next morning at 10 a.m., Air France, and flew straight to Indianapolis.

And I landed. As I'm landing, I had no idea what I was getting into. And there were three people around me that were like, it's your first time in Indianapolis. I was like, yeah, you'll love it. They were great people, the whole nine. The people were very hospitable. And, Ryan, I'm not, yeah, you'll love it. You're great people, the whole nine. People were very hospitable. And Ryan, I'm not going to bore you with all the

small details, but that year, those two years in Indy turned out to be the best two years, some of the best two years of my life. The people couldn't have been better. The organization was first class. Tony Dungy was the same way that I remember when he drafted me.

We won a Super Bowl and it the same way that I remember when he drafted me we won a Super Bowl and it was like everything that I was concerned or nervous about got to be a great thing and we win the Super Bowl we have the parade I land in Tampa and as soon as I land

couple of my homeboys hey man you back in town yeah let's go grab some eat and just kind of hang out a little bit. And so we go to this restaurant. Literally I go from the plane to my car, to this restaurant, to meet my buddy. And I opened the door and the first two people I see were Bruce Allen and John Gruden and they were hammered. Okay. And everything in my body, like, like all the pettiness,

all the, you know, mean-spirited things that we all think about, wanted to come out and say, hey, screw you, Bruce, screw you, John. You traded me, and now look what I got. But all I said was, you know what? Hey, Bruce, how you doing? John, hope you're well.

And I walked in and walked past him and sat down at a table with my buddy, and that was the most satisfying hello, how you doing, that And I walked in and walked past him and sat down at a table with my buddy. And that was the most satisfying hello, how you doing, that I've ever had in my life. So that's how I got traded, man. And to this day, I don't know if John or Bruce have ever – I don't know if they remember that moment because they were kind of hammered. But I don't know if I've ever let them live it down.

Just because I think I got traded because I played defense. I made a lot of money and I wasn't an offensive guy. And there was a time where I think John wanted to win with offense. You know, regardless of how much or how many plays you made, he wanted a team that could win with offense. You got to remember, our team was led by a dominant defense. And so slowly but surely, think about it. Warren Stapp got cut.

John Lynch got cut. They cut Derrick Brooks. Damian Rice got cut. So all the stalwarts or the great bucket of defense slowly got cut. And you started to see guys like Charlie Garner brought in, Todd Stussy, Derek Deese, like all the old offensive guys. So it was fun, man. But I hated the day I got traded,

but it turned out to be one of the best things in my life. You hate Gruden, though. I mean, is it fair to say that you just don't like John Gruden? I'm not going to say I don't. I hate him because I think hate's a strong word. But let's just say there are more people in my life that I like than John Gruden. So you have him. He's not in your top.

Can I do a little thing here where I think this is, I'm not disagreeing with you here, but I always find it interesting in that part of the reason all you guys are successful is because you're wired a certain way and you decide very early on like this is what it's about and yet I'm going to stay with this focus when the rest of the world gets weeded out and sometimes it's just the physical part of it. But you're mad that you get traded from a Tampa team that isn't any good

and they're transitioning and you don't even like that coach. And they got a second rounder for a 29-year-old D tackle and you didn't really play that much more. Well, there's never a point where you went, hey, you know what? Like this actually makes a ton of sense and maybe I'll get to go be competitive with a really good team with Peyton Manning. Because that's what an outsider would think and I think whenever the thing

is happening to you, as this was, you and I'm not saying this specific to you, but I think we all inherently think about the disrespect before we think about the opportunity. Because we're all selfish. Like, everyone innate ability to take the selfishness away

from their situation doesn't exist and so we all are going to look at it from a selfish standpoint so yeah i look at it the same way like i've been in tampa i was building my house like you know it's 70 degrees every day i'm thinking about all the things that affect me and those are taken away like really quickly. Like all my friends, I'd never been to Indianapolis. I'd never been to the Midwest. And so I'm going to a place that I know no one, I've never been, all because the organization said, okay,

a 29-year-old defensive tackle that was making $4.5 million at the time doesn't fit what we want to do, so we're going to move on and go another direction. Yeah, it probably made a lot of sense. I couldn't see that. I wasn't worried about them. It was all about me. You're right, though. We never think about that. We don't think about what's going on with family. We don't think of just the reality of you love where you're living. Oh, by the way, you don't get to live here anymore. And that's the job. So even though I can have sympathy and acknowledge it, there's always a cold part of me that will say do you want to do something else where you can stay wherever

you want because those jobs aren't as aren't as cool as the ones that you guys have um whenever whenever i talk to guys about it give me your best because you know my i'm wearing my lsu hat here in manhattan beach and i've already got one game under the belt this year the austin game which i wasn't going to miss for anything i have a couple of other scheduled give me your best lsu recruiting story although you know you never know with you louisiana guys i'll look at a roster it's like 107 dudes and like three are from out of state so um give me give me everything that went into going there and playing at Tiger Stadium? You know, my best friend at the time in high school went to the University of Arkansas. And so there was a lot

of pull from the University of Arkansas and Danny Ford and that whole crew for me to come to Arkansas and play with him. And I considered it really, really, really strongly, man um in the end i took about five trips i went to notre dame um touchdown jesus the whole nine a little too chilly for me up there so that wasn't going to work i i went to tennessee and while i'm on my own official visit at tennessee

this is i think tennessee had played alab visit at Tennessee, this is, I think Tennessee had played Alabama that night, and this is after the game. Phil Fulmer is the head coach, so Phil comes in the recruiting room. He's like, Anthony? He's like, yeah, I want you to walk out here on the field with me. I'm like, cool. So I walk out, and we're walking through the goalposts,

and Phil is like, hey, can you picture and envision yourself playing in front of 100,000 people in the checkerboard end zone? I'm like, yeah. He's like, now. He walks up beside me, puts his arm around me. He says, I want you to close your eyes. I'm like, okay, this is getting a little weird

already, you know? He says, I want you to imagine those same 111,000 or whatever. Now i want you to imagine those same 111 000 or whatever now i want you to bend over imagine yourself bending over your hand is on the ground and slowly peyton manning slides his hands underneath your rear end he said and now peyton manning is taking snaps from you like can you envision that i was like no i feel, can you envision that? I was like, no, Phil, I can't envision that. So that ended my Tennessee recruitment because he wanted me to play center and not defensive tackle.

So Danny Ford makes the official visit to the house in Louisiana. And, you know, again, it's widely thought of that because my best friend is there, I'm going to go to Arkansas, or at least i'm going to consider them very strongly so danny ford this is 1994 no this is early 95 danny ford walks in my mother's house and of course we're southern louisiana people country folk so my mama has cooked a spread we got food everywhere i mean it's fried chicken falling off the stove is so much and she's like like, Danny was like, well, let's go in the living room and kind of sit down and talk a little bit before dinner. So

we all do that. Danny walks in. I sit down. And as Danny's getting ready to sit down, Danny sat there. He sat back in the chair. And the first move he made, he put his cowboy boots on my mama's coffee table. And at that point, I knew I wasn't going to Arkansas.

So regardless of what my best friend did, and regardless of what Danny Ford was about to say, the fact that he didn't respect my mother's house enough not to put his boots on her coffee table, she was not going to sign off on me going to Arkansas. So LSU made sense for me in a lot of ways. It was very practical. My family could come see me play. It was two hours from the house. And on my recruiting trip was the first time that I'd ever gone to like a real party. You know, I grew up in a small town, probably 3,200 people, man.

Like we didn't have parties. Like hanging out to us was going to the local Walmart on on a friday night and everybody hanging out in the parking lot so when i got to lsu and i went to a party where it's i mean it is two o'clock in the morning and um like like we're all just just partying it was an oh no the night was just getting started so it was an unreal feeling to go to that party and then on top of that um jerry dinardo i gave him the benefit of the doubt which i probably shouldn't have um and so that's how i kind of wound up lsu man i had no i until i first started really getting close to it i didn't realize that jerry DiNardo are four little words in Baton Rouge. Man, it's just, I mean, walking around tailgates, hell, I'll hear one this year. And I met Jerry a couple times, so I don't have anything bad to say.

But it's one of those things where when you bring an outsider into Baton Rouge and it doesn't go well, forget it. So I know that we've known each other for a little while and, you know, different guys, you know, ask me about different guys all the time and the athletes and everything. And the one thing that I've always really appreciated about you and what stood out was that, you know, from day one, you'd be like, hey, I'm Booger. And it's funny that you said the Anthony thing because as I was researching

some of this stuff last night before we sat down to talk today, there's actually a Google search that comes up that says, is Anthony McFarlane related to Booger McFarlane, which I thought was actually pretty clever. Um, but people were asking the question and there's so many athletes that we interact with when you're in Bristol every day. And I can understand the first guys being a little guarded, a little, maybe even a little standoffish. I mean, hell, I'm some, I'm like that sometimes. I don't even do anything cool. And you from day one, and I don't know if it's Louisiana thing. I don't know if it's your upbringing, the family,

it's probably a combination of all these different things. You didn't care who the other person was, what their status was, what their job was. You would sit down and spend time with that person. There's something about you that's different with guys that have had a really great career where from day one, you treat everyone as an equal. And I think people try to do that. And for you, it's always incredibly sincere and natural. It's kind of how I was raised, man.

You know, my mother raised three kids on $18,683 a year, Ryan. She taught us values. She taught us right from wrong. And she also taught us just respecting people. And you're no better than anyone else. I mean, I saw that. I lived that. My mother was born in 1955. She grew up in an

era where, because of the color of her skin, she couldn't do certain things. And I saw her go from that to as times changed, she changed. You know, one of the first jobs that I remember her getting, you know, was in our neighborhood. There was an older white lady who basically just needed a caretaker. And she hired my mother. My mother worked for her for over a decade.

hired my mother my mother worked for her for over a decade and so like when you just see the lesson and not only the lessons that i saw based on how she lived the lessons that she taught me those things have stuck with me for a long time and um i'm i'm no better than anybody else man regardless of what position i hold or what company i work for it doesn't matter like even now people look at now and say man you know man man, you're money and football. And most of the people that work with us can't believe like who I hang with. Like it's basically some of the camera guys, some of the nerdy stats guys.

Like I like talking to people and being around people that I think are fun and interesting regardless of the position you hold. Because I think when you want to be around people because of the status of title, then you're always looking for something. I just enjoy people that are genuine. Maybe there's something interesting about them that I can relate to. But that's just how I was raised, man.

And I think that that is a characteristic of a lot of Southern people. More so than you would if I were from New York or LA. Because your tendency, when you're from a big city and there's so many people and there's so much going on, you can't have, or it's tougher to have some of those roots, some of those core values, because it's a hustle and bustle city. There's too much going on yeah it's really impressive it really is because in the beginning we'd be like where's booger be like oh he's having lunch with a pa and he's like what what's he doing like is he all right we're like no he's he's cool he likes the guy he's like they get along like all right that's

that's cool so let's you know we all know the story about the transition from last year and then them putting you in the booth and the Wittens out, and then you come in. And Brian Curtis, who I'm lucky to call a guy I can work with here at The Ringer, who I think is as good as anyone in the country when it comes to covering media stories. There's a part in that story in The Ringer that I thought was really important where you basically decided, all right, I'm sending an email to everybody that matters, you know, Jimmy Pataro,

Connor shell, Steph, truly leaf fitting. And you're like, all right, I'm, I'm doing this and I'm telling them I want it and I'm going for it. What was it like for you prepping to write this email out to let them know that you wanted the number one role in the Monday night booth? You know, man, it was, I really didn't put much, put much thought into like, you know, I learned a long time ago if there's something in life that you want,

then you got to not only work for it, but you got to let people know. There's too many times, you know, it's assumed that you want something. It's assumed that, okay, they're going to know you want it. So I just wanted to be vocal and let them know, A, I wanted the job, and B, I could do the job. And I think that's the thing that I wanted to leave, like regardless of whether they were going to offer Peyton Manning half for Disney. Like that didn't matter to me.

I just wanted them to know that I did a role last year that I felt like I didn't audition for. And the role that was present now, which was open, that's the one that I wanted and I could do. And so I just wanted to let them know that I could do the job, man. And I was looking forward to it. That way, at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, they didn't hear from an agent they didn't hear from a handler they heard it directly from my voice and i think that means something in life man i i think that carries weight when you can make a connection with your boss and your superiors about what it is that you're trying to do like it means something i don't care what profession

you're in when you can make a personal connection with the people that are going to make the decisions, I think that will go a long way into you getting whatever job or situation that you're trying to get. And I think it was for me. And so that was just me just kind of being me, man, just trying to be proactive instead of reactive. Yeah, because it worked and you deserved it. And last year's setup sucked and you handled it all year, but you're right. Cause I think sometimes decision makers like, hell, I can send an email. Sometimes it works. And I can also tell you sometimes it backfires, but as a guy that played in the league a bunch of years and had a really nice run that can surprise people. So it's, it's a lesson really for everybody, but I think specific to you

that, Hey, this guy's actually stepping up himself to reach out to us in his own words, to tell him how important this is. Cause it is important. I mean, it's Monday night football. This is really important. The legacy, the, the, you know, the standard that you'll set, you know, the rarity of African-Americans being the number one analyst in this booth. And when I looked at the numbers on it, I'm like, man, these numbers are really bad. Like this is really, this is way worse than I thought until I had the numbers right in front of me, how rare it actually happens. And you know, it's something it's pretty, you know, it's one thing to be proud of just being in a great role, but it's, it's a whole nother level

of, of things that are important that are, I don't want to say on you. Cause I know you don't look at it as the pressure of that, because I know you don't, but this is just an awesome thing. And I'm really excited for you this year, man. Well, Ron, I really appreciate it, man. And you and I have had a ton of different conversations about a ton of different things. And I know exactly when you say something that you mean it. And I appreciated that. i don't look at it as more responsibility but i do understand the the position that i'm in i understand the weight that it carries and i i don't think that you can run or hire from the fact that there haven't been a lot of people that look like me in

this position whether that's my uh my my color whether that's where i grew up in i grew up at whether that is uh the side of the ball that I played on. Like I can continue to give you so many different things that are atypical to the position that I'm in. And I understand that and I respect the position for it. But what I try to do is generally speaking, is just be myself. You know, that email that I sent to the bosses and we talked, they hired me because they have confidence in me being me. And so when I'm on the broadcast

and when I'm talking football and I'm laughing and joking and I'm giving you analogies based on what I see, that is the best version of Booger that you're going to get or that you can get

because they didn't hire me to try to be like anybody else. They hired me because of what they've seen over the last four or five years in this company. When I came to Bristol for the first time and nobody even knew who I was until now, I think they feel pretty good about that. And so that's all I'm trying to do, man, is just be the best version of myself. And it's going to be enjoyable. It's going to be fun.

I think, you know, so far this season, it's been really, really cool to see just how fans react and how the games kind of dictate whether or not, you know, you get a chance to analyze some really good football or you got to kind of dictate whether or not, you know, you get a chance to analyze some, some, some really good football or you got to kind of tell story time. And so it's been fun so far, man. Yeah. And those blowouts get those stories going. Last one before I let you go, because next time we do this,

I want to talk more ball, but I just wanted to share kind of your thing with everybody because I think it's cool. Is LSU going to be Bama this year? You know, it's funny you mentioned that because I'm it's cool. Is LSU going to beat Bama this year? It's funny you mention that because I'm sitting here now contemplating that because I'm looking at how we're playing and everything we're doing right now

and I feel really, really good. But man, we got to be able to cover some people, man. That's what we're struggling to do right now. I just hope that we have an opportunity late in the fourth quarter. That's the one thing that I'm looking for.

Give us an opportunity late in the fourth quarter and then you allow the caliber of athletes that you have to be able to make plays. I think the one thing that's really been disappointing

is that late in that game when you want to see guys make plays in crunch time, we haven't been in that late in that game when you want to see guys make plays in crunch time we haven't been in that position in a long time where you know your five-star athletes where your coaching staff where your your your conditioning in the summer can pay off late in that game i just want us to be in that position late in the game and let's see where the chips fall all right sounds good we'll talk to you soon. Later, Ron.

Appreciate it, man. Anytime. All right. That was good stuff from Booger. I've always been a fan, and I mean it. You may not like him on Monday night, but he's a good dude. And that's just the deal. What's the approval rating of analysts or play-by-play guys on national games? Is anybody over 50%?

I mean, seriously if people can't stand collinsworth i think al michaels is just so good i would i think it'd be weird to be like i can't stand al michaels um i like collinsworth more now than when i was a kid when i was a kid i didn't like him now i think he's good i thought gruden was good but he liked everybody um torico's outstanding i'm not going to go through this whole thing because then if i say somebody's but he liked everybody. Tirico's outstanding. I'm not going to go through this whole thing because then if I say somebody's terrible, then it's going to end up being something that, because I'm this massive influencer,

I don't feel like dealing with it. Okay, Monday, we'll be here with Chris Long, wrapping up week three. We actually have a couple good things cooking. We don't know if we're going to be able to get Mike Jones on the podcast. I DM'd him straight up. I just went for it.

I'm like, hey, we want to have you on. And I've been listening to Mike Jones all week. That thing is solid. Like, that's not just some, you know, it's, I don't want to call it kid A, but it's, there's very few skips on Mike Jones. And when you really listen to the lyrics, that is a guy just like, hey, everybody thought I sucked, and now what's up? I want you to take that thought.

I want you to have that mindset all weekend long. Let us know how it goes. you