CFB With Andy Staples, CM Punk In Studio, MNF Doubleheader, Tush Push On The Ropes + FAQ’s

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On today's part of my take, we got a two for the people.

We got our good friend Andy Staples talking college football, Notre Dame's playoff chances, what's wrong with Arch, Tennessee, Georgia.

We also have recurring guests, CM Punk in studio.

We're going to talk Monday night football double header.

We're going to talk a little more college football.

We got hot seat, cool throne.

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Today is Wednesday, September 17th, and I love watching Baker Mayfield play football.

What a privilege to watch Baker cook like that on a Monday night.

W Bucks L Texans.

Yeah.

Zach Cornelius.

Zach Cornelius.

Summed it up well.

Baker was awesome last night.

The ends of the last two games, you can't play better than that on those last drives.

Baker just gets, he gets better because he gets angrier as the game goes on.

It's almost like the more you defeat Baker during a football game, the stronger he becomes.

Yeah, I've never seen it before.

On Monday night, Baker had a moment where he went down and I thought he was legitimately very, very hurt.

And then he bounced right back up to just talk a bunch of shit in C.J.

Gardner-Johnson's face.

He also did that to Will Anderson.

Will Anderson caught him from behind.

That one was deserved.

Yeah, he caught him from the behind.

And then Will Anderson was like, yeah, I got you.

Stopped you short.

And then Baker was like, look at the chains, big boy.

Yeah.

I got the first down on him.

I got the first down.

Baker lives for those moments.

And yeah, I love watching him play.

He looked awesome last night.

The Bucs, they don't really have their starting offensive line at all, right?

They're down two tackles.

Yep.

And they're still able to do this.

That was great.

The Texans.

Still be able to run the ball.

texas defense is still very good

their uh their offense i don't know about the strategy of getting rid of their entire offensive line and also their offensive coordinator from last year and then expecting it to improve i'm sorry outside of watching them outside of throwing the ball to nico collins they don't really appear to do a lot on offense i'm i'm sick of watching the texans i'm out on the texans i don't i don't i don't give a fuck about the they can't score from the one yeah it's crazy Also, it seemed like there was no chance that they were scoring.

Well, they did score at the end of the game because the Bucs let them.

I'm fully convinced that Todd Bowles let them score.

Todd Bowles, who has gotten criticized for end-of-game management, actually had a masterclass last night in terms of end-of-game management.

Maybe you could make the argument they could have called the timeout a little bit earlier than nine seconds left,

but they had two timeouts and a chance to run the ball in

and

the whole playbook open at the end of the game.

And if they hadn't let the Texans score, that could have easily been a, you know, have no time, no timeouts left or very little time, and they kick a field goal or whatever it may be.

Todd Bowles deserves a lot of credit.

Well, they hired a guy whose job it is to do that.

He's got a clock guy, a guy like his, he majored in looking at clocks in football games, and now he's giving Todd Bowles in-game decision.

I would love to.

I would love to, cool clock, Ahmed.

I would love to interview a clock guy, somebody who's like brought on as a consultant, who's worked as a consultant for a football coach in either like high-level college football or NFL, and and just see like what's your day-to-day do you just do you just play Madden all day and come up with weird ideas we did Nathaniel Hackett yeah Hackett had he was a clock guy he had

he's bad at him but he was good he had he was a clock guy he had to hire a clock guy yeah yeah but he was bad at clocks he was bad at a clock guy he was a bad clock guy but I want to know what what you do as a clock guy to gain all this like insight into how to manage end-of-game scenarios besides like I think we've just watched enough football where we have a pretty good idea we can we're really good at screaming at the TV when the coach is fucking up But to have a guy that has like that wealth of knowledge that is so precise that you're able to actually execute it during a game, I want to know how you get to that level and what you actually do when you're not on game day.

Well, I was thinking, because Todd Bowles is one of those coaches where it doesn't look like a lot is going on inside his brain in big moments.

He's not exactly like

demonstrative.

He has that look where he's just kind of staring out there.

I always imagine that there's like a bird that's wearing a hat that's just flying around in a circle.

Right.

So I think the clock guy might have just been hired to be his inner dialogue.

Okay.

He's basically just living inside of Todd Bowles' head and just talking him through those moments because Todd Bowles is a good coach, but there have been moments where he has that look.

You're just like, is anyone home here?

And he's been going for it on fourth.

Like, this is different, Todd Bowles.

Yeah.

Todd Bowles has been unlocked.

His own brain has been unlocked against himself.

He has the inner dialogue now.

Yeah, it's pretty incredible.

But yeah,

so the Bucs are good.

Baker's electric to watch.

We joke about it all the time, but it is very funny whenever they bring up Baker and they're like, what a comeback story.

And the thing he came back from was being a Brown.

And being so ridiculous.

Being a Brown and a Panther.

Yeah.

But it's like, they're basically like the adversity he's faced because he was a Brown.

Troy was also roasting his unathleticism.

That was so funny.

He's very deceiving.

Yeah.

It was on one of his scrambles.

And then Troy was just trying to figure out how Baker was able to run for a first down.

He's like, Baker Mayfield, not the fastest guy.

Yeah.

You might even, he's He's not really athletic by any stretch of the word, but he's able to run somehow.

I mean, Baker, he's shifty.

Yeah.

He's got some wiggle to him.

He can make guys miss if he has to.

Well, and he'll run through guys.

He's tough as a motherfucker.

So, yeah, Baker, he's become one of my favorite players to watch in the entire league.

And, yeah, it was a fun game.

Not always fun to watch in the moment, but it led to an interesting ending.

Yeah.

All right.

So as for the Texans, they have played two very good teams.

So are they bad?

I don't don't know.

Their offense is a problem, but they did play the Rams and the Bucs, who are two playoff teams, you agree.

They are going to officially be my pinky team.

I have something else I'd like to add because there's a bunch of weirdos out there that want to see me cut off my pinky and also just don't even understand the genesis of this bet.

I have a suggestion for you.

Well, I have a thought.

Okay, go ahead.

My suggestion might be better, though.

Okay.

What if you just said every 0-2 team except for the Chiefs?

No, I like my question.

They're all your pinky teams.

Yeah, so

just to clarify, again, it is an 0-2 team that could that had at least

not a reasonable shot to win the Super Bowl.

They start 0-2.

I say they're not going to win the Super Bowl, but I have to feel it.

I have to believe it.

I'm saying they're not going to win the Super Bowl.

It's now changed.

Some people just are like, you're a pussy.

Why wouldn't you pick the Chiefs?

We want to see you cut off your mutilate your body.

The Texans are my pinky team.

The Chiefs, because I do think the Chiefs

are,

I kind of think the Chiefs are not going to win the Super Bowl.

I'm still a little nervous because I was looking at the AFC playoff picture.

They're going to make the playoffs.

Remember, I threw that out there the other night.

I was like, is there a chance they don't make the playoffs?

They're going to make the playoffs.

There's not a lot of great teams in the AFC.

It's top heavy.

I don't know if you guys have looked at it, but like,

who's making the playoffs?

So you've got the Bills, you've got the Ravens, you've got probably the Colts, Chargers, Chargers,

so that's four.

The Broncos, maybe?

Five.

And the Chiefs are in there?

Right.

Like, who are you killing?

Outside of that, you have to talk yourself into the Texans, the Jaguars, the Steelers.

The Steelers.

Patriots.

But that's my point: is the Chiefs are better.

Are the Chiefs better than the Patriots?

Hank.

Probably.

Okay.

Are the Chiefs better than the Steelers?

Yes.

Okay.

Are the Chiefs better than the Jaguars?

Okay.

But the Chiefs are going to make the playoffs.

If the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, and also the Bengals having Joe Burrow out has obviously changed the dynamic of the AFC.

Yeah.

If the Chiefs win the Super Bowl,

I will get a Taylor Swift lyric tattooed on my body.

Touch me while your boys play Grand Theft Auto.

I get to pick the lyric, but I will have it on my body in a place that can be seen.

How are you going to pick the lyric?

I don't know.

I'm going to pick the lyric that I can most likely say it's not a Taylor Swift lyric.

Does she have any that are not?

Yeah, the Grand Theft Auto one.

Okay.

That's a great one.

That's the best lyric ever written.

Like, forget Taylor Swift in the history of music.

That's number one.

Give me some lyrics here.

I'm so depressed.

I act like it's my birthday every day.

Nope.

Not going to get that one.

Let's see.

Touch me while your bros is the funny thing.

That is the one.

You have to

touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto.

Oh, my God.

From So High School.

Let's see.

I'm looking up Taylor Swift's best lyrics.

You're not going to find a better one.

No, I probably won't.

There's not a lot to see, but what a lovely view.

Okay.

But you're just so cool.

Run your hands through your hair, absentmindly makes me want you.

I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain.

Mr.

Here to Stay would be funny.

Oh, I like Mr.

Here to Here.

Shade never made anyone less gay.

Your wife waters flowers.

I want to kill her.

I might just get the whole anthology on my back.

It's me.

I'm the problem.

It's me.

Yeah.

I've never heard of

these songs.

These might not be Taylor Swift's songs.

They're Burning All the Witches, Even If You Aren't One.

What does that fucking mean?

Carve your name into my bed post.

I don't want you like a best friend.

That would be a pretty good one to have on my arm.

So that's it.

Oh,

damn.

It's 7 a.m.

That's the whole lyric?

Yeah.

I will get a lyric.

Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet.

I don't want to lose my pinky, and I do think there's a chance the Chiefs could still win the Super Bowl.

There is definitely a chance that they could still win the Super Bowl.

I do not think the Texans can win the Super Bowl.

I will cut the tip of my pinky off if the Texans win the Super Bowl.

That's fair.

And I don't even think, yeah.

I hate the pinky bet.

Yeah.

I don't understand.

I don't understand

why,

like, it makes my skin crawl thinking, yes, it makes my skin crawl thinking about you cutting off the tip of your pinky.

Like, it, it's, it's like a gross movie that you're watching.

It's thrilling.

It is thrilling to throw it up there.

Yeah, I

don't want that to ever happen.

The good news is, I don't think we're going to have to talk about the, like, I don't think the Texans are going to be like a Rams last year.

Two times in the history of it, we've had

legitimate threats.

There's been a lot of times where it hasn't been a threat, which is great.

So we won't even have to talk about the pinky bet.

We'll have to talk about the Taylor Swift Chiefs bet.

I've seen a lot of people asking if it's time to have a conversation about C.J.

Stroud.

I don't think that it's time to have a conversation about C.J.

Stroud.

I thought that it was time to have a conversation about C.J.

Stroud last year.

It's past time.

Move past.

If you're ready to have that conversation right now, I think you might be a little bit too late to the C.J.

Stroud conversation happening.

Were we early on CJ Stroud?

We might have been a little bit early on C.J.

Stroud, Ohio State quarterback.

Are you worried about

so C.J.

Stroud,

a sophomore slump?

You have to defend C.J.

Stroud.

Why do you always have to make everything about Jaden Daniels and the commanders?

I didn't.

I was talking about Bo Nicks.

No, you always have to do it.

I was literally talking about Bo Nicks.

It's sick how Big Cat tries to inject Jaden Daniels into every company.

I was talking about Bo Nicks, who's struggling.

It's disgusting.

No one wants to hear people talk about Jaden Daniels.

Is he hurt?

Yes, he's hurt, but he's not injured.

And I'll say this.

I don't want to see Jaden this weekend.

I think we should sit him

because I'm still dealing with my PTSD post-traumatic Snyder disorder when Robert Griffin had a spray knee, came back too soon.

Everything was bad after that.

Everything in the entire world was bad after that point for me.

We got a good backup, Marcus Mariota.

It's a revenge game for Mariota against the Raiders.

And I think next week might be another.

Yeah, I think it's the Falcons after that.

We're right in a great situation for two prime Mariota revenge games.

I don't want this to turn into an injury.

Right now, it's just a hurt.

And

it's a soft tissue injury.

Okay.

I don't want to see him play this weekend.

Okay.

That's what I will say.

PFT's benched Jaden Daniels.

Wow.

Put on a quote card.

No, no.

No.

Take great care of Jenny.

He benched him.

No, I didn't say that.

Take the best possible care of Jaden Daniels.

And also,

J.J.

McCarthy situation.

He said, he benched

Daniels

amidst a sophomore slump conversation.

Did not.

Did not.

None of this is true.

Bigger sophomore slump.

J.J.

McCarthy, Jaden Daniels.

I'm saying take great care of Jaden Diamond.

Can I remind you

exactly where this game is being played this weekend?

Yeah, your stadium?

Fat X-Field.

On that turf.

Every quarterback has gotten injured on that.

Everyone, like, there's been, you can go down the list, not even quarterbacks, Adrian Peterson, running backs.

Everyone gets injured on that turf.

Please.

That's kind of a problem because he has to play a lot of games there.

Well, only until 2030.

Okay.

And then we're going to have RFK Jr.

Stadium ready to go.

But no, I think it's probably a smart move if you were to put Benchman for this weekend just to let him get healthy.

I don't want that anymore.

I don't disagree.

And also, fuck you.

Big fuck you to Hank, you piece of shit.

Oh.

Oh, fuck you.

Fuck you, Hank.

Hey, here's two of them, Hank.

Fuck you, Hank.

In the Amon Ra conversation, when you were like,

when you thought that his celebration was him grabbing his hamstring, when I reacted like that to Jay Daniels, it was on the hit that his knee got hurt.

It's every time he runs.

No, it's the one that I got most upset about was

when I actually got hurt.

I could just do two weeks of the gambling streams and you crying when he just like...

You thought Amon Ra St.

Brown tore his hamstring off his bone when he was doing an awesome celebration.

I said the words, uh-oh.

Yeah, because

he thought he was injured.

Get down, get down, get down, get down.

Oh, my God.

He's so good.

Yeah, back.

We're talking about CJ Stroud.

Nobody wanted to hear about Jaden Daniels right now.

I was trying to make a Bonix conversation, but yeah.

So we did have a bunch of injuries.

We'll talk about Raiders, Chargers in a minute.

We did have a bunch of injury news.

JJ McCarthy out for two to four weeks.

He's got a baby bump on his foot.

Carson Wentz in.

There's rumors that it's a soft,

it's a soft benching.

That's the rumor?

Soft benching.

That's the rumor out there.

If it is, in fact, a soft benching.

It was a quick, it was quick.

It was a quick injury report.

I liked the move.

I liked the move if it was a soft benching because he didn't look good at all.

He really didn't look that good against the Bears either until the fourth quarter when he played awesome.

Don't get me wrong.

He was awesome in that fourth quarter, but he looked like dog shit on Sunday night football.

So, uh,

yeah, Carson Wentz almost won an MVP.

Carson Wentz, we're being subjected to Carson Wentz, and I'm not prepared to have a weekend without Jaden Daniels and with Carson Wentz on my TV at the same time.

And also Jake Browning versus Carson Wentz.

We got Jake Browning, Carson Wentz.

But I do think about Kevin O'Connell, and I'm like, if anybody can fix Carson Wentz, it's Kevin O'Connell.

Yeah, although JJ McCarthy hasn't looked good.

But he didn't have to fix him yet.

Well, he had him for a year.

Maybe now

he has to fix him.

So now it's like, let's get him in a system with accountability.

They should trade him.

Trade him away.

Trade him back.

Then bring him back.

I will watch Carson Wentz

because I'm a sicko, but I'm not excited about Carson Wentz yet.

Well, it's football.

You got to be a little excited for Carson Wentz.

There should be TV MA when Carson Wentz is playing football, and children should not be exposed to that type of behavior.

I'm excited to watch Carson Wentz.

It's always kind of a, a, what the fuck is happening?

I'm fired up for Carson Wentz.

Yeah, it's going to be funny.

What if he's good again?

He's no.

Max, don't do it.

Don't do it.

What if he's good again?

Don't do it.

He's going to be annoying and he's going to stink and he's going to make his faces and

he's going to try to wear a cool hat after the game.

Yeah.

Do we have a like if Carson Wentz stinks and J.J.

McCarthy stinks, is it a tired, wired, tired, the Vikings let Sam Darnold walk, wired, the Vikings let Daniel Jones walk?

Yes.

Daniel Jones looks awesome.

I agree with that.

JJ,

convincing him to sit out for like a month if he doesn't have an injury is going to be tough.

Yeah.

Because that dude is, even if he had a sprained ankle, he's like, I will heal myself.

Also, it's just a very funny idea that he lost his fourth game ever and got benched.

Yeah.

He's like, what the fuck?

Yeah.

I literally have, I've lost four games ever.

Because you can play bad and win, and then people will just be like, this dude's a winner.

Yeah.

Play bad and lose.

Then you're like, you are, you are the problem.

Yeah, he's going to be so nervous he ever loses again.

I don't think if it's a four-week injury, JJ's going to get back there in two.

Okay.

If it's a two-week injury, he'll be out one week.

He's going to bring in team doctor Jocko Wilnick, and he's just going to heal himself through the power of like mental concentration and personal determination.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or just, yeah, Google it.

How to, how to, how to be uninjured.

How to, yeah, how to feel good.

Yeah.

Joe Burrow officially out for, what, three months?

This sucks.

Three months or more.

Probably the entire entire season.

Probably need to get him in O-line.

I saw a mashup video of Andrew Luck and Joe Burrow.

That was a bummer.

Yeah,

I don't want to think about that.

That was a bummer.

Didn't want to see it.

They went out there and they did sign some quarterbacks, though.

Yeah.

They did not sign Jameis Winston yet.

And I don't think they're going to try to trade for Kirk Cousins either because the more I think about it, yeah, it would make sense from a football standpoint.

Kirk Cousins is collecting dust on the bench for the Falcons.

That would also require a team owner that would not mind paying millions of dollars for a quarterback when you also pay millions of dollars to Joe Burrow.

And the Falcons could take some of that money and eat some of it, but I don't think they're going to eat the entire thing.

No.

And good luck convincing the Bengals to pay Kirk Cousins even like $10 million for this year.

Correct.

So I don't think that's going to happen.

Jameis is the one that we want, but...

You can't always get what you want.

And we've got Jameis at home because they went out and they signed Sean Clifford and Mike White.

Oh, Mike White.

Now their starting quarterbacks are, or their quarterbacks.

I guess they're kind of all, could be starting at some point.

Jake Browning, Sean Clifford, Brett Rippen, and Mike White.

They should not try to pass.

They should just try to run the football.

Because

those four names, that's literally a Mount Rush more.

Like, hand the ball off.

Do not try to pass the ball.

Do we have any update on Justin Fields?

No update.

I also disagree with what PFD just said.

Mike White could sling it.

Against the Bengals.

But now he's on the Bengals.

He's got two good receivers.

Okay.

He does.

What Mike White cook?

Honestly, out of those four names,

you might get a Mike White game.

Yeah.

I kind of agree with Miami's about that one.

Like, if you're going to take a chance with one of those four.

Well, Jake Browning has had moments.

He's had moments.

Yeah.

All right.

The Chargers-Raiders game.

Chargers look awesome.

Justin Herbert looks like he's so dialed in.

The Raiders, that was, listen, I'm never going to complain about more football.

There was a lot of complaints about how late the game was on.

If you're going to have us stay up late,

it has to be better than what the Raiders did.

That 14-play drive that took like 10 minutes for them to make a two-possession game, a two-possession game, was mind-numbingly stupid.

It was 11 minutes.

It was 62 yards, 19 plays.

19 plays.

And they kicked a field goal at the end of it to make it an 11-point game.

And

it made you question why you're watching football.

Now I have an answer for why I was watching football because at that point, I just wanted to see if Harbaugh was going to stick it to Pete Carroll at the end of the game.

On his birthday.

Which he didn't really do that much, and I was kind of bummed out about.

But not because I don't like Pete Carroll.

I just want to see.

It's good for the league to have coaches that hate each other and act accordingly.

But that was a boring game.

Geno Smith looked lost.

He couldn't throw the ball downfield at all.

I think it was 0 for 10 on passes over 10 yards.

It was gross.

Yeah.

Question for you, Hank.

Yeah.

Transitive property.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We did this.

I talked about it on Sunday, how the Vikings looking like the way they looked against the Falcons made me think even worse about the Bears.

The Raiders looking how they looked against the Chargers.

How does it make you feel about the Patriots?

Patriots' defense is bad.

I mean, they were bad against Miami, too.

It's their defense is, as of right now, horrible.

So, you feel worse.

I knew it was bad.

I knew their defense was bad.

I said it on Sunday.

But you wanted to see a little more out of the Raiders.

The Dolphins aren't good.

No.

And the Dolphins are very bad.

And they lit it up against the Patriots.

So that game didn't change my opinion on how bad the defense was.

Can I give you some good news about maybe why you should feel good about beating the Raiders?

We didn't.

But sure.

Oh, sorry.

They lost to the Raiders about losing to the Raiders.

Yes.

Okay.

The good news is Tom Brady was in the booth giving the Raiders all the intel about the Patriots' organization.

So the fact that you were even able to compete closely with that team, knowing that they had perfect info about everything the Patriots like to do,

that's probably good for you guys, right?

Yeah, I don't understand this.

This is just the media hates Tom Brady.

People are just mad at Tom Brady.

Okay,

I actually think that

last year I was like, it's overblown.

Uh-huh.

The fact that he's got a headset on and he's been doing game planning with Chip Kelly two to three times a week.

He's an owner.

Crazy.

But he also seems

to have a people are in the booth with a headset on.

I'm sure plenty.

I mean, look at one.

Ms.

Ursay.

Ms.

Ursay, our queen, Zach's queen.

But Hank, do you not see a little.

So last year, I thought it was overblown because he also wasn't allowed to go into the meetings.

This year, so.

What do you think happens at these meetings?

He asks them what they, we've talked to like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman about these meetings.

They go and sit down with the coach.

The coach tells them stuff that is like, hey, here's how to make the broadcast better, but don't repeat exactly this.

But this is what we're going to try to do.

We're going to try to, this is the guys that we think are really good.

These are the guys that we're not so high on.

This person's probably not going to play this week.

This person's probably going to play.

They give them background on what to expect in the game.

Now, I think a smart team could use this to their advantage and give him bad info or just poison him when he's taking it.

Do you think the greatest quarterback of all time, the smartest quarterback that's ever played, can't figure that out on his own?

But I'm saying

he's calling the Bears Cowboys game this week, and then the Bears play the Raiders the next week.

Okay.

Do you not see that as a little bit weird?

Nah.

Okay.

And he called the Commanders game week one, and the Raiders are playing the Commanders week three.

it's a little weird

i think it's overblown okay i like it here's where yeah all right so ride or die we yeah we disagree it i think it's a little weird but here's where you could go hank if you want to put on your tinfoil hat and little fuck ESPN Ike ESPN set that up

because they're trying to get him to not be able to call games on Fox anymore.

The NFL also tweeted it and deleted the call.

Yeah, but I'm saying, like, the ESPN knew it's Raiders, Monday Night Football.

Oh, we heard that Tom Brady might be in the booth.

Let's do an entire minute about Tom Brady being in the booth and talking to Chip Kelly.

Now he's not going to be able to call games for Fox anymore.

That's where you got to go with.

But do you think they're going to ban him from calling games?

No, I know they might.

They're not going to ban him from calling games, but I think they're.

They might ban him from the meetings again.

He's going to, yeah, he's going to be treated differently when it comes to.

But again, I think a smart team could absolutely do some Sun tzu art of war shit and just tell tom brady like the the most wrong possible information just so that they don't get that leg up

i i i'm confused like

you do see that there's a little bit of an issue there if jerry jones was able to like if if if if the giants and the eagles were playing and jerry jones got to have full access to both of them they had to talk to jerry jones would you not be like that's weird

no because it's not i i don't think they're I don't think even if there was no, if he wasn't an owner, I don't think the teams are giving him that much information, like that much crucial information that could not be acquired in a variance of different ways.

All right, that point might be fair, but I just, it is a little weird.

I'm not, I'm not like.

Like,

it even is not in the meetings.

There's a million scouts and personnel people that can study all the film and get all that information any other way.

And I don't think that a Michigan man would do any in-person advanced scouting that was against the rules.

I want on the record.

I'm not like offended or think it's how could this happen?

I just say it is weird.

It's a weird setup that he's sitting with Chip Kelly three times a week and then going and sitting with other teams.

That is, by nature, very weird.

What are you going to say, Max?

It's like a thing that even former players are supposed to be biased

as

a color guy.

And it's impossible for Tom Brady to be biased in any way.

He has like

unbiased in any way.

Wait, so what's your point?

Is that it's weird.

I'm just going off of it being weird.

He's dovetailing on the accusations.

You just said the color guys are supposed to be biased as former players.

He can't talk very

unbiased.

I mixed up words.

One of those words like flammable and inflammable.

My point was correct.

Kind of.

Yeah.

No, Matt.

One of those words.

Meatballs and salads.

They get mixed up.

They're both food.

It's weird.

It's weird.

It's weird.

If meatball salad, it actually admit that it's weird.

Tom Brady.

And people like to just

Brady, it wouldn't

happen.

Tom Brady's the only one who probably could pull it off.

Admit it's weird.

No.

Say it's weird.

I will not.

You know that it's weird.

I will not.

If it was weird, they wouldn't allow it.

So I kind of agree when Hank says they're not getting like the most perfect inside information until they are getting some stuff.

There's some stuff that's put out that you can't get on film.

Like sometimes.

What?

They'll tell some of the announcers what to expect in this game in terms of who's playing, who's not.

That happens if you have a trust that's built up.

So, they're probably not, they're definitely not going to share any of that.

But there's reporters that watch every practice, every snap.

They hear all these reports.

Right now, you're defending Tom Brady.

This is all information that comes out during the week.

Oh, this player didn't practice.

This player practiced.

They're high on this person.

They're not high on this person.

That doesn't come exclusively from these fucking meetings with the announcers.

Am I allowed to make one phone call to ask if it's weird?

And if the person says yes, you'll admit that maybe it's a little weird.

It depends who it is because it's probably biased.

Can I make one phone call?

I'm just going to ask you.

I'm not admitting it.

You're not admitting it?

Who is it?

I think I know who it is.

Florio?

It's got to be Florio.

Yeah, Floria.

Let's go.

It's going to be very simple.

Hey, you're live on Pardon My Take.

Just a very simple question.

Is the Tom Brady setup a little weird?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Appreciate it, Mike.

Bye.

There you go.

It's weird.

Confirmed.

He thinks everything's weird.

Hank, right now,

you're defending Tom Brady's social calendar pretty much.

Like, he should have the right to sit down with Ben Johnson.

Like,

why do you care about that?

What do you mean?

It's just weird.

I don't think that he.

It's a weird thing that he is sitting down with.

If Fox and the NFL sign off on it, then who are you to say, well, Fox and the NFL, they didn't do their due diligence.

Okay.

I'm going to do the due diligence as a fan.

All right, well, here's the difference.

Really, it's as weird as I say what it wouldn't have been a lot.

That's the job as journalists, Hank.

Hank, here's the difference.

Last year, I didn't think it was weird.

First of all, last year they did ban him from the meetings.

I didn't think it was weird until last night when they said he's on the headset and meets with Chip Kelly two to three times a week.

But you're already

also knows ESPN.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

That's the only, like, that could be the galaxy brain one.

But when he says he game plans to trip Kelly two to three times a week, that's where I was like, well, this kind of feels weird.

If he was just an owner, I actually wouldn't give a fuck.

But he's also like helping out with game plans.

If he was like in the suite and like reading expense reports and like just hanging out and getting haircuts with Mark Davis.

Yeah, that would be not that weird.

That would actually be awesome.

But he's on the head.

He's literally on the headset.

What's the difference between him and Urse?

She's not a broadcaster.

And she's also our queen.

She's not broadcasting.

I just don't.

That's a very big thing.

She's not meeting with the Miami Dolphins a week before the game and being like, hey, hey, how is Tua looking?

I don't, but like, that's all information.

There's a million ways to find out how's Tua looking.

Okay, well, like, he doesn't need to ask Mike McDaniel how is Tua looking.

There's a million reporters that ask that every single day in practice.

There's a million reports from practice.

This is how Tua is looking.

He could know how Tua is looking or not looking without having to ask Mike McDaniel.

Him having access to Mike McDaniel is not going to give him any more insight than he could find out from the press or the media or whatever during the week.

Do you think that another coach would pick up the phone call and be like, hey, Tom, yeah, let's meet in person if he was not working for Fox.

Let's meet in person.

I'll tell you about it.

Yeah, the NFL's a brotherhood.

I'm sure he has connections with a lot of these teams.

That's true as a brotherhood.

right?

Yeah, we always say that.

All right, but it's a little weird.

It's weird.

Just admit that it's weird.

No, he's also playing flag football.

He's coming out of retirement to play flag football.

Grow the game.

That's that's I love that.

Grow the game.

By the way,

Mohammed bin Salman, if you're looking for a foreign correspondent, Hank will do it.

Yeah.

He will cover the Saudi football league.

I would love to.

I don't want to get political or anything, but you know, when the Saudis were like, You guys hate growing the game.

They're sports washing and everything

credit to them they kind of they're doing a pretty good job they just everyone just is like yeah I'll come yeah it doesn't matter comedians like it's golfers it's working LeBron LeBron us if they ask us everybody uh well no all the soccer players yeah or I'll do anything for a hundred million dollars anything doesn't matter what it is I just want to grow the game yeah you do that is what you want to do you don't even need to get paid for it right uh Zach by the way we we did a bad job did you have any thoughts on the the Bucs game?

A couple takeaways from the Bucs game.

I do think Baker did a great job kind of spreading the ball around.

Hit seven different targets.

That was nice to see.

We're kind of deep in the backfield.

We got Bucky and we got Rashad White.

That was nice.

Hit the rookie again for another touchdown.

It's a little anxiety-inducing with these last-minute touchdown drives, back-to-back weeks.

But then when you get to watch it kind of like in a vacuum, once the stress levels are gone, you're like, that was damn good football.

Yeah.

That was awesome.

Baker Mayfield is a certified dog.

And I just, family man,

leader of men, dog, Baker Mayfield.

Doesn't have a bachelor pad.

Nope.

Nope.

Family man.

Yeah, family man.

I do think that we've overused the dog term too much, but Baker is a guy that he is.

If there's one dog in the NFL, it's Baker.

It's so true.

We have gotten to a point where everyone's a dog, but if we can just eliminate, no one gets to be dog except Baker.

He's the one who gets to be dog.

Yeah, he is the current reigning dog.

Yeah.

Last NFL thing, and then we'll talk a little college.

We have Andy Staples as well.

The tush push is done.

It's reached the point.

I think it's worked exactly as designed by the NFL.

Float out the trial balloons.

We're thinking about banning the tush push.

Have a vote.

Oh, the vote was really close.

But then Jeffrey Lurie's speech about it being a wet dream as a 13-year-old boy and Jason Kelsey walking in with no sleeves on and giving giving an emotional speech to all the different owners or the coaches on the competition committee.

That was the setup, and now we're getting

everything that we need, all the ammunition necessary at the end of the season for it to be banned.

This is the last season of the Tush Push.

It's also.

And I say that as a person that wants the tush-push to stay in the game.

It's also a football play.

It's going to be officiated differently for the rest of the year because you had,

obviously, the broadcast came out and they're like, we're sick of this.

Blendino, they're like, hey, it's hard to officiate.

There's all the screenshots of all the Eagles players being off sides.

The NFL then DMCA'd all those clips.

I don't know if you saw that, Max.

Yeah, they're going around DMCA.

I agree.

Shruck the game.

And then

last night, I don't know if you noticed, but when the Chargers were backed up in their own end zone and they were getting ready to do a little bit of a push, the refs came in and basically made all the linemen like take a half step back.

So they're already officiating it differently.

It's over.

Are you worried, Max?

I think we're still going to get them.

I think you can.

I just like our front five better than their front five.

Okay.

Yeah, that's fair.

And also, in order to get to a position where you're tush-pushing, you do have to get close to a first down.

So it's like you're...

The Eagles are very good at it, and they designed their offense to be able to get in positions where they're making, you know, it's third and eight, third and one, or sorry, third and two, getting eight yards, third and one, and being in a position to tush-push.

It's listen, it is sour grapes for everybody else to be like, we can't stop it, so let's change the rule.

That said, they are cheating at it, at the play.

They're not cheating if the revs don't call it.

Yeah, they're going to start calling it.

They'll say it's weird.

Say it's weird.

They're going to start calling it.

Say what's weird.

Tush-push.

It's a play.

Also,

I absolutely love the fact that this is just one more point of information that we can use to be like

the Chiefs are ruining football.

The refs are, it happened to the Chiefs, and now nobody can do it anymore.

Yeah.

But this is, it also feels like the NFL, you know, last year

they did it because of player safety, quote unquote.

Now they basically have a new line that is going to work.

It's an impossible play to officiate.

That's all they have to say.

Yeah, the player safety thing made no sense.

No sense.

No one ever got hurt on the play.

No sense.

But it's hard for the officials to do their job

will absolutely

because there's so many dudes and you can't see where the ball is and it all happened so fast that you can't see if they fall started.

Yeah, that's the pretext they're going to use.

It will be banned.

I think it's lame.

I thought

I don't think they should ban it, but it does feel like it's going to happen.

No, I'm curious to see how it's officiated this week.

I still think we're going to get it.

I hope that they move everyone back and they're like, all right, this is going to be the thing that finally gets them.

And then Jalen Hurts still just fucking moves those thighs up through the middle and gets an extra yard every time.

Hank did not like that.

He's got strong legs.

That was weird.

Okay, I can admit that was weird.

I can admit that was weird.

No, fuck it.

No, I stand by it.

He's got big legs.

He's got strong legs.

Those meaty thighs.

Just slide them right up in there.

Yeah.

We got some strong legs.

You do have strong legs on your team.

And you guys have the Rams this week, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, our schedule is a gauntlet.

By the way,

we bad job by us, hand up, on Sunday night.

It was the first time since 2020 we had a bird gami.

All five bird teams won on Sunday.

Yep.

What are you thinking?

Ever?

That was the first time ever?

2020.

Oh, I missed that.

I missed that part.

I thought that you said ever as well.

Yeah, Big Cat didn't say 2020.

USF.

USC, USF.

No, yeah.

No one's ever done the bird gauntlet, though, right?

Nobody's ever beaten all the bird teams in a single year.

I don't have that

readily available.

I don't think that's ever happened.

Yeah.

Well, is it

because Jameis had a shot at it?

Yeah.

Is it

possible?

Because

it's four NFC teams, right?

No, the Ravens.

No, I'm saying it's four NFC teams in the Ravens, so it wouldn't be possible.

Would a team play?

Yeah.

There have been teams.

Oh, I guess, yeah, an NFC team could play all four.

It would have to be an NFC team.

Yeah.

No team in the NFL has ever beaten all five bird teams

in a single season.

Have they been scheduled all in the same season?

That's kind of what I was asking.

Well, this is big.

The Rams are scheduled against every bird team this year.

Wow.

Wow.

So,

this is a massive game.

This is a tipping point game.

Wow.

If the Rams beat the Eagles, we might have the first bird gauntlet.

Wow.

Would that be special?

So special.

Although they have to play the Seahawks twice.

Yep.

Because that would ruin it if they lost one of them and won one of them.

But they would still beat the.

But it doesn't.

Nah.

And if they lost.

You have to go undefeated against the team.

You have to go undefeated against the the bird team.

Yeah.

We wouldn't celebrate

five and two against the bird teams.

No.

That'd be crazy.

What?

Memes, hand up?

The closest team to do it was 2023, the 49ers.

They beat four out of five.

They were four out of five going into the Rams in 2023, but lost.

Wait, no, the Rams aren't a bird team.

Ravens.

I apologize.

Okay.

Ravens.

Our word.

Sorry.

That Monday night game.

Yeah.

That was a fun Monday night game.

It's not the easiest year for the bird gauntlet.

The Eagles are awesome.

Ravens are awesome.

Falcons look like they're good.

If you can beat all the bird teams, that's a big deal.

The bird teams are good.

Yeah.

Cardinals are 2-0.

Cardinals 2-0.

2-0.

It's a good bird year.

This is a great year.

Great bird year.

Great bird year.

Carson Wentz is licking his chops.

I'm so excited for Carson Wentz.

All right, should we...

I mean, we're going to do a ton of college football with Andy Staples, so let's just do it then, right?

Yeah, that sounds good.

Although, there is one question that we can embrace debate on that we did not discuss with Andy Staples.

Please, I'd love to.

Is Alabama football too gay?

Yeah.

We actually missed that debate.

Jason Whitlock.

We're like a week late on that debate.

Alabama football might be too gay to win football games.

So what makes him gay?

Okay, I'm glad that you asked, Big Cat.

Because I know you've done your research.

It's pretty much Ryan Williams.

Ah.

The fact that he paints his nails.

I have no problem with that.

One thing I did love, not to make this about Jayden Daniels, after the game, he went up to his teammates and he told them, I'm straight.

Oh, okay.

Which was good.

You like like to hear your quarterback say that.

Not to make it about Jaden.

Ryan Williams paints his nails, and he also has like an anxiety doll.

Oh.

So

let's discuss.

This is an unbelievable thought, American.

Yeah, unreal.

Too gay to compete with Florida State.

Unreal.

Is Notre Dame too straight?

The Alabama Rainbow.

Yeah.

Do you think that's ever been sold?

The Rainbow Tide?

Yeah.

Oh,

what a headline.

Alabama football two gay to come in, Florida State.

Oh, man.

All right, let's do hot seat, cool throw, and then we'll get to our interviews.

We will talk Andy Staples and a lot of college football.

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Hank, hot seat, cool thrown.

Yeah, my hot seat is the World Stone Skimming Championships.

Oh, yeah.

I had that too.

Oh,

as you guys know, big, you know, one of one of our, probably the five major sports.

Yep.

There was a huge scandal this year in the Stone Skimming Championships.

Several competitors were disqualified for tampering with their stones to make them more circular.

So the rules say that the stones have to be naturally occurring slate and they have to be, what, three-inch diameter?

Yeah, they have, they have, can you pull up a picture of

how they measure if the stone is legal or not?

Yep.

It's very, very, very official.

Looks like something we would have here.

It's basically just like...

It's called the Ring of Truth.

The stones have to fit through the Ring of Truth.

I love that.

To qualify, yeah.

So guys were shaving them down?

Well, so

the natural stones and just making it more circular.

I heard that they might be metal, that they might have built their own stones, cut their own stones out of metal.

Are you guys good at skipping rocks?

I think I might be like top 1%.

I'm very good at that.

I think I'm better than PS2.

We should maybe win competition.

I think I'm better than both of you.

No.

Okay.

Why?

I love this idea.

Yeah.

Well, we have to establish the ground rules because...

We need a ring of truth.

We need a ring of truth.

And then also, I always grew up just seeing how many skips you could get.

Yeah.

This is about distance.

I'm down to just do it our way, skips.

Skips, okay, because the winner was.

Skips is tough to measure, though.

But you can tell.

You can count them.

Yeah, but there's a lot of little ones.

Yeah, you record it on video.

We can record it on video.

Independent judge.

Yeah.

All right, so it's on.

So the winner was an American Jonathan Jennings, and his stone went 177 meters.

Joe Milton would destroy that record.

How much money should we put up so that you can go further into debt to PFT?

How'd the Sarlay do?

Sarlays are 0 for 4.

Oh, no.

I want whatever.

What?

I'm going to do a new strategy this week for the Sarlays.

Okay, but let's stay on this because you just said that you're better than both of us, guaranteed.

I think I didn't say guaranteed, but I think I am.

What if both me and Big Cat beat?

You said you were better than PFT, and then you scoffed at the idea that I could be better than you.

How fast can you throw a baseball, Hank, right now?

Right now, probably high,

mid to high 60s.

Okay.

Well, I threw 71 last year.

But that's not really what it is.

It's about, you know.

It's angle.

Yeah.

It's an angle.

Yeah.

The speed of a baseball throw has nothing to do with it.

So we got to buy a ring of truth.

We got to go out there.

We got to.

Anyone out there who has a ring of truth?

I'm trying to look to buy one.

It doesn't seem too readily available to buy.

So we got to go.

We got to do this in Scotland.

Well, no,

we're going to go to Scotland.

Let's, you know,

we live on a lake.

Yeah, we live on let's do it in America.

Let's grow the game.

We also should go.

We should find a place where we can find naturally occurring rocks.

We each get like 10 minutes to collect, I don't know, call it three rocks each, and then we go.

I'm very confident.

I'm confident as well.

I'm super confident.

Yeah, we know that.

You almost spit in my face when I said that I could beat you.

But credit to the people that were competing because

the event organizer, who's a doctor, by the way, Dr.

Kyle Matthews, said that the people that cheated held their hands up and apologized for cheating.

Oh, nice.

Max is in this competition as well.

I'm bad.

I know.

So we won't finish last.

Oh, okay.

I'm happy to finish last for the boys.

No, I would love to have someone just guarantee that one of us doesn't finish last.

I'll put some money in the pot.

I will, too.

I will, three.

I will not accept a sarlay.

That's fine.

I'm going to lose.

I would prefer not to just.

That's fine.

You can just be there.

Okay.

You can be there to lose so that we can be like, haha, at least we're not mad.

If Hank beats me, then if he hits on one of his starlays, he can keep $1,000 of those dollars.

What?

Yeah.

I don't know why you scoffed at me.

Outside of golf, what do you beat me at?

Three-point shooting?

I mean, that's a toss-up every time we go.

I've won the last few.

No, you haven't.

You won the last one.

You won the last one.

Okay, golf, three-point shooting.

One.

I don't know.

What other sports?

Combine beat you.

Did you?

Yeah, I won the Combine.

Last year?

Yeah.

Last year, buddy.

Remember we did the quarterback thing?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You set it up.

Yeah, I don't know.

I just think I'm a good.

I have a lot of experience skipping rocks.

I think I'm a good rock skipper.

What if you have to hit a plate and it's the playoffs

and the other team is trying to take walks?

I mean,

that's crazy.

I mean,

I was a sub because you couldn't show up.

I wasn't even on the team.

Okay.

You're always on the team.

What's your cool throne?

I'm excited for this competition.

Yeah, this is going to be great.

My cool throne's Mondo Deplantis.

Hank just stole all my hot seat cool thrones.

Should have got him first.

What did Mondo?

I mean, Mondo Deplantis is that that's my guy.

I was the one that told you that he broke the world record last time.

You didn't know.

He's my pal.

He is your pal.

He is your pal.

He broke his own world record, now 14-time world record holder in the pole vault.

Wow.

How high was it?

6.3 meters.

Good job, Mondo.

So, what he's doing is actually very smart.

You get money every time you set a new world record in track and field.

So he could probably go way higher right now, but he's just breaking it by like 0.17.

It started at 6.17 in 2020.

It's now at 6.3.

So it's like he's gone.

It was 6.17, 6.18, 6.19.

Like he's just going up by 0.1 meters at a time.

He's getting paid every time that he does it.

He's just the man.

The dude is dominant.

Okay, good hot seat, cool turn, Hank.

Thank you.

Yeah, well, Hank stole both mine.

So I'll just say my hot seat is Chris Fowler.

Yeah.

He was under the weather last night.

He was under the weather at Georgia, Tennessee.

And then I actually didn't know it was him when he was doing the intro.

I was like, who's this announcer?

And then he popped up.

I was like, damn it, let's give him a day off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In the intro that he did, that sounded like it was AI.

Yeah.

Sounded like it was a weird voiceover.

So yeah, just take it easy, Chris.

Just take a day off.

It's a long season.

We're going to need that voice.

Yeah.

Okay.

And so then my cool throne

is.

Also Chris Feller because we hope that he feels better.

That's really good.

Yeah.

That's really good.

All All right.

My hot seat is Ken Rosenthal because we talked about it on Sunday, but he issued an apology.

It was the worst apology ever.

Yeah, his apology was very funny.

He fucking sucks.

I don't know what that is.

His apology,

his apology was basically like,

he threw A.J.

Przinski under the bus.

Mm-hmm.

And then he basically, yeah, why don't you just play his apology?

Let's hear it.

The apology that was not really an apology.

It's the one below it.

I want to talk about what happened Saturday night when I accidentally bowled over Scott Ballis,

the brewers' teen photographer, while I was getting out of the way of the brewers dumping water on Andrew Monasterio.

Now, the ever-observant A.J.

Przinski joked afterward that I looked like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston.

Now, AJ, of course, is more experienced in these kinds of interactions than I am.

And I must admit, though, when I looked at the video, when I saw this, I was surprised at how upset I appeared.

I was more confused than anything.

Now, I had to continue the interview.

We were live, folks, on national television.

Couldn't stop.

And

that said, I felt awful about what happened.

And afterward, I went up to Scott, who I've worked with in Pitts before over the years, and I apologized.

And I apologize profusely because let's face it, I don't think that you ever expect knocking knocking someone down is going to happen in any particular situation.

So, yeah, sure.

I apologized.

And Fox is doing the American League playoffs this year.

So I won't see the Brewers again unless it's the World Series.

But if I do see the Brewers in the World Series, I look forward to working with Scott again in the photo pit.

And I also look forward to sharing a good laugh with him over this.

Bad apology.

National television.

Bad apology.

You have to understand, I was on TV at the time.

Yeah.

So, you know, sometimes you have to just run dudes over and then flip them off.

Also, like him saying, I was shocked at my own face.

No, dude, you were pissed.

Yeah.

You were pissed off and you were an angry, angry man.

The best point that he made was that being a 5'4 ⁇ , 123-pound man, he's not used to bowling people over.

Yeah.

He probably doesn't have an experience helping anybody up.

Yeah.

He's always been on the other side of that equation.

I feel like the Brewers are going to make it to the World Series now.

Because of the Ken Rosenthal?

Because of the Ken Rosenthal.

This feels like good juju for for the brew crew.

This guy should, and he also got the guy's name wrong to start.

Yeah.

He should truck stick him.

Yep.

That's how this should end.

My cool throne is sticking in baseball,

baseball celebrations, because teams are starting to clinch.

Schwerber, never seen anyone have more alcohol poured on him in a moment than Kyle Schwerber.

I don't know if you guys saw this, but he was chugging a beer out of a funnel while every single person on the Phillies poured beer on him.

And I just want to remind everyone, because this happens every single October and September, when people complain about baseball celebrations, baseball celebrations fucking rock.

It's 162-game season.

Let the boys celebrate.

Yes, they're going to celebrate when they clinch.

Yes, they're going to celebrate if they win the wild card and then the DS, then the CS, then the World Series.

I don't care.

I love it.

Yeah, it's fine.

Drunk baseball player awesome.

Is anybody upset about it?

Oh, yeah.

People definitely have to take

too many celebrations.

Like, you're celebrating every step of the way.

Clinching the playoffs is absolutely celebration-worthy.

I do think the wild card.

It's a little bit unnecessary.

It's like you're there to win the World Series.

Why can't people have fun?

Yeah, would you say it's weird?

They can.

It's just like the,

I have no issue with players going.

100% all out for clinching the playoffs.

That's why you play the whole season.

It's a long season.

It's a grind.

That's the goal to make the playoffs.

I think if they're partying, like, you know, the world's going to end for winning the NLDS, like, that's a little bit different.

No, I disagree.

Dude, do you have a problem with the videos of it or do you have a problem with the fact that they did it?

Like, if they did it.

No problem with any of it.

It's the way this, it's not the player's fault either.

It's like, if you have, if the way the system is set up is like, you guys can party, go party.

So you would,

if you were managing a ball club, you would not do parties.

I wouldn't, I would go, I would say to the team, you know, let's enjoy tonight.

I think, again, I think last night's celebrations for clinching the NL East, like, go all out.

That's, you know, that's why we played.

That's what we wanted to do starting going into the season.

I think when you win the Wildcard or Division Series, it's like, this should be business as usual.

Like, we're here now to win a championship.

Let's focus on that.

But obviously, they're going to celebrate.

But it's like, I think if the celebration that occurred last night, and Max, I don't know if I feel like you should agree with this.

if the celebration that occurred last night occurred after winning the NLDS, like that's a little, that's completely.

But it's already just like,

that's the standard.

So like every, if there was one team that was doing it and the rest of the teams were like, oh, no, I'm not going to do this, then I would have an issue with it.

But that's just the way it is.

That's just like the tradition of baseball.

Like once you advance, you celebrate, you have fun.

Like there's no, it's not like one team is better than the other because every team is doing it.

One thing that a lot of Philly people people are

upset about last night is that we're in the middle of a three-game series with the Dodgers right now and we need to beat the Dodgers to get the buy.

So the fact that everyone was wasted, we're basically just punting this game today, which hopefully it doesn't matter, but it could matter at the end of the year because

having the buy in baseball now is basically just

winning the first round.

That's more of a legitimate complaint, I think, than being like,

why are you celebrating so much?

You haven't won anything.

Yes, yes.

But fuck it.

The videos were awesome.

I was happy.

I stayed up to, it was one of the, I stayed up, it was a late game, and then all the celebrations happened for the next two hours.

I didn't go to sleep till like 2:30, just refreshing my, refreshing my Twitter to see the newest video of someone else getting beer poured on him.

Let the boys sell it.

I think Bryce Harper may have gotten apple juice poured on him.

Yeah, I was going to say,

Bryce Harper as a guy that doesn't drink.

Do you still enjoy a champagne celebration?

Yeah, he's hanging with the boys.

Yeah, no, because they brought the

Garrett Stubbs as the...

He was in the minor leagues all year.

He's the party guy on the Phillies.

They brought him up.

People are thinking in September just for this movie.

For the celebration.

Yeah, he brought the beer bong.

He has this

playlist that they all party to after the game.

Yeah, because I feel like it's almost stolen valor for somebody that doesn't drink to pour beer all over there.

You have no idea why that's so fun.

Yeah, no,

they were pouring.

It looked like there was a little bit of beer in there, but there was reports that it could have been apple juice that was going through.

Either way, I want the boys to celebrate.

I think it's fun.

And you just get awesome videos of just like Schwerber,

Bryce Harper, just dudes having a great time with their boys in the locker room.

Hank doesn't like fun.

Crazy.

Thinks it's weird.

Can't exist.

Denver said that.

Zach.

My hot seat today is the political race in Ireland becoming too hot for Conor McGregor.

Oh, yeah.

He led on a, he was going to run on a promise to bring power back to the people, and he has folded and withdrawn from the race.

Kind of opened in, and I was just curious if you guys think any athletes could run the United States of America if given your choice.

Tom Brady, probably get all the information from Russia before a war.

That'd be good.

It'd be great.

Wait, so he's out?

One out of a league.

He dropped out.

His quote was, this was not an easy decision, but it is the right one at this moment why did he drop out

i think it may be because of the things he's done it might be because that or he might be wildly unqualified to be president a killer combo yes a left-right combo take your pick of either one of the two hank if tom brady it'd be like if tom brady was president also there was a war with russia also he was interviewing vladimir putin because he also did 60 minutes weird

good for us but vladimir Putin would never give him information because he's not an idiot.

Because he's smart.

Yeah.

So, yeah, the NFL, you would assume that NFL coaches are smart.

That's an assumption I'm not ready to make.

Do you think all NFL coaches are smart?

Yeah.

No change.

No.

No way.

They're paid millions of dollars.

That doesn't mean.

There's a lot of people that are paid millions of dollars for being smart.

They're smart at football.

Sometimes.

Not always.

Not always.

You might know a couple of them.

Who's the dumbest coach?

Um,

hmm, that's that's a good question.

Okay,

hmm, I don't know.

Oh, huh, interesting.

I'm thinking there's so many to pick from.

You didn't let me finish if there were so many to pick from.

If the Cowboys didn't fire McCarthy, that'd be an easy one.

That would be an easy one.

One championship.

Todd Bowles

did not win a Super Bowl.

As a coordinator.

You know what?

We might have.

Hank might be.

We might have the smartest group of NFL coaches.

Because there's always been a handful of dumb oaths.

Yeah.

Saying Hank's starting to make a lot of sense.

Starting to turn around.

All right.

There's different types of intelligence.

Hank's never lost an argument.

He just ran out of time.

Because

this proven you're starting to swing us.

All right, Zach, you're cool throwing.

My cool throwing this week is Madison Beer because I think she might be an NFL good omen.

Yeah.

He's,

let's just say, before

Justin Herbert started hopping out of like Uber Black Trucks with Madison Beer,

he's lost 35 games.

He's thrown 45 interceptions.

Since then, undefeated man, five touchdown passes.

Pre-Madison Beer, no playoff wins.

I think as long as he keeps her close, the Chargers make a great run into the playoffs this year.

Wow.

Okay.

And if they decide to split, watch out.

I think watch out, yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's a good one.

He does look awesome.

He does.

He looks awesome.

All right.

Good hot seat, cool thrown, boys.

Let's get to our interviews.

We've got Andy Staples and CM Punk.

Before we get to Andy Staples, he's going to be brought to you by our great friends over at McDonald's.

This episode of Part of My Take, as always, brought to you by McDonald's and their new sauce

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And now here's Andy Staples.

Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very special guest, one of our favorite people to talk to, college football expert.

You can find him on three.

He's writing.

He's podcasting.

He's back with Ari,

which is one of my favorite listens.

It is Andy Staples.

Andy,

what a week in college football.

Incredible Saturday.

It didn't look like it was going to be one of those Saturdays going into it, and then it was, it delivered all over.

So we got a lot of things we want to talk about.

But I wanted to to start with your florida gators

because they're in a very interesting situation where it feels like everyone knows the coach is fired and then they go to lsu and they they very easily could have won that game if dj lagway doesn't throw five interceptions uh where is the florida program is there a quit factor that's on the horizon because they have a big matchup against miami or like what's what's the status of billy napier is there going to be a firing in season Just tell us everything.

So it feels inevitable that he'll get fired.

But the problem, guys, is it felt inevitable last year after the Texas A ⁇ M game, right?

They decided to fire him.

That happened.

It was, we got the money.

We're going to do this.

And then as things went on, and then Graham Mertz gets hurt, DJ Lagway becomes the starting quarterback.

You start to see some maybe a little bit of a promise that Lagway could be kind of special.

And this is not with them winning, by the way.

This is with them kind of hanging around against Georgia in a game where DJ hurt his hamstring, which this probably should tell you everything you need to know about how things evolved over the next 12 months.

But so they decide to keep him after the Georgia game.

They decide they're going to announce that Billy Napier is coming back.

And they go lose to Texas without DJ Lagway, but then they beat LSU and Ole Miss.

And this is where I started drinking that Kool-Aid a little bit because I've actually, you know, going into last season, the people here in Gainesville were like, you are overwhelmingly negative about Florida.

I'm like, but tell me why I should be positive.

Give me a reason to be positive.

Well,

they gave us those reasons in the LSU and O-Miss games last year.

And DJ looked special.

He looked like he could make throws that nobody else could make.

And you're like, okay, an offseason of him as the full-time starter.

And they build the whole offense around him.

And they've got these good line of scrimmage players.

Caleb Banks is coming back.

Jake Slaughter at center.

You're like, okay, I see it.

I see the vision here.

And the thing about it is, when Napier was told he's coming back, there were conditions attached to it.

And one of the conditions was you will hire a play calling offensive coordinator.

You will no longer call the plays anymore.

Well, after he beat LSU and Ole Miss, and then he beats Florida State, and they beat Tulane in the bowl game, he's got some juice.

And he's like, you know what?

I don't think I want to do that.

I think I'm going to keep calling plays.

And that was a problem.

And then DJs heard all offseason, and he's not throwing with the team.

And now you get to this year where they play USF.

Those line of scrimmage players looked pretty average against USF.

They play LSU.

Defense played great.

They were in the game, but five interceptions from the guy who didn't throw with his teammates for a lot of the offseason.

Like,

it's a bad situation.

I think it's probably about done, but I don't think they're going to quit.

Okay.

Guys, that's why he kept the job last year is because they didn't quit on him.

I don't think they're going to quit, but I also don't think they're going to win.

Like, I've picked Miami to cover the seven and a half this week.

I picked LSU to cover the nine and a half last week.

I don't know what happens with Texas.

I think the Arch DJ,

We All Got It Wrong bowl is going to be fascinating.

But

I don't see a way out of this for Billy because they're going to lose.

you would think most of these games against the good teams.

Yeah, so I mean, they haven't quit yet, but they do play, like you said, Miami, Texas, and then AM back to back to back.

back.

There might be some quit that pops up there.

And

we'd say we all got it wrong about DJ.

Uh, who specifically are you talking about there, Andy?

That would be me.

That would be me.

There is a, there is a quarterback ranking from April that is floating around the internet.

DJ, DJ Lagway, number one in the country.

Not number one in the SEC, number one in the country.

I have, I have Arch at number four.

Well, you had Arch number one in the SEC.

No, I had DJ number one in the SEC.

Oh, okay.

But, but, yeah, yeah, so

it was

not my finest moment.

It's been

a rough week.

That graphic's been resurfaced a few times, but there's not much I can say.

I got to own it.

I got to own it because I just, like, DJ and Archer are going to play.

I was joking.

We need to have the Dr.

Pepper competition where they're only allowed to throw chess passes when they play each other in Gainesville.

Let's do that.

But in your defense, like the consensus top five quarterbacks, four out of five of them have not looked great.

And I'm talking about Nussmeier, Manning, DJ Lagway,

Aller, Klubnick.

There's a lot of guys at the top of the list that we're going into this year that have just not been up to the standard that we all expected.

Yeah.

And I did have Matir fairly high, John Matir from Oklahoma.

And like, big cat, I know you are a late-night ball watcher, maybe chasing some things.

Yep.

So you saw a ton of Washington State last year.

I knew you were in because I obviously listened to the show.

So I knew you were in with the rest of us in the Matir hive.

But I'll say, like, he's the only one of those guys that is really outperformed.

I underestimated how good Carson Beck would be at Miami.

I was worried about him coming off the elbow surgery.

And it was like, my thing with Carson Beck at Miami was a lot of times you'll see these quarterbacks move to a place where they suddenly get a much better group of players around them.

Carson Beck was at Georgia.

He had good players around him, but it's working really well at Miami.

He and Shannon Dawson get along very well in this offense.

Obviously, Miami has a good offensive line.

We knew that going in, but some of these young receivers like Mal Kai Tony are just great.

And so he's been very good.

You know, I Diego Pavia.

Diego Pavia.

Never picking against Diego Pavia again, I've decided because I picked South Carolina last week.

The guy's just a freaking dog.

Yeah.

Period.

Like if you watch that, the SEC documentary on Netflix, the behind the scenes stuff with Pavia before they play Alabama, like, who would not want that guy as their quarterback?

And I would argue, like, is there any team that wouldn't be made better by Diego Pavia being their quarterback right now?

No, and he's

Jaron.

Yeah.

I've been working on this.

JSK.

Jared.

J.K.

Tayapotelli.

Sanga Polotelli.

J.K.

Sanga Polotelli.

The telecasters.

Yeah, yeah, he's awesome.

But it is like in your defense, and Diego Pavia, he's one one of those guys that I wish that he could just play college football forever.

Like, he's probably not going to be a pro.

Just let him play college football forever.

But you have to say that.

We had a very college football nerd conversation

with some guys in the office the other day.

So

Diego Pavia came with a guy named Tim Beck.

He's the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt, was with Pavia at New Mexico State.

So there's another Tim Beck, an older Tim Beck, who's been an OC.

He's currently the head coach at Coastal Carolina.

He's probably going to get fired.

They just got shut out by East Carolina.

So if that Tim Beck gets fired, I just want to put on the hotboard that the Vandy Tim Beck could get the job.

They could replace Tim Beck with Tim Beck, and then Diego Pavia goes to court and wins the case and becomes Coastal Carolina's starting quarterback.

It would be perfect.

It would be perfect.

But yeah, so to defend you, and it segues into a different question is like, some of the guys that we thought were going to be great this year have not started off great.

And then you've seen like Dampier and Dante Moore and all these guys that are popping.

What though, how bad is it for Arch right now?

Because I've seen a lot of the, you know, I've watched the games.

He looks so lost.

And is it like they have another cupcake this week, but then it's the SEC schedule.

What is their plan if he can't figure it out?

Because it feels like it's mental and everything's kind of falling apart here with a lot at stake for Texas.

Yeah, I've been thinking about this.

It kind of reminds me, you know, the golfers, they finish the season, they go away for the winter, and then they come back and they've changed their swing.

Like they've hired a new swing coach, change their swing, and they don't make the cut at Torrey Pines, and they don't make the cut at Augustine.

You're like, what happened to you?

And that's what it seems like.

My co-host, Ari Wasserman, who, by the way, earlier in the offseason said, there's no way Arch doesn't make it to New York.

And I'm like, because he has tickets to Book of Mormon.

And I said that back then.

But

I didn't think he could be bad.

I thought maybe he could be average at worst.

I don't know what the hell this is.

It looks like he's throwing from a different arm slot.

Like you got people asking Sark if he's hurt.

And Sark's like talking about the faces you make when you poop.

He's shitting.

Yeah.

I mean, it led to a conversation on my show where I learned I'm apparently a very demonstrative pooper and didn't realize that that's not normal or not.

Everybody's not like that.

So you learn something.

following Arch Manning, but I just, I never thought

that bad was in on the menu for him.

I thought it'd be average, okay.

But mostly that was because of the talent around him.

Watching some of that UTEP game,

it does feel like it's mental.

It feels like the yips almost because these are easy throws.

And I went back and watched this morning his start against Louisiana Monroe.

That was his first start last year when he was replacing Quinn Ewers when Quinn was hurt.

He was ripping balls down the seam, like very confidently.

And I don't know where that is right now.

He looks like a different guy.

Yeah.

I don't think anybody thought that it would be possible for Arch Manning to stink, right?

And

he looks like he just stinks right now.

He's just not a very good quarterback.

I don't know how much of a leash.

He's probably going to have a very long leash in Austin because I don't think that they have anybody behind him that's going to challenge him, right?

Well, and that's the thing.

It's been so set up and so preordained.

I mean,

I have a bunch of football cards on my desk, and I walked past a Quinn Ewers one yesterday, and I'm like, oh, it feels like he's saying, miss me to

this.

Like

we thought they just pushed Quinn Ewers out the door for Arch.

And I think they kind of did, but it didn't not make sense at the time.

And so, yeah, you're engineering of your court.

Like, so Dia Bell, Raja Bell's son, is the big-time recruit who's coming next year.

to Texas, but that was, he's as the successor to Arch.

The idea is Arch is going to start this year or next year.

So if he does indeed stink, and to get back to the Florida question you asked first, Big Cat, like that's another thing that the Florida people never even envisioned.

Yeah.

Like what stink wasn't on the menu.

Five interceptions wasn't on the menu.

Right.

What happens if you have to make a move?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, if you're a five-star quarterback and Texas had offered you, you're not going to go there.

It's like you can read the writing on the wall.

You know that Arch Manning is going to be the quarterback.

You're not going to have a fair competition.

So what's the point?

And now it seems like, I don't know, I tend to think that he might be hurt.

It's hard to explain away the faces he was making, the winces he was making when he was throwing.

I mean, those were bad throws.

If you dirt a ball that is normally an easy completion for you, you probably are going to go,

but I don't know.

But Texas, it doesn't seem like there's a clear and obvious

number two, they feel good about.

Florida, actually, they signed Trammell Jones this offseason.

Didn't know what he was going to be.

He's been a pleasant surprise.

So if something happened to DJ Lagway, I think that that's who they'd go to and they'd probably feel okay about that.

But Texas, yeah, it's a very strange situation.

And I heard Sark yesterday talking about it and saying, you know, I know how when we see the end of the movie, when he comes out the other side of this, it's going to be okay.

Sark seems to think that this is going to get better.

He also said, and I found this interesting, we have to wrap our brains around the quarterback being a bigger part of the run game.

So I do think maybe he's looking at, I've got to adjust this offense to take advantage more of Arch's dual threat capability.

And Arch is is a good runner but that's not the quarterback you envisioned when when this manning you know family scion came out of new orleans to to go to texas so i think we all have to wrap our brains around an idea you know the idea of arch and the actual arch are two different things and it's an interesting conversation because we're having like you were talking about maybe he just stinks pft

And five years ago, I would have been very reluctant to engage in that sort of discourse about a college football player because I always felt like it was a little unfair with guys that are just on scholarship and

to be incredibly harsh.

But this guy's in national commercials.

Yeah.

He's making millions of dollars.

I think it's all fair now.

I think it's all on the table now.

Yeah, and it's not called the Manning Read Option Academy, right?

He should be able to throw the football.

And I actually have one more question for you about Florida.

Yeah, Lagway was a problem.

That was a ridiculous game that he played On the defensive side of the ball, did you see that last run that you guys gave up?

I'd be concerned about Florida's defense.

51 yards?

Yeah, the last play of the game, bad rush defense from Florida against LSU.

Brian Kelly told me that.

I did, Brian Kelly.

I choose to believe what Brian Kelly said.

Are LSU fans spoiled?

Yes.

Yes.

So we can have a longer discussion about that Brian Kelly answer.

And for those who didn't see it,

longtime TV reporter comes right out of the gate.

It's a very emotional win against Florida.

You didn't play as well as you wanted to on offense, but your defense intercepted the guy five times.

Right out of the gate.

First question, Brian Kelly.

How come y'all can't run the ball?

Yeah, kind of crazy.

Well, and so as someone who's asked a lot of questions in post-game press conferences,

there's a method to it, and you stack them in a certain way.

Like, that's not the question you ask right out of the gate.

after a game like that.

You ask some, you butter him up a little bit.

You hit him with that in like question four, or you hit him with that Monday when when he's watched the film and he's in a hyper-critical mode.

But it is the question LSU fans want answered.

So, of course, if you think that's your only chance to ask it, you ask it then.

And he blows up.

And I agreed with him for the first minute of it, where he's like,

after that, you asked that question?

But then he got into the you're spoiled and all that.

And that's where I started going, Brian, you know what job you took, right?

Yeah.

Right.

You took the LSU job.

The last three people who sat in your chair won the national title by year four.

What year is it now?

It's four, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's it.

Like, yes, they're spoiled, but you knew that when you took the job.

Yeah, it's different.

To be fair to the reporter, I think he started out a little bit more diplomatically.

And then Brian.

He really didn't, PFT.

Like, that's the thing.

Like,

there's a way to ask that.

Like, no, it's a hard-fought game and your defense had five interceptions, but you struggle to run the ball.

It was, and credit to him for asking the direct question.

He just straight up asked it.

I don't know the exact verbiage, but it was basically, how come y'all can't run the game?

Yeah, because I think Brian, like, he went back at him a couple of times and the reporter was like, I'll just say, you guys can't run the football.

Yeah.

You made me say it.

Well, and he's right because the run that Kelly was referencing, the Caden Durham 51-yard run, basically doubled their rushing output for the entire game.

Made it look a lot better.

It was a great run.

Yeah.

Another game Saturday that was incredible, Tennessee and Georgia, which I came away from that game being like, both these teams are college football playoff teams.

They're both really, really good.

It wasn't a situation where it was like, oh man, like Georgia is bad or Tennessee is bad.

The one problem I had, I do think that Josh Heipel, and maybe this is something he learns from, I think he got tightened up a little bit at the end.

Like, that's a team that you haven't been able to beat.

And you, you know, you've had a Kirby Smart problem.

You finally scored more than 17 points, which he hadn't done the first four times they met.

And at the end, like, your kicker's a little shaky, maybe.

I just kept on looking him at the sideline, like, this guy's not going to make this kick.

He looks like he's 14.

Yeah, he looks like, yeah, he looks like our colleague, Lil Sass, but like a little bit of, a little too much of like running the ball just right up the middle, trying to, trying to, trying to win the game on a field goal.

I don't know.

That's what Kirby would have done.

Yeah, but that's Georgia.

That's the difference.

I disagree on this because the old Josh Heipel, the ones we criticized for not being able to compete against Georgia, when Georgia took the lead in the third quarter, that would have been it.

Georgia would have have just gone on to win by 13.

Oh, and Tennessee came back.

And Tennessee took the lead, took control.

It's a tie game.

You've got a kick to win it.

Like, I have no problem with the way he handled the end of that game.

They just missed the kick.

And

I like where both teams are at.

I think SEC fan, well, SEC fans, like they're a big monolith, but fans of SEC teams now need to accept that this is a world where there is no Death Star in the SEC.

There is no Georgia or Bama sitting there at the end that is going to blow up your entire program in 60 minutes.

It doesn't exist.

These teams are pretty good at the top, but they probably can all beat each other.

Yeah.

No, listen, I get what you're saying.

My issue with what Hypel did, and he did like, I went away from that game being like Florida or Tennessee is a really good team.

I'm just thinking, Georgia, you got to get over that hump.

Kirby Smart does it because he's Georgia.

When you're playing Georgia, you have to be aggressive all the way through 60 minutes to try to win this game.

And it just felt like a little bit at the end, like I, you know, I'm trying to, it was even the drive before the Georgia scored the touchdown, where it's like, hey, we're just trying to kind of run the clock out here.

They had him.

They had him.

And they were, they were causing them fits.

And I watched that whole game.

The first half, I was like, oh, wow, Tennessee's got him.

And I was like, but who knows?

Because how these games have gone is Tennessee comes out hot and then Georgia figures it out.

Georgia never really figured it out defensively.

And then they run the ball up the middle, you know, on the last two drives.

Just keep going after him.

Just end them.

Well, here's the thing about that.

And I realize I'm looking at this probably now more like an NFL person than a college football person because there was a time when not doing that would have doomed your season.

Yeah.

But now I look at that.

I came away from that game saying if that game gets played again at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the first week in December, which it could be, or

in the college football playoff, also a possibility.

Tennessee plays the game with Jermod McCoy and Ricky Gibson, their number, their number one and number two corner, who are both out for this game.

And

if they have their best corners, like

does

Gunner Stockton slip that ball into London Humphrey on fourth and seven?

Yeah, incredible.

Jermod McCoy is covering that play.

Like it's a very different game.

And so I'm not, like, if I'm Josh Heipel, I'm not worried about that.

I go forward going, we are right there with them.

And if they're the best this conference has to offer,

we can compete with the best this conference has to offer.

Yeah, I just thought it was like the drive before the drive of the end missed field goal.

It was another, they get the fumble, they run the ball three times, and then the drive when they miss a field goal, they get down the field and they run the ball.

It's like, you had them.

I don't know.

Again, they're a good team, so it's not, it's nitpicking.

I think Tennessee will be there.

They showed their toughness.

They showed that they're for real.

It's just like, man, I really wanted Tennessee to finally get over that Kirby Smart hump.

And it felt like they had him.

I see.

Vault Twitter is a little bit tough to deal with anyway.

If they thought they were the best team in the SEC for the rest of the season, they're going to be insufferable.

So

they might need a little bit of tempering because they might actually end up being the best team in the SEC by the end.

Yeah.

The Joey Aguilar thing is fascinating to me.

Like, it was a trade, essentially.

Nico Imaliama for Joey Aguilar.

And Tennessee came out so much on the better end of that trade, it's not even funny.

Yeah.

I was talking to our colleague, Big T, and he's obviously a Tennessee fan.

And he said, this is the first time that I can recall losing a game like this.

that we play good in.

So it's like a new experience.

Like we play good and we still lost.

That doesn't happen in Tennessee that much.

It's usually like we play bad and we lost.

And it's a new experience.

And I think he's like more optimistic.

I think Tennessee fans should be optimistic because that offense,

to be able to do that against Georgia is very, very impressive.

And I would love to see that game again.

That was such a fun game to watch.

Joey Aguilar is so swaggy.

And I thought when

watching him at Appalachian State,

He would run into games where it'd be more like what you saw with DJ Lagway at LSU, where he's just trying to throw.

He's confident that he can throw his way out of anything and he just throws it.

But he's not like that.

He's more careful with the ball than I thought he'd be in this offense.

And I think he, certain quarterbacks just fit certain offenses really well.

I think this offense fits him very well, fits his personality, because I think Nico was a little too risk-averse for this offense.

And Joe Milton would airmail balls, didn't work out.

Hindon Hooker was the previous perfect quarterback for this offense.

And Hinden Hooker had that right blend of gunslinger and I know

when I need to eat this.

Yeah.

One more SEC question for you.

You remember that one week where we said Alabama football was dead and that they'd never win another game?

That was a fun week.

That was a nice funeral that we had for them.

Are they as dead as we thought that they were?

We'll find out next week.

The answer, well, actually, I don't know if we'll find out next week because my thing coming out of the Florida State game was this looks like last year's team.

Yeah.

where they thought they were going to win this game, so they didn't get up for it.

And they got beat, which is how they lost to Vanderbilt and how they lost to Oklahoma last year.

So if they are that team, next week when they play at Georgia, they're going to be up for it.

Like that last year's team went up 28-0 on Georgia and hang on to win the game.

It's the Vandy and the Missouri games that I worry about for this Alabama team.

Like, how do you get up for those?

And if they get up for those and they smash those teams, Alabama's fine.

Don't worry about it at all.

But

if they don't, you got a problem.

Or next week, if they go to Athens and get their doors blown off, that's a different story.

But I just don't think that's going to happen because they're going to be up for this game.

They don't want to get it.

It'll be like last year.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How many wins does Kalen DeBoer need to get to to be safe for another year?

Because it does, I don't count them killing Wisconsin.

Wisconsin's a train wreck right now.

Right.

Obviously, ULM, that was to be expected.

So, like,

it covers it up nicely, but there could be some issues still here.

So is there a chance, let's say he wins eight games?

Is that

okay?

Yeah.

I don't think that's okay.

Even with the buyout being as big as it is, it's in the $60 million neighborhood.

But it is,

like I always say, with all these buyouts, you got to understand how they're structured.

So like Mark Stoops at Kentucky has the most prohibitive buyout because it's like $34 million

due within 30 days of the firing.

Billy Napier at Florida has a $20 million buyout.

Half of it is due within 30 days.

The other half in equal installments.

The Kalen DeBoer one, if it happened, would be equal installments through the end of 2031, which is a lot of money.

But for a program like Alabama, it becomes a very large line item that you can probably absorb.

That said, okay, if he wins 10, he's fine.

If he wins nine, I think he's fine.

Eight,

it would probably depend on how the how the eight looked and the four looked, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't be super confident

in him keeping the job at eight and four.

Um, all right.

I got a take I'm ruminating on, and it uh, it comes from the fact that I can see the future, and I know that a 10-2 Notre Dame team will be in the college football playoff because that's just how it works.

And I've been talking, we have Notre Dame fans here in the office.

I did a podcast yesterday.

I threw this out there.

I, they're, they're in no,

like what happened on the the field, the defense aside, they're in no different of a spot than they were last year.

They have no margin for error.

The NIU loss was a two-loss loss.

This year, they lost to two teams that are going to be maybe college football playoff teams.

They're in the exact same spot, two games into the season.

They have to win out.

Can they?

I don't know.

But if you're a Notre Dame fan, I think that's what you have to tell yourself because it's the honest truth.

If they go 10-2, and I know they don't have anyone on their schedule outside USC, if they go 10-2, they will be in the college football playoff.

I don't think that's a guarantee.

Well, because CNM and Miami, if they're tied, yeah, yeah.

Well, Miami went 10-2 last year and didn't get in.

Because they didn't have the quality wins.

It was the same situation.

But I do think there's a potential that what remains on Notre Dame's schedule is good enough that if you win 10 in a row against it, it's probably okay.

Because I think, like, if NC State keeps winning, C.J.

Bailey's maybe the best quarterback nobody's talking about.

He's fantastic.

USC looks really good so far.

So if they're good, if Navy turns out to be good, remember Navy won their league last year.

Notre Dame blasted them.

Arkansas pushed Ole Miss to the limit on Saturday.

And they're scoring like 45 points a game.

So

there's a chance that we just look back on it, Notre Dame's 10-2, and we're like, yeah, they beat some pretty good teams.

Throw them in there.

They're not in a good position because you need those teams to be better than we thought they were going to be.

The problem is if they're all better than we thought they were going to be, they might beat you.

Right.

But all right.

So the pushback I'd have on Miami last year is Miami last year lost to Georgia Tech and Syracuse, two games where they were big-time favorites and the not very good teams.

Syracuse had a good season last year.

Notre Dame, the quality losses are real.

Like they, those are two really good teams that should be there in the college football playoffs.

So I agree that like they don't have a lot on their schedule, but I think they will be looked upon kindly if, and again, this is just

Miami's.

Yeah, and A ⁇ M is a bit of a challenge.

Miami's the ACC champ.

Miami's the ACC champ and they're the two seed.

And Texas AM either made the playoff or went into the Texas game with a chance to make the SEC title game or make the playoff.

Yeah, I think that will look good because those are not, they didn't get blown out.

They were right in those games.

Obviously, if they get the hold down on the extra point, they probably win this game.

They couldn't stop.

Yeah, that could have gone overtime.

And Mario Craven, like I, the fact that I think it, I think his Instagram handle is like, you know, Super Mario, and he is so fast.

He's still.

I will say, AM hit on Mario Craver and Casey Concepcion, the two guys at receiver they got out of the portal.

So Craver was in Mississippi State, Concepcion was at NC State.

That might be the best receiver haul out of the portal so far this year.

We may find out that AM's offense is just really, really good, which is scared the hell out of the rest of the SEC.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Craver just bouncing off people, keeping balance, running through them.

That game was so fun to watch.

I love that.

And I do think that if it comes down to it, a two-loss Notre Dame is going to get in.

And my criteria is that their name is Notre Dame, and they will be put into the college football playoff.

It's not a bad thought.

I mean, the helmet,

it glitters, it shines.

Yeah, dirty.

And you might be blinded by it.

By the way,

if you had to do gun to head right now, I don't think they went out.

I think USC's offense is really good, and that's going to be really a tough test.

I'm just more speaking to Notre Dame fans who are the season's over after two games.

This is where

you're basically in the same spot because of that NIU loss being two losses.

You couldn't lose another game.

Yep.

And I was actually, I was watching Marcus Freeman's press conference yesterday and comparing it to everything he said after NIU.

And

he makes me feel the same.

Coaches are about how they make you feel.

It's like a presidential candidate.

He makes me feel the same way.

I'm like, this guy's got this.

He's okay.

Yeah.

Looking at the Big Ten,

we don't know anything about Penn State right now.

All we have is what we thought that we knew about Penn State going into the season.

They don't cover spreads at the end.

They don't, yeah.

That's twice as shit.

That last play against Villanova was

good for those kids at Villanova.

They probably went to the locker room feeling like they won the game just based on that last throw to cover the spread.

But what do we know about Penn State that we didn't already think about them going into the season?

It feels the same.

I think their receivers are better.

I think that's the one thing that we can take away, like, you know, they should be able in a crunch time game to be able to complete passes to receivers, unlike in the Orange Bowl last year.

So I think that is probably better.

My co-host Ari Wasserman asked me a really interesting question yesterday, and I don't know that I had a great answer for it.

Are Penn State fans watching Missouri games and going,

did we pick the right QB?

Because Bo Perbula looks pretty awesome at Missouri.

He does.

We have a Penn State fan here, Max.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

Did you pick the right QB, Max?

We got to see the big games.

But they can't cover against Nevada and Villanova.

I know.

Both of those, I've talked to you about both of those.

It's disgusting.

And James Franklin is a cover guy, too.

Yeah, yeah.

That

he fights for the cover.

But yeah, no, there were a lot of Penn State fans last year that said that they wanted Bo Perbula at times.

After the Wisconsin game,

and

the logical fan was like, no, no, no, no, Bo Perbula is like, Drew Aller's your guy, Drew Aller's your guy, Bo Perbula is like a good guy to bring into the mix, but he's not Drew Aller.

And now Bo Perbula is looking like the guy.

Drew Aller just, we have to see what he does against Oregon in two weeks.

That's exactly right.

I mean, it's a whiteout game.

That's the big moment.

He actually

made some nice throws against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship game last year.

Though if you go back and look at the game and its totality, he wasn't super efficient in it.

And it's an interesting argument that I think coaches probably have with themselves all the time.

And we have as fans of college football.

Drew Aller is what an NFL coach GM would make in a lab if we said design a quarterback.

Six foot five, 235 pounds, can run, has a huge arm.

Like that is exactly what you would make in a lab.

But on the field, it doesn't always translate.

All of those skills don't always translate.

And sometimes people are just better college quarterbacks.

The best quarterback Penn State has had this century is Trace McSorley, who doesn't look like that at all.

So that's the part that...

I struggle with because like I get where James Franklin and Andy Kotel Nicki are looking at this like, we have everything in this guy.

All we have to do is unlock it.

But he's now in year three as a starter, and it hadn't been unlocked yet.

And another thing for Penn State fans is that there's PTSD of that you had Christian Hackenberg and you had Trace McSorley, and Bo Perbula

looks like Trace McSorley, and Drew Aller looks like Christian Hackenberg.

So every Penn State fan is thinking, are we going through this again?

Yeah, at least Sean Clifford and Will Levis didn't look alike, but it felt like that was also a similar situation where they picked Sean Clifford.

And I think at the end of the day, you probably should have picked Will Levis.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What about elsewhere in the Big Ten?

Are the Wolverines better off with Pogey as the head coach?

I just don't, I'm mad he wore sleeves.

Yeah.

That really bothered me.

I wanted sleeveless Biff Pogey.

As the Michigan head coach, I don't know if a Michigan man would ever do such a thing.

We're going to find out.

We're going to find out.

This is an interesting week.

So Michigan's going to Nebraska.

We've never seen this before in a big-time game with a coach suspended because the rules used to be that you're suspended for the game but you can be around the team at practice and everything so when hardball was suspended for those six different games in 2023 he was there for practice all week and the game plan got put in and so he had a hand in everything other than the game day play calling and

now

Sharon Moore's suspension started at midnight on the day of the central Michigan game.

So he was there for practice before Central Michigan and they looked awesome against Central Michigan.

His suspension runs through 1159 and 59 seconds of Saturday.

So he's not allowed to be around for any of this.

And we're, you know, we, on our show, we try to figure out where he's going to be, what he's doing all week.

Because he, like, do you go, do you just go to the beach?

Do you go to an island?

Because

you're not allowed there.

So what's the point of hanging around town?

Is there a radius that you're not allowed to be in?

Like, what are the exact?

Could you be in a hot air balloon?

What if there's a weather delay down?

That would be funny.

Remember the Nebraska, like Georgia Southern game a few years ago where it was delayed for like 10 hours?

What if that happens?

I think you fly him in.

Yeah.

You just put him on the PJ and fly him in.

But yeah,

I think that would extend through the length of the game if that happens.

That is a

2.30 Central time start game.

So I think I think he'll be okay.

But good point.

But we've never seen this before.

So I don't know what it's going to mean.

Plus, the other team

in this equation is also in an interesting spot because I feel like Matt Rule's got Nebraska in a place where now they win the games they're supposed to win, which is the first step of a build.

Can you start winning the toss-up games as the second step?

And this is very much a toss-up game to me.

So like this could be a massive turning point game for Nebraska.

Meanwhile, you got Michigan without their normal head coach, but with a hedge fund guy.

who uh you know

likes to chomp a stogie we he the first time i interviewed him when he's a head coach at Charlotte on my show, he had the cigar lit the entire time.

He had the cigar in his mouth for half the interview.

It was amazing.

I love it.

I love Biff Fogey so much.

I have no idea, though, what this will look like when he is running practice for the entire week.

And I will say, Chip Lindsay, their offensive coordinator, used to be a head coach at Troy.

Wink Martindale, their defensive coordinator, longtime NFL DC, like has been through everything, seen everything.

I think they have the staff to handle this.

So, so the crazy thing about the Big Ten is if I had told you 20 years ago, well, maybe not 20 years ago, because you'd be like, wait, Nebraska's in the Big Ten.

But

Nebraska and Michigan is not the matchup this weekend.

It's Illinois, Indiana, which is great.

Like these two teams are both top 20 teams.

They both have really good coaches.

They have good quarterbacks.

Like it's crazy to look at how the Big Ten has shifted here, but this is the matchup.

This is the game I'm most looking forward to in the Big Ten this weekend.

And

both are just great stories.

And I think both, even a loss, you know, they're both still alive in the whole thing.

Yeah, they're still alive, but they obviously have their tougher games to go.

Of course, and the end will have to play Oregon and Illinois is going to have to play Ohio State.

And both of them have

landmines along the way.

So this sort of feels like a playoff elimination game,

even if it isn't.

But I love this.

I love it because Luke Altmeyer has been awesome at Illinois the entire time he's been there.

He's another one that I don't feel like we've given enough credit to.

And it's not just because his brother hits me up on Instagram every time I don't mention Luke Altmeyer on a quarterback list.

By the way, the awful quarterback list I made did not have Luke Altmeyer on it.

I did hear from an Altmeyer person

about that.

And

you know what?

You were right.

Luke Altmeyer should have been on that list, and I'm sorry.

Yeah.

But he is awesome.

We're going to find out about Fernando Mendoza.

So Fernando Mendoza is Indiana's quarterback.

He came from Cal.

He's pretty good at Cal last year.

Interestingly enough, Georgia went after him at the end of the season.

He did not elect to consider Georgia because at the time, he didn't know what was going to happen with Gunnar Stockton.

Like Gunner Stockton hadn't started a game yet.

He was going to start the Sugar Bowl.

I don't even know if the final decision had been made on Carson Beck at the time.

So Mendoza decides not to do that, goes to Indiana to replace Curtis Work, where I think usually when we have these situations where a team that has not been good has a great season, we always look at it as a one-off.

Usually it's a situation where their best players were old and they just came of age at the right time, and then they all go to the NFL.

That's not what happened with Indiana.

Indiana brought back most of their best players from last season.

So we haven't seen them play against anybody of consequence yet.

But if they're as good as they were last year, they could potentially be a playoff team again.

Like it's not, it was not an accident.

It's not a one-off.

PFT, I know you know all about these guys because like Elijah Surratt, D'Angelo Pons played at JMU and went with Signetti to Indiana.

Yep.

I have to disown them this year, though.

I gave them one year where I'll root for Indiana, but at this point, I can't actively root for the guys that left after that first year.

Well,

I want to see them because their schedule in the non-conference was really bad.

Yeah.

But they averaged eight yards of carry.

Like if they can, if they're slicing through Indiana, through Illinois' defense on the ground, Indiana is going to win that game.

But if Illinois can hold them to a more reasonable number, if they're talking about like four yards of carry, then we're going to have a really good, fun, competitive game.

And it's going to come probably come down to which quarterback makes a play.

Yeah.

So we pronounced Alabama dead earlier this season.

They might be back alive.

Did Clemson take that torch from them?

Is Clemson now dead?

Yes, the skeleton holding the torch just gave it to another skeleton.

I don't know if they're dead.

I don't like their chances to make the playoff.

I don't like their chances to win the ACC because Florida State seems to be revived, and that's a team that Clemson has to play later in the year.

You know, it's something's off.

Something's off because they have talent.

Like along their defensive line, all four of those guys are going to get drafted.

Some of it, like TJ Parker is probably a first-round draft pick.

Peter Woods is probably a high draft pick.

But watching Georgia Tech run through them,

I just, you can't let that happen.

If you have that elite talent on your D line and a team just opens holes on you, like,

what are you doing?

I, I, and, and it's interesting because I thought that was more of a schematic problem.

So they fired their DC last year, Wes Goodwin, and they hired Tom Allen, who, who had been at Penn State.

He was the head coach at Indiana before that.

And Tom's a really good DC.

And I thought, okay, they're going to fix this, the scheme part of it.

The players are good, but it might be we're overrating the players a little bit too.

And so

Dabo, we know we've killed him for not doing much in the portal.

He said, I like this team.

We looked at it.

We're like, You've got so much returning production coming back.

This is awesome.

Maybe, maybe we were wrong.

Maybe you did it right.

Maybe you had it right all along.

Because, and I said this in the offseason.

I said, Oh, these guys have been through some stuff together.

So, this team's going to stay together.

They'll handle adversity really well.

Well, no, apparently they don't.

So,

because the LSU team that beat them, I think, is good.

Yeah.

But the offense we've seen from LSU between then and now has not blown you away.

I think LSU's defense has been really good.

So, yeah, I don't know where Clemson is, but I, you know, look at the rest of their schedule.

It's hard to imagine them running the table.

It is.

Yeah.

And I got a question for you about a future I'm considering putting in.

I need you to advise me on this.

Okay.

Why is Miami 16 to one?

I feel like they should.

Oh, I don't get that at all.

16 to 1.

If you look at their schedule, they got Florida State, and, you know, anything could happen.

They play a couple tough games that you have to play like Louisville and some others.

But Miami, the way that they've looked up until now, I feel like they should be right there with LSU and Texas.

I would put them above LSU in Texas.

Yeah, but in terms of the game,

based on what we've seen, they have a better chance of winning the national title because it's easier for them to make the playoffs.

Yeah.

So, and the thing is, because before you'd say, okay, but they're in the ACC.

What happens when they play the kind of team they've seen in the playoff?

Well, we saw that against Notre Dame.

Right.

right?

We saw what happens.

So, what Miami did, and our assumption was the offense will take a step back because Cam Ward's gone.

And how can you possibly have as good of an offense as you had with Cam Ward?

And maybe it did, or maybe it didn't.

We don't know yet because they fixed the defense.

The defense stunk last year, and that was the problem.

So, they fire the defensive coordinator, they hire Corey Heatherman from Minnesota, and they go about bringing in these dudes from the portal.

Sorry, Big Cat, Xavier Lucas,

looking really good in the corner.

Illegal.

Yeah.

Zechariah Poyser from Jacksonville State.

Like they go get these dudes.

You marry them to the D-line talent like Ruben Bain and Akeem Messador that you already had on your roster.

And suddenly they're stuffing people.

And what's interesting is, so Carson Beck doesn't have to do what Cam Ward did last year.

He doesn't have to be Superman.

He can play a little more conservative style, and they're fine because that defense is is going to make stops on the other end.

And I think that's the difference.

Like they're a much more complete team, but

Mario Cristobal is always going to have good line of scrimmage play.

This might be his best line of scrimmage combination since he's been a head coach.

So, you know, because you look at, I mentioned Bain and Messador, who are fantastic.

Ruben Bain, as a healthy Ruben Bain, is a game wrecker.

He got hurt game one last year and was kind of never the same.

Healthy Ruben Bain is a game wrecker.

And then on the other side, you've got Francisco Mauinoa, the right tackle.

He goes by Cece.

You know why he goes by Cece?

Because who's going to make fun of him?

Because when he gets his hands on you, you are dead.

You're dead.

And then Coacho as a consultant this offseason working on the line play, too.

Of course.

There's a lot to like about this Miami team.

And it's 16 to 1 when Alabama is 14 to 1 right now.

Yeah, I'm going to bet it.

I'm going to bet it, Andy.

Thank you.

You've talked me.

I like it.

Where are we in the calendar?

Like, where are we relative to when you guys made the Travis Hunter future last year?

Are we about in that spot?

No, Travis Hunter was actually before the season.

So that was my last question.

It's a roback question.

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It is wide open for the Heisman.

I do have, so I bet Jeremiah love before the season, 25-1.

That's in the trash.

He looked great the other day.

I know, but they don't give him the ball enough.

If they'd used him against Miami,

they win that game.

And then I bet John John Matier at 16 to 1 before the Michigan game.

He's down to 8 to 1.

I just love John Matier.

Right now, who is your Heisman?

I mean,

it does feel, no one's really popped.

It's a wide open, and especially because Arch was the favorite.

He stinks, we can say that now.

It just feels wide open this year.

It's John Matier for me right now.

So he's 8-1 on drafting.

So if everyone wants to bet it, I will talk up John Matier.

Because

let's say he beats Auburn this week and they go win Red River.

Now, Oklahoma's schedule is incredibly hard down the stretch, but if they can win these next two games, Auburn, Texas, like they can beat any of the other teams on their schedule too.

And

he's just so much fun to watch.

He really is.

And he does the things that stuff the stat sheet.

Like, he runs very well.

They'll use him as a runner around the goal line.

And he just makes throws that you're like, whoo,

can't believe he did that.

Yeah.

So he's probably my favorite for this um we may see somebody step up marcel reed at texas a m is one i would watch we talked about how good his receivers are but i wondered about him as a thrower last year because because they used him you know they brought him in it was clear he was the better runner versus connor wegman he's improved as a passer and so like i said if we find out they have a great offense which It looked great against Notre Dame.

I don't think Notre Dame's defense is trash.

I really don't.

I think Texas AM ⁇ M probably can score a bunch.

And so Marcel Reed's another one that I might

toss a few shuckles on.

Also throw one out there, the big matchup in Utah this weekend, which I'll be out there for a big noon kickoff.

You know, take Morton or Dampier, who you think is going to win the game, because one of them is going to pop after that game, depending on who wins it.

This is such an interesting game because you've got Texas Tech.

They have the billionaire Cody Campbell, who played a line for them, who helped them build this roster through the transfer portal.

They went out and and got all these good players, like competing with Ohio State and some of the other big dogs for players in the portal.

And then you've got Utah who did use the portal, but it was the

import a whole offense, essentially.

So Jason Beck was the OC at New Mexico.

Devin Dampier was the quarterback at New Mexico.

They got their leading receiver from New Mexico as well.

And so you bring those guys in and that offense is kind of fully baked, at least in the skill positions when you get there.

But you're doing it with some of the best offensive linemen in the league.

So Utah probably has the best offensive line in the Big 12.

Spencer Feno, their right tackle, is probably the number one offensive tackle prospect in the draft.

Caleb Lomu, their left tackle, is going up the lists pretty quick too.

I can't wait to see this because like Texas Tech went out and got David Bailey from Stanford.

David Bailey's an elite edge rusher.

He's awesome off the edge.

The knock on him from the scouts is what happens when you run straight at him.

Well, you run Spencer Feneau straight at him.

That's about as tough as it gets.

If David Bailey can handle that and Texas Tech can overcome that, then their way of doing things worked.

They're your favorite in the Big 12.

But if Spencer Feno is just running people over and Devin Dampier rushes for 100 and throws for 200 and they win, Utah is your favorite in the Big 12.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I like Materia.

I like that pick.

I would also, I'm just thinking a lot about Miami.

Carson Beck, I don't think it's a bad pick either at nine to one.

And then if you just want to take a shot and think like Drew Aller,

he looks the part of Penn State is as advertised.

At 25 to 1 right now, I think that's pretty good value.

I might look at Dante Moore at Oregon.

I haven't looked at his odds lately.

I think they're probably down a little bit because he's probably moved into the favorite group.

But yeah,

he's been good.

Hey, Gunner Stockton.

Yeah.

He's not that high.

That was a clutch,

clutch throw on fourth down the other day because all the the Georgia fans were freaking out after the first few games.

Like after the Austin P game, they're like,

I don't know about Gunner Stockton.

And then you see him make that throw, and you're like, okay, that's our guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, Andy, you're the best.

Everyone listened to him on on three.

You can see him writing.

He's covering everything.

College football.

It feels like this is a wide open year.

Nothing better.

And thanks as always for joining us.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Appreciate it.

Thanks, Andy.

Andy Staples is brought to you by Hey Dude.

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And now here's CM Punk.

Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest, very, very special guest, recurring guest.

Very, very.

I'm going to throw a couple more varies in there.

Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very.

You deserve it.

It's like your third or fourth time.

You're in studio.

We got

WrestlePalooza coming up on Saturday in Indianapolis.

Explain to me what WrestlePalooza is because you know WrestleMania.

You know, you know, SummerSlam.

You know all these things, but now we got WrestlePalooza.

Are you guys taking all the events?

Because WrestlePalooza feels like that's a big deal.

Yeah, well, it's a big deal mainly because it's our first PLE.

I'm still trying to

warm up to not saying pay-per-view.

Okay.

My entire life, it's been pay-per-view.

Yeah.

But these are premium live events because pay-per-view is a dead technology.

It's a big deal because it is the first one on ESPN.

So new partnership with ESPN.

And it's a big deal.

It's why I'm here.

We're doing media.

We're trying to get everybody aware that you got to get the ESPN to see all our PLEs.

And I've been doing my best to not say the word WrestlePalooza the entire time.

That might actually be the first time I've said it.

Really?

Yeah.

Why?

It's a ridiculous name.

It is, but I kind of like it.

Yeah.

Because you add a Palooza to anything.

You're like, that sounds like a good name.

Well, Lala Palooza.

Yeah, right.

And you add wrestle to it, and you kind of understand what you're getting.

Yeah.

It's

pretty self-explanatory.

It's a shitload of wrestling.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It sounds exciting.

It's extravaganza.

And you've been back in town in Chicago for a while.

How would you rate your first pitch that you threw at Wrigley?

I don't think my mechanics were great, but I'm dealing with an elbow problem.

Can't make excuses.

And I don't.

So my thing was throw get it.

It used to be get it over the plate and do it from the mound.

And now I'm just like in the zone where I'm like, I have to throw a strike.

I'm not trying to throw 80, 90 miles an hour, but I off the mound, off the rubber, threw a strike.

Okay.

That's all that matters.

As long as you don't hop it or throw it so far away.

The bounce is what

everybody in the organization.

Hey, you didn't bounce it.

Don't bounce it.

That's the big thing because people get up there and they don't realize how

far away 90 feet is.

And I respect you going on the rubber.

You have to go after it.

Yes.

When did you do it?

Oh, geez.

It feels like 12 years ago already.

I've thrown pitches a lot.

Like, I think I'm in the double digits now, but the most recent one was

Friday, two Fridays, I guess.

That's perfect.

Yeah.

It was a

Wrigley is nothing.

It was a busy day in the Brooks-Mendoz household.

I was at Wrigley throwing a pitch, singing the stretch, and the whole time works like, hey, when are you going to get here?

You know what?

You sent me here.

Yeah, right.

You know where I'm at.

Right.

You know where I'm at.

That's, I mean,

Friday Cubs game.

There's literally nothing better.

Yeah.

It's my favorite.

I was shocked at how many people weren't there.

Like, normally I go to Cubs games, and it's always 40,000 plus.

Yeah.

There's only like 32.

Huh.

That was bad weather?

No, it was beautiful.

But it was a Friday, so I'm assuming people are willing to.

Yeah, I guess actually, well, no, I think it does dip a little once school starts back up.

That makes sense.

Because obviously, kids,

you say that, and there were a lot of kids there and a few of them had signs that said i skipping school

and i was like that's hell yeah that's amazing that's awesome hell yeah good for those kids are you excited about the cubs this postseason because i i am i am cautiously optimistic like i you know it's hard you guys understand it you know we haven't won a playoff game in almost 10 years yeah uh and it's also you know i know the organization is gearing up for a run so it's just like i think even if you win a game or two but you wind up exiting in in the first round, I think that's kind of a disappointment.

Yeah.

So we're crossing our fingers.

It's also just this weird zone the Cubs have been in for like, I don't know, about three weeks, a month, where they're far enough back in the central they probably can't realistically win the central, and they're so far up in the wild card, it's not like a worry that they're going to be in the playoffs.

Yeah.

So they're like, we're in.

We're a really good team.

It just happens the Brewers have had a better year.

Yeah, well, especially recently.

They're on a hot streak.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So when you get, how has it been being back at WWE?

Are you loving it?

Are you like, it feels like everything's going well right now for WWE?

Is there a part of you that's like, this could always turn for me?

Oh, always.

Yeah.

I'm eternal doomsayer.

Yeah, right.

I really try not to be now.

I try to live in the moment.

And yeah,

I really got nothing bad to say.

But yeah, there's peaks and valleys to everything.

Yeah.

But you're always like on that razor's edge.

Yeah.

But I think think everything's been so hot.

There's definitely a part of me that's just like, man, when's the bottom going to fall out of this?

Right, because it's been so great.

And it's great seeing you back.

It's just a natural progression of things.

Like things can't always be here.

If they're always here,

you can't.

That's fair.

I don't know.

You expect it.

You can't enjoy it.

You got to take the lows with the highs.

Yeah.

Maybe this will be just great for a long time, though.

Mate, I'm knock on wood, hopefully.

And hopefully I don't shit the bed on

Saturday, WrestlePalooza.

Wait, so what is shitting the bed?

Like, is there a moment you've had wrestling where you're like, man, I fucked that up?

Or like, man, that was a, I went in with this plan and it just, I didn't perform.

Because

like, athletes obviously have games where they're not their best.

For sure.

I assume you have those moments where you're like, well, I wasn't at my peak or even close to it tonight.

Yeah, I think that happens often.

But I think with us, it's harder to tell, you know?

Yeah.

I mean, if you're a pitcher, you look at the stats, you look at your ERA, you look at how hard or fast you're throwing, you know, and there's metrics that'll tell you, like, oh, you're having a bad day.

Right.

You know, for us, I think a lot of the times,

most of the time, a lot of us are probably having a bad day.

But when you go through the curtain and the red lights on, like, all that goes away.

You know, like, it's, it's stressful.

It's a job.

It's a fun job.

Don't get me wrong.

But, like, I was talking to you guys off, you know, off air, and like, my dog just had surgery.

So, like, I'm trying to travel with him because i don't want to fly with them so it's like got him a stroller you know and i got my wife on the road too so yeah she's and i'm i'm making sure like she's she's accommodated and taken care of and i'm like trying to do all this stuff and like you still have to go be cm punk on camera and you have to be on and you have to do all this but but you know the house could be on fire people who watch you on television don't know because you just that that's the job right yeah right that makes sense it does bring up an interesting conversation though is there such such a thing as sabermetrics or like advanced stats for wrestlers?

No.

Has anybody tried to put those in?

No, but I think you should.

Like, yeah, how many folding chairs you've taken to the back?

Right.

Like the speed of the swing, the launch angle of your body going off the turnbuckle.

And back in the day, it would have come in really handy because it could be like,

what town were you in last night?

Yeah.

How many miles did you drive to get to this town?

Did you work out?

Did you sleep?

What did you eat?

Like, it's a roller coaster.

Who is on your wrestling Mount Rushmore?

If we did the Sabre metrics and you're like, hey, I'm part of this team sitting in a room being like, these are the best four wrestlers of all time.

I'm going to cheat.

I'm going to be a really annoying.

I'm sure somebody will call me a liberal cuck.

Okay.

I like to say six grandfathers instead of Mount Rushmore.

No, that's fine.

Six grandfathers is what it was before we decided to carve four white men in the side of it.

And it was an American Indian monument, sacred land.

And you get two more pics now.

And that way, yeah,

here's me under the auspices of trying to be like this bleeding heart liberal.

But I also get two more now.

Yeah, the first person that's ever done a land acknowledgement at the start of a segment, a part of my take, I think.

Yeah.

There we go.

It's the first time for everything.

We do Mount Rushmore season in the summer, and it almost tears us apart every week.

It's hard.

I mean, four is.

Six would be a problem.

To me, it's interesting because in sports, if in the 60s you said, give me your top four baseball players, that's infinitely easier than 2025.

Yeah, right.

Same with football.

I mean, same with hockey because you're, you know, you.

Why don't we keep adding?

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So six.

So inflation, now we get six.

This is why people, this is why some people love me and why some people hate me.

Yeah.

What do you, you know, so the top six pro wrestlers of all time?

Yes.

Man, it's still, it's still pretty hard.

Bret Hart.

Okay.

In terms of just overall, like to me, he's like a 10 out of 10 of everything.

People can give him flack for not maybe having

the best mic skills, but for who he was and what he was trying to accomplish.

Like Brett was always Brett.

You know, like real sports, like badass in the ring, excellence execution.

Like he didn't need to have the promo ability of, say, like Roddy Piper.

Right.

Speaking of Piper, I'm going to go ahead and put him on there too.

So it's Brett.

It's Piper.

It's Terry Funk.

It is Eddie Guerrero.

It's Harley Race.

You're five already?

That's five.

Oh, man.

That's hard, right?

Who's six?

Are you going to put yourself on there?

No,

I don't think I would put myself on there.

In terms of, like, in terms of just overall,

like

best of all time, wearing multiple different hats, like this is where it kind of gets dicey, you know, because everyone normally says, like, you know, Flair, Shawn Michaels is a good pick.

Dusty's another good pick.

Logan Paul?

No.

Not even top 100.

Very, very, very good, very skilled.

Picked it up very, very fast.

But

you're talking to a wrestling history yeah buff of course of course yeah I'm gonna yeah and if he wants to get offended at that that's fine great new food yeah great yeah

god I don't know it's like do you throw Masawa in there do you do you say it's

I mean

I think Dusty Rose I think Dusty is a very I think Dusty is a very good pick yeah yeah yeah yeah Dusty six

six with a bullet yeah yeah I don't think that's a package deal no it is dusty made Cody

Cody literally you get his balls right?

Yeah.

Dusty's balls, which means Cody.

Okay, the seed.

Yes.

Yeah.

Seven, really?

Yeah, then

he's then he's number six.

Yeah.

Perfect.

If you were to self-scout and be like,

what's your one weakness that you would improve on to put yourself on that, what did you call it, the six grandfathers?

What would CM Punk have to do to make it there?

No,

I just look at all these other guys.

I mean,

I didn't even name Steve Austin.

Like, Steve Austin's like another guy.

Yeah, my favorite.

You know what I mean?

Like,

have I had a better career?

Am I better than Steve Austin or Eddie Guerrero?

No,

I'll never think that.

I think I'm

more apt to put myself ahead of my contemporaries.

Right.

But like the legends that I grew up watching, that I studied, that I learned from, no, I'm not better than those guys.

Yeah.

So with you in particular, how does it work for the storylines that are being written?

How big of a say do you have in that process?

Because I'd imagine you're a very opinionated guy, not afraid to speak your mind.

Yeah.

Do they bring you in like early on and they're like, hey, we might as well include him or else he's going to tell us to shove it up our ass and try to rewrite it?

Or do they just kind of give it to you and you go along with it?

So I think there's a little bit of magic that can happen because

to me, there's a lot of great minds that I work with.

There's a lot of people who have more experience than me.

And maybe back in the day, I would say, no, I know what to do.

And

now I'm more, more,

I guess I'm just kind of chill now.

Whereas before it was more rebellious, and now I, to me, there's a magic about maybe taking something that you didn't see or you didn't think of, somebody else's idea, and going, oh, you know what?

Yeah, okay.

I can do that with this.

And hey, what if we did this?

I don't really pitch things, and I've taken a page out of Cena's book.

They deal them.

I play them.

You know,

I have ideas and I have suggestions.

And more oftentimes than now, it's for other people, not for me.

And I just kind of roll with it.

Yeah.

It's cool.

So I have a question about feuds.

So you had a feud with Drew McIntyre in 2024.

You have a feud right now with Seth Rollins.

When you're in a feud with the guy, does it leak over?

Are you like, I like almost like a Daniel Day-Lewis method acting where it's like, I got to get into this feud to a point where I can't be around this person behind the scenes?

And how does that work?

Yeah, I'm not going out to dinner with anybody.

I love that.

And that's the magic of our business, too, is like if you're a professional, if you're a true professional, you don't have to even remotely like the guy you work with.

You know,

but like

the business is built on trust.

So if somebody's going to try to double-cross me, no, that's a whole different problem.

But I work with professionals who aren't going to do that because I think they do realize if we do that, there's going to be some sort of a problem.

But yeah,

I'm not going out to dinner with these guys.

Some of them don't like me.

Some of them I don't care for, you know, and that is, you know, that's the magic.

That's the mind.

We get to kind of weave in and out.

I would, I would imagine.

Yeah, I would imagine it makes the feud a little more real if you're not like hanging out with them, you know, having dinner.

100%.

Yeah, I like that.

I like that.

What about the people that you're teamed up with at the moment?

Do you do you spend time with them outside of your finger?

Yeah, you're what?

By the way, I don't know what her sit-up regimen is.

It's insane.

I don't know what she does, but

respectfully, the best stomach I've ever seen.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

Yeah.

Respectfully.

Respectfully.

Mine too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Me too.

Yeah.

And I've seen it up close.

Yeah, it's insane.

Yeah.

Yeah,

she's inspirational, honestly.

Like her willpower, it's a lot of that's diet, but she's also super strong in the gym, and she's like lifting heavy weights and just busting her ass all the time.

Yeah, what fun having her back?

Oh, it's I'm having the time of my life.

Yeah, I would imagine.

I'm like the uber nerdiest like wife guy.

Like, so, so.

I always like to say I try to spend as much time with my wife as I can, and I spend a lot of time with her, and it never feels like it's enough.

So, having her be back in this environment with me at work is like a dream come true.

Yeah, It's very cool.

Are you still doing any acting?

Hell yeah.

What are you up to?

I think last time we had you in studio, you were working on a horror film, right?

Yeah, that's actually

premiering on the 19th at Fantastic Fest in Austin.

And I was going to go, but the instant AJ coming back became a reality, I had to make some calls and be like, I'm going to skip out on the premiere here, guys.

So that debuts at Fantastic Fest, the movie called Night Patrol,

written and directed directed by David Prowse.

Me and a bunch of Crips.

No, is it Bloods?

Yeah, it's Bloods.

There was Bloods in that, right?

I'm trying to think.

Red or blue?

Well, both.

Bloods,

LA, LAPD, Bloods, Crips.

It's a real bastard of a movie.

I'm excited to see it.

That'll also, I think, West Coast debut premiere at Beyond Fest, I think, on the 29th.

And so is that something that you're going to try to do more of?

Like, I don't know what the rest of your career looks like in terms of wrestling.

Well, neither do I.

But you have to think about it, right?

Yeah.

At some point, you're not going to be able to wrestle anymore.

Yep.

And then you're going to have to figure out what you want to do.

Now, what are the career paths for a wrestler that's stuck around that long, that's been that impactful?

Like, what do you do after the point that you can't stay in the ring?

Well, you know, I think it's funny.

I think a lot of the greatest wrestlers

sometimes aren't the greatest coaches.

You would think, like, oh, hey, why don't you train people?

They don't have the aptitude for it, or they're not interested in it.

You know, like to me, Steve Austin's probably the biggest box office superstar that the business has ever seen.

You know, and you can argue, like, Hogan's up there, obviously.

But you don't see those guys like running a training school.

Right.

You know, because it's just, you know, sometimes it's like Barry Bonds

isn't a coach.

You know, I think

he did like, was he a hitting coach?

He was a hitting coach for a little bit, but like a heartbeat.

Yeah.

And it's just like, why aren't you the greatest hitting coach of all time?

You're the home run king, you know, and sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.

And then sometimes the journeymen wrestlers who weren't big superstars on television or the guys that are behind the scenes are like really smart.

And it's the same way with baseball.

I was just talking at the Cubs game when they were playing the Nationals and I was talking to a lot of the old heads on the Nationals team.

They invited me to sit on the field and watch batting practice.

And I was just like, well, you guys are the lifeblood of, you know, and, you know, they so-and-so played.

I played for nine teams.

I played for seven teams.

I had this long career.

And it's just like you learn from so many different coaches and you kind of understand the game a little bit better.

Yeah.

Somebody who's like, oh, superstar, fielder, hitter, pitcher, whatever, like they burn a little bit brighter on the field.

But when it comes to like the X's and the O's,

you know, it's just one of those weird sports things.

I think a lot of times it's the guys who are the best.

It sometimes comes more naturally and easier for them.

So for them to then tell you how to do it, it's like, well, no, they just were able to do it.

They're just savants.

Right.

They didn't have to grind their way to get there as much as everyone.

Obviously, they worked hard.

Barry Bonds can try to teach you how to hit a home run 450 feet, but he just was able to do it.

Just do it.

How do you tell someone what to do when you can just do it naturally?

Yeah.

It's very hard.

So outside of coaching,

would there be a reason for you to still work in wrestling?

Yeah.

Like

after you're done being in the ring?

I mean, I think

I'm one of those, going back to sports, I'm like that five-tool player.

You know, like you can put me on commentary.

You could like, I could ref.

That probably wouldn't work.

I'd probably

take some attention away from whoever's in the ring.

No, but I mean, there's so many behind-the-scenes roles.

There's, you know, like we call them producers now, but in my day, we call them agents.

You know, like

there's people who put shows together.

There's writers, obviously, now, creative people.

I love all aspects of the business.

There's like a thousand hats that I could wear.

Like once I'm, you know, once I'm crippled and I can't go anymore.

Yeah.

The refs are always really interesting to me.

Like, are there good refs in wrestling and bad refs?

There's great refs.

So what makes a good ref?

A good ref is a referee that you do not notice or really pay attention to.

Okay.

You know,

Tommy Young was like probably one of the greatest refs back in the NWA.

You know, and and it's like we recognize him now, but during the

heyday, like you didn't pay attention to him.

Earl Hebner was another good one.

I think we got a lot of, we got a crew of like really, really good refs WWE now.

They're not trying to be a character on the show.

They're trying to play their position.

They're doing their job.

You know, they're not like Angel Martinez trying to make the show about him.

Right.

You know, they're just in the background,

ancillary character, just kind of playing that role as a referee.

They're not trying to get their face on TV and all that other stuff.

That's what makes a good referee.

Yeah, like, how can you be easily distracted without making it about you being easily distracted?

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's my favorite referee.

Can you hold your hand up long enough on that on that three?

How slow can you count?

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

The kickout.

Can you time the kickout?

One.

Yeah.

That's perfect.

Yeah.

Two.

How sternly can you warn a guy if he's going to bring a bat into the ring?

Yeah.

Hey, you better not.

Yeah.

Well,

I always tell referees, like,

be a ref.

Like, if you catch me doing something, it's because I fucked up, not you.

Like, I need you to, like, play it straight.

Yeah.

When you do decide to retire, are you going to do a year-long retirement tour like John Cena?

No, I think you can't because he did it.

He did.

Well, no, you could do two year.

Just one up him.

I said this on the microphone, I think, with Cena, one of the segments we did.

I said, we are on the same path.

I'm just not egotistical enough to announce it.

I like that.

You know, and it's honestly, it's the truth.

Yeah.

He's a little bit older than me.

You should retire like a day after him and be like, that's how you could do it, dude.

It's one of those things where I know it's looming.

And, you know,

when I came back to WWE and I blew my tricep right away,

there was part of me that was like, oh, is this it?

Right.

This sucks.

And yeah, I came back for it in record time, pat myself on the back.

Like six months, I was back in the ring and I was doing the best work of my career, in my opinion.

But after a while, it's like not so much the injuries because you can rehab and come back from anything, but it's just, man, do I want to do this again?

Right.

You know, do I want to bust my ass and work impossibly hard?

And it's not recognized because all the hard work goes on when people aren't watching.

And then do I, am I setting myself up to hurt something else or whatever?

But

we're all banged up.

We're all limping around.

And I try not to assess how I feel when I wake up or when I'm sitting on the couch.

I need to warm up.

And when I warm up, I'm like, fuck, let's go.

I got another 10 years.

Do you still have the same feeling, like right before the pop of a crowd, before you walk out?

Is that still there?

Because I would imagine that would be the thing that maybe, if that ever goes away, that you're like, all right, now it's time to hang out.

Well, that was one of the reasons why I fuck disappeared for seven years from the business and 10 from WWE is because

I wrestled The Undertaker at WrestleMania and I was just like,

it didn't get you excited.

And it worried me because I was like, no, this is everything I ever wanted.

Like, why?

But at that point, I'd been on the road for like

nine years straight.

No breaks.

Yeah.

And it's just like, it's a grind.

And

I loved the match we had.

I loved working with him.

And there's a part of me that's just like, man,

I should have been in a better headspace for that to really be able to enjoy it and realize the gift that it was.

It's just the way the world worked.

It was, I just wasn't mentally there.

Yeah.

And that sucked.

And that's a big reason why, yeah, that's when you got to step out.

Because the last thing you want to do is get hurt, hurt somebody else.

You know, not that when the bell rang, my head was in the game, but I just, I felt like I should have been more excited about it.

I should have been been more amped up about it.

It should have been, you know, like, yeah, here we are, you know, and I was, you know, just more pissed off and angry about like all this other bullshit.

That feeling is still there, and it's actually, I think, amplified now because I am more present.

I'm more like

in the now, not worried about yesterday, not worried about what the hell we're doing tomorrow.

And I can enjoy it because I know this ain't going to last forever.

So when that first feeling happened to you, you mentioned the match with The Undertaker, did it like, did it shock you?

Did it come out of like nowhere?

Because you talking about it right there made me realize, like, I hope this doesn't happen to me, but like someday, what if I walk into this studio and I'm like, I'm not excited to go?

Yeah.

You know, because it's been, yeah, obviously some days they're long days.

Some days you're tired.

But for the most part, I'm excited to come to work every day.

So did it kind of just happen and you're like, whoa, what was that?

Or was it something that was, you felt it coming like a wave and it finally hit you?

Yeah, I think there was probably a straw that broke the camel's back.

You know, like the dam exploded and, you know, everything flooded.

But there wasn't any particular one thing.

I just, at that, at that point, I just needed time off.

Yeah.

I needed to step away.

And I eventually did, you know, like I wish it could have happened on better circumstances.

I begged and pleaded, like, hey, let me go home for a little bit.

Let me recharge my batteries.

You know, nine years, ten years on the road is a lot.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I hope that doesn't happen to you either.

Yeah.

In instances like that is where I wish, like, man, I wish I did drugs.

Cause like, is this what drugs do?

Like, can I just like

do Coke and then I'm good?

Yeah.

All right, I'm ready.

I'm fine.

I'm ready to go.

You probably don't.

Don't do drugs, kids.

Yeah, just kidding.

You probably could have smoked one joint and been fine.

And then be like, oh, yeah, I love rusty.

Yeah, eats it.

But would that get me, would that get me, I feel like that would mellow me out even more.

And I would just be like, yeah, that might turn out.

And then you'd have to switch your character up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That would change.

That That would be a very funny rebrand.

If you just went to the bathroom.

As I gulp my copious amounts of caffeine.

You just see him punk just smashing bongs over people's heads.

That's a rebrand.

I'll do that.

I think I have done that one.

Yeah, like the DEA version of CM Punk.

Yes.

Stop using drugs or I'll kick the shit out of you.

Yeah.

Straight-edge society, baby.

Come on, kids.

Are you going to Riot Fest this weekend?

I can't.

WrestlePaloo.

WrestlePalooza.

WrestlePool.

Come on.

Sunday.

When's WrestlePala?

WrestlePalooza is Saturday.

Yeah.

I will be in Indianapolis on Friday.

I'll be around at SmackDown.

I won't be on screen, but I do things backstage.

I help out.

I'm a little bit, I can't go to Riot Fest anyway because of legal reasons, but I really wanted to see the Lambrini Girls.

That was like the one band that I really am really into that I wanted to see.

Yeah.

I love the legal reasons.

Yeah.

Just leave it at that.

Yeah.

Well, they're, you know,

yeah.

Legal reasons.

Yeah.

Correct.

My lawyer has advised me.

It's probably best I stop talking.

Yeah.

All right.

I'll switch to a different topic because I think that Indianapolis is the number one city for putting on events.

What's your favorite city?

Really?

Okay, Pat McAfee.

All right.

No, no, here's why.

And I know that it sounds crazy because there's, you know, you can go to New Orleans.

There's definitely other great cities, and we do the Super Bowl every year.

We do March Madness every year, Final Four.

Indianapolis is one of the only cities in America where you can go to.

You can check in and you never have to get in an Uber or car for the rest of the weekend.

You just walk everywhere.

Everything's there.

Like when they do the Final Four, you're just there.

Can't you do that in Chicago, though?

Chicago's a walkable city.

It's walkable, but not like if you're staying downtown and you've got to go to the United Center, you got to go, like, you still have to, you can't, like, you can walk, but

Indianapolis, like, you can walk, and it's, everything's a five-minute walk.

Really?

Yeah.

So everything's that close.

Everything is there.

I feel like I should know that that.

That was just there for the Royal Rumble.

Yeah.

All the hotels are right together.

All the restaurants are right down there.

You've got the stadium.

You got the convention center.

And if it's cold outside, they got like the tunnels.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You just walk out.

Aren't there the there's there's tunnels and there's also like land like bridges?

Yeah.

New Orleans is also up there.

Like New Orleans, but New Orleans also puts a toll on you if you're there for a long time.

It's also below sea level.

Yeah, right.

It's a little dangerous.

Right.

But I like to, I'm not saying Indianapolis is the most beautiful city right there.

I'm just saying when i when there's an event there i like going because it's like i know it's just gonna be easy i don't have to wait for taxis all this stuff so that was a long way of saying what are your favorite cities to go and do events at do you have like a list of like hey these are i'm excited to go here i think people always ask us what our favorite buildings are to work in and obviously i don't care about slam dunk 100 it's it's chicago it's the all-state arena that's personal for you yeah too yeah

and you know united center you know uh i it's it's hard not to be proud of yourself when you're from a city and you look at all the arenas in the city and you're like, man, I've sold all these places out.

I've been on top, people hanging from the rafters, literally.

Like, I've sold all these buildings out.

So now it goes to like, oh, well, hey,

we got to have a show at Wrigley Field.

You know, we got to have a show at Soldier Field.

Yeah.

Like, that's where my mind goes.

The new Arlington.

I bet you win Arlington Heights, whenever the fuck that happens, that will have a WrestleMania.

We're crossing our fingers.

Yeah.

As far as cities go, it's just like I don't like New York.

I don't like traveling in and out of New York.

But once I'm there and I'm like, boom, okay, I'm here.

Because I'm a big guy.

I love walking.

I love putting my hat on, sunglasses, earphones, and just walking.

And that way you get to see where you're at.

You get to experience different cultures.

I'm a big fan of people watching.

New York's a good one.

In the garden, obviously, the world's most famous arena.

There's little buildings.

There's a building in White Plains, New York, that I always love wrestling in.

And there's a building in Hammond, Indiana.

It was like an old,

like,

it was an old like territory building.

And there's just something about the building.

There's like a balcony that surrounds the ring.

And it just, when you're in there, it just feels like the people are on top of you.

Yeah.

You know.

Where else?

I mean, normally when I, when I travel and if I have to be somewhere like the day before, like I'm out walking around trying to see things, experience things, just because I don't like just sitting in a hotel or, you know.

Yeah, that part would get very

tedious.

That would be stinks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you, if you try to go incognito and just lay low, are you able to walk around most cities if you've got the sunglasses, the hat, the hoodie?

I still get recognized.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I do my best.

You got your sleeves cut off, off, probably.

I do my, but they, I actually don't ever cut sleeves off.

They just, I don't know, I put a shirt on and they, like, they don't fit and they just

kind of explode.

Yeah.

Do you get bothered a lot in Chicago or people mostly just let you?

I don't like to say bothered because it makes it seem like everything's a negative experience, but yeah.

Yeah.

You know, because everything's not always a negative experience.

Sometimes sometimes there's really good fan interactions and sometimes there's not so much.

Yeah.

You know, but you take the good with the bad.

Yeah.

Do you have any least favorite cities?

Oh, man.

That was good.

You're the least ripped city.

I mean, I already said I don't like New York.

I mean, they put their trash on the streets.

It's insane.

It's crazy.

It's insane to me.

And that's why I always tell people, Chicago is clean New York.

Yeah.

You've got alleys.

Yeah.

Alleys are there for a reason.

Correct.

Correct.

Hide the garbage.

Bomb the rats.

Hide the garbage.

Yeah, bomb the rats every few months and you're good.

I love that notice when it's a fresh notice and and it's like, yeah, we just, you know, Agent Orange all the rats in your alley.

Don't let your dog out there.

Okay, got it.

Cities I don't like, though.

Oh man, I don't know.

Like

now you're gonna, now you're gonna pick a random one just to shit on.

So that

pop, you know?

So the funny thing is, is I still kind of do this.

It's interesting.

A lot of people are always like, oh, you're a much better heel than you are at babyface.

Okay, like, I get that.

I feel that.

It's just a lot easier to get people to hate you than it is to get people to like truly love you.

Yeah.

And I'm in this space now where I don't know if I'm ever going to be a bad guy again because it seems I've, you know, I've kind of like leveled up and I've reached this point where like a lot of it's nostalgia.

A lot of it is

I think how hard I work and how I still can compete at that super high level.

But I like to mess with people.

So when we were just on a European tour and I think we were in Liverpool, I had to say something shitty about the Beatles on the microphone.

Just because I thought it was funny.

Yeah, right.

You know, and then we were in, was it Manchester?

Where's Oasis from?

They are from

Birmingham.

Is it Birmingham or Manchester?

One of those two.

And I don't give a fuck about Oasis.

So I had to say

so I had to say something about Oasis too.

And it's hilarious because everybody's like, yeah, Sierra Park, we love you.

And then I'm like, yeah, Noel and Bob, whatever their other, you know, and they're like,

But I love you,

yeah, they get really confused, and then I just move on and I get my little dig in like I'm a bad guy, and then we just kiss babies.

Because you were saying before we started taping how much you hated St.

Louis.

St.

Louis isn't great,

it is kind of a walkable city.

I do like walking around when it's nice out, but I mean, shit sports teams, shit, pizza,

not good.

No, no, the pizza's weird, weird.

I don't even think it's cheese.

I think they use some sort of glue or paste.

Yeah.

It's real weird.

Whole entire city of people sitting under an arch eating paste.

It's like first grade.

Man,

I was thinking about it because Rizzo's weekend

here in Chicago.

And then we had Patrick Kane in the office a couple months ago.

And it's a little crazy that it's like all that stuff is now 10, even more than 10 years ago.

Blink of an eye, brother.

Fuck.

Yeah.

Like another life.

Yeah.

Damn it.

Yeah.

That went fast.

Uh-huh.

And I don't know if the Blackhawks will ever be good again.

The Cubs are obviously good right now.

I think the Hawks will be good.

I bought season tickets the minute we got Connor Bedard, and it hasn't really gone well since.

I mean, he's not a cure-all.

No, of course.

But I thought maybe he'd like me to.

I like Spencer Knight.

I think he's still young.

I think he's going to improve.

Broomers that we might get Krill.

Yeah.

that's yeah, that's kind of hot.

That, that, you know, that's gotta, that's gotta give you, get you all boned up.

Yeah, like, you know, like,

I think they're making good moves.

I, I think they're,

we're gonna start.

I'll tell you that right now.

He ain't winning a cup in Edmonton.

No, not at all.

Wow.

Why?

It's not gonna work.

Why?

Yeah.

They fucking, they're choke artists.

They might as well

be maple leafs.

You know, like, it ain't, it ain't gonna fucking happen.

He is unbelievable, though.

Yeah, he is unbelievable.

Leon Dreisidle.

Until our friend Wicked.

Unbelievable.

So, like,

is that just an institutional thing?

Is it like.

I don't know.

I mean, you can always blame the culture.

Always blame the culture.

Uh-huh.

Losing the culture.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, what's to do in Edmonton except lose game seven?

They've been close.

Yeah.

Do not tag Ryan Whitney in this.

In this clip.

Don't.

David is awesome.

He does, like.

When you watch him play, you're like, holy shit.

He's unfortunate.

Sure, but if one guy can't win a Stanley City.

No.

No.

And that's the great thing about hockey.

And I'm sure other people will be able to argue other sports that they're more knowledgeable about.

But

to me, an all-star, like,

you need a Connor McDavid in goal.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like, you need a goalie that can stop the shots.

Bob.

Bob for the Panthers.

Goalie Bob.

Yeah.

There you go.

Yeah.

You got to have assist guys.

You got to have tough guys to make sure they don't fuck with your McDavids.

Right.

Then you have to have like two more

McSorleys.

Yeah, you need your McSorleys.

And then you have to have two other lines where it's like you've got McDavid Jr.'s on those lines.

Yeah.

It is, I think,

like you compare it to the NBA.

It's like a different sport.

That's the other thing, too, is like the price point he's going to command when his deal's up.

It's like what team...

What do you do after that?

Yeah.

And

are you a team that wants to win?

Are you a general manager that wants to actually build a team to win a cup?

Or are you just going to be like, no, we're going to have Connor McDavid and we're going to make all our money selling McDavid sweaters,

and we don't give a shit about

the team we put on the ice.

Yeah, but you basically have to be perfect, like the devils, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

If you get a McDavid, you have to be perfect with your draft picks.

Yeah, because you got to be the young guys have to be really, really good right away because he's going to get paid $15 million a year.

Yeah, you know, yeah.

All right, I got one last question: Roback question: R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, promo code take 20% off your first purchase, Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, roback.com, promo code TAKE.

Awesome having you here.

Respalooza, Saturday night, 7 p.m.

Can you give us any, like, what are you going to do special?

Maybe give us like a hat tip or something, like a secret code.

Well, I just think it's a spectacle because of AJ Lee.

Yeah.

AJ Lee's coming back.

And I said it when I came back.

Almost two years ago.

Who's A.J.

Lee?

It's a biased take, obviously, because she's my wife.

But

when I came back and it was insane in the all-state arena, if you look at the field of eligible free agents in pro wrestling, there's only one that could top what I did, and it was her, you know.

And it took a while to, you know, massage some things out and get it done.

But to me, WrestlePalooza is

the celebration of of wrestling and

my wife getting to kind of sit in the shade of the trees she planted over 10 years ago.

Everybody's big on everybody getting flowers, you know, but it's nice to give them the people while they're around to smell them.

Yeah.

You know, agreed.

And to me, that's what it's about.

So

I think maybe back in the day, 10, 12 years ago, me and her probably tagged together on like a Monday Night Raw, and

it wasn't a big deal.

To me, this is a big deal.

You know, we don't do a lot of these mixed tags.

I don't really like Seth Rollins, so therefore,

I really don't like his wife.

So it's going to be interesting, and I think we stacked this entire card because it is the first one on ESPN.

We want to get off on the right foot.

Stephanie Vacare against EO Sky, I think, is going to be an absolute banger.

You got Brock Lesnar and John Cena.

And anytime Cena's on the card, especially now it's his retirement tour, tour, it's a big deal.

You know, you got the bronze against the reuniting Usos.

It's a hell of a card.

It's going to be a great night.

Maybe 15-minute ovation afterwards, like The Rock?

I hope so.

That was pretty impressive.

Yeah.

Yeah.

15 minutes.

That's a long time to clap for anything.

For sure.

But yeah.

Are you talking about the Safdie movie?

Yeah, the movie that he was in.

15 minutes.

That all seems so pretentious, doesn't it?

Because, like, after about seven minutes, I would be like, fucking all right.

All right.

But Indianapolis, see if you can keep it going for AJ Lee 15 minutes after we whip that ass.

I like that.

And fuck Seth Rollins.

Yeah.

Also, when Senior retired, you should retire actually right before he does.

Five minutes beforehand.

Total, total Kanye.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm going to let you retire, John.

But first, I just want to announce my retirement.

Okay, goodbye, everybody.

Do it.

Do it.

That's a good idea.

That's good.

All right.

All right, man.

Thank you as always.

Anytime you want to come by.

Brandon, by the way, is very upset he missed you again.

Is it Brendan?

Yeah, Brendan.

Brendan Brandon.

But we'll have to figure out a time you can go by.

He just wants to talk to you.

What a stupid name.

Don't clip that.

All right.

Thanks so much, fan.

Thanks, guys.

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Okay.

FAQs.

Henry.

Yes.

Did you see, by the way, since we've been recording Breaking Moose, Schefter had to come out and they had a story clarifying all of Brady's

Saudi Arabia?

No.

In the booth versus practice.

What would they say?

He's not allowed.

I did see it.

He's not allowed to go into the team facilities.

Yeah.

Banned from team facilities.

Mm-hmm.

Which I think's fair.

Yeah, that's fine.

Yeah.

Same.

Yeah.

All right,

I actually, I think it went to the point where it was like, it was so ridiculous seeing it on Monday Night Football and seeing the image of him up in the booth.

But ultimately, like, I don't think that they were going to give him any information that he was going to be able to use against him.

It just pissed me off that you would admit that it was weird.

But you just also,

I feel like my original tinfoil hat point is very true.

ESPN set this up to get the controversy that Fox now has to deal with.

Yeah, but it's really, it's a nothing burger.

Okay.

FAQs, Hank.

If Max was around for the double doink game,

how would Big Cat have reacted?

Would it have gotten Max fired?

Were you there?

No.

No, no.

There's a video of me watching it.

I mean,

we had Eagles fans with us.

It wouldn't have gone great.

I mean,

Cody Parky was going to do that eventually.

That was the craziest part about it.

Remember going into that game?

It was just like, Cody Parky's missed so many kicks.

It's going to be a bad situation.

Obviously, double doink is something you never expected.

I'll give Max some credit.

He's a pretty good winner.

Yeah, he's a funnier loser, and that's why we kind of root for him to lose sometimes.

But in victory, Max is gracious.

Almost too gracious.

That is true.

Yeah, no, I mean, what am I supposed to say to you guy?

I mean, you might say something like, you little small.

Oh,

that's fair.

Okay, that was bad.

Yeah, that was a bad.

Like, if you had hit big fat with a

you big fat.

But Max and I don't really have a rivalry like that.

Like, you have a rivalry with PFT.

You have a rivalry with Hank.

But that's just like our natural teams.

But also just like outside of the teams, too.

We don't have, We don't butt heads.

No.

But I don't really butt heads with panka me.

Yeah, right.

But I don't like butt heads with PFT outside of Eagles Commanders.

Yeah.

It stays between the lines.

Yeah, yeah.

I love my Max.

Same.

And honestly,

I would have just felt awkward.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Losing like that.

It would have been very funny.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Would you sign up for getting to a point of double doink right now?

Having a team as good as the 2018 Bears, yeah.

If you knew that a double doink was at the end, I don't know about that, but maybe, I mean, that would be a really good team.

That was a really good team.

I'd suck a dick for a double doink.

Yeah, I mean, that was a really good team.

We also didn't talk.

The doink last night was the loudest of the ball.

Crazy doink.

They're micing up the polls, yeah.

And also, when it hits higher up, the higher up it hits, I think that's where the mic is.

Yeah.

So if it has at the top of the pole, that's where you get the doink from.

You think they have a doink on the top?

They have a mic on the top of the.

I think that's where the microphone is.

Because every time it hits up high, you get these crazy doinks.

And when it hits down low, it's not as good.

You think they rig a mic on top of the...

I think it's like the Masters.

They might even pipe in the doink.

This is Hank.

Do they pipe in the bird sounds that producer?

They're the Master Hank about to mansplain.

Do they not?

I don't know.

I feel like...

I don't know.

Because the doinks have been getting louder over the years.

How would they get it up there?

How do they get the flag up there?

How do they get the flag up there?

They just put it on them before before they go.

No, they just put it down.

They can put them down.

You can't put anything on a pole before it gets erect.

You got to wait till it's erect, and then you can roll it down.

They put it down.

Yeah.

Who knows?

Okay.

If you all had to switch bodies with each other, who would you all pick?

What?

If I had to switch bodies with one of you guys?

I mean, I hate to say it, but probably Hank.

Hank's probably got the bang in his body here.

I'm I'm not going to say that.

But he does.

Yeah, it's true.

Who else would you pick?

For how long

it doesn't say.

I actually don't know.

I'll say this.

I have no idea what Memes' body is because he always wears a sweatshirt.

I have no idea.

Not great.

Not great.

It might be like Adam Sandler.

I think Hank has the best body on our show.

That's tough.

But it's also a fact.

I mean, you're the closest to a six-pack.

That's true.

Because you're the only one who said they could get one.

That's all it takes to get as closest to a six-pack.

Yeah.

Hank is.

But also,

if I switched bodies, that would imply that one of you guys had to have my body, correct?

I'd probably take your body over.

But anything else?

It'd be the funniest if.

That was such a rude stare.

That was rude.

Those eyes were, those

rude.

It'd be funny if.

You said I would pick your body over, pause, look at Max, look back.

I looked in the booth.

I mean, I guess memes is normal-sized.

Zach has been losing some weight.

Zach looks good.

Max can't hit bombs, though.

Yeah, like the power

of the athlete.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, the power I would get from Max's body would be great.

Plus, then I would switch with one of the tall guys, the taller guys,

just to make you guys

live in

my body.

Yeah, just let you guys see what it's like in these shoes.

Is that sad that Hank has

by far the best body on the show?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You do.

I'm going to get jacked again, Hank.

I'm going to show you.

I am.

I plan on getting really jacked.

I had a bad week.

Oh, no.

I'm having a bad week.

Oh, yeah.

Even though you got the air fryer right next to your desk?

No, the air fryer never came.

Oh, that's fine.

Wait, are you off your diet?

It was a bad weekend.

Yesterday was good.

Today

I was doing well, and then

we just did some ads that required eating

some unhealthy things.

Are you in the ads?

No, but they're there.

That's a good question.

You were eating them too, Hank.

I am not the one that's on the bottom.

He's got the best body on the show.

I'm trying to gain weight.

He's got some wiggle room.

I got to pay attention.

That's bullshit when you say that.

That pisses me off.

I can't gain or lose weight.

That pisses me off.

That's me off.

That's fucking bullshit.

I will bullshit between

175 and 185, I think, forever.

You got to keep that to yourself.

Yeah, you got to.

Yeah.

You do got to keep that to yourself.

Can I tell you something?

Yeah.

Me too.

Yeah.

Right in that zone.

I literally can't.

I can beat.

No, I can beat it.

I try.

When I was doing the dunking, I was dieting as hard, like so fucking hard trying to lose weight.

I got down to 170, and it was like two months of dieting.

Yeah.

And now I'm like, I'm like, all right, I want to put on some muscle, gain some weight, and I'm trying to eat more.

And I'm like 179.

I honestly think I could easily gain and lose 10 pounds in a week, like either way.

If you just said, hey, you got to do it.

Yeah.

I could easily.

I could do that in like two days.

But there's a big difference.

Obviously gaining.

Yeah.

I could do the losing.

Is that the case?

Actually,

I don't think I could gain 10 pounds.

Yes, you could.

In two days?

Not in two days.

In a week.

In a week for sure.

In a week for sure.

Yeah.

But Hank, when you're at an unhealthy 185, that looks like it's 200.

Like

the healthy version of me at 185 looks so much skinnier than the unhealthy version.

I think probably a 40-pound swing.

I think if I had one genie wish, like any superpower, I think it would be that.

Oh.

Just being able to eat whatever you want without gaining or losing any weight.

Yeah.

That would be awesome.

That would be awesome.

What about unlimited money?

Because then you could get a bunch of it.

Yeah, then you could just buy it.

Yeah, you could just get a chef and get a trainer.

Teleportation is always the one that I go back to.

Teleportation.

Where would you teleport?

No commutes.

Yeah, you could literally live anywhere in the world, and your commute would be the exact same.

Oh, my God.

Think about that.

That would be

sick.

Yeah.

Time zone.

So

that's honestly a good fair point.

Why?

Just think about it.

We don't want to get in there again.

Max would still be late for work if he could tell me.

Well, if I lived in Italy and I just was like, all right, I got to go to work.

Would that be in the middle of the night?

Yeah.

No.

No, it'd be the middle of the day.

You go to work at like uh, like 2 p.m., yeah, like noon,

one o'clock.

This is where this is,

yeah,

we'll do, we'll do a quiz maybe in like a year.

Set a reminder, quiz max on time zones.

You have one year to understand time zones.

Hi, large feline Florio commenter and Frannie Lydon.

Besides Jerry Whitney and Max, who were your favorite guests who turned out to be huge AWLs?

So, Max Homa, that's what they were saying?

Okay.

Max Delente?

I like, I mean,

Blake of the Year.

Oh,

Jared Goff.

Jared Goff.

So I had an update of that because remember, I said

I texted him and he didn't text me back.

He got a new number, and then he texted me from his new number.

with a picture of him watching the show.

Okay.

He's like, I'm at the point where you're talking about texting me, and

here's me texting you.

That was kind of cool.

That is pretty cool.

Yeah.

Did he apologize?

Yeah, he was like, I got a new number.

My bad.

No, did he apologize for the game?

No.

Oh.

I mean, why should he?

Yeah.

That would have been worse.

Yeah, no, way worse.

I wouldn't want him to apologize.

I'm sorry I had to do that, but I just couldn't stop scoring.

I had to play perfect football right in your face.

Who else?

Who else?

Who else?

Kittle.

Kittle.

Kittle's a big one.

Yeah, I love Kittle.

Kittle's a fucking man.

He needs to get healthy.

I want to see him out there just fucking trucking people.

Kevin Garnett.

Kevin Garnett.

Also,

Boomer.

Yeah.

Every year, me and Big Cat get a text from Boomer on week one of the NFL season just wishing us a happy NFL season.

And when I wake up in the morning, I look at that text.

That's the happiest I am all year.

It's just,

it's surreal that Chris Berman is like our buddy, our pal.

Yeah, he's our boy.

Max Holmes was one of the first people to text me, congratulations, when I got engaged.

He was like one of the first five people.

Good guy.

Sick.

I love that.

I love that.

Yance.

Yeah.

Yance, big-time listener.

Love Yance.

Shout out, Yance.

What's up, Pip Squeak Football Tool?

Whoa.

That was football, at least, yeah.

The biggest cat.

And Hank the Shank.

Oh!

Is this Rose?

Walk us through the most chaotic 10 minutes that has happened right before a show, and how did you manage to get it back on the rails?

What?

Ooh, like how there have been some times on grit week where we've been really mad at each other uh and by each other i mean

two of us have been upset with one person

or one person's been upset at two people yeah and then the other two people get upset at the one person because they're upset at the two people chaotic most chaotic before like right before taping the show

I don't know, like, that would be more like a game that just ended that was a crazy ending.

So the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl was pretty chaotic, the one that the Eagles lost.

because we didn't really say anything because we want to save it all for the show.

Yeah, that's the hardest part.

So we didn't talk to each other for like an hour, and then we hadn't seen Max yet until he got back.

But that was still tough just sitting, not talking about the game.

That's the hardest thing is when we watch a game together or do something together or have an experience together, and then we have to sit there and be like, save for the show.

Because we naturally want to laugh with each other.

So we start telling stories.

And we're like, wait, hold on a second.

We got to save this for the the show, yeah.

So, that is always the hardest part because you just want to hang out with your buddies,

okay, is that it?

Yep, good FAQs.

I don't know if we've ever had a chaotic, like truly chaotic.

No, I'm trying to think.

There's been, uh, there's been some times what, what, Max?

Oh, what were you gonna say?

The Billy, the Billy football.

Oh, yeah, yeah, we've had some chaotic also.

The election in 2016.

Election, yeah, that was crazy.

The when PFT's car broke down and he came in late for an interview, that was a little chaotic.

Yeah, but that was just me being like 15 minutes late.

Yeah.

But it's a little chaotic when we got to like, like, oh, shit, we got to do this interview.

Oh, shit.

Is he here?

Oh, shit, is he dead?

Oh, when we thought Hank died.

When I thought PFT died, too.

Yeah.

I've had multiple times where I thought both these guys died because they just

couldn't get in touch with me.

Zach, we almost had the police for Zach.

Yeah.

When was that?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So pretty much anytime anyone sleeps in.

What would you guys do if I did that?

I've never done that.

You've never slept in?

I think I would just be dead.

No, like if I ever, I don't think there's ever been a time where I haven't been where I said I was going to be.

I think I'm going to promise to you guys right now, I'll never do that unless I'm actually dead.

So just treat it as dead.

You also have so many,

like so many things would have to go.

For you to not show up to something, like...

You have like your kids,

your wife, like

you have to, if you're, like, anyone who lives alone can sleep and just not wake up.

Right.

But I just want you guys to know that if I don't, if you don't hear from me and I don't show up dead, confirmed.

Yeah, you'd probably be dead.

I mean, I don't know what other,

like with no text or anything, I'd just be dead.

Jail, maybe?

Jail.

I guess jail, but I think I'd still get word to you guys, like a little carrier pigeon or something.

Send it out to you.

Jail would be crazy.

It is.

Jail would be crazy.

Jail would, that would be an awesome show.

Just call in.

Just like

call crime.

Like, seriously,

that should be a rule that, like, if anyone here goes to jail, the one phone call has to be,

yeah.

Has to be here.

And you have to tell them to screen record it.

Yep.

Yep.

I don't know if that works, but

who's the most reliable to pick up?

For jail?

Probably me.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'll pick up for jail.

For sure.

I'll memorize your number.

Okay.

Do you plan on going to jail?

Sure.

I got to memorize everyone's number.

I think that was me.

Oh, I think that was me.

I don't know.

That might have been a dead heat.

That was pretty close.

Oh, no.

Which one was it?

Thank you, Pug.

He said me.

Oh, wow.

President.

Good choice, Pug.

All right.

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All right, so numbers.

Memes has three.

Memes, what were you going to guess if you didn't get three?

Jared go off, 16.

All right, 16.

I'm going to go to the

20.

Pre-sol,

22,

64,

19, 99.

Pug.

Pug was gonna pick one six

was gonna pick one day's day

eighty-one

Love you guys