Will Cain Country - Cain On Sports: Belichick vs. Harbaugh, Playoff Picks, & Favorite Non-Football Sports

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

On the inaugural edition of Will's Friday sports episode on The Will Cain Show, Will sits down with the host of Crain & Company, the Daily Wire sports show, Jake Crain to discuss the biggest stories around the sports world. Story #1: If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, why have the Dallas Cowboys retained Mike McCarthy? Story #2: What is your favorite sport to watch if your team is not involved? Story #3: Will the transfer portal destroy college football? Story #4: How many streaming services do you need to keep up with your sports viewing habits? Story #5: Picks and predictions for the NFL Divisional Playoff Round. Tell Will what you thought by emailing [e-mail] Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over. Why have the Cowboys retained Mike McCarthy? Two, what's your favorite sport to watch if none of your teams that you care about are involved? Three, the transfer portal threatens to do what to college football? Four, how many streaming services do you pay for to keep up with sports? And five, picks of the NFL playoffs with the host of Crane and Company on The Daily Wire, Jake Crane. Hey, it's the Will Cain Show at Fox News.com and on YouTube at Will Cain Show and, of course, on podcast, wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast. Welcome to the Friday edition of the Will Kane Show, a sports exclusive.

Today, we hit five stories across the world of sports and make our picks for this weekend in the NFL with the host of Crane & Company, sports show at the Daily Wire. And he is a movie star, one of the stars of Lady Ballers, the movie at the Daily Wire Plus. It is Jake Crane, who I'm happy now to welcome in to the Will Cane Show. He is a movie star. He's the star of Lady Ballers. And he is the host of Crane and Company at The Daily Wire. He is Jake Crane. What's up, man?

So glad to have you on the Will Kane show. Will, it's great to be on here, man. Really excited to hop on and chop it up with you. Yes, you know, I knew my father would never be more proud than knowing that my breakthrough movie was me dressing up as a woman and dunking on stunt women in a basketball movie. But now, dude, it's great to join you. I always enjoyed your. work. And yeah, it's, we're hitting it in all different phases right now. I'm feeling good about

it. You, uh, dressed up as a woman. You know, it's interesting. There's this, this conversation going around about like when men are forced to dress up like women. I just saw that Ricky Williams was on Shannon Sharpe's podcast talking about the famous photo on ESP in the magazine where he was in a wedding dress with Mike Dicka when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints at the time. Um, He said that Dan Lebitard, formerly of ESPN, talked him into wearing that dress that they thought it would be funny. But, you know, Shannon Sharp had Kat Williams on his pocket. He's talking about how many times black men have been forced to dress up like women.

It is kind of odd. Just as a social observation, like, why? Why in a dress for Ricky Williams? No, look, I'm with you. Fortunately for me, the furthest I had to go was a bow in the hair. It was kind of the point of the movie was to make fun of that. we really weren't women, but we were playing against women, and I progressively got more masculine looking throughout the movie on purpose. But yeah, you know, I'm not, I don't think I'm to that

famous point yet where like now when you dress up as a woman, they're like, hey, you know, did you just get back from the Bilderberg meeting and they put you in that like wooden owl that they set on fire like Nicholas Cage and Wickerman? I don't think I'm there yet. But no, it is kind of interesting when you think about it. But then I go back and think about some of my favorite movies. I mean, Eddie Murphy dressing up as anything in general, but watching him do it. And I mean, heck, all the way back to even Mrs. Doubtfire, man. I mean, it's something that it's been going on for a while. And no, luckily, there was no dress for me. I did have to wear three different velour suits in the middle of June. So that was interesting, especially

with some duck waiters. But it's, man, that Kat Williams interview was wild. That was just, that was absolutely wild. I feel like it was so specific. It just kind of threw me for a loop. By the way, you guys should check it out. Lady Ballers. It's at Daily Wire Plus. It's a very successful movie independently produced here and of course it stars jake so i wanted to hit five sports topics with you today we'll do our best to make our way through them i want to start with the definition of insanity which they say is doing the same thing over and over and again expecting a different result the dallas cowboys have said they will not hire a new coach they were not fire mike mic mccarty and in fact there are now reports they'll bring back dan quinn as well if he doesn't get a head

coaching job um i have a lot of thoughts jake but you know i'm curious what you think of the cowboys bringing back Mike McCarthy. Well, look, I do know this. When I look at Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott, and off the rip, I do want to say that, there's multiple reasons why the Cowboys failed this season. And there's been multiple reasons why they have failed in past seasons, especially in the greatest team sport of all in football. It's typically never one reason.

But I do know Mike McCarthy has a Super Bowl, albeit with Aaron Rogers, who's 100% witch, but he does have a Super Bowl. I've seen him do it before. Jerry Jones, even though it was back in the Jimmy Johnson days, I've seen him do it. I don't have as much of a problem with Mike McCarthy as I do Dak Prescott. And it's for this reason, and the main one, it seems as though every time Dak Prescott gets a chance in a big game or in a postseason, he can never get over the hump. Some guys are just regular season guys. Kirk Cousins, regular season guy.

Go out there, he'll put up good numbers. You get to the playoffs. And he's like, Drew Barrymore from 51st States, he just totally forgets everything. And Dak Prescott does the same thing. But when I look at this organization, it also seems that the Cowboys play with a sense of fear and nervousness and tightness in the playoffs. It wasn't just Dak that calls them the game. The defense absolutely disappeared, right? Aaron Jones wouldn't get in touch eight, nine, ten yards in the box.

So when I look at going forward, bringing back Mike McCarthy is one thing. Heck, bringing back Dan Quinn is one thing. But you're now going to bring back a quarterback whose biggest accomplishment is winning 13 games as a rookie. You're going to bring back a quarterback that never won a championship in college, all right, has never done anything in the playoffs in the NFL. And at some point, you have to look at the cap space and what you're going to have to pay that Prescott, excuse me, the next couple years. And it's going to hamstring you even more.

If Dak was really about it, Will, he would do what Tom Brady did. He would say, you know what, let's take some of this money that you're going to, I know you're going to have to pay Micah. I know you're going to have to pay CD. You're already giving me half the gold in Dallas. Let's take some of my cut and let's go put a roster. together that we can win in multiple ways and guys that don't play nervous and tighten the playoffs. So I don't have as much problem with sitcom dad, sitcom dad, Mike McCarthy. I have more of a problem with Dak Prescott. If you show me who you are enough, eventually will, I'm going to

believe you. You know, there's this thing that you have your immediate reaction. And look, I actually have this debate with my co-host, Rachel Campos Duffy a lot. Like, what is the value of your initial instinct. What is the value of your, sort of your, you know, your, your nascent animal instincts when you see something and it's your first reaction? And then there's that that competes with, okay, let me step back now soberly and think about this and look into this. Here's what I'm getting at. Like, you asked me on Sunday, and I'm done with Mike McCarthy. And I hear everything you're saying about Dak Prescott. And I'm not here to say you're wrong. I'm not. But then I start, you know, then I dig, and I start, and I read, and I do what I do.

And you come up with things like this. Okay, Mike McCarthy is 36 and 15 of the last three years, three straight, 12, and five seasons. Mike McCarthy's career record, both in the playoffs and in the regular season, is almost identical to Mike Tomlin and Sean Payton and John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Each of them have won one Super Bowl. His resume is essentially indistinguishable from guys who no one talks about. Look at the dumb face on Mike Tomlin. Nobody does. But we take still shots of Mike McCarthy and we go, look at the dumb face on Mike McCarthy.

And I start to think, you know, this guy, like if you really dig, is underappreciated. And yet I can't get over my animal instinct of seeing that game, Jake. It was horrific and it was a coaching failure because it was a failure at every level. Now, I will tell you, same thing with Dak to some extent. There's no getting around it. Dack was bad. And Dack hasn't gotten over that hump like you talk about in the playoffs. And then you look back and I follow all these guys that dig into the tape and dig into the stats.

And I mean, look, the end result of what I'm about to say is not Dack was actually good. But C.D. played bad. Like he dropped a lot of passes. Brandon Cooks ran bad routes. And Dack wasn't as bad as it ends up looking. Like on that one pick to Jaya Alexander. Brandon Cooks ran a bad route and he didn't fight for the ball.

And so like everything ends up on the quarterback and I guess maybe I'm irrational and I'm always going to be there for DAC but I don't know. I mean, I think it's hard to willingly cast yourself back into the wilderness to end up like the commanders and cycle through quarterback after

quarterback trying to find the guy who can do what Dak Prescott has done. Like when do you give up on really good? in search of great. And my thing on that, Jake, is like, I did this, even though we always knew he was great with Dirk. We did it with Dirk.

And then, you know what happened in 2011? It broke through. And Dirk won it all. And honestly, of the Texas Rangers probably supplanted it this year for me, but that Dallas Mavericks NBA championship in 2011 was sweet because of how much pain had to be poured in to winning that. I kind of think there is a story like that out there for Dack Prescott. Well, it will.

Look, I'm rooting for, for the guy. I don't dislike Dak Prescott. I like Dak Prescott when he was in Mississippi State and the way he played the game and the way he went about his business. But you started this segment off with a statement that is very true. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again. How many 12 and 5 regular seasons are we going to see with and the combination of Dak Prescott, Mike McCarthy, and Jerry Jones, how many 12 and five seasons are we going to see where it results in putting yourself in a position to be able to play a Packers team with a quarterback that just came out of the womb that really is still getting his

giraffe legs on him. He comes out, and the whole team was dominated. But here's what I'll say. And the buck stops with the head coach. Ultimately, it stops with the owner. But the quarterback, especially in the NFL, he is the main pusher of the product. You think the last five quarterbacks to win Super Bowls. The worst one is Matt Stafford. So when I look at Dak Prescott, how many times did Tom Brady's guys go out there and run the wrong routes in big games? How many times did the Rams ride receivers go out and run wrong routes in big games? The

quarterback is the one who sets the tone. I'm too afraid to go run the wrong route. We are too connected to run the wrong route because damn it, this game means too much. And we haven't done it yet. At the end of the day, you either make the plays that win or you make the plays that lose. And it's not all on that

Prescott. It'll never always be on one player. But when you make the money he makes, when you're the quarterback that has that star on the side of your helmet. It lives and it dies with you. And you keep dropping the ball at the most important times. And at some point, to your point, do you have to move on and stop doing the same thing? Does that mean it's get rid of Dak alone? I don't know. Does that mean it's getting rid of Mike McCarthy or Jerry Jones, which is not going to happen? But this recipe together does not win. And it has shown you, in my opinion, it's sealing. And let's not

act like Dak doesn't have help, right? Dax had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. C.D. Lamb is a monster. You see what he's had around him. That defense has been constructed to make up for when they didn't play well on offense, which happens a couple times a year and always will. So I'm done giving Dak the benefit of the doubt. You're either going to do it or you're not going to do it. You're either going to put him on your back and carry them or you're not. And at this point, you've shown that you're not. So now I'm going to pay you a king's ransom and have to fork out money to all to these other guys and not be able to build this dominant roster that can actually go win a Super Bowl. So you can go out there and go 12 and 5. and get run out of the playoffs in the first two rounds anyway. I don't know, man. I just eventually you've got to break the seal. By the way, I think there is one more year. Dak will have to get an extension this year. He'll be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.

Mike McCarthy, I saw Kevin Clark from the ringer say this. There's never been a coach that's been more pre-fired than Mike McCarthy. He's pre-fired for 2024. In order for him to survive this year, I don't know, NFC championship game at a minimum, I would assume, next year. Without a doubt. So staying on coaching, one of the things about Mike McCarthy, Jake, was whether or not to move on, was also like, what are your options? This is a unique year. Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh are on the market. And I'm just curious, like, do you think that is, we'll set aside the Cowboys now? Like, how unique of a situation is this if you're a team looking for a coach in the NFL? There will be guys who they want Bobby Sloick, the offensive coordinator from the Texans, or Ben Johnson, who's engineered.

a great offense. And so it's always like the hot new offensive coordinator is going to have his place. But at this point, like you get, you get on your menu of options, the greatest professional football coach of all time, and the hottest coaching candidate for what are we looking at now, like 10 years running in Jim Harbaugh? Like, do you think this is a special moment where everyone should be gone? And by the way, Belchick's 71. And he's already among the oldest active coaches ever, ever in the NFL. So I think it's legitimate to say, how many years do I get out of Belichick? So you're the Falcons, you're the Chargers, you're whoever.

How special is this moment in your mind where you have these two guys on the market? Well, it doesn't come around a lot. I mean, we're kind of seeing a changing of the guard in the NFL from a coaching standpoint, similar to what we've seen in college football and especially in college basketball. I mean, we had a bunch of legends all retire, basically within a two-year span, Beheim, Roy Williams, Coach Kay, and go down the list. But it's a very, it's kind of an anomalous opportunity. You're not going to get a shot to be able to get a guy like Bill Belichick, who we've

had the conversation, was it more Tom Brady, was it more Bill Belichick? They were both involved in it. They both won it. I kind of dive into one side of that more than the other. But if I'm a team like the Falcons, I never think, I never would think Bill Belichick and Jerry Jones would work out. That just doesn't seem like at the end of the day with those two egos that would ever work out.

So if I'm the Falcons or the Chargers, to me, Jim Harbaugh is the most intriguing will. And I've got a theory why. And I've talked about this for the last three years. Even before he won the national championship at Michigan, I don't think you will find a more motivated guy to win a Super Bowl than Jim Harbaugh. And you say, why? Jake, why? A bunch of guys are motivated?

Well, if you ever grew up with a sibling or you competed with somebody growing up that was really close to you, that maybe even sat at your dinner table. It's one thing to win a national championship at Michigan. That's great. You can win all of them. But not only did your brother win a Super Bowl. He beat you in the Super Bowl. At some point, Jim Harbaugh wants to win Thanksgiving again, Will.

He wants to win Christmas and hell, he wants to win Halloween. And every time he goes back for a family, you know, engagement or whatever, he's got to sit down and jacks at the head of the table. And look at John's Super Bowl winner over Jim. Hey, congrats, Jim, on the college national championship. Man, is that cute? Man, is that the cutest thing ever. So if you get Jim Harball, which is the reason I think he should leave,

You can do no more at Michigan. You'd be going out on top. You're already a legend there. The one box you can't check and you haven't checked yet. Is that Super Bowl? It doesn't mean you have to beat John. So if you're the Chargers or the Falcons and you're going to get them, let's say you have the full options in front of you, you'd pick Harbaugh over Belichick. I'd pick Belichick over Harbaugh.

Why, do you mind explaining that to me? Like, what's your theory on? Why, I would pick Belichick over Harbaugh? Greatest coach of all time. I mean, I understand the Tom Brady thing. And I actually, I give the pie chart. 70% to Tom Brady. But I still have to give 30% to something that produced an unparalleled dynasty in an era of NFL football that was designed to destroy the prospects of dynasties.

Of course, the draft, but that's been around for a while, which is basically a socialist enterprise that says the worst get to go first. But free agency, salary cap, everything was designed to keep a team from building what the Patriots built. And to your point about, Like earlier, oh, you're not going to run the wrong route. That ain't going to happen with Bill Belichick. I have friends that play for Bill Belichick. It's a grind. It's not pleasant.

But for five years. And maybe it depends on who you are. Like if you're the Cowboys and you've got a lot there to bring together, five years of Belichick over Harbaugh. Maybe if you need to build more. By the way, I think if I'm the Chargers, I'm Belichick over Harbaugh. If I'm the Falcons, you can talk me into this is a longer project. And so I need someone that I can guarantee will be here more than three years.

Maybe Harbaugh. But I just, I would default to the greatest coach of all time. And Will, I totally get that. It's logical rational argument. But at some point, doesn't that feel like Bill's just gotten bored? Like, didn't the Patriots, didn't it seem like it just turned into Bill Belichick was like, all right, look, I've won six Super Moles with the greatest cornerback of all time? Let me get the worst players and put him on the roster and see if we can win.

He turned his DC into his OC. The man, 71. He's either delusional or he's gotten bored at this point. And he tried to just invent ways to win. He did an unbelievable job of getting not mediocre players, but mid-level players in the eyes of other people and going and winning Super Bowls. Like, it's almost now like he's trying to take that a step further. I just, I can see it. It's Bill Belichick.

Look, the man's a football genius, a football savant. That's true with the amount that he's won. But there's just something about the quirkiness of Jim Harbaugh and losing to his brother in the Super Bowl. I just know what it's like. As an older brother, I used to, I remember the first time my brother beat me in basketball in the driveway, and I swore it would never, ever happen again. There's just something deep and visceral and instinctual about it. Has he beat you again, Jake?

No, look, he can say what he wants. He's six foot four. Will he six. I know with secrets, right? The dude falls for more pump fakes than just about anybody. If anybody can beat him, I can't. All right, I'm going to ask you this. Topic number two.

What is your favorite sport, Jake Crane? to watch that does not involve a team that you care about, that you're not invested in. And I don't count, you can't factor in betting and you can't count football. So if it's not football and you have nothing on the game and none of your favorite teams are in it, what's your favorite sport to watch? Well, that really kind of takes the major three out for me. And golf, it's an individual sport. It's not a team.

And I'm going to tell you one, Will, and it's the best. best women's sport there is. And at first you'd say you think volleyball. Jake's going to go volleyball. No, sir. Keep your hands back. Go the other way. It's women's college softball. I love it. It is such a great product. Seriously. I will watch it. Now listen, I grew up an Auburn fan, right? But I will actually turn that on and watch the Women's College World Series. So Oklahoma is playing Oregon State in women's softball. Two schools you have no affiliation for. And you would watch that over an NBA game. Yeah, for sure. Without it. a doubt until the playoffs, maybe in the NBA, for multiple reasons, and we can go into that.

The NBA is a bad product right now. It's because they don't care about their consumers, right? If I want to watch a bunch of people play offense and nobody care, I'll go to a Globetrotters game, man. I don't got to go to an NBA game. But I would much rather watch Patty Gassow and those ladies get up to the plate and absolutely drop just mammo bombs. It's so much fun of the SDC. I can't believe this answer. I'm from SEC country, Will. Florida has been incredible in Salt. It's just, it's a, It's a fun thing to watch. Now, college basketball, a little bit different. Like I said, the main three, but professionally, I'm not watching the NBA.

They could play an NBA game in my living room during the regular season. And I will go to a Mexican restaurant to watch the Women's College World Series. Oh, my God. Mine is, and I don't care. I understand this is not going to be popular with the audience. Mine's soccer. If there's no team, I'll follow my teams in these other sports. But, like, honestly, Detroit Tigers take.

on the Chicago White Sox, I'm probably not there for that. You know, if the Texas Rangers aren't involved, I'm probably at this point not there for that game. But unfortunately, I host a morning show on the weekend, but Saturday and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m., two random teams in the English Premier League, or even, I'd even watch an Italian league, Syria two teams playing. There's something that's just very enjoyable about soccer. to me. It's relaxing. I love the time of day it comes on in America. I don't know, man. That's my

favorite one to watch where I have no investment at all. Well, Will, I couldn't have had that answer because I got an investment there. I'm a Chelsea fan, my friend. So I thought you just make fun of soccer. I thought you just make fun of it. I did one scene of the movie and now everybody thinks I hate it. My uncle actually, I mean, we've been watching EPL for a long time. I like watching good soccer, right? I'm not trying to watch, you know, what we do over here and we hang out kick the ball around and call it soccer. Like, I'm going to go watch, you know, used to watch Dragba and all those guys coming up. I enjoy that.

But yeah, I got a little bit invested, man. I'm a, I'm a Chelsea fan. Go Blue. All right. I'm Sky Blue, Man City. By the way, quality soccer is, you're right. Look, I have boys. They both are very into soccer.

So I watch soccer at every level, youth up to high school. But quality does impact it big. Like, I watched Clemson. I think it was Clemson Notre Dame in the NCAA Championship. And it's just, it's fine. But man, when you see it played at its highest level, it's mesmerizing. Well, imagine watching that Clemson, Notre Dame game in college football. Like, that's quality.

Soccer. Yeah. Not so much. Okay. So let's move. Top of number three to college football. So the portal is going crazy. You're a huge college football fan as am I.

And we're watching our sport. I don't want to be hyperbolic. or doomsdayish. So I don't want to just gravitate to the word destroyed, but the sport fundamentally change before our eyes. It's happening on the ground underneath our feet as we speak. As we speak. And it's benefiting my team for the record.

Like the portal is benefiting the Texas Longhorns. But we're watching some crazy stuff going on. And Jake, Texas Longhorns guys are getting Lamborghinis. And weirdly, it's not weird, I guess, because of the coaching change, but Alabama's getting destroyed in the portal. Yeah, I mean, look, Nick Saban retires and it changes the whole landscape. But here's what I want to say to everybody out there that like you and I have concerns for it is worried about the future of college football. The on-the-field product is as good as it's ever been.

And as long as that is the case, I think college football will be fine in the short term. Where it scares me in the long term is what separates college football from the NFL. It's localism to me. It's not amateurism. People have been getting, my dad played at Auburn in 86, 87. He got paid, all right? It's localism, not amateurism. You feel tied into a team from Tuscaloosa, from Oxford.

This isn't Atlanta. This isn't, this is, why do you think the Buffalo Bills have the most collegiate atmosphere out of any of the NFL teams when you go to a tailgate? Because they treat it like a college team. It's a smaller market area that really, I mean, my city, where I'm from Auburn, they depend on that revenue that comes in every year from college football season. And it's that local feel. And the more corporate that the NFL gets, and we see this, the less attachment to localism,

and you don't feel attached to that player that he may be from Kissimmee, Florida, but you chose to go to Auburn. And that makes us family. You lose that feel. Because it's not like they got drafted. It's not like they had no choice unless your last name's Manning. Then you can just go wherever you want to go. But it's not like you sat here and had to go here. No, you chose to go here.

So when we lose that and you can't have that. attachment in that local field to the players who are there for five years like they used to be. To me, that's what kills the breadth of college football. That's why I think college football is better than the NFL. That's why I think there's more passion for it. You're speaking my language, Jake. This is something I talk a lot about. I talk about the monoculture and what's great about college football. I agree with you 100%. I've always said regionalism. It's the passionate disagreement of small differences. Like what separates Texas and Oklahoma, a river and not many hundreds of miles, you know, and that's what makes it great.

Like that, I totally agree with you. And by the way, like, here's an example. I love Arches at Texas. And you said if a guy from Florida comes up to Auburn, he becomes one of yours, maybe in part. But the truth is, I bet, Jake, for you as an Auburn fan, and for me as a Texas fan, I do feel a little bit more of an emotional attachment to a recruit that is from Texas. like your own i want a recruiting class and sark is kind of going away from this to texas but i want a recruiting class that's 80% texans i don't want it to be 20% texans because we got all these studs from california and florida and the answer to that and the reason why is because of what you're saying localism like i just want a little more investment in hey those are our boys you know that's

that's where we're from and i do think the transfer portal is going to erode that it is eroding that i mean And by the way, from a football perspective, I'll put this to you as well. I think it's dangerous. It's going to put you on a treadmill because what happens is take Texas. They just took three receivers, one of them from Alabama. And those three receivers are going to be near the top of the depth chart. And all these stud four stars that you got from across the state who were freshmen or redshirt, freshman, sophomores, they're going to start looking at a log jam and they're in the portal.

So now you're on this treadmill of I've got to bring new guys in who are juniors and seniors every year to keep the position going. It erodes localism. It erodes the attachment to players over a four-year period. And I don't know. It may ultimately erode high school recruiting. Well, I mean, you mix that with guys being able to play nine years in college football. Their spots being taken away from high school players.

And you'll hear high school coaches talk about this. So not only are you able to leave whenever you want, Not only is there no punishment from going here to their, up or down, left, right, east, or west. You can stay for seven years, right? And I would much rather get a Dylan Gabriel in year six as a quarterback if I'm Dan Lanning after Bo Nix left. How do you replace one guy that was in college football for 30 years? You get another guy that's been in there for 30 years.

But here's what it boils down to, Will, and what you're talking about with the Texans. In college football, when we play each other, it's my way of life versus your way of life. Yeah. And that's the difference. and having this merry go round and a non-attachment and all of a sudden one guy leaves and everybody leaves, how do you build culture that way? Michigan didn't win that way. How many times will have we seen in college basketball, a team full of one and duns

win the national championship? That's not who wins it. It's the guys with old guards. And I don't know how you build culture on a roster of 125 when you can leave at any point in time to go anywhere. And the first sign of trouble, you just bail. Now, I think there should be transfer rules. There are some that I agree with.

I think if the head coach leaves, you should be able to leave with no penalty. Because with the new rules now, with NIL and all this and the transfer portal, it's never been a better time to commit to a person, not a place. Well, there's never been a better time as a player to commit to a coach and not a place because I can follow the coach around and go everywhere he goes. Yeah, Michigan, by the way, you know, what you're referencing is Michigan didn't actually, they've never had, I don't know that in the past five to 10 years, they've had a top five recruiting class.

They may not have had a top 10 recruiting class. And it's not though they did that with a bunch of three stars, but they-development. Yeah, development. By the way, they're about to get rated once Harbaugh goes. And this is the ultimate, I'm a mercenary in the end. I want to win. So Texas needs defensive linemen. Okay, let's go get those Michigan guys that have no local attachment.

Well, we'll. Because I want to win the SEC. We haven't seen this experiment run out. I'm watching Lane Kiffin try and build the team out of the transfer portal every year, right? To me, the best way to do it is you don't build the ship out of the transfer portal. You plug holes in the ship with the transfer portal. Hey, we just had a defensive end go first round. Okay, Tyler Barron, why don't you come on home, you can fill that need.

So I just wonder, I've never seen this before in football. So we're going to see as we go on this, Old Mitch's, Old Miss, and Colorado and Texas State, Those are great examples of seeing if you're going to be able to have success over time with that theory. Number four. Jake, how many subscriptions do you have in order to support your sports viewing lifestyle? How many different apps and companies are you paying money to to stream sports? God. Well, since I had to add Peacock because, you know, they just want to hold you at gunpoint now to watch certain games.

I think I've got four. I've got four. I already had Peacock because of soccer. So, so I don't even know. I'm definitely, I'm Peacock. I have Paramount soccer base as well. I do YouTube TV for my sort of foundation. What else do I have for Amazon Prime?

I'm trying to think what else I have. I've done Sunday ticket, I've done league pass. I don't think I have an active account on league pass. So I'm probably in the five to six range. And what, oh, ESPN Plus, because I have to watch Clemson. Out of market. My nephew plays for Clemson, so I have to have ESPN Plus to get ACC games and see that. So that's seven. I'm up to at what, 10 bucks a pop? Easy 10 bucks a pop a month. Yeah, I think I'm at five then. I forgot about the ESPN Plus. I do that because

I'm a degenerate. And a lot of the basketball games, I tend to put some money on, aren't exactly on ESPN2. I'm like, I'm big on Vermont tonight. Feel really good about them. The fight Bernie Sanders. Let's get it. Vermont catamounts. That's right. Can you do that, Jake? Can I do any school? Can you get it?

I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. Toledo. Rockets. Rice. Owls. San Jose State. Spartans.

They just got their coach taken away by Arizona. Look, I can do this all day. I'm basically like a human computer at this. Nevada. Wolfpack. New Mexico State. Lobos. New Mexico State is the Aggies. New Mexico is the loboes. He caught himself. That was a little wobble, but he caught himself. Oh, let's do this. I used to do this when I was a kid. This is totally impromptu as well. I'm going to name a player. You tell me where he went to college. Okay. Charles Barkley?

Auburn. Good. Keep it this easy. I'm going to look like a savant. NBA's going to be hard because so few of them either went or only spent one year. NBA's got to be really. That's got to be really. really hard NBA. I don't want somebody who went to college in, like, Hamburg or something. I mean, if we're going to do it, like... I know with the form players, so I didn't prep this segment. So how about John Stockton? Oh, John Stockton. John Stockton went to...

I almost said Steve Nash and Santa Clara. John Stockton went to... Hold on, give me one second. Wasn't BYU? John Stockton, Gonzaga? Before Gonzaga was Gonzaga? He is Gonzaga. Because it was Steve Nash, Santa Clara.

And it was John Stockton, Gensaga. I actually saw Steve Nash in the Santa Clara game where they beat Gonzaga the other night. I always respect a team that can win in college with basketball lines, or excuse me, volleyball lines on the basketball court, and their parents worked at concession stand. Like at Gonzagga, it's unbelievably impressive. Drew Locke, Missouri.

I try to just throw a random quarterback out there. I had to pick an SEC quarterback. But I have a feeling I might not have stumped you no matter where. I picked. Ben Rothlessberger? Miami, Ohio. Let's get it. Okay, so from now on in the future, I'm going to prep this,

and I'm going to have to dig deep, see if we can stump Jake Crane. Look, I feel like Will Smith in pursuit of happiness with the Rubik's Cube right now, and I just handed it to you finished, like as we get off the taxi. By the way, I bring up your streaming habits because Diamond Sports,

which, by the way, carries Bally Sports, carries too many of my teams, the Stars, the Rangers, the Mavericks is in bankruptcy filings. It's impacted free agency in Major League Baseball. and teams don't know how much they have to spend because they're not getting their money from Bally's. But now the note is that they're getting like $115 million investment from Amazon. So I guess I'll get my teams on Amazon Prime now,

which is a win for me. I already have it. So unless they may a la carte me and I have to start giving them more money in some way. But I didn't ever subscribe to Bally's. It was a problem. No, look, I'm from Braves Country, man. I know the feeling. Here's what I'll say.

I've got Amazon Prime, so I'm all for it. I don't think people realize. to how many teams are represented throughout all the major professional organizations like through, you know, what Valley's had. When you look at the map, it's really kind of sobering when you look at the amount of teams. But you know what? This is where I want to give credit to the Phoenix Suns. And yes, the Phoenix Mercury, the WMBA team that apparently plays also in Phoenix, where they're doing their stuff free on the air now. You know what I want, Will, and I know people are cutting cable. Like what happened to the good old days where I used to be able

where I was, turn on my local affiliate. There's the game. Right? Now, what they're doing to old people is insane. Like, my grandmother is 86 years old, all right? 86 years old, Will, biggest Braves fan of all time. This woman will watch every pitch of 162 games and call me in the middle of the night to tell me why Luke Jackson was the worst closer in the world for like two straight years. I love her to death. But now she's got to figure out how to stream the Braves. She's basically got to be related to Stephen Hawking to figure out how to get the Braves game on where she's at in Mississippi.

Like, why can't we just make this easier? So I do want to give credit to the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury playing their stuff free over the air. You don't have to have a subscription or anything. And it's sad. It's sad to be honest with you. But again, if you have it, the rich get richer, man. My name should be Richard. I got Amazon Prime.

So I'm going to be watching all of it, Will. Strapped up. We'll be right back with more of the Will Kane podcast. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcast.com. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America,

where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding, it's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com. Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson, Every crime tells the story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at foxtruecrime.com.

All right, let's, as our final story, story number five, let's you and I pick the games from this weekend, the NFL playoffs. We're going to do so with introducing to you something I talked about earlier this week on the Will Kane show, which I've always been fascinated by the theory and the lessons to learn from team building. And it always does come back to our. initial conversation, the quarterback. We laid this out earlier this week, Jake, on the Will Cain Show. You have three MVP-caliber quarterbacks in Mahomes, Jackson, and Allen.

Two of them have actually won an MVP. I think everyone feels like it's inevitable for Josh Allen. You have two young bucks in Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud. You have, who am I forgetting? You have, of course, Mr. Irrelevant. That's why I'm forgetting him. And Brock Purdy, who sort of fits into his own cast. category. And then you have two reclamation projects in Baker, Mayfield, and Jared Gough.

So you have categories and models, but they're all different. They don't give you insight into necessarily how to build your team for success in the NFL playoffs. The only commonality, Jake, is all of them but for Brock Purdy are first round draft picks, which would lead you to the idea, draft them in the first round. That doesn't guarantee you success. There's plenty of first round busts. But it seems to be a necessary, if not sufficient ingredient to playoff success in the NFL. Yeah, I mean, in aggregate, for sure, it's just like in college football, we talked about the recruiting classes. If I sign a top 10 recruiting class for five straight years, the odds of me having success at the highest level are probably higher than guys that took

a chance on a guy in a late round. You know, Brock Purdy is the anomaly. Tom Brady is the anomaly. They are not the happenstance. So if you're looking for the best percentage, most efficient way to try and guarantee yourself as much as possible having success at that point? Yes, going with a first round quarterback as a way to do it. No one should look at Tom Brady and say, you know what? We should draft quarterbacks in the sixth round. Yeah, see how that works out for you. Keep doing that. But when I look at it, to me, if there was one structure that worked and there was one way to do this, everybody would do it. It would all be the same. A lot of it goes down to how a lot of things work at the highest level

society, even outside of sports. It's about feel. It's about instinct. It's about relationships. And I think you have to have great feel as a human being, and that's half of coaching, to understand your team and understand when there is true leadership. That's why I talk about running the right route, running the wrong route. It has to be to a point where you are so connected that you're not willing to run the wrong route because you don't want to let that guy down that's taking the hits in that in the pocket for you. And that's why when you go back to should I draft this guy, should I not draft this guy? To me, at the end of the day, we can turn on the tape.

I can watch Zach Wilson run around his underwear at Pro Day, throw it 80 yards, watch to Marcus Russell get on a knee and throw it from just basically be Iron Dome, like over in the Middle East. But at the end of the day, Brock Purdy can work. Like, you have to have feel and know when they get there who's the right guy. So I don't think there's any sort of 100% structure or fail-safe way to do it. So I love what you're saying. Like everything in life, there has to be a balance.

I'll never forget when I was at ESPN, there were stories of some of these GMs. And you met a lot of GMs who would make these decisions about who to draft based on like the extreme version of feel, like gut instincts. Like I like the way that guy shook my hand. And some of that stuff is important. I tell my sons to make eye contact and give a firm handshake. But I'm not sure that tells you the C.J. Stroud is going to be better than Bryce Young. you know so there's but on the other hand to validate your point like baseball is the sport that's gone so far away from feel it's like all algorithmic data driven and look always bringing it back to my team

that's what everyone is praising bruce bocci about what the texas rangers is feel he knew when to pull a guy when to bring a new guy in who was hot and he listened to the data he heard it he incorporated it as feedback, but it didn't turn him into a robot. Yeah, and look, I want to make sure everybody understands what I'm saying. It's not just when, I'm not saying that you go and, hey, hey, I'm going to put this pig guts out and however it lands, I'm going to choose my quarterback. I'm not saying like old school, like medieval times. It's just at the end of the day, when it comes down to that final choice, right?

It's a draft day situation. Kevin Costner, how did he fix the Browns? We all know he did it. He did it off field. But, no, I mean, it is a balance, right? It's a multi-pronged recipe, but I think a lot of it is you, at the end of day, you have to trust your instincts because, well, if I'm going down, I'm going down my way, brother. I'm just sitting here thinking, we should do this at some point here on the Wilcane show. Who has the most fictional career achievements?

Kevin Costner has fought for his ranch in Montana. He has saved the world from a flood and water world. He has danced with wolves. He has danced with wolves. And he has saved the Cleveland Browns. I mean, put that on his resume, fictionally. He saved the Cleveland Browns. Will Jonah Hill change baseball by bringing a calculator to a meeting?

So, like, I mean, if we're going to be honest. And outside of that, I think we can all agree Rudy was off-size, but that's a story for another day. I'm not going to get into that. But I know what I want now is I want Denzell's fictional resume, like, what have you done? And I want, I want Brad Pitt and Tom, Tom Cruise is going to run away with it. He saved America how many times, you know? And so, like, his fictional resume is going to be unassailable.

But he doesn't have, does he have versatility? Does he have the diversity of Kevin Costner? I mean, the Brown's thing really makes him a five-tool player, a utility guy in the saving the world fictional sweepstakes. Nobody showed up to old dude's birthday party. That's feel if I've ever seen it. That's feel if I've ever seen it. But the one that'll blow your mind, wait until you see Jake Gyllenhaal's fictional resume.

It's going to throw you for quite the loop. I mean, the dude's like been an ambulance driver. We all know what happened on the mountain, all type of stuff. It's a pretty crazy. Jarhead. Jarhead, I mean, look, he's also Spider-or, like, didn't he try and kill Spider-Man? I mean, that's at least what I heard.

The biggest piece of fiction ever was trying to convince us that Christian Bale's Batman was going to date Maggie Gyllenhaal. That wasn't the top of his abilities. Like, I mean, please, if you're going to cast it, and there's nothing wrong with Maggie Jillenhall, but it's Christian Bail and it's Bruce Wayne and it's Batman. He had some other prospects.

He wasn't going to be head over heels and like forlorn. for Maggie Gyllenhaal. It's Wonder Woman or bust. I mean, let's be honest. If I'm rich, if I'm that rich and that nuts, I'm not hanging out with Jake Gyllenhaal's sister. Like, hey, can, hey, hold on, let's go to Milan for a couple weeks. Let me figure this out. Alfred just handle business. Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, it's Ravens minus nine and a half, Jake. What do you got? Look, I think the Texans have been a great story. C.J. Stroud, it's an incredible story. But so is Little Red Riding Hood. And we know what happened to her.

You're playing against the Ravens most complete team, I think, right now, playing complimentary football in all three phases. Give me the Ravens. I like the over in this game, but I do like Baltimore to cover. I think CJ does make a couple mistakes, but a very bright future in Houston. I'm going to play the money line. I like the Ravens. Green Bay Packers, San Francisco, 49ers, its same line, 49ers minus nine and a half. Here's the thing.

Obviously, I'm not the most objective voice to weigh in on the Packers at this point. but I actually think it works the other way with me. Not to soften how horrific the Dallas Cowboys played on Sunday, but I actually think the Packers looked really good as well. And Jordan Love, I'm what was there to say? He's really good. At this point, we just have to admit that. And I'm kind of feeling the Packers here against the Niners, Jake.

Look, House Money. I get the Texans are playing with House Money, too. but one of the, the best thing that happened to the Packers was that they destroyed the Cowboys. The worst thing that happened to the Packers was that they destroyed the Cowboys. Because the 49ers, you look at Shanahan, they've been practicing for the Packers since the second quarter of that Cowboys game. There's no sneaking up on San Francisco in this one after what you did last game. I'm interesting to see how Matt LaFoor adjust to the adjustments. I think the Niners come out and play some of their best ball of the year.

Again, Christian McCaffrey, you've had time to rest him. that defensive line. I mean, it's basically like going into Mordor. I mean, they're just popping out of the ground in the mud, just grabbing you. So give me the Niners. I think Jordan Love, too, Will, remember I said this, two pick sixes. Two pick sixes. Two pick sixes.

Give me the Packers plus nine and a half. Buccaneers, Lions, it's Lions minus six and a half. Everyone can relax. It's not outdoors. It's not going to be super cold. Awful question. You don't know what I'm referencing, a reporter. asked

Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers head coach, how are you going to prepare for this? And he kind of listened to it and he's like, it's going to be in a dome. The same way it's been for 50 years in Detroit. So Jared Goff's one of my favorite stories, Jake, of the year. And I'm having a hard time not just pulling for him. But I actually think the lions are the better team.

And I take the lions over the bucks. Look, I agree with you. Jared Goff, Faked the gumball smugglers, we call him on Cranning Company. I just love Dan Campbell. What is that based on his jaw? His cheeks. He looks like he's either about to go hibernate and he's storing acorns for the winter.

He's smuggling gumballs. That's what we call them. I never noticed that. Yeah, I'm telling you, you'll never be able to not see it again. Look, I love what Baker and them have done this year at the Buckingney. They're grimy. They're nasty, right? They're like the six and a half with a great personality and can cook really good.

But at the end of the day, look, it's a wave right now in Detroit. They haven't been this excited in Flint and Detroit since Jackie Moondy did what he did with the Tropic, speaking about fictional accomplishments. I do like the lions. I never saw that. You never saw it? Can I just tell you why? So I think Will Ferrell is funny. I think all of those movies are great, like Talladega Knight. I started to feel like they were the same and they're repetitive.

I can see that. And so by the time it got to, it's semi-pro, right? Yeah, semi-pro. Which, by the way, is the title of a famous Dan Jenkins novel about sports and football from the 70s, which is a great book. But, yeah, I just kind of was done with it. I was done with the bit. And so I could be missing out. I'm not telling you it's not good.

I just never did semi-pro. Well, I mean, look, just corn dogs, Jackie, corn dogs. Everybody out there knows what I'm talking about. Except Will Kane, who hadn't seen the movie, which, you know, I get it, I guess. I like the lions at home. I think they find a way. I expect a big day from Amin Rae St. Brown. I was glad to see Sam LaPorte out there running around.

I was going to hate that if he missed that game. But it's just the Lions, man. They seem like they're a team of destiny, right? It's been a golden path with the way it worked out in the division, with the other teams being down and injuries and things like that. And they've got a good football team, but they're going to go as far as that defense takes them. Luckily for them, the Buccaneers really just have Mike Evans and a decent run game.

All right, finally, and this one's tough. It's Kansas City Chiefs at. That's the key. at Buffalo Bills, Bills minus two and a half. Kansas City, I don't know, throughout this whole, I guess, dynastic run, I was trying to read, have they won a road playoff game? Because they haven't had to play them, I don't think. It feels like they've played every game at home outside of the Super Bowl.

But on the other hand, I do feel like, I can't remember in November they played. And honestly, I can't remember off the top of my head who won Bill's Chiefs. Who won that game? I believe the Chiefs won it. I'm trying to remember where that game is. Bills have had trouble, you know, crack in the nut of the top team in the AFC. So it's really hard for me. By the way, I don't think Kansas City is as good as they have been in the past.

But it's still Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, and obviously they're going to play this game in Buffalo, which that's why it was huge. They're able to win the division. When I look at this matchup and I look at the Bills Chiefs, it seems like with Josh Allen and the Bills, that Kansas City, it's like the movie it right and patrick mahomes is pennywise like josh allen they'll have a great regular season or they'll have an okay regular season win the afc east a lot of momentum and he wins that that first playoff game and all of a sudden he walks out to the parking lot and he just sees that red balloon go up in the air and all the sudden here come the kansas city chiefs and

patrick mahomes and they can never get past him at some point will you and the squad got to go down in the well and kill this guy he's wounded right now right yeah you left dairy 40 years ago, but you came back and now's your chance to take out Penny Wise and Patrick Mahomes because they aren't that good will. I know they weren't that good last year, but they're worse this year than they were last year. Right. And you got him at home. Did you have to take the goat path that the hunchback showed you to finally take out Leonidas? Yeah, it wasn't through the hot gates, but you got there, right? He won the division. Oh, well, so many analogies and movie references. This is how I speak. This is how I speak, man. That's how we grew up.

You actually won me over. I'm a Josh Allen fan. I want him to get over the hump at some point. Time, Will. It's time. It's time. Give me the bills at home. I think Josh Allen does it with his legs, which again is, he's a refrigerator running with the ball in cold weather. Who wants to tackle that guy? Man, somebody had a really good analogy for him. It was like he's a monster truck rally meets. Who was it that tweeted this? Monster truck rally or a monster energy drink. And then something else that was not as is flattering, all mixed together. Josh Allen. But you just won me over, man. I mean, like, I was scared to, you know, run through the hot gates against Patrick Mahomes, but I'm ready to ride for Josh Allen. I'm ready. This is the moment. Goat path, Will. Sometimes you got to take the goat path. Lift your shield. All right, I'm on it. I'm taking the bills minus two and a half against the chiefs at home. Man, this has been a lot of fun. Everyone should check out Jake, crane and company, Daily Wire. They have a sports show that you don't want to miss. And Lady Ballers, their movie where Jake has taken his movie star turn. Unfortunately, his fictional resume at this point doesn't quite compete with Kevin Costner. Not yet. Not yet.

I'm just trying to get it. I'm trying to be the Joker in three years. So this is a good start. But Will, no, this has been a ton of fun. Obviously, got a ton of respect for your work. We need to get you on Crane and Company at some point. But always down to come on. And let's see if those picks work out.

And hopefully I gave you enough movie analogies for a couple weeks. It'll sustain me. Thanks, Jake. Take care. Appreciate it, Will. There you go. Hope you enjoyed that conversation. with Jay Crane. Again, check him out at the Daily Wire Plus. The daily show is Crane and

company, and check out the movie Lady Ballers. I will see you again on Monday. Listen to ad free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast. And Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad free on the Amazon Music app. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $7 million. Visit go.combe, forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts.