Postgame Show: Peyton Hillis

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I don't understand what the big deal is being on a cover. Matthew Kachuk is on the cover.
Jazz Chisholm was on a cover. People, they do like a release party for the cover.
Did I miss something that it's a big nod to the Panthers? It's a huge deal to be a cover athlete. And down here in South Florida, historically, haven't had many cover athletes on video games for your teams.
We've had John Bambeesbrook in the 90s, Jazz, aforementioned Jazz. D.
Wade had one. Why do I remember Ricky Williams on a cover? Did D.
Wade have one? That was NFL Street 2, but it was like an animated Ricky Williams, I think. Which one did Dwayne Wade appear on? I think he was on an NBA Live back in the day.
Tim Hardaway had an NBA Live. That was like a 2K.
D-Wade was also on the cover of NBA Live like two years ago, like Legends Edition where he was in like the Miami Vice. LeBron was on the cover of 14 or 15.
Tim Hardaway was on the cover of NBA Live 98. But what I'm saying is it hasn't happened much.
NBA Live 06. Great year for it, by the way.
By then, the franchise was dying. You've named more of these covers, Mike.
He means NBA Live. Okay.
Not the Miami Heat franchise. But that's still not many.
It seems like a lot. No, it's really not.
You've named like a dozen covers. No, it's really not.
How many covers are there per year? Across all the major sports. Yes.
I can't remember a dolphin having one. There's four major sports, which means four new video games every year over the course of 30 years I've highlighted.
Well, there also used to be like NFL Blitz and there used to be like NFL Fever on Xbox and ESPN had an NFL game for a while. So like there was a time there was like four versions of the same game every year.
Let's go gold standards like the EAs and the 2Ks. We've had Tim Hardaway, John Van Beesbrook, Jazz Chisholm on the show.
That's up there with the name brand. Does Antoine Walker count if he was a Celtic? No, he doesn't.
Gotta be wearing the uniform. So only the second Florida Panther ever to grace a video game cover.
Matthew Kachuk now joining John Van Beesbrook. That's close to 30 years over there.
So this is a really cool moment. But the math is, I think that there's 30 franchises.
There'd be one every 30 years.

We're getting bogged down.

The reason I'm bogged down is people act like

when Jazz Chisholm got it,

it became a thing.

Like he and his mind became a star.

I think that's why you're bothered by it

because Jazz is probably,

I would say off the top of my head,

maybe the least deserving cover athlete

that I can remember.

Ever.

And I think you're just harping on it.

He's popular with kids though.

People were mad when he got it.

And he's like big on social.

Outside of Miami, people were mad that Jazz was on the cover because they were kind of like, what has he done? And that's what I'm getting at. Is anyone upset that the cover athlete is not? There have been some bad ones.
There was one year where they went to a vote and who was the white running back who won it? Surprisingly a white guy. Peyton Hillis.
Peyton Hillis. That was a big moment.
I was a Browns fan at the time. That was super, you get super pumped up when your guy is on the cover.
Telling you, it's a big deal. I made him super famous.
The Jazz video game just because Jazz was on the cover. David, if one of your Marlin players were on it, you would have.
We loved it when they were on the cover of SI. We loved it.
So what's the disconnect here? We even framed when you were on the cover of Inside Sports. We'd keep that.
That was a magazine that used to exist. Right.
You thought that was cool. So why is it weird that fans think it's cool when one of their players is on a cover of

a game?

I was asking whether he was the most deserving Panther.

That was the question.

Oh, this might be the most deserving cover.

I mean, he could have gotten the cover after getting traded and losing in the cup finals.

He couldn't have gotten the cover after winning the first one.

He got the cover after winning the second one, which I don't know.

I guess that means maybe he wasn't as people didn't like him as much before, but now he's pretty much the face of the league. After Four Nations, he's the face of American hockey.
After Mick overrated. He's Canadian, though.
Yes. You guys were talking at the same time and you didn't hear each other.
Oh. Thank you.
I was correcting myself. You both made very good points, though.
He was correcting himself and it timed out. It happens, guys.
Yeah. Back to green dildos.
It shouldn't happen now as we're finishing. What should be happening is we should be talking separately so we can hear.
Are you saying that Kachuk is the most famous American hockey player who plays today? I think so. Yeah, I think he's the most famous.
Most famous, yes. I think most famous, it's less of a debate than it is best.
Austin Matthews is in that conversation. You have Quinn Hughes, too.
It's difficult to say. I mean, Austin Matthews is perceived to be the better player quite easily.
There's a wide gulf there. But in terms of fame, and I think this is another notch for Matthew Kachuk.
Matthew Kachuk, when he came here to this market, he was excited to come to Florida. Not a lot of people were excited to come to Florida.
This was viewed as a place where you'd go retire and it immediately jumped off the young man. How much he wanted this for the market, how much he didn't shy away from being media friendly.
He welcomed being the face of Panthers hockey and there may be better players on this team. In fact, there are better players on this team than Matthew Kachuk.
But there isn't a more important player in the history of the franchise in terms of turning its fortunes around. He brought a new attitude, a new direction for the franchise.
And it's cool to just see this as he's adorning this cover with the Stanley Cup overhead. That's a really cool moment for South Florida hockey, which is always looking for respect abroad and domestically, because we're always considered a joke.
Well, this is another thing that kind of legitimizes a franchise. I think we've passed that.
You've got the Lightning Dynasty. Now you're in the Panthers Dynasty.
Florida hockey is undoubtedly, it is the best state for hockey in the entire country. I would argue in the entire hemisphere because Canadian, they haven't won anything.
Last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was a couple decades ago. This franchise has forced the issue with their success.
Typically, if they made it to a Stanley Cup final, they'd be asked, hey, do the Winter Classic. Florida's been good now for a few years.
It took, they're finally participating in their first Winter Classic this upcoming December or January. So they've become so undeniable that you can't keep them out of these things anymore.

Covers, Winter Classics.

Where is the Winter Classic?

Oh, you jerk.