Super Bowl Arrival in New Orleans!

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Speaker 6 Where is this place?

Speaker 1 It's got to be close.

Speaker 2 Stop with the complaining already.

Speaker 5 I think this is it.

Speaker 7 Oh, whoa.

Speaker 5 This is impressive and almost certainly haunted.

Speaker 3 It has that feel to it.

Speaker 6 Shall we heed the call? Let's do it, buddy.

Speaker 7 Let's do it.

Speaker 4 Yes, sir.

Speaker 7 Let's go.

Speaker 4 The heed the call podcast

Speaker 4 is getting hedonistic in North.

Speaker 4 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 How about that? Welcome. to Heed the Call from New Orleans Super Bowl 59.
We kicks off Dan Hansis here with the sest dog on the olive couch. And look at that, Mark.

Speaker 4 The voice of God, Jason Summalt, in person here at Heath House at Underdog Manor.

Speaker 2 The beautiful visage and body of Jason here. He's just a presence.
He's a presence.

Speaker 4 I have arrived. We have arrived.
We're in New Orleans, and we're staying here in this old mansion that's called the Orleans House.

Speaker 2 I don't know the name of it. I just know that it's architecturally very striking.

Speaker 4 Very striking. We have our own rooms.
Everyone has, it's a fun vibe. Justin's here as well.
What's up, Justin? Hello. Gravedigger.
We're going to get to Gravedigger in a bit. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Some stuff going on with Gravedigger.

Speaker 4 Put it that way.

Speaker 4 But yeah, a little bit. So we're here.
Obviously, we're going to do three shows

Speaker 4 from here at Orleans' house. We're going to be doing a live show later in the week, and we're excited about that.

Speaker 4 But yeah, this has been interesting. We've stayed in the same quarters quarters before, Mark.
Correct. But, you know, whenever there's an Airbnb situation, you know,

Speaker 4 the rooms drama, that's part of it.

Speaker 2 Well, yeah, I mean, you know, we've got a great staff here with us as well from Underdog. And so people piled in at different times.
We had a 5 a.m.

Speaker 2 flight out of LA, but when we got here, a couple rooms had been occupied, as they should. James Palmer has a very elegant looking room.

Speaker 4 I think I knew Palmer, and he's going to be joining us. He's somewhere in the house right now.
You knew Palmer was going to take the biggest room. Yeah, well,

Speaker 2 I never actually walked walked in there, but I saw photos of it this morning, and it's like,

Speaker 2 okay, yeah, you got the biggest and the best room. We understand how this works.

Speaker 4 Considering this is a house that's over 200 years old, you know, the house is probably haunted. There's a lot of vibes that point in that way.
And James taking the biggest room. Let's start there.

Speaker 4 If someone's going to get haunted this week, I think JP deserves it.

Speaker 2 He deserves it. That would be the ripe reward for that move he pulled.
We had our own room drama.

Speaker 4 We had a little bit of drama.

Speaker 2 It was a very Dan Mark scenario.

Speaker 4 It explained so much about both of us,

Speaker 4 how we came in through the front door, and then we were told there were rooms upstairs and rooms downstairs. Mark went downstairs and checked out that room.
I went upstairs.

Speaker 4 You know, the room up there was okay.

Speaker 4 And then I came down and Mark, you would hit the lotto. You had a bigger room.
Right.

Speaker 4 And what happened?

Speaker 2 Well, so somehow, like, just the way that we operate as friends and business partners, it's like, you can have the better room, Dan.

Speaker 2 I could sleep on a small carpet in the middle of the floor. I almost did last night, to be honest.
So, you know,

Speaker 2 lots going on there. But like, so I ultimately gave you the bigger room.

Speaker 4 But I'm very thrilled. So you're the bigger person.

Speaker 2 You're the bigger man. Yeah, I guess that's, you could spin it.

Speaker 4 A little bit of a La Rabio Magnifico, but it was. For you.
Yeah, it was eating. And you kept on saying, I could sleep on anything.
I could sleep on the dirt. And I said, well,

Speaker 4 then you want to switch? And you were like, yeah. But then I could tell you maybe you didn't really want to.
But then I was like, all right, let's do it or not.

Speaker 2 So we did do it. We had been here for five minutes, and I went into your room to look at it, and you'd already like unpacked all your toiletries and clothes.
Seems like a big production.

Speaker 2 So, you know, my stuff is still in a bag.

Speaker 4 Everything's just still right now. Yeah.
I believe that. Yeah.
I believe that. Jason, you are on the third floor.
I'm in the attic. Yeah, the attic.
And how are we doing in terms of activities?

Speaker 4 Well, we were hoping that we were going to have some bumps in the night, some creepy crawlies, some maybe tugging on the toes in the middle of the night to wake me up, some some paranormal activity.

Speaker 4 And so far, nothing. I'm a little disappointed to be honest.
Yeah, we want that. We want that.
So that's something that we want to. Totally normal sound.
Keep an eye out. Totally normal sound.

Speaker 4 Keep an eye out. So, yeah, we're going to be talking, obviously, Chiefs, Eagles,

Speaker 4 all the fun we'll be having here. And

Speaker 4 there's somebody.

Speaker 4 Come on in. Somebody's here at Heat House.

Speaker 2 At the front door.

Speaker 4 Oh, the boys. It's the comments.

Speaker 4 Todd or

Speaker 4 Take a C, Pat. Need to see a bad

Speaker 4 thing. Like this.
This is so organic.

Speaker 4 So natural, not at all stage. Here, take this headset.

Speaker 4 Connor Orr is here. What's up, Con Man?

Speaker 8 I thought this was the Wax Museum.

Speaker 4 Hi, everybody.

Speaker 4 This is a bit of a Pee-Wee's Playhouse scenario. You had no issues finding the house from your hotel somewhere in downtown New Orleans?

Speaker 8 The Uber driver was like, I'm going to wait here just to make sure you're where you think you are.

Speaker 8 That was good. Yeah.

Speaker 4 All right. Well, that's a little bit foreboding,

Speaker 4 that messaging by the driver. I'd agree.
There were a lot of flashing lights around the house last night. Every time we looked out the window, somebody was getting pulled over.

Speaker 4 There's a lot of entertainment factor here in New Orleans. And you were at Opening Night, right, Connor? I sure was.
What's going on with what are the vibes at Opening Night this year?

Speaker 2 You're like Mr. Roboto.
You did the job that no one else wanted to do. You went to Opening Night.

Speaker 8 So Opening Night is, for those who don't know, you are trying to actually interview people in front of like 15,000 screaming fans. And every year,

Speaker 8 they credential more journalists, and then the space gets tighter.

Speaker 8 And so this was the first year where I was trying to talk to Vic Fangio, and then I turned around to exit, and I was physically unable to move.

Speaker 8 Like I was stuck between nine different ongoing interviews, and so I just, I stood there. I tried to see how many times I could spin around in a a circle.

Speaker 2 That was my why is it constructed this way? It feels overly complex, unnecessarily.

Speaker 8 So, they did it for no other reason. Like, it's always kind of done in the local basketball arena, but this year they're like, let's put it in the football stadium.

Speaker 8 Great, but we're not allowed on the football field. So, the entire media night was taking place on two sidelines.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 8 I had to wait in line to get in in front of Jameis Winston, another credentialed reporter. So, I felt

Speaker 4 total stunner that Jameis Winston would be all over media night.

Speaker 4 He was

Speaker 4 throwing cookies at various players.

Speaker 8 Which they ate, by the way.

Speaker 4 Interesting. Imagine that would be a major controversy if somebody came down with some type of

Speaker 8 foodborne illness. Here's the thing that no one talks about, and it's insane to me.
I shook probably 13 or 14 people's hands. There's dozens,

Speaker 8 like hundreds of journalists here from all over the world. And these players are just

Speaker 8 embracing some of them, the stranger ones, like just hugging them, shaking their hands. How does no one get any sort of a viral illness?

Speaker 2 I like the embracing the stranger ones. That's what the players are doing.

Speaker 8 There was the guy from

Speaker 8 Norway the one year who wanted Aaron Donald to slap him in the hands, and then he did. And the guy was like, that really hurt.

Speaker 4 And it's like, yeah, you know, which I'm Aaron Donald. What did you think was going to happen? I'm a monster.

Speaker 4 Add it up.

Speaker 4 We've done it all through the years. We've been to many Super Bowls.
Very fortunate to have been to many.

Speaker 4 We've done opening night many times, SusDog. We've also been on Radio Row many, many, many years.
It's a little bit, I got to be totally honest.

Speaker 4 And again, thank you to Underdog, putting us up in this great place and

Speaker 4 get to hang out and do shows with your friends.

Speaker 4 That's winning. As Shaq would say, that's cheating life right there.
I do not, there are elements of Super Bowl week that are fun to me.

Speaker 4 Opening night is something

Speaker 4 I'm happy to leave in the past. Radio Row is something that I feel kind of blessed that we're away from that, even though it's only a couple miles away.

Speaker 4 And we're doing our own thing away from all that.

Speaker 2 It feels completely different than the machinery of past Super Bowls, where, you know,

Speaker 2 we were ordered to go to things left and right, like the Harbaugh versus Harbaugh, like press conference, things like that, where it's just like, it's a bit of a dog and pony show. This feels free.

Speaker 2 This feels better. We can stand up.

Speaker 4 If we're having a conversation with Connor, and all of a sudden he goes into a chunky soup ad placement worked into the dialogue. Yes.

Speaker 4 So we don't have to worry about that this year. The famous

Speaker 4 Tony Romo Foner we did, that wasn't at Radio Row, but where he kept on mentioning that his uncle loves DirecTV so much.

Speaker 2 Well, it was a product placement interview, which had very little substance to it. It was before he became the Tony Romo we know know today.

Speaker 4 All right, so here's the deal: like we said, we are

Speaker 4 in New Orleans for the week. Connor is going to be with us.
Multiple shows. The voice of God.
And Jason, again, Jason's on the third floor.

Speaker 4 Maybe we can get some footage we could share with the audience of how you even get to the third floor of Orleans' house here. It's a lot of climbing.
A lot of climbing. Steep stairs.

Speaker 2 Dangerous stairs.

Speaker 4 Dangerous stairs.

Speaker 2 I had borrowed, I forgot to bring toothpaste. Yes.
And so I quietly asked Jason if I could go borrow some of his toothpaste.

Speaker 4 It's a very small tube, so I can't keep doing that.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 I had to go find the room, and it's an adventure to get up there.

Speaker 4 Yes. It will be on my conscience if you tumble to your demise, Jason.
So just hold the banister. We've all got insurance, though, so we're good, right? We're totally covered.
Everybody's covered.

Speaker 4 Okay, good. Everybody's great.
All right. So, with that said, let's talk a little bit about

Speaker 4 opening night.

Speaker 4 We got our buddy, again, James Palmer, also staying with us here in Heath House, and we're going to get the latest from him, what he's hearing, and some of the other news that's out there right now.

Speaker 4 But I just want to,

Speaker 4 you know what, maybe

Speaker 4 should we get James? I think so. We should get James.
Orderly.

Speaker 4 Hey, James, come on down, bud.

Speaker 9 It's time, baby.

Speaker 4 He got the best room.

Speaker 4 I feel like he came here purposely. Well, yeah.
Earliest to get the room.

Speaker 2 Showed up a day early, sent a photo of him poolside. And and so you know how this works.

Speaker 4 It is, ladies and gentlemen, James Palmer.

Speaker 4 Good to see you, James. Take a seat, buddy.

Speaker 4 Can we share the story, Mark, that you nearly

Speaker 4 work on that table last night?

Speaker 2 I nearly did, and I made a technical error, and I'll just be honest about it. Like, when I fly across the country, I've had blood clot issues before, and so I take a blood thinner.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 2 Then I arrived in New Orleans and began

Speaker 4 deeper deeper than I thought.

Speaker 4 What? Keep going. No alternative.

Speaker 4 Continue your argument.

Speaker 2 This was not a good combination. And it was a fair cap to my evening just to tumble onto the floor.

Speaker 2 He did.

Speaker 4 Your face connected with the glass table in front of us. There was a concern that it might shatter.
Yeah, and then there was a coffee.

Speaker 4 It was like a nitro brew can of coffee that as you fell, you inadvertently swiped and it went down onto this carpeting. And then when I was stunned, it happened so quickly.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I thought it was a massive pool of blood.

Speaker 4 Holy shit.

Speaker 4 Did Mark just kill himself on the glass coffee table first night in New Orleans? And do we do a show tomorrow?

Speaker 4 I thought the same thing. But you also fell in slow motion.
Yes. Well,

Speaker 2 my only memory of it was like, I am falling.

Speaker 4 That's what I could have.

Speaker 2 I said, oh, I'm tumbling towards the girt.

Speaker 4 We've all been there, so this isn't a shout out to you, Mark. It's a clear table.
You can see the ends of it. I almost just did it.
Is there anything more humiliating than the slow motion fall?

Speaker 2 No, it's terrible.

Speaker 2 It's just falling and you're just with these wonderful people from our company. Like, that's not the time this should happen either.

Speaker 2 So, you know, it was someone's got to start the thing off with a bang, and I hope I provided that service.

Speaker 4 I'm just happy it wasn't blood. Fair.
Because it looked like a potential gusher. James, how are you, buddy? I'm good, boys.
I slept not like a baby last night. I think that room's haunted.
All right.

Speaker 2 You've got the haunted room.

Speaker 8 There's nymphs painted on the ceiling.

Speaker 4 Nymphs? Yeah. Like little babies.
Babies. Playing instruments.
Never good. One hunting a rabbit.

Speaker 4 I should post this publicly for everyone to see. There's a small boy in a small cloth,

Speaker 4 bow drawn, a rabbit that has questionable eyes

Speaker 4 looking back at him.

Speaker 4 And this is all happening above in this mural above my bed.

Speaker 2 That sounds like the room Jason would want to be sleeping in. Yeah.
As much as I know about it.

Speaker 4 It's a wide bed. We could.

Speaker 4 Well, I was going to say, James, that initially I had some issues that you would take in the first bedroom, but now maybe the comeuppance is you have to deal with evil nymphs.

Speaker 4 Well, I did properly text,

Speaker 4 yes, I do have to deal with this, and we're on night two for whatever it is.

Speaker 4 I did text the proper people at Underdog and said, What room do I take? Smart. And they responded with, First come, first serve.

Speaker 4 So I laid in each of your beds

Speaker 4 and

Speaker 4 eventually chose that room. So you stayed night one here by yourself.

Speaker 4 John, my producer for 89, came in like midnight. So he was here at the end.
But I had most of the day to myself here. I sat by the pool.
I sent you guys a photo of me drinking the Stella Poolside.

Speaker 4 There's a pool back here.

Speaker 8 Oh, shit.

Speaker 2 And we've got a fully stocked fridge.

Speaker 2 Everything you could ask for is here.

Speaker 4 Very nice.

Speaker 4 That is Underdog helping us out, and we appreciate them. All right, let's talk a little bit opening night.
Let's play a little Patrick Patrick Mahomes,

Speaker 4 the Eagles and Chiefs. And

Speaker 4 it is something that has obviously become more ingrained this season. The Chiefs becoming the team everybody's sick of.
And here's Patrick Mahomes saying he's cool with it.

Speaker 10 You know, I don't even think it's embracing me and the villains. We embrace who we are.
And we believe we play the game the right way.

Speaker 10 We believe that we play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion for the game. And then we win football games.

Speaker 10 And if winning football games makes you a villain, we're going to keep going out there and doing it.

Speaker 4 Conman, your thoughts?

Speaker 8 I mean, right way is tough.

Speaker 8 I think that phrase is doing a lot of work.

Speaker 4 But

Speaker 8 they are better than other teams in the NFL, and you shouldn't be punished for that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 4 And along those lines, Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, had his press conference. And one of the questions that he received, I believe this was a controlled press conference, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 4 It was. It was an invite only.

Speaker 8 The last two years have been invite only. Yes.

Speaker 4 Did Jim Trotter get in this year? I think that might have been triggered this year. He came in through the venting.

Speaker 4 Anyway, Rog has asked about some of the conspiracy theories that perhaps the league has been helping the Kansas City dynasty along.

Speaker 12 Officiating has favored the Chiefs, not my perception, public perception. How much of a concern is that for you and the league?

Speaker 11 Well, this sort of reminds me a little bit of the script, right? That I write a script and I have the script for the entire season. Listen, you know, I think from a lot of

Speaker 11 those theories are things that

Speaker 11 happen in social media and they get a new life. As you say, it's not your theory, but it's out there.
Nobody wants it to be their theory.

Speaker 11 And so I understand that. I think it reflects a lot of the fans' passion.

Speaker 11 And I think it also is a reminder for us how important officiating is. And I think the men and women that officiate in the NFL are outstanding.
They have the highest possible standards.

Speaker 11 That's a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously. But at the end of the day,

Speaker 11 it's something we always have to continue to work on. How do we make our officiating better?

Speaker 4 Okay, so

Speaker 4 obviously he's the commissioner. He's going to say a lot of things.

Speaker 4 There's a lot of whistling past the graveyard. If you're watching these playoffs, right,

Speaker 4 you cannot tell me that the officiating has been at a high level. You just can't.
And I feel like the NFL does have an officiating issue right now, and it needs to be better.

Speaker 4 And I don't believe there's a controversy aiding the Chiefs, although we've talked about it in some detail about why would the Chiefs who are playing all these major games in their building, why the...

Speaker 4 the human element could work its way into some of the things that ended up favoring Kansas City.

Speaker 2 But I don't love the commissioner just saying like the officiating is this like beacon of integrity is not not the right word but that there's nothing to worry about here doesn't it feel like there's something to work on in this realm well absolutely and i think it's it's also just part and parcel of the timer in because like twitter and social media like these calls and like the human gaffe element of it are just broken down to such a level like back when the cowboys uh won a super bowl with barry switzer after jimmy johnson there were issues with officiating then too but we just never we didn't pound through it and analyze it the way it is So they're very much under a microscope, and it's, it's human beings.

Speaker 2 If it was like perfect technological robots, we wouldn't be dealing with this potentially, but human beings make mistakes.

Speaker 2 And I also like, why are refs always seem like they're like 72 years old trying to keep up with like young athletes too? So

Speaker 4 there was a referee, I'm trying to remember who he was. Stephen I on our show did a breakdown of it like early in the year where he was hauling at he he caught everybody.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and then he like danced out of the way when the cutback happened and I was like, this gentleman. And then I found he was a Division II running back.

Speaker 4 I still use the term Division II.

Speaker 4 I'll never let it go. Was a running back back then and was an outstanding college player.
But to your point,

Speaker 4 those Super Bowls and those games you're watching on your 4x3 standard deaf television back then, you had no idea what was exactly happening within an inch.

Speaker 4 The at-home broadcast has become so incredible that you can see every tiny inch of every aspect and every angle. As these games get bigger, guess what happens in bigger games?

Speaker 4 The production budget is larger. What happens with a larger production budget?

Speaker 4 More cameras, more angles, more ability to see every play from every single angle.

Speaker 4 And if you've ever stood on a sideline during an NFL game, I've done it most of my career, I look at the refs going, how the hell are they doing this? There's so many things to look at.

Speaker 4 So I'm not making an excuse for them, but we now have an ability to critique them unlike we've had before.

Speaker 4 And so if we've increased the technological advances to critique them, why haven't we grown in the other aspect of how we're officiating it and using them in that same manner?

Speaker 4 Those are all great points, and I wish the commissioner of the NFL told us that. Like, listen, it's not perfect, and we're always working on it.

Speaker 4 The technology can be a double-edged sword in this realm, and we're going to continue to try to marry the technology with the officiating to try to create a cleaner product.

Speaker 4 We're not there yet, but we're always striving to get there. Give me a little bit more than that.
But the other part, like, have you ever been the pool reporter, Connor? Yes.

Speaker 4 Break it down for everybody what the pool reporter situation is when you have to go into the referee locker room and interview the head referee after these controversial calls.

Speaker 4 One, you know exactly what's happening when you're walking into that room. You will not get an answer.
There will be no admission of guilt and no admission that we missed a call.

Speaker 4 That is standard operating procedure for the pool report. That's how they're taught.

Speaker 4 So to me, that's the other part that lies as a problem to where there's no admission that we've ever made a mistake in anything is the difference. But take us in that room.

Speaker 4 I do think everybody wants to know. Take us in that room.

Speaker 4 I sound like Peter King. Take me there, Connor.

Speaker 8 There was one,

Speaker 8 this isn't my own story, but Luke Johnson did it a couple of weeks ago down here in New Orleans, and he asked about a highly controversial call, and the official was just like, yeah, no, it's not, you know, we just didn't see it that way.

Speaker 4 And then he's just like, okay, well, the whole world saw that you fed it up.

Speaker 8 And the official's just like, that's all we got. Thanks, Luke.

Speaker 4 And then just walks back back.

Speaker 4 That's essentially how it goes. And then we all get the transcript emailed out to us, being at the game and everything.
And you always just kind of know, like, I put it out. You probably put it out.

Speaker 4 We go, well, here's the pool report transcript. And it doesn't provide anything.

Speaker 8 Just a thousand comments from, like, giants.

Speaker 4 It actually probably just stirs the pot even further

Speaker 4 for the social media anger. It just is like, hey, you know, you guys are upset during the game.
What did you hear about this interview?

Speaker 4 With the referee, and they just post that. All right.
Let's pivot, boys, to some news. And we got JP here.

Speaker 4 What do you got going on, by the way, James, this week? Oh, we got stuff, man.

Speaker 4 Oh,

Speaker 4 Sabrina. Yes.

Speaker 2 Scrappets and nymphs.

Speaker 4 I'm still shook from last night.

Speaker 4 Steve and I are doing a receiver roundtable at a local watering hole this evening. Oh, well, hello.

Speaker 4 So Steve Smith and I will be sitting down with, I won't give anything away, but maybe a receiver of past greatness, a receiver of somewhat recent greatness, and maybe a current guy. I don't know.

Speaker 4 I'm still looking for that receiver walking around New Orleans.

Speaker 4 Because we were supposed to have a pretty kick-ass current receiver, but his schedule changed.

Speaker 4 But we're going to talk about the evolution of the position, all sorts of jazz like that, and then we're doing new stuff throughout the week, guys. That's why we're sitting here, too.

Speaker 4 And I'm going to be with you guys tomorrow. Yes.
We're going to talk a little free agency tomorrow. Ooh, I like that.
Because, you know, like, how much? How much game talk can one have in a week?

Speaker 4 We're going to spin forward a little bit tomorrow. But yeah, let's get caught up with some news leading with an item about one of Mark's heroes on the gridiron.

Speaker 3 Personally, though, and I'll start with you, Miles, like elves in general, do you believe that at some point on this earth, like a mythical creature like an elf actually existed, or does that not sit well with you?

Speaker 4 Do I believe that?

Speaker 1 I haven't seen it, so I can't particularly say that I believe too strongly in it, but

Speaker 4 maybe I just need to need someone to make me a believer.

Speaker 7 All right.

Speaker 3 Elves, your take.

Speaker 4 Yes, a year ago at

Speaker 4 Radio Row, Mark Sessler asking Miles Garrett about his belief in, or lack thereof, in Elves.

Speaker 4 And I do, I always like the pivot follow-up to Denzel Ward. Yeah, well, and you, sir?

Speaker 4 Elves, your take.

Speaker 2 Well, that was another, I don't know what's going on with these Super Bowl weeks, but I had driven from L.A. to Las Vegas, and I'm convinced I

Speaker 2 came down with COVID along the way. And so we were at Radio Row, and I could barely speak.
I was in a hallucinogenic state.

Speaker 4 Wait, so you thought you might have had COVID, and you decided to come to set

Speaker 4 shows with us.

Speaker 4 Well, because it's like what?

Speaker 2 I drive to the Super Bowl and don't do the... I didn't know I had it.

Speaker 2 I just presumed I did. I felt that way.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 Miles Garrett in that interview looked at me like I was from a different universe because I definitely looked ill and forlorn and he was just like, what am I doing talking to this small white?

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 4 Well, he did. He was a little confused, and I'm just connecting dots that cannot have anything to do with the news that came out on Monday that

Speaker 4 one of the great defensive players in the history of the Cleveland Browns, Miles Garrett, who had floated at the end of the regular season that he might, you know, be looking for a path out of Cleveland if things don't turn around.

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 4 Connor, that apparently is the case, as it's now being reported that Miles Garrett has requested a trade out of Cleveland. A, do you think that happens?

Speaker 4 And B, do you think the Browns should do it where they are as an organization right now if the right offer presents itself?

Speaker 8 My closet theory here is that they are softly facilitating this, and they let it get to the point where Miles is requesting the trade.

Speaker 8 So they're like, oh no, well, okay, you have to leave because this organization is so desperate. They need cap space.
They need draft capital.

Speaker 8 And they need to do it in a way that doesn't directly tie their hands to all the horrendous mistakes that they made with the Deshaun Watson trade and the wasting of Nick Chubb's prime, the wasting of, you know, all that offensive line prime, the wasting of having the best offensive line coach in the NFL at the time.

Speaker 8 So by just sort of allowing the product to diminish to the point where other people want to leave on their own volition, at least sort of takes a little bit of the blood off their hands.

Speaker 8 That's my fault. That's my thought.

Speaker 2 I think you bullet pointed that perfectly, all those events that have occurred since they won that playoff game over the Steelers, the crumbling of it all.

Speaker 2 And back then, it looked like the Browns, you had a coach of the year, whether or not you think he was,

Speaker 2 but a competent coaching staff and a couple star players, and you've beaten the Steelers in the playoffs, and everything that's happened since has been disorganized, lacking a plan.

Speaker 2 And what happens to the Browns is because of what they do and how they run the show. And I think if you're Miles Garrett or you're a player today, you're empowered.

Speaker 2 Like you don't have to sit around in these organizations through another, for like the fourth rebuild.

Speaker 2 He's been there. He saw the worst of it.
It got better and it's... It's now, I think, at its worst point because of the cap, because of Deshaun Watson, because of the lack of vision and creativity.

Speaker 2 When you're in a division with other teams that figure it out, and you never can. So, Miles Garrett deserves to finish his career somewhere that can serve him the way he should be served.

Speaker 4 All right, there's a couple elements at play here.

Speaker 4 One, let's just make sure because nobody's said it yet.

Speaker 4 To my understanding and talking to people there, they do not want to entertain this trade right now, is essentially their stance on this.

Speaker 4 That goes a little bit against Connor's closeted theory, but does it coincide with it as well, actually?

Speaker 4 But right now, their stance, if you ask anybody or make any calls, there is that we're not going to entertain this trade.

Speaker 4 Two, Mark kind of hinted at this, and I talked to a couple of different executives when this happened on Monday, and one of them kind of pointed something out to me that I thought was very interesting.

Speaker 4 And it was like,

Speaker 4 you know, Miles is very involved in the Cavs. Miles is very involved in the NBA.
Miles and other dominant players in this league are well aware of what's happening in the NBA.

Speaker 4 And I started going like, oh, this guy totally, this is a great point.

Speaker 4 So this executive goes, these guys are understanding and seeing firsthand the muscle and the flex of these NBA superstars to demand to

Speaker 4 really where they want to play and how they want to go about it. And these NFL players are seeing that, let's see if I can do the same thing.
And you compound that, he said, with Miles is 29.

Speaker 4 He's starting to look at 30, going like, I probably got one more monster contract in me because he's... grossly underpaid right now, considering the market and considering what else is out there.

Speaker 4 And so if he does get traded, there'll be a new contract with that. This is my last opportunity to get that.
And also, this is my years of winning are shrinking.

Speaker 4 That number 30 to these guys is like a huge deal financially and career-wise. And they can argue that I'm going to play forever.
Russell Wilson says he's playing 60 more years.

Speaker 4 When you get towards 30, you start changing your mindset. And that's probably in Miles' thought process as well going about this.
Connor mentioned the cap.

Speaker 4 They're actually in a worse cap situation if they trade him. The dead money is wild.
Really, really bad. And they're in a bad spot already.
Trading him actually puts them in a worse spot.

Speaker 4 What would alleviate it to some extent is if they traded him after the draft. Right.

Speaker 4 But how does that help you in the rebuild if the trade and the compensation comes after the draft? So they're kind of in a stuck spot right now.

Speaker 4 And then to push it forward, the last point is if of four different executives I talked to, I just said, name a team. What do you think the team that almost three of the four said?

Speaker 4 Raiders.

Speaker 2 No. Commanders.

Speaker 4 Three of the four said Washington.

Speaker 4 So I think that's interesting. If we want to push it forward, Raiders is definitely another one that some people have kind of hinted at.
These are teams with obviously a lot of money.

Speaker 4 I would look at any team that has a quarterback on a rookie contract. Patriots.

Speaker 4 Patriots. Commanders.

Speaker 4 Bears.

Speaker 4 They don't have the money, but the Falcons would be like an outstanding move for them.

Speaker 4 But I think this is something that's going to take a minute, and I think it's going to take

Speaker 4 seriously some time before we get to some movement on this. And it's a butterfly effect of it all.

Speaker 4 There's another scenario where they're a little more patient with Baker Mayfield, and he's still the quarterback, and they're able to build up that big playoff win against Pittsburgh, and Miles Garrett is there,

Speaker 4 and they could go for it together.

Speaker 4 But now it feels like that window closed, the Deshaun Watson move, was such a disaster that I think there's a lot of logic to moving him if it gets you big-time draft capital.

Speaker 4 And it's complicated with the financials involved, but it's a bummer, and it's also the same

Speaker 4 week where I learned like Garrett Wilson scrubbed the Jets from his social media.

Speaker 4 And like being a fan of a team that can't get out of its own way, even when you've land a special player, eventually they're like, this sucks.

Speaker 2 This all like happened on our plane ride out here. We land in New Orleans and like disasters are uncurly left and right around John.

Speaker 13 Being a fan of a team that can't get out of there. Well, don't get me started.

Speaker 4 Back to football. All right, we'll get there.
But real quick, I got something for you, Justin.

Speaker 4 A few minutes later. What if you were Andrew Berry, though, in this situation?

Speaker 4 The Browns channel manager. You're going to go, hey, look, guess what, guys? I'm the guy who did the Deshaun Watson trade and traded Files Garrett.
How about that? Look what I cooked up next.

Speaker 4 Check me out.

Speaker 4 That's a tough spot for him to be in right now.

Speaker 8 Here's why you would want the draft capital after this year's draft, though, right?

Speaker 4 A better draft. Better draft.

Speaker 8 Quarterback.

Speaker 8 You would want capital for the 2026 draft or the Arch Manning draft. Like that's where you want to be putting your ex.

Speaker 4 And one other point I wanted to make, because this was brought up to me and I thought this was really well, is like it's been, in a lot of people's mind around the league, falsehood in essence of how this team has been built.

Speaker 4 You can't really equate your team's success over a period of time with banking it on a dominant defense. Dominant defense is very volatile.

Speaker 4 You look at Philly right now, one of the the best defenses in football. I bet you there's a pretty good situation where they're like 10th or 12th next year.

Speaker 4 They'll be fine, but they won't be number one. You're not consistently number one defense year in and year out.

Speaker 4 The league considers that very, like, with all of the factors at play, you can't bank on it every year. And so that's another part of why the Browns got themselves in this kind of situation.

Speaker 4 And then with compensation, there's two kind of schools of thought. Some people think multiple ones.
There's plenty of people that are like, I don't think they get multiple ones for him.

Speaker 4 I think it's a one and stuff.

Speaker 2 I mean, like, Khalil Mack got

Speaker 2 multiple ones, but that was a different time. I'm kind of with you.

Speaker 4 I think this time of that's changed a little bit, but I don't know. The Eagles are like, we'll give up a one for A.J.
Brown. Let's go.
We'll give up anything to make our team better.

Speaker 4 Here's another high-profile veteran, in fact, a former Super Bowl MVP, a triple crown winner at wide receiver Cooper Cup.

Speaker 4 He got in front of his situation on Twitter saying that the Rams are looking to move on from him immediately. Some of the wording was strange around this.

Speaker 4 Per cup, he is searching for for the quote right place to continue competing for championships.

Speaker 4 Okay, so Mark, this is the same Cooper Cup that once upon a time, I think James, we were talking about last night on your birthday. Happy birthday, James Palmer.

Speaker 4 Wow. Connor didn't know, former co-host of a podcast together.
You've been the first one to text me yesterday, but cards in the mail.

Speaker 2 Can you even find that podcast on the internet?

Speaker 4 You can find it. Seek it out.
Okay. Seek it out.
What was the name of it?

Speaker 4 You told me you can't. Or opinion.
Access or opinion, James Palmer. We didn't even spell or the Rams.
Connor or. The highest compliment you could possibly.

Speaker 4 Wait, you didn't spell with two R's?

Speaker 8 No, we did.

Speaker 4 Oh, you did? Okay. I was joking.
Yeah. I was just wanting to make sure.
That would have been actually

Speaker 4 missed opportunities.

Speaker 4 If we did just use OR, that would have fit the podcast. All right.

Speaker 4 The highest compliment one could ever pay to a player is that Super Bowl that we watched at SoFi Stadium when Cooper Cup and the Rams were down in the final minutes, and that Rams offense was predicated on Cooper Cup making the plays, and everybody in the building and every coach on the sideline for Cincinnati and every player knew that Matthew Stafford was going to throw to Cooper Cup, and they still couldn't cover him.

Speaker 4 They win the Super Bowl. Things have changed.
He's a little bit older now. He's been some injuries, 32 years old.

Speaker 4 Really a disappointing mark end to his 2024 season where he basically exited the game plan. And that scheme in Los Angeles doesn't seem to have room for a two-headed monster on some level.

Speaker 4 And we can talk about that. But Cup on the trade block, and we're going to talk about

Speaker 4 as we tease the Wednesday free agency show, a lot of interesting wide receivers out there, and we'll have the conversation. But Cup on the move from Los Angeles, a little bit surprising.

Speaker 2 I don't feel that surprised by it just because what Cooper Cup has been is a lesser version of him. And also the Rams, like, I'm kind of, they don't surprise.

Speaker 2 I refuse to be surprised by anything the Rams do at this point because they think differently, they operate differently. They have gone through a rapid youth movement on defense, especially.

Speaker 2 But when you've got Puka Naku, it's like, I think they're thinking, we're just going to keep getting younger at these positions.

Speaker 2 I think the second question is, like, is Matthew Stafford on this team next season? That's been floated out there as a, we'll see.

Speaker 4 What are you hearing, James? Well, this has been going on, and the frustration... probably from cup side has been going on for some time, to my understanding.

Speaker 4 You alluded to it very quickly, but it's worth elaborating on. Like, this offense is built off of of one guy, and it was Cup for a period of time.

Speaker 4 And now it's Puka, and Puka gets those downfield looks, and Cup doesn't get those downfield looks. And then I talked to a defensive coordinator that played them in the second half of the season.

Speaker 4 When I was starting to hear that there was, like, a little bit of an issue here with Cup and the way this offense is working, and I just asked, like, when you guys went against them, what did you see when you watched the film back and in your preparation?

Speaker 4 He was like, a lot of the stuff that Cooper did for the years that he was unbelievably successful with Matthew Stafford was a lot of this, like, these routes that take a minute, he gets rubbed off of a pick, or he kind of can set things up and everything, and they're just not taking the time for those things to

Speaker 4 happen, to throw him the ball. Like, Stafford's not sitting there and waiting for that route to happen anymore.
He's looking to Nakua, and he's moved on, in a sense.

Speaker 4 And so this isn't a surprise by any stretch.

Speaker 4 And so now

Speaker 4 I look at landing spots. Like, I think he's viable if you have a really different type of receiver in a different kind of style.
Like, I don't know.

Speaker 4 I think, like, Sean Payton would do wonders with Cooper Cup. He's a number two at this stage, though, right? He's not

Speaker 4 the dude anymore.

Speaker 1 He reminds me a little bit.

Speaker 4 He's sort of opposite a Nico Collins, like

Speaker 4 a Diggs replacement. Yeah, potentially.
Yeah.

Speaker 8 He reminds me a little bit of Rob Grinkowski, though, when Gronk got out of New England and everyone's like, oh, there's going to be this big market for him.

Speaker 8 But what made Rob so great was that he was so ingrained in the blocking scheme, and that wears his body down over time.

Speaker 8 And Cooper blocks more than any other wide receiver in the NFL and had blocked more than any other receiver in the NFL.

Speaker 8 And so you're either going to need someone with the knowledge of Sean McVay's run scheme, and there's plenty of those coordinators that are out there, or you're going to need someone to kind of reimagine him as a wide receiver.

Speaker 8 Because I don't know, you know, is the body strength there?

Speaker 8 Is the willingness to throw your body out there still out there? I don't know.

Speaker 2 You do have McVay disciples all over the league.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 All right.

Speaker 4 I think he's probably got another year. Checking your email?

Speaker 4 It's the show within the show, within the show.

Speaker 4 I just want to say, James, that

Speaker 4 staying in this home with you, especially on your birthday,

Speaker 4 special.

Speaker 4 This is like a closeness that we just

Speaker 4 appreciate you.

Speaker 2 I don't think we're going to return to our home city. Really? We'll just all stay here.
I mean,

Speaker 2 we're set to go.

Speaker 4 Can we bring our families here? I don't.

Speaker 2 No. Well.
Well, that feels invasive.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Do you, if you look on that glass, do you think you could see Mark's face impression? Jason, can you take a look? You see Mark's face in the glass? I think somebody cleaned it up.

Speaker 4 James,

Speaker 4 tomorrow? Yeah, good. And we'll hang out tonight.
Oh, we will. At Underdog Manor.
Underdog Manor. Is that what's Underdog Manor? Am I allowed to come back last year? Can I come back?

Speaker 4 We have an extra bed, right?

Speaker 13 Yeah. Every room has two beds.

Speaker 4 Yeah, there's multiple rooms. There's a great bed.

Speaker 4 Right. Just tell each other stories.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Given what's going on with Justin and his sports fandom in the NBA, we might want to have someone in the room with Justin just to make sure that we're going to be a little bit more bed check, if you will.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4 All right. Thanks, boys.
See you tomorrow. I'm going back upstairs.
All right. All right.
There he goes. James Palmer, ladies and gentlemen, upstairs he goes.

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Speaker 4 All right, we are back.

Speaker 4 Super Bowl Week. Can you believe it? You know, there is

Speaker 4 tough sitch involving our producer.

Speaker 4 Blockbuster went down.

Speaker 4 Trade. Some are saying the biggest trade in the history of the NFL in terms of surprise trades.

Speaker 13 Not NFL.

Speaker 4 Excuse me, the NBA. Huge trade.
One of the biggest trades ever.

Speaker 4 Your beloved star of the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic.

Speaker 4 Am I saying that right?

Speaker 13 Luka Doncic.

Speaker 4 Doncic traded away to the Los Angeles Lakers of all teams. And Justin Mark has been in his feelings.

Speaker 2 Absolutely. Understandably.

Speaker 4 Almost on a disturbing level. Like you're wondering, it's, you know, in full metal jacket, when Private Pile, it goes too far, and then you just see he's got that stare.

Speaker 4 I've sensed that from Justin a little bit since the trade of the great Luca to the Lakers.

Speaker 2 Justin is one of the,

Speaker 2 I think by nature being a little bit younger than myself, he's got an optimism around sports and he still believes in his teams greatly. He's got the Spinning Titans helmet.

Speaker 2 He's a huge Dallas Mavericks fan. There's a darkness to him at the moment.
It's come through in text.

Speaker 4 There's a little cynicism.

Speaker 2 He's grown older. That's how I see it.

Speaker 4 And while a lot of people are like, okay, how do we spin this? What is the equivalent trade in the NFL? No.

Speaker 4 I don't care about that. We took it one step further.
Here's a little surprise. We actually have Luca on the phone.
Luca joining us from Los Angeles. Luca, are you there?

Speaker 14 Yes, yes. Hello.

Speaker 14 How's it going over there at

Speaker 14 Heat the Call? Thank you for having me.

Speaker 4 That's very nice.

Speaker 4 That's pretty good booking right here, Mark.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's a big guess for us. You know, that just sort of speaks to what's ahead.

Speaker 4 Hey, Luca, we have Justin Graver here, number one Mavs fan.

Speaker 4 He's going through it right now. Are you okay, by the way, Justin?

Speaker 4 This is probably pretty shocking to you that this is happening.

Speaker 13 It's not as shocking as Saturday night.

Speaker 4 Okay. Luca, do you have anything you want to say to

Speaker 4 Mr. Graver?

Speaker 14 Yes, but not just, you know, like to

Speaker 4 Graver, but to all my fans from Dallas.

Speaker 14 Some of them are very upset. It's just get the fing life, bro.

Speaker 14 Like, get over it. It's sports.
It's a mercenary league, you know? Like, these things happen. You know, you have to move on.

Speaker 4 Yeah, your thoughts on that, Jeff?

Speaker 4 I mean, coming from Luca himself,

Speaker 4 quite direct. Your thoughts?

Speaker 13 I think that, you know,

Speaker 13 I can move on in some ways. I have to move on.
I will say, Luca, I'm still going to follow your career. I'm still going to be a massive fan of yours with the Lakers.

Speaker 13 Whether that means I root for Lakers' team success, I don't know.

Speaker 4 TBD. Cue the violins.

Speaker 13 But

Speaker 13 thanks for calling, I guess. I mean, it means a lot that you would feel like you need to reach out to Mavs fans just to tell me to get a f ⁇ ing life.

Speaker 4 And how about, yeah, Luca, the go on.

Speaker 14 The good news is that I am coming to Los Angeles. You are going to be in Los Angeles.
And now we can, you know, both be together in the same city, and you can enjoy me as I play the game. Yes.

Speaker 4 Well, we should probably jump in there, Luca.

Speaker 4 This is kind of breaking news on the show, but Justin and his lovely fiancé are moving to Dallas, moving back to Texas in a couple of weeks. Watch.
Yeah, so continue to.

Speaker 4 who goes from LA to Dallas?

Speaker 4 Obviously, you go from Dallas to LA.

Speaker 4 What?

Speaker 4 This has to be staggering to you, Justin. So not only, you know, everything that's happening, Luca seems to have an issue with your life decisions as well.

Speaker 13 Yeah, that does hurt a little considering how much I look up to the 25-year-old man.

Speaker 4 And this is that man.

Speaker 4 This is obviously Luca Donchas right now on the podcast.

Speaker 13 It's just like him. Yeah, uncanny.

Speaker 4 Are we cool about it? Mark, are we cool? Is this accent allowed?

Speaker 2 We will find out.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so

Speaker 4 there is an irony to, and by the way, Justin, for the listeners, he was continuing to heed the call with us. He's just going to be doing it from Texas.

Speaker 4 But there is an irony there, Justin, obviously, that you come, you leave Los Angeles as your hero, your 25-year-old hero arrives. Just tough.

Speaker 13 I was looking forward to going to see Luca play when I got to Dallas at American Airlines Center, and now I

Speaker 13 will not do that.

Speaker 4 Anything else to add, Luca, before we let you go? And by the way, we used all of our budget underdog allotted to us for the Super Bowl for this book.

Speaker 2 I was not consulted at all, but that's on the

Speaker 4 superstar NBA talent, Luca Donchas, on the show, on Heed the Call from New Orleans. Yes, Luca.

Speaker 14 The only thing I have to say now, you know, is I'm looking looking forward to playing in Los Angeles and I love L.A.

Speaker 4 Oh, no.

Speaker 4 I love it. Oh, no.
All right, Luca. Thank you very much.

Speaker 4 I'm sorry, Justin. I know that could almost seem too much to deal with right now.

Speaker 2 I think, in theory, it was for you, but it didn't go that way.

Speaker 13 I wasn't expecting Luca to be so, I guess, like harsh. I thought he would have a little more compassion for the fans of Dallas, but I get it.
You know, it is a business.

Speaker 4 He was kind of being a dick there, but he's within his rights there. It should be mentioned that Patrick Mahomes at another opening night takeaway.

Speaker 4 He was asked about this trade because he's a big Mavericks fan. He's from the Dallas area, I guess.

Speaker 4 And here's what Mahomes had to say.

Speaker 10 Yeah, man, it's tough, you know, because I feel like I've watched Luca. I've watched him since he was 18 years old.

Speaker 10 I remember going to a practice, and it was Dirk and Luca, and seeing his maturation and how great of a basketball player he's became

Speaker 10 has been fun to watch. And as a Dallas fan, it hurts me.

Speaker 10 but I'm happy for him that he's gonna be able to go out there and be in LA and get to try to achieve his game of winning a championship but he did so much not only for the basketball team but for the city of Dallas so I'll always be appreciative of those years but I'm excited for the Mavericks moving forward and the guys that they brought in and can I just say one more thing Justin because I know you're talking about divorcing the team and

Speaker 4 well taking a break

Speaker 4 taking a break taking a break and you're saying some crazy stuff in the kitchen last night that you're like uh oh we've got to put this guy on a watch list like it's like we are upset with the general manager, the Mavericks.

Speaker 4 This is what Patrick Mahomes also added last night about his team. I'll be there.
I'm a Mavs fan through thick and thin.

Speaker 4 So if Pat Mahomes can do it, keep the faith, my friend.

Speaker 13 We'll see what happens. Time heals most wounds, right? That's what they say.

Speaker 2 And to be fair, there are a lot of things that Patrick Mahomes can do that Justin cannot do. Right.

Speaker 4 So, tall order. Fair.

Speaker 13 There's things I can do that he can't do, though, right? No, he could produce this podcast.

Speaker 4 That's right.

Speaker 4 Definitely not. No shit.
We don't know that.

Speaker 4 Patrick Mahomes can't do like a Tony Romo played out-of-context dick joke. He can't do it.
No.

Speaker 4 But you can.

Speaker 13 Is that my QD?

Speaker 4 You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 All right. Transition.

Speaker 15 Oh!

Speaker 4 Transition.

Speaker 4 Before we

Speaker 4 sign off for our first episode from New Orleans,

Speaker 4 you know that thing, Mark? How online are you, Mark? What would you rank your onlineness one to ten? Oh, ten. Ten out of ten.

Speaker 2 I mean, it depends what you mean by that, but I have spent a lot of time online.

Speaker 4 Okay, good. Are you aware of the tier lists that are out there?

Speaker 2 Sure.

Speaker 4 Okay. We figured we've been coming to the Super Bowl since,

Speaker 4 you know, 2012 or so, Connor. I know you've been doing it around that time as well.

Speaker 4 We're in New Orleans. Want to do a quick tier list of the Super Bowl cities since, let's say, arbitrarily 2012.

Speaker 1 Our first

Speaker 4 one in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 Not arbitrarily. So not arbitrarily at all, actually.

Speaker 8 So you're purposely boxing out Indianapolis is what you're saying.

Speaker 4 But we could talk in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 We should. I feel like you have some Indianapolis takes.
Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 4 so

Speaker 4 Super Bowl signs.

Speaker 2 Jason, for you, you can just talk about New Orleans.

Speaker 4 Repeatedly. I am.

Speaker 4 They've done it in Arizona. Oh, Jason's back.
That's true. Oh, did you know that Luka Dantich was in Sierra? Was he really?

Speaker 4 I'm sure he had some great things to say, especially to one of his favorite people.

Speaker 4 All right, here we go. So here is Justin.
Can't look at me right now. He's so upset with me.

Speaker 4 All right, so we're doing like, so you got S tier, which is the highest level, A tier, B tier, C tier, D tier. And we're going to go through it.
Am I doing this or are you doing this, Justin?

Speaker 13 You can do it, and I'll recreate it for a while.

Speaker 4 Oh, okay, great. Oh, how fun.
I love it. Let's start with, all right so we'll go back to Super Bowl XLVIVI Indianapolis that was the the Patriots

Speaker 4 Giants rematch it was yes

Speaker 4 where we wrote literally 100 blogs during the game we did we did and we worked about 84 hours and then we said and our old boss was like yeah just put in the time card and it's fine and then we got back to LA and he pulled us aside I'll never forget it in the lobby area he's like listen I I went to,

Speaker 4 I, you know, sent in your time cards, and they're not going to pay you that.

Speaker 2 We had like 40 hours of overtime to HR ripped you.

Speaker 4 I remember we were looking at him like, well, what does that mean?

Speaker 4 You can't reverse the hours. I think we know what it means now.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 I think we got paid eventually. So it all ended well.
Indianapolis. All right.

Speaker 4 Let's take turns. Why don't you get us started, Connor? S tier through D tier.
Now, this is dangerous because sometimes when we give

Speaker 4 something about to crash into the house. Okay, it was like a rider truck that sounded like it was about to barrel into the front window.
Yeah, we're safe.

Speaker 4 But sometimes when we give Connor these assignments, he'll end up just blowing it up with some wild. He's going to put Indianapolis in the S tier.

Speaker 2 He's got a chaos out of it.

Speaker 4 You know what?

Speaker 4 We're going to let Connor does say some crazy things. Connor, Indianapolis, what tier do you want to put him in here?

Speaker 8 Why can't I put them in the S tier? Like, why can't I put them in the top tier?

Speaker 4 Well, you have to make the case. Make the case.
All right.

Speaker 8 What do we want in a Super Bowl city? We want a drivable downtown that doesn't gridlock. We want beautiful suburbs full of top-tier restaurants.

Speaker 8 Some chefs that even appeared on Beat Bobby Flay.

Speaker 8 A chef at an Indianapolis restaurant during the Super Bowl was so happy to have us there that he drove me home instead of making me get a cap in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 That's a service.

Speaker 8 We have a top-tier cigar bar.

Speaker 8 We have a top-tier pizzeria i found out that didn't leave indianapolis oh it didn't well there's there's still another napolis is still there it's just not down in the downtown area okay so we have fine dining we have nfl history we have a central locale that's easy to get to that's drivable for most parts of the country uh it doesn't gridlock i i don't see what the you mentioned the gridlock yeah yeah yeah

Speaker 2 and just think like the connective nature of walking you can go through half of the city in a tunnel right let me just said that about minnesota by the way and i didn't bring a coat and that was bullshit.

Speaker 8 You can't get through half of Minnesota.

Speaker 4 I'm just going to say

Speaker 4 they got very fortunate with the weather. They did.
Been at Indianapolis in February, where it's been the coldest I've ever been in my life. It happened to be beautiful that weekend.

Speaker 4 So the weather, you have to factor in the weather. You just got to do it.

Speaker 2 Because we went back to Combine like 12 days later, and it was about negative 41 degrees.

Speaker 4 So they did get lucky. All right.

Speaker 4 How about this? Why don't we...

Speaker 4 Why don't we stick it in B for now and then maybe we'll move it up? That's like two below.

Speaker 4 I know.

Speaker 4 You came in really hot. New Orleans, which was the next year, and now we're back in New Orleans for the first time.

Speaker 4 I tend to think this is the best Super Bowl city. I think it's got everything you could ask for, and the energy of it all.
It lines up with Mardi Gras also.

Speaker 4 I feel like this is an S-tier city.

Speaker 4 Connor, you disagree?

Speaker 8 What do you mean? Like, Mardi Gras is going to happen while we're down here?

Speaker 4 Well, no, but just like that energy. That energy.

Speaker 8 Okay, so then like, you know, New York lines up with the Yankees Championship Parade. Like, it's not going to happen during the Super Bowl, but it happens at the same same time.

Speaker 8 I mean, this is literally the city where they couldn't fix the lights, and it went out in the middle of a damn Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so

Speaker 2 the city itself, though, because I think part of it is you can't, it is part of your human experience at these things. And, like, the first New Orleans Super Bowl, we had the greatest time, I think,

Speaker 2 because of what the city offers, the music, everything, the restaurants. So I'm putting that up in that.
That's my number one.

Speaker 4 We got to go SDR on that one, Connor.

Speaker 8 I mean, I disagree with that.

Speaker 2 Connor's going to make his own list.

Speaker 8 I went to a restaurant yesterday, and they didn't have unsweetened iced tea. I couldn't have an unsweet tea.

Speaker 4 Oh, the tragedy of it all.

Speaker 4 The lady was like, you got to try all Gator Balls.

Speaker 8 And I was like, this is just, it's fried slop.

Speaker 4 Like,

Speaker 8 what's the treat here?

Speaker 4 You know what? This is why we need you here for the Indigenous.

Speaker 8 Crazy stuff. All right.

Speaker 4 The New York, New Jersey Super Bowl. This is the Broncos, Seahawks one.

Speaker 2 That was a disaster.

Speaker 4 Greatest city in the world, but maybe not first before the event.

Speaker 2 It's not just to make it about. I was stuck down in Jersey City

Speaker 2 or someplace like that. It felt like deep Russia and taking the 97-minute, $180 cab rides to do our podcast up in Manhattan.

Speaker 2 But also, it's like that. I'll say another thing, the NFL experience on the weekend, I brought my brother, and like, you're trying to walk.

Speaker 2 There was a frozen crowd where no one could walk for an hour because of just crowd control and issues. It was a mess.

Speaker 4 You need a Super Bowl City, it has to have some

Speaker 4 order to it, and it's got to be condensed to the point where things are connected. Like we were saying with Indianapolis, New York, New Jersey was the opposite of that.

Speaker 4 And then to top it off, the other part of this is I factor in the stadiums as well. MetLife Stadium sucks.
Yes. It's a

Speaker 4 sardine can in the middle of a swamp,

Speaker 4 D-tier for New York City

Speaker 4 Super Bowl host, okay? Phoenix.

Speaker 4 Let's roll through through these because we've got to get Connor out of here.

Speaker 8 He's a busy man.

Speaker 2 Can I say that I think Phoenix,

Speaker 2 I would put it in A.

Speaker 8 Is A the highest?

Speaker 4 This is the highest. S is the highest.

Speaker 2 So it's the second tier, but like I thought they did, though, the field had some issues last time around, but like

Speaker 2 I thought they did a really nice job. We've been there twice, and they don't get in their own way.
Like,

Speaker 2 it's been a clean Super Bowl week, and I've enjoyed it, and the weather's good. So, you know, checking some boxes.

Speaker 4 I don't have to say this just because I'm here. Oh, Oh, Zumalt's here, too.
You know what I mean? Should we put him in? I'm really not.

Speaker 8 I mean, I think it's an S-tier because, again, it's S-tier.

Speaker 4 Okay, got it. You know what it is?

Speaker 13 I have to push back on that before you say. I've only been to three Super Bowls, so my experience is much more limited.
This is my third.

Speaker 13 But Phoenix, the thing I did not like is that you're in Phoenix, but the game is in Glendale. So you have to take a 45-minute bus

Speaker 4 to the stadium.

Speaker 13 And as someone,

Speaker 13 when we did our podcast there, now this probably doesn't apply to most people, but we did our podcast there in the stadium. By the time we're done recording, the buses are gone.

Speaker 13 So we're wandering around the parking lot with thousands of fans trying to get an Uber or a Lyft back to the hotel. It was a nightmare.
It was a nightmare scenario.

Speaker 8 Good point. Contact the Chamber of Commerce.
That has nothing to do with the city of Phoenix.

Speaker 13 I'm sure it does because the stadium is 50 miles.

Speaker 2 I'm mad about Luca.

Speaker 4 And the Luca phone call is very traumatic, I imagine. Yeah.
Phoenix has great surrounding

Speaker 13 the week leading up was great, but Sunday.

Speaker 13 So I'm saying not S tier.

Speaker 8 It's it's got to come down a tier so for banging phoenix for sunday then new orleans will malf the stadium malfunctioned and caused an hour delay in the damn super bowl it was kind of cool though and we're still saying that that's okay like we have to check ourselves here a little bit

Speaker 4 I mean, he's got I'm just mad because you're not letting me f up the order of this.

Speaker 8 It's like, that's kind of what's upsetting.

Speaker 4 San Francisco. Now, here's another one.
I got to ding San Francisco for the same thing. You got to take that business.

Speaker 4 You got to take the bus an hour north.

Speaker 2 That was a mess.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I was a little bit, yeah, there were elements of the city that perhaps didn't feel right for the,

Speaker 2 because now San Francisco's largely talked about being in sort of disrepair.

Speaker 2 And that felt like the first time I'd been there where you could sense that, and there was a strange element in the air, and it wasn't classic old San Francisco, so I'm not yearning to.

Speaker 2 And it was like

Speaker 2 a wind factor of like, remember how windy it was?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I think,

Speaker 4 and it's back there next year, by the way.

Speaker 4 Why don't we love it then? Want to do C-tier?

Speaker 11 Yeah. Is that Chuck Connor's up here?

Speaker 4 Yeah, that's fine. All right, Houston.

Speaker 8 I just feel like I don't have any thoughts on Houston as a city in general. Like, I just feel like it's a very nondescript place full of anonymous people and, you know,

Speaker 4 a football team I don't care about.

Speaker 4 You're going to get some pushback for that kind of thing.

Speaker 4 Lower on my list, though.

Speaker 8 Name like five famous people from Houston.

Speaker 4 Craig Biggio. Craig.

Speaker 8 Is Craig Biggio not from Houston? No, I know.

Speaker 8 What is like Houston, what does Houston do?

Speaker 4 NASA? Yeah. I thought that person.

Speaker 8 NASA was in Cape Canaveral.

Speaker 4 Houston, we've got a problem. Oh, right.
And also,

Speaker 4 sorry.

Speaker 5 Big oil and gas industry.

Speaker 4 Oh, great. Yes, sir.
Why am I on board with that?

Speaker 13 I'm just naming things about Houston.

Speaker 2 He's moving to Texas.

Speaker 4 Minneapolis. 52 was at Minneapolis.

Speaker 2 We spent the whole time at TGI Fridays. Yeah,

Speaker 2 the only place we went to was every night, TGI Fridays, inside our hotel. That sounds f ⁇ ing awesome.

Speaker 4 Yeah, we were staying next to the Mall of America.

Speaker 4 It's number two, A?

Speaker 8 A, please.

Speaker 4 You want Minneapolis in the A tier?

Speaker 8 Yeah, because Minneapolis has one of the best restaurants in the country. Pizzeria Lola.
It was one of the best meals I've ever had in my life.

Speaker 4 Okay, I mean,

Speaker 8 let's put it in B tier, okay?

Speaker 8 You know what I'm just going to say about this, though?

Speaker 4 The best part.

Speaker 8 of the Minneapolis Super Bowl, which you can't get anywhere else, was having the Eagles fans descend upon the Mall of America and horrify the fake, nicest people in the universe.

Speaker 8 And all these people are just like, oh, we're just going shopping. And then everyone's just like, go, birds.
And it was like they saw dogs crawl up from hell.

Speaker 8 Like it was a very, you don't get that anywhere else.

Speaker 4 No, you don't. Yeah.
You don't.

Speaker 4 All right, we'll spin through the rest of these. Atlanta, we're going to put the tell me if I'm wrong.
I'm going to put Atlanta in the

Speaker 4 C tier.

Speaker 4 All right, we'll put Miami, Miami.

Speaker 2 B, but that was sort of a bit of a gridlock.

Speaker 8 A. You guys had a much nicer living situation than us, though.
I remember coming to visit you guys, and you were in like that really nice waterfront

Speaker 8 thing, yeah, and we were at the airport.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I accept A for the classic nature of Miami, but that was a convoluted week.

Speaker 8 Good food city.

Speaker 4 Los Angeles, though. See, I feel like they had the same issue as New York.
It's just too spread out.

Speaker 2 That was one of the worst experiences of my adulthood.

Speaker 2 Trying to drive into downtown LA from, and we don't even live that far from downtown LA. That was, it was just like, oh, you're the Rams.
You're our favorite son.

Speaker 2 We're going to give you your little nice new stadium.

Speaker 2 LA is not built for a Super Bowl. It was a traveling disaster for people, and I think for visitors, too.

Speaker 4 Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 It's a nice fit. I think it fits.
I'm going to move that to B, and then New Orleans, we're back here. I'm sorry, sorry, Connor, we're going to S-tier New Orleans, and we're going to celebrate it.

Speaker 4 All right.

Speaker 8 Well, wow me, city. You know, like, that's, you know.

Speaker 4 Did you hear that rider truck almost crash into the front of our house?

Speaker 1 Only New Orleans.

Speaker 8 This is all part of the charm of this place, apparently.

Speaker 4 All right, how about that? We're going to...

Speaker 4 We're going to spend the rest of this week, Mark, trying to sell Connor on New Orleans, the Super Bowl City.

Speaker 2 He is

Speaker 2 for all his virtues. Connor does tend to be stubborn about things at times.
He's locked in on this take. It's going to be a tough task.

Speaker 8 I'm ready to fall in love. Just, you know, show me something.
I've not had, I've been here four times, and I've not had one single positive experience.

Speaker 8 Outside of seeing you guys at this house here at the end of the day, my Uber driver was worried about dropping me off at. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Absolutely. Well, we got to get you out of here.
I feel like I don't want you to leave angry. You're fired up now.
We've got the other side of Connor coming out, but we'll get him back.

Speaker 4 We're going to get you back. We apologize.

Speaker 4 Jason, thank you for joining us. You're welcome.
In person, this guy. Thank you for having me.
How fun. Sorry.
I'm so sorry. Justin's a stone-faced.

Speaker 4 He'll never be the same.

Speaker 4 I don't think we get Justin.

Speaker 7 I'm on his kill list.

Speaker 5 Apology accepted.

Speaker 13 I appreciate the attempt to lighten what is a pretty dark time for MAPS fans. So actually, I'm not mad at all.

Speaker 7 It was good booking by the show.

Speaker 6 Great booking by the produce.

Speaker 4 Yeah, well, we did you a solid there. We didn't want to involve you with that.

Speaker 4 We'll be back on Wednesday with another show, Thursday with another show, and then, of course, we'll be back in LA to cover Super Bowl 59.

Speaker 4 Thank you to everybody for watching and listening, and until next time, heed the call.

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