PMS 2.0 1346 - Rest In Peace Jim Irsay, Former Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone, Bruce Arians, Lord Stanley's Cup, Heather Dinich, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome.

On this Rest Easy Jim Thursday, May 22nd, 2025, this program starts now.

Sports are happening all around us, especially here in Indianapolis, Indiana.

I shed some tears last night when a friend of mine was announced that he passed away.

And we will obviously talk more about that as the show goes on.

And what the Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Herce has done for me, for this program, for the show, for the city,

for everything is going to be tough to kind of break down and chit-chat about.

But Jim Ursai left a legacy of compassion.

and give back that I think should be studied by everybody that ends up with any type of money or any type of success.

He woke up every single day hoping to make the world a better place, making people happier.

And I know life gets in the way sometimes and I don't think he always got it right.

And he certainly battled his demons.

but God bless this man, Jim Merce, in the way he wanted to treat other people, especially people that he knew.

If you actually got to know Jim Merce, you loved him.

I wrote something on Twitter last night, and it took me a lot of attempts as I was watching the Indiana Pacers.

Beat the New York Knicks in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals in Madison Square Garden with a comeback that hasn't happened in 1,414 games.

As I was watching the great city of Indianapolis and a great state be represented, I was trying to talk about the greatest philanthropist in the history of this state, N.

Jim Merce.

Finding the right words was not easy.

Because what could you say about a man who has literally been the owner of an NFL team since he was 37, the youngest general manager in the history of the league as a 24-year-old?

He'd been around the game since he was a child.

He basically chit-chatted about those Baltimore Colts locker rooms as being like his babysitters.

He grew up in the locker room.

Always talked about cleaning and sweeping and hanging out and talking to the boys.

There was a story that has come out that when he was 16 years old, after his dad said something to the effect about the guys being bums and not representing and sawed the team down as a 16 year old he went onto the team bus and said football is a team sport let's never forget it and cried and walked off.

He was a consummate team guy.

He loved those he was surrounded by and if he had heard about anything that needed help or he learned of any situation that could use a financial boost, he was writing a check or giving money quicker than any person in the history of existence.

I don't know how they'll be able to track how much money he's given to people, causes.

He just builds buildings here, just donates buildings to the city of Indianapolis, wings of hospitals, let alone all the things that just go not talked about.

It has to be over $100 million.

And then once he realized that he was able to make other people feel good with his good fortune and with the amount of money that he had, he started buying up things that he thought people would be interested in seeing.

And then he wanted to figure out how he would tour this so that people could experience these once-in-a-lifetime things from ancient hundred-year-old things to the Beatles' drum set that he felt obligated to buy or Elvis Presley's guitar.

He wanted people to experience it, not just him.

He didn't want to just lock it up in a room and say, hey, I'm a rich guy.

I got this.

He would outbid other rich people so that the world could see the things that he found interesting.

He toured the Jim Ursa collection around this country, around the world.

I think he did a couple European stops.

People got to see things that they never had.

The giveaways that this man would invest time in and make imaginative and make it, you know, entertaining for everybody.

He dressed up as Willy Wonka and put a giveaway on for a Super Bowl ring for Colts fans.

He loved making other people feel good.

And I was very lucky.

That I got a chance to call him a friend.

You know, a lot of owners kind of view their teams as business.

A lot of owners view their players as transactional.

A lot of the suits in the NFL might not have the most amount of respect for players, you know, because players are just stupid.

But Jim Mercy grew up in a locker room.

So he had compassion for the players, empathy for the players, and all he's had to play his back.

That's why every player that goes into the Hall of Fame that played for the Indianapolis Colts asks him to be the one that presents them into the Hall of Fame.

We knew he had our back.

We had his.

He had his problems.

A lot of people talk shit.

But if you got got to know him, he was one of the most brilliant, unique, and interesting humans to ever exist.

I'll miss Jim Merce.

And you done good, buddy.

You done good, man.

He was awesome.

He would come on this show anytime I asked him, no matter where he was.

He came on my show in

2012, I think.

I was doing a show.

at a local bar and it was with Indy Star, the local newspaper, and it was on Twitter.

And it was just an idea that I had.

And Indy Star kind of pieced it together.

And we'd have like 200 people come to this bar.

It was chaos always because there's people at the bar that aren't there for the show.

You know, never do a show at a bar.

Never do a show at a bar.

Unless you're getting the whole bar.

Do not do a show at a bar, especially if there's like an audio component to it, because there's going to be drunks at that bar who have no idea that your show is happening.

So it was chaos every single week.

Chaos.

We would have like half the bar.

There'd be 100 people, 200 people there watching.

It'd be an Indianapolis Colch recap show that I was doing.

And it was solely for Twitter.

It was solely for social media.

And

one of my first guests was Jim Merce.

And the reason was because he followed me on Twitter throughout the lockouts.

So during the lockout time in the NFL, the front office executives were barred from speaking to players, and players are barred from speaking with front office and executives.

I actually worked out with the Columbus crew during that time, and I thought I was going to make my soccer dream come true.

I was way too out of shape.

I mean, the coach told me I needed like probably seven, eight months

shape.

And I'll tell you what, I did not have that time.

But the front office people weren't able to talk to the players, but there was ways to get around it.

So like Bill Pollion saw the news thing and it was like me playing soccer and he got a message to somebody, got a message to somebody, that got a message to somebody, that got a message to me.

It was like, hey, this lockout's not going to be forever.

You hurt yourself playing for the Columbus crew.

You would feel like a dipshit.

I was like, who's saying, why are you saying I don't talk to you that often?

He goes, that's not from me.

That is from, you know, somebody high up.

So it was like a real divide.

Like we aren't on the same team right now.

And Jim Ursai followed me on Twitter during that time.

I remember it happening because I was pretty dialed into my Twitter during that time.

I would answer everybody.

I would reply to everybody.

I thought it was the greatest platform because you could connect with anybody and you could kind of share yourself and you could get creative with your words and get creative with your thoughts and you could reach people.

And that's why I think X is so important.

And I know there's a lot of shit on there, but there is stuff that happens on X that's magical as well.

And Jim Ursa saw the same thing.

He loved that platform.

And he followed me throughout the lockouts.

And then when the lockouts were over, we had training camp.

And he arrived at training camp.

We're up in Hanson, Indiana.

I was 280 pounds.

I was so fast.

Had fun.

I had a lot of fun during that lockout.

I had a lot of fun.

I knew I had to tighten up, but I was not in my best shape.

And, you know, I'm at training camp doing my thing.

And Jim Ursa gets there and he's on his golf cart.

And he does a B-line right over to me.

And he and I did not have a relationship like that.

After I got arrested, okay, for public public intoxication, definitely, allegedly swam in a canal, allegedly swam in a canal.

I was definitely publicly intoxicated.

And that was a big moment, pivotal moment in my life.

In the conversation I had with Jim Merce after that, in the conversations I would have with him, he would come check on me, you know, like, hey, how you doing?

How you doing?

You good?

But it was always like surface level conversations.

Good, good.

And then he would get out of there or have a conversation with Adam Vinitari, who he loved.

He absolutely loved Adam Vinatieri as well.

So I was just kind of like a part of the conversation.

You good?

Yeah, I'm good.

Any story, good, good.

And then he would talk to Vinitario, obviously loved Vinitari, and i was just cool i was lucky to be i was there's pictures of me vinny and jim talking practice you know everything like that and in 2011 after the lockout jim came and talked to me and it was our first real extended conversation and once you start listening to him start brainstorming ideas and you get to the bottom of what he really wanted to do all he wanted to do on twitter was give away shit That is literally all he wanted to do was just give things away to people.

And as he was at training camp, you'd watch him just give hundreds to every person in sight.

I don't know if there was a guilt that he felt that he had everything or an obligation to give back to people.

And I think that's why anytime there is a narrative about Jim outside of Indianapolis or outside of Indiana, you very rarely heard anybody here because of how much he's affected and helped literally any human he could have.

He was one of the kindest people I've ever met.

And when I retired, I went and talked to him before anybody else because we had a friendship.

Obviously, he's the owner of the team.

I'm the punter of the team.

It's not like we're best friends.

You know, he's living a much different life than I'm living.

But anytime we talk to each other, there's real conversation, conversation, real moments.

And I think he genuinely liked me as a player.

I don't know how many people, but I felt obligated to go talk to him and let him know that I was going to retire and I was done with this thing.

And he took two hours basically just giving me game, giving me game.

Like, hey, are you going to be able to fire somebody?

And I go, excuse me.

He had his vape.

And he's fucking this big smoke coming out.

He was a good vapor.

I actually told him in that conversation, hey, you ever see those people that blow O's and shit?

Like they do the, he goes, what?

And I text him a link and he's like, I think I could, yeah, I think I could do that if I had enough time.

Loved his vape.

He said, you think you could fire somebody?

Because what you're signing up to do is run your own business.

And he said, I don't know who Barstill is, but I will certainly try to learn as much as I possibly can.

But from what it sounds like, is you're going to be running your own business.

You're going to be managing your own people.

Are you going to be able to fire somebody?

He was like, let me tell you about the first time I had to fire somebody.

Let me tell you about being a 37-year-old owner.

Let me tell you about mistakes that I've made.

Let me tell you mistakes that the Beatles have made.

Let me tell you mistakes that people from around the world that I've gotten to meet that have run companies.

And because I am in the position that I'm in, I get a chance to learn.

And he gave me two and a half hours of just game on what I'm doing.

And he said on the way out that if I ever needed anything, he'd be there to help me.

And he said, I'm going to help you succeed in this venture.

And if you ever want to stop or you get sick of doing it, you'll have a job here for life.

your family for us.

And that was like a very comforting thing, obviously, to know like, okay, fallback plan.

I can work for the Indianapolis Colts, I think.

Like, that was kind of a good mindset.

And I just assumed he was saying all those things because I was in his presence.

And then him following up with that through this business development that we have

and his care for our business in our show he would be showing other people our show as if we were like his kids and like proud of what we did and he would send me articles that he's come across that he thought i should read whether it would be a leadership uh thing a business thing the future of media thing things that are being said about that i would just get a text message maybe three in the morning sometimes because who knows where the fuck he was in the entire world obviously has multiple planes multiple houses has the ability to live and do whatever the hell he wants but he was always checking in and he would hear something was going on with me.

He would send me a motivational message.

He would always come on our show, literally, he would ask to come on our show.

And

I just feel an obligation to let the world know that you might think things about Jim Mercy if you don't actually know him, but we lost a fucking legend in Jim Mercy.

And

our city will feel the effects of him not being here going forward.

And

here's Jim on our show doing his thing showing the world exactly who he is, which is a

compassionate, brilliant,

wealthy legend.

Rest easy, Jim.

I fucking love you, man.

Arriving in beautiful fashion

on a golf cart driven by another massive human being,

wearing a suit that is only top of the line.

A man who walks around and hands out hundreds to people a man that gives away more money than any other human you've ever encountered a man who has paid for everything I have ever done ladies and gentlemen Jim Ursa

My friends call me Jim you can call me Jimmy

Jimmy from the cold

Hell Lolita.

I love my friend and there's nothing like this 57 year old female killer southern or club whale is special now.

I'm frustrated with flying cars because I'm obsessed with that.

I want a flying flying car.

And me too.

I don't want this phone.

Give me a flying car.

And I outbid them for Elvis piano.

Sometimes guys will get liquored up and go swimming in the Broad Ripple Canal.

So it's wrecked traffic in their underwear.

Now, Kate Floyd calls that a momentary lapse of reason.

Melita is mellow.

She's a Buddhist.

She hangs low.

She's cool.

She's happy.

But like Mars,

think about this, is 250 million miles.

250 million miles.

And you go, you know, it takes about anywhere from, you know, nine to 11 months to get there, depending on how you're going to.

Are you going to fucking bed?

Tim, are you going to Mars?

It sounds like you're going to be able to get to the market.

I wish I were.

They go, well, I have these beautiful Monet paintings, but I have John Lennon's piano in the front room.

What do you want to see?

I want to see John Lennon's piano.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I put on this Willy Wonka outfit about 12 years ago, and we had a treasure hunt in Indianapolis, and the winning team at halftime was given real Super Bowl rings.

You have to get them one at a time.

Try to help anything in any way you can, one at a time.

I've shut down a lot of girls going, hey, here's $2,000.

We're going home, you know.

The only thing that beats everything is love.

Love every time beats hate.

Every time.

If you come at hate with hate, it's not going to be good.

You're going to get more hate.

I'm lucky to be a part of the Colts organization.

Getting to know you has been a cool thing.

Just know that I think personally, as somebody who is a billionaire, you're doing good with your money.

You're doing good with yourself.

Well, could I say this?

When you came to my office and told me your plan about retirement, I never thought we'd be sitting there and you'd be the megastar.

Sorry for saying that, but it's true that you are your show and what you do and the entertainment you provide.

You know, as David Letterman type, it's at the very top.

I always knew you had that potential, but man, what you've accomplished, We're so proud of you that you're a cold alumni player.

I mean, you know, you represent...

I'm lucky.

You help me out a lot.

Rest in peace, man.

Obviously, sending nothing but positive vibes in love

to his daughters, his grandkids, his, you know,

son-in-law, like his loved ones as a whole, his staff.

There's a great group of people that have been around him for a very long time.

And I got a chance to send them messages overnight, you know.

The Gormans, I mean, Scotty and Jeff have been with Jim for like 30 years.

Pete Ward has been with Jim Merce since Baltimore, let alone the training room that he has kept literally since Baltimore, the equipment staff, everybody.

He takes care of his people.

He's so loyal.

And I

have no idea how they are all feeling today and last night, but just know you guys all did good, man.

Jim had a great group of people around him, and that's because he had a great eye for talent, and he had a great aura.

Rest in peace, Jim.

I appreciate the shit out of you, man.

Now, I think Jim Ursa had a big, big role in last night's Indiana Pacers' first game win in Madison Square Garden.

Now,

the odds say that the situation they were in multiple times, the game was over.

New York Knicks fans outside of Madison Square Garden were saying that they were going to sweep the Pacers late in the fourth quarter.

Actually, let's go to down 17 with six minutes and 12 seconds left.

111.94 in the mecca Madison Square Garden.

There's no way this Pacers team's able to do that.

Uh-uh.

Nerhard, 18-foot, step back.

How you doing?

Keep it moving.

Pasco Siakam.

I mean, then it became the Naismith show.

Aaron Neesmith, shooter out of Vandy.

This dude won ape shit at the end of the fourth quarter.

Obviously, Tyrese Halliburton's going to do his thing.

He's going to be a facilitator.

He's going to knock down shots.

But Naismith goes five five of six late in the fourth quarter.

Goes absolutely unconscious.

That one right there from three foot beyond the arc.

Then that one off balance.

Bang, bang.

How you doing?

Keep it moving.

Tyrese.

Ah, game winner.

Jim Merce grabs that thing from heaven, throws it through the hoop.

And Tyrese Halliburton says, Reggie, you see me?

We just did it.

Biggest comeback in the history of basketball.

There's actually a stat that, shout out to Between the Numbs, Greg Harvey.

The teams were 0 in 1,414 in playoff games when trailing by nine plus points in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Well, this Pacers team, you think to yourself, well, that must have been just some anomaly last night.

That must have been some specialty.

Uh-uh.

They would go into overtime, not play their best basketball, and they'd come out of Madison Square Garden with a win, a massive win.

Tyrese Tyrese goes for 31 and 11, double, double, 30 plus points.

How you doing?

Keep it moving.

Nee Smith goes absolutely unconscious.

The boys go bananas in Madison Square Garden.

Pasco Siakam, dog, how you doing?

Keep it moving.

Rick Carlisle, the style of play that they have, maybe,

guess maybe.

Start reading the tea leaves.

Because you think last night an anomaly, it certainly was.

Anytime you're 0 in 1,414, you would think that that is a statistical matter of at that point.

I think that is just something that all basketball watchers would say, yeah, that makes sense, especially in the final minute.

Then you're playing a free throw game.

Oh, gotta make those.

Have to.

Gotta make those.

When do you miss those?

Well, maybe when you're tired.

Maybe whenever you're worn out.

Maybe when you're beat up a little bit.

Maybe whenever that game that you thought was out of the weeds is all the way back into dirt, brother.

And that's what this Pacers team does.

Let's go back to April 29th, shall we?

Down seven.

How you doing?

Keep it moving.

Pacers, massive dump.

Hitting big time threes.

They somehow have the capabilities to do that all the time.

Tyrese Halliburton makes insane plays.

And correct me if I'm wrong.

This right here is the last play that Mr.

Halliburton has gotten to see live.

Let's get that man back in an arena.

He deserves to celebrate with his people, not just in a bar.

Yeah, often.

As his boy loses his mind.

Now let's go to the Cavs.

He can't do it again, could they?

Well, this is on May 6th, April 29th.

Then May 6th.

We're down seven with 48 seconds left.

Ah!

Ah!

Nee Smith, give me that.

Then obviously we remember that Tyrese Halliburton missed on purpose, gets his own rebound.

Go ahead and

skates.

Step back.

We win.

You lose.

Big ball dance in Cleveland, Ohio.

And then in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, it happens again.

Is it potentially a skill?

Is it potentially a trait?

Or is it potentially the way they play that at the end of the games, teams might be worn out and they take advantage because they're in better shape?

The Toxic Tables here at Boss Conner and at Ty Schmidt.

Whenever the Hammer Dad Cowboys is here.

And joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has been fantastic on television during these conference finals.

He's an NBA champion head coach, now seemingly television pundit.

Speaks great.

Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Moore.

How you doing, coach?

I'm doing well, man.

Good to be on with you guys again.

Hey, great to see you again.

Obviously, this time around, you are becoming a TV pundit, a good one at that.

You need to understand, you're doing a great job.

Don't change for shit.

Well, I only got one game under my belt, so I got a lot of room for improvement.

No, but don't change.

That's what I'm saying.

Don't worry about it.

Don't change.

Just be you.

There might be somebody.

I appreciate it.

There might be somebody who thinks they're in a position uh to give you advice because they have maybe done tv school or something like that and they're trying to be nice now granted there's some people out there that'll give you great advice but me looking at you just be you okay your resume is good your personality is fantastic and the way you talk you make dipshits like me feel like i'm understanding what's going on now with that being said do i understand what's going on with this pacers team it feels like three times now miraculous comebacks late in the game is there a reason that that's happening and it is that reason potentially because Carlisle has these boys running?

Do other teams potentially get worn out and the Pacers think that they can capitalize when these teams are out?

Or what do you think it is about this Indiana Pacer team, coach?

Well, I'll tell you what, the question I'm asking myself, Pat, is, is this a team of destiny?

You just showed all those plays.

They're never out.

You can see the belief they have, not only in themselves, but in the collective.

And Rick Carlisle, who you've mentioned a few times, won a championship in Dallas, doing an outstanding job of coaching this team using his bench when I watched them play last night in game one they are relentless in everything they do go back to the very first basket they scored last night they made the basket three guys picked up full court they they extend their pressure they're trying to wear jalen brunson out he came back in the game with five fouls they went at him every time but they're never out of a game because they believe in themselves and that start with rick carlisle tyrese halliburton is putting that team on his back and then you mentioned it aaron niesmith last night 30 points eight of nine from three

and in the fourth quarter the knicks and i know i think tom sibodo talked about this after the game they didn't find aaron niesmith this guy was going nuclear in the garden and he hits three after three, 20 points in the fourth quarter.

And

you talked about it.

You're down by nine points with under a minute to go.

And they're able to force overtime and win the game.

And I just thought about it afterwards.

Is this team destined for greatness?

Because they keep on finding improbable ways of winning games on the biggest stage in the world.

Okay, so on that note, Team of Destiny and them finding ways and never losing belief or confidence that they can come back and win it because they've obviously done it now multiple times, multiple times in the, I mean, in the Mecca is what they call it in New York City.

That game was awesome.

Incredible.

I mean, that game was a great start to the conference finals for the NBA.

Answer, answer, answer, answer, answer.

Pull away.

And then obviously you have the biggest comeback, quickest comeback in the history of the sport.

I mean, that is exactly what the NBA envisioned in this entire thing.

But whenever you think about this Pacer team, last year, they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Nobody really talks about them, though, because they get swept by the Boston Celtics.

Just swept.

Then the Olympics happened.

Tyrese Halliburton doesn't even play.

So he literally doesn't even step foot on a court.

So, well, he did, but you did it.

Wasn't a part of the team.

So there was no conversation about how great the Pacer season was last year, how young of a team they were, how Pasco got traded in midseason.

There was never any chatter nationally or even locally about, hey, that was a hell of a Pacers year.

It just kind of got swept away because of how it ended.

Do you think having that maturity and having that experience from last year helps them?

And what is the direct correlation to having been there before, in your eyes, as somebody that's been there talking to a team?

Well, experience is a best teacher, right?

And you talked about them being there last year and losing to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.

I think continuity is really important in this business.

You know, obviously the Knicks last year

played against Indiana.

They were not healthy.

They've added Carl Anthony Towns.

They've added Mikael Bridges, where Indiana's got consistency.

They've got continuity.

You have a coaching staff that's been in place and won at the highest level.

So you have to give them a lot of credit in terms of their approach, their belief.

They went into Cleveland last round and took games one and two.

They're not afraid to go into any arena in the NBA and find a way to win a game.

You watch them play and you can feel and sense the belief that they have.

And that is a powerful thing.

We won a championship in Denver two years ago.

Our players have that same belief.

We felt we could go anywhere and beat anybody anytime.

And that's a powerful thing.

And I think Rick Carlisle coaching staff and their players continue to show that and illustrate that.

So I would agree, Pat.

I think having that continuity, having that belief, having been there before can be a powerful thing as you try to get to the NBA Finals.

Okay, so obviously it looks like the Eastern Conference finals is going to be electrifying.

And I think Tyrese even brought up that shot there from Jalen and that shot from Kat about how they were talking about, do you think your guys' style make other people get tired?

You know, especially this late into the season, there's 100 games or whatever people have already played.

And Tyrese mentioned it, he was like, I don't know.

I'm not them, obviously.

He said, but Jalen, normally at the end of those games, knocks those shots down.

Short, a little bit of short.

Obviously, it was great defense there.

And then Kat gets this short.

It's like, were they tired or was it just trying to get it up quick?

It's like, I don't know what you can say because you're not that other team.

But in a best of seven series, with the way this team runs and the way they're bought in, it's like, that would be, they're like a hockey team.

They're like not scared to, we'll wear you down.

Here we go.

You might score.

Sweet.

You're running a gasser then.

You're coming back the other way.

And it feels like this year they're healthier and more confident than they've ever been.

Shout out to the Eastern Conference Finals deliver.

Now, let's go to the Western Conference here.

This Oklahoma City team, obviously, they've only lost 14 games all year.

SGA is officially the MVP of the NBA season.

We've obviously heard you speak about Oklahoma City.

We've obviously heard you speak about the MVP.

People get all worked up, you know, because you're saying compliments to another player.

another arena and another fan base in the Western Conference.

That comes with the territory of being on TV.

This is standard operating procedure.

So I obviously hope you don't take anything into that from what people are saying.

But what is it about this OKC team?

What is it about them that makes them so dangerous, so lethal?

And why have they been so dominant?

I know Chet's big.

I know SGA's an absolute dog.

Harvestein here is an absolute guy.

They got people all over the place.

And the coach people are saying is, this guy's the guy.

What is it about them you think that makes them so difficult as somebody that's obviously had to play against them?

Well, everything you just said, but the one thing that really stands out to me that separates them from everybody else is their defense.

And if you want to dig deeper into that defense, it's their ability to turn you over, it's the ability to generate turnovers, and more importantly, to turn those steals and turnovers forced into points on the other end.

And if you want to go back to that first game, obviously, it comes down to the ability to take care of the ball for Minnesota.

If they're going to have a chance to try to get a game tonight in probably the loudest and toughest place to play in the NBA, they cannot beat themselves.

And they did that in game one, way too many turnovers.

That fueled OKC's break.

Minnesota had zero fast break points.

And if you're going to play against the number one defense in the regular season, the number one defense in the playoffs, you've got to find a way to get some easy baskets.

You cannot play in a crowd.

They are sitting on Anthony Edwards.

They're sitting on Julius Randall, collapsing on every time they drive the ball.

So they've got to trust their teammates.

But here's the key.

They need Nas Reed.

They need Dante DiVincenzo.

And they need Nikhil Alexander Walker to make shots.

Because until they do so, Julius Randall and Anthony Edwards are going to continue to see a crowd each and every possession.

Yeah, Julius Randle went for 20 in the first half last game and then next to nothing in the second half, which a lot of people are saying that's incredible.

Coaching, what they're doing and what you're just pointing out there.

I forgot about Caruso.

I should have given Caruso his love.

He looks awesome.

That weirdo gloves.

So he feels like that's where he's supposed to be.

Feels like a college environment when I'm watching it, which is what I think goes to your point about the best arena in all of NBA.

But let's talk about their star player.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, coach, I'm glad Pat brought up Caruso because people are saying if Caruso was guarding an SGA, he foul out in five minutes.

How do you feel about the entire conversation with the foul baiting?

You know, a lot of people are not too happy with the SGA and Brunson kind of style of play.

But, I mean, we looked at it yesterday.

If you were to take away all of the free throws, SGA is still leading the league in scoring.

So what do you think about that entire conversation?

And then then also, how would you coach against an SGA or a Brunson where maybe they do get calls that other guys don't, but you still have to remain physical with them throughout the game?

Well, it's definitely a challenge, and people can complain all they want, but all year long, Shea was one of the top guys in the NBA in terms of free throw attempts per game.

That continues into the postseason, and you've got to be a lot more disciplined.

I mean, Jaden McDaniels fouled out.

He can't foul out these coming games if they're going to have a chance to slow Shea down because he's their best defensive matchup.

But you've got to be disciplined.

You've got to show your hands.

You've got to stay down on shot fakes.

You know he's going to get a whistle.

There are certain guys in this league that we call foul artists.

They have the ability to understand how the game is being called and they have little tricks to make sure they're getting the call.

So as a defender, whether you're the primary defender on the ball or a help defender, you've got to know that the referees are going to be looking for that.

So be a lot more disciplined.

And if you're going to have a chance of beating them, you can't put Shea on the foul line 14 times.

That's way too many.

They compounded mistakes in game one, whether it was off of a turnover, a drive, or a pick and roll of getting called for the fouls.

Because that allows, the big key with that, Bellas, is he goes to the foul line 14 times.

That's 14 times where they're setting their defense.

And as I keep on mentioning, their defense is elite.

And I'm glad you mentioned Alex Caruso because I think their bench does not get enough credit.

They have a really good starting five, but Alex Caruso, Kayson Wallace, Andrew Wiggins, Ken Rich Williams last game.

all come in and have a huge impact in meaningful minutes.

So we're talking about the depth of Indiana.

I think OKC and the Western Conference very similar.

They can wear you down.

They have a lot of depth.

And deep teams this time of year are dangerous teams.

Yeah, because somebody's going to get injured too.

I mean, that's just kind of what basketball is, especially in the best of seven series.

So being able to have somebody replace that, great.

During games, being able to have somebody get some minutes in.

You know, like for Carlisle, it's obvious that he just brings some people in and like, run.

Just let's run.

Let's run these dudes.

And it's, I love the strategy, and I think all of Indiana loves it.

Let's go back to the flopping and the foul artist, I think is how you described it.

Great term.

And we will start using it as if we created it ourselves.

We will give you credit every once in a while, but just know that we will certainly say it and act like we did it and made it up ourselves.

Do you talk to refs?

Like all the refs, I guess there's only a certain amount of refs.

You guys know all the refs pretty well.

I think it's a pretty personal relationship between players, coaches, and referees because you're all out there and you're all a tight group.

I get it.

But refs know that like a lot of these replays are going to showcase that maybe there wasn't something.

And do you talk to the refs during, before the game, during the game?

How do those kind of go as opposing coaches with some of these calls?

Well, there's no doubt.

And the one thing that you guys should know is during the playoffs, anytime I contact a league office after a game or I send clips in is rule where the league is going to make sure they share that with the opposing coaching staff.

So they want full transparency.

They want everybody to be on the same page.

But I remember we were playing Golden State in the playoffs one year, and they gave us the post-game review.

And they admitted that they missed six fouls on Draymond Green in one game.

And I go, well, listen, man, you can't miss six fouls in a game.

That is just not acceptable.

You have to make sure we are letting the next crew that's coming in to ref the next game, give them a feel for what's happening and how this game needs to be officiated better.

And I always give the league credit because they always strive for being transparent and helping the league out.

But at the end of the day, great players like Shay, and that's what he is, like Jalen Brunson, that's what he is, had 43 points last night in a loss.

They're going to get the benefit of the whistle.

That's just the way it is.

And the fans want to watch the best players play.

They don't want to watch them on the bench.

And you just have to deal with it.

And you got to get your players to understand that and feel for how the game is being officiated.

And I expect Minnesota to come out.

Chris Finch is a hell of a coach.

I think he'll have his group ready to play tonight.

I think with the way the game is constructed, the way the rules are constructed, and that it's humans blowing the whistle and everything's happening so fast, I think they're destined to get something wrong.

Which always in basketball, I think you're destined to get just because everything can be considered a fact.

Like for us, holding on the offensive line in football can can be called all the time.

It can be called all the time.

So it's like, is it egregious?

Is it not egregious?

And then a ref just gets a little flag happy and all of a sudden happens.

Like officiating sucks.

Okay.

It's not fun.

I don't know why anybody signs up for it, but

we do appreciate those who do it.

But basketball feels like the one where it's the most like, duh.

And then we go an 8K super slow mo.

And it's like, no, actually not.

I think that's a tough job.

That's a tough job, especially with the way they do it.

Like Tyrese had a little leg kick last night on Jalen Brunson.

And Jalen actually said, he kicked me.

He kicked me.

And you can only see it in like from the behind angle, slow motion.

Tyrese definitely did put his leg right into Jalen Brunson's groin.

And then he hits him.

And then Tyrese does the thing.

It's like, ooh, that's a little work right there.

But if you're a ref, how could you ever get a refuge?

He took Neesmith's arm at one point in the game.

Slapped himself with it.

Yeah.

Foul artist, baby.

That's a foul artist.

Okay, let's talk about the team as you chit-chatted about their Minnesota being prepared for it.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, coach.

Obviously, we talked a lot about OKC and how great they are.

Ant Edwards on the other side, it feels like he's one of the young players in this league who probably doesn't give a shit how good the other team is.

It's just kind of how he's wired.

He's kind of an old school young NBA player.

How do you feel about Ant Edwards?

And is he, you know, primed to, is he one of the more equipped young players to put a team on his back and lead them to victory?

Oh, there's no doubt.

And I've seen it, unfortunately, up close and personal.

Game seven last year.

We're up 20 in our building in one of the crazier playoff series I've ever been a part of.

And Anton Edwards puts that team on his back in that second half, and they come back and beat us.

What I need to see from Anthony Edwards tonight, what the Minnesota Timberwolves need to see from Anthony Edwards tonight is aggression.

Only took 13 shots in game one.

And the craziest stat of that is only one of those 13 shots were in the paint.

We think of Anthony Edwards, we think of dynamic athlete aggression, attack in the basket.

They need to find a way to get out and transition.

Once again, zero fast break points.

Anthony Edwards in the open floor is exciting, dynamic, athletic.

And we need to see more of that because you don't want to play against that set defense over and over and over again.

I expect Chris Finch to get him off the ball a little bit more, let him get off catch and shoot, pin downs, let him attack.

But he is confident.

He's been here before.

And I expect him to have a great game tonight.

And we talked a little earlier about Julius Randall, third quarter, zero points, only one shot after having a great first half.

Anthony Edwards in game one, fourth quarter, zero points, only one shot.

He cannot take 13 shots tonight.

He's got to take 25.

And for him to do that, it's got to be in transition in the open court with an attack mindset.

Okay.

And we all want to see it from Anthony Edwards.

Yeah.

That OKC team is just

explosive.

They really are.

It just, 14 losses.

And all year all the conversation was, we need to be talking about OKC more.

Need to be talking about OKC more because OKC, you know, obviously small market, how people chat about it.

Western Conference has 45 other stories.

45 other stories in a Western Conference.

So it's like, well, it's hard to just talk about OKC, but all the basketball people were like, OKC.

And then you watch them do their thing.

It's like.

This thing, always, you look down, they're up 15.

It's like, oh, they're very dynamic.

And also lock it down on the defensive side.

Yeah, someone on TV yesterday said they won the triple crown of defense this year.

They were like first in perimeter D, first in interior D, and first in

opponents' points.

They're bopping the wood.

Yeah, yeah, they bop wood.

Okay, let's go to the Eastern Conference.

Don't say, wait, hey, whoa, whoa, easy with the way you're thinking about that there, Coach.

Let's go back to the Eastern Conference.

Yeah, absolutely.

Bopping wood.

Yeah, we heard you.

Ty has a question for you, Coach.

Yeah, Coach, we've talked a lot about the Pacers' depth and obviously Oklahoma City's depth.

When you're watching watching that game last night, is there any way that the Knicks can withstand the pace of play and the style of the

play that the Pacers

use if they're only playing seven to eight guys off the bench?

Like at some point, does Tibbs have to say like, hey, even though some of these guys didn't get much burned during the regular season, like we can't keep, we can't keep playing seven guys when they're rotating 11, 12 guys out there because come game three, if they haven't got one, like they're just not going to have anything left.

Well, yeah, it's a great question.

And you get to the Eastern Conference finals and you're the New York Knick coaching staff.

It's hard to just adjust and say, you know what, we're going to change our rotation now.

We're going to go to a nine-man rotation.

They only played two guys off the bench last night, double-figure minutes.

Obviously, we all know how deep Indiana is.

They're so deep that you guys realize that Miles Turner, who got off to a great start last night, how many minutes did Miles Turner play in the fourth quarter last night?

Two.

Right?

You had guys like Ben Shepard, Obi Toppin in the game late.

And that's what Rick Carlisle has done all season long.

His depth is ridiculous.

He trusts his bench.

And I learned a long time ago from my father, the greatest gift you can give a player is confidence.

And all those players know that Rick Carlisle has great confidence in them to go out there, regardless of the time, score, situation, to do their job.

And to answer your question, I don't think there's anything the Knicks can do to change how fast and how relentless and the pace in which the Pacers play.

Because they're a great running team.

And unlike most other great running teams, they run after makes better than anybody else.

So it was a track meet.

You score on them.

They get that ball out of the net, inbounds, and up the floor faster than anybody I have ever seen.

And then they pick up on the other end.

So they're relentless on their approach.

They come at you for 48 or overtime if it needs to be.

And I don't think there's anything the Knicks can do in the middle of this series to change that.

That is Indiana style of play and they've been doing it all season long.

Do you ever see a guy hit his head off the rim like four times in a two-minute span, Obi Toppin?

I mean, he was,

even on Jalen, Jalen had his sick make after Obie did his double pump dunk in overtime.

He's also fouled, which should have been on the foul line.

But I think everybody was so mesmerized by him doing a double pump in a dunk, taking it to the rack the way you rate here.

He got fouled, clearly.

I mean, he clearly got fouled.

Would have been a four-point game if he would have knocked down a free throw, which we assume he would have.

I think Jalen before this or after this had like a little floater.

Obi jumped up to swat it, almost hit his head off the rim.

I mean, Jalen put it up over top of him.

It was like all the pieces play.

And that's kind of the word about the Pacers from all the basketball people that I hear talk.

It's like, you never know who it's going to be each night.

Literally every night.

You're talking about Miles Turner having a great start and only playing two minutes in the fours.

He had some time and overtime.

Didn't go great.

I think he's going to want to get that taste out of his mouth as well next game, which would be great.

But he can go for 30.

Miles Turner could go for 30 in game two, and nobody would be surprised.

It's a fun time to be a basketball fan.

You're crushing it on TV.

Keep going, boss.

Hey, guys, I appreciate it.

I'm going to go bop the wood, and I'll talk to you soon.

Out of that?

A lot of that.

Ladies and gentlemen, Guthrie Balloon.

Let's talk about playing defense.

Yeah, of course.

He's going to play defense.

Because he likes to feel it.

He likes to feel it.

Maybe that's why he got let go, which we will certainly ask him about the next time he joins us, is was he bopping the wood too strong?

He might have been.

Yeah, the boys are like, oh, we don't want, we play 82 games.

Stop bopping, coach.

We don't need you bopping the wood so hard, potentially.

He said, how about Draymond Green?

Guy was like a ram truck, missed six calls.

Six.

Can't be missing six calls on one guy.

He's out of the game.

The guy's out of the game.

Let alone us and everything else that happens in the game.

Guy's gone just from what you missed.

Probably had four fouls already, too.

Your guy gets 10 fouls?

What is this?

The shame Malone's not going to be on TV very long.

Because the bopping a Wood comment?

No, no, no, because he's going to get hired very quickly.

Yeah, but what if he likes his TV stuff so much?

What if he's like, you know what, I don't mind Bopping a Wood down here at LA Finn.

It's much more fun bobbing wood here.

Yeah, without all the pressures of having to deliver every single night.

With so many eyes on you when you're Bobbing Wood, it's probably a little.

Yeah, he just wants to get in there and smack his wood around a little bit by himself.

Nothing wrong with that?

Yeah.

Got to play defense, brother.

That's right.

More casual.

That OKC team walks it down.

You know, Minnesota, we all just believe in Ant.

Yeah.

Right?

That's how I feel.

For sure.

Julius Randle, too, I believe, I believe in Ant, though.

I'm like, Ant's a guy.

So that team will go inevitably.

I think it's like then you watch OKC and they just just like to coach Bunt.

It's just like the Pacers.

It looks pretty similar.

I think they play a little bit more tough defense than the Pacers.

And to his point about the Pacers, after they get scored on, they get the inbound pass quick and they're running the other way.

So it's a gasser.

So even if you have success, you're going back the other way.

That's a mental thing, too.

If you get beat and they score on you, there's no like,

you just, they just get the ball, screw it so i think that naturally potentially lends itself a little bit to like ah they're going to score on us at some point we just got to get it back the other way it's kind of a it's an interesting contrast there was a highlight tape going around the internet after game one of the t-wolves trying to screen caruso and they just couldn't do it like he just kept going around screens going over screens going through screens like he was just a junk y'all relentless

relentless you're saying you talk about the pacers though and like what they're doing late in the games being a skill like it's at the point now when you talk team of destiny like every single one of those guys like in a late situation where they have to shoot a three every single one of those guys believes they're making it like that's the that's the point they're at right now like their confidence and obviously everyone we talk to it's like hey confidence is the most important thing in basketball it doesn't matter how many times you miss it you got to go back there and and have the belief that you're going to make that shot every single guy they have on the court whether it's their star players or their role players or the bench guys like the feeling is just that they're going to make these shots they're going to knock them down and they do and they have been uh on this this shot, I think a fun little fact here on this shot is his foot's on the line for the two, right?

He thought it was a three.

If his foot is back a half an inch, what's that ball doing?

Swish.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, like in his head, he was shooting a three.

So in his head, all right, three.

Yeah, a little more.

And his muscle, just all of his muscles, like, yeah, we're shooting a three right now.

And then it's like, oh, no, actually, I'm this closer.

Brick, straight up.

Then it falls.

It's like, if he's actually at a three, like he clearly thought, he even said he wasted it.

Yeah.

It's over.

I can't.

Thank God I won.

Yeah, thank God.

Yes.

I was so scared.

I know.

I was so, so scared.

The New York Knicks call, radio call, they say for two.

They say it immediately because I think they're there and they're looking for everything.

The TV call and watching at home, and with his reaction, I was like, we just won that game.

We just won that game.

And Tyrese Halliburton just did a what.

And Jim Hersey caught that thing and threw it straight down into the, I was like, what a night.

Because Jim Herce's last tweet was basically, good luck to the owner of the Pacers, Herb.

Good luck to the fans, and good luck to our city, basically.

That was his last tweet.

And it was like, it perfectly encompasses who Jim Merce is.

Like, he loved this place.

He was appreciative of this place, loved the people here, and he took a lot of pride in this being our city.

And this team has a lot of pride in representing Indiana, too.

It's very clear.

By the way Tyrese operates, by the way, Miles operates, by the way, Pasco is, you know, like kind of just came in.

And I think they've all just taken to the city and the city has taken to them.

It's a beautiful thing.

Speaking of this city, there was a man who had two different coaching stints here.

There's a man that's known as the quarterback whisperer.

There's a man that is known as one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of football.

For me, I got a chance to watch him be the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts.

And then I got a chance to watch him go win a damn Super Bowl as a head coach with the greatest of all time.

Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, Coach Bruce Aries.

Yeah, go.

Yay, how you doing, boss?

Doing good, buddy.

Doing good.

It was a little rough day.

That was a rough night for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you and I texted this morning and last night.

I shed some tears last night.

I shed some tears on the show here just talking about him.

And

I wondered if you would potentially say some things about Jim Merce that maybe people outside of Indiana or people that maybe don't know him have ever heard.

You know, something that maybe they don't know about.

Just, I think you've been around the league.

You've been to a lot of teams.

You've been around for a long, long time.

You know how teams operate.

You've been and seen how other owners operate.

Jim was special.

And I appreciate you potentially, or I potentially appreciate you coming on and sharing some sentiments with the people.

Oh, you bet.

I mean, the guy was just so, so special.

I mean, I was blown away by the tweets and everything that went out by the former players.

I think that just tells you what Jim was all about.

This was at his birthday party a couple years ago here at Lake Oconee, and he invited me over.

We had a great night.

And, you know,

people don't realize, you know, the game game I missed in Baltimore after Chuck came back and I got sick.

First thing Jim wanted to know, was my wife there?

And the guy said, no.

And within two hours, my wife was in the hospital with me.

He sent a car, he's in a plane.

That plane stayed on the ground for three days waiting for me to get out of the hospital, take me back to Indianapolis.

And that's the kind of guy Jim is.

Jim loves his players.

He tried to mentor his players.

You know, he was the second team to ever hire mentors for his players.

And it just meant so much to me to see what the players' reactions were to him.

You know, we all called him the boss because he was just a special, special dude and the most generous man I've ever known in my life.

Yes, I think that is something that, you know, everybody assumes that people with a lot of money donate money.

And I think everybody does because there are certain tax exemptions and there are things that you can kind of do.

And I assume the super uber wealthy people feel obligated to give money back in some sense.

You know, there's probably a percentage on what they're willing to give up of their value or net worth or whatever they're making every year.

Jim didn't care about any of the, actually, I have no idea how his accountant did it.

I have no idea how his accountant would be able to keep up with everything that Jim did.

And I know with those numbers, nobody cares, right?

Oh, you're rich.

And here's him with Chuck, obviously, and everything he did for Coach Pagano.

That will never be able to be like.

The amount of behind the scenes stuff that Jim Ursa is doing and the amount of cancer research now posts this because he just learned about this this community and was like, Oh, I need to help this.

And then, mental health stuff, he learned about this community.

I need to help this.

And oh, there's some buildings downtown Indianapolis that need to be renovated and put back together.

Oh, I need to help this.

Oh, there's these people that I know that they, it's just like that was every day for everything for him.

There was even almost a damn whale that was put into a

bomber plane, yeah, filled with water so that he could fly uh Takate,

Lolita, out of a um

a uh aquarium yeah in florida to the pacific northwest seven hour flight okay seven eight hour flight whatever it is wanted to fly a fucking whale with his friends with a couple to get with its family and he was just because he learned of takate and was like this is a buddhist whale this is a cool whale man this is not how this whale is supposed to end its life so he's trying to figure out he was gonna have to spend i think like 15 million on this plane to turn it into an aquarium for a whale to get up in the sky and go it's like, that was him with everything.

And there's not a lot of humans that have ever been created that way, coach.

Not a lot of humans.

No, no.

And, you know, he, he was,

he was the shoe.

You know, he always talked about the shoe.

And, you know, me growing up in York, Pennsylvania, the Colts were my team.

Johnny Nice was my idol.

And to put on that uniform and put that shoe on as a coach.

uh meant so much to me uh personally and uh it was a great four years you know the three I had with Peyton and the one I had with Andrew.

But I love the city.

I love everything that the Colt stands for.

And that's because of Jim Mercy.

Yeah.

So now, obviously, the Indianapolis Colts

are going to have to figure out what's next for their organization, for that family.

I assume there's already been plans because of how the last few years have gone.

We're obviously all not blind to any of that.

I think last night came out of nowhere.

I don't think I expected that at all, Coach.

You?

No, not at all.

like we all knew there was things going on.

Like we all, we all,

I don't know, I don't know who all knew what, to be honest.

I think they were keeping a lot of things tight.

I think they didn't want anybody to worry.

I think that's another thing.

Jim like didn't want people to worry.

Like, so I think there was a lot more potentially going on than any of us, even the people that are maybe even closer to him than I.

And I don't know if you, like any of that stuff, but we all knew that.

But still, whenever it was like jar, it was like, holy shit.

And

then I immediately just started thinking about what a legacy legacy this dude has left behind by the people that know him.

You know, everybody, to your point about the players, every player that said said the same thing.

Every friend of his has said the same thing.

Every coach has said the same thing.

It's like, this is maybe the most giving man that has ever existed.

And it's like he understood the position he was in and he tried to make it be a position that can make the world better.

We're going to miss the shit out of him, coach.

We're going to miss the shit out of him.

Oh, there's no doubt.

There's no doubt.

The NFL is going to miss him because he was a true steward of the game,

historian of the game.

And I thought Rodier Goodell said it really well today about how much they're going to miss him in the league meetings and because he loved the game.

He grew up in the game and

it oozed from him every single time you met him.

It was all about the NFL protecting the shield and protecting the shoe.

I would get messages from people that were in his suites during games and I would shank one.

You know, if I shanked one.

Very rare.

BA, you know that.

You can attest to that.

Very rare, very rare.

Please.

Very rare.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I took a lot of pride in that.

Especially I knew offense coordinators and quarterbacks, too.

You know, if I shank, Peyton taught me that early, I'm fucking him too, you know, because there's a much bigger spotlight on his failed first down.

If I am not, you know, because if you get a good one, it's like, ah, just football happened.

You hit a shank, though.

It's like, oh, offense failed, bad punt.

Now they're in there.

You can really, you know, we can just keep the game rolling with no spotlight on anything bad if there's a good punt.

I would get a text during the game from the people and I would say to my phone, hey, can't be doing that at the gym.

He's watching your punts.

Okay.

i guess he threw a garbage can one time because i hit a shank and i like felt so terrible and then he comes down afterwards into the locker room always came down the locker room afterwards always before the game after the game always wanted to be with the boys you know never spoke you know unless he was asked to had his own chair that they had like he had his own locker basically but it was in the middle came down before every game after every single game just wanted to be in there wanted to experience it and uh we won the game and i think i probably hit a couple bombs afterwards okay you can't hit too many shanks in a row you're gonna get cut as a punter especially if you have been arrested and you tweet a lot so you know i had a lot of things going against me so i read that text before he got in and i go boss man sorry about the shank and he goes yeah but you got it back and we needed it and he knew like my net and he knew like what it led to like he knew he he knew ball like he was a ball knower but he wasn't scared to hire people and let them do their jobs either like he was a great leader now granted i think that has worked against him sometimes like maybe somebody didn't didn't do their job as well and his loyalty maybe was a little bit too much, but it was all because of how he felt as everybody was a member of his family, coach.

You know, like that is literally how he treated everybody.

You were a member of his family.

If you were on his staff, if you're a player, you're a member of his family, bro.

Those Thursdays.

when Chuck was sick and in the hospital, those Thursday meetings with Jim were just amazing.

You know, we'd talk about Chuck every time and how he was doing.

And then we would find out about, you know, what do you think about this week?

And I would tell him, you know, I don't know how much of a chance we have, but, you know, I do remember one game, and there was this one punt.

All right.

We're playing Jacksonville.

I think the ball's like a 32-yard line with nine seconds left.

I said, bro, just kick that bitch as high as you can out of the end zone.

He's, I got it, coach.

It came down one yard inbounds.

And that dude started running back.

I was going to kill you.

No, no, no.

You want to be to have a 12-yard net, brother.

Okay.

You want to be a 12-yard net.

I ain't got time.

I ain't got time for a 12-yard net.

But I understand the assignment.

I understand the assignment.

Coach, it was great to spend time with you in the Indianapolis Colts building.

I know you are held in high regards, in high respect by everybody you've ever worked with, but certainly with the Colts.

And thank you for making some time today to kind of share some thoughts on

old Jimmy from the Colts.

Yeah, baby.

We appreciate you, man.

Here's to my man.

Here's to the boss, David.

Hey, cheers to you, Jim.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

Coach Arians, you're the man, ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl champion, legend, Bruce Arians.

Thank you.

I love that.

I love that.

I think

everybody that I've known that has been around Jim today has had a very similar thought.

We're going to salute the big man today.

We're going to do that.

And I'm happy BA made time for that.

He's so cool.

Yeah.

That hat still plays.

Yeah.

Always cool.

32-yard line.

Excuse me to hit that thing.

We had a great relationship.

The plus 32, I assume.

Yes.

Yeah, it was plus 32.

I got it.

I got it.

Brother.

Sounds good.

Brother, I can't.

Come on.

12-yard net right now.

That is, you might as well just...

What did you do?

Pooch it to the one and they caught it.

Yeah, I caught it.

He got like a yard.

I mean, it wasn't.

I hit that fucker.

I mean, it was very high.

I was like, I get it.

I get it.

I get it.

But like, if this guy takes one 99 after I hit a 5-0 in this, like, we deserve to lose.

We deserve to lose it.

That's right, guys.

And also, like,

the boys are ready.

Hey, the boys, this is what we do.

This is kind of fucked up.

You're putting me in this situation.

Okay.

You could do the quarterback rollout.

Yep.

Throw high.

Throw.

We take a couple

penalties.

Yeah, they would decline it because their assholes on the other side.

They know exactly what they're doing.

Yeah, BA and I sat next to each other whenever he came to the team and Chuck was the head coach.

And then Chuck gets leukemia.

diagnosis like week four week five weeks i forget very early in the year of chuck's first year so ba becomes the interim head coach and but he didn't want to act you know you didn't want to yeah tough he was like it was a very tough he was probably the only guy because everybody had respect for BA already.

So he's probably the only guy that can handle that.

And BA and Chuck's relationship was like that.

So there was no real, you know, animosity through it all, especially from Chuck.

I mean, Chuck's battling through that entire thing, but I don't think there was any from Chuck's friends that maybe hadn't worked with BA before, like that's a tough, yeah.

And Bruce was just perfect for it.

And

yeah, he sat next to me.

He knew I was from Pittsburgh.

So we had a great relationship before he became the interim head coach.

So he's the offensive coordinator, you know, so whenever I'm jogging out the punt or whatever, we have one where we're backed up on like the two.

He's like, Need a big one, baby.

Need a big one, baby.

It's like, oh, I know.

Yeah, yeah, thanks, brother.

Thanks, brother.

It was an honor to be a part of a team that Bruce Arians led.

And it was certainly an honor to be a part of an organization that Jim Ursa owned and ran.

Rest in peace, Jim.

We appreciate the shit out of everything you've contributed to society.

We will try to emulate your generosity.

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Are happening all around us the toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

Sweet sweater, Paul.

Thanks, man.

Yeah, you know, just such great hockey these last two nights.

Basketball has been incredible, but the hockey has been just as good.

Figure out where the broods.

Let's go to one half of the hammer.

Don Cowboys AP Town is here and joining us live from an attic in Ohio.

Ladies and gentlemen, a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, and a man who has a tree on the Ohio State campus.

Who put it in?

Was it Uncle Ladies and gentlemen?

AJ Hawk.

What's going on, H?

Not too much.

I thought, first off, the tribute you guys put together for Jim Ursa, that was amazing.

Yeah, that whole video is crazy to see what that guy has done.

He has an impact, I think, that will last forever on the NFL.

I appreciate you saying that.

I think the Ursa family and everybody around him will appreciate you saying that.

Yeah, man.

He's a character.

The fact that we need more characters, I think, in the world.

I think sometimes people, like they get in a position like that and they're not themselves.

Jim felt very, very authentic.

I didn't know him personally, but man, that dude felt like he was doing what he felt was right, the right thing to do.

Yeah, authenticity was just something that would ring true with Jim.

You know, Jim wasn't acting how he thought NFL owner was supposed to act.

Jim was being Jim Mersey.

Hey, I've been in this league.

He was the longest tenured owner.

He's the longest tenured owner.

And yet, he told us that in one of our conversations with him.

He said, I was going through the team photos, and there was a photo that I was the only one that's still here in.

And he was like, I think that's when he said, that's when I decided I was going to start speaking up a little bit more.

And he started like, I think that was whenever, you know, the sale of the Washington football team kind of got initiated and some other stuff.

It's like, he loved the league.

He loved the game.

He committed his entire life to it.

And he lived.

You know, this dude lived.

And he was never once caught not being Jim Mercy.

He made some mistakes, made some mistakes.

Life happened.

And

he's a human.

Good for him.

I think he was very open with that too about the mistakes that he made, which goes back to exactly what you say.

And he also cherished the days that he had.

And he tried to live.

And he tried to share everything.

It's

honestly literally could go just the amount of shit you could say about Jim Mercy is just never ending because of what you said.

He wasn't a proto.

Like, he's not a prototype.

It's not like this is what you think somebody's supposed to act like.

He was a powerlifter.

The guy in the middle, just middle of his general management career and ownership career, said, I want to become a powerlifter and hired somebody, started eating more protein and whatever to get as strong as he possibly could.

Went over to Ohio, won the Ohio State Championship as a powerlifter just because he wanted to prove to himself, I think.

And he played football at SMU.

And I mean, just.

An absolute legend.

The music, the music he gets into, starts a band.

He buys like, I mean, the amount of of shit.

He'll always be the youngest general manager of all time.

Oh, yeah.

24 years old.

Forever.

You're the general manager of

the Bolt Colts.

He's 24 years old.

That's when he took over, really?

24?

As general manager, yeah.

Then when he was 37, he became owner because his dad passed away.

And then there was some sort of battle, you know, in court for who's going to get the multi, the future multi-billion dollar team.

He ends up as sole owner of the team as a 37-year-old.

37-year-old.

24 years old.

He's the general manager for the team.

And his dad was, you know, there's enough stories about how his dad operated and how the world was back then and everything like that for the colts so he's 24 years old as joe mentioned and 37 is sole owner and then he's he's 70s 80s is when this is all happening so everybody you know from that time period he was friends with and knew everything that was available during that time period he was potentially you know oh yeah yeah why not why not like not everything was a perfect he didn't bat a thousand but it's like the stories that he has the things that he's done the people he's influenced the world has been become better because of him it's like, hell of a life, man.

Hell of a life.

And he was certainly unique.

That was interesting to me.

So I was looking, I was watching everybody's quotes that were kind of, because I think we all felt obligated to be like, hey, we need to let the world know that we love this man, you know, because there's been a lot of things said outside of Indiana about Jim Mercy.

And after I put mine out, I went and looked at, you know, the boys.

T.Y.

Hilton, super emotional.

That was, that was Corey Payton, obviously.

put out his.

That was all over everything.

Edren James and him are like,

Edge and him were very, very, very tight.

And Edge put out like a perfect Edge post, you know.

Vinny.

Reggie, Vinny.

Yeah, like the guys Dwight was talking about him this morning.

Like the guys that were, you know, you knew who his guys were.

And I was, I was lucky, I think, to be like the youngest one.

I think I was potentially the youngest one.

And was it because I got in trouble?

Yes.

Was it because I enjoyed Twitter?

He enjoyed Twitter?

Yes.

Was it because I I did have an entrepreneurial spirit that he understood?

Yes.

Was it because, like, like the guys that I wanted to read what everybody said, you know, just kind of get their take on their relationship with Jim?

Because I think it's not the same.

Like for me, my relationship with him was, I think he felt an obligation to like help me in my business venture because like that is kind of how he viewed me.

For Peyton, it was, I wonder how it was for him.

You know, like that's why I wanted to read, you know, what everybody was saying.

For four

out of five, maybe five out of six, unique was the word that was used.

And uh, I think that's a great way to describe Jimer in the most positive way you can put very unique, and nobody else will live his life.

There will never be, there will never be another Jim Ersain, you know, never ever.

250 million miles away.

Like in the clip, he's talking about going to Mars just out of nowhere.

That's what I love.

So, the moon, the moon, five million miles away.

Wow,

Mars, Okay, Mars, 250 million.

And then he says how long it would take to get there as if we've just gone.

Yeah.

9211.

And I'm like, bro, you're doing some real research on this.

You're doing some real research.

Well, I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime.

It didn't.

He was right.

Once again.

The car.

Yeah.

I don't want the phone.

I don't want this phone.

I want a flying car.

They say technology is going to change my life and what they told me it was going to be.

And they say it's your phone.

A phone?

I don't want a phone.

I want a flying car.

car how about him telling us about the plans to have a team in europe yeah yeah and he was like the concorde what was it yeah the concord yeah the concorde was supposed to be able to go supersonic which would have made new york to london three hours four hours or something then that stopped so we had to hold up our plans i was like i feel like that was actually

I feel like that was actually the NFL's plans.

Like, I feel like that probably was.

And Jim Ursa, with his, you know, fascination, it appears, with these types of things, he was probably a big part of it.

Brother,

how long does it take for Indiana to LA?

Four hours.

New York to London, Concord, Supersonic, three hours.

We can have a team, the whole world.

We can travel the whole world.

He was definitely going to buy one of those, too.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

But he was going to be supersonic.

And, oh, let's go down to the house down here in Puerto Rico.

Yeah, let's go over here.

Super

going supersonic over the United States.

There were stories.

He had a helicopter.

here in Indiana.

And

you would know.

I guess you would know, you know, because he lived in a community, a town like, you know, Carmel, which is like one of the nicest,

I say nicest towns in America.

I assume it wins the award for it every single year.

And he had a, and I think you pay for that, but still amongst those who try to pay for the award.

Carmel wins.

So it's a very nice part of town.

A lot of money.

Because a lot of companies are headquartered here in Indianapolis because of how easy it is to kind of get everywhere.

You know, it's called the Crossroads of America here because we got everything everywhere.

So so a lot of money in indiana i don't think a lot of people know that a lot of money in indiana carmel has a lot of the lot of money like that is where you know it is a lot of cops a lot of roads a lot of land a lot of castles a lot of the high school goes viral every single year yeah the high school is a university like a campus like it is a very nice town so jim had massive piece of land in carmel and he got a helicopter And I guess they did not have rules on where you could land or take that thing off from.

So, you know, Jim's, fuck it, it, let's land that thing in the backyard.

Yeah.

And he was.

And I guess some of the neighbors got upset about it.

And obviously he said, whoa, I'm so sorry.

So then he bought land, wherever it was, to build a helipad in that thing.

And they would talk about him just going up to concerts because the Eagles were in town or whatever.

And he's friends with

them.

And so he's like, I need to go.

And so he just hopped in a helicopter.

It was like, there's Jim.

There's Jim.

Because you see, like, news helicopters.

You see, you could kind of see, oh, that's a hospital, obviously.

And then, oh, there's Jim going through.

It's like, he was just one of the most interesting people of all time.

And it all came from a good spot, I think.

I think everything came from like a good perspective, which is wild because he's been, his dad had, like, you know, he just never acted how you would think he was supposed to.

And it was always in my eyes as somebody that came from, you know, nowhere near that class of people.

I always had respect for him.

being able to be relatable while having a completely unrelatable life.

And

he was special, AJ.

He was special.

Okay, so are sports, which you loved in abundance.

We talked about the Pacers, Knicks.

Anything to add to that?

I mean, a great example.

I tell my kids all the time,

you should never give up on any game.

Unfortunately, my kids fell asleep before Tyrese and the whole situation happened.

But they tried not to give up.

They were very excited when they woke up.

But man, you got to do this right here.

Come on.

I mean, Nee Smith, everything about it, this game, this is a game you'll be watching 20 years from now, I think.

Yes, I agree completely.

And he said he wasted the choke.

I I think he got it out of the way.

Yeah, exactly.

I think he got it out of the way.

It's done.

A lot of people were probably thinking you were going to do it, expecting you to do it, especially with how clutch you have been.

You got a chance to do it.

You still won the game.

And you acknowledge that it was, oh, I know, that's tough.

I wasted it.

And people say I would be aura farming.

Great answer.

Yep, great answer.

Also, great New York costume out of Tyrese Halliburton last night.

Backwards hat, big jacket, doing New York.

I respect Tyrese in that entire thing.

But yeah, you're right.

Talking about not giving up in any game.

Pacers are obviously the epitome of that.

Did you watch the hockey last night?

Did you watch the hockey last night?

A little bit.

I did.

Did you get a chance to?

You talked about your kids falling asleep during the Pacers Knicks game.

I'll tell you what, Oiler stars, there was certainly nothing that would have held you on that game in the first two periods.

Connor McJesus, Dry Seidel, and the boys in Edmonton are about to run wild on Texas hockey.

Otter,

more like we need the Otter guy.

Oh,

okay.

He couldn't see anything.

Couldn't see anything.

Wow.

These guys are about to get run off home ice.

Uh-uh.

Let's go to the third period, shall we?

3-1.

Third period.

30 seconds in.

Power play.

Carry over from the second period.

Miro

Heist.

Now we got a game 3-2.

You know, they say a two-goal lead in hockey is the most dangerous one because once you score one, guess what?

It's a one-goal game all of a sudden.

And everybody can get a little nervous.

Well, they did.

Another power play.

Two minutes later, Oilers can't play hockey legally in the third period.

Mikhail Granlin makes it 3-3.

Then,

two minutes later, another power play.

Edmonton, do you know the rules?

Duchy, Maddie Duchesne scores.

And then, inevitably, once it was 4-3, it would become 5-3

as Tyler Sagan with a nasty backhand.

You're talking about taking the top off the lid.

I mean, they did that.

Oh, yeah.

And then they would have an empty netter at the end.

Dallas Stars would inevitably win 6-3 going into the third period.

It was 3-1.

Let's go to Dallas Stars, fan.

One half of the hammer.

Done.

Cowboys.

A man who's been wearing an honor mask in public bubba gumpino gumpy you thought it was over two didn't you going into the third period you thought maybe this down stars team wasn't going to be able to keep up with them edmonton oilers uh they were cooking us in the first two periods but this is what we've done all playoffs game seven against colorado they're up on us the whole game third period we start skating downhill it's kind of our mo it's kind of what we were doing and i don't know if you caught it there was some great USA chance at the end of that game.

There was a big dust up at the end of that game.

And there was USA all night long.

Scotty Scheffler in the building.

This is it's Texas Hockeys time, brother.

This is it, brother.

Team of Destiny.

USA chance to end it.

I did not know.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Hold the phone.

Look at a five-on-five or big one.

Now, the Canadian people will tell us that a lot of the players on the field.

Now, Dallas is Finn.

Yeah.

They're a finished team.

They're a finished team.

I assume there's some Canadians on that team as well.

I believe they have six Americans on the team.

We love that.

Boom.

We love The United States organization

franchise is going to win Lord Stanley again.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, Age, I don't know if you know this.

Joining us

live in studio is something that was born in 1892.

Wow.

What?

Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Stanley Cole.

That is Lord Stanley's coming.

This is what it is all about.

This is what the Dallas Stars, who were down 3-1 going into the third period, kept fighting for.

This is what the Edmonton Oilers got so nervous.

They just had to break a rule.

They just had to get three penalties, three consecutive times, three power plays, three penalty kills failing.

As Otter and the Dallas Stars fight back for a three-goal lead and win.

to start off the Western Conference Finals.

The Hurricanes and Panthers are about to be in quite of a fire tonight.

Quite a fire with how Marshi kind of got

disrespected a little bit.

This is what it's all about.

Marshi's been there.

The Florida Panthers have been there.

Can the Carolina Hurricanes get back in this thing?

Can the Edmonton Oilers play like they played in the first two periods, for all three periods, for the rest of the series?

And

will the Pittsburgh Penguins ever get their names back on here?

There's a lot of Pittsburgh Penguins Penguins on here.

Back-to-back multiple times.

Stacked up one time because they had to change to a new level.

So right on top of each other.

It's a beautiful thing.

And in this cup, legends have housed beers.

Housed.

So many beers

in this thing.

Patty Maroon throwed a six or seven.

I don't know.

Somewhere around there.

I said a thousand.

Thousands of beers out of the top of this thing.

The amount of people.

that have shaped hockey, shaped the sports world, shaped pop culture, have had their lips wrapped around this thing as booze gets shoveled down their gallets is endless.

AJ is actually one of the booze bags that have been a part of this.

That's right.

You too.

Yes.

I certainly have chugged a beer out here.

Shout out to Rupper, New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup champion.

You're going to have to go back a couple to get to that one.

New Jersey Devils.

For a long time, too.

Same with the Penguins, too.

You got to go.

No.

Yeah, they're middle of the cup right now.

They're teetering on getting evicted from the cup and not having their name on it.

We need to figure that out.

But AJ, whenever you see this thing, even through the screen all the way from Ohio, your first thought is you get a little tingle in the pants, don't you?

Yeah, a little tingle for sure.

I'm honored to have drank a couple beers out of that thing.

So, yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

I mean, what a talk about history.

Like, the amount of legends that have not only drank beers, I've just been around that thing.

Think how many presidents have been around.

Has every president been around the Stanley Cup, I would imagine?

Especially if they love ball.

Every president ever from when the Stanley Cup was invented.

Jack wasn't a big hockey guy.

I think he was the only one that didn't.

Howard?

Yeah.

George Washington did love the Stanley Cup.

That's a fact.

Giorgio?

I heard that.

He put apples in it, actually.

And Georgio is 100 years.

Yeah, he predates the Stanley Cup by a bit.

I think.

I'm about 100% short.

You know more than me, you're the hockey guy.

I don't think Georgio saw the fucking Lord over there.

PJ just said every president ever.

Since 1892.

Since the NHL.

Yeah.

It's a beautiful thing.

One of the fun facts about Lord Stanley Cup that we like to point out every single time we're around it because it is something that they say is a fun fact about Lord Stanley whenever you're around it.

Boom!

Right in here.

The Wanderers defeated Kenora 12 to 8, May 25th, 1907.

That one's going to live there forever.

I have no idea how that was the one that ended up being in there, but there's a team in there that won

12 to 8 in there.

They're going to be there forever.

They're the first team to understand what it's all about.

You know, I think that's why they left them in there.

Yeah.

And when this thing's out and about, yeah, sure.

It's a head turner.

Oh, yeah.

Big time.

Shiny.

Greatest trophy.

I mean, obviously, the Lombardi is the Lombardi

World Championship.

Means the most.

I heard some things about Lombardi, the Lombardi, from the handlers, Howie.

Oh, they're talking shit on Lombardi.

Howie, Howie, and Matt from the league.

Howie from the Hall of Fame.

Howie the Handler knows ball.

Howie the Handler's from Toronto.

I talked to him about the Maple Leafs not beliefing enough.

He's a great Canadian lad.

Oh, yeah.

He said a boot pretty good.

He did.

He did.

He had a good aboot.

He knew what he was here for.

Yeah.

He knows how shit on Lombardi, though.

Well, they weren't talking shit on the Lombardi.

And it wasn't Howie.

Howie laughed about what he learned from maybe the NHL's understanding.

I think the Lombardi kind of just gets shipped.

Just kind of like, hey, coming in.

Oh, no.

Yeah, like a football.

No,

throw it.

No, yeah, but with like a delivery with a logistics.

You at least have to sign for it.

That's basically what they were saying.

It's like it's a priority shipment, I guess.

This thing will always have a human around it.

Yeah.

Mikey Goodhair.

Yeah.

That he's been around a couple of times.

Howie with the great accent is how I'm going to talk about this guy going forward.

Right.

Dog.

17 years, I believe.

Damn.

This thing wouldn't never happen.

What does he sound like?

Huh?

What's his accent?

What do you mean?

Like, you.

Can you say something, please?

So we know, so we can explain.

Will you act like this Howie gentleman, please?

Howie the handler?

There, stay there.

That's exactly what he sounds like.

Howie the Handler?

Everything's kind of a question.

Round a boot.

He's a boot.

I've heard a lot of boots in my day.

That might be the best one I've heard.

And then

we said, holy shit, what do you say that again?

And he basically looked at me like, I'm not your puppet.

Okay.

But

I said, is this thing ooting a boot?

And he goes, everybody always makes fun of how they say a boot.

And he goes like, no, that is how you.

He might be the perfect guy for the job.

I didn't say.

He seems like just living embodiment of hockey.

The way he he walks even looks like he skated his whole life.

I'm sure he has.

Yeah, shout out to Howie the handler.

He was a mountaineer before.

There's a chance he was on the horse.

Yeah.

Where was Mike, though, with the good hair?

Is he all right?

Yeah, remember they do like nurse schedules.

I like that.

Okay.

It's like three days on, three days off.

Yep, sure.

Three days on, three days off.

He's out in a boat.

Before Mike, there was another guy.

His name is Phil Pritchard.

He's now the curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

So they kind of move up the chain until they...

Oh, it's a corporate ladder here.

What are they doing with Howie the Handler?

I assume Howie's committed to the game.

He needs to be up.

It's kind of disrespectful that you said there's something higher than the handler of the cup.

Yeah, you're right.

Coming from the hockey conversation, the curator of the Hall of Fame, I think, probably considered a good one.

It's not better than the keeper of the cup.

Yeah, I mean, Howie the Handler would disagree.

He's a nice man, too.

You know, he is a good man.

Yeah, he's glad, as they would say.

He's never leaving.

I am surprised Mike's not here because I thought he lived inside the case with the cup.

Yeah.

That is kind of how it was presented to us.

Correct.

Because every time that thing was around, yeah, he's there.

It was like, oh, yeah.

I never shake my eyes off this thing.

That's basically what he said.

Yeah.

You guys want to touch it?

You can't.

Don't fucking hug it.

I think he is in there.

They just fold him up and turn him off.

No, no, Tim.

Tim saw the inside.

Oh, he did?

Yeah, because we were surprised.

Was there a pillow in there?

Yeah, actually, there was nice satin and nightlight.

Okay.

Yeah.

But how about Howie just wheeling this thing around?

Yeah.

Everywhere.

Is it steel or

silver?

St.

Laura's Stanley's?

Yeah.

No, it's a mattress.

I'm not allowed to pick it up.

I don't think.

I don't think I'm allowed to pick it up.

I think I'm allowed to touch it.

I heard that I think I just saw his head.

Oh, get a little comfortable, Auntie.

A silenced pistol.

Getting a little comfortable, man.

Dude, this is what it's all about, though.

That's what it's all about.

Yeah, it's not made out of anything that you would know.

It's kind of a vibrated.

It's a material not known to man.

Only to stand up.

Out of tanium.

Yeah, only Stanley Cup champions know what it's built of.

Well, thank you to Howie and and Matt and to Mike with the good hair.

Yep.

Here's Howie, by the way.

This is the man that showed up at our Thunderdome.

Say something.

Thank you, Howard Office.

We set up that.

Thank you, Howie.

Howie's not that big compared to, like, I think there was good perception.

Yeah,

perspective, is it?

You stand in front so you're bigger?

Yeah.

But he knows because he's always around it.

The gloves.

Look at the gloves.

I love the white gloves.

The gloves actually were a little bit of a problem for

Howie this morning.

Put the one on, only went up past the thumb.

Oh, no.

Then went to the other one.

Then he tightened them up.

Yep.

And he said, where do you want this thing?

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

What happened?

Uh-oh.

Is Mike alive?

Mike is alive.

Okay.

Mike has retired from handling.

What?

What?

Mike with the good hair no longer around

me.

He said, I'm not doing it anymore.

Sick and tired of living in this goddamn box.

I'd like to get an apartment, at least.

Is he the head coach of the Manitoba Moose or something?

He could be the Medicine Hot Tiger.

Yeah.

Maybe the Swamp Robbins.

Could be.

Yeah, the Bits.

You know what?

There he is on the right.

There he is on the right.

He took the tractor the last lap around.

That's Phil on the left, too, the other keeper of the coverage.

No, Phil is the curator now.

The one on the left is the curator of the Hall of Fame.

Great hair on both.

Great hair.

They know they're with the snack.

A lot of pictures.

Yeah, Lord Order.

You can't retire from this.

Mike, what?

What is your life, brother?

He probably has 17 billion uh miles flying.

Can you imagine how cool that could be traveling everywhere without?

He's with Lordo, brother.

It's a good life.

Who's your travel companion?

Lordo.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, do you have an extra seat for this?

You do.

Okay, I would like an upgrade.

Why?

Lordo.

Yeah.

We appreciate Mike's service.

We appreciate Mike's service.

Don't miss you, Mike.

We are.

I'll tell you what, though, Howie.

How he's, yeah, how he's got possessed.

I don't know.

You know what?

How he does that.

I just thought he was done when Tom Cruise is done.

It's kind of how I feel about Mike.

Oh.

Lordo?

You're done with Lord Stanley?

Tony Ice.

Don't worry, because Mike with the good hair, one of the perks of being the keeper of the cup is it gives you good hair.

Wait till Howie comes back next year.

He's going to have to.

How he's been doing it in 17 years, brother.

Yeah, but once he's around it, every single day.

He wants to sleep it in that box.

I threw my shoulder out or something.

Oh, you picked it up.

That's Mike?

That's Mike with the good hair.

I don't care.

It's giving me a good hair.

What the hell is going on with

the squeeze?

He's not dead.

Has Howie ever handed the cup off to the captain of the winning team?

Because I know Mike has.

No, I think this is probably his first.

I bet you he's going to be on skates, too.

Mike liked to walk.

I think he's going to be on blades.

Yep.

Howie!

What?

I think he's going to take a lap with the cup before he hands it over to the captain.

Pay announcement and he gets to hold it up over his head first before anybody else.

Howie!

Yeah, that is how they.

Howie!

Howie!

I think Howie knew he was coming on.

Howie's going to be so mad.

I'm not.

You're fucking popping that.

Can we get him a microphone?

There he is.

Can we get him a microphone, please?

Yeah, there you go.

Is there a dress code you got to have with Lord of the?

He's got to have a jacket on.

There he is.

Howie.

You should go give him the mic.

Y'all got oat there.

Bit of a shuffle going on.

Howie, you're the best.

Look at Howie.

Thank you, Howie.

Howie,

thank you for this today.

Oh, I'm happy to be here.

It's always great to bring the Cup around and get the publicity and everything that it deserves.

It's a great time of year now with the playoffs going on.

Nothing else like it than the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I agree completely.

Howie, how long have you been a handler of the Cup?

Since 2009.

Should we call you Howie the handler?

You can.

Mike with the good hair has retired, I heard?

He has, yes.

And Phil has gone on to be the curator of the Hall of Fame as a whole?

He's always been the curator.

He still travels.

It just he chooses when he wants to travel.

And it's you and one other handler or are you full-time

the main handler?

During the regular season there's probably four of us that would travel with the cup.

Then in the summer when we're traveling with the winning team we have a couple other people that will help us out and you know because it's much busier.

Every day you're traveling somewhere.

Whenever you think about

the entire process, this is a full 16, 17 years now of you being committed to traveling with Lord Stanley Cup.

Is that accurate?

And when you get presented with that potential job, is that a massive honor, I assume, or how do you kind of view it?

And when did you find out that you were potentially just going to be traveling with Lord Stanley Cup for a living?

It definitely is an honor.

When I was asked, I was very surprised.

I started working at the Hall of Fame as a volunteer back in 2004, I guess.

And, you know, I worked some part-time hours in the museum.

And then all of a sudden, Phil Pritchard had asked me if I'd be interested in traveling with the Cup.

So it didn't take me long to answer, and I've been doing it since.

I travel with other trophies too, and artifact displays to different events, but the cup is probably the main thing that I do.

So you're security for high-value things?

Trophies.

Yeah,

what other stuff do you, artifacts do you try?

Like,

Art Con Smythe, the Heart Trophy, the Art Ross, everything that we have for the NHL, there's like 20 or 21 other trophies.

So we could be various events with these trophies.

Yeah, and then we have artifact displays.

We have different cases that the

artifacts will sit in, and we can display them at different events.

So there's always something to do.

Okay, well, we want to let you know we appreciate you coming here to Indianapolis, Indiana.

We appreciate you, because we've always had Mike with the Good Hair.

Yeah, what's he doing now?

Yeah, what's Mike with the Good Hair doing?

I'm not sure.

I think he just

got a little tired.

He just wanted to relax a bit.

I can understand what he's at.

He's living in a smaller town outside of Toronto now.

His father lives there too, so I guess he just wanted to spend more time with him.

And I don't think his life is as busy as it used to be.

So I think he's enjoying himself.

Mikey with the good hair, you've done good.

Yes.

21 Stanley Cup salute when one of the handlers retire?

I'm sorry.

A 21 Stanley Cup salute.

Maybe like, did Mikey with the good hair get to

the cup before he retired?

I'm not sure, to be honest.

I think he kind of surprised us when he did decide to go, but

he put in his time for sure.

And

he deserves a big hand, of course, for everything that he

did do over the years.

He did a lot of it on his own.

There was a lot of long days, and I don't think people really appreciate what we do do with the Cup.

I think you are.

But it's been a lot of fun, a lot of great experiences, and we all love what we do.

I appreciate you speaking there for...

Mike, but also for yourself there.

A lot of long days.

I'm alone with the Lord Standing Cup.

We are traveling to a lot of cities, a lot of places.

So we can have an eye on the greatest trophy in all of sport.

Last question for me.

He just talked about the 21 beer salute maybe out of the top for Mikey with the good hair, which we would like to see sometime.

I asked you this earlier.

You have been because you're literally at all the celebrations, not all the celebrations, but most of the celebrations

the players have.

So every player and every coach on every team that wins the Stanley Cup gets a day with the Stanley Cup.

And you guys travel around with the Stanley Cup to these different parties, these different events and everything like that.

Yes.

You have seen some wild shit.

Is that inaccurate?

I think the fans,

they kind of fascinate about some of the things we do see.

I mean, they're not as crazy stuff as you might think.

And everything they always ask us, what's the craziest thing you've ever seen with a cup?

Well, for us, the craziest thing is like stuff that's normal.

So we don't know what's considered crazy.

17 years doing this, brother.

I've seen 10,000 beers get drank and deleted out of this thing.

I assume that is something that all the lads want to do.

Oh, sure.

They're always drinking out of it for sure.

The players will maybe put their babies in it, maybe christen them.

No, there's food eating out of it all the time, too.

Poutine.

Yeah, poutine is a big one, especially for the.

You like poutine?

Do you think poutine's good?

Poutine is great.

What about Timmy Horton's double-double?

Is that good or no?

Timmy Horton double-double is very good.

I mean, it's like I fucking said it was.

He can't hear me because he doesn't have headphens on.

There's a Canadian in the back, really, doing a victory lap to what you were saying right now.

Smooth cream oo.

Smooth cream oo, yeah.

Tiger, tiger.

Tiger pal?

Do you know smooth cream oo?

No, I don't.

I'm not a big coffee drinker, so I'm not sure.

Craft Peanut.

Tell them it's Kraft Petau.

Craft Pete Voice.

Craft Pete Voice.

Oh, is it?

Okay.

Oh, it sounds interesting.

Smooth cream ooze I need to say it's delicious.

Howie.

All right, Howie, we appreciate the hell out of you for bringing Lordo, and thank you for walking out here.

We forced you to do it, basically.

You're peer-pressured into this.

Yeah.

No,

you're the man, dude.

We appreciate you.

Don't take Lordo yet, though, please.

Nope.

I need one of those blazers.

Grab that mic.

What, the Hall of Fame?

Yeah, look at that.

That patch is awesome.

I think Phil can get you one of those, right?

Phil's the guy that we need to ask for that.

You guys need to sell some merch.

I think you have to,

it requires some,

you know, maybe unemployment first.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

We don't got time, huh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right.

We appreciate the hell out of you, Howie.

All right.

Okay, so the NFL owners meeting was yesterday.

And, well, Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was a vote.

That's awesome, isn't it?

Just sitting right there?

So cool.

Amazing.

Howie's a dog.

I mean, I love how you could tell Howie, he's a soldier for the cause.

Like, he is all in on that, on his gig.

17 years.

17.

I don't think he's going to retire, you know, ever.

I think he probably just goes down with the cup.

Yep.

And I respect that, and I love that.

I think that's what hockey, you know, is expected out of that.

So him saying we're all surprised by Mike with the good hair, I think we all are surprised by Mike with the good hair.

Living with his dad, though, I'm sure there's...

Yeah.

Thanks for your service, Mikey.

Thank you, Mike.

And it sounds like he went out on top.

Yeah, and now he's just able to go boat his day exactly i mean think about that too is that he started as a volunteer yeah and he never said sorry about it either no he climbed his way up and now he's out in the boat with the damn stanley cup yeah and you can go dooba do

what double double what's that two cream two sugar yes sir they created that oh the dooba doo simmy hoes i mean roll up the rim to win it's phenomenal

i don't know how i feel about howie the handle and i don't know about smooth smooth cream movie

or tiger tiger tiger.

I was confused that he did not know the crap.

I wonder if he talks to his American friends in a position of being like the GPS guy in kilometers.

Oh, probably.

Hey, three kilometers, you're going to make a right.

I have no idea what that is.

I have no clue.

Is that three football fields?

Is that three miles?

What is, why are you guys using such a different thing?

Metas, about 20 meters down?

What is that?

So that's like almost a yard and a half.

It's like 25.

And do I got to make a right in 25 yards?

Going.

Having Gumpy on the maps,

some of my favorite times in a car.

I always put it on in my car if anybody's in there every time.

It's so loud, too.

He speaks louder than everybody else is.

So it's like in three kilometers, make a left.

And I'm like, Gump, what the fuck is that?

What is that?

Canada's awesome.

Canadians are awesome.

Are we worried that Mikey with the good hair either got sick of us or were the Panthers just so much that he was like, i can't do this elbow room got him yeah elbow room i've been here for three weeks straight he saw it in the ocean he's like i can't do this anymore it's on a beach he's from toronto too

oh man the cups down on this isn't a hockey time all right the nfl owners uh met yesterday and voted on new rules that were being pushed by nfl coaches and management and teams the big one was the tush push play the tush push was potentially going to be banned forever.

Philadelphia Eagles obviously didn't appreciate that.

Lori gave a 30-minute speech.

Jeff Laurie gave a 30-minute speech.

That was followed by Jason Kelsey, who came in.

And I only heard what Jason Kelsey said on the New Heights podcast, but he said, if I was told that I only had 80 plays and they were all going to be the Tush Bush, I would sign up for that immediately.

Now, we have heard him in the past say that he's at the bottom of a car wreck in that time.

But that is being an offensive lineman as a whole.

But Jason Kelsey went and lobbied.

Lori went and lobbied.

And inevitably, it was a 22-10 vote, I think, to keep the tush push around.

It wasn't just the tush push, though, with the way it was being worded this particular vote.

It was basically saying he couldn't pull or push anybody on a football field.

That would take away the scrums that happen late in games where a running back gets stopped, then the offensive line comes, picks him up.

There's four D linemen.

There's four offensive linemen or three offensive linemen, and they move the running back over the first down line like six, seven yards.

Everybody goes ape shit for that because it's literally a display in a feat of strength over the other team.

So I think the wording of it potentially eliminates some other plays as well that all football people would be down with.

But it was certainly an attempt to get rid of the double pushing of Jalen Hurts' ass.

The Green Bay Packers were the ones that presented this.

And the Philadelphia Eagles take a victory lap after it doesn't get past the band and say push on.

Guess who they're playing in that game?

The Green Bay Packers.

So it was great use of social media there.

Great use of social media there.

The teams that were very loudly against the ban of the Tush Push were everybody that you would think it would be.

Everybody you think it would be.

Yep.

It was Coach Siriani playing football.

John Harbaugh, we're playing football.

Motor City Dan Campbell, we're playing football.

Hell yeah.

Mike Vrabel, we're playing football.

Come on.

Aaron Glenn, we're playing football.

Basically, every coach that you thought would be, we're

trying to take football out of football was against it, and then some.

So the tush push stays, AJ, and congrats to Philadelphia Eagles.

First and nine, first and eight and a half, every time they get the ball, brother.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with the tush push, to be honest with you.

Like, I understand when people want to argue, say, hey, it's not a football play.

Well, yeah, it is a football play.

By the way, what you just said, you go along Mercy, Dan Campbell, Mike Vrable, Hardball, everybody.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it.

I'm just saying, if I was a defender and I was trying to stop it, yeah, it would piss me off.

It would be frustrating, but at some point, someone's going to crack the code, right?

And they're going to find a way to, you're not going to stop it every time, but they're going to find a way to consistently have a way to do something about it.

I don't know.

I mean, I would assume that's the case, but I just don't know because they are so good at it.

I don't feel like we can ban it just because they're the best at doing it.

The Philadelphia Eagles fans and the Philadelphia Eagles as a whole turned this into a, oh, we're tougher than you.

Say you want to ban it.

Yeah.

Angle.

Good angle, angle, by the way.

Yeah.

Good, good angle, by the way.

Because whenever you watch it, it does feel like, oh, this is just a battle of wills.

This is a battle of strength.

This is a battle of grit.

Low man wins.

That's what football is supposed to be.

And I think D-Lineman say, it doesn't matter how low we get.

They got 800 pounds of people pushing.

Their ass cheek of a Jalen Hurts who squats 800 pounds in this entire thing.

It's unstoppable.

So you say somebody's going to figure it out.

I think there are some people in football that are worried,

I don't know if we can stop.

I don't know if there's any way to actually stop it.

Because on the defense, I don't think they're allowed to push back because that was banned because of field goals back in the day.

So I also am a fan of not getting rid of it, strictly as it becomes a toughness conversation.

It's like, oh, we're tougher than you, can't handle it.

Okay.

How come we're better than you with it?

Are you?

It's just an easy play.

Well, why aren't you?

Because you're not as tough as us.

I'm like, oh, they got a point.

Checkmate.

All right.

I'm on their side for it.

But it feels like something's going to give.

Feels like something, maybe only one pusher.

Number of pushers.

Yeah.

They're going to have have to change it.

Eventually, maybe one pusher, I guess, right?

They could see that'd be like a negotiation.

If the Eagles go 89%,

90% on this again this season, and I know there's just the Packers, they're the ones that bit the bullet and said, fuck it, we'll be the ones that'll kind of push this.

There'll be more people that'd be like, all right, maybe we do got to make it a competitive fairness thing as opposed to just a health thing, which I think is what they're thinking.

Yeah, because, you know, obviously, like, the Packers take a bunch of heat for this, and, you know, rightfully so, because they're the ones that push forward.

But I think a lot of people are saying, like, the league itself, the league office, like they're kind of the ones who want this out of it.

And it's just kind of an easier situation for the Packers to be the ones to do it because they don't have an owner.

So it's not like, you know, you can't point fingers at one guy.

But also, like, we were under the impression going into this, everyone who was reporting around this was basically saying, like, yeah, this is going to get passed.

Like, this is going to be a done deal.

And then it doesn't.

So I wonder if we're going to be at this same stage next year and they're going to be talking about it again, or if this is kind of just going to float off like into the into the sunset and we won't really talk about it for at least a few more years when it was the when it was the tush push when this play on the screen right here is what we were talking about and what the rule was talking about I think I could have gone either way on whether it was it was banned or not but when they changed the wording recently to the situation that you described you know where

Running backs five, six yards downfield, he gets held up, but then, you know, two, three offensive linemen come in and you push him for a first down.

Or there's many times when a guy, the ball carrier, stumbles or whatever, and an offensive lineman or a teammate holds him up and then kind of throws him for three yards or something like that.

When they changed it to you're not allowed to push or pull anywhere on the field, a teammate or anything like that, anywhere on the field.

That's when I really didn't want this to go through.

So, you know, if they change language potentially to only take out this, like the tush, push, potentially, only one person can push if it's within the line of scrimmage or something like that.

But like downfield and stuff like that, when like the situation you talked about when like pushing for a first down and stuff like that, that's awesome.

That can't leave the game.

Well, Well, and also not everybody's good at it, but it's just the Eagles and the Bills who are very good at it.

So, you know, credit to Jalen Hurts, their offensive line, and also credit to Josh Allen and the Bills' offensive line.

Like, I could see banning it if every single team was swinging a 90% bat and they're just getting first downs, and it is a first and nine for everybody.

But how many times do we see it failed for the other teams that don't work on it?

Like, I think it's happened multiple times with teams where it's, oh, they're lining up for a tush push.

Let's see what they they got.

And then they don't get it done.

Like, it is, you know, a different type of NFL play.

But until everybody is very good at it, there should never be a play that's illuminated.

Because, you know,

what if a team like the Colts, they could come out with a good player.

We could get good at this.

Yeah.

With Anthony and Daniel Jones both.

The Colts could be good.

And Seiken, obviously, has been over there.

It's a lot on the offensive line, though, which goes back to, so the Philadelphia Eagles are being punished because they're good at finding, and Stoutland's good at coaching, offensive offensive linemen, like, and they're tougher than your D lineman.

It's like, to your point about if every, once everybody gets good at it, it's probably whenever it becomes a conversation for competitive fairness and all that, yada, yada.

It's like that was what happened with kickers.

So there'd be like five, six good kickers, and then there was a bunch of shit kickers for a long time, and they'd be missing extra points, and it was still an exciting play.

Then kickers got like too good.

Kickers got too good.

It was just like routine.

This is 20-yard kick.

No NFL kicker is going to miss this.

This is either getting blocked or it's going in.

It's getting blocked one out of a thousand times and it's going through.

So once everybody got good at it, to your point, it became a,

this is not a competitive play.

There's nothing in that.

Then we need to change it.

Maybe that is where we're headed.

Maybe if everybody gets good at it and everybody takes advantage of it, then everybody will be like, we can't just have it be first and nine.

for all parties here.

Like that can't be how it is.

That's a very valid point.

And they've shown precedent with it with the kicking.

And that was a huge change.

I mean, going from

that was a gigantic change that the NFL doesn't love doing.

You know,

I think that's a very good point.

Joining us now might be a guy who understands

this play a little bit more than anybody.

Because he's been bent over with the ball into his hands to start a play more times than any of us.

Ladies and gentlemen, he's the founder of the Trenchies,

which is an awards

banquet for offensive linemen around the NFL.

He didn't get any credit

in any of the rollout of the Protector of the Year Award.

Ridiculous.

But I know he's excited that it's happening.

Ladies and gentlemen, on his birthday today.

What?

Super Bowl champion A.Q.

Shipley.

Yay!

Happy birthday, A.Q.

Sh.

Happy birthday, buddy.

What's up, boys?

I appreciate it.

No, we appreciate you spending some time out of this offseason for you.

you know, retired professional athlete life that you've been living and stay-at-home dad life and obviously his birthday celebration to chit-chat with us and work on your tan.

You could be doing that right now and working on his body.

I don't know if you see them.

Oh, it's starting to look good.

And work on his cooking.

I don't know if you see his.

He's cooking.

I mean, I've watched you guys talk about my belly enough.

I got to get that back in order.

Jeez, Lord.

I didn't even get time to watch our show.

I thought you were doing golfing and celebrity events.

Yeah, I mean, I'd see that.

Yeah, I don't know if you guys saw that.

I mean, happy birthday, Q, live your best life.

We love you, man.

Training guys, putting guys in the NFL.

You know, train 13 NFL offensive line.

Yeah, I'm just sitting around over here, you know?

Okay.

Hey, listen you do you brother you live your life you live your life happy birthday in the shipyard we know it's active oh yeah in full piss yeah if we flush the toilet maybe for the birthday we go flush the toilet

yeah once a week once a week we keep it we gotta we got a lot people now

all right happy birthday maybe this year we do it more often uh we're talking all right we're talking about the tush push and uh obviously this has gardened so many conversations i think i've felt like four different ways about this play throughout the process of them potentially banning it and i think i would have been okay either way that they went went in the end.

If they would have banned it, I would have been like, okay.

The way they reworded it to take away downfield drags and pushes, I don't think I was a fan of because that moment of an offensive line picking up a wide receiver or running back and moving the pile for a first down is a cool moment in sports.

So if it was just tush push, If they would have banned it, I would have been okay with it.

If they would have made it one person allowed to push, I would have been okay with it.

Jason Kelsey went to bat for it.

He's obviously in the epicenter of this entire thing.

What are your thoughts on the tush push?

And do we need to give credit to the teams that are great at this more as opposed to just trying to ban the play entirely in your eyes?

Yeah, I think that's been my biggest take the whole time is the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles have been the only ones that have been damn near 100% on this thing.

And so when you look at it, it is a skill.

Like Buffalo tried to do it and they get stuffed.

Other teams have tried to do it and they've gotten stuffed.

I mean, it's not nearly as successful with all the other teams as it is with the Philadelphia Eagles.

So it's clearly a skill that the Philadelphia Eagles have mastered.

So if one team's better than the rest at it, then they're clearly doing something right.

And it's clearly a skill set.

This isn't a play where it's an automatic first down for everybody across the league.

And if it was, I could understand it.

And clearly it has been proven that not many people are getting injured during this play either.

I've done a million QB sneaks.

You just kind of dive your legs and keep your feet moving.

And

they've found a way to

make it so good.

And Jalen Hurts behind has made it so good.

So you can't punish them for being better than everybody else at it.

First and nine for the Philadelphia Eagles continues.

I think that is kind of a mindset.

That should almost be like a shirt for them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like that, that's almost like a thing for the Philadelphia Eagles.

If they're up over 90% again and nobody else is touching them, maybe the respect will be gained for their ability to pull this off more than anybody else.

Go ahead, AJ.

AQ, how do you propose, like, how would you try to coach a team to stop this?

Like, what do you do?

Obviously, you can't let any kind of movement.

Like, what are you telling your D-line, your linebackers?

Listen, the the biggest thing is you have to get off on the snap clearly the offense has the advantage because they know the snap count so they're able to anticipate that and get out on the snap but if a defensive line can somehow get a tell and dive at the legs because that's what you have to do like the offensive linemen are doing such a good job of anticipating the snap getting off first and then Once you create movement and you get the push from behind, it's over.

So you have to stop the initial movement and then have people flying up over the top.

You've been in that mode where you've seen the linebackers jump the pile and kind of get that stop.

But, you know,

it starts with getting off on the snap.

And if you can get some anticipatory tell on what the cadence is or what the snap down is going to be, that is going to be big.

How old are you today?

39 years old, boys.

39 with an anticipatory drop-inch.

This might be the year for Akees.

Yes, it might be.

This might be the one.

This really might.

Let's go.

Okay, so that's when they started doing the hard count.

And then the Chiefs were just jumping over top.

And then the refs said, we told the defense that we can award a touchdown here if they want to keep doing that.

And that's because the Eagles can just add a hard count in there and keep everybody off balance.

They got the league in a bind, and they're way behind.

Everybody else is way behind.

And that's why Jeff went in there for 30 minutes and was like, we don't like football anymore.

And then Jason Kelsey comes on the back end of it and he goes, Rabes.

You don't like ball?

Dan Campbell, you don't like ball?

We're not tough enough, huh?

Aaron Glad.

Are you not tough anymore?

John Harbaugh, Baltimore.

You guys aren't.

What is going on?

All the teams that backed it are exactly the teams that you thought they would be.

Like, it is exactly who you thought it would be.

Congrats to them.

The Dolphins.

It survives for,

you're right.

It survives for another year.

And

congrats to the Eagles.

Now, let's talk about congrats to the offensive lineman as a whole.

Protector of the year coming to the NFL Honors Show.

Wow.

Yeah, that's cool.

Wow.

Yeah, it is.

That's cool.

It is cool.

It is cool.

We actually pitched what the trophy should look like.

And it's very similar to what your trophy looked like last year whenever we gave away the trenchies.

I love that Deion Dawkins has pushed for this because Deion Dawkins loves the position, loves being an offensive lineman, loves life, and will also be considered one of the protectors of the year every year that he plays football.

I like that Andrew Whitworth got in on the push.

Obviously, he has very great connections at the NFL, multiple Super Bowl champions, absolute dog, one out on top.

And we think that this is what it should look like.

Just put the protector underneath it.

Let go.

Yeah, I think we get rid of the trenches word there, and we put the protector.

And I think they handed out the NFL honors.

And AQsh, I think you should feel very proud of yourself influencing an awards or awards show maybe for the offensive lineman.

Pretty cool.

There's no doubt about it.

I mean, listen, we've been talking for years.

I'm a big believer in the offensive line.

They need to to be recognized.

It's tough to recognize because there is no stats.

But if you watch ball and you know ball, you know how the play starts and how the play finishes.

It always starts with the big boys up front.

And you

forgot about that.

What was that?

Divisional round?

Yeah.

And then the

round after that.

Yeah, championship round as well.

Yep.

Relax.

I just said the team.

I said the team.

I still had them ranked one offensive line.

Relax.

Yeah, but we said if you have a good offensive line, you win.

He said he hated Jalen.

And he said, no.

There you go.

I blamed it on the quarterback.

They said you hated him.

You just didn't think you'd be able to make the play that would be needed, is what you said.

Well, he proved me wrong.

He had a hell of a run.

He had an overrun.

Yeah, I'd say ass beating in the Super Bowl.

I mean, absolute.

And they ran the ball, obviously, more than they passed the ball throughout the season.

They committed to the run game.

I think a lot more people are going to do that.

And speaking of that, I think the cyclality of football is coming full circle.

Conman has a question.

Listen, listen, listen, hold on, before we go any further, I don't know what that word means, so you're going to have to tell me what that one is.

Context question.

Cyclality?

Cyclicality.

There it is.

Okay.

It was cyclality.

Yeah, cyclality.

It's in there.

You heard it.

Don't be a fucking asshole.

You heard the.

First of all, no matter how it's pronounced, don't think it's a word.

But the

yeah, no, yeah, it is.

Connor has a question for you, though.

Yeah, A.

Cuesh, how did you feel about all the offensive linemen going in the first round?

It felt like that was kind of the trend this year in the draft, obviously, led by Mike Rabel, the Patriots, and Will Campbell.

But how did you feel as you saw all those big dudes fly off the board?

Were you just juiced up for those big dudes?

Or what was your feelings?

Juiced up, rocked up, all the terms.

I mean, it was

fun.

It was fun to watch.

It really was.

I mean, listen, the big boys, it happens every year.

Always take the over on offensive linemen draft in the first because

there's always going to be a run.

As soon as some

team makes a pick and they make a pick early at four, right?

Then there has to be a run because now you're scared you're going to miss out on that.

I think offensive linemen, their track record of being able to play and be able to play with longevity has been proven more than the skill positions, I think, over time.

And so when you see that and you can find a cornerstone, once one goes off the board, they all start to go.

And in typical fashion, the Chiefs get a guy who probably was the best lineman in the draft because of an injury with the last pick of the first round.

I mean, Josh Simmons, what a pick by them at the end of the first and just,

I think it finished with two picks on the over.

I think the over was six and a half.

I think it went with eight in the first round.

I mean, it's a big number of offensive linemen.

It was a good group.

We will see how they perform at the next level.

It's always interesting to see what the transition is.

But yeah, I was pumped to see that many guys go.

Who drafted the best offensive lineman, you think?

Kansas City Chiefs got the best lineman.

I think Josh Simmons on tape, what he put on tape at Ohio State was incredible.

He probably would have been the first guy picked.

He tears his patellar tendon against Oregon halfway through the year, and teams were questioning that.

But talent-wise and what he put on film, he was probably the most talented guy.

He probably would have went fourth overall had he not gotten injured.

How old is he?

21 years old.

Transfer from San Diego State.

Comes over to Ohio State and just balled out.

Balled out.

He'll be able to recover, though, we think, from the patellar tears, what we're saying.

Yeah, I think that's a questionable injury if you're 30, 31, 32.

But I mean, at 21, he should be able to pop right back into that thing.

And Chiefs get themselves kind of a steal at the end of the first round.

Of course, they do.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, teams were actually super surprised at how quickly he healed.

That he was.

I remember at Combine, they were all like pleasantly surprised at how fast he was healed.

Then I'm pretty sure he was medically cleared by the time the draft happened or whatever.

How was the Mahomes outing?

Did you make any new best friends with any NFL players at the Mahomes outing?

Had a great time with Amandola and Edelman.

They were a lot of fun.

Royal Shocker.

Yeah, spent some time with Whitworth.

He was great.

And then

Steele Lafferty, one of the best wakeboarders, I guess, in the country, had a great time with him.

Great golfer.

Daniels.

Lafferty Daniels, son.

Steele Lafferty.

Really?

I believe so.

Lafferty Daniels.

Daniel Lafferty.

One of the goats.

Wow.

Sud.

We saw you mingling out there.

I think you represented well.

How was the golf game?

Did you play well?

Golf game was really good.

Practice round.

I was driving the shit out of the ball about 310 down the middle.

Surprisingly, surprisingly uh there was a par four it was about 375 on the green putting i hear a ball hit into the front of the face that's old patrick mahomes bombing one about 365 carry into the front face of the green i was like whoa he's a guy huh in golf obviously he's a guy in everything else he has those two par three holes we saw at his house and he's former baseball player right like very good baseball player he's hitting the ball 365 you're saying in vegas So he does he does that in the practice round.

I was blown away.

I was like, who that?

Oh, whose ball was that?

They're like, oh, that's Patrick.

Jeez, he was in the group behind.

And then during the tournament, Marty Fish drives the green.

He hits it like 375 to win the long drive on that hole the next day.

Marty's a monster.

Yeah, I'm coming for Marty someday, though, on that golf course.

Amen.

Yeah.

Marty can play, man.

Marty can play.

Yeah, I heard.

I heard.

Yeah, does he come out of the slot?

Yeah.

Can he get that thing?

I don't know if you've heard.

I got a new swing.

I don't know if you've heard.

Yeah.

No, let me see it.

Well,

we still fading the ball over there?

No.

It's coming up slot.

I'm hitting the ball perfectly straight.

You see what Rory's doing there?

And JT and whoever that guy is, and that guy, and that guy, and that guy.

There's Scotty.

Oh, that was Scotty.

Okay, yeah.

I'm pulling now.

Yep.

I'm pulling now.

I'm pulling that thing, coming down the slot, and then bang the bang.

Hit one.

I love it.

I've only hit one.

I love it.

Nothing like an internet golf lesson.

Internet golf lessons are the best.

They only make me shank the ball 400 times after I could do an internet golf lesson.

I told the story about the unduffable.

Do you remember that thing?

The unduffable?

Do you remember

that wedge I bought on the golf?

Yeah, yeah.

Bubba stole it.

Yeah, Bubba, he might have stole my unduffable.

I think it's behind that putter, is it?

Yeah.

You remember this, Akyush?

I bought this thing watching the golf fix at like 3 a.m.

It was considered the unduffable.

I think we went to GCI.

I do remember that.

Yeah, I think we went to GCI literally the next day, and I took an entire chunk out of the fairway.

and I was like, this thing lied to me and I believe you.

You were a little negative.

You thought I was a little bit naive thinking that a golf club was going to be able to fix everything about my golf problem.

And I'd like to let anybody know if they can figure that out, I would like to buy those clubs.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, I think that thing is also a lie because I think I've tried to chip it on your putting green over there and I think I bladed it right into your office door.

So I'm not sure that thing works.

It's not enough.

That's a blade.

Sure.

That's on you, brother.

Happy birthday, Angus.

We appreciate you, man.

Appreciate it.

Yep, you too.

All right.

We'll wrap up here on ESPN.

We'll continue on YouTube Plus.

No, just YouTube.

YouTube Plus.

Plus ESPN.

Disney Plus TikTok Live.

Period.

Big.

Boom.

That's where we'll be.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

You have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow.

Let's take advantage of today.

All right.

Sweet.

Anytime somebody passes away, that's like the whole.

It's hard not to do that, you know?

Perspective.

Yeah, it normally takes pretty serious things to get real perspective for people.

That was crazy.

Walking around with my daughter, Mackenzie.

Sam recovering from a surgery she had.

She's kicking ass too.

Absolute dog, Sam.

She's a beast.

What she's had to go through.

And just like,

so inspiring.

But a lot more time, me and McKenzie doing like, you know, one-on-one thing with Mackenzie.

It has been awesome.

I'm running around the house with her.

Ah,

you know, know, and then we got this room in the house, smaller room,

and it's like got some small steps up there.

It's like a secret room that was created by the previous owner for his kids to like make like, it was like literally created for kids to like kind of hang out, turn on some music, you know, depending on how she's feeling.

You know, mambo number five has been getting her really good song.

Okay.

Yeah, because she can count.

So one, two, three, four.

She feels like she's a part of it there.

And then it has like good bop in there.

And And there's two lights in there.

And she has found where the light switch is.

And now we don't want the light on in there.

Okay, but there's no room.

There's no windows in there.

So it's a little dark except for the thing in there.

So I've started to, I have my flashlight out now on her with the song playing.

And now she's dancing with her shadow, right, in this room.

Pretty sweet.

And then all of a sudden I bring in the.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And she goes, no.

So she like starts running her shadow away from big shadow.

So we're literally just running laps laps around this room 10, 15 minutes and nah, running from my finger just doing this around.

It was so much fun.

Like just, it was so cool.

And we're about to take her to bed or whatever.

And I opened the group text and it had been sent in the tweet or whatever.

And it was just like,

I was in like disbelief almost.

Like it just kind of came out of, you know, you never expect that.

Cause there was like a lot of things,

you know, not going great, I think,

for Mr.

Ursay, Jim Ursa.

Like, I think we knew that.

We'd heard that.

There'd been like speculation and stuff, but nothing really out there.

But I was just like, Jim will get it, because Jim's had to do it before.

I think, like, the thought was always just like, Jim will figure it out.

Jim will figure it out.

And Jim's has the best people in the world literally helping him.

Like, Jim will figure it out.

So, whenever I see that, I'm like, just like blindsided.

Like, holy hell, I did not expect that to happen.

I guess he is human after all.

Like, he is human.

So, this was going to come.

And then you immediately think about like like his family and his crew and everything it's just like perspective and then holy shit that came out there's so many you just got to appreciate what we have we just got to appreciate the fact that we're here yep you know i think we got to appreciate don't have to agree with everybody don't have to get along with everybody don't have to be happy all the time but there should be at least a little bit of uh you know what we're still fucking alive and uh

we get it's gonna have we either

Treat that as one thing or another.

And I think the thing that Jim treated it like was going to try to make the most of this going to try to give back as much as possible because the

position he was in.

And it's like we can make decisions every day too.

Do we want to be miserable existence or do we want to potentially try to enjoy this finite time that we have that we have no clue when's going to end?

You know, and that always seemingly comes back to the forefront whenever something like this happens, especially to a friend or a family member.

So rest easy, Jim Mercy.

We appreciate the shit out of you, man.

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Sports!

We just watched Howie exit the building as

Lord Stanley Cup made a visit for the first two hours of the program.

And now it's on its road to wherever as we celebrate the Stanley Cup playoffs still happening.

Eastern Conference finals, Western Conference finals last night, and the Edmonton Oilers had a 3-1 lead over the Dallas Stars going into the third period.

Then the Dallas Stars got incredibly hot.

They scored three goals within the first six minutes of the third period, took the lead, inevitably won six to three after an empty net or was slaughtered at the end.

1-0 Dallas over Edmonton in the West.

1-0, Florida over Carolina in the East.

And tonight, the Hurricanes and the Panthers.

There could be some fireworks to start this entire thing.

Now, I've done some more investigating some journalism

with the hockey people.

That's A.J.

Hawk.

Talks to Tables here at Boss Connor.

Attachment, one half of the Hammer.

Cowboys, Tony Diggs.

I've done some investigating because in my eyes, I didn't remember like an Eastern Conference final

war, right?

Polar line brawl.

Has it ever happened?

I don't think so.

But that's because at this stage, it would be very dumb to do that because of penalties and power play and everything.

But with the way the Panthers were acting after the last game, with what old buddy did to Marshie, which was, I think, deemed...

scumbag behavior by

Bush League stuff by all hockey people.

I was like, wait a minute, there's a chance that

we get a sticks, gloves, shirt as soon as the puckers drop start this entire thing the florida panthers are gonna have to stick up for their guy because that happening right there was a clear and obvious this guy's trying to he's trying to weaponize a puck right now now granted guys will dive into pucks like that is certainly what people will do guys get hit with pucks that's why you see busted grills all over the league but dudes just blasting pucks into guys is like a bush league teenager high school move soft yeah so marshi was like excuse me and he fights the guy immediately, which I think any hockey guy would.

I think that was a direct happening.

Pavlov's dogs.

You do that thing.

There's going to be an immediate fight afterwards in the NHL, especially with Marshan.

So like, I think, so Marshan getting kicked out after he was mad at the refs, like, you guys don't know Puck.

And then the way they reacted afterwards, talking about like, ah, you know, we have no comments.

It's like, I wanted to know, is this going to be a five-on-five fight as soon as the puck drops tonight?

And I guess a lot of people aren't expecting that.

What the hell?

Big bombs, though.

Big hits.

They're thinking, though, that old buddy, his first, he's going to be a...

Yeah.

There's going to be a.

It's going to be a nail double run.

Yeah, there's going to be some runs.

There's going to be, they think the Florida Panthers are.

Because just like I assumed, and then I changed my mind completely because of the situation.

Nobody wants to give up.

a penalty.

Nobody wants to give up a power play.

Look what the power play did for the Dallas Stars last night.

Three of them straight in the third period, three straight goals within six minutes.

All of a sudden, the Dallas Stars now are in the lead.

They were down 3-1 literally six minutes ago.

So the power play is a big deal, especially in the Eastern Conference Finals.

You're so close to the Stanley Cup finals.

It's like

the fight, I guess, is not necessarily a thing we should be thinking is going to happen to me.

Damn.

But it is going to be.

But they're going to take some good runs.

The boys are going to take some runs at him, I guess, legally when they are allowed, like within the parameters of the rules.

So then the Hurricanes are going to have to defend, buddy, even though they didn't.

Are they equipped?

Do we know?

I know Florida the Panthers.

I know Patty Maroon, like they're a heavy team.

They're going to wear on you.

They're going to wear you out physically.

Can Carolina, can they compete with that at all?

Yeah, is Carolina have any Baldies that are there to protect maybe the rest of the boys?

Because we've seen this in the past where a team has felt obligated to have to fight for a teammate, and they were by far the beta team on the ice.

There was an alpha team waiting for them on the other side.

And these guys just basically sacrificed themselves for for the good of the team and to be a teammate.

And that happened.

You're asking if that's a similar situation for the Carolina Hurricanes right now with the Florida Panthers.

Let's go to the back row back there.

Former host of Hockey Talk and also a man from Canada, one half of the hammer, Don Cowboys, Bubba Gampino in the hat, Nikki Skates with the hair.

Is Carolina equipped to battle the Florida Panthers or is this going to be a bully fest here tonight, potentially?

To put it simply, no, in the sense that they don't have like a fighter who's going to go out there and chuck Nucks

like a Tom Wilson would.

They have guys though, like a Jordan Stahl, Jordan Martinook, bigger guys, like Martinook's 6'1, 210, probably Stahl's like 6'4, 2'10, 215, 220, probably.

They'll battle.

They're not gonna shrink from it, but they're not gonna go out there and just, you know, throw bombs and turn it into a gong show.

They'll stick up for their guys, but I do expect some type of retaliation from Florida, you know, whether it's taking runs at Goss's beer legally or, you know, maybe a play on the edge a little bit, you know, giving him a little extra, a couple of little extra shots after the whistle, things like that, some face washes, getting in his grill and giving him a hard time all night.

I do like that Canada's sport is known for, oh, is that right?

We're going to fight.

Gumpy, you were befuddled by this entire situation yesterday.

You went so far as to lie about the situation to try to make it seem like a bigger deal to others so that they would understand the way you feel about the situation.

Are you still in that situation about this?

Yeah, I mean the way Marshawn reacted tells you everything you need to know.

Like he would rather be punched directly in the face than get a slapper ripped at him from the own blue line, you know?

I did see a certain section of the internet going, we're upset and mad and shocked that someone did this to Marshawn.

We're now championing.

Well, exactly.

I think that's why it's even more so.

This guy has licked people's faces.

Game one, dude.

Game one of this series.

He's already in your kitchen that bad.

He is all the way in there.

Yeah, he's cooking and cooking bacon.

that's right in his own dark

all right uh good luck to the hurricanes tonight i legitimately i think this florida panthers team probably get a little added motivation going into tonight to be the tougher team which they already are so that'll be something and then obviously the west play tonight timberwolves and the thunder we will watch that big news coming out of college football heather dinich of espn joins us

Heather, sorry we got sidetracked there with the hockey fighting and everything.

Massive breaking news from your Twitter account that we just saw.

The 12-team college football playoff will now be a straight seeding model this fall, rewarding the selection committee's top four teams with the top four seeds.

In a first-round buy, multiple sources have told ESPN.

The 10 FPS commissioners and Pete Bavacwa, who's the Notre Dame Athletic Director, comprise the CFP's management committee.

They reached the agreement this afternoon.

Okay, so we think everybody thinks this is smart.

We knew that whenever they went to the 12-team playoff, they were going to have to evolve and adapt to make it better for the second year.

Did we know they're meeting today on this?

And is there any other changes coming?

And thank you, Heather, for making time for us so on such short notice.

Yeah, no, thanks for having me on.

They are not announcing any other changes today for 2026 and beyond.

The other reason that they came to this agreement, remember, it had to be unanimous in order to implement the change for this fall.

And one of the reasons they were able to get to the unanimity is because of the financial component that was added to it.

Sources told me that if you're one of the four highest-ranked conference champions, even though you're not going to get one of those top four C's or first-round buys necessarily, you're still going to get the $8 million that Boise State and Arizona State got.

$4 million for getting into the playoff, and then $4 million for advancing to the next round for a total of $8 million.

So to be able to keep them financially whole was part of this deal.

Okay, so I love that.

And obviously, that source is probably calling you with more information on how they got to it.

I think everybody kind of agreed that this was the the right move.

I think everybody, didn't it seem like everybody in football, both fans, coaches, and obviously the committee felt like this was the right move after year one?

Yeah, and you know, last time we talked on the show, I told you that everybody in that room felt like this was the right thing to do for college football, but there were some hang-ups in there because there were some people in the room who wanted to tie this conversation to try to use it as some leverage for 2026 and beyond.

Because this is a very divisive issue for the future of the college football playoff in terms of automatic qualifiers.

The SEC and the Big Ten want guaranteed spots.

Well, how many do they get?

Do they get four?

What does that mean for the ACC and the Big 12?

Those are the conversations that are going on.

And there were people in the room who said, hey, if you want to do what's right for college football now, let's tie it into the big picture and make sure that we're doing the same thing for 2026.

and beyond.

But they, it's divisive, Pat.

We don't know how.

College football seemingly divisive, always has been, always will be, but damn it, it is a beautiful thing in its entirety.

You just talked about guaranteed slots for these conferences because they want the championship games not to be held against basically their teams.

If you fight hard enough to get to the championship game, it better not be held against you.

They want if you make it automatically in, which leads to Tone's question.

Yeah, Heather, obviously, 12 teams now, and then it was 14 teams.

It was rumored to be the next one.

But is there any chance that we skip 14 and go directly to 16?

And when could that happen?

There is some consideration for 16, and part of the reason for that is to allow for more at-large teams, allow for Notre Dame, obviously, which has some protections in the future iterations of the next contract of the Cow's football playoff.

So I would think it would be 14 or 16.

It certainly seems like there's some momentum for 16, but I'm telling you, I am not going to try to predict the automatic qualifiers because

there's going to be some pushback.

There already is pushback, not only from within the room, but there could be some political pushback as well,

as far as politicians, people in Congress, all the way up to the top.

We'll see what happens with that.

I know the people in West Virginia aren't going to be happy.

You keep slighting the Big 12 like that.

But I think the Big 12 potentially doesn't have as good of a seat at the table because West Virginia hasn't been in the conversation for a couple years now.

So once Rich Rodriguez and the boys over there put their big boy pads back on and we're at the table, maybe the Big 12 get a little bit more respect over there, as they should.

Got Prime over there too.

Come on.

Big 12 is about to be.

Don't look now.

Okay.

Don't look now.

ASU.

Oh my God.

Scatterboo just came.

What do you think he's about to do with the future?

Yeah.

Yeah.

The SEC needs to,

you know?

Because guess who's coming?

That's a Big 12.

Mountaineers.

It'd be a Big Ten because they're the premier conference.

That's what I'm saying.

It's a Big Ten, the SEC.

And then the SEC is doing this one.

Guess who's coming?

Big 12, brother.

Okay, don't worry, though.

We got the Big Ten.

We got enough good ass to be looking at the top of the mountain right now, though.

I'll let you know that.

Big 10's going to...

Hey, when the Big 12 starts, especially West Virginia, especially in the middle of Big Ten country, should be in the Big Ten, okay?

Or the ACC.

Very should.

Very much should be in the conversation.

I guess our academia is just not high enough.

I've long said I'd be okay with kicking Rutgers to the curb and bringing in West Virginia.

Okay, I like that.

I think A.J.

Hawk feels the same way.

Heather, you need to get behind that because I think your voice means more than any of ours.

Go ahead, AJ.

Heather, you mentioned these top four teams get $8 million.

Can they do whatever they want with that money or do they have to spread it around to the other teams?

Could you use it for NIO?

I wonder, is it school by school, or does can they tell the teams or the schools how they can use that?

Well, just to be clear, it's not the top four teams.

It's the four, the four conference champions, the highest rank conference

get that money, and they can use it as they will.

I mean, think about this.

Notre Dame, this past season, because they're an independent and don't have to share it with the rest of the conference, that $20 million that Notre Dame racked up for making it through the playoff to the national championship game, that's theirs.

So, you know, that's another question in terms of how they share that with the conference.

I'm not entirely sure how they slice that up for those other teams in those leagues, but I know that Notre Dame was able to keep every penny of that.

And what do they do with that, I think, is AJ's kind of follow-up.

They put that into the university, the athletic department, the football team?

Like, who, how does that, do we know where that money goes or is it just dropped into Pete Bavakwa's bank account?

And they say, Pete, you did a great job with the golf channel.

You did a great job with NBC Universal.

Damn, you're a great, great athletic director here at Notre Dame.

You can just do whatever you want.

Like, where does the money go?

I think that's a good question, AJ.

What is it?

Does it build up the university?

Does it go back to the athletes?

Do we know that answer?

Yeah, no, my understanding is that it goes back into the athletic department funds, whatever it is that they make.

And they could use it how they want to use it in terms of the NIL and the settlement that's going down with a $20.5 million cap to the student athletes.

Gosh, I mean, guys, there are so many other expenses, stadium renovations and just all kinds of other things.

People hear about all these mega million dollars and forget that there are a lot of other expenses that the athletic departments have to run to be self-sufficient and sustain the other non-rev sports that they have.

Yeah, the non-rev sports, obviously a big deal.

Got to keep those.

Have to keep those.

Need sports, need more sports, need as many sports as we could possibly have.

Also helps whenever you just got donors that'll just give hundreds of millions of dollars.

No doubt.

That'll help as well.

Yeah, that'll help as well.

And we're all trying to find that for our universities.

Heather, thank you so much for joining us on such quick notice.

Way to break the news and way to be on top of it.

Hey, man, find a quarterback for my Steelers.

Next time I'm on, we talk about that.

All right.

Where are you from?

I was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and I appreciate the love that you showed the Berg this year.

I followed along with that, man.

I was hoping there was a QB in the audience there for you, though.

Oh, yeah, everybody did.

Yeah, that was a little worrisome going in there that everybody in this arena is hoping that Aaron Rodgers comes out here and says he's going to be a quarterback.

And I'm really the only one and the people that are backstage to know that that is not, that is not even a thought, has not even been a consideration but i think you're not the only one that's worried but toten said yesterday diehard steelersman mason rudolph's the guy well yeah for the first few weeks hit and then as heather knows we got a national champion will howard he's the future he's so tall

he's just i i love will howard i think all these guys um that people are talking about jalen milro include a lot of developmental quarterbacks in this year's clash will howard is an outstanding student i've heard everything great about him in terms of his worth at work ethic and his desire and him, just him as a human being.

And you know what?

I will be a Mason Rudolph fan.

Why?

Because he's there because he's won some football games.

Yeah, that sounds exactly like everybody else over there.

Ladies and gentlemen,

college boys, I heather did it.

I will be a Mason Rudolph fan, okay?

If Mason Rudolph is the quarterback, I will be forced to be, to be

the fan.

Because he's there.

Because he's there.

He's the guy taking, he's taking the snaps.

That's right.

But well, for Tennessee.

Aaron is around.

He did Joe Rogan yesterday.

He said a lot of stuff.

Yo, a lot of

important stuff.

He did.

He did.

I didn't get to hear you.

And yeah, Tony, did you listen to the whole thing?

Yeah, they broke down a lot of stuff.

A lot of stuff.

Okay.

Four or five hours.

Yeah.

What?

What?

I don't know.

I'm just guessing.

Tony, didn't listen.

Sounds like he lied.

There is not a chance.

He lied.

People died.

How long was that?

That's a good question.

I bet it was three.

Three and a half.

Man, Rogan's.

It's a long time.

Rogan goes a long time.

Three hours and four minutes.

Three hours and 12 minutes.

Oh, sorry.

Oh.

They covered a lot of stuff.

Yes, they did.

I saw some tweets.

There's a lot of stuff.

I can't wait to listen.

Good work.

Way good, boys.

Three hours, 12-minute conversation.

You know?

Oh, yeah.

Just a lot of stuff.

With young Jamie.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Three hours.

He's at a five or sixer, I think, in there a couple of times.

A couple P breaks.

That's unbelievable.

Man, I'm fascinated by that.

Let's take a break, come back.

Brother, we're four hours into this.

Hey, just listen to it.

Let us know.

We're listening.

We're all listening.

Oh, yeah.

AJ is 1,000% already listened to it.

Definitely.

People in my circle with like real, real shit that they are depending upon me.

So I'd like to be able to focus on that and other things that I've going on.

So I think anytime he gets to clarify himself on things, you know, there is a sense from folks like, okay that makes more sense and then there's also the people who are like don't care don't want to hear it

they do that and i think it's rogan too so i think that's uh i think that's why it's a really good

sympotico it is i think so

man that level especially with rogan

i've thought about him a lot through this entire thing uh followed and watched what he did a lot too great business great talent obviously being able to do what he does could you imagine having a show that sways world's policies?

I don't think that's what he started out.

I don't think when he started, I don't think that's what he thought it would grow into.

But yeah, it's wild now.

I've had some vitamins sometimes, you know, and then I get on a plane all by myself and then I'll see something's blown up, like something is just gigantic.

I think to myself, like,

he just walks into that room, sits down, puts the fucking thing on, and it's like, all right.

Who knows where we're headed today?

And then there's a chance that, like,

in countries are changing policies because it's a wild.

That is a, that's a lot of pressure.

That is a, I couldn't even fathom.

Feels like he handles it very, very well.

And obviously he's had massive, but it's been like that for a long time now.

He's just been like, it's crazy.

It is a crazy thing.

I don't even know what goes on like when something happens during a show in the back of his mind just going like, pull.

Yeah, I wonder.

He's like, oh, yep, that's going to get some track.

Yeah, exactly.

It's an interesting thing.

That pressure is not something I would.

Plus the amount amount of people, I mean, the amount of death threats that I get and we just talk sports,

you know, I couldn't even imagine if you like opposed their political opinion

or provided evidence against somebody else.

It's like

those people get so mad.

The political people.

They get so fucking mad.

And I understand because they're saving the world in their eyes.

And I think what happens is they don't understand that there's a complete other side that thinks they're saving the world too.

So if you've got two people that are saving a world that view the same exact thing from the complete opposite way, and you both exist forever, I don't know if you're going to ever.

So are you yelling at a wall?

Kind of.

A bit, yeah.

But we appreciate people doing it.

Somebody's got to do it.

Somebody's got to do it.

Yeah, you're right.

We appreciate people doing it, but that seems like a very unfulfilling.

Because there's never, you know?

Trying to win, like constantly trying to win, but like, do you really ever win?

Like, I don't think so.

I don't know.

No.

I don't know.

Like, it feels like every once in a while there's a big win for somebody, and then you scroll a little bit.

It's like, nope, actually, complete opposite.

It's like, Jesus, you guys are never going to agree on anything over there.

Ever.

Like, for us, good game happens.

Like last night, Pacers, Knicks.

I think everybody in sports world was like, ah, that was a good game.

Like, Knicks fans were like, that was a good game.

Like, we all had a moment last night.

Like, all of us had a, that was awesome.

You know, needed it here in Indianapolis too, with the loss of Jim happening

at the beginning of that.

So it was like magic.

I think it was like a magical night sports provide.

And I would have, I didn't get a chance to because all the sports were happening.

And literally, though, stars and oils, yeah, coming back, it's like, that was a great game.

I didn't get a chance to check out what was going on in the political world yesterday.

Did they get along?

Have it.

Did they have yesterday they did, actually?

Did they have it?

Really?

No.

Yeah.

Watershed wooling.

I'm sure they did.

They put their swords down for a second.

Yeah.

I like that.

Did they say?

Yeah.

About three.

I don't know how many parties.

Everybody.

Everybody.

Feels like there is two distinct ones.

You know, and I know that it's talked about.

It feels like a majority of people here, though.

Feels like majority of people here.

But these ones are real chirpy.

Oh, yeah.

These ones are the most, these ones are the most chirpy.

Hey,

they're lied.

You know, because they're the ones that are, we're for the cause.

We're for the cause.

This is what you need to do.

And they're kind of feeling like they're giving the marching orders almost.

Oh, yeah.

For the people that are on the

outer side.

The peripheries.

The peripheries of that thing.

So the ones that are in the periphery are looking outside going what am i how am i supposed to what am i supposed to do how am i supposed to feel about this and then the ones on the outside we got you

them no it's us and then it's like most you know what i mean and it's and then these ones are the loudest because i think they're setting a tone for everybody and then everybody just kind of filters in here like man that's loud out there and then you just go it's

and you drift out what's going on whoa and you come back in and then what's going on oh my god you guys are never gonna

you guys are never gonna agree on No.

Feels like there's a fundamental disagreement here.

You reminded me, and thank you for reminding me.

While Aaron was on Rogan talking about change, Mason Rudolph was in the Oval Office actually instituting change.

That's true.

Mason Rudolph was there.

That's true.

Mason Rudolph.

Was he really?

Yeah.

Last week?

Mandatory go TV was this week.

Yep.

Could you imagine Trump with a goatee?

President Trump at all.

Especially if he had a jet black one like Mason Rudolph should grow it.

He should.

Good luck over there.

Thank you guys for saving the world.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Somebody's got to do it.

Somebody has to do it.

A lot of people have to do it, I guess.

But I'm thankful I'm not in that world.

How about whenever they were talking about Stephen A.

Running for president?

And he was like, you know, I'm thinking about it.

He should.

Yeah.

I'm like, really?

Definitely.

Good idea.

That's real life over there, brother.

Like, this is real.

Obviously, sports are awesome.

And people get very personal.

And people get very pissed off every year.

People call you terrible things in the sports world.

I'm learning it's more toxic than I thought it was going to to be.

Sure.

I'm learning.

Yeah.

It's a little bit more toxic.

It is unifying.

Like sports are the most unifying.

Last night I saw a high-five happen between two different cultures.

Clearly, did not, but also group was next to, and group was next to high-five celebration hug, everybody coming together.

I think sports have that.

But in the sports media world, sports talk world, boy, it gets a little toxic out there.

Because if you, if you, if you don't like somebody's team,

you, you took a shot directly at me.

I mean, fuck, I had Colts fans, yeah, saying terrible things about me this year because I just didn't appreciate the way things were being handled over there by the locker room, which I still have hope for, though.

They're going to turn it around.

I so I didn't expect how toxic it gets and how mean people can be because they could take it very personally, which I respect, which is why sports are as great as it is.

But in the politics world, it's like everything is personal.

Oh, yeah, everything.

Yeah,

I guess Stephen A.

is built for it.

I guess he'd be built for it.

No doubt.

Yeah.

But has anybody told him, like, bro, I don't know.

This doesn't sound like a fun time.

Has anybody said, like, hey, I don't know if it's a fun time?

Has anybody said that?

Maybe.

I would assume.

I would assume that.

Somebody told him.

I hope so.

Yeah, but

he loves it.

He living out there.

Yeah.

Some people, that's the way they thrive in that energy, I think.

You're right.

And we need people that do love that.

Like, you can tell President Trump loves it.

Like, all right.

Yeah.

I can take it on the shins,

whatever, whatever you do to me, I am, and you need people that are like that.

Obviously, I think Barack, President Barack Obama was similar, was able to just continue to do his things.

And you look at the people that get to the top, just kind of move and move, and you just get battering ramped in the shin on everything.

You just got to have no personal feelings, basically.

Like anything anybody says to me is not personal, even though it is very personal.

Everything's, I don't, I don't have that ability.

I don't have that ability.

Even like Outkick will dance with politics heavily and I'm like, oh man,

people got to be so mad at you all the time.

I think it's because they do both sides.

All right.

That was good delivery, Tom.

Good delivery.

Yes, it was.

That was really good, actually.

They say they're adding a balance to the way things

are going, which, I mean, that is how it is, though.

It's just like everybody does their, and it's just so.

I'm happy sports can hopefully provide moments of unity.

You know, I do feel that the the whole world's going to feel like that someday.

I got to feel.

Yeah.

In my lifetime, I think it's going to happen.

Everybody's going to be rolling in the same direction.

That's right.

Everyone's going to.

Something's going to cause that.

Something has to bring us all together.

What can bring us all together?

Everybody's going to go shake everybody's hands.

World Cup and mass destruction.

World Cup.

No.

Mass, mass destruction.

A huge.

No, we're talking World Cup, brother.

Geographical event.

Like Concafa.

Something like that.

I can see Argentina and Brazil going together.

Maybe a big TST win.

Yeah,

that'll do it.

That'll do it.

A big TST win.

That'll do it.

Potentially bring some people together.

We'll be there.

I can't wait.

Yes, yes.

That's a bicycle kick for him.

We'll see a bicycle kick.

We will have boots on the ground.

Bingo.

At TST.

All of them.

Yeah, all the boots that'll be there will be on the ground.

Yep.

10 toes down.

That's right.

You've been working on your

dismantling of referees' mindsets?

I got some new boots that I'm definitely not going to use them at the tournament, but they are phenomenal.

Are they red?

Yeah, but do you have any new sayings for these refs?

Oh, I'm always fucking ready.

The refs are going to see the new boots and be like,

oh, shit.

I might wear boots to coach.

Do you have red boots?

The boys have to get coaches.

They do have a nice red tongue on them, yes.

Love that.

Red boots.

They're the Jude Bellinghams.

They're brand new.

They're unbelievable.

Oh, Jude Ballingham.

Ballingham.

By the way, the Ballinghams out there.

Especially if they got a sweet hint of red.

Him and the coaches of Con Cafer are going to be great at what they do.

Oh, yeah.

Stack lineup

in our group this year.

Yeah, you're going to kill it, though.

You're in the group of death.

Wrexhams out there.

Wow, there's

Athletico.

We got a good group.

Who are we playing first?

We got Wrexham and Bournemouth in our group.

Yeah, Bournemouth's really good.

They're playing.

They had a professional player on their team.

Yeah, the Bourne boys.

Matt Matt Ritchie.

I don't think he'll be out there.

They have Richie playing.

Wow.

Richie signed him.

He's still under contract with Portsmouth till next season, so we'll see about that.

So I don't know if TSD's in a million-dollar tournament are just going to let a program.

They're signing pros now.

Is that okay?

We want Lou Messi.

Boom.

Yeah.

Hong Kong CAFA.

Heard he has interest.

I mean, that's what we heard.

He'll be out of contract pretty soon by the sounds of things.

No, he's going to sign back with Inter Miami, is he not?

Buddy, Inter Miami has lost six to seven, and they've led up 20 goals in the last six.

He's coming to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

They don't understand the ball.

Lou Pittsburgh Riverhounds got knocked out last night of the U.S.

Is Messi playing?

Lou?

Yeah, he's been playing every game.

They're losing?

Yeah.

He's playing and they've lost 6-7.

Yeah, it's not some Mickey Mouse league.

This is the MLS.

Yeah, you're right.

It's bad.

It's bad news right now in Miami.

It's not going to be a good thing.

They say Barcelona, pal.

Yeah, this ain't just some farm league, pal.

This is the fucking MLS.

Well, you know what, actually, it ties directly to.

It correlates with his personal security guard not being on the field.

Agreed.

And I don't want to dive into that anymore, but if the MLS tricked this whole thing off because they wouldn't fucking let a security guard on the sideline,

they deserve everything.

It's coming to them.

Now, with that being said, MLS is a good league.

Yeah, it is.

It's a tough league.

Lou needs to go to the Timbers.

I was going to say, it's just a matter of time before he kicks down Beckham's door and says, like, fucking trade me to Portland right now.

I want to be a Timber.

You think Lou Bassey was moving to Portland?

He wants to see.

He's certainly interested.

You think he wants

an MLS title?

Yeah, he wants to fucking go.

Lou Bassey leaves inner Miami.

He's packing his his shit.

And going where?

To

Portland?

He's packing his shit out of America.

Oh, the Columbus crew, maybe.

Yeah.

I could see him with Austin.

What's Cincinnati FC?

Oh, yeah.

Austin FC with McConaughey.

Yeah, McConaughey could potentially bring him in.

What about Cincinnati FC?

Don't they have a brand new stadium every day?

They're very good stadiums.

They've got some good young lads.

He could maybe want to go to Cincinnati.

I think he'll eventually stay.

He just seems very pissed off right now.

Well, that's because the team stinks and his security guards are a lot better.

I could see him leading the revolution.

The revs in the United States.

In New England?

Yeah, yeah.

I see two years.

I'm not decided for the revs.

I don't know which country.

An actual revolution.

A revolution of peace and hope.

That's a little mess he does with that left foot.

Maybe he should play goalie if he's so good.

That's not a bad idea.

He's not playing for America in the World Cup, right?

Even though he lives in Miami?

That has not been decided.

Polisic also isn't playing at the Gold Cup.

Yeah, what happened there?

So none of our good players are playing?

What happened?

Raina's not there.

Polithic not there?

What?

Reyna was a decision by the gaffer.

He doesn't want anything.

Mark Gaffer is a fucking dip shit.

Yeah, fuck this.

Essentially, it turns out.

Gio Reyna.

Turns out Geo might not be good.

Yeah, Geo's not good.

He showed up to the last tournament very out of shape.

I mean, that's fine.

And he doesn't play.

We've been acting like this guy is the savior for the long time.

And he's just not.

But when you give a guy the moniker, Captain America, and then he's not fucking playing in one of your marquee tournaments, I'm looking at the gaffer and saying...

Do you know what the fuck you're doing, pal?

What's his name?

Fucking Ponch.

Ponchatinho.

I don't think that's his name.

Fucking Pete Ponchatinho.

I'm out on this son of a bitch.

I want him out.

Why isn't Ballistic playing, though?

He's banged up from a long season at AC Millet.

He's trying to rest up and be ready for the World Cup.

Okay, he's getting ready for a World Cup.

We brought the fucking four-year-olds.

He's hosting it.

Next year, bro.

Nice.

Next year, yeah, 2026.

It's close.

But also, I don't...

He's got a strained hat.

They got to put this.

He wants to take 18 months off.

They got to build this team together.

I don't love it.

I mean, when's the World Cup start?

Next summer.

Next summer.

Next June.

Okay.

So I'll see you there.

Fuck soccer.

I don't care about this here in the World Cup.

What are we going to do?

You know who we are right now to the rest of the world?

We are Qatar.

That's who we are.

We're the team that gets a handout.

Welcome in.

You get to play in the World Cup.

And then we get fucked because we have Pete Punch or whatever the hell his name is and a Captain America who's got a hurt toe or something, he can't even play.

He's tired.

He's tired.

All right, my Captain America.

You know what my Captain America did?

Lando Donovan.

He fucking buried Algeria in the ground

and sent us to the knockout stages.

I haven't seen fucking Polithic do any of that shit.

Yeah, or Clint Dempsey.

Yeah, I mean, Jack Cameron, Brook Shaw.

Bingo, fucking the bald guy.

Jermaine Jones.

Michael Bradley.

Kobe Jones.

Yeah.

Alexi Lawless.

Absolutely.

Bingo.

Taylor Twellerman.

It's not his name.

Yeah.

Twellerman.

They got great new tarps, though.

I like that.

I think that's his name either.

Twellerman.

I think it's just Taylor Twellman.

Okay.

Well, that's what I'm saying.

Names that we remember.

Christian Pulissic, I guess I'll just remember him as being tired.

The guy that's tired.

Okay, Captain.

I don't like that.

Me neither.

Is that what it is, Gumps?

He's tired?

Yeah, he's rested up from a long season in Italy.

The cool guy with the tattoos.

But this is,

I'm not the fan.

He should be playing.

I get it.

Thank you.

This is the first season he's gone without getting hurt and played a full season.

Okay, so he's not hurt, so he should play.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Like, it is a good thing that he hasn't gotten hurt, but also I get he should be playing.

He came on the show.

I appreciate him coming on the show, taking time with us when I was at West Virginia for the.

I forgot about that.

Yeah.

Okay.

This guy is acting like he's Captain America.

Meanwhile.

I think we have given him the moniker, Captain America.

I think he is super quiet.

I don't know if I can think a lot of people.

I think a lot of people did.

He's masquerading around as Captain America when in reality, this guy's a fucking Hawkeye.

I think it was Twellerman.

He is a C-level fucking Avenger.

Buddy.

He was unbelievable at AC Millad all year, dude.

C-level.

Best season of his career.

That was disrespectful to Hawkeye.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'm just saying, we need our guys.

He's our guy.

We need him fucking.

We're one year out from the World Cup.

We got a new gaffer.

And don't we need to go?

That's what I'm saying.

Like, the team should learn how to play together as well.

Yes.

Because we're going to do the same thing.

Suck.

We're going to show up.

We're going to go out there.

And we're going to talk.

And we're going to be playing fucking Guam in pool play, and we're going to tie them.

And these guys are just going to be bitching the whole time.

And then it's going to be, and then we're not going to make it out of the fucking knockouts.

I mean, it's just, I'm done.

I'm done.

So the problem, I think the biggest problem for us is we talk every time as if we are going to to win the World Cup.

That's my expectation.

So we kind of...

We're Americans.

Exactly.

We got a big country.

A lot of people.

A lot of opportunity.

A lot of money invested in soccer.

No matter how shitty U.S.

soccer has been over the years, which it certainly is, and has been, and there's been new leadership multiple times throughout my livelihood, my life.

Like, we have enough...

Well, our best athletes don't get to play.

It's like, okay, cool.

We still have...

We still have our other athletes.

Like, there's a lot of, we have a lot of fucking, we're a massive country.

How come we haven't been able to figure it out?

Well, we're so far behind okay how many hundreds of years into soccer do we have to be where we're this was sold as the golden generation as well

that is the biggest issue like it was different when you had dogs going out there and doing well and overachieving this group was sold as the golden generation and they haven't produced turns out they're the patent generation we don't we don't have any junkyard dogs and that and that's just the bottom line we're the wuss generation no that's the soccer we're watching no we're watching that's your generation is this is this your generation?

I'm going to say my generation.

This is Bones generation.

It's the Wuss generation.

It's the B.

I don't think that's what it is.

It's the era of Paunch.

And there's another word I could use there with a P, but I don't want to use it.

Well, we haven't seen Paunch coach yet either.

We've heard him try to speak English.

It's not good.

I don't know how that goes.

And we've seen how his boys react to him.

They don't want to play.

I'm tired, coach.

And you know what he says?

Paunch says, why don't you grab some pine?

That's okay.

Go ahead and be tired.

He's not even going to be there, right?

He's not even traveling.

Who?

Pelissic?

Yeah.

No, he's out.

He's not even going to be with the lads.

That's what I say.

It's not right.

It's not good.

Wait, Gump, though, is Polithic, is he going to sit out for the next 12 months and rest up for the World Cup?

I would assume there's 15 more tournaments to play in that he's going to be.

Yeah, he's just taking the summer off.

I think he was trying to take the summer off.

If he's done till the World Cup,

I'm okay.

I'm okay with it.

I'm okay.

We need training videos, though.

Yeah, yep.

We need to be training highlight videos.

Yeah, we need to know he's working.

That's what they should do.

All of them should take off all the time from now to the World Cup and just

no money.

Let's get together.

Exactly.

You know how much money they'll make if they make it to the

knockout.

Horsebots.

Semi-built.

The semis.

If they make it to the semis, all of a sudden, these guys are

fucking heroes, man.

They could tour around like the Savannah bananas, just kicking the ball and like, hey, come see fucking Captain America and the Avengers, you know?

And they would actually get a crowd.

And then if they, instead, if they lose to Guam, if they lose to some.

Is Guam in the World Cup, just so I know.

Ah, there's no way Guam is.

It might be Jeff Cameron.

It might be

for Middle Striker, actually Mateo.

They have called up some dogs from the MLS, though, that

I think are excited to play.

We ain't winning.

I don't give a fuck.

Yeah, but I think that's kind of what's been missing, dude.

If you talk about Jeff Cameron and Breck Shea, they were fired up every time they put on that tarp.

I think they're added a lot more guys that are going to play at the Gold Cup that are fired up to play for USA.

And they're going to play in an American style.

They're not going to be flopping around.

But are they any good?

Yeah.

Diego and Daniel.

Tebow would be fired up to go get in between the pipes and play for Teebo.

You have to put down the parliament.

Where's the boy?

Where's the real chosen one?

The rapid kid from Philadelphia, the 14-year-old.

Where is he at?

He better be in this.

Is he in this?

No, no.

All right.

What are we doing?

What's the game?

Put his ass in there.

We got Yamil.

Yes.

These fucking sick teams.

The rest of the world got to be talking like this when it comes to flag football in the Olympics.

Yeah, that's not how they understand.

They think I know shot.

This better be the vibe because that's how I feel.

I feel like we are Sweden trying to put together a flag football team to compete with the United States when it comes to soccer.

Well, on that note, let's get out of here.

We're supposed to be a positive group, but it's hard to be positive about this soccer team.

We haven't seen this dude's team, though.

We need to.

Yeah, we need Paul.

We need to Paul.

I can see it in my head.

And guess what?

They're all fucking tired.

Just see it.

Let's see how the gold cup goes.

Just wait and see how the gold cup goes.

If the gold cup is shit, then you can say, Pawnee, you've had enough.

Are you eating?

But either way, he's getting the world cup.

I don't want to fucking play.

You pop one from yesterday.

You want to hear something, here's something, buddy.

Yeah.

Guam was actually the first country in the entire world to be eliminated from this world cup.

Of course.

They were eliminated in 2023.

That's what we're saying.

Yeah, Jay ZG Mateo is a fucking backlash.

That's why it wasn't on the pitch.

All right.

Let's have a great afternoon.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Watch the conference finals tonight.

We'll be talking a lot about it.

And tomorrow,

we'll have a nice, feel-good Friday to go into a great weekend.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change your life.

Rest in peace, Jim.

You fucking did good, brother.

Let's enjoy tonight.

Teep

team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.

Goodbye.

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