Will Cain Country - Cain On Sports: Patrick Mahomes Shows You Don't Need To Lift

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

On the Friday sports episode on The Will Cain Show, Will sits down with former Florida State & New York Giants Quarterback and the host of Dusty and Danny on SiriusXM, Danny Kanell, to discuss��Patrick Mahomes' dad bod, youth specialization in sports, and which NFL coach best develops quarterbacks.   Tell Will what you thought by emailing [e-mail]   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patrick Mahomes, Dad Bod, do you even need to really lift weights? To the youth specialization in sports, to which NFL head coach best develops a quarterback? A conversation with the host of Dusty and Danny, and my old friend, former Florida State and New York giant quarterback, Danny Connell. It's the Will Kane Show Sports Exclusive at Fox News podcast at Apple and Spotify. Video on demand at Will Kane Show on YouTube. Go hit subscribe on any of those channels, whether an audio or video format for the latest on the Will Kane show. On today's episode, I brought in some of my, one of my old friends from ESPN, Danny Connell, formerly of Rosillo and Connell.

on ESPN Radio. Now, the host of Dusty and Danny on Sirius XM and the cover three podcast on CBS Sports. He played quarterback at Florida State. He played for the New York Giants. He's got two daughters, big into sports, the same age as my

son. So I thought a perfect opportunity to talk about the latest in why Bill Belichick doesn't have a job. What's special about Brock Purdy and many other things under the son of sports? Here is Danny Cannell.

I was telling your producer, I said, your lighting is put in mind to shame. I mean, I need all the help I can get. Don't, don't attribute that to lighting. That's just natural. Yeah, we know what that. I got a good tan going right now. It just doesn't show up on this fluorescent studio office lighting. My goodness.

Don't you work from home? Are we rolling, by the way? Guys, are we rolling? Hey, don't you, uh, aren't you in South Florida? Like, what's going to, like, aren't you outside all the time, golfing, I'm sure? I'm telling you. Yeah. I do not like office environments.

I am, I'm, when I'm usually at the office and I'm at the CBS Sports Studios here, I usually I'm out, but for you, I was like, I'll just, because I have a couple shows I had to do right before and right after, it's like, oh, this is a perfect window. But the lighting is not good. My home studio, I just use natural sunlight, and it looks great. This one I look like I've been stuck in Antarctica the whole winter. Yeah, lay off the SPF 50, Cannell. Like, let's let the golfing show.

Yeah, I look like Mark Zuckerberg when he was out there with all the lotion all over himself. Oh, yeah. Yeah, when he goes, whatever he does he do? Is he a surfer? He does like the, is he wake for? I don't know what he does, but hydrofoil. That's what hydrofoil. That's what he was doing when he had all the lotion on.

he looked like a ghost Hydrofoil is one of those things can you look cool hydrofoiling or is it just Mark Zuckerberg doesn't look cool hydrofoiling oh I think you should look cool hydrofoiling but I think he somehow managed

to make it look nerdy as only he could Danny Canal he was like I wish I could do that he's got the electric one too it's not like he's doing the one that catches the underwater wave and it's like I've seen those guys

out in the ocean. Those guys are objectively cool. He's got the motorized one, which is a little less cool. It looks fun, but it's a little bit like right in the moped of the ocean. Yeah, you hold the remote control. It's got a little like back to the future vibe to it and you just press it. Definitely not. I don't think you have to be as athletic

to do the one that's self-proposion, you know, self-propulsion where you have to like actually utilize the forces underneath the waves. I don't think it's quite as difficult. Danny Connell here on the Will Kay. So it's been a long man, it's great to see you again. Speaking of athleticism, I want to start right here. Patrick Mahomes,

picture out, post-AFC championship game, locker room. Mahomes with a dad bod. I've been Pullside with Cannell. What did you think of Mahomes' dad bod? I loved it. I don't know about you. It made me feel way better about myself.

And then there was another one that came out of Tom Brady, beachside. Topless with his dad bod rocking out there too. I think it makes him more relatable. And I kid you not. Like it does make me feel better about myself thinking, okay, I'm not that bad. And I'm way older than he is.

And I still can look okay. So I think there are a lot of men that are in the similar position saying, okay, we're not, we're doing all right. If he can rock that and be the best player in the game today, why can I be the best dad I can be? And let's be clear. Mahomes not only seems to have not much going in the way of pecks. He's not benching. But he's got a little bit of that like skinny guy who is eating fast food punch. Like he's not old enough. To be honest, he is active enough and he is not old enough to have earned that unless he's trying. Like Patrick Mahomes, I mean, the takeaway there is he's not taking care of himself. He is not trying to, I don't know, work out. Well, okay, so real story here. Remember Ben Rothsberger used to get so much heat late in the season. He would balloon up. He would look like a chipmunk with his helmet on because it looked

like it got, it looked like his head was growing because it was. He was getting bigger. This point of the season, players aren't working out as much. You're just surviving. You don't have the time, the energy. Most of your off time is spent in the training room, like rehabbing something. you know, staying healthy. So whatever lifting you're doing, if any, is very, like, management. It's just making sure you're kind of in shape, but not really in shape.

And that's where probably every player is looking at this picture, saying, oh, yeah, I get it. Like, this is that point in the season. You're not working out anymore. That's really interesting. So back, so you have the experience to take us back to what your weekly schedule was like. So, you know, as you finish up on Sunday and you enter the week,

And I understand completely the idea of painage management and therapy of what would have gone wrong on Sunday. But is there's not, does it add up, however the week unfolds, does it add up that there's just not time to be in the weight room? And by the way, outside of the game, maybe not even that much time for cardio. Like practice probably during the season isn't much of a workout, right? So you just aren't working out for months at a time because you're playing football on Sundays? Yeah, you're 100% right. And think about this, too. So in the off season, you're training, like you are physically training probably five or six days a week.

Your diet is extremely regimented. Like I'm sure Patrick Mahomes has a nutritionist, a chef, everybody's preparing the meals for them. And you can control everything you're eating, everything you're taking in, you're just, you're paying attention. Once the season starts, you get into that daily grind. Now, typically Mondays are a day that you do come in, you get a light run and lift. And when I say light, probably like 10 strides, which isn't very much. Like it's just 100 yards back and forth, not timed. It's basically like get up a loose sweat just to kind of get your muscles loose.

The lift is probably a 20, 30 minute lift. Again, just to kind of stay loose and just make sure you kind of get in some of those bruises out because you're banged up, even if you're just a quarterback. You're still bruised. Then you watch film and then you have Tuesdays off. On your off day, you don't want to lift. Like, no one wants to do that. There might be a select handful of guys who are nuts, who are just crazy people, who would go in there then. And then you start your weekly grind where it's more of a nine to five job.

And again, they might have a lift on the schedule, but it's very, it's light. It's light lifting. It's easy. It's not a lot of cardio at all. And here's the kicker. I would say probably the back end of the season, I would bet money that Andy Reid has a victory Monday, which a lot of teams get. where if you win, you get off Monday, completely off. So now you have Monday and Tuesday off where you're not going in to get the lift.

It comes optional, and you're probably hanging out with your family. Again, that lift becomes even more, it's less a part of the routine. And you're eating probably worse because it's more of a pain like you're just getting later in the schedule. You can't sweat as much because if you're in Kansas City, it's cold out, it's brutal. So you're not getting outside. You're not getting sun. Like you're not sweating. All of it, it becomes a struggle.

to keep that six-pack. I don't think Patrick Mahomes ever had it either. That's what's kind of wild about him, too, is he's never been somebody. I mean, he kind of has an awkward body already. Like, I don't think anybody looked at him in the combine. Like, I'd love to see his combine pick. You know, Brady's went viral where he looked so bad. I bet Patrick Mahomes' combine pick is not impressive,

which is why nobody, like, pegged him to be this, you know, next greatest quarterback of all time because there was nothing that just wowed you about him as far as his body, his 40-time, or his arm strike was otherworldly, but those types of things. Well, that actually was a deeper conversation that I was curious about, that the Patrick Mahomes picture led me to. And I knew you'd be the perfect guy to talk to about this, not just because your personal experience,

but your dad, I believe, is a sports medicine physician. You know, my sons, I don't know if you remember this, but my sons are really into soccer, and they've stayed with it throughout their entire life, and they're arriving. One's a teenager, one's not yet a teenager, same as your daughters, I think, same age. And in the soccer world, I follow all these accounts, Danny, and it's like, there's one that I've stumbled

across that it's thing seems to be you should not be lifting. Like, it robs you of athleticism. And they kind of like, Ronaldo has always been awesome. So even after he's, Ronaldo lifts and he's got this like Olympic God body, but they show pictures of him before when he was young. And the implication is he was more fluid, right? And he was smoother. And he may not be the best example. There are other players who were lifting kind of made them lose their athleticism. And whatever Patrick Holmes has to the point of his arm strength and his athleticism is natural.

So do you think there's anything to that, like lifting as actually detrimental? Yes, I think you're on to something. Tom Brady, I think, was at the cutting edge of exactly what we're talking about. He used to talk about elasticity. you know and he did a lot of band work he wasn't doing bench press curls like and those are traditional you know i i remember and i went to when i was drafted by the giants they had an old school strength and conditioning coach and we were doing cleans you know overhead press like really heavyweight Olympic lifts and i messed up my back and i remember telling my dad who was a team doctor for

the dolphins my dad's like man like stay away from those but the strength coach is kind of that was their mentality. They came from this old school mindset of you had to be big and strong and like the stronger, the more weight you could throw around, the more it would benefit you on the field. And while that might be the case for a select few positions, you know, if you're an offensive or defensive lineman, what if you're a receiver? What if you're a quarterback? And so I think the the science of football and the science of sports has really been specialized where people aren't just throwing around weights just because that's supposed to make you stronger. or more athletic or quicker.

And they've really been specialized. That's why I think Tom Brady did change the game with the TB12 method, with a lot of band work, stretching. I mean, he got massaged. I mean, we all don't have that luxury. I wish we did. And I think that's one of the reasons he extended his career, you know, in the back end by an extra five or six years,

you know, more than most players would play. I don't know if you watched it, but I would recommend if you haven't, to see the Netflix series quarterback with Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariotta. It's really good. And I think one of the things I was blown away by was Mahomes. He has his own trainer outside that he trains with during the season on his Tuesdays, on his off days.

And they are very, very specific exercises to quarterback, like a lot of core work. Like he has this one machine where he rips down on it, almost like a golfer swing. And it's really fast. But it's definitely not weights. it's more, you know, very specific to the quarterback position. So I would say flexibility, or as in Tom Brady's words, elasticity, those are becoming more of the commodities that extend your athleticism. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it's kind of weird because you and I are roughly the same age, and they're saying like a lot of it that if I've read as you get older, the problem is a lot of people, and now we're outside the realm of athleticism and we're more in the realm of longevity. But you don't want to be a runner necessarily. Like that's not good for you long term. You want to lift. That's what they say.

You need to do compound lifts like squats and all that. And that's what makes you active as an older person. But it's weird to think about it to be a premier athlete. It's moving the opposite direction. And by the way, that picture of Mahomes made me wonder, will he be able to age like Brady? Because honestly, the picture kind of suggests he's not taking care of himself. And Brady, of course, put so much effort into his body.

It did make me wonder, we're talking about Mahomes and Dynasty and Kenny Assault, you know, the Brady record. Well, he's going to need some years to do it, I think. I think he's not going to do it all in a short time frame. So is he taking care of his body long enough to stick around to get seven Super Bowl victories? He's going to have to because, I mean, time will catch up with him. I was really impressed with his work ethic from that documentary. And then from hearing him talk about it because I pictured him more of just a natural freak, which I do think he's been gifted with some incredible arm talent, right?

His arm is sort of rubber. Like he's able to throw off these off-kilter throws. He's able to throw it lefty. He's able to throw like when his feet aren't set across his body, which you're not supposed to put as the type of velocity that he does on the ball. But I think the biggest concern I would be with injuries. You know, like when you're taking as many hits as you are, and if you're not taking care of your body and doing the little things,

that's what would catch up to you. But I really was. I pictured Mahomes as a physically gifted freak who might just be having all the success because he's naturally talented. I was blown away with the work that he put in behind the scenes in the offseason and even during the season. And early in his career, he talked about studying the game. You have to be cerebral. You have to think.

You have to know why defenses are doing what they're doing, which is why I think from the get-go, he's able to get better and better and lift a team that was not that good this season. I mean, this is kind of crazy, as evidenced by the odds-making. had them underdogs in both of these playoff games, and he was able to kind of put the team on his back once again when there's not a Tyreek Hill out there. There's not two number one wide receivers, which a lot of quarterbacks have to get to a Super Bowl.

He's been able to do it with a team that's not that good. By the way, the football uniform is the perfect camouflage for a dad bod. Like, you don't get away with that basketball. Water polo? Hey, water polo, it's there for the world, you know, swimming. But you get to put on a fake V shape every game and look like a Greek god with those shoulder pads. And you wear like rib protectors, like those like the bottom portion that only quarterbacks wear, they wrap around your midsection. So it's perfect.

Then you can't see anything. It's absolutely perfect. I want to follow this conversation wherever it goes, whatever it pops into my head. And you said something that will transition us into the next conversation about Patrick Mahomes and sort of that natural arm whip that he has, that he certainly is the best, I think we've seen at it. Aaron Rogers was that same, at least improvisational natural talent.

It leads me to this. You know who I've kind of seen it from, Danny? I'm curious, is the Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers. He has some of the same qualities, but it hasn't added up yet to the same type of unstoppable that you saw in those guys. In other words, he's going to make the play. There's nothing you can do about it. But he does have that.

By the way, his body is also not super, oh my God, look at this guy. But he's got this arm that just whips. And it reminds me this conversation I had with Dan Orlovsky back when I was at ESPN about Josh Allen. And it was back then, there was a really strong argument that Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson wouldn't be able to arrive at the heights of NFL because you don't learn accuracy. That if you're a 50% passer in college, you don't become a 70% pastor in the NFL. But Jackson and Allen have overturned that idea, Danny. And I'm just kind of tying that into youers in that how much is learned and how much is natural.

I don't know how we identify anymore a quarterback and the guy that's going to make it. So I think some quarterbacks have a natural, God-given talent to throw the football with ease and put it on a tiny spot, right? And, you know, I mean, when I said, when I, like, to hit the keyhole of the door, like, and, like, you have to be able to do that in the NFL. In high school, you can hit the whole door. In college, you can hit the door handle. But in the NFL, you have to hit the keyhole. Like, you really have to be that, that precise. When I was in high school, my dad was the team doctor for the Miami Dolphins.

And Dan Marino was the quarterback. And Marino was like my idol. I looked, that's why I wore number 13. I looked up for Dan Marino. And early on, my dad was like. Like it was an offseason. My dad's like, hey, Dan, would you mind playing catch with my son? And Marino was awesome.

He's like, yeah, sure. So I'm picking Marino's brain. I'm like, hey, how does my grip? Like, we check out my grip. How's my footwork? My arm angle. Like, is my release look good? And he looked at me.

And he goes, look, he goes, you either can throw it or you can't. And it was as simple as that. Now, only the arrogance of Marino would like put it that way. But he was also encouraging me. He was like, you can throw it. He's like, you can do it. You know, he was encouraging. And I do think there is a lot of truth in that.

And I still, I think Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, Lamar is probably more specifically, and this can be somewhat controversial, if you say certain things about Lamar Jackson, because he's polarizing. I don't think he's a great passer. I don't think he's an elite passer, and I don't think he ever will be.

He's not a natural thrower of the football. Now, he's incredibly talented. And I think because he's in a system that was built, to round him. He's been able to have an MVP type season because he has unbelievable athletic talent and he's able to run around and make plays. And like the one he did in the first quarter of the game against the Chiefs this past weekend when he escaped, it looks like he's sacked, he escapes, keeps his eyes down the field, finds a flowers, and delivers a perfectly thrown ball. He's always going to have those plays in him. But I don't know if he's going to be a

consistently great passer where you're completing 70% plus your passes, where you've got streaks where you go, you know, 20 for 23, like guys, like Aaron Rogers, I think Brady, you know, like Drew Breeze, like Drew Breeze, the all time, like play the most accurate passer we've ever seen. You know, you could just see them. They could put it in tight windows. It doesn't mean you can't be great. I think that's where people get like upset if you're saying Lamar Jackson can't be a franchise quarterback. I'm not saying that. But I also, like Josh challenge another example. I think he's a little erratic. And it's amazing when his first two years in Buffalo, he struggled with accuracy just like he did coming out of Wyoming. Then all of a sudden

they get Stefan Diggs. He's got a receiver who gets open, wide open, and he can just hit the side of the door. He doesn't have to hit the keyhole. And all of a sudden his accuracy jumps up. It opens up the whole system. He's been given weapons. There are certain quarterbacks. I think you just know that they're accurate and it comes easy. Other ones, you have to help them. somewhat. They can still be dynamic playmakers, but they're never going to be guys that are just unconscious when they throw the football. We'll be right back with more of the Will Kane podcast. For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax.

Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee in delivery. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. 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. If Brock Purdy were a Dallas Cowboy, would he be a franchise quarterback?

And if Dak Prescott were a San Francisco 49er, would he be the league MVP and Super Bowl quarterback? I'll say Brock Purdy would not be in the MVP conversation if he was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. I'll say Dak Prescott would win. I think he would be in the conversation, but I don't know if he would be MVP. I don't know. I think they're really good comps, right? I think they're both really good quarterbacks. I hate the criticism that Jack gets.

Danny, I actually picked them, I picked them randomly because Dak pops in my head quickly. But the question is honestly more about Purdy. And it's honestly even not about Purdy. It's about Shanahan. And what I wonder is, and I'm not trying to take away from Brock Purdy because sooner or later, you just get to say scoreboard. And I've done what I've done. But in the same thing I think I'll play.

applies to Tua and Mike McDaniel in Miami. It's like, and I think an NFL team would need to ask themselves this, and they know internally when it comes time to pay a guy, are we creating him, or is he something special we came across? And I just wonder how many quarterbacks could be plugged into Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, and all of a sudden, they are a Super Bowl-level quarterback. So last year, I think you'll appreciate this. I saw three quarterbacks who I almost viewed as identical.

It was Dak Prescott, it was Kirk Cousins, and it was Derek Carr. Like all pretty good quarterbacks who are starters, their bona fide franchise quarterbacks, but I think they need really good talent around them. They need a good system in order to win a Super Bowl. Like, I don't think they would prohibit you from making a Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl, but I don't think you're going to win because of them. And I'm close to putting Brock Purdy in that. But he's elevated himself where he's proving himself.

But like when I look at those quarters, If I put any one of those on San Francisco, I'm like, they could be having this type of success. And, like, I was a Brock Purdy doubter. And I guess there's a sliver of me that still is. It's still hard to believe the story because he's been phenomenal. It's hard to shake off Iowa State. Anybody that watched college football and saw Iowa State, it's hard to shake off who he was at Iowa State. Right.

And he's, and here's the thing that I was kind of remind people. Before it was Chubba Purdy, right, was his running. back was, no, that was his brother. It was Chubba, his running, but I forget the running back who left. It wasn't Chubba Purdy. That's his brother. There's a Chubba that was a running back that was at Iowa State with him. That was phenomenal. I know, it was, this is driving me nuts. And I want to get this right. Wasn't Chubba. Was it Brees Hall? Who was it? It might have been Brees Hall. Brees Hall's Iowa State. He is Iowa State. Tim, Brock Purdy's last year. If Brock Purdy had come out, he might have been a third round pick

because he had a really good junior season at Iowa State. And then he came around and he lost the running back and he regressed. And that's why he dropped to the seventh round. Okay. So follow me here. So we've seen him have a ton of success where he's highly rated. He's projected to be this great quarterback. And then he lost one of his key pieces just like he did for the three game losing stretch

when you didn't have Christian McCaffrey, didn't have Debo Samuel and you didn't have your left tackle. And all of a sudden, like we saw him lose three games. we saw him look to human. But I do think he deserves so much credit for withstanding that type of streak, which a lot of quarterbacks might have c, bouncing back strongly, handling the criticism.

And then at my last question mark for Brock Purdy was they've won so much from the head. Could he win from behind? And he did it this past weekend against Detroit. He's done it before the season where he's making big plays. And all of a sudden he's not, the key manager term has been so debated this week and it's kind of frustrating.

because there's not one term that defines good quarterback play. I think game manager should be a compliment, not a knock. And he made plays with his legs. Like he made plays outside of the team of the system against Detroit. And that is something that you wouldn't see a typical game manager. Like when I think game manager in the negative sense, I think of Trent Dillfer winning with the Ravens, where it's don't screw it up.

We have an incredible defense. Brad Johnson with the Tampa Bay Bucks. don't screw it up. We have an incredible defense. That was with Warren Sapp and John Lynch and, you know, Ronday Barber and that defense. But I don't think they're not asking Brock Purdy not to screw it up. They're asking him to make plays and he's making him. So I do think there's a difference.

It's a great conversation, though. And I think he's an incredible case study on exactly what you're talking about. Like, is it the player? Is it the system? I think in this case, it's probably a compliment to both. Because I played in Mike Shanahan's system, which Kyle Shanahan, runs now and it's it was very similar he's put some tweaks on it it is incredibly quarterback friendly but you have to be mentally very on top of things you have to know where to

go with the football quickly you do have to be incredibly accurate on the short to intermediate passing game if to know when to get rid of football and purdy is thriving in that system well okay danny if you were coming out of high school and by the way we should take a moment just to acknowledge uh your your your which i just learned about this your high school all-star baseball team um Incredible. I saw this. You were on a high school all-star baseball team with Johnny Damon batting leadoff. Todd Helton batting cleanup at fourth. Alex Rodriguez batting eighth and you batting third. I mean, incredible. If you only knew, if you only knew, like the story is almost unbelievable as it is because of these three, you know, Hall of Fame baseball players that were on it. But if you would have known the guy who put the team together, he was a short Jewish guy from

Brooklyn, New York, who had the thickest Brooklyn accent you could ever imagine. He didn't, he wasn't athletic. He like wore like a jersey of the team, which we were the Brooklyn bombers. That was our name that we played. I think it was called the greatest show on dirt. My dad actually remembered the name of the tournament that we played in in Euclid, Ohio. And he like couldn't even hit, like, you know, most coaches they hit infield in high school. Like they'll hit you infield or they'll throw BP.

He couldn't do any of it. He was the most unathletic little dude you've ever seen. And yet he brought us all together to play in this tournament. It was unbelievable. It was a ton of fun. And then now, of course, you see the history of who was on the team. And it's pretty remarkable that those three dudes were in the same lineup. And by the way, you're big on this.

You and I used to talk about this privately, I think, and we probably talked about it on air. You're real big into multi-sport, right, for raising kids. I mean, you were baseball. You've experienced. I don't know how you've experienced with your kids. I do have a soccer player too. You'd be proud of me. I'm a soccer dad.

I was just in Jacksonville with Team Boka. We were on a big travel tournament for my 11-year-old. Travel circuit's insane across the board for youth sports. I think it's completely unnecessary. I don't love that. But my oldest daughter is 16, and she's big into volleyball. So she was a golfer. I kind of was hoping she'd do that.

She just kind of fell out of love it. I out of love with the sport, got burned out. out. And she's tall. She's six one. She found volleyball. She's falling in love with it. So she does travel volleyball. And then so the volleyball high school season was in the fall, the first season. And then in the winter came basketball. And the basketball coach had trying to be get her to come out. He sees she's tall. And my daughter was like, I don't, I don't want to play. I want to just focus on volleyball. She's a sophomore in high school. And I told her, I said, Cam, I said, you have two choices. I said, you can either get a job or you can play basketball.

And she's a pretty smart kid. I don't think she wants, because I was given her options. I'm like, you can work at Chick-fil-A, you know, you can be serving French fries, you can go to public, you can be bagging groceries. I'm like, I was giving her all these options, hoping that she would choose the one that I wanted to steer her to her, but I wanted to make it feel like it was her decision. So she ultimately, she chose basketball. But in my mind, I wanted her to play.

That's how much I wanted her to play multiple sports. She was like, dad, I'll train every day for volleyball. I was like, no, I want you to, like, it's good for you. First of all, it makes it much more attractive. for you as a prospect from coaches. They want athletes. They don't want specialists. They want athletes that have upside.

So it's like you want, it'll make you more attractive as a recruit. It'll help you because in volleyball, you don't run that much. It's a lot of jumping. It's explosion, but you don't run that much. You'll develop some cardio. You'll learn how to run, be more athletic. There's still ball skills that complement each other. So I made her do it.

She ended up loving it. I didn't, it wasn't that. I was very concerned the first three weeks of the season. She was kind of unhappy. She's like, I want to quit. She ended up falling. and in love with it. She's about to finish the season. And that was like how important it was for me, Will. I strongly believe in multiple sports. I hate how young kids are specializing at 10, 11,

12 years old. I think it's ridiculous. I think it's detrimental to their overall careers and livelihood. Oh, they're specializing before 10, though. You know that. I mean, it's getting really young. And by the way, my son, also 16, the last time we saw each other, our kids were all together. They were very young. He's 6-3, so you got a 6-1 daughter. I got a 6-3 son. We play matchmaker. My wife's always looking for taller kids, you know, like taller boys. So maybe maybe one day will get him set up. 6-1 and 6-3, they're going to produce an NBA player, or at least a kid that everyone says, can you believe how unathletic he is? He's so tall. But no, the logistics, though, is the problem. So, you know, my son,

one of the high school coaches said, I'd really love it if you row crew. We actually have that in Dallas. And I know nothing about that. But I know the crew dudes have big backs. And I'm like, that's a pretty cool sport. You get jacked rowing crew. But he just simply can't.

You can't play club soccer and do another sport. And he's the kicker on the football team and punter on the football team. And everybody makes special exceptions to those guys. So he doesn't have to do all the workouts the rest of the football team does. But my younger son, Danny, who plays soccer even maybe more dedicated, and is super passionate. He's playing defensive end in middle school. And at some point, that's going to come to a head.

Because the practice commitments all begin conflicting. And the sport that whatever is your top sport says, well, if you're not willing to commit to this practice schedule, we can't have you at this level. And so it forces you to specialize, is what I'm getting at. The whole industry complex shoves you out of playing three sports. totally agree i completely understand exactly what you're going through i mentioned my youngest she's 11 she plays travel soccer again i wanted to play basketball she let we went to we'd be proud we went

to texas we went to austin a couple summers ago my oldest went to uh uti golf camp my middle went to the swim camp and my youngest went to the longhorn basketball camp so we went we had them all out there in aust they love texas by the way they're all the dream is to go to tex i'm like you guys got a lot of work to do if you want to play sports at Austin for the Longhorns. But so I wanted my younger daughter, she's a soccer player to play basketball as well. Well, the team travel basketball team comes up as well. Now, this is where, like, it's where it gets complicated, but this is where I think you try to make it work. But I'm, so the head coach I'm friendly with of the travel basketball. I know soccer is first. That's my daughter's passion. I sat in the parent meeting where

the coach of the soccer team said we have a zero like not zero tolerance but like we're not missing practice i get it if you're sick you can miss if you have a you know something he's like but i don't want to hear about middle school soccer he's like this is travel he's like we're serious and so i was like uh oh so then i'm friendly thankfully with the basketball coach and the basketball coach knows me and i'm assistant coach i was like i'll be assistant coach brady wants to play we'll have her play i said but you got to know that soccer takes precedence you know like if there's a conflict we're going soccer we're going soccer we're guess what's happened.

They've had three games. My daughter has only been able to play in one because we've missed two. Now, thankfully, I have a good relationship. I was very upfront with them from the beginning. We're going to miss some games. We're going to miss some practice. So we've, unfortunately, we've missed a lot of the travel basketball. Now, there will be plenty of games to make up.

But, like, I get it. Like, she's starting to fall behind. They're starting to form a starting five. And it's frustrating. It's like, well, how am I supposed to do both of these? And you're right. it's this industry of specialization. Also, there's a lot of money that's at stake.

There are a lot of people that are making money off of youth sports. And you know what? You know what? They don't want to give up. They don't want to give up those customers who are sadly, our children, for six months out of the year. They want them 11 months out of the year. So you can keep paying for, you know, the tournaments that you're entering, for the league

itself, for travel, you know, for hotels. Like, it is a massive industry and none want to give it up. And it's very, very frustrating. I do think it's that it's one thing, it's something that, go ahead, sorry, go ahead. The only thing that allows you to play multiple sports, if you are an exceptional athlete, which I would not put my daughter in that kid, they're athletic. But if you are exceptional, coaches will be like, sure, we just want you whenever we can have you. Exactly.

But for the most of us, and I put myself and my kids in that category, no, we need you all the time or you can't play. That's right. If you're exceptional, then they'll, they'll, they'll, you on whatever team you want to be on and they'll play you by the way because the other part of this you're right about the industry and the money but the other part is it plays on something you and i both believe in is like well you're not as committed as the other kid the other kid is committed and he doesn't mispractice and that makes sense and we all believe in these things before you know it that means you're all i do i only do you uh in this one team because i'm committed

in the thing that matters um i went to those longhorn swim camps by the way that's not fun i cried in my goggles oh hey you didn't like swimming's not fun uh my daughter swimming is not fun she was dying to go back uh she wanted to do the two or three week session she only did a week she had a blast she loves it and she's more she's like a dolphin in the water now we'll see she's kind of getting that point yeah she's growing out of it too facilities three practices a day that's what is a practice in swimming it means you go swim five thousand six thousand yards three times a day that's not fun like swimming is not fun, and I did it my entire life. That's why my boys, my wife's a collegiate swimmer.

We should have put our kids into swimming. Genetically, they probably would have been good, but I was like, not unless they really, really want it, because it's not fun. And by the way, going to a swim meet and watching kids, eh, you know, not the same as a volleyball game or a soccer game. I'll say it's bottom three spectator sport is a swim meet. And you said, home to South Florida. I'm sure Texas is the same way in the summer. you got to sit outside for five hours for three minutes of action. Because my daughter's a sprinter. Like she does the 50 free, the 100 fly.

Like she's more of the short, you know, short stuff. And it is just sitting around. When's the next race? That's right. It's incredibly frustrating. I love her, though. Let's go swim. We're on the note of University of Texas.

I want to say as a longhorn fan and a grad of law school, horns down is not a problem. Can we let this go? It's not a problem. I don't know a single Longhorn fan that is like, oh, my God, I can't believe you did Horns Town. Why is it a thing? Because I'm sure I was wondering if this is why you had me on because I'm sure this caught your eye. And I genuinely felt this way because the Texas basketball team, they were playing on the road at BYU. And we saw the instance, you know, the incident that unfolded there in Provo where you had a bunch of BYU students sitting in the stands, horns down,

written out like one kid at age next kid at oh and all the sudden they're forced to change the shirts and after the game the b yu coach is apologizing saying that's not who we are and so i was wondering what who called like who complained and then maybe it wasn't b yu religious institution maybe they felt like they're all positive you never show up the opponent but it's not the first time it's come about like you did have tom herman complain when he was the head coach so much so that it's now a penalty in the Big 12 or was before they left, Hornsdown's a penalty. So I am very curious to see what Greg Sanky does.

If they make it a penalty in the SEC, it's only going to get worse for you guys. And me, the more you tell me I can't do something, I want to do it more. That's why I was like, oh, yeah, horns down, horns down. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that, I don't know when Tom Herman made that complaint,

but Rodney Terry, the University of Texas basketball coach just made a big deal about it. if we're being real, it's when a coach isn't doing well. And Rodney Terry's not doing well right now with the Texas basketball team. And so he's going to find something else to stand strong on. I don't know when Tom Herman made that stand, but you're exactly right. You're exacerbating the problem.

Let it go. It's not a problem, by the way. I don't care. The only weird one for me is like, say Missouri is playing Kentucky, and they do horns down when the camera comes around. Like, what's the point there? We're not even in the same conference yet, much less on the field.

Like, why are you horns down for not even around? I totally agree. I think it's, that means Texas is in your head. Like, so I work on my, on my serious show, I work with a guy named Dusty Dvorich. He was a defensive tackle at Oklahoma. He's a sooner through and through. And, you know, we've had this debate a lot about horns down and he gets mad. He's like, I can't believe they get so offended.

I'm like, you guys have shirts in your bookstore on campus that are horns down. Like, do you realize how weak that makes you? look like it to me everything should be about your school to me that says that the texas longhorns are your big brother and your little brother if that's how much you're worried about it where your main thing that you do is horns down that's more about them than you like you should be touting your success and your logo your chance then worried about the other schools like i would be bothered if there was some florida state you know that we did you know some anti gators chant i'd be like no let's do the tomahawk chop like that's our thing

I wouldn't want it to be about the other school. That's lame. We only have a certain amount of time together, and I'm going to save two NFL follow-ups here for the back-in, but I can't have Danny Connell on the show without, speaking of Little Brother syndrome. You and Florida State and your anti-SEC crusade. I'm now a SEC guy.

I'm never going to be chanting SEC. I'll never chant SEC. You say that. You say that. You're about to become something. Yeah. You're trying to get out. This whole little brother thing,

like you're trying to get out of the ACC and who knows who's going to have you and where you'll go. But I do feel bad for you guys. I do think you should have been in the, as you described it, the college football invitational. I do think you should have been

in the college football playoff. I'm glad we're on the same page of that. I think most rational people are like, this is messed up. Like, this doesn't make sense. In the greatest team sport that we know, which I believe is football, you're telling me one player

is going to make the difference. And the college football, the committee said, we didn't think they would be competitive about Jordan Travis. I love Jordan Travis. But what about the defense that could have won championship? What about the other players on offense that could have risen to the occasion? I get it. But I'll never understand that explanation,

which basically diminished every aspect of the sport that I love outside of one position. It made no sense to me whatsoever. I get it from the ratings perspective. I thought I was guaranteeing Florida State fans. I'm like, don't worry. If we go undefeated with our backup, we'll be fine. When I was watching the ACC Championship game,

I was thinking, this is really ugly. We might get screwed. Like, that's the minute I, because it was ugly. It did not look pretty, but there have been a lot of championships won with ugly football. Like, there was a game between Alabama and LSU that was nine to six, and people raved about it being one of the greatest games we've ever seen. That was horrific offense, and nobody had a problem with it.

That's why I was bummed about floor steak and screwed. That, and then I'm a floor. You're being in the end. In the end, Danny, this is what you have to struggle with. I believe two things. Florida State should have been in the playoff and deserved it. I also think Florida State would have gotten destroyed in the playoff. I do believe that.

Now, I can't prove it. That's my subjective opinion. And I don't think my subjective opinion should win the day. I think your record should win the day, and you should have gone in over Alabama, not Texas. And that's not me being a homer. Texas beat Bama. So the games have to matter is the point. And Bama should have been out.

and you should have been in, but I don't think you would have done well in the playoff. I would disagree. I think we would have gotten Tate Roddemecker back, who was the backup, who missed the ACC championship that was awful. And I do think that the talent that, I mean, it's really hard to make this case when you lose 63 to 3, but 90% of the offensive production was out of the field, right? 90%. So it was completely, it was literally JV versus Varsity.

And thank goodness for Kirby Smart, because he could have come. in after that Orange Bowl just beat down. And he could have said, see, we're the best team in the country. We deserve a spot in the playoff. But you know what he said instead? He said that team we played was not the team that was the regular season. Like he saved Florida State, which I thought was very classy of him to do that. All right, you've got to go just a couple minutes left with us. So I want to hit these two things. I asked you earlier, I started to ask you, you're a stud high school quarterback coming, I mean, not high school. You're a stud college quarterback coming out right now. This is back to the Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy situation. Who are you hoping drafts Danny

Cannell to put you in the best position to succeed? Are you talking like if I was Caleb Williams or are you saying just in general pick anybody? Like are you looking at the draft board saying if you're Caleb Williams, who would you want to draft you? Are you saying you could play for any coach, any system that you want? Yeah. Well, let's not say you're Caleb Williams because you've got you've got debate this among three teams. Let's say you're let's say you're J.J. McCarthy, and you don't know where you're going to go. It could be anywhere in the first or second round. You know, and you're just going, I want to land someplace that they're going to put me in a good spot. For me, I hope Kyle Shanahan drafts me, and I'm somewhere in the San Francisco system. What's the answer for you? I think Kyle Shanhan would be probably at the top, if not the top of the list. Sean McVeigh with the Rams, I think is a very innovative offensive mind. I think the Rams were kind of flying under the radar this year. I think Andy Reid doesn't get enough credit for the offensive. he is, but like, you don't want to go sit behind Patrick Mahomes.

But if you just eliminated these situations that were at hand and said, you could go play for these guys, those would probably be the top three of my list because they're all incredible offensive minds. And I also, I also like their mindset. They're all kind of different, but like I do think they're all guys that aren't, you know, there's some coaches out there and I played for some of them who were screaming and yelling and cursing you out and just, you know, we're very rigid in their philosophy. these coaches are willing to evolve and take different concepts, implement them.

They're not stuck in the things that they've grown up in and only will coach these. They'll make subtle tweaks. They're great in-game adjusters. And that's what I want because that's, I think, what separates. Everybody knows all the plays. Like, for that you can watch the film. You can steal everything. But what adjustments do you make in-game to complement your quarterback skill set to figure out what works?

Those three are probably at the top of my list. last question i'm blown away that bill bellichick does not have a job as head coach in the nfl i've already said jerry jones go get him as your defensive coordinator i know how unrealistic that is for him to be under mike mccarthy um but i just can't believe the nfl said now we're good we don't need belichick i think ego came in play i think there were a lot of general managers were probably intimidated and felt threatened that they would have to give up their control because that's the one thing Bill Belichick has always had. And although I don't think he was a very good talent evaluator,

especially in the back end of his career, I wish he would have given up that role and been more willing to do that. I think there were some GMs who thought, man, if I bring Belichick in here for an interview and he tells the owner that he wants full control, what is that owner going to say? Yeah, go ahead, give it to him.

We want Bill Belichick. I think that's the reason why he didn't get many looks. I am astounded. We went through a whole cycle, and Bill Belichick, only by my most accounts, only had the Atlanta Falcons reach out and talk to them. That is astounding. I think it's ego.

I think it's ignorance. I'm astounded. I can't believe it. I can't either. I loved it. It's been too long. Greatest professional coach of all time. I'm going to give greatest coach to Sabin.

All right, man. I can see he already has a reaction. He doesn't like that, but he's got to go do a TV. He's a greatest with Bobby Bowden. I mean, if we're just going to go championships and resumes, I don't have a argument but if you wanted to go like who won with different you know in a different era where you didn't have it cornered and you're going to get an invite every single year to the playoff we could do that but i'll let i'll let you have saving for now you're totally objective on that one as well uh

all right man it's been way too long i hope to talk to you again soon man you got it can't wait man we got to catch up there you go i hope you enjoyed that conversation with danny cannell again follow him on x at danny canal check him out on serious xm the dusty and dusty and Danny show and download his podcast cover three on CBS sports. That's going to do it for me today. I will see you again next time. 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. Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com.