PMS 2.0 1352 - Indiana Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle, Jeff Passan, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our Humble Bow, the Thunderdome.

On this Overreaction Monday, June 2nd, 2025, this program begins now.

Sports are awesome, especially here in Indianapolis, Indiana, as the Indiana Pacers have made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since the year 2000.

The city is alive and obviously in game six, whenever the Pacers beat the hell out of the New York Knicks, they punched their ticket to the NBA Finals to take on a very dominant Oklahoma City Thunder team that'll begin

on Thursday night at 8.30 Eastern on ABC.

It'll be ESPN broadcast throughout the entirety of the NBA Finals as Tyrese Halliburton and the Larry Bird Trophy winner, the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals, Pascal C.

Yockham, take on Shea, Jalen, and a squad of Oklahoma City Thunderboys that are obviously scrappy, gritty, and have a home court advantage.

But don't look now.

Indiana is alive.

The cities were a buzz after the New York Knicks get sent back to New York, being Eastern Conference finals.

Congrats to the Knicks.

Congrats to the Knicks.

Had a chance to be there.

Was not sitting court side.

I think those tickets were like 50, 60 grand a pop or something like that.

And I do love the Pacers.

Not that much, but I do love the Pacers up in a suite with the boys, watching as it went down.

And, you know, as the fourth quarter kind of unfolded, it all got kind of obvious that the Pacers were going to be going to the finals.

And it's not just because Tyrese and Pasco.

Obi-Toppin is absolutely beloved in this city of Indianapolis.

There was numerous Obi-Toppin chants as he hits his head off the rim every single time he seemingly goes to the rack.

Thomas Bryant, former Indiana Hoosier, was with the Lakers.

Now he's back with the Pacers.

He dropped a couple threes to place one ape shit.

Tyrese Halliburton turned it on in the fourth quarter.

Pasco Siakam is damn near unguardable.

He's so fast.

So long.

Long.

Long.

Huge.

And his Pacers team is in better shape than you are.

TB there bringing the juice.

He's been doing that for the entirety of the playoffs on the bench.

Now he's getting a chance to shine.

Nemhard was playing some Nemhard defense on Jalen Brunson.

Actually, Jalen Brunson head-butted Nemhard at one point.

Obviously, there was no call because number 39, the ref wearing number 39, a little white guy about this big, he really wanted the Knicks to be in it.

I was watching him.

He seemed to be having an angle.

Now, I don't want to throw out any,

you know, conspiracy fodder.

Sure.

Number 39, a little white.

If he's refing any of the games the Pacers are taking on Oklahoma City, I don't know if he's anti-Pacers.

I don't know if he's anti-Coach Carlisle.

I don't know if he was pro New York.

Whatever the case was, that thing was going the opposite direction for like a four or five minute period for the Knicks.

And it was just, it got to the point where it was too big to rig.

The Indiana Pacers were just a damn good basketball team.

And everybody all season was talking about how nobody was talking about Oklahoma City enough.

This team's dominant.

I agree.

Oklahoma City fans all year have been saying, hey, our team's a real deal.

The NBA people who are the super NBA people are like, Oklahoma City, this team is the real deal.

And in the Eastern Conference, nobody's talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They need to give the Cleveland Cavaliers more love.

Need to give the Cleveland Cavaliers more love.

Everybody's talking about these small markets, the Oklahoma City team and the Cleveland team not getting enough love.

You know who got no love throughout the entirety of the season?

Who?

You know who got no love through through the beginning of the damn playoffs?

They're playing on an ion network somehow.

That's right.

Whenever they had their first couple playoff series, the Indiana Pacers, nobody talked about it.

Last year, they get to the Eastern Conference finals.

They get swept by the Boston Celtics.

Now, the Boston Celtics would inevitably go win the title, but they would get swept 4-0.

Three out of those four games, Pacers have a good lead, then they just kind of choke it away.

So nobody even talked about the Pacers being the Eastern Conference finalists last year.

Nobody talked about the Pacers having the best record since post-all-star break in the entire NBA alongside Oklahoma City.

Nobody wanted to see the Pacers on TV and the Pacers just became inevitable.

The Pacers just became a team that was unflappable.

They were in better shape than you.

And this city and this team learned from what happened last year and now we're ready to take out.

The NBA Finals atmosphere and environment and the NBA Finals spotlight.

This Pacers team might not have been given a spotlight all year, but this Pacers team is ready for the spotlight.

They got dogs all over the court.

Miles Turner, who's been here for 10 years, cuts a promo afterwards about the city, about the team, about everything he believes in.

He's seen a lot of transition with this squad.

And Coach Carlisle, who'll be joining us in about 10 minutes or so, is a guy that's basically just been shooed out everywhere he's gone.

It's an island of misfit toys basically here for the Indiana Pacers who have come together and they will run your ass out of the gym.

Now, will they be able to do that to Oklahoma City?

We shall see.

The two best teams in the NBA are battling in the NBA finals, and we're lucky that our city is being represented.

And good luck to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Nine and a half point favorites on Thursday.

The disrespect continues for the Indiana Pacer team.

But first game, I think they're going to be trying to feel each other out.

Who knows how this first one goes?

They could, Thunder could win by 20 in this first one.

That would not scare me.

Pacers could win by 15 to 20, and that would not scare the Oklahoma City team.

Best of seven series, gonna have to feel each other out.

Think this one is gonna go to a full seven regardless, and I can't wait to watch it.

What an exciting and electrifying time here in the great state of Indiana.

The talks and tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt.

Baseball happened this weekend as well, Ty, we will certainly dive into that in a little bit.

One out of the hammer.

Cowboys AP Tonis here.

Great shirts.

He's representing for the Pacers.

Yes, there is, brother.

I mean, I've been a Hoosier now for what, eight, nine years.

And Pittsburgh doesn't have a basketball team, so why wouldn't I root for the Indiana Pacers?

The best team in the NBA since January 1.

Well, second record-wise, but you get it.

I'm allowed to say that because I'm a Serge fan.

A little bit biased.

But yeah.

Well, TJ McConnell or there's a Yenser on a team.

Yeah, Dukayan.

I'll wait till you see the TJ.

Wait till you see what I got from TJ McConnell.

Okay, I'm trying to go ahead and get this one.

Yeah, I like to hear that.

We can be purchased.

Without a doubt.

You know, we can.

And Tone's certainly somebody that can be purchased.

TJ McConnell starts filling.

You know, Tone digs his locker with a bunch of merch.

He's certainly going to wear them.

Look at the shirt he's wearing right now.

I mean, he is.

I bought this myself.

Yes, sirs.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, sure you did.

It's a beautiful time.

And it's a fun team to be a fan of.

If you're not an NBA fan, like from Pittsburgh, there's no NBA team.

There's a lot of people that maybe don't have NBA teams.

I think a lot of people have potentially picked up the Pacers because of either our program or because Tyrese Hallard Burton joining us.

But it's also a good story because literally nobody has wanted them to win.

Like none of the people have wanted them to win.

I mean, you go on GitUp when who's going to win a series across the bottom?

Knicks.

Who's going to win a series?

Bucks.

Who's going to win a series?

Cavs.

They've been calling for the Pacers to lose.

Every person on TV has been calling for the Pacers to lose every single series.

I don't think there's been one person that has gone out and been like,

I think the Pacers are going to do it this time.

I think you could potentially get kicked off television.

You know how some of those people operate.

There's a chance you get kicked off of TV if you were to say that.

So it's a wonderful team to be a fan of.

Consummate underdog, consummate overlooked, consummate underrated.

Overrate that.

Tyrese Halliburton, 20 plus points, double, double in

game six.

Pasco Siakam goes.

I mean, it's just a fun team.

Yeah.

And they're all dogs, and none of them care.

None of them care about who gets the credit.

And the way they play is, they play hard as hell.

And this city is going to be electrifying.

Come join us if you want to come to a game.

Yeah, the Siakam story, I think, is incredible, too.

Like, was in Toronto, wins the championship.

He was the G-League MVP, like, really did kind of come up through the ranks.

I think he went to New Mexico or New Mexico State like a small school kid.

They talked about, I think he talked about in his press conference, like, hey, yeah, I moved from Cameroon and and completely committed myself to basketball, and that's just kind of been my life.

And then he gets traded, you know, from Toronto after they fall off a cliff and finds a home in Indy.

And last year, when he got traded there, that was a huge deal for them.

That kind of got them back into kind of that top-tier talent team.

And then, of course, with the way the season ended with the Celtics sweeping them, there was no celebration.

You've talked about it.

it when a team gets to the Eastern Conference finals like the Pacers who weren't being talked about as one of those top teams,

you expect to celebrate some sort of success like that, but because they got swept, there was nothing.

And then this offseason, a bunch of clips have been coming out.

Miles Turner posted something about him, like, hey, we think we can surpass last year.

See Akam talked about too, like, you think this is going to happen every year.

I went to the finals and then I never sniffed the finals.

So the fact that, you know, we were able to get to the conference finals last year was incredible.

Now they're going to the finals.

There's a stat of, you know, both these teams.

Gumpy shared it with us.

They both average, you know, OKC, 100 possessions a game.

The Pacers, 99 possessions a game.

And stuff like this is why the small markets are sweet.

Like, they really do care more about basketball in Indiana.

That's a real thing.

Oklahoma City, I've never been there.

I'm sure it's a wonderful place.

Oh, we've seen it on TV.

Yeah.

That is special.

It is incredible.

It's one of the best atmospheres in sports.

And

the shirts they do, of course, is cool, but they're on their feet.

And that's what happened in the Pacers game, game six, that I noticed, like four or five minutes left.

Nobody was sitting down.

You could sense it.

Connor, obviously from Boston.

How many titles do the Celtics have?

18.

Most of the NBA has.

Okay, obviously, you're welcome.

I just gave you that one.

Hey, hey, by the way.

Current.

If it's got to go anywhere, at least it

stays in here.

Yeah, great.

Thank God.

And you'll be shipping that, obviously, whenever it gets to some team potentially getting to 4-1.

We'll see.

Hey, look,

if SGA wants to reach out for it, maybe.

Yeah, but on that note.

Whoa.

All right, listen.

We don't know if it's going to hit.

I thought that's what you were saying.

No, yeah.

But on that note, there's like five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Connor looks over.

He goes, oh, you can feel it.

Pacers are going to the finals.

And I like, look around, and you could, because the game got kind of ugly.

Pacers started making shots.

Knicks subbed out there before the Knicks even did a full line change and basically just tapped out and put the white flag up.

The entire arena was standing.

And it was just like a buzz.

It was like everybody in their own little groups was like, oh shit, Pacers are going to the finals the pacers are going to the nba finals right now and it was a cool moment where you were like kid you can feel you can sense it right now because you know obviously celtics fans were like you guys don't get this a lot yeah welcome but this is what the feeling is this is what we're trying to bottle in experience nine-year nfl vet darius j butler's here

deep bus great to see you look incredibly cool

yeah the atmosphere was electric in there in that moment that he's chit-chatting about that was when tyrese goes from the logo that was whenever you know thomas bryant started going crazy from the side it was like that fourth quarter moment is why you pay the amount of money that you pay to be in that building yeah thank you for that in this city yeah no problem no problem appreciate that no problem much much more uh fun this year for you i think yeah last year was the worst viewing experience i've ever had in my life sorry that's on me oh it was on him

two of his celtics friends were there oh hand up and i said never in my life am i doing that again especially at the price that i just paid for this suite i'm not going to watch people just dance in my face the entire time i'm going to try to enjoy enjoy this.

We certainly did that, but it was a beautiful thing.

And it's amazing what sports can do.

Like this city, you know, I'm not saying

that last year after the Easter Conference finals, the city was bummed out about the Pacers, but they certainly were.

They were bummed out about how the season ended because of how proud they were of the Pacers team.

Nobody thought they were going to be able to make it as far as they did.

They do.

Then you can't even talk about it.

Now it's like we all kind of understand what the team is.

The team represents the city well.

And it's,

you know, the vibes are immense.

The vibes are so high.

It's spectacular.

spectacular and you guys are there in the building you can feel that energy even watching it through the tv like watching through the tv hearing the chants hearing the crowd regardless of what the score was the crowd was fully in you heard the even the chance for thomas and obviously he's a he's a hoosier as well but you talked about this state just being a basketball state in general so for them to be in the finals for the first time and they have a real chance to win it i forget who it was that was on here talking about you know the teams and the makeup of the pacers and how they play and with their pace like they can run you to the ground and they almost generate another superstar with those extra 20, 30 points that they just get in pace moving out.

Saw some breakdown even against the Knicks with like some, I think a lot of people going after Cat or going after the big, just not getting back down the courts.

As soon as they give a bucket, boom, they're out.

They're league.

Tyree is kicking it out.

And that is a bitch for anybody that has ever played basketball on any level.

Like it doesn't matter like, okay, you got SGAs or hardens or whoever who can ISO and take it.

But when you can play as a team like that, you know, possession in to possession out, that is tough.

I like what what you said there it's like an added super their pace is an added superstar yeah it is the sixth man on the court is how conditioned they are last year during the playoffs they kept saying well the pacers are just playing against hurt teams hurt teams it's hurt teams it's like they might be the ones causing the other team yeah their sixth superstar which is their pace and their conditioning and their cardio might be making people be hurt and i saw the quotes about people getting upset about cat allegedly and his effort on defense it's like that was my big takeaway from watching that game court side was like, Cat is too big to be running the amount that they're, because Pasco Siako, he is tall, long,

and he can run.

He can just run.

He's run.

He was running.

I mean, he was going.

Obi,

they all got pace.

Miles is the only guy.

Now, he's been here for 10 years, doesn't have the pace, but he still knows that he's going to have to run up and down.

It's like when you get dropped into play against his Pacers team, it's like, it's a track meet.

Like it is about to be a track meet.

After how long this season has been, after how long the playoffs are, do you have enough guys that are going to be able to keep up with the pace of play that the Pacers are going to have?

And it's like, nobody really has been able to do that yet.

This Oklahoma City team, though, they're saying, can, because the depth, because the way they go about playing, and they kind of do the same thing, which is why it should be a very good, should be a great series is kind of how everybody's eyeing it.

Yeah, it's going to be incredible.

And Miles Turner, too, he's one of those guys that could, you know, be a little upset, want more shots, but he knows his role.

Like for Carl Anthony Towns, they're going to be pissed at him if he's not taking 20, 25 shots.

So he has to be in the game.

Like Miles Turner, sure, he can hit threes.

He can, you know, score in the post.

He can do everything, but he's not going to be upset if he only has 10 shots because Siakam in Obie in Tyrees and you know, Matherin coming off the bench.

And I always get his name wrong.

I'm sorry, Ben.

Matherin.

Matherin, yeah.

Even him.

He's a dog.

Yeah, he's an absolute dog.

So it's like they have all these different pieces and nobody has an ego.

And I think it starts and ends with Rick Carlisle because Rick Carlisle has been around for so long.

He knows how rare it is.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a top 10 statistical coach of all time in the playoffs, an NBA champion, a guy who's been to the finals six times and now he's leading the Indiana Pacers for the first time in 25 years to the NBA Finals.

Gave a great promo after the game where he said in 49 other states, it's just basketball, but this is Indiana.

Huge pop.

Also had the wherewithal to thank Ernie in TNT after the biggest night of this particular Pacers team's lives to give them a thank you for everything the TNT has done for the NBA and their show.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, guy I punch right in the shoulder, dude, Coach Carlisle.

I gave you a little something, something there.

Coach, congratulations.

Yeah, yeah.

What's up, guys?

Hey, so we got to get this out of the way just for my own personal reasons.

I do that promo where I talk on, you know, to everybody in the fourth quarter.

Let's Let's turn this shit up.

I'm going to give the microphone back.

You're right there.

I punch you right in the shoulder.

No sell out of you.

I don't even think you glanced at me.

Did you feel the shot?

Was there a thought when I was talking?

Or are you locked in in a zone there?

Don't even know what's going on with me.

It's more so just basketball.

Yeah, I woke up with a bruise the next day and had forgotten what happened.

But

no, Liz, we appreciate you, Pat.

We appreciate you getting us going when you when you sit courtside, it's awesome.

And

I don't care what other other people think, it's good.

Okay.

Hey, I needed that.

That makes me feel good, coach.

We just chit-chatted there about the depth of your team.

And we talked about Miles Turner, how he's been there for 10 years.

He gave a great speech afterwards, talking about the state and the city.

He doesn't care if he's not the one putting up 30.

It feels like Tyrese doesn't care.

Pasco doesn't care.

Thomas Bryant comes in, puts up some major points.

It's like, what about your team?

Do you think makes them so unselfish?

Is that kind of what it is?

And how do you find guys that are like that in 2025, in 2026 going forward?

Well, our front office has done a great job of getting great people.

And then,

you know, your culture starts with your best players.

So Tyrese and Pascal are both high, high-level players that are great people.

They're highly unselfish.

They put winning above everything else.

And, you know, they're both connectors on the court.

So, you know, that's got to be the starting point for us.

We're constructed a little differently.

You know, things are changing in the NBA.

It's, you know, the top-heavy rosters of superstars, you know,

are

kind of a thing of the past, you know, somewhat.

And so, you know, our team has been built in a different way.

It's built on balance.

It's built on togetherness.

It's built on skill.

And it's built on tenacity.

And

the style we play is not an easy style.

It's very physically demanding.

But we have great guys.

And,

you know,

they've really leaned into everything that's going on in this run.

And obviously, we want to keep it going.

Yeah, they represent, and you represent our city well.

So I think that's why you see such good buy-in from the fan base.

That place was electrifying.

You talk about it being physically tasking, the style of play that you have.

I did not grow up in the basketball world.

I watch basketball, but I don't know the ins and outs.

But I do know that last year during the playoff run, all they kept talking about was the Pacers, they're just playing against hurt teams, they're playing against hurt teams, they're playing against hurt teams.

Then this year, well, they didn't get their best, they didn't get their best.

I think it's because the pace that you guys play at.

I think that is an added weapon.

I think you actually run people out of gyms.

I know that's not necessarily the thought, but whenever you think about your team being able to run at the speed and the pace that they're able to have, does that go back to like training camp?

Do they know that what they're signing up for?

Or how does it kind of be instituted that we're going to be the better shape team as opposed to the other teams?

Well, it's training camp, but really it's, you know, when we did exit meetings last year after the season, we talked about the importance of a great summer of conditioning.

And look, this is one of the reasons that Tyrese had a slow start to the year.

You know, he was coming off the injury last year in the conference finals to Boston.

He got healthy basically just in time to start practicing with Team USA with the Olympics.

And then once the game started, you know, he wasn't playing much.

And then he got dinged up in, I think, the second to last game.

And then he was not really healthy until about two or three days before actual training camp started.

So he missed out on a summer of conditioning

and base building, you know, from a conditioning standpoint.

And it's one of the big reasons that the start to his season this year was slow.

And so

it's a commitment.

And it's not just, you know, you don't just come into training camp to get in shape.

Nowadays in this NBA,

you've got to do your conditioning stuff during the summer and you've got to come in really tuned up.

I think you guys are the most conditioned team that I've ever seen in basketball.

I mean, like Chip Kelly came into the NFL.

He was going to try to run hurry up and we're going to run more plays.

And with an 18 gar or 17 game season, 16 game season, guys' bodies just kind of fell off.

It feels like you guys do that to other teams just from watching.

Like I was watching poor Carlo Anthony Towns have to run back and forth, back and forth.

And I'm like, that's a weapon.

But how does your team stay in shape?

It's like your guys are just ready for it.

Now, let's talk about your big brain, okay?

I know you don't want to do that.

You're always deflecting to others.

There was a moment caught on camera, though.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Coach, early on, you guys ran a pick and roll

against Jalen Brunson.

He kind of abused him in the post, if you will.

And after, I believe, Neesmith, yeah, here lays it in.

The boys on the bench went right over to you and basically patted you on the head and back like, Coach, you're a genius.

How do you do it?

What was the adjustments you guys made throughout the series and how important is that during a seven game series to kind of show one thing early on and then maybe change it in the biggest moment like game six the closeout on saturday

well the opening play was um

was from one of my coaching staff and you know one thing that i i got from terry stotz who was one of my former assistants who went on to portland and he did this in portland he was a head coach there for nine years and very successful whoever had the scout of that particular game had the opportunity to draw up the first play.

And so I've been doing this now for seven or eight years.

And it's great because it gives your assistants, most of whom have very fertile minds and have really studied the opponent, the opportunity to draw something up where they think there may be a vulnerability or something.

So

the staff drew it up.

I happened to draw it up on the board.

And I was the one that presented it in our prep before the game, which is not the normal thing, but for time reasons, that's kind of how it went.

So, yeah, there's this thing.

So, you know, I mean, Lloyd Pierce works with Miles Turner and he works with Aaron, you know, and some of our other coaches work with, you know, the other guys, obviously.

So if somebody draws up the first play and it works, you know, McConnell always gets up and he's, he's always saying, oh, wow, what a great play.

You know, that was really, you know, and they do this big thing.

Miles Turner, you know, makes a makes a post move and scores.

First play of the game, he'll run up to Lloyd Pierce and he'll say, hey, hey, Lloyd, was that the step-through?

Was that the Bill Walton?

Or was that the Robert Parrish?

And so there's

this fun stuff going on.

It's kind of not serious, but it's also just part of the character of our team.

And it's a fun-loving group, you know, and the guys love to compete, and they love to compete together, and they have fun with it.

Yeah, I love that TJ McConnell's just shit talking at all times.

Oh, super genius.

What a play.

What a play.

You know, good Jenser guy bringing it all together.

I saw James Johnson put a fire out immediately with a New York Knicks fan that was heckling the bench.

It feels like you have the perfect combination of players in there to have great vibes, which leads to D-Butt's question for you, Coach.

Coach, you know, professional sports egos are always a thing.

You mentioned, you know, some of your leaders earlier on with Halliburton and Siakam.

What did you learn how to manage, you know, egos when it comes to running these types of teams?

Because watching the team from afar, it seems very selfless the ball moves it finds the open shot but what did you learn in your career how to manage different egos different players especially when you're having success

well I've I've been humbled just about every way possible that you can be in coaching and as a player and I've learned that humility and authenticity are the keys you know players today

you know, they don't want to be bullshitted.

They really,

they can tell, you know, if you're not being straight with them.

So, look, we try to bring the truth to our guys.

We try to let them know that we really care about them.

You know, it's important that they know that we are busting our butts as much as we can to help them succeed.

Not only as a team, but individually in their careers so that

they can play longer, they can play more years,

they can play better, they can get good contracts and stuff like that.

But we make it clear that our thing here is about culture and it's about what we can do together.

And

we don't accept situations where people put themselves before the team.

And it starts with Tyrese and Pascal and Miles, really.

And the buck stops with those three guys.

And those three guys walk the talk.

I love what your team's about, man.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I do.

So good for our city.

Oh, yeah.

You can feel it, right?

Easy team to root for.

Yeah, easy team to root.

But you can feel the city like, I don't want to say like your team embodies the city because that seems like a bit cliche, but it's very real.

Like it feels like your team embodies what we are here.

And I think that's why you've seen how much

the city has been excited about this run.

I mean, it was upside down on Saturday.

Crazy.

I mean, it was upside down on Saturday night.

We're expecting the same thing throughout the rest of the finals and then hopefully into a very celebratory field offseason.

Now, on that note, you're meeting a team that also has a great fan base.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, Coach, during the NFL playoffs, we talk a lot about, you know, away teams having to use silent count and not being able to hear each other in the huddle and stuff like that.

When you go into an atmosphere like OKC that seems like it is incredible, is that something that you have to prepare for?

Or is it similar to series that you have faced already in the NBA playoffs?

We don't call plays anyway, so it doesn't matter.

That's one thing.

But

to what Pat just said, you know,

when I went to Detroit for my first head coaching job in 2001,

we looked at the team, we looked at the city that we were in, and you want to try to come up with an identity for the team that somehow mirrors the fan base.

And so at that time, we had Ben Wallace, Cliff Robinson, Mike Curry, some really tough-minded guys.

And so

Detroit

is a hardworking

auto city, all that, and a lot of industry there.

And so going to work became kind of the moniker.

When I came back here, you know, this, Indiana is so much about the purity and sanctity of the game and playing the right way and those kinds of things that, you know,

we built the team.

We built

our talking points within our culture on unselfishness, building skill, being in great shape, and doing the things that

Indiana basketball is really all about

I think it's an interesting series you know I

Oklahoma is historically great

they won 68 games their defense is historically great

but it's it's it's two teams that have been built similar similarly and built on the same pillars of and the same

the same things that of importance, you know, hard, unselfish play, skill, all those kinds of things.

So we're looking forward.

It's going to be a great challenge.

This is going to be, you know, first game, I think we're already at a 10-point underdog.

Nine and a half, nine and a half, Coach.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, so, but that's, that's all right.

You just got to love the challenge.

And so we've got a couple of days to prepare here before we get on the plane.

And we have great respect for them.

And we're going to look forward to the challenge.

Coach, how often do you use those types of things as motivation?

You knowing that it's a nine and a half, 10-point spread for the first game.

And then I assume you saw whenever Tyrese was voted the most overrated guy in the NBA by the athletics poll of his peers.

Do you use that stuff as motivation?

What is your messaging to the team on that type of stuff?

You know, it's

the stuff with the stuff with betting and point spreads is so prevalent now, you don't really need to talk to the team about it.

It's all out there.

People are talking about it in real time during the broadcast, you know.

I just sense today's players just have an awareness for a lot of things to begin with.

I think they realize, our guys realize

the level of the challenge.

We played Oklahoma twice this year.

We had a close game at home.

We had a chance to be right there and we just were unable to hit a couple shots and it became a make-miss thing.

And then later in the year we went to Oklahoma and we didn't play well.

And I think we took a 20 or 22 point hit or something like that.

I mean, they're great.

They've got the MVP.

They've got

Jalen Williams, who's,

you know, who's a second star.

They've got Ched Holmgren, who's really their third star.

And then they've got a supporting cast that's really, really good.

And they really defend.

You know, Caruso and Dort,

Williams, and Gilgis Alexander.

These guys are all elite defenders.

And not only do they defend well, but they take the ball from the opponent.

And so I believe during the playoffs, they've been number one in points off turnovers.

So

a lot of this for us, we're going to have to do a good job with ball security.

I know that's a football term, too.

We're going to have to take care of it on the one hand, but we're going to have to play fast and we're going to have to move it around a lot and we're going to have to rebound it because the possession stats in every sport

really do carry the day.

100 to 99 average, I guess, on the possessions between you guys and Oklahoma City.

You just talked about them playing defense that great.

Ty has a question for you.

Yeah, speaking of that, coach, there's a stat floating around that in you guys' last eight playoff wins, you've scored 110 plus.

And obviously, you know, throughout the course of the series, you're going to score points.

But do you think at some point in this series, you guys are going to have to win at least one defensive battle when you know shots aren't necessarily falling or whatever the case may be?

Or is it one of those things where, hey, we already know what the formula is for us to win, we're just going to stick with that?

I do believe that you're right.

And, you know, the really the wonderful thing about NBA playoffs is you get into a series, every single game is different.

I mean, you look at the New York series, every single game, game one was played one way.

It went to overtime.

Game two was different.

Game three was, you know, every game is a new chapter.

Some are high scoring, some are lower scoring.

The lower scoring games

are tough games to win.

I mean,

they're slug fests, and they're, you know,

they're won and lost on the front lines you know in the in the um in the trenches you know as you guys say in football so um look we don't know we don't we don't know what game one is going to look like uh I know how intense it's going to be

you know the the finals stage is a is a different is a different world you know you you go to the NBA finals and now

your media things are different you've got you know hundreds of media people from all over the world instead of you know 50 or 60 in the conference finals.

Your practices during the finals, 30 minutes of the beginning of your practice, the media is in the practice.

And so

the stage is different.

It feels different.

But we've got to normalize things as much as possible.

We've got to lean into the things that have helped make...

us successful, which is hard, fast, unselfish, solid play.

And we've got to do a good job in the possession areas.

and you know you just you don't know how how often you're gonna get to the to the NBA finals I mean you can have a great young team it can seem like you have this this runway and you just you just never know so we've got a we've got to really embrace this opportunity

and come out guns blazing when was the time you noticed that this team couldn't go on a run was there a time this year where you were like because post all-star break your guys's record is top two in the league or whatever you know you guys were a hottest team one of the hottest teams in the league going into the playoffs.

Was there a time where you're like, you know what, this team has a chance.

Maybe we, maybe we do take a real run at this.

Because last year, you guys make it to the Eastern Conference finals.

Nobody was expecting it.

Get swept by the Boston Celtics.

Nobody celebrates the fact that you guys got to the Eastern Conference.

It kind of just gets forgotten about.

This year started a little slow.

You talk about Tyrese being injured, not maybe showing up to the season in the greatest

physical shape that he could be in because of what he was dealing with in the offseason.

Then you guys get hot.

Was there a time during the the season where you thought to yourself, okay, this is the team that we thought we could be after last year?

Well, I felt coming into the season that

the NBA is

kind of structurally changing a little bit.

There's been amazing parity the last several years.

I believe the last seven champions have been,

it's been a different champion each year.

And so

kind of the way the league is going was heading that direction.

We liked our pieces.

You know, we felt getting Matherin back was going to be a positive for us because he missed the entire playoffs last year.

But again, you never know and you get humbled early with a tough schedule.

You know, the Paris trip was challenging because

it was a great trip and we split with a team that's going to be a great team in this league and is building toward that direction right now.

But that was two games in nine or ten days And so it put compression at the beginning of the schedule and a little bit toward the end.

And so we had to deal with that.

So

you try to problem solve your way through it.

You certainly have to lean on your veterans and your leaders in tough times to

keep everybody's vibe up and for those guys to stay positive, which they did.

And then you try to give

yourselves the best chance that you can.

And January was key for us because there were no back-to-backs we became healthier i think we had the best record in the league that month and then we were able to keep it going a little bit you know as the year went on yeah it was fun to watch we appreciate you so much i got a chance to meet your wife on saturday night we uh shared an elevator alongside my wife as we were heading up her vibes were immaculate you know it was i thanked her for what you know her and you have done for our city and uh keep rolling coach we appreciate the hell out of you

well punch her in the punch her in the arm when you see her next coach oh coach jesus all right i know we're trying to make a tough team out here but maybe not now good luck the rest of the way we appreciate you all right appreciate you guys be well take care hey respect respect man ladies and gentlemen nba champion coach carlisle

you already gave us one of those yeah yeah yeah at least i gave it to you last time exactly

i'm not doing that again i'm a little worried you didn't give it back no well it's not the end of the season that might be a good thing yeah last year they didn't win last year they got snapped when he did it yeah and that's probably why why he doesn't dish it out anymore it's like when connor mcdavid you know didn't touch sure the uh charles the charles robinson

chuck robins yeah

you know the whole thing and then he touched it this year one change up to mojo coach carlis smiling at the end of that series was wild yeah you know he's not a big smiler

he is a locked in even right there yeah super locked in yeah as he was him listening to the questions is like every word i want to listen to this make sure we get a good answer out here He's an intense guy.

Been to the final six times.

He's been there, done that.

And I think the boys have a respect for that.

Like, hey, if he says it, it's going to work.

We assume it's going to work.

I don't think he's friends with the players either.

I think it's a vastly different relationship.

I think he's coached.

They are player.

We're going to keep rolling.

Obviously, they have respect for each other.

And congrats to Herb Simon, the owner of the Pacers.

There was a tweet about his last 12 months, basically, what the.

Pacers ownership group has been able to accomplish over the last 12 months.

Obviously, the all-star game.

Caitlin Clark has come to town.

The Pacers have reached conference finals.

Now back-to-back years, now they're

reaching the finals.

He goes into the Hall of Fame and longest tenured owner, and then he'll host the WNBA All-Star Game, and his family will.

I got a chance to meet him after his first time, get a chance to meet him.

Just, you know, such a jolly, just so kind.

That trophy's heavy, though.

They put this trophy in this guy's hands.

He's supposed to just hold it out like he's

like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment.

He's like, get this thing the hell.

it's way too heavy 90 years old i mean it's the weight of the world is in here but it actually is like 40 pounds i think or 35 pounds or something like that their trophy so it was uh everybody was kind of dragging it around you know not just doing a big ball dance congrats to the pacers we're thankful for them doing it here in indy and uh can't wait to watch the finals congrats to oklahoma city cannot wait to see how you guys play now there was other sports that took place over the weekend baseball had a big one i don't know if you know this but the yankees and the dodgers had a three-game series friday saturday and sunday the dodgers won the series two to one but there was some magic that took place over the weekend ty yeah absolutely if you're just a fan of baseball in general you're starting to get into it we've talked about this time and time again and kind of why baseball's been awesome so far this year the best players are performing friday night shohe otani and aaron judge in the top half of the first inning aaron judge hits a 450 plus foot homer to center field to start the series and then in the bottom half of the inning yeah you can see i mean just a monster shot from judge there And then answering right away, Johe in the bottom of the first off Max Freed, who is the Yankees ace.

Boom!

Yeah, he goes yards.

That's exactly what the MLB wants, right?

Without a doubt.

And because we talked about a bunch, you know, when people were bitching, like, hey, this type of game shouldn't be on Apple TV.

It should be on, you know, ESPN or Fox or whatever.

You know, people act like no one has Apple TV, which is kind of a joke, but that's, you know, neither here nor there.

But it was also a 10-10 start time, and you also had other stuff going on, other sports, so it did kind of get buried a little bit but the weekend as a whole they couldn't have asked for a better showcase otani hits two homers in that friday night game against the yankees judge hits one and then on saturday the dodgers beat the hell out of the yankees but judge hits two homers and then last night on sunday night baseball

I mean, it was just a great game.

Very entertaining, back and forth.

Both Shohei and Aaron Judge go hitless last night, and it was kind of the supporting cast who came and, you know, did their damage.

But overall, a lot of people saying, hey, this is a potential World Series preview of this upcoming year.

It was obviously the World Series last year.

And I think overall, just for the state of baseball, you could have done a lot worse.

All the stars were there.

All the stars played, which is huge.

And for the most part, outside of that Saturday game that was kind of a punt,

Yankees gave up nine runs in the first inning.

And obviously, Show, hey, he's got a new baby at home.

So he's very, very sleepy, obviously.

18-2.

Can we end this game?

Is there not some mercy rule in this entire thing?

Exactly.

So, like, if you take that out, which is kind of just a throwaway,

overall,

this is exactly what baseball needed.

Now, it would have been nice if that Friday night game was a 7-10 first pitch and not 10-10, but overall, all three games on national TV, it was great.

Okay, so not just professional baseball, obviously, having their stars, college baseball is happening right now.

Okay, and there's big news, historic news.

The number one and number two overall seeds.

Hi, right?

Is this the first time a long time?

Yeah, so it's the first time since 1999 when they introduced like national seeding that the first overall seed who was Vanderbilt this year got eliminated.

Great highlight here.

You can see a pop fly to end the game from Wright State, who not a bad team, but again, these SEC teams, we've talked about it after COVID, you know, with the beers going crazy.

Like they pack out these stadiums.

Vanderbilt, first number one nationally ranked seed to not make it to the Super Regionals ever.

So like they're supposed to win.

You know, it's at Vanderbilt.

It's at their home stadium.

They're supposed to win.

They don't.

Wright State

upsets them.

And then later, Texas, the number two overall seed, they get eliminated by Texas San Antonio, the Roadrunners, making their first.

Yeah, Meet Meet making their first ever appearance in the Super Regional.

So this is just the first round.

We still still have another, you know, after the super regionals, we'll get the teams who are going to Omaha.

But if you're just kind of like an ancillary fan of baseball, this time of the year, watching college baseball, it is incredible.

On that note,

West Virginia baseball.

Yeah,

Kentucky, where are they from?

What conference?

They're in the SEC.

Oh, really?

Best for right?

Well, well, well, West Virginia, Don, 12-8 in the eighth inning.

Gavin Kelly hits a single to make it 12-10.

Oh no, the boys are back in time.

Bottom of the eighth, nine innings, obviously, in baseball, but all of a sudden at bottom of the eighth, it gets a little sketchy.

12-8, now it's 12-10.

Now, because of Ben Lumsden, he hits a single to make it 12-12, and the West Virginia Faithful are going apeshit for baseball.

Now it's a tie game.

Bottom of the eighth, they can't continue to, can they?

Yes, they can.

Armani Guzman.

He hits a single to make it 13-12.

Scoreless ninth inning for both teams.

West Virginia knocks out Kentucky in a double elimination first-round battle.

And West Virginia has a five-run eighth inning to come back from being down to take the lead.

And the Mountaineers march on.

Vandy, gone.

Texas, gone.

Kentucky, gone.

West Virginia, rolling.

Shout out to college baseball.

Huge for West Virginia, too, because I believe they were slated to play Texas in in the super regional if Texas would have advanced.

So now they're going to be going, you know, they have UTSA instead.

There is a very good chance that West Virginia makes College World Series.

They need to figure out how to celebrate.

That was some of the shittiest celebrations I've ever seen.

They weren't ready.

The boys were jacking.

It was 12-8.

They thought this was over.

They weren't ready to do the entire thing.

You have a five-run inning.

I didn't know that was two outs.

Whole rally was with two outs.

I had no idea that was possible in baseball.

Love that.

I was not watching.

the game live.

Should have been, obviously.

I was just seeing WVU baseball tweets that were popping up in my algorithm.

Yeah, there's a couple people that fall.

I mean, good joy.

Good joy here.

Should have just ended it.

Should just ended it.

Probably a good thing, too, because in the grand scheme of things, they really haven't won shit.

You know, this is more where they're trying to go.

Look at them, Kerry and Gatorade, the water, power.

Yeah, yeah, nobody gets it.

No, no, yeah.

And we just dump it on the ground.

That's off.

What do you want?

We had five runs in the eighth inning with two rots.

We've already done our match.

We're going to be dumping power on anybody.

Save that for the next round.

Huge win, though, over Kentucky.

And it's not just college baseball that's electrifying.

It's also college women's softball season we need to be watching.

Yeah, without a doubt.

We talked about Oklahoma a little bit on, I think it was Friday, another, you know, just packed weekend of college softball action.

The biggest kind of takeaway was the Tennessee and UCLA.

Drama.

A little bit of drama.

Who is this again?

Megan Grant.

Yeah, so Megan Grant hits a two-run blast.

She's one of the big poppers for UCLA.

She was 0 for 9 in the tournament coming in.

She hits a two-run homer, okay, late to tie this thing up.

First pitch.

Yeah, first pitch in the last inning.

They need this, otherwise they're done.

She rounds the bases and gets jacked up, celebrates with her teammates.

But

she did step on home plate.

What?

Yeah.

Yeah, she was excited.

Both feet could have technically clutched it because she did like a little skippity step in there.

Back foot could have touched it, front foot could have touched it.

Somehow, both cleats do not touch home plate.

Correct.

But they celebrate big.

Celebrate big.

And I don't know, one thing led to another.

They ran up reviewing this to see if this should count or not.

Yeah,

they showed Tennessee's dugout because they immediately were like, yeah, she definitely didn't touch home plate.

And long story short,

there's a review basically where if someone on base...

Is that Spanks?

It is.

That's Spanks.

Yeah, Spanks on the field.

That's Spanks.

Oh, yeah, that's cool.

Wow.

He's got the same fiddle.

And he's potentially blocking an angle, so he needs to watch his shit.

Maybe get out of the way, Spanks.

He's ain't about you.

He might be a UCLA fan.

We don't know.

He got us blocking the angle.

Exactly.

Anyways, they go back to the review.

They review it.

And there is a rule where, like,

basically another runner, you can see here who is on base guides her to home plate to make sure she touches it so it's not an automatic out.

They review it, and the umpire says, hey, she did miss home plate, but this actually isn't a reviewable call.

So

the runs will stay on 4-4.

We're going to extras.

Appendix G actually states that this is not reviewable, even though they do review it.

And

the promo from the ump after the review, something special.

Because he goes and says,

the call is upheld or whatever.

So the UCLA people go crazy.

And then he goes, After review, we noticed that she did not touch home plate.

She was guided back to home plate.

Now, the Tennessee fans are like, why don't we talk about it?

Then he says, but we found out through Appendix G, not reviewable, actually.

So everything we just did, waste of time.

Yeah.

But with that being said, count it.

We're going to extra innings.

Tennessee would go on the way.

Yeah, Tennessee walks them off in extras.

And so now we're down to the double elimination round.

Oklahoma's still alive.

They have one loss, though.

They play Texas Tech today, I believe.

So they have to beat Texas Tech twice too, D.

But I know that Texas Tech's got an absolute dog out there.

Yeah, Kennedy, they're a pitcher.

A million-dollar woman, actually, got a million dollars in the NIL transfer from Stanford.

She had, I believe, Gilman gave up four hits, seven strikeouts, also hit a double.

So she's a weapon.

Texas Tech, their first win in the World Series history.

So

this is the first time they're ever going to the semifinals.

And like you said, double elimination.

So it got to beat Oklahoma or Oklahoma has a chance to beat them if they lose to them.

Right, yeah.

Oklahoma's going to have to,

I don't believe they've lost yet, so Oklahoma has to at least beat them twice.

So we respect and appreciate college ball and stick sports in this time carrying us whenever there isn't a playoff game at night.

The NHL Stanley Cup finals begins on Wednesday night, first rematch since Penguins Red Wings.

I believe a lot of people are saying, you know, Crosby, very similar.

He played against the Red Wings in the second year is when he won his first cup.

So they're saying McDavid, it might be his time now.

But yeah, very jacked up for this.

And everyone's going back to last year where Chucky said, hey, we'll see you next season, baby.

And this is it.

And now we go.

You see the Oilers up there.

They're minus 125.

That is for game one and also the series.

They are minus 125 in the series.

Series?

Yeah,

Connor McDavid is the favorite at minus 115 to win the Consmythe, which is the playoffs MVP.

Bob is second favorite at plus 250 to win the Consmythe.

Let's go to golf.

Scotty Scheffler racks up another tournament win.

The memorial over there in Ohio.

And obviously, Scotty, if he's

on a course, we assume he's going to win.

It was a muddy track all weekend.

It had a nice Sunday.

Scotty Scheffler Scheffler ends up winning.

Old Ben Griffin, or Blake Griffin, who held the lead going into the weekend, he finishes second.

Congrats to him.

Stracha, Taylor, and Henley round up to top five.

Here's Jack talking about Scotty Scheffler's big win in Jack's tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

Now,

looking at the leaderboard today,

he didn't have, I mean, Ben Griffin's a nice player.

Steck Scropper's

Seb Strong is a nice player.

Nick Taylor is a nice player.

Those are all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch.

But he knows that those guys

are not in his league.

Now if he'd have had,

I don't know who else it might have been, but

somebody else at the top, Xander or somebody like that would have been there.

He might have said, well, that might be a little tougher.

I might have to do something different.

He didn't have to.

And I think

I've always was a I just asked Scottie if he watched the leaderboard.

He says, yeah, I do.

I said, well, I d I did, I did too.

I always watched the leaderboard and found out what my competition was.

And I always always felt like what level I had to play to fight that competition off.

And sometimes you'd have to fight it off because you knew they'd self-destruct.

You see?

And so, you know, so you just don't make dumb mistakes and play solid golf and you win.

Jack Nicholas is saying Scotty Schoffler definitely won.

Okay.

I'm not

saying he didn't win.

But for the tournament that I put together and I host here, it would have been nice to have a couple bigger.

Strzz is a good boy.

He's a sweet boy.

Solid boy.

But he sucks.

That's not what Jack said.

That's what I said.

He said he's a good ball player.

He's a good ball player.

But, you know, some of these guys are going to self-structure.

Scotty Scheffler knows that.

So maybe Scotty doesn't have to be as aggressive.

Now, Scotty Scheffler is known to be aggressive, though.

He'll be up six and he's still going for the green, going for the pin.

And I think what Jack was saying was it was real, no.

Scotty never had a moment where he was like, oh no, there might be somebody to come run up on me in this thing.

Now, he didn't mention Rory's name, right?

Rory did not come to the memorial.

It was an elevated event, Jack's event.

So a lot of people are like Rory and Jack maybe have a little bit of heat.

But I think Jack was talking to the bigger story about where golf is currently with the run that Scotty's having.

Because I think Jack doesn't want it to be tarnished.

I think Jack doesn't want people to hold over Scotty's head.

Scotty, you're not playing against a full field any of these weeks because I think he has massive respect for Scotty, but Scotty hasn't had the opportunity to have to dominate everybody in the world because of this current state of golf.

Yeah, obviously Jack, you know, Barrett can say whatever the hell he wants to say, and he will.

And he's been holding this tournament for a long, long time.

but he also mentioned that Scotty is playing you know even better than Jack played during his time because of the competition that's out there week in and week out and you know maybe it is some things with Rory not showing up and not being there whatnot but I mean Scotty rather he he to me he plays like boring golf his and his version of boring golf is still elite he's an elite ball striker off the tee obviously going into the greens and then when he's putting decent he's gonna win by a handful of strokes so he he's incredible but i love i do love what jack said and it's just kind kind of like what we say every time we have an extended conversation about golf: we want to see the best players playing against each other as often as possible.

And some of those best players are in, you know, live right now.

And hopefully, we can get them all together at some point.

But I mean, Scotty, what he's doing is unbelievable.

A long, long way to go to catch Tiger, but he is unbelievable.

He has to win 55 of 109 events now.

I had to win 56 of 110.

Already knocked one off.

So now I'm going to win 55 of 109.

And, you know, like

elevated PGA events to catch Tiger, yeah.

Insane.

The elevated PGA events were supposed to be like the majors of the PGA tour.

So like Rory not playing in that

is an interesting conversation.

I hope Rory's okay.

Like I hope Rory's all right mentally, physically.

I hope everything like that.

But I think Jack is getting a little bit worried.

Like, hey, we put up a massive purse here.

20 million.

Yeah, we put up a lot of 4 million is what Scotty won.

There was a lot more money out there for everybody else.

This was supposed to be the elevated events.

So everybody in a PGA, you would think, was supposed to be there.

So Jack probably a little bit like, hey, come on, like, this is what we're trying to do in this entire thing.

Because if not for the elevated events, the only thing we can really look forward to for Scotty to take on all the greats is the majors.

And it's like the majors are where the live players are also at, but also all the big time PGA players are at.

So I think there's a lot of combo right now.

And I don't care because if I see Scheffler on the leaderboard, I'm going to watch.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm going to watch.

I'm going to have it on at least in the background.

And I'm going to hear people talk about something incredible that Scotty does.

So it's certainly good for golf.

But I do like that the old heads in golf were like, hey, boys, what have we done?

We drove in RVs from tournament to tournament, just like every sports, OGs, back in my day.

Back in my day, back in my day.

I love the golf really has a back in my day situation right now.

Cause, oh, it would have been nice if Phil Michelson would have went and played in some other tournament, Tyre could say, so that I don't even have to worry about him.

And it's like, Scotty's still winning these tournaments in my eyes.

Yes.

If everybody's here, but we'll never know.

I guess that's what Jack's saying.

We'll never know.

Exactly.

And I guess maybe we don't, but even if Rory's there, even if everyone is there, you assume Scotty plays even better.

But you need exactly.

That's how I feel.

Yeah, like he's still going to kind of raise his level of play to everyone else.

But even just Rory's not enough.

Obviously, you want him there.

He's a big name.

He just won the Masters, but you need more than that.

And you need people like Jack to come out and say, hey, this is bullshit, basically.

Like, this isn't the competition that we've been used to forever.

Now we have the guy which it felt like there there wasn't in that little in-between period with tiger but now there is the guy the clear number one but he doesn't there's no clear you know number two number three especially when you know rory's not showing up yeah i just it's bobbling over there yeah go ahead john

but no i think i mean it could have been a little shot at rory because at literally every single person everyone else on the PJA tour was there like Xander was there Colin Warcott was there can't lay was there oberg was there they just didn't play well so when that happens you know those are the times that you kind of miss oh if Bryce was there or Ron was there that gives you just more Brooks probably doing a run

just gives you more chances to compete with Scotty because right now I mean he's on a absolute different level yeah need to watch him though should watch him if you're just a fan of sport what you're watching right now is a great in his prime he doesn't make mistakes and it is even when he does he figures out a way to get around it's it's unbelievable they said this about tiger back in the day too they said the competition wasn't good so scotty's just gonna keep winning and everyone's gonna keep saying shit Yeah, I mean, that's what happens when you're at the top of the mountain, I guess, is when it's the breeziest, and Scotty is certainly up there.

I also like that he's got a little bit of moxie.

Yeah, I think Scotty's got a little bit more moxie, and I think his baby had big old bump, too.

So, uh, congrats to the entire Scheffler family kind of getting it all out there.

That's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Uh, speaking of greats in their prime, did you guys hear what happened to Magnus Carlson?

No, uh-oh, what?

He's the number one super grandmaster chess player.

Yeah, he's world number one.

He got beat by Gakesh.

No, he didn't.

Yeah, Gukesh running close to Cillian and Magnus Carlson, punches the table, flips a couple of the pieces, it walks off as a loser.

Is Gukesha?

Maybe I'm the grand king now.

Maybe I'm the super duper king of this thing now.

Okay?

Even Magnus Carlson can't take my shit.

So if he loses once, he's no longer the greatest.

Is that how it works?

No one.

This is

that was disrespectful.

No, no.

He's Magnus.

I love how he called himself.

Then you got to shake his hand.

Yeah, yeah.

Let's out a cat.

Oh, my God, right there as well.

Incredible scene.

I did hear the oh my god there.

Magnus, we want to let you know we appreciate all that you did for chess as the world number one.

You really represented it well, and we appreciate your passion.

But I think it's Gukesh time, bro.

That's what I think.

And I've been calling it since I've seen Gukesh sit down for the first time.

You did say that.

You said, hey, we got a future grandmaster here, boys.

Open your eyes up.

I was watching Queen's Gambit, and they just popped in on Gukesh out there in a park.

And I've seen a guy move into things better than everybody else.

And I'm like, shit, if Magnus Carlson's got to to run into Gukesh when Gukesh is having a good night, there might be a new king of chess.

Who's the best Gucci in all of chess?

I mean, that is the way it works.

Gukesh, 19 years old.

Yeah, except Prodigy.

I don't love that they have him playing with the peasants.

They should be in some sort of like arena in the center, I think.

You know, because, I mean, you probably think Carlson, he's like, well, are we playing in the park?

Or, you know, am I taking on a future grand master?

This should be in front of 50 to 100,000 people.

Yeah, congrats to Gukesh.

Also, congrats to Mark Caboli.

Had the the big scoop on TJ Watt.

Contract offer is available for TJ.

TJ obviously has not agreed to it or he would have signed it, but allegedly negotiations are ongoing.

That is Steelers correspondent for the Pat McFee show, also contributor to wwe.com, Mark Kaboli.

Shout out to Kaboli and Mac breaking that news.

And I am going to go pay my respects to a friend that passed away and

left a legacy of greatness.

AJ Hawk will be on the other side.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice that might change their life.

I'll see you tonight at Raw.

Goodbye.

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It's what we do here, boys.

Pat unfortunately had to take off.

He's going to the memorial/slash funeral service.

I'm not exactly sure exactly what is happening with it, but Jim Merce,

huge, huge loss in the NFL community.

So, you know, thoughts to he and his whole family and everyone that will be attending that today.

Pat had to take off and go to that before he heads to Tulsa for Monday night, raw tonight.

That should be an exciting night, boys.

It really should.

Beautiful first hour by you guys.

We enjoyed it.

I got to see a lot of it here.

You know what?

You guys are really doing it.

Thank you.

You really are, Ty.

You guys are doing great.

It's a toxic table.

Tyschman, how are you doing today, buddy?

Doing great, Hogger.

All right.

You know, great Monday.

Hey, what a way to start the week.

You know, it's always a nice little surprise when you get to come in the studio.

And like you said, usually, you know, we don't get to chop it up for a little bit like that.

So I'm excited.

Great weekend of sports.

Really, you know, what's there to complain about?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing to complain about.

Obviously, you guys documented it very much in the first hour how well the Indiana Pacers.

I mean, come on.

Oh, yeah.

This place is buzzing.

I pulled into town today.

This place is absolutely buzzing.

I see Mitt back here still talking about it.

Some boys went to the celebration, right?

Saturday night after the game.

I see people spill into the streets.

Is this like, is Indiana a basketball town now for life?

Again, I know it's, it's always has been a basketball town, but now it rejuvenates.

It's the state of basketball, brother.

Okay, so this ain't a basketball town.

It's a basketball state, man.

And yes, it was very cool leaving the game.

You know, there's a hotel right across the street.

It was flooded.

And it was like this for a long time.

Were they trying to get this crowd?

I heard they were trying to get people out of here, and they said, no, we're going to, we're here all night.

I don't think they were trying to get people out.

They have, you can see up there where the cop cars are.

That's not,

that's normal, rather.

Usually they will, no matter what, block off the street just because there's so many people leaving the games.

But obviously, in this situation, everyone was, you know, sticking around, hanging out outside.

It's a nice little area with bars and stuff right there.

So people started going everywhere.

The Tin Whistle was packed to the gills per year.

What was that again?

What's it called?

The Tin Whistle, if you want to.

That's one of the local establishments that you're talking about.

One of the local watering holes, Daniel Jones frequents there.

Oh, no.

Some others as well.

But no, it was a wonderful celebration.

Cool to just kind of witness it.

Personally, I've never been at a game where it's been like a closeout of a series or to go to the finals or something along those lines.

So it was very sweet.

But, you know, you're playing a little injured today, Hawker.

What do you mean?

Everyone's saying, you know, your back is.

No, I get up and probably stand the majority of this time.

Standing, sitting, you know, sometimes every once in a while your back just decides to lock up and something happens and you can't really move or bend over or stand up or sit down or lay down.

But you know what?

Driving here today, it felt better than I thought.

I thought that might be a little bit.

Tone Diggs.

How are you?

You tell me.

I know you've had some back injuries in the past.

You're a huge athlete.

You were an athlete.

I watched you go through through the blaster at an Indianapolis Colts training camp last year.

Very explosive movement.

I'm sure you feel good, but you've had some back injuries in the past.

Yeah, I have, but I have an app now.

It reminds you to stretch every single night.

So I do what?

Nothing.

I believe you.

I actually believe that you do.

Yeah.

Yeah, at 9 o'clock every night.

It pops up and says, hey, Tone, stretch.

Yes, exactly.

9 o'clock every single night, it pops up, and then I go through my stretching routine.

So it's really helped.

If you want me to show you it, show you some exercise stuff like that, I can.

Yeah, maybe later in the first hour.

I know we have Jet Passen joining joining us here in about 12, 13 minutes.

I think he will, he will,

he'll actually, maybe when Jet's here, you can come out here and stretch for some of them.

Let's do some cat and camo.

I know we saw Tony Tony Romo doing some cat and camo on the side of a green at a U.S.

Open qualifier, I believe, last year.

But boys, we've had some news that.

I got to talk to somebody here in the back room.

He might be, I think it's a tough day for some Detroit Lions.

Yes.

Foxy, so Frank Rag now, all-pro, unbelievable, center for the Detroit Lions, a centerpiece for what this team is and how he sets the tone for everybody.

Just an absolute road grader.

He decides, today he comes out, we hear that he is officially retiring after seven years in the NFL.

Foxy, why don't you tell the people that aren't as die-hard Lions fans as you are what this guy meant to the team and what his production on the field and also what he brings off the field.

Yeah, Frank Ragnow is the definition of Detroit football.

He's gritty.

He's tough.

Great teammate.

Fans loved him.

He played through injury.

I'm pretty sure one year he had a broken throat.

Last year, he had a torn pec.

Most guys would have been out for weeks.

He played right through it.

Didn't miss a single game.

The guy was everything you want, not only in a football player, but in the trenches.

And Detroit fans love him, especially because he was there when we sucked.

Okay.

He was there when this team couldn't find ways to win.

He was there when we were the same old Lions and he helped us go from that.

And MCDC gets hired and he builds the brand new Lions.

I am thankful and grateful for what Frank Ragnow did for us.

And I'm just glad he got to see success.

I'm glad he got to see what Detroit was like.

And the fans were like before and after how good we got.

So thank you, Frank.

This is a bummer, only 29 years old.

And we drafted a guy in the second round this year, Tate Rattledge, out of Georgia.

He has the mullet.

I'm sure you've seen him on the internet.

Oh, yeah.

He's going to be the guy that might come in and fill in for center.

So we'll see if he can do that.

But yeah, we're going to miss Frank Ragnow a lot.

Yeah, the NFL is obviously going to miss Ragnow, old school throwback type player, road grader, the kind of offensive lineman you want.

Now, Radlich, though, Tony, I've been hearing he's been taking first-team reps at center throughout OTA so far for this Lions team.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, he anchored that Georgia offensive line that was very, very good for a long time.

And then he had a great combine, not only with the mullet flowing, but also like testing off the charts.

So he went in the second round.

And you know, there's a lot of great second-round centers.

But as far as like odds are concerned, it hasn't changed anything for the Lions just yet.

They're still favorites to win the NFC North.

They're second in the NFC to win the NFC behind the Eagles their over-under is 10 and a half so even with what are you taking taking over under I haven't looked at the schedule yet to be honest it's very tough see it's incredibly tough I haven't dove into it yet but there's been a a lot of turnover not only you know on the offensive line but now you know both coordinators are gone Aaron Glenn that's the question

and what's his name Chicago Ben Johnson Ben Johnson thank you very much

so like with that turnover I mean it could be a step back I mean they're still favorite or not favorite they're still still, the overwind title was 10 and a half games.

They don't think they're going to be the old Lions, but there's definitely some change up in Detroit.

But as long as MCDC is

under the hill, they're going to be good to go.

I suppose they may have seen this coming because they.

you know, drafted Ratledge, but Foxy, like for you, like is this guy, is this out of nowhere?

Did you have any idea that this might be coming?

So Frank wasn't at camp, and everyone thought it was a contract thing.

So they all thought he wanted more money.

One of the best centers in the league, deservedly so.

And then when this news comes out that he retires, everyone's like, okay, it had nothing to do with that.

And then also in years past, because of his injury history, there has been some talks of him retiring early.

Did I expect it to happen this year when this team is so good and can win a Super Bowl?

Absolutely not.

But in his Instagram post, he talks about how he wishes he could play.

He just literally has to listen to his body, prioritize his health, and he just can't do it.

So it must be pretty, pretty bad.

And the fact that he says in the very first line of that, these past couple of months have been very trying for him.

So he didn't didn't go into the offseason, I'm sure, planning on retiring, but he probably thought, okay, I need to find a way to get this.

I don't know exactly what the injury was that put him over the top where he wasn't unable to play.

Do we know?

I mean, when you say, when you look at his list of injuries and it says fractured throat, so many injuries.

Like, come on now, that's unbelievable.

Well, he said in the thing, too, he's like, I'd like to say that I, like, my body feels okay, but it doesn't.

You know, like, so he must, he just must be

hurting everywhere.

Yeah, the fact that he thought he could kind of fight through it or rehab through all this stuff, I guess it probably is so many things that just add up on top of each other.

Like, okay, if I fix this, if I get my knee feeling good, it doesn't matter.

My back sucks.

If I get my back fixed, my throat, I got a fractured throat.

He's still trying to rehab, I would imagine.

Do you still think the Lions should be the favorites in the NFC North?

Are they the favorites in the NFC North?

They are.

The sports books have them there.

And obviously, they have the questions at the corner positions.

The Vikings have a new quarterback question.

The Bears have a new coach question.

The Packers.

They're not the least amount of questions, I assume.

Receivers still, probably.

I mean, that was like the bit.

I mean, I know they added Matthew Golden, but that was kind of the whole thing.

Last year, the receivers kind of underperformed.

And then, you know, Love still needs to, like, he needs to make that next step and kind of perform like a $55 million a year quarterback.

I mean, I get the biggest question for me, Tome, would be the fact that the Lions replace both their coordinators.

I mean, that's what happens to great, especially teams that go from not good to becoming like

a stable team that you can count on most likely making the playoffs and making a run.

Like, they're going to pill for your roster.

They're going to take your coaches, and they're going gonna take some free agents away from you.

They're gonna sign with other teams.

So, how do you find a way to have consistent success?

Well, and like, I mean, I don't know about the defensive side, obviously, they've drafted very well, but like, are we sure Hutch is completely back too?

You know, that's a

McNeil as well.

McNeil tore his ACL late in the season, that's gonna be a problem, yeah.

But even with the ACL, I feel like the ACL has become more of a common thing to the point where you know you can come back and basically be what you were.

Like, that leg was so bad.

I feel like I at least forgot about it till you know he came back and had that little sprint workout thing.

And then you kind of saw the clips coming back of when it really happened.

That was terrible.

Have you ever played with anyone who's had an injury like that?

Where, I mean, shit, I guess when you were playing, there's a chance that would actually career.

Yeah,

it feels like you know, the DAC injury was just as bad in the same field, but not a cramp as well.

But it does feel as though

if Hutch doesn't come back 100%, and then maybe J.J.

McCarthy is great, then the Vikings are kind of in the front seat of the north.

But with him, to Tony's point, you know, MCDC

is still there, and MCDC kind of starts and finishes that culture.

And they, you know, Ragnow is unbelievable.

Penney Sewell is still the best lineman on that old line.

So I feel like no matter what, the Lions are still kind of that team to beat, but that's damn near the best division in the entire NFL.

Yeah, we're going to be watching early on, I think, in the season to see, hey, what does this offense look like without Ben Johnson at the helmer, you know, calling the plays?

What's the defense look like with Kelvin Shepard gets named defensive coordinator?

Are they still the same team?

But yeah, like you're a product of your success.

You're good.

They're going to take your coaches.

That's what they do.

Yeah, do I expect them to go 15 and two again?

Absolutely not.

The schedule is much more difficult.

But new offensive coordinator Johnny Morton basically said, I'm not changing anything here.

I might add a couple of wrinkles, but the offense is going to look the same.

And at the end of the day, as long as that O-line's blocking and you can pound the rock, we'll be just fine.

For Shepard, he's in-house.

Is Johnny Moe in-house?

No, but he has history with MCDC.

I believe Johnny Moe came from the Broncos last year.

Oh, yeah, there it is.

How much easier is it for Detroit because they just hired Shepard, who is from.

He's the Packers coach, I think.

Yeah.

Who's already inside the building?

Yeah, he's a good player himself as well.

Yeah, I mean, it works.

It can work all different ways.

It cannot work all different ways, whether you're hiring in-house or not.

But for the players on that team, I think when you hire from within and you don't have to change the scheme, it definitely cuts out some of the garbage of a new guy coming in with new terminology.

It's always terminology.

Everyone kind of runs similar things.

I'm sure you've heard it, but it's like learning a different language when another playbook comes in, okay?

We used to call this Bama.

Now it's called Tulsa, like things like that.

Just one-word little situations like that.

You would assume at the very least, too, that they won't get snake bit by injuries defensively like they did last year.

I mean, like that, you know, you know, you'd hope.

I mean, sometimes it's 15, 16 guys.

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying.

Like this year, you would expect that to kind of go the other direction.

I mean, I suppose it's possible it happens again, but I don't think that they're going to be losing, you know, eight starters.

I believe it was 21 guys on IR.

Yeah, just on the defensive side.

What is that?

I'm sure they sit there and have like a self-scout and they study what made this year so different

so many dudes get hurt.

You think it was?

NCDC was a huge hit.

Maybe not enough.

Maybe not enough up-downs.

I don't know.

They don't want to hear that.

Any Lions player don't want to hear that right now.

You know, they're pissed.

They're pissed at me, probably.

Yeah, probably a nightmare.

Maybe Aaron Glenn.

You know, it's so confusing.

They were.

Well, A.J.

Woods blame Aaron Glenn.

You were saying that earlier that you were just so mad at Aaron Glenn for not meeting with Aaron Rodgers for longer.

Man, that was funny when Aaron brought that up on the show when he was on a couple, what, a month or two ago?

Yeah.

Yeah, I guess you fly all the way out there.

What's he doing?

Yeah, you try to get it.

What is it at all?

What is it?

You tell us.

I know.

You guys do like to come at me and think I have any information on Aaron Rodgers.

Well, you're the only one with his phone number.

Okay, that's false.

You guys all, I'm sure, are in contact with him all the time.

No.

Yeah, you are.

Ty's been singing Mike Studd all day long.

Aaron and Mike Studd have been, they have a five-day tour.

First fun.

It's just Mike.

Yeah.

Okay.

He's changed.

Studd's gone.

Get it right or pay the price.

Amen.

Salute your shorts.

You're right.

I thought there was some Mike Studdler.

That was a Mike Studd there.

I'm sorry, Mike.

He and Mike have been on this five, six day tour where

they do like open podcasts, right?

Q ⁇ A type situations.

They put on concerts.

I haven't been there in person.

I'm not sure what's happening.

But if he does play football, I would imagine Aaron would play for the Steelers, right?

That seems like the only gig-oh.

Well, I'm pretty sure more people from Pittsburgh want him from the podcast, right?

Isn't that

what you mean, Hyundai?

You mean after?

After, yeah.

After Aaron was on stage answering those questions?

Well, I don't.

There's been a bit of a a groundswell over the last few days for Aaron to sign now.

Oh, what happened?

Nothing specific.

Just

people really want...

A certain group of people now want Aaron more than they did a week ago.

A certain group?

I mean, this is...

That feels like breaking news.

Is that breaking?

I mean, Tone's from

your ear to the streets in Pittsburgh.

I am from Pittsburgh.

I've seen Twitter activity.

What exactly happened to spur this action?

Yeah, I thought Mason was kind of getting Mason's tiny steel workers, right?

Well, so there's a certain group that is now pushing Mason harder, and there's a certain group that's now pushing Aaron harder.

Oh, okay.

And is it because of Aaron's actions or Mason's actions?

Mason's actions.

Because he was standing up for a steel worker saying, hey, I'm with you.

This is what built America.

Correct.

So who is against that?

Who's against them?

That's a good question.

In the Burt.

That's a good question.

Couldn't be me.

I don't know.

This is all confusing.

I mean, good thing for us guys.

We have a great guest that's waiting right now.

He's hanging out on the line.

He's sitting there.

He probably knows what you're talking about, Tone, but let's let this guy come on.

Great friend of the program, works for ESPN.

He's actually the insider of all insiders.

When it comes to anything baseball, this is who we go to.

Please welcome Mr.

Jet Pastor.

God, I love this.

I dressed up for you, AJ.

Thank you.

This is a monumental day.

It is a monumental day, Jet.

Now, I know you've been a bit cagey.

We're going to have to get right to it.

You're a bit cagey on your tweets and everything you're doing on X.

What's going on?

The FBI is looking into stuff with the MLB PA, the NFL PA.

What happened?

What's going on?

Any new information you have on this story?

AJ, we're still trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

What we do know for sure is that there is an FBI investigation right now into the financial dealings of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the NFLPA,

and this company that they created called One Team Partners that essentially serves to license the NIL for all of the players and try to make money.

And they've done a phenomenal job of doing that so far.

One of their original partners was named Redbird Capital.

And Redbird Capital had a 40% stake in One Team Partners that it sold in 2022 at a $1.9 billion valuation.

So this is big money that we're dealing with right now.

And while we don't know the full scope of the investigation, anytime the FBI comes around asking questions of players,

you know it's a big deal.

And so this is a story that's unfolding right now.

And we will keep digging in, myself and Don Bernada, and try and get down to what the true facts really are.

So Jet, you say the players are obviously not the targets of this investigation.

Who are the targets?

Can you name them?

Like, do we know how many people are targeted?

I do not know at this point who these specific targets are, and I don't want to speculate on that right now.

You can speculate.

Yeah, I'm probably not going to do that.

That's, you know, that might be slander.

It could be a defamation lawsuit.

You know,

we've dealt with

defamation lawsuits on this program before, I believe.

So I would prefer not to get you guys in trouble.

Myself, I don't care about that.

But you guys, I don't want to do that to you.

Okay, I appreciate that, Jet.

Now, Toshman has a question for you.

Yeah, Jet, what's the news going around about Orlando potentially wanting or potentially getting a new MLB team because of how many tourists go through that area and everything.

But then, if I'm not mistaken, the MLB basically doesn't want a third team in Florida.

Is that correct?

And how likely or probable is this whole situation?

It's a really interesting question, Ty, and I was not expecting that one.

We'll get to the other one later.

Yeah, we can, you know what?

Why don't we answer, come on, just give it to me now.

It's like you're buttering me up.

No,

no, no, no.

Just rip off the band-aid.

Let's hear it, Ty.

Well, let's tease him.

Yeah, okay, fine, fine.

We'll go back to Orlando in a little bit because I actually am very interested about that whole situation.

But everyone knows, or at least I personally think you're a bit of a Yankee hater because you're from Kansas City.

I know you're a big Royals guy, but

not a big Royals guy.

Well, either.

You were at one time, maybe.

No, actually, never mind.

Yeah, you're a Cleveland guy.

Never mind.

Excuse me.

But

that whole series, how good what, I mean, outside of the Saturday blowout game, which is kind of a dud throwaway, in your eyes and like for the overall good of baseball, how important was this weekend series with the Yankees and the Dodgers?

I just love it when two really good teams get after it, man.

And that's what this weekend was.

And I appreciate it very much that the Yankees.

got absolutely lambasted on Saturday and then came back against the Dodgers' best pitcher, the guy, you know, who beat him in game two of the World Series last year.

We can go on and on about what

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been.

What he was not is a New York Yankee, which Ty Schmidt once reported.

But that being the case,

they went after him and they hit him and they hit him hard.

Ben Rice's home run to center field.

I know it was a hanging splitter, but he hit the absolute snot out of that ball.

And the Yankees showed.

They are a very, very good team.

And the Dodgers, I think, showed in spite of their injuries and the fact that they're behind the Cubs and behind the Mets.

And, you know, this isn't a team that's going to win 120 games like some people thought.

They're still really good.

And I would argue they're still probably the favorite to win the World Series at this point.

We're going to see him pitch anytime soon, Jet?

I hope so, man.

He's throwing Shohei Otani's who we're talking about.

And he's throwing bullpens right now.

He's just, man, he's so good offensively.

I just love watching every swing that he takes because he takes these swings with intent and with purpose to punish baseballs.

He wants to hit the seams out of them.

And

at his size and with his skill and all of the ability he has, I could watch Shohei Otani hit only for the rest of his career and be perfectly satisfied as a baseball fan.

But the fact that he's back on the mound throwing bullpens at this point,

trying to ramp back up so that he can be ready for those important games come September and October.

I think he's going to get there.

But

we got to remember, this is so much different than the typical pitcher who's trying to come back from major reconstructive elbow surgery.

Those pitchers get to rehab just throwing, get to go down to the minor leagues and have 30 days to get their stuff together against live hitters in live situations with crowds.

Otani has none of that.

And so what the Dodgers have to do here is be extremely judicious and not push him too far and hopefully have him ramping up in the games, you know, first start maybe 50 pitches and then after that, 60 and then after that, 70 slowly, because what he's trying to do here, it's uncharted territory.

Yeah, it is.

But do we know, is Shohei pushing?

Is he pushing the Dodgers to try to get out there earlier?

Like, does he want badly to go out there and pitch?

I think he's being smart about it.

And the interesting thing about Shohei Otani, AJ, is that throughout the course of his career, he has more or less dictated what he does because there is no playbook.

There is no script.

Nobody knows how to handle two-way players and how to keep them healthy.

And clearly that hasn't happened when it comes to his elbow.

So I think going to the Dodgers in part, in addition to joining with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and this machine of player development that they have, part of it was that the Dodgers have really smart people in that organization.

Now, they still haven't been able to keep all of their pitchers healthy.

So it's not like the Dodgers have it cracked and figured out, but at least I think Shohei Otani knows when they bring him information, it's not just going to be guess.

It's not just going to be speculation.

Like there will be logic behind the ideals that they have.

Jet, I know Ty was teasing you earlier, but what about the Orlando situation, possibly getting another Major League Baseball team?

Is that on the horizon?

I can more or less promise that there will not be three teams in Florida because right now they have two teams and neither of them is really drawing.

You know, the Rays, granted, are playing at Seinbrenner Field right now after Hurricane tore the roof off of Tropicana Field.

But even when they were at the Trop, they weren't really drawing.

And the Marlins, they have a new ballpark.

They built it and they did not come.

And yet, you look at the situation with the Rays guys, and they don't really have a stadium beyond 2026 at this this point.

The hope is that the TROP is going to be rebuilt in time to open the 2026 season and that they could play there.

But if that's not the case, they're kind of homeless and they're sort of just floating in the wind right now.

And a lot of people believe that Stuart Cernberg, the owner of the Rays, after the stadium deal collapsed there,

is going to sell the team eventually.

And perhaps there would be a buyer in Orlando at that point who could bring the Rays over from the Tampa Bay area to Orlando.

It's an hour drive.

It's nearby.

You know, obviously, the Magic have been successful there, but

in terms of getting a third team in Florida, not going to happen.

Okay.

Boston Conner?

Yeah, I mean, Jay, you should tell them they could come up to Indianapolis, Indiana as well.

I would love it.

Very nice baseball stadium here, even though I'm sure it would be a nightmare to play.

And

with all that being said, Jett,

baseball aside, you had quite the night last night.

And I know as we've been talking here, you've just been sitting waiting to address what you did.

What the hell was this about?

I mean, are you going to get sued for defamation for this guy?

Because, boy, oh boy, you took him out to pasture.

And I don't know if we have the next two as well, but Barry responded to your tweet and you went at it again.

So, what was this about?

And was this one of your favorite Twitter interactions you've ever had?

Because your bio says you bomb atomically, and it truly is something you do because this was fantastic internet.

First off, thank you.

That's a big compliment coming from you, and I sincerely appreciate that.

Do you guys know who Barry is?

Like, have you gotten Barried before?

Is that McCockiner?

Oh, that's him.

Okay.

Oh.

Same guy.

Yeah, same guy.

Same guy, just a new name.

And

look,

if you can out-troll the ultimate troll, you got to take the opportunity to do so.

And I have

developed a reputation on X for being somebody who takes no prisoners.

And

I would like to continue to do that because, you know, when people come at you, like the internet's a tough place, man.

Like, it is an unforgiving place.

And,

you know, it's like in the wire.

You just got to protect your corners.

I get it, Tone Diggs, with that being said about something.

Yeah, speaking of protecting your corners, I'm not sure if you've seen, but Don Kelly has got the Buccos playing salty ball.

Love Domini Kelly.

Yeah.

Love him.

Yeah, Bubba Chandler's going to be up soon.

So look for a Buccos run soon.

But team that's not going to make a run, the 9 in 50 Colorado Rockies.

Is there a role?

Do they have to play all 162?

Or is there a chance that the teams that have to play them in the second half season just get an off day?

I mean, they kind of do, right?

They got to show up to the park.

Yeah, they do have to show up to the park.

I just look at what's going on in Colorado right now, and it makes me sad.

You talk with executives around baseball guys, and they look at the Colorado Rockies job as being something that they would like to do when they're in their frisky age of executivenom.

Like when they can go in there and just try and run experiments, because it's like you're playing on the moon when you're in Colorado.

We ran a story on ESPN.com.

Corsfield turned 30 years old this year.

And

we went and looked back and talked with players who had been there, pitchers, managers, hitters, opponents, everyone, and just got this collection of stories about how it's not like real baseball there.

And so the things that you might be able to do if you are a curious and interested and thoughtful executive, they are manifold.

And yet the Rockies, what they have is the disease of complacency.

They have done nothing different.

They have not changed things.

They are not one of the clubs that's toward the top, the middle.

They're right at the bottom when it comes to innovation.

Dick Moffat, their owner, has talked about the idea if there's not going to be a salary cap in baseball of having a cap to spend on technology and other things of that ill, which is just,

it's wild.

And I think it speaks to how the Rockies have been run for all this time.

They're just an organization that's a decade plus behind right now.

And some of that goes back to ownership, some of that goes back to front office, but there's a reason that they are where they are right now.

And it's fascinating to see.

I mean, you know, we see records like this in the NBA every so often.

Like if the team is really, really bad, they'll get to 50 losses before they get to double-digit wins.

We've never seen this in baseball before.

And considering that this is happening the year after the Chicago White Sox set the new record for futility, that we could potentially see that again,

it's just a shame what's going on with the Rockies right now.

And yet.

And yet, they are drawing 30,000 people to that ballpark every day because it is a gorgeous park and people in Denver just like having a good time and watching a baseball game.

And I love them for that.

What technology would he be talking about?

Hey, Jumbotron, like we don't want to have to upgrade this.

Like, I don't get it.

What is that about?

We're looking more at like analytical models.

Can he say we need to spend less on that?

He wants to spend less or more?

He wants everybody to be at like the same baseline.

He doesn't want the teams that have more money to go out.

And for example,

there's this pitching machine called the traject.

And what the traject machine does is it takes all of the data that gets captured by the cameras around the ballpark and determines, you know, the spin on a ball and the spin axis and the velocity down to a tenth of a mile per hour.

It inputs all of this data into this machine.

And this machine, through all the things inside, not only can replicate every pitch that was thrown in Major League Baseball this year, like to an exacting degree, but it also has an image on the front of the machine of that pitcher himself and his delivery.

Right.

So it's amazing.

Yeah, so you can essentially take batting practice against the guy who you are going to be facing that night.

There are some organizations that have multiple trajects.

There are some organizations that have none.

And I think the idea that Dick Mofford has is to level that that playing field so everyone's the same.

But

I mean, at what point do you stifle innovation by doing that?

At what point is everything too similar?

And I think it's a fair thing to say that this is a real problem in baseball where if we're not encouraging teams to go out and be the absolute best that they can be at all times, what's the point of even playing the games?

What's the point?

Today?

Jet, the artist formerly known as Jack Taney, when he was at Florida, Jack Caglione, is getting called up by the Royals.

Now, I don't know, maybe for like casual fans, this is kind of like whatever, but you look at his numbers and what he's been doing in double A and triple A.

Do you think he's the type of guy who's going to come in and make like an immediate impact and be like one of those future superstars in the next couple years?

Because obviously, if you watch him play, like he is absolutely electric.

Like, do you see him as being one of those really

marketable guys who we'll talk about in like this, maybe not the same sentence, but like up there with the judges and the Otanis of the MLB?

Ty, I know you said that this is the kind of guy that maybe the casual fan doesn't really know about.

They should.

And I think they're going to.

Because let's put it this way.

This is what Jack Cagleone is.

He is a guy who has the kind of power that Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani have.

And there are very, very few guys in baseball who can say that.

And even more, he has really good bat-to-ball skills.

So he doesn't strike out a whole lot.

The problem is, Jack Caglione will go out of the zone and swing at pitches that are chases.

far more often than either you like to see or far more often really than any productive or like MVP level major league Baseball player does right now.

And the reason that the Royals hadn't called him up at this point is because he was adjusting to a new position in outfield and they wanted to see improvement in the chase.

The guy is so skilled, though, 6'5 ⁇ , 250 pounds, like absolute unit.

And even if he does not tie, get off to like an incredible start,

he's going to hit a ball 450, 475 feet, just like that, that you're going to see and say, oh my God, how does a human being do that?

And when you have him and Bobby Witt Jr.

in the same lineup together, if Jack Haglion is what evaluators believe he's going to be, the Royals are going to have perennial MVP candidates hitting back-to-back in that lineup.

Jed, isn't that kind of like a, I don't know, like a reps thing to where you're,

as you get older, as you get more reps, you're going to stop chasing balls out of the zone?

Like, isn't that kind of a normal progression for a young player?

Not always.

It's a really fair question.

And you would think that that would be something that every player, right, once they see more pitches at the big league level, would improve on.

But it tends to be that chase stays the same unless guys really spend a lot of time and energy and effort working on it.

And in Jack Haglion's case, it's really the only ding against him at this point.

But it's about swing decisions and pitch recognition, AJ.

And that's the sort of thing that as you get older, maybe it improves a little bit, but you don't tend to see those huge leaps where guys who swung a tongue earlier in their career all of a sudden get much more judicious as they get older.

It's kind of like, you know, Tiger and Stripes.

Like you are the hitter that you are.

And there can be some incremental improvements, but I don't think we're going to see the guy like turning into Juan Soto, who's swinging at only 15% of the pitches outside of the zone, as opposed to Cagleone, who's at 35 or so.

Okay.

All right.

Boston Connor?

Yeah, Cagleone, absolute weapon.

I feel like I, as a casual, learned about him at the College World Series jet.

And now, you know, this past weekend, college baseball had a hell of a time.

Is there a star of this tournament you kind of expect to really shine, to really go to put himself on the map, like Skeens-esque?

I'm sure he's already on the map for the baseball people, but for the casuals, is there anybody that we should be looking at to perform very well?

Or did a lot of those guys get eliminated with all the upsets this weekend?

I was going to say, we saw the number one team in the country, Vanderbilt, get bounced.

We saw the number two team in the country, Texas get bounced.

You know, LSU with Kate Anderson, who I think might be the guy to answer that question.

LSU, you know, lost a game against a team that nobody thought they were going to lose against.

And this to me is like baseball in a nutshell.

It's just the kind of game where a team can come out of nowhere and go and knock off one of the big boys.

And it's what I appreciate about the sport.

Like, you don't have to be the most talented.

You don't have to throw the hardest.

You don't have to hit the farthest.

You don't have to run the fastest.

You can still win baseball games against more talented teams.

And it's the beauty of this tournament.

I'm not going to say like it's, you know, it's June madness that we're dealing with here, but it's got some of those same elements to it.

And it's not, you know, last year, the number one team in the country and number one seat in the tournament ran the table.

Clearly, that's not going to happen this year.

And are we going to end up

in a situation where there's another coastal Carolina?

Like,

it's the beauty of what's going on right now in college baseball.

And when, you know, just looking forward to the draft in July, like, there's no clear number one overall pick like Skeens

was.

Well, I guess Skeens wasn't even a clear number one overall pick because Dylan Cruz was in that draft as well.

And there were questions about that.

But there's no obvious top guy who's going to ascend to the top of prospect lists.

The favorite at this point, actually, to go is Ethan Holliday, who is Jackson Holiday, the Baltimore Orioles second baseman's brother and the son of, I believe, nine-time all-star Matt Holiday, who, if Ethan goes number one,

he and his wife Leslie will now have two children who went number one overall in the MLP draft.

It's amazing.

Last thing we have here for you, Chet, Juan Soto.

This guy's been on a pretty good run these last, what, two, three, four games.

Do you expect this to continue everything that he has been doing?

Well, it helps when you're facing the Rockies.

That's true.

It does.

Like it helps when you're facing a team that's 9 and 50.

They're easier to hit off of.

Not a novel concept, but I have not lost faith in Juan Soto.

He has been too good throughout his career and is still young enough where it's not like he's going to be losing any of the things that brought him to this point.

When you get the largest contract in North American professional sports history, guys, there are things that come along with that, things that are unexpected.

And it's very easy for us to look past those human parts of it because the guy's getting paid $765 million.

And because, you know, like, hey, guy, deal with it.

That's what the money's for, like Don Draper said.

But I think Juan Soto, at the end of the day and at the end of this season, is going to be a very positive and contributing member of a New York Mets team that's going to go into the postseason with legitimate World Series aspirations.

I lied about the last question.

Boston Connor has one last thing.

Yeah, sorry, Jed, I have to ask.

Red Sox Land, everyone just wants these prospects to get called up to the majors.

What's going to happen there?

Are we going to see these top prospects?

Because I believe they got, you know, two or three of the top 10 in all of the MLB to kind of be those next dudes.

Are these guys going to get a chance here soon?

I think Mayer was playing third base the other day, of course.

But no, not John Mayer, Marcelo Mayer.

But will these other guys get called up soon?

Or what do you think happens there?

Christian Campbell's up already, and he had an awesome April and an absolutely abhorrent May.

Marcelo Meyer, not related to John Mayer,

is now filling in at third base with Alex Bregman on the injured list.

The one everyone in Boston wants, though, is Roman Anthony.

And Roman Anthony is the best of the bunch.

He is the number one prospect hunter in all of baseball.

And as the Red Sox struggle, I know you got him, but he's still not there.

And I talked with Craig Bresla, the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox last week, and you know, he brought up some points that are understandable.

Like the Red Sox, despite just being like like mid right now,

they have a lot of good individual players at this point.

You're not going to move Jaron Duran out of left field.

Saddam Raphael is the best defensive center fielder in baseball this year.

William Abreu has been, you know, the third best hitter on this Red Sox team behind Alex Gregman and Raphael Devers.

And so where are you finding at bats for Roman Anthony?

That's the question.

But it's one that if you move Rafaela to the infield, you know, he plays second base, he plays short sob.

You move him to the infield, and all of a sudden you have a spot in the outfield for Roman Anthony.

Raphael Devers being a designated hitter really sort of hinders things, but maybe he winds up shifting to first base at some point this season, and that just opens up all sorts of options and possibilities.

So I don't know if the Red Sox in 2025, guys, are going to be all right.

I do believe that the Red Sox in 2026 and beyond are going to be an absolute force to be reckoned with in the American League East and that this team is set up extremely well for the future.

Well, appreciate that, Jed.

That's awesome.

Actually, another quick one.

I know I told you last one a long time.

Don't worry about it.

Jed, you're giving us too much good info.

This is, we're entering into the baseball, like the prime time of baseball.

It's June 2nd.

Between now and let's say August 2nd,

what's the biggest thing that's going to be going on with this Major League Baseball?

What are you looking at?

Like, what's going to be a big story?

Who's going to make a push to become the next big squad that we want to watch?

It's a great question.

And AJ, you are catching me in the midst of actually writing about that right now.

I believe tomorrow we're going to have our first trade deadline preview on ESPN.com where I go over all 30 teams, what they have, what their objective is, and what we can expect from them between now and the July 31st deadline.

So cross-promotion alert.

No, I don't.

I have the Reds right now in a category called tweeners because we do not know if they are going to

buy.

We don't know if they are going to sell.

We don't know what they're going to do right now.

The Reds' pitching has been incredible this year.

Andrew Abbott has a one-something ERA.

Hunter Green's been great.

Nick Lodolo.

They could trade Brady Singer or Nick Martinez, or maybe they go out and add some offense because beyond Ellie De La Cruz and Austin Hayes, there just has not been a whole lot from that Cincinnati lineup, which is really disappointing because we have a lot of young players who I think they came into this season believing we're going to hit.

Yeah, another team that was really believing was the Buckos.

I'm sure that maybe they are believing again.

The Skeens trade stuff that's kind of died down, right, Jed?

Is that kind of?

Well, okay,

I'm glad you brought this up because I feel like we started something last time I was on this show.

I was merely suggesting that being open to the possibility of a Paul Skeens trade is something that I think smart teams would do.

Now, I understood this pissed off people in Pittsburgh because finally they have someone that they can root for.

Finally, they have something they can look forward to every five days.

And here's this turd wearing a tie coming in and suggesting that they get rid of that guy.

I get the anger.

from the Pittsburgh side.

And just to be clear, the Pirates have no intention of trading Paul Skeens at this point.

And I think part of that, guys, is because when we've seen

pitchers of or near his caliber get traded in the past, it's usually been with like two seasons before they can reach free agency.

Paul Skeens does not reach free agency for another five years.

So

trying to value that properly, I was talking with the general manager yesterday about this.

I was like, what would you give up for Skeens?

And he said, you know, I think that if I were the Pirates, I would want 10 players coming back.

And that's just not something that we're willing to do for anyone, let alone a guy who throws 100 miles per hour and has the inherent arm injury risks that Paul Skeens does because he throws so hard.

He doesn't have any.

I mean, just because other people hurt your arm doesn't mean he's going to hurt his arm, Jack.

Like, why do you have to?

Also, you guys weren't paying attention.

Ever since Don Kelly took over, they were playing salty ball.

And they got robbed on Friday night of a win.

Okay?

okay okay you know what i i i gotta say i am a huge don kelly fan thank you and i love i love the fire i think he's a smart guy i think he has great feel in the clubhouse players are gonna love him he's put in the time put in the effort put in the work i just hope that everything that surrounds him in pittsburgh all the way up to ownership is as good as he is agreed all right well jet we really appreciate you know i kept you a few minutes longer than i expected but we're looking forward to that piece on ESPN.com.

Cannot wait to

read about your insight into this baseball game.

Obviously, we're pretty early on into a very, very long season, almost halfway through.

We get it.

But, ladies and gentlemen, Jet pass in.

Take it, Jet.

Great job, AJ.

Thank you.

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Thank thank you jet killing it as always cam i'll be reading that piece tomorrow yeah i have to

have to well actually he already he already gave you kind of gave me a setup like hey like he he briefed me before the show like hey ask me about this you already know that right the reds are tweeners he doesn't know there's going to be buyers or sellers at the break which means we're in a great spot right means that's where we do where you want to be in baseball great unbelievable pitching from what i hear yep Ellie De La Cruz, the next big thing in baseball.

Already is the next big thing in baseball.

Yeah.

Terry Francona, manager.

What about Ellie?

ellie's sister passed away tragically and then he kept playing or he ended up playing the game and hit a home run he's a shit yeah one of those he's one of those dudes when you watch him like how do you how would you root against that guy he's always so juiced like so when guys just have some guys have a certain aura about them where it's easy to be a fan like this dude looks like he's having so much fun playing baseball You know, think of any other players like that.

Any other guys, think of any sport.

Any dudes were like, man, why is the guy?

He's a super high performer, but also seems like one of the best dudes that loves what he does.

He's a great teammate.

Tyrese is a similar guy, right?

Gronk.

Yeah, Gronk definitely hasn't.

I guess you say they're like, they're joyous.

You can see the joy on their face and in their body when they're playing.

Jovial, if you will.

Jovial, yeah.

I guess that's part of it.

Men playing a kids' game.

That's what we're doing for Kings Ranch.

That's what they're all doing, Tone, isn't it?

That's why this is championship week, right, Tone?

What do we have coming up?

What days of the week?

We got basketball.

We got Panthers at Oilers.

We got Pacers at Thunder.

When do these games all kick off?

So Wednesday, we start with the NHL Stanley Cup, and the Oilers are the favorites in that one, minus 125, I believe.

Panthers are plus 105 right there.

You see it on the graphic in the series.

So that one kicks us off on Wednesday.

And then Thursday, we kick off the basketball with the Pacers traveling to OKC, where they are minus 9.5 in game one.

And the Thunder are minus 1.

The Thunder are...

minus 700 to win the series.

And if you remember correctly, if you remember back, when the Pacers started the Cav series, I believe game one in Cleveland was also minus nine and a half, and the series price was basically the same.

And that one turned out with the Pacers winning.

So

whether Vegas thinks that should be the line or not, you never know what you're going to get.

Do you guys have an issue with Siakam winning the Eastern Conference Finals MVP over Tyrese?

It surprised me, but I don't think I have an issue.

I mean, Tyrese just wants the trophy.

He wants the main trophy.

Yeah, surprised by who was voting.

Sure, certainly.

Who all does vote on that?

There's a list.

They showed a list, right?

But they both had such a good series.

I think

the crowning moment of the series felt more so like the Tyrese Halliburton triple-double, 15 assists, no turnovers.

Like that felt as if it was the biggest, you know, best performing game.

But then when you look at the, you know, the box score, of course, Siakim had three 30-point games.

I mean, he was the first half, damn near first three-quarter offense for Indy in game six, a closeout game.

But no, the stuff doesn't really matter.

This is what happened with the Celtics Celtics last year, where Tatum widely regarded as the best player on the team.

Same with Halliburton and Indy, but Jalen Brown won the Larry Bird Conference Finals Award and the NBA Finals MVP.

My worry here is that the

Thunder are the Celtics of last year, and they are just an unstoppable machine of a team.

And we live in Indiana, so we're trying to block that out of our heads because we want to know and believe in the Pacers, which I do, especially with carlisle and the thunder having a super young coach um it feels like that is a massive part of this and you know the pacers were in the conference finals last year they know how rare it is to get back here all of those things but yeah the thunder have just been a well-oiled machine all season long and now that they are you know in the finals here we might see you know kind of that next step like you guys have talked about in the NBA or excuse me in the NFL playoffs where like each round it just gets

better and better, faster and faster, more physical.

And then when you get to the Super Bowl, it's like, hey, we're laying it all out there on the line.

And it feels like that with the NBA now, too.

Like, if the Thunder can they get better?

I don't know because they've been so dominant, but you know, they've had a lot of rest, so maybe it's a rest versus Russ conversation, game one, but the Pacers just got to steal one.

I just got to get one.

Yeah, and I just, I just hope it's a good series.

I mean, obviously, you know, we want the Pacers to win, but like that

series against the T-Wolves just sucked.

It was terrible.

It wasn't entertaining at all.

Like the Pacers outclassed the Knicks and they were the better team, but damn near every single one of those games was still incredibly entertaining.

And like, you know, you wanted to watch the last five minutes because anything could happen.

Like the Thunder just beat the hell out of the T-Wolves for the most part.

And it's like suffocating defense, too.

That's the thing.

Like, it's almost like you take their heart in the second quarter almost.

You're like, okay, this one.

Good luck winning this one, fellas.

Yeah, and i feel like the the pacers will at least be able to punch back a little bit because they do play you know somewhat they run similar in style that's why it's going to be fun like how they run okac's defense that they play is just you just showed caruso coming in for a steal like

it would be so annoying to play the oklahoma city thunder with how hard they play on defense they pick you up like there's never like you can just never have a second to relax and i think the pacers how how they play as well how fast they play like you make a shot you don't even have a second to watch it go in the hoop like you got to get back instantly because these dudes are going.

They're catching, I mean, like, McConnell's throwing full court passes to dudes, like Obi-Topping somewhere catching, catching oops, dunking on people.

Like, I think it's going to be a great series.

I really, I think, even if you don't care about either of these two teams, you don't have any personal vested interest, it's going to be fun basketball.

Yeah, very, very entertaining.

And I think with the Pacers, like, the three is the great equalizer.

Like, if they shoot incredibly well, like they have been, they're not going to be getting blown out.

Like, they're going to have opportunities.

You shoot 40% from three with how many threes they shoot in today's NBA.

But they don't even, that's a good thing.

They don't have to.

Don't have to.

No.

Some teams have to shoot a very high percentage three to win the game.

Like, we've seen that happen in the NCAA tournament sometimes in college where a team is heavily relied on the three all year long.

They get in the game, and all of a sudden, they get upset because you hit a cold night.

Like, everyone has a cold night.

We know that.

Yeah, even teams defensively, to your point, that are

some of the better teams defensively in March Madness, and then they play a team that just can't miss.

The cool thing, I think, too, with this series is, like, the Thunder's three best players are 26, 22, and 21, 26, 22, and 23 or something with Holmgren, SGA, and Jalen Williams.

Like, we did this entire thing with the Celtics last year.

Like, this could be the start of a dynasty, a crazy run, and, you know, Tatum gets hurt.

Brown has a torn meniscus, and they don't get it done.

But the Thunder conversation is the same exact one.

They got a very young coach who's going to be there for a while.

SGA is about to get a a massive contract.

Like they'll be able to pay a lot of their players this offseason because of the fact that most of them aren't that too or not too high on the salary cap.

I think they also are

in the bottom 10 as far as

total money being spent.

So

the Thunder could go on a massive multi-year dynasty-esque run if they can win.

So it's going to be awesome no matter what, to Ty's point.

Just keep these games close.

Please.

We just can't be having massive blowouts.

I mean, the Celtics won 4-1 last year.

For me, it was awesome.

It was seven games.

But yeah, it wasn't great,

you know, as far as just the casual basketball fan just wanting to watch a game.

The hockey is going to be unbelievable.

I think

that is kind of the saving grace there with, you know, McDavid going after his first cup and the Panthers going for a back.

Who do you think wins the hockey?

Who do you think wins?

I'm on Team McDavid this year.

I think I want Marshi to win it, you know, because I would like to see Marshan hoist the cup, and I like Kaichuk and but it just feels like it might be McDavid's year.

Yeah, that is I read something

who was breaking that down, just that one clip of McDavid, the crossovers and how many strides he took was something that like nobody else does, like how he can move the way he does.

I saw that too.

So, if you're fast on skates, are you fast on land?

Can you take the skates off?

Is he running good four?

I mean, Wayne Gretzky had absolute wheels.

Did he really?

He ran a 4-3?

I don't know if you've ever seen that race.

He beat all the track.

I did see that back in the day when they were like a bunch of sports stars were racing, right?

Yeah.

And he toasted all.

He did toast all.

That was back, like Wild Ward.

I would assume he's quick.

I would assume he's quick.

Would you?

I would assume he could run.

They used to do that where athletes from all different sports would get together and race and do different kinds of.

You can pop that actually back up.

I'd like to see that.

Here we go.

Look at this graphic.

Con Smythe odds.

What?

That's the MVP of the finals?

Of the playoffs.

Of the whole playoffs.

Yeah.

McDavid.

On culture.

I'm like Bob.

I like Sergei Bobrovsky getting some love up here.

Yeah, absolutely.

McDavid won it last year after they lost.

Remember, there was a lot of drama with that.

He didn't come out to get it.

He was already...

I wouldn't want it either.

Would you want to go out and get it?

Absolutely not.

What do you make of him touching the trophy?

I love it.

I think last year.

Twitch it up.

Yeah, last year you don't touch it, you lose.

I that son of a bitch up.

I agree.

And hockey is different.

Hockey, we all know, like, hockey players have routines, they have superstitions, they have all this stuff.

So we all know, like, this doesn't have any effect on the game.

Like, whether you touch the trophy or not, I understand.

I guess that's why.

If it didn't, he wouldn't have touched it again.

I guess that's why sports are cool.

That's why sports are cool because we have these irrational thoughts about things like this.

Hey, if you touch a trophy, that's why you guys lost because you touched the trophy.

I'm with you.

He's the best player in the world.

You know, it's like if you can't win a Stanley Cup because you touch the fucking trophy, then guess what?

You probably don't, you probably aren't ever going to win.

We beat the Madden curse.

What about the ghost of Gordy Howe?

That's a different story.

Gordy loves hockey, though.

Gordy's not going to, he's not haunting it.

Unless he was the one that started not touching the

Colburn

Campbell.

You got Colehaus.

I was family about that.

Colehauser Yellowstone Championship.

Yep.

I do feel like the Oilers are getting dumb, but another kind of different, one of those summer sports, French Open.

We're also in the quarterfinals.

We're in the tennis season, yeah.

Yeah, we're in the tennis season, and this is one of the first majors.

When's Wimwooden coming up?

That's July.

First two weeks of July.

Yeah, so that will also be.

It's the first fortnight in July.

The French Open's a different deal because you got to play on that

clay and you got to slide and everything.

I'm thinking, well, I'm picturing the doll sliding about John.

He won like 20 shots.

Every single one of them.

They put his signature on the court.

They did a dedication to him.

They put...

You guys ever play on clay?

Tennis?

No.

Before, yeah.

Tony, I bet you're a big tennis guy.

I mean, I could knock it around a bit.

I wouldn't say I'm a big tennis guy.

Tennis took a big hit when the pickleball craze.

Pickleball's still a thing.

People still doing it.

Oh, yeah.

AQ Shipley was at some massive tournament this week.

Oh, I heard he got his rating up to like 4.9.

He's, I mean, he's working hard.

He was with the GOAT.

McDuffie, right?

McDuffie?

He was not there.

Peter McDuffie, he played with Peter McDuffie.

He's a 5.2 remote.

He's 5.3.

It is McDuffie.

McDuffin, McDuffie.

I don't know.

He was with him.

Tyson McGuffin.

McGuffin.

There it is.

Who gives the ratings on pickleball?

It's not like a golf handicap where you enter your score.

Gary Vee.

Maybe WPL.

You're right.

I forgot Gary Vee does.

He gives everyone their pickleball.

You don't know that it's not like a handicap.

It might be.

I don't know.

That's why I'm trying to ask you guys.

You guys were pickleball connoisseurs.

So you played just as long as we did.

Either way, Tony.

Hey, tomorrow, Pat will be back in studio.

Tonight, he is live in Tulsa for WWE Raw.

See you tomorrow.

Hawker.

Have it hoggle.

We didn't get the ESPN Plus and TikTok live and all of that situation, but yeah, it kind of popped up on us.

It's fun.

We're having to be talking about Tom Hogg.

We're just having fun.

What happens when you're dinking?

Dinking and dunking, you're right.

Yep.

The pickleball terms.

Oh, dinking.

Yeah.

I played pickleball for three or four days straight with you guys, and that was the last time I played.

Well,

then we played for like a couple more weeks.

Oh, yeah, you guys had the Thunderball.

Oh, yeah.

We had a good time.

It was awesome.

It was a great workout, but then, you know,

things come and go.

That's a lot of things do.

They come and go, yeah.

Yeah, I guess, I mean, pickleball is fun.

I get it.

It's great.

It's a lot of fun.

I just don't play.

I'm surprised your knees didn't explode while we were playing.

Oh, that's part of it.

That's part of it.

Three days in a row.

You know, Ty was my partner.

Tyler.

Oh, yeah.

I think Archie.

You got to really talk yourself up.

Our issue here, too, is we switched to singles, which is a much different

pickleball is cool to where

you can make it as hard as you want.

You could get as much out of it physically as you want.

If you want to play super hard and dive for those loose balls and run around, you can get a great cardio work.

But you can also post up and try to be an assassin.

Exactly.

See, that's what I've always, it's like, if you want to have a really strenuous workout and be like running and diving and doing shit like that, then like I'll play tennis.

Oh, yeah, you know.

You know, it's like, I won't do that on a pickleball court.

I see Dion just got into tennis.

He posted a video.

He's working with a a tennis prime.

He was saying, like, just give me a minute.

It's about to be my thing.

I was watching.

He looked pretty good hitting the ball back.

Pretty sure it was Dion.

Not 100%.

But you should double check your source.

I was going to say that'd be a bit more.

The source was me watching a video that Deion put up.

I don't know how much time he has to dedicate to tennis.

You know, he's a college footballer.

Well, they all work out.

It's his workout, bro.

Sure.

That's what he does for his workout.

Sure.

Didn't you see Ryan Day plays tennis every day, I guess?

Seriously?

Yeah.

He goes over it when he has.

Really?

Because he was just golfing the other day.

Did he miss tennis that day?

He probably did, yeah.

He was at the Memorial Pro-Am event, of course, that Scotty wins back-to-back.

Another $4 million.

Another quick $4 million.

Yeah, yeah.

Pretty sweet.

I mean, scoots.

It was an elevated event.

He's golfing against me, Ty Diggs, and you, but he's the ghost.

That's not true.

Jack did not have one.

Jack Nicholas, yeah, I know you guys played it in the first hour, I believe.

Man,

Jack talked about it.

If you have it, Zeke, back there, if you want to run it quick, just Jack describing Scotty going into the final day here at the memorial.

Now,

looking at the leaderboard today,

he didn't have, I mean, Ben Groven's a nice player.

Steck Scrapper

Seb Strock is a nice player.

Nick Taylor is a nice player.

Those are all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch.

But he knows that those guys

are not in his league.

That's because he's the best.

Now, if he'd have had,

but

somebody else at the top Zelda or somebody like that would have been there.

He might have said, well, that might be a little tougher.

I might have to do something different.

He didn't have to.

And I think I've always was a, I just asked Cody if he watched the leaderboard.

He says, yeah, I do.

I said, well, I did too.

I always watched the leaderboard and found out what my competition was.

And I always felt like what level I had to play

to fight that competition off.

And sometimes you'd have to fight it off because you knew they'd self-destruct.

And so, you know, so you just don't make dumb mistakes and play solid golf and and you win well i don't i i guess i don't know i wouldn't ever you can't ever go into around counting on them to self-destruct right no but there are i feel like there are guys who oh yeah oh it was out can you imagine what kind of happened yesterday i don't know if you guys watched the end of that thing griffin was within two strokes he had just eagled he had just birdied and then what does he do with two holes left within two of the lead he double bogeys yeah so it does happen kind of happens all the time it just doesn't happen to scotty though you got to beat bill Belichick.

Just let them make the mistakes.

You don't make the mistakes.

Well, I also, like, I don't think, you know,

if we had all these guys from, like, Live playing, like, yeah, it'd be sweet.

But, like,

Scotty is in a league of his own.

100%.

Like, Bryson coming in, it's not like, oh, Bryson's going to win now.

You know, like, it's if Scotty, if Scotty plays 90% of, like, his best golf, like, he's still the best guy out there.

So, like, I don't think, like, yeah, he didn't really have to do anything yesterday.

But, like, you know, Diggs mentioned this earlier.

And I think, you know, Jack said it earlier, like, Xander was still in the field.

Speeth's still in the field.

Like, there's still a bunch of people.

Speeth was making a run early in the future.

Yeah, he got double.

And then he melted as he

was to do.

It was literally everyone but Rory.

What's going on with Rory?

I don't know.

I don't know.

He's healthy physically, mentally.

We all know that.

He just, I think because of his U.S.

Open prep, he didn't come to the tournament.

That's what he said.

Yeah, I think there was only 72 players in the event, something like that, when there's normally 140.

I think that's all elevated events.

That's amazing.

I guess I didn't realize the elevated events, how the feeling was.

We don't need the Mickey Mouse guys there.

Yeah, they all made the cut.

I mean, look, I like Speeth.

Speeth hasn't won shit.

Agree.

His scorecards are hilarious.

So, so I agree, like, absolutely, Scotty's winning no matter what, and I do think that.

And Bryson's guy who's shit down his leg in the past, when you're thinking about, you know, looking and knowing that other guys on the leaderboard would be, you know, you don't have to worry about them because they're going to screw up.

Just having them there is the biggest deal.

Like, when it is Scotty and then a bunch of guys that, that, you know, go like Foxy knows most of these guys who are going digs.

I'm not watching golf every single weekend.

So when I turn it on and I just see Scheffler by two strokes, you know, I know it's over.

And there's no, that might as well be a 15-point game with, you know, three minutes left.

Oh, yeah, to your point, the entire tournament yesterday, there was no chance Scotty was losing that game.

Yeah, absolutely not.

Well, when you look at those guys who are like supposed to be good, like Justin Thomas shot an 80 in the first round.

It's like, so, you know, like, and he does this a lot, yeah.

And then he comes back and shoots 67 and 69, but it's like you like Max Homa, same deal.

He goes low on Thursday and then completely self-destructs.

Like, Scotty's just not doing that.

He's not.

So, like, it, I don't know.

I, yeah, it'd be awesome if Ram and those guys were playing just so the featured groups would maybe be like a little bit more interesting.

But at the end of the day, it's like, you know, Scotty's just in a class of his own.

I don't know how you guys, Scotty has like that.

I'm not saying he's on a tiger-esque run, but he kind of is.

Oh, yeah.

He has that tiger aura to where he

I saw, like you're watching the tournament.

I live five minutes from this course, and I know I didn't go out to the tournament this year, but my son went out Wednesday to get try to get Steph's autograph and Peyton Manning and all those guys.

Went on to rob all the drunk people of their money.

Yeah, so yeah, selling.

Yeah, well, Zin's next year, we're definitely selling Zin's next year.

We're buying

a bunch of couple logs.

Yeah, a couple logs.

Yeah, it's going to be great.

Get those guys that are really stumbling out.

They'll buy a whole log for like $400.

But whenever I feel feel like anyone, when you, if Scotty's even on the leaderboard anywhere, if he's in the top 15 going like on, say, going into Saturday, like, okay, Scotty's winning the tournament.

I feel like, at least for me, and I was around to watch a lot of Tigers run to where if Tiger's in the tournament, you legit felt like I would take Tiger over the field.

I think, at least for me, I watched Scotty.

If he's not,

if he's within 12 strokes of the lead after day one, I'm like, oh,

he's going to win this one probably.

Yeah, and this isn't the first time this has happened either.

I feel like last year was very similar where he was damn near,

what is it, minus, he was like minus 110 to win.

Which is unheard of in golf.

That's the thing.

No one's other than Tiger.

Like, Foxy, has anyone ever been on a run like this?

No, in my lifetime, I said it this morning.

I think Scotty's got to be the second most dominant player ever behind Tiger.

And in two weeks at the U.S.

Open, I'd be more shocked if he lost than if, you know, or yeah, I'd be more shocked if he lost than anything else, which is insane.

We weren't alive for Jock or Hulk, Gene Sarah.

And that's what touched for Scotty.

Because no matter what for Scotty going forward, people will say, like, well, he didn't play against the entire field like all those other guys did.

If they really want to fix it, guys like Jack have to keep talking.

You know, hey, this is bullshit.

We need to figure this out.

Or Scotty needs to be like,

I'm going to live.

The thing about it is that, like, I was reading something, like,

Liv doesn't have anything that the PJ needs.

Yeah.

Like, that they want, like,

they call it onboarding in the article or whatever I read, thinking like the PGA doesn't, like, other than the players, other than Brooks and the guys that went, like, there's nothing that they need to take from the live.

There's no event.

So how are they ever going to figure it out?

How are they ever going to have to?

I assume

they both feel like that, though.

Like, I assume the PGA.

Oh, Liv would love to have it.

Yeah, they would love to have all the players.

And I know, and the viewers.

And the viewers and the tournaments, I guess, the courses.

Yeah, Liv's saying, like, well, we don't need the PGA.

But do they?

I don't know.

I would assume no, if they're just still going.

I read the same article you did.

Like when they break it down like that,

but I think the difference is like the Liv doesn't give a fuck about the business or like the money aspect of it.

But it was basically saying like the PG, the Liv isn't bringing any new sponsors.

They're not bringing like a new TV deal.

They're not bringing any of that stuff.

And that's why the PGA has basically just been like,

we're not negotiating with you guys.

You offer nothing to us.

Whereas, you know, I mean, other than, yeah, we'd love to have Bryson and ROM.

They might get him anyway, because aren't there con't we hear conflicting reports that their contracts are up?

With Liv coming up?

Yeah, at this point, it's really just Bryson and Rom.

Yeah.

It is.

100%.

Yep.

Are any young kids like coming out of college signing with Liv or anything like that?

I know of.

Well, I think, wasn't that part of the thing with the contracts running out?

It's like, hey, we're not doing the big

upfront money deals anymore.

Yeah.

Then you're not going to get.

Yeah, exactly.

I heard Bubba, though, sit here when Pat said hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bubba acted like it was way less than what was reported that he got.

Was he just being humble?

I I don't know because he wasn't at the height of his career when he went, you know.

But he was still a giant name with multiple green jackets.

Well, and the way he talks about it, like they aren't looking at this as a five-year deal, they're looking at it as a much longer-term investment.

It's the whole equity thing.

Like, he gets to own his team, right?

That's how they presented to these golfers.

Yard goats.

So he's yard goats.

So what is that?

Range goats.

Range goats.

So the range goat, do they want some billionaire to come buy the range goats and then you have equity in that team?

I don't know, because i thought live offered pga a billion dollars just to get like in bed with them i thought that was the entire thing and then what the the p yeah and then the pif guy wanted a board seat right and then they told him no yeah and that but uh we thought it was pretty standard operating procedures

what are we gonna do are we just gonna keep playing two there's just gonna be two tours probably yeah just in circles and the majors are gonna be the only but is live going to get any new golfers though that's like they have to continue i don't think it's gonna matter golfers i don't know if it's going to matter if they get new golfers.

They need to end on Sunday at 6 o'clock, 5 o'clock, just like the PGA.

And there needs to be more drama.

And the other thing Liv will never have that the PGA has is, let's say, yesterday when Scotty's in the lead and there's a guy that's never won a tournament in his life and he has a chance to do it.

Like, that's awesome.

That's a life-changing moment for him.

All the Liv guys are made men.

So there's never going to be like that underdog or a guy that's like, wow, I'm going to go get my first tournament ever.

And so like, that's a part of it, too, when there's not as many big names in the leaderboard.

So, there's just a lot of things, but ending at Sunday at five o'clock, I can't stress enough, is so important because everyone watches that.

Can't do the shotgun start either.

That's so Mickey Mouse.

Nope.

So, they shotgun start even on their final day?

I believe so.

I think everything shotgun starts.

How many players on the live roster?

Do we have any idea?

Like,

isn't everybody?

I thought 50.

Okay, they'll bring him over.

50, maybe?

Yeah, I thought it was 50 because you can get relegated or 48 or something.

Yeah, it's like 48.

Going to the shotgun start, and I could be wrong about this, but I leave it's like the last three groups, they all kind of play like you would a PGA style.

So it's not like they're starting on different holes and shit.

So at least like they're expecting those three groups to have the winner in there.

And so it ends with a little more drama.

But I could be wrong on that, but I believe that's how it goes.

Have any of you guys ever been to a live event?

I know D-Butt has played in pro-ams and he's making it.

Just budgy, I think.

Yeah, just budgey.

But Bubba did invite us to play in the pro-am in August.

Yeah, I thought you were going.

You're going.

I mean, I'll tell tell you what,

if the offer is out there, I'll go play.

If the offer is out there, you were actually committed to it.

I mean, I mean, if he remembers.

You know, he's being nice.

He's on camera.

Like, hey, of course you guys can come, but I would love to.

I saw him.

He put it in his palm pilot.

Yeah, the Gordon.

Did he have a stylus that he pulled out and left?

How would you use a palm pilot if you didn't have a stylus?

You want to explain what a palm pilot is to the younger generation?

Okay.

I assumed everybody knew what a palm pilot was.

It looks like your iPhone.

It was a mini computer that, you know, you kept track of your calendar.

It's all right.

We don't don't have to get into it.

Did you have one, Todd?

A Palm Pilot.

I own one, but yes, I'm well aware of it.

You guys probably had Blackberry.

Palm Pilot.

Yeah, the Pearl.

That was around, yeah.

I never had a Blackberry.

Really?

Never had a Blackberry.

Would you have a sidekick?

The

flip.

Where you at?

I did not have.

I did not have a church to talk about.

Yeah, I had the old Razor, old school Razor.

Wow, me too.

Great phone.

Back in the day, Verizon.

Verizon was big onto that.

Everyone had a Razor.

Did you have a Nokia?

No.

No?

I don't think so.

What?

Did you play Snikon there?

Breakbreaker?

No, no, no.

I never got into phone games.

Still not.

It's because you were playing.

I'm an older generation.

You know, like Jim Mercy,

God bless his soul, man.

Remember, he said, I don't care about a new phone.

I want to fly to Mars, right?

I want to go wherever.

Like, I'm trying to go someplace.

I agree.

I'm with you.

I'm in that same generation.

Right?

Yeah.

Ty?

So you were thinking that, like, when you were 18, when you got your first cell phone, like, I want this thing.

I want to go drive to Florida.

I want to experience the world, right?

Oh, sure.

Anything happening tonight sports-wise sports-wise that we can watch, Tone, or we can bet?

Baseball's on.

Yep.

Any big prime-time matchups?

Hmm.

That's a good question.

That's pretty sweet how the Dodgers-Yankees situation at least started off.

It was awesome.

It was cool.

Yeah, it was.

What was the final score?

Of that game?

I believe 8-5.

Okay.

Which game was 18-2?

That was the second game.

Saturday.

Padres and Giants is...

Oh, and then Mets Dodgers.

Those are.

That's a good one.

But they both start at 10 o'clock because they're on the West Coast.

So other than that, not super.

Any college baseball?

Yeah, Punch Chicago.

Oh, definitely college baseball today.

Yeah, women's World Series.

Yeah, what's going on right now?

What's going on right now?

Those girls that pitch that,

there's no way I would ever even make contact.

Yeah, they're throwing 100 feet.

How far is it, 48 feet away?

I think it's like 45.

Jesus.

That's nasty.

But what's so weird is because their arm motion, that's like a natural movement, right?

They can pitch every day.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They said that the girl who starts for Tennessee has thrown like the fastest recorded pitch, I think, in like the history of like softball, or maybe it's not that, but like she throws fucking gas, and they were saying, I think she threw like 79 or 80, and they said it's the MLB equivalent of like 115 miles an hour.

But I've seen her on the mound literally every single game.

Yes, it seems like it, right?

Carlin Pickens.

Yeah.

They throw risers.

They throw like risers.

They throw sinkers.

They went to extras in that game against Oklahoma.

I think it said she threw like 115, 120-some pitches, and then had to, you know, pitch the next day.

No guy has ever tried to do that and make a career in baseball from 60 feet to 6 inches.

Paul, you mean underhand?

Yeah.

That'd be tough.

Ball's not quite big enough to be able to manipulate it.

Manipulate rise like that.

Like, what if, yeah,

why don't you try it?

They do the

submarine.

I'm not good at it.

I'm not flexible.

I don't know if shoulder flexibility.

Fucking try it.

No, I'm just going to.

Get out there and slide stuff.

I can make that thing.

So I can make a dance.

You're right.

Never mind.

I got it.

I can still do it.

That'd be a lot easier on my shoulder.

I had some shoulder elbow injuries like in fifth grade from pitching.

We just know one speed, fastball.

And they'd say, you got to throw a change up.

I said, if I throw one change up and this dude hits it out of the park or hits it hard, I'm never throwing another change-up again.

And I threw a couple change-ups and guys made solid contacts.

That was the last change-up I ever threw.

Main goal just took you deep.

Yeah, Nick could play.

He could definitely play.

He's a good first baseman as well.

We played on a softball team in college, intramural softball.

Love it.

Nick was a great first baseman.

Outfielder.

She could hit the ball.

Laura, you play.

Center.

I'm not playing third and not playing short, especially in softball.

No, I don't want.

I would never play.

I played short growing up.

I never wanted to play third, though.

I don't, nah.

But take one directly off my face.

Sure.

And I wasn't going to wear a cup either.

Use your mitt.

Yeah, okay.

You ever seen some of these dudes hit?

Yeah.

We're using metal bats, not men, too.

Not an intermural co-ed softball in college.

I don't know.

There's some guys.

I know.

There's some guys that were probably on the, you know, probably on the Buckeyes baseball team, but they, you know, torn ACL, torn Achilles, something happened, right?

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I get it.

That's how it goes.

Yeah.

Texas did beat Tennessee, huh, didn't they?

Oh, did they?

Texas beat beat Tennessee to advance to its third championship series in program history.

So, when does that start then?

Do we know?

I think

it depends because I think Oklahoma still has to, like, if they beat Texas Tech, they need to beat them again.

The Blue Bloods, stay the Blue Bloods, it feels like, in women's softball.

Yeah, I think that's a safe assumption.

That's a good way to phrase it.

That was the Oklahoma squads who Pat went down and he got to hit with them.

Yeah,

the gas dance back.

Yeah, she got a statue outside the state.

Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

State National Championships or something like that.

I don't know.

Fourth street.

So Pat will be back tomorrow, correct?

After he does Raw and Tulsa tonight.

Bingo.

It's awesome.

Wrestling is on a run.

Man,

it's fun.

I see different clips pop up, and people ask me, like, when I'm out and about, different kids' games, they ask me about different wrestling storylines going on.

It's pretty fun.

It's a fun world to dive into that I didn't pay as much attention to before.

Pat just been so deep into it.

Just a fun, a fun, fun world.

And those people were awesome.

What a weird, like, cool family environment they all create that we don't know about.

You wouldn't know, but I'm saying from being lucky enough to see the inside and see how

they operate, like, everyone's awesome.

Yeah, they're all so cool.

They shouldn't be.

Yeah,

and Netflix has been great.

It feels like so far.

So, Tulsa is good to be.

Is it UFC going to Netflix?

I don't know.

That's a possibility, they said.

No doubt about it.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, they're up.

I think their deal is up.

Yeah, I don't think it's going to be on ESPN anymore.

That's for sure.

They're starting to pull a bunch of stuff off of ESPN Plus, I saw already.

So it sounds like, yeah, either Amazon or someone like that is.

That would be weird for the UFC to go to that, but that's where everything is going to happen.

And WWE and

WWE made a very seamless transition to Netflix.

Yes.

Seems like it's been great.

Yeah, they can handle it.

I think so.

Okay, good.

And then, Gumpy, what's going on later this week, pal?

What do we got going on, huh?

TST starts Wednesday.

The boys got practice at 3 o'clock today.

Okay, explain TST to someone that may be first-time listener ever.

It's maybe the greatest soccer tournament of all time.

Winner gets a million dollars.

There's

32 teams, maybe more.

Our roster is absolutely loaded.

We play Bournemouth first game Wednesday, 10 a.m.

That'll be on ESPN Plus and ESPNU.

Boom, do you know anything?

You guys have a scouting report?

Like, do you have any idea how these other teams are?

Bournemouth should be pretty good.

They got a team in the Premier League, so they got some good guys, but every other team in our group, I think,

shouldn't be a problem.

Just worry about your own camp.

Don't have to worry.

Yeah,

it's about us.

Not about concave.

It'd be nice to get off to a hard start after how we started last year.

Do you get like seeded after your first couple games, or like your first game or two, or how's that work?

So you got your group, so you have three games in your group, and then the top two teams in every group go through, and then the third and a couple teams go through as well.

So you got to win at least...

Two of your first three to move on, you think?

We won two last year and got through.

Okay.

You need to win two.

Yeah.

Yeah, you need to win that first one.

Yeah, and you guys lost the first game.

You had to to win the first one, yeah.

You lost the first name.

I'm saying you really put the pressure on yourselves, but that's how you guys, that's how you receive it.

Pressure makes diamonds.

That's concave.

That's what they say.

Either that or you need to beat the piss out of a couple teams like they did last year.

Because what was the reggae Rovers?

The Rovers walked us, yeah.

Yeah, and we.

We didn't really have a game plan yet.

Right.

But then you beat the shit out of FC Cincinnati, I think it was, like later that night.

Is Chad Johnson part of my team?

He was like the coach or something.

Yeah, he can actually play.

He can play.

Yeah, they talked a lot of shit.

That was funny.

Chad can play.

Okay, well, it was a gum.

It was.

Because you guys beat him?

Yeah, it's funny when they're eating their words.

Eating the pitch.

I tell you what, Chad Johnson, I respect that dude so much.

He had a professional boxing match a couple years ago and looked good.

Yeah.

Looked good.

Guy's an athlete.

He can play soccer.

That's a different type of athlete, too.

You can do everything.

If you can play soccer, basketball, football, soccer's a whole new world.

We'll also be live from TST on Wednesday and Thursday, this program.

Yes, both of them.

Oh, beautiful.

Wednesday, Thursday, normal time.

We got the stage set up, probably the same spot we were last year, Foxy.

Yep.

That's going to be sweet.

Fans can kind of hang around.

That's a beautiful complex.

Yeah, the weather's supposed to be here in North Carolina.

The pitches look incredible from what I'm seeing.

Is it?

Are you guys playing on field turf down there?

Is it all grass?

All grass.

Soccer players,

you guys demand that, right?

Yeah, but like back in Canada, we always played on turf.

That's all there was.

But those pros like won't play on turf now, will they?

Messi did for like the first time.

He played in Atlanta on turf.

What's the reasoning?

They know that they tear ACLs and Achilles and other things much quicker than they do on grass?

Yeah, grass is everywhere in the world.

Might as well use it.

We'll see what happens in the NFL.

Think they're going to get rid of field turf?

Nope.

No.

No, you can't.

You can do too much.

With that being said, guys, I think we're going to wrap this thing up.

Con man, what do you think?

Yeah, I mean, now I'm starting to just think about TSD.

It's going to be fun, man.

We know what time you play, Gump, what time the squad's going to be going?

10 o'clock's first game.

10 o'clock Wednesday first game.

So before the show, for the program, that'd be awesome.

We'll get to watch hopefully a big victory as the show is getting started.

You guys are going to be celebrating, coming over, maybe sitting in the ice tub again.

I think Greller did last year.

And then 6.30 that night as well.

On the show.

Who's Greller?

That's what I call him.

So I call him.

Jordan's Beast Caddy.

Oh, Greller.

Is he still Jordan's Caddy?

I think so.

I heard he's a stick.

I can play.

His name is also, I believe, Michael Greller.

Yeah, I know.

I call him Greller.

Michael Greller.

Greller, yeah.

He's sticking.

Greller.

I remember you yelling out.

You were doing that.

My apologies.

You guys get it?

With that being said, appreciate it.

Boys is back.

Good job.

Thank you.

Mitt, great to see you as always, wherever you are cruising around here.

D-Bone, good work.

Gertie, Zeit, everyone, boys, appreciate you guys.

Obviously, I love coming in here and seeing you guys.

It's been a long time, I think, since I've been in the studio.

Yeah, since Banium.

That wasn't in here, though.

It's been a minute.

It really has.

It's good to see you, boys.

Good to see everything going on.

Obviously, RIP Jim Ursa and everything going on there with his memorial service.

People from everywhere

talking about how, what this guy has done, what he means, all the behind-the-scenes stuff that he has done.

Just, it's crazy, man.

I wish he would have been around to see a lot of the love he is getting right now.

But yeah, thoughts of praise with him, everyone going through that situation.

His family, I'm sure he had a gigantic impact on the NFL and everyone around him.

That'll be...

That'll be it for me today.

Pat will be here tomorrow.

He'll be back on set Wednesday, Thursday show from Cary, North Carolina.

Concave for Soccer Club's looking to really gas him up.

Coach Gump is on fire.

I saw him practice a little footwork here to get the boys ready during warm-ups.

Cannot wait to get down there and see him.

Everybody here appreciates you guys.

And here we go.

Let's bring it up.

Oh, yeah.

There you go.

You ready?

Team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.

See ya.

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