PMS 2.0 1434 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, MNF Doubleheader Recap, NBA Opening Night with Steve Nash, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

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

On this BA Day, October 21st, 2025, this program begins right now.

Football!

It's Mattel two game.

Falstart on me.

I'm not doing it.

I jumped to start.

That's on me, ladies and gentlemen, 47-year football coach.

Our coach, BA, is here, Super Bowl, Champion.

Good to see you, Coach BA.

We appreciate the hell out of you traveling up here every single week.

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

I see the Celtics hat-on, Con Man.

The NBA tips off its regular season today.

And guess what?

We have Steve Nash joining us.

Wow, in about 15 minutes or so.

And then we have a 37-minute and 37-second conversation with the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, that we recorded earlier this morning because he's in the middle of traveling for opening tip.

There's no way he knew he was signing up for a 40-minute conversation with us.

Certainly.

It was basically a state of the NBA.

We'll run that in a third hour, although we will run clips of that over the next couple hours we appreciate him joining us so much and then obviously there's a lot of bald talk about it last night hey two monday night football matchups how you doing keep it moving the buccaneers taking on the lions what let's get a prime time matchup that we could see maybe in the playoffs this is maybe a team uh that maybe goes on a run a wednesday super bowl this is a monday night football treat this is a monday night football joy started at seven o'clock a little bit earlier than usual that's because we got a nightcap at 10 p.m and we'll see how many people survive that one yeah watching this doubleheader and it's certainly great.

But how about this Buccaneers Lions game coming down to former teammate of ours?

Yep.

Nine-year NFL vet Darius J.

Butler, defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, Kelvin Shepdog Shepard, leading the boys with a lot of injuries to a massive night against one of the most explosive and electrifying offenses in all of NFL on prime time, Debu.

Absolutely.

And Shep Dog was getting a lot of love, which he should be.

Just great.

You had questions about how they would respond to this team.

Losing your offensive coordinator, losing your defensive coordinator, both of those guys going to be head coaches.

And Shepdog did his thing, man.

You got a bunch of injured guys out there.

Author Millette stepped up with that unbelievable interception.

Not everybody up here agrees that it was an interception.

I think it was an interception and a great play on reviews.

Kind of one of the game-changing moments in this game.

Bucks hung around.

They hung around in the first half.

I thought this would still come down to the wire, but the Lions ended up getting it done.

Jameer Gibbs, he is phenomenal on the offensive side of the ball.

I mean, we got, it's kind of a resurgence of like running backs.

We got obviously Bijan, Jameer, C-Mac, all these guys, Jonathan Taylor doing his thing, but he is unbelievable.

Sonic in the Sonic and Knuckles, getting the ball, broke away early, had a big time run, was big time in the air as well as a receiver, which he does week in and week out.

Montgomery didn't have that big of an impact, but this guy right here, you can ride number zero.

Jared Goff, still slinging it, taking care of the ball, making plays down the field.

St.

Brown broke the game.

game open early with a big time touchdown.

So the stars showed up for the Detroit Lions.

It was a lot of talk about who wouldn't be there.

But when these guys showed up at home and they showed out, we were all kind of surprised about the spread going into this game, six and a half points.

But they showed us kind of early that why they put it there and why they'll be there at the end of the road.

Yeah, six, seven points was a spreader.

So six, seven points was Ford Field, real homefield advantage felt like.

Honestly.

With what happened to that Buccaneers offense, it felt like the defense was hunting.

And obviously, you just mentioned it there.

The conversation was about who wasn't there.

Jack Campbell is awesome.

This guy's great.

Whiteside learned about him last night because they showed him.

This guy's undrafted last year or whatever comes in, makes some massive plays for him.

There's a bunch of players just all over the place.

That Detroit lines team that we're being kind of introduced to.

And on the offensive side, Jameer Gibbs is so fast.

This guy's unbelievable.

The number zero looks so cool.

Sick.

I was kind of on the fence about adding zero into it.

And then you see a guy running 35 miles an hour on Monday night football.

And it's like, wait a minute, I think I like the number zero.

Now let's talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneer side of this entire thing.

Obviously, we thought it was a big spread because how much we respect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Mike Evans was back.

Mike Evans gets hurt in the game last night.

They said something about his collarbone.

He's going to be out.

So that breaks the streak that has been an incredible run of a thousand yards receiving, going and going.

He breaks his collarbone, gets a concussion.

He leaves, which is obviously not fun.

But Baker Mayfield playing.

This team was ready to roll, it felt like, for a playoff push throughout the beginning of the season.

They're getting healthier as opposed to getting, you know, more decimated with injuries like they were at the beginning of the year.

Coach B.A., obviously, you won a Super Bowl down there.

You're still very close to that place.

What are the thoughts on Tampa Bay Buccaneers after last night?

And how do you think they come out of that game thinking?

I think they're all disappointed that Mike got hurt.

That streak means so much to everybody in that organization and Mike means so much to the organization.

It was a hell of a play and he caught it and then obviously broke his collarbone.

But

for me, playing in Detroit without your right tackle,

that's bad news.

And Aiden Hutchinson was eating it up.

He's a beast.

Now you're stuck in what I call butt nug.

You're all blocked up and nowhere to go.

Oh, you're chipping with this guy.

You're chipping with that guy.

They're double teaming everybody, those other three guys.

All right.

So it's like, that's bad business.

And Aiden Hutchinson was the real deal.

Tampa Bay has been able to win with some injuries throughout earlier in the year, and we're calling them the last Playboys.

And we thought there was a chance maybe Tampa Bay does some

Baker Mayfield magic towards the end of this potential game because that's how they've been.

Do you think they just ran into a really good team?

So like getting by, maybe maybe not possible?

Like Lions, how do you view them after last night?

This is a team that, you know, we'll talk to Stragg in a third hour.

He was out there in Seattle last night.

He was doing a hard time out there.

Sure.

He was traveling over.

I don't think so.

I think he has zero hours of sleep.

Coming in the season, he was like, I think the Detroit Lions, two new coordinators, you know, a lot of new things.

I think they're going to miss the playoffs is what he said.

That was like his aggressive take, super duper take.

I think he was even saying it was a little bit extra in that entire thing.

But can you talk about what they've been able to do with two new coordinators that maybe should get talked about more?

Or what is a heightened responsibility that everybody has now with two new coordinators?

What are your thoughts on Dan Campbell being able to get this ship still going?

He obviously got the right guys.

You know, they're not missing a beat on offense.

I thought Jared had a little tough game.

Bucks defense kept a minute for a while.

But

Kelvin does a great job with that defense.

Shepard, Shepard, Shepherd.

Losing all your DBs, but still being able to play man, but it wasn't just traditional man.

They were double, double, single.

And with that pass rush for a quarterback to figure out who the hell is a single, that's hard.

That's hard.

And then when you lose your check downs because they're chipping and barely ever getting out,

it's a bad recipe.

Then the money down, too.

We always talk about the money down red area.

Bucks were four for 16 on third down.

So that's not a recipe to win a game regardless of who you're playing, but especially a talented team like this.

You mentioned it.

Defense definitely kept them in it.

Dean got a pick right before the half to kind of set up that field goal.

So it was only, what, an eight-point game, I think, going into the half where it felt like it could have been a 28-point game.

But yeah, the Lions shut that door in the second half.

Henbo stat here about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense.

Baker dropped back to pass on 83% of his plays yesterday, which is highest in the game as a Bucs career.

Tampa's currently 0-10 whenever he drops back at 70% or higher.

So Kelvin Shepard literally did exactly what I assume his game plan was in its entirety.

He got to be able to run the rock down there.

This Detroit Lions team, though, is special.

What's the offense coordinator's name, Foxy?

Johnny Morton.

Okay, so Johnny Moe and Shepdog got the team rolling up there, and MC DC's neck looks like it's bigger and stronger than it's ever been.

I think you were even a little bit worried at the beginning of the season on what was going to happen.

Now you guys are all the way back to full confidence in this Detroit Lions.

100%.

After week one, I thought it was a disaster.

I thought everything everyone was saying was correct.

New OC was going to stink.

New DC was going to stink, and we weren't going to be able to recover.

All of that is put to bed now.

We're 5-2.

We're going to the bye week.

We're going to get healthier.

This team looks awesome.

We can win the Super Bowl.

I'm fired up for it.

I'm happy for you detroit folks thank you and the refs kind of helped us out last night and i appreciate them oh thanks for bringing it up i'm happy you brought it up squeaky wheel gets the oil didn't we hear a lot of detroit people saying oh woe is detroit obviously in kansas city they're going to get calls over lowly detroit nobody wants detroit to win what did he say after a second look is that what he said is that what hussey said hussey veteran ref we are all fans of hussy now

there was obviously some situations in both games last night that we are not fans of and cannot be happening.

But Hussey's been around a long time.

Hussey, good on the mic, too.

This guy, very comfortable, very confident.

So, whenever he goes over to MCDC and MCDC says, we'd like to challenge the completion of the catch, you hear Hussey make that announcement.

Okay, so Hussey says, Detroit is challenging the completion of the catch.

And it's like, whoa, he didn't make a mistake.

Like, that's not like a new ref saying that.

That is certainly because there's options though.

Do you want to challenge the spot?

Do you want to challenge if it was a catch?

What do you want?

MCDC says that clearly to Hussey.

So Hussey goes and looks.

He comes back.

Yeah, it was a catch.

Yeah, everybody saw his catch.

That was never really in question.

Goes onto the field, and then he says this after getting on the field.

After a second look,

it is determined that the receiver was actually short.

of the line of the game.

Okay.

Hell yeah.

Okay, yeah.

You hear Foxy and his family going crazy there.

But this is now multiple weeks where like New York has gotten involved and did things.

Now, BA, I I think we got to the bottom of what actually happened here.

So MCDC challenges the completion of a catch.

Hussey goes, takes a look.

He has the ears to New York.

They're going through it all.

They say it is a completion of a catch.

He goes back out there.

Bang.

Then he's called back over to the thing.

And that's, is that replay assist you think at that moment taking over?

What do you think what happens?

When you challenge the play, the entire play goes under review.

All right, so not just was it a catch, the spot does come in because the entire now you can't throw a flag onto onto the field if there was a penalty, but you can pick one up.

But this, this to me was egregious because it was like a first down.

Oh, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

I went back and took a look at it.

When you look at, for me on television, that was way too close to overturn.

I mean, it was like,

you couldn't overturn this.

No one ever wins a spot challenge.

When you, hey, I'm challenged in a spot, then you lose.

Yeah, especially if it's like inches.

Now, the only thing they seemingly did have, which I appreciate, is a camera right down the line.

Was that the pylon you think that was on the sideline there?

Or is that a camera that's just sitting there?

How did they get it right down the line, seemingly?

If we could have this for every game, let's certainly do that.

But to your point, BA, it's like his fingernails are there or what is not there.

Now, granted, I would like to let it be known as a person that picked the Lions in my bet.

As I was watching that and I heard him say, I didn't complete the catch.

I'm like, no, Dick.

I don't think he, I don't think he made it.

This is the first time we got a camera camera right down the damn line there.

So things seemingly going to Detroit Lions' way.

Even got New York looking after him.

I'm just happy they're getting it right.

Where did you care?

That's all you care.

Four, five, six, seven, eight looks if you need to.

Just get it right.

Okay, so after a second look, if that was for the Chiefs, let's say, I wonder what the storylines would be this morning if there was a second look.

So let's just make sure we document that they did it for the Detroit Lions, the team that I think we all can agree on that the NFL has not wanted to win the most over the last 40 years.

Correct.

Okay?

Them and the Brons.

Yes.

They're kind of there's a reason we say Detroit versus everybody, and it's usually because everyone's against us.

Okay, we'll also toss the Raiders in there, but yeah, NFL's always hated Raiders, allegedly.

Yeah, allegedly.

All these things are allegedly.

It's a common theme amongst those teams.

They stink?

Is that what you're saying?

I don't want to be the one to say it, but yeah.

Thank you for saying it.

The teams that stink always think the NFL is out to get them.

I understand.

And now, welcome to a new world, Detroit.

You're now the Chiefs.

You're getting calls.

Here we go.

Wow, Detroit must be nice.

It's a lot better on this side, boys.

It feels pretty good.

Now, on that note, we would not like to hear from your fans ever again about any other team maybe getting special treatment because they dropped a

second look on us on a primetime game.

Now, let's go to the second game of the night.

Okay, there was another ref situation that happened.

We'll certainly get to in a moment about a player ref going over there and protecting the money, protecting the guy that is maybe on top of everything.

This Seattle Seahawks team, good.

This Houston Texans team, bad.

Game, a lot of flags, tough to stay up for.

D-but, you watch the game.

I tried this morning when I woke up.

I tried.

Sure.

Even last night.

I tried my absolute best to watch this.

Yeah, last night.

Even last night.

I tried last night.

I'm old.

Put me to bed.

Okay, I go to sleep.

This morning, I wake up early.

Okay, I wake up early.

Catch up on all this stuff from the night before.

You know that old Skip Bayless commercial that they had for Fox Sports 1 where he woke up early, he was on his bike, and he had all his TVs catching up to everything.

Okay, I'm not at that stage yet.

But you're close.

I am about to get there.

You know, I'm living these things that are happening the night before the next morning.

It's going crazy.

I couldn't make it through this one.

I just couldn't do it.

The enhanced stats on this, 22 accepted penalties.

Okay.

Five turnovers, four for 29 on third down.

And it ended at 1.30 a.m.

Obviously, there was some situational awareness that took, but there was just a lot of things that happened in that game.

Tough to watch.

So I'd like to let the Seattle Seahawks fans know that my East Coast buys did do me in in a game that you guys dominated and made another team look very bad.

And it maybe even made

the whole ref operation be bad.

I didn't watch it in its entirety.

Just know, massive respect for what you guys got going on.

Obviously, watch through the highlights, watch a 30-minute recap of it all.

Didn't get to see every single snap.

But this Seahawks team, very good.

McDonald, very good.

And this wide receiver, okay, Jackson Smith and Jigba, what did he have at the Rose Bowl?

15 catches for 347 yards.

We should have have known then, I guess, what we're knowing now.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime type operation happening with Jackson Smith and Jiglin Darnold right now.

Yeah, in Ohio State, you know, they've kind of been known as one of the wide receiver use.

They're probably LSU.

And everybody in that Ohio State kind of family has always said, hey, this guy has been the one.

He's the one that's kind of the cream of the crop.

And he's been unbelievable.

He's been the best receiver in football this season.

His connection with Sam Darnold, there were questions about was Sam Darnold kind of a one-hit wonder in Minnesota?

Would it work in Seattle?

Moving on from Geno, and he's been tremendous in this Clint Kubiak offense.

Came into this game, leading the league and play action passes.

And it's some numbers.

I don't know if we have it, the numbers with him throwing specifically to JSN that are unbelievable.

But he broke the game open.

They jumped out to a 14-0 lead against the Houston Texans.

Here we go, right here.

Sam Donald throwing to Jackson Smith and Jigwa this season.

14 explosive.

That's first, 36 first downs, 819 yards, 41.3 41.3 EPA.

We all know what that means.

But yeah, leading the league and all those numbers, we can turn on the tape.

I don't care what you know or don't know about football.

You know, 11 is special.

He's been special in that offense.

Just Sam Darno, how he's operating at an offense in general.

I only expect him to continue to get better.

We'll see how they use those

backs.

The Houston defense.

The Houston defense is unbelievable.

And they scored a touchdown.

Will Anderson had a strip sack that ended up being a touchdown.

That Houston defense is unbelievable.

Stingley Jr.

had a pick late, but the offense, and I got to ask BA here, I don't know what the hell is going on with the offense.

We all saw C.J.

Stroud and kind of Bobby Sloick take the NFL by storm, but since then, it's just been a shit show.

And I was battling.

I was battling to stay up.

I want to say early in that fourth quarter.

Yep, I said, okay, I know how this one's going to end.

And I shut it down just like the Seattle defense has.

And CJ Stroud has struggled against Mike McDonnell every time he faced him, believe 0-3 now against this defense, but they're tremendous on the front end and then the back end as well.

But B.A., what are you seeing from this Houston offense?

Yeah, I mean, ever since the rookie year when he was fantastic, and then they changed coordinators.

They get rid of Laramie Tunso.

They get rid of Mixon.

That's a lot.

And you start not replacing those guys with top-tier players, especially your left tackle.

And

the sacks are coming.

The pressures are coming.

That sophomore slump has turned into a junior slump.

Don't know what happened between Bobby Sloic and everybody, but they were rolling.

And then all of a sudden, boom, and they changed coordinators.

But

it's hard to watch that offense right now.

Yes, that was the main reason.

Yeah.

And it's like the Seattle Seahawks defense might be a part of it, obviously.

They're a very good defense, and we got massive respect for them.

But just CJ Stroud, I think we might have been his loudest fans, biggest fans for his rookie year, although everybody was behind him.

But we were very loud because once we saw him play football in college one time, we're like, this is the one.

This is the one.

And we were very loud about that.

So we felt like classic journalists, we felt obligated to make sure everybody knew that what we thought was right.

You know, so we started going big, big, big, big, big on that.

Then he has that rookie campaign that he had.

And it's like, this guy is actually the one.

We're the smartest people on earth.

We should be consulting people on who's the right people to take and who's the right person to lead your team.

And then all of a sudden, last year happens, a lot of injuries, a lot of change.

Then this year it starts happening.

It's like, wait a minute,

how do we go from this place where the Houston Texans were dominating the AFC South?

And it was going to happen for the next 10 years to now here we are thinking, man,

that was tough to watch as a football team.

And I don't know how we got here.

Legit.

We liked Amico as the coach, right?

Yeah.

We like Casario as the GM, right?

Now, you talk about some of the moves that have been made.

It's like maybe he thought higher of some people that he had on the team than they actually had.

And maybe it's just not working out.

I don't know.

This Houston Texans team is nowhere near what we thought they were going to be.

J.J.

Watt thought he was going to be able to come on the show every week and talk shit about the Houston Texans for the next 10 years.

Certainly.

That is exactly what he thought.

Nico gets hurt last night.

He's obviously an incredible talent, but I don't know what happened happened to Houston, Texas.

This is kind of befuddling, I think is the proper word to kind of use it.

But maybe the Seattle Seahawks in primetime were just that damn good.

We also got to hold that into consideration.

And like the offensive line thing, like so many people on the internet are blaming Katsario.

Like, this guy needs help on the outside.

This guy needs a better O-line.

Like, Tunsil is one of those trades.

You might not know for a couple of years whether or not that's great, but it's not as if Washington's undefeated and they're playing really well.

And then when you think about the guys he did get on the outside, he drafted two wide receivers, both who were definitely up there when, you know, considering what people thought they were going to be, the two Iowa State guys, and then Christian Kirk.

And Christian Kirk got released.

Casario made a call, said, no, no, no, we're going to give you a pick for Christian Kirk.

And that's how they got him.

So it's not as if Casario is to blame.

It's more so just like the first, maybe not first case study, but we talk about like how good Josh Allen got, you know, going over through the years.

He is the guy that everyone emulates as in like, hey, if your rookie quarterback isn't great, he could still be great.

Look at Josh Allen.

And C.J.

Stroud, at least for me, is the first like, hey, if your quarterback, his rookie year is good, don't, you know, hang your hat on him because he might slowly but surely look worse.

And we're talking about the old line, but then we're running clips and he's got a clean pocket and he's throwing balls that aren't typically CJ Stroud balls.

Like with the one down the sideline when it was 27, 13 or 27, 12 with like six minutes left right there, that's a clean pocket and he throws a pretty good ball and then the defense is just a great play.

And And then you look at the touchdown or the attempt on the goal line, too, and he throws a pass that in years past, even maybe his rookie year,

he makes that throw and it gets deflected.

He's just not playing as well.

And maybe there is a real regression that happened with him.

But I don't know shit about that because in an NFL building, I'm not sure what quarterbacks do when they're great rookies and then continue to get better.

Yeah, Jayden Daniels, I guess, would be the next person that we're going to continue to.

to monitor.

Feels like him and Cliff Kingsbury still got it.

But once again, that's the same OC.

They get rid of Bobby Slowick after having all the success.

Now, are are they going to be able to find that magic back for C.J.

Stroud?

We all hope so, obviously.

And, you know, because it's the Indianapolis Colts division now, but we'd like the Houston Texans to not be ass because we love that city and obviously what they have going on.

There was a situation in that game before we wrap this up and pivot to the NBA.

Nate Jones, I believe is his name, the official from last night that potentially saved Jackson Smith and Jigba and the Seattle Seahawks from getting into it.

Oh, I'll brawl with Damiko Ryans.

His Houston Texans on the sideline while we're sitting on a bench, he comes flying in.

whoa whoa whoa boys i got stripes on can you hit me can you hit me can't hit me everybody relax can always gonna be hitting me always now this is like whenever you're exiting in an airplane you know do you go uh uh do you go front towards or do you go back towards the decision you know and he made the decision here he's going front towards okay he's getting in there you know uh maybe make sure you can protect it i think if he would have turned that thing and did this one too i think we have the same outcome but i appreciate him going right into uh like kind of a nurturing uh situation this guy's got no helmet he's on the other team sideline holy shit, this could escalate very quickly.

He's an ex-player.

Shout out to him.

X-Player is a ref.

We appreciate the hell out of him getting in there and saving a good situation.

That's good refing.

Okay.

We got a spot like that because there is some ass refing happening out there.

And him, former player, being a ref, made us revisit this thought.

The NFL needs to just create an academy.

of some sort for X players to be able to become officials.

So in the NFL, they have, in the NFL PA, they have something called the broadcast boot camp.

Okay.

Where guys that are in the NFL are allowed to apply and then then they go to this broadcast boot camp and then there's network executives from every single different network and you basically get to learn what a potential job could be you also get to showcase if you could be good in front of them now i got turned down to that thing three times i think i'm the only person on tv out of the nfl that did not go through the broadcast boot camp never never was allowed in thank you so much i appreciate you thank god i didn't get invited now on that note it has helped out a lot of ex-players it has given a lot of x players a lot of incredible opportunities we need to do something similar for officiating and i think the NFL could do

a big babyface play here if they get ex-NFL players to find like a purpose now, and they're probably going to be good.

But also we can get a full-time ref set up.

And I'm not saying all refs have to be players, but I think we should try to get a little funnel of people that understand the game, that aren't soft, that aren't going to

miss context of plays and stuff.

And I think we can kind of set precedent for other leagues to do this with their players as well.

It just feels like it's an easy thing to do, but what do I know?

I don't know.

You could probably get these guys to move move to a place, go to the academy, do year-round training, have them go to spring practice, have them go to training camp, have them do all that shit.

And then obviously, once they get to the level in which you're comfortable with them, you put them in.

Have them do some college games, have them do some preseason games, have them do practices, do this entire thing.

I think you can set up like a feeding ground almost for ex-players to give back to the game and hopefully make our game better.

But what the fuck do I do?

Honestly, B.A.

I don't know.

I assume you've been talking about the refs for a long time.

We brought this idea up a long time ago and it comes back to the union.

They got to join the union to ever get on the field.

The refs union?

The refs union and the refs union run the whole thing.

Hopefully that contract comes up soon and we can break it.

And hopefully we can get this in place so that we can place them with quality people rather than the scabs.

Also, May 2026, I guess, is the NFL ref union deal is up.

So if you have any ideas, let's certainly do that.

We appreciate all the refs of the past that have certainly laid the groundwork to get us to where we are.

Refs are a very important part of the game, need to be full-time.

And also, we need better access for players to get in there and and get back to you.

Tough job.

Tough job.

And so if a guy wants to do it, we should allow him to potentially want to do it.

Not a lot of people want to be coaches.

A lot of time, brother.

Not a lot of people in the earth want to be refs.

But if people want to, there should be an easier way to kind of get them in there.

And maybe we got another.

Yeah, exactly.

Nate Jones of the future that saves a situation happening after the game.

Now, let's talk about the NBA.

Huge day for the NBA.

Congrats to them.

Tonight on NBC at 7.30, you got Houston at Oklahoma City.

And then at 10 o'clock, you got the the Warriors at the Lakers.

Now, the Lakers are without LeBron for a little bit because he's got a sciatica.

Joining us now, co-host of the Mind the Game podcast and also senior advisor, I believe, for the Phoenix Sun, MMBA Hall of Famer, multiple-time MVP, 18-year vet, ladies and gentlemen, Canadian Steve Nash.

Yes!

What's up, everybody?

Hey, sorry you had to catch the tail end of me saying that we need full-time refs over here.

Do you have any answers for the NFL?

We need to figure it out.

Well, I thought the front toward or back toward was an important topic this morning.

Like that's a that's a tricky area of debate here.

Like I'm not, you know, I don't know like what I would choose.

It's tough.

So have you ever on a sideline, maybe on a bench because things are tight there, you know, on your guys's NBA benches, they're tight.

Have you ever had to do the oops, scoozy, excusey, scoozy?

You ever have to do that?

Did you do butt down?

Did you do face down?

What was your move, Steve?

I don't know what's Canadian.

I tried to go neutral, you know, neutral right between, not front or back.

Just how can I, you know, weave my way through here?

Definitely.

Yeah.

front back it's kind of awkward get thin get thin get thin i understand what you're saying uh congrats on another season starting you're also doing coverage for amazon i believe let's go yeah

thank you excited yeah what what does that entail what does that mean and uh what has been happening to lead up to this moment to launch off with amazon Yep, so Amazon Primes NBA coverage starts Friday night.

We have the Celtics and the Knicks, Lakers, T-Wolves will be in studio from LA.

The great Taylor Rooks, my buddy Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin, Adonis Haslam, and myself will be in studio for those two games pregame, halftime, post-game.

Great crew, super fun to work with.

Had rehearsals, we've had seminars, we've done a little bit of prep and everyone's just excited.

For me, it's fun because we get to hang, you know, like just watching games together, talking about the game, being together, great chemistry.

I think we can really develop a fun show.

And I'm excited to kind of get into your world a little bit, Pat.

Yeah, well, you've been in our world, and we know that if you were to get into anything that we do, you will dominate it.

We watch you do a lot of things in here.

Oh, yeah, and you were great at all of them, including house and wine.

I mean,

that was an incredible feat as well.

But speaking of our world, the media world, you know, for us, it feels like we're back in a locker room here.

Like, I think if you were to ask D-Butt or AJ or any of the guys that come through this show, Coach McCarthy, BA, even a little bit, we have like a sense of community.

We all love ball.

When they say retired players, you know, kind of transition in real life, they miss that feeling.

We have that.

I'm excited for you to have that.

But do you also appreciate the fact that the NBA right now has so many of the ex-GOATs?

I mean, yourself included now,

being a part of the coverage.

That's good for the game, ultimately.

Do you agree with that?

I think it's great.

You know, I think people are going to be a little uncomfortable to start because now all of a sudden we have, you know, we have two new

rights holders in Amazon and NBC.

We got obviously

ABC and ESPN.

So there's going to be way more games than ever on national TV, which I think is positive.

You're going to have way more talent, former players.

I think it's going to be a really interesting landscape.

but it's going to take a minute for people to kind of change their habits and know what nights are we on Prime?

What nights are we on ESPN?

What nights are we on NBC?

But overall, it's going to be a big win when everyone kind of figures it out and realizes we got a lot of great ex-players talking about the game, sharing their experiences, and highlighting what a great league it is right now.

A lot of games.

We had a full conversation with Adam Silver that we'll be airing in about an hour and a half or so earlier this morning.

And just talking about negotiating and kind of transitioning into this new media rights deal with streaming and social and obviously still having linear games.

I think it's great for the NBA.

Also great for the NBA.

I think the style of play.

What have you seen by the style of play seemingly last year that's going to carry into this year that maybe is different than five years ago or 10 years ago if you had to get, if you had to describe it?

Yeah, for sure.

You know, I think

we have this kind of debate, I think.

You know, start of last year, ratings were down.

People were complaining about too many threes.

You know, by the end of the year, the ratings have never been higher.

The playoffs were exceptional.

You know, we had, as everyone complained, no offense to your home team, but there was two,

smaller market teams.

It was unbelievable basketball, unbelievable series.

The whole entire playoffs just had an incredible viewership.

I think the game's in an incredible place.

I think you do see some teams, some of the poorer teams, perhaps, they take a lot of threes.

They take a lot of poor threes where they don't touch the paint.

They don't create good looks because the variance of shooting threes.

Oh, no.

Poor.

That's what he's talking about.

The way they play the game, the way they defend together, the way they move the ball, touch the paint, get threes.

You know, I think that's what's, what's, you know, makes this game so beautiful because it's kind of become, instead of like being super predictable, dribble down, throw it in the pose, run a set.

Now it's kind of more jazz.

We're reading and reacting.

We're trying to create, knock the first domino down, swing the ball.

Someone attacks a closeout.

Now, so now we're playing basketball together and how to read and react rather than it's just going into the post to this guy.

And, you know, nine guys are standing and looking at him.

So I think the game's in a great pace, great place with the pace, the space.

The good teams are defending together on a string because you have to defend more space now, right?

Guys are shooting from farther out.

We're playing quicker in transition.

So you got to get back.

You got to cover guys in a lot more space.

Makes rotations longer.

Teams are making decisions.

Should they get in the gaps, take away the paint?

Then that opens up the back line rotation.

So I love the evolution of the game.

I love where it's going.

I think it's a lot of fun to see how coaches and teams and players continually adapt to try to get an advantage.

Yeah, I love listening to you talk about basketball, brother.

I think you know it a little bit.

Yeah, you should maybe you should maybe stick to it.

I think that's something

soccer player, though, too, right?

Good soccer player?

Love me some soccer.

Growing up, my mom and dad are from the UK, grew up playing soccer.

Still watch a ton of soccer.

Still play once a week.

I know you got some soccer skills, Pat.

Yeah, you turn us down for TST.

Remember, he's supposed to be on TV.

Oh, yeah.

You're supposed to be on a team.

You're supposed to be on Conquer for Steve.

You're supposed to be on Conquer Tech.

Five kids, Pat.

Five kids.

I can't just fly across the country

for a little soccer tourney.

Not just good at soccer and basketball.

Five kids.

what

delivery man okay uh d-but has a question for you hey steve the uh nba landscape has kind of changed now not as many uh super teams as we would call it a couple with a couple stars like the lakers the mavs but what was it like for you i know as a player you had to do it especially those sons day with stat and the matrix those superstars but like you were head coach of the brooklyn next when they had james harden kevin durant and kyrie irving what's the toughest challenge when it comes to managing like multiple i guess alphas on the same squad?

Well, clearly, you know, when players are, they've built, you know, there's ego is good and bad, right?

And

you need an ego to get to the top, but you need to obviously have it in balance.

When you have three guys that have made it to the top, that demand a lot of it from themselves, yeah, at times it can be difficult.

You expect that, though.

But I think our biggest problem in Brooklyn and is why the game is changing a little bit is that we were always injured.

You know, of our three stars, they played 16 games together in over two years.

So I think because of situations like that, we're seeing the league go away from three stars and go to more depth, like getting guys six, seven, eight, nine who can make threes, defend their position or multiple positions, can make a play when

they get a closeout, they can drive the ball and make the next pass.

So for me, I think the three-star thing, if you don't grow it at home through the draft and build your team that way, I think teams are a lot more reluctant to try to go pick off three free agent superstars because you need depth.

And if one gets injured, you know, everyone else in your roster is

such a, you know, I don't want to be mean, but is a way down in quality.

So now you got guys stepping up, having to play roles maybe they're not necessarily able to do.

So it can put a lot of strain on the team.

So I think we're seeing a lot of teams.

You saw it in the playoffs.

You saw how deep the pacers went.

Shout out to Rick Carlisle, Lloyd Pierce.

I think

they gave guys an opportunity to develop and play that maybe a lot of coaches wouldn't have given that much rope to.

And in the end of the day,

those guys took him to game seven and they had a chance to win, especially if Tyrese didn't get hurt.

So growing your depth, developing players, getting a deeper bench has become really much more important nowadays than trying to pick off three stars.

So it's a team sport?

That's crazy.

I didn't know that.

I didn't know basketball was a team sport.

We may have forgot for a moment, but it's back to being a team sport.

Okay, okay.

I'm happy we all did forget that for a moment because it felt like that whenever it was being talked about and maybe even watching it.

But to your point, we went deep on the roster and the the new york knicks just refused to do so for so long so back-to-back years we just kind of ran them out of the entire play that's basically what we did i mean we ran you guys out of the gym god tibbs fire

didn't play his venge now tibbs great work over there that's a tough place to coach yeah helping out boston now yeah especially yeah exactly so the tough stuff over there eastern conference finals right yeah new york knicks and they fire them yeah but patrons co-win the big one yeah big bad tyrese haliburton's hooling out there he's doing some gardening in madison square garden brother.

That makes sense.

Yeah, and also it does make sense, especially for just sports in general.

Like, okay, this guy's good, but not great.

So let's get out of here because we might be ass, but it's better than where we are now in the Eastern Conference Finals.

You talked about Tyrese getting hurt in game seven.

Let's just make sure we understand whenever we're on a microphone talking about stuff, we talk about facts.

If Tyrese wouldn't have got hurt, he had 45 points that night.

It's going to be a triple-double.

And the Pacers are going to win the title.

And Tyrese goes down as one of the greatest players in the history of basketball because of playoff run.

Just so you know, Steve, we saw what was going to happen, okay?

Just as you know.

On that note,

about talking about games and players.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Steve, loved how you said basketball is like jazz.

My goat, Michael Scott, views the game the same way.

When you're commentating for these games, you know, during the pre-show, the one, you know, we all know is the TNT show.

And I mean, we see it.

Shaq and Chuck do not hold back.

They will bury anybody and anybody to their face and also will admit when they're wrong.

Have you thought about that, how you're going to approach talking about these superstars, most of whom you've worked with and you have been one in the NBA when you were playing?

How do you kind of approach that aspect of it when Kevin Durant or James Harden or Kyrie Irving, who they gave great answers about the Brooklyn Nets debacle on starting five?

But have you really thought about how you're going to talk about those types of players when things aren't going too well for them?

I'm going to kill them.

Honestly, you know, like you brought up Chuck and Shaq.

And I mean, I think the biggest thing, you guys will know this, you got to be yourself, I think, on TV.

And the audience is only going to want to hear from you if they feel like you're authentic.

So we're going to all have to find our voice, find that chemistry.

You know, that show has been gold, it's been entertainment.

You know, for us, you know, we're going to probably take a slightly different direction just because of the personalities.

You know, I think, you know, maybe part of us will be more analytical, you know, breaking down the game a little more.

But But like UD, Udanis Haslam, he is a straight shooter.

You know, he's going to give it to you exactly how he sees it.

You know, BG, obviously, Blake Griffin, a super smart player, but also super funny.

Very funny.

So, you know, Dirk barely speaks English.

So we'll figure it out.

You know, we'll figure it out as we go.

Good to talk just the whole time.

That'd be incredible.

Can you speak German?

I know a couple of cuss words.

That's about it.

Ein Gross Bierbitte.

Okay, we know that one.

One big beer.

One big beer, please.

Let's see.

Donkey.

Of course.

That means thank you.

Dirk Hansen.

Anytime you get a non-English.

Vasses das.

Who?

Voss is dash.

This man was born in Germany.

What is this?

Vosses das.

Close enough.

My dad speaks German.

Yeah?

I think that's yeah.

Nelditz.

Yeah.

What's no?

I think, yeah.

Nine.

Ah.

Nine is no, I think, as we're getting through.

Sorry, Steve, do this on your show.

They're going to love that.

Now,

we are very pumped for you to be on television because I think you're going to be fair, but also the way you talk about the game is different than just like branding and shit like that.

You actually talk about some substance, which leads to this.

Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Steve, as a guy who is from Canada and then, you know, played in the United States in college and then obviously in the NBA, when you look at guys like Wemby and I guess SGA to some degree too, even like much, you know, similar to you, he played at Kentucky.

So he kind of gets it.

But are you surprised that we're having as many of these international guys come in and kind of just take over the league right away?

It doesn't seem like, I mean, I feel like when I was watching a long time ago, like there was a period of time there where it was kind of you and Dirk carrying that international torch.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

But I mean, he was, you know, not sustained like Steve and Dirk.

And it seems like several of these guys are, you know, I mean, what do we have?

Five international players in the top 10 of the NBA right now.

Like, does that surprise you

how good these guys are and how quickly they're this good in their careers?

To further your point, I think it's the last seven MVPs have been international players.

So

it's a global game.

I think that's the bottom line.

As the game's grown around the world, the leagues become more popular.

The league inspires the next generation.

And then we also got to take our hat off to places around the world that develop talent.

You know, like the European countries do an incredible job teaching guys the game of basketball.

You know, I think we do more of a volume job.

We've got a lot of people playing.

Obviously, there's some great coaches, but

AAU basketball,

take it or leave it, some of it.

You know, it's not all great.

Whereas they have a club system in Europe that really hones in on fundamentals.

It's not all just roll the balls out and play.

Now, I don't want to be

unkind to all those great coaches there are across the country, but the system doesn't allow for as much coaching as it does playing and marketing players to get college scholarships or NIL deals or whatever it may be or to fund an AAU program.

So the system's just set up different.

So I think that's one of the factors.

A lot of talent in the United States.

A lot of people love the game.

A lot of great coaches, but the system, I don't think, is as efficient as a small club in Slovenia or Croatia or Spain that's really honing in on details, teaching the game and giving guys an opportunity to really develop.

They're all smacking the wood, huh?

Is that what you're saying?

They're smacking the wood, bopping the wood.

Getting down, smacking the wood, playing D.

Yeah, they're bopping that wood there.

Yeah, bopping wood.

You guys love bopping wood in basketball, don't you?

That's kind of a part of it, especially international.

I'm going to stay out of that one, but that was good.

I'm talking about, you know, fundamentally sound.

Bopping the wood.

You know what I mean?

You know what I'm talking about.

That's what you're saying these guys are doing, bopping wood all the time, not just some of the time.

You know, there's a different level of bopping at different places.

And that type of fundamentally strong bop is better than just half-ass bopping all the time.

Celtics preach, you got to eat wood if you want to win the game.

Yeah, Missoula's all about not just bopping, but we're eating

out there.

It's about the wood, bro.

You know that, Steve.

Basketball.

All about the wood.

Learn something new every day.

You're the expert.

Get on TV.

We shouldn't be teaching you that this is a wood thing.

I stay out of

that wood zone.

It's a good play.

Yeah, because he don't play anymore.

Yeah, he used to bop the wood so good.

You used to be all over that wood dancing on the wood.

You know what I mean?

He'd be dancing on the wood.

He's cat's dancing on the wood.

Yeah, he looks so smooth.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, you remember every once in a while we get a cool little Steve Nash kick of balls on wood.

Yeah, now we got balls on wood.

You know what I mean?

That is, that's what we're here for.

All right, Steve, Coach BA, our coach, has a question for you.

Yeah, Steve, I'm being a big Suns fan myself, being out in the desert for five years.

What's it look like for our Sons this year?

Good question.

Well, it's a great question, Coach.

You know, I think the first thing we would say is it's a cultural reset.

You know, they swung for the fences the last few years didn't really you know get far in the playoffs decided to kind of reset the organization so they have a rookie coach they have a rookie GM and trying to really just create an environment where players feel like they can get better they can

develop an identity

and also just you know without assets you know the Suns don't have a their own draft pick for years right now you got to develop some players in-house and you got to develop a style of play and try to be better than the summer your part so it's been really exciting to see Jordan Knott,

our first year coach here.

He's created an environment where all the players are working hard, they're competing, they're combative, but they feel like

they have an opportunity and a path to get better.

So that's all you can do at this stage of our arc of development.

And I think for the Suns right now, they're controlling the controllables.

And I think win-lose draw, it's going to be a team you're going to be proud of watching.

And they're going to surprise you a little bit because they're going to be super competitive.

They're going to share the ball.

They're going to play hard.

And I think the Valley will really enjoy watching them play.

I love that city.

Great.

I love that city over there.

So nice.

That place is so beautiful.

I mean, the arena.

The arena is so beautiful.

I mean, everything about that place is awesome.

I hope both the football team and basketball team get very good before my wife and I and family move out there.

That is what we are.

That is what we are hoping for.

Before we let you go, and we appreciate you stopping by, I'm going to put you on a spot here.

Okay, I'm going to put you on a spot.

TV.

Wow.

We're doing it.

Rushmore on X dropped this morning, our fourth episode.

And this week was Dunkers.

And Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Ari Emmanuel, and Ben Persky put together their Rushmore of Dunkers.

Each person individually put together their top four Dunkers of all time to start the conversation.

Then they have to come together to get a final four.

Here's Reggie Miller's Rushmore of Dunkers.

First thoughts as you look at this: any obvious omissions that you would put in there?

And how do you feel about the four that Reggie brought into the convo?

I actually really like that.

I would have had Vince, MJ,

and Dominique in there.

Zach, though, super worthy.

I mean, crazy speed off the floor.

Incredible dunker.

I like Reggie's rush more.

What do you think?

I don't know.

I'm not the person that should be giving any LeBron.

Okay, I'm going to say LeBron obviously

has some of the biggest ones.

He's very strong.

Sean Kim.

Nasty.

I think Kenyon Martin's name was mentioned.

Power Dunker.

I mean, Shaq.

Shaq himself.

Shaquille O'Neal was on the show, and I'm not sure how that whole conversation went with him, especially Reggie going, you've broke how many backboards?

Don't care.

Okay, you don't make my list.

We got to keep an highlight real here, brother.

If you want, so who would have been your fourth?

You don't have to give a fourth, actually.

You're not on the show.

Don't feel obligated.

Yeah, that's a good question.

I didn't do my prep work on the Rushmore Dunkers this morning, but I mean, Zach's great.

LeBron's a great call.

LeBron, like, in transition was, you know, just a train.

Like, there was no getting that back in the bottle.

You're just getting dunked on.

So, that's amazing.

It kind of dunking's different, right?

Like, it's a mix of things.

Like, Shaq, Shaq can dunk on the whole team, but he's also bigger than the whole team.

So, you have sometimes it's like less impressive, even though he just did something that no one else can do.

Whereas, like, Zach Levine's

bango, yeah, Spud Webb.

So, I think it's like, you know, Nate Robinson, like, it depends.

You're talking in-game dunkers, you're talking guys that like surprise you.

You're talking to, you know, maybe we value bigs like Shaq, who are unbelievable, just getting offensive rebounds and punching on someone.

So I also give a little shout, in-game dunker, to my guy, Amari.

Amari Stodamar, my pick and roll partner.

He definitely caught some bodies when we played together.

Incredible hands, incredible feet, could take off.

And

what a pick and roll partner for me or in transition.

You just throw it anywhere.

He's going to go get it and put it down.

You guys were fun to watch out there.

I remember those.

The highlights were obviously epic.

I don't know if I was watching the games live.

Go ahead, B.A.

Where's Dr.

J?

Okay, so the king of the game.

Wow,

the man invented it.

I mean, if anything,

Steve's partner in crime, you know, going forward, Boston Celtics legend, Blake Griffin, would be one that should be on there.

Yeah, because he jumped over Ikea.

Shit.

Yeah, we watched him jump over Ikea when he was doing it.

That's why the show is wild because there's everybody's making an argument for who they think, and they start telling stories.

It's like a great history lesson of dunking this entire episode available now on X.

And Steve, I think you, I thought you did an incredible job with Buying the Game podcast and going to continue to do that.

I think you're going to do incredible with Amazon, man.

We're pumped you're in the sports media world.

We're thankful for that.

Thank you.

I really appreciate it, Pat.

That's nice of you to say.

All right, good seeing you guys.

Hey, by the way, just seeing the studio, I feel good.

I had my best shooting performance in over a decade in there.

Boom.

I'm kind of sad you didn't.

You didn't roll the tape, though.

Well, I don't think we had it on account.

We only had pictures.

We only had pictures of this.

Steve.

It's a studio, Pat.

Like the camera.

What are you doing?

You're right.

You're right.

You're 100% right.

You, even from the warm-ups, from the warm-ups, just

three bottles of wine.

Yes.

Yeah, probably two and a half, three bottles of wine.

Yep.

Do this.

Ah, I don't know.

I haven't shot.

Splash from like three feet.

Okay, let's back up six feet.

I don't know.

Splash.

Okay.

Eight feet.

Boom.

One more.

Yep.

I'm pretty good, I think.

Go to the corner.

Splash.

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

Let's go play defense.

Okay.

Never play defense underneath?

No miss.

No missing.

None.

Didn't hit the rim.

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

Dude, it was the quick.

Great sight lines in the dome.

What's that?

Great sight lines in the dome.

You felt good in there, huh?

Felt short.

Felt good.

The hoop looked very big to you.

I mean, it was unbelievable.

You and Tyrese both.

Tyrese, I guess.

Yeah.

Sightlines is all that matters.

You guys are pretty good at what you do.

Two-time MVP.

Yeah, all right.

18-year MBA vet.

I remember when I learned that on camera.

You're the best, ladies and gentlemen, Steve Nasher.

Unbelievable.

That was pretty boozed up.

Yeah.

We have his warm-up on film.

At least that.

I need to watch this.

Dude, he's three feet away.

Boom.

Just swish.

This the whole time.

Oh.

Whole time.

Typical.

I don't know.

Swish.

He still has yet to touch that rim.

He has still yet to touch that rim in his entire time and being here.

He was here for five hours.

I was here for five hours.

It was outrageous whenever I say that.

And just how cool he was.

We're thankful he came on.

I learned he was an 18-year NBA vet when I was sitting down with him for something for Dazone up in Canada.

Dezone was launching something in Canada, and they asked me and Marshawn Lynch and Steve Nash to go up there and do some stuff.

So I was about to interview Steve Nash.

So I like.

did some research quickly on my phone about Steve Nash.

I knew of Steve Nash.

Obviously, I didn't know all the intel, and I'm sitting right next to him.

I go, 18 years in the NBA?

And he goes,

yeah.

Holy fuck.

And I just keep scrolling.

Nothing else.

And it's all caught on camera.

And Steve just sits there, looks at me for like two seconds.

And he just looks back ahead and drinks his water as I'm continuing to scroll.

He could have hated us immediately.

And instead, he went the opposite way.

We're very thankful.

He's good.

He loves the game.

Oh, yeah.

He loves the game.

There it is.

Yeah.

Holy shit.

That's the exact guy has no idea.

No idea.

Yeah, I had no idea.

And then I learned quickly.

And then what we've learned since then is is a guy loves ball.

I like what sports are doing right now.

A lot of coaches, a lot of players.

Not saying there isn't a spot for the people that go through a journalism machinery class and everything like that.

I'm saying that's very important for sports.

I'm never going to take that away from sports.

It is vital to have people who did not play the sport talk about the sport, not only for the good of the sport, the growth of the sport, but to keep the sport in check, too, I think, from people that are kind of outside.

For objectives.

Yeah, I think it's a good thing.

I think it's a good thing, not a bad thing.

But more players and coaches talking about the sports, I think, is great for the fans.

And the NBA is, I mean, they got everybody rolling in over there.

That's good for the league, I think, BA.

I think it's fantastic.

Yeah, the same thing with the NFL.

The more real smart talking heads that know what they're talking about, it's better for everybody.

And same with the Major League Baseball.

You know, when you got A-Rod and Big Poppy and those guys on there, that's a hell of a show.

Yeah.

Okay, so let's talk about baseball.

Last night, huge night in the baseball.

Wow.

So last night, we should have been talking about, there was a double-headed money on football.

Yeah, exactly.

So I don't know what we're supposed to do here.

Honestly, I don't know what we're supposed to do here huge night in baseball last night it was a game seven last night in baseball yeah game seven and uh you know for two teams that both you know toronto hasn't been to a world series in a really really long time seattle hasn't ever been to a world series so i mean you know just all the drama was already there and boy did the game deliver start in the top of the fifth inning and big dumper kind of gets a season of a lot of signature moments this was definitely his most signature to this point he hits a solo homer to take the Mariners' lead to 3-1.

And if you're a Blue Jays fan, you're thinking, oh boy, here we go.

The season's about to go down the pooper.

But then in the bottom of the seventh, with two guys on, right after a pitching change, George Springer, pull, he gets a sinker right down the middle.

And it was absolute bedlam in Toronto.

The wild pitch.

High fly ball.

Left field.

Yeah.

A Rosarina watches.

Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah.

One more time, please, can we go back to the beginning of that sound?

You can imagine.

The 1-0 pitch.

High five-ball.

Oh.

Luck field.

No doubt it.

A Rose Arena watches it go.

Who's on the call though?

It was John Smoltz and then Joe Davis, I believe.

What a call.

What a moment.

This guy went to UConn.

UConn has a baseball team, or he started playing baseball after he went to UConn.

Big disrespectful.

UConn legend you know UConn baseball was just in the thing with Jig last year don't

respect they were close to the thing with Jig they were this is George Springer's thing on the postseason right yeah so that homer gives him 23 for his career he is tied for third all time for the most postseason homers so yeah he's he's a bit of a mr.

October a lot of people will say hey this guy was on the Astros he cheated uh but he has since been remorseful about that and yeah anytime they needed a guy to do something uh he answered the bell.

And then this is the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Hoffman, Julio Rodriguez at the plate with a full count.

He strikes out on a slider low and away.

And the Blue Jays are going to their first World Series since 1993.

Just, I mean, incredible game.

Like the drama in that.

And as someone who, like, Blue Jays beat the Yankees.

They're in the Yankees division.

I definitely didn't want to see them win because the Mariners had never been there.

You know, we talked to Cal Rowley a couple times this year and followed him throughout the season.

But man, that is just incredible because you could, like, Toronto is, and maybe

this is a better question for Gump.

I don't know about Canada as a whole, but like, Toronto is so invested in the Blue Jays.

Like, they will, I mean, hearing that place, you could hear a pin drop in there when they went down 3-1, and it's kind of like, hey, we had the best record in the American League this year, and it's all going to be for naught.

Who knows if we'll ever get the opportunity to get back to this place?

And then, boom, one swing of the bat, and it's like Toronto's ready to riot.

Gumpy, is that Canada's team up there, there, the Blue Jays?

Absolutely.

They all love them out there.

Rogers owns the Blue Jays, the May Police, the Raptors.

Oh, they need it.

Yeah.

They certainly need it.

Lots of money.

Yeah, lots of money, and they need it.

He also, there was a photo, I think you showed me, of Vladi with an Expos jersey on, I think, whenever he was a boy.

Yeah, when he was a kid, his dad played for the Expos, and it's a great picture of him.

with his helmet up in the air as a young baseball player and then with his helmet up in the air as a Blue Jay champion.

What a time.

You're a big baseball guy, huh?

I love it.

I just wanted to see the best drama.

The dumper was on deck.

I know.

Take that damn pitch and let the dumper come up.

What happened?

Yeah, so yeah, the big dumper was on deck in that situation, but Julio Rodriguez was two for four, you know, in this game.

Like, he has been nails for them.

But that, yeah, a lot of people are saying, man, if you could just find a way to kind of get on base, work a walk there, then you're going to bring up Big Dumper, who earlier in the game, after he hit his solo homer, they intentionally walked him with no one on base.

And you're thinking in like a situation like that, like they got a pitch.

Yeah, you kind of have to because if they put somebody on, then a single wins the game.

So like we potentially would have got big dumper for all the Marvels.

So it's tough.

Someone released, or not someone, it was on the internet of like the pitches in the last half-bat and none of them were strikes.

They were all balls.

And he just swung three times in that way.

That whole lane, the two batters before him, like nobody was swinging at what they should have been swinging at.

Oh, the dumper could have had a chance to save the city

in the bottom of the ninth.

Man, he could have.

One person on.

Yep.

That's World Series kind of stuff.

I mean, that is, that's what dumper dreams of.

Yeah.

But I mean, that's what I dream of as a baseball fan.

I must have fell asleep right before that all happened.

I didn't get a chance to see the ending there, but boy, baseball, huge night in a game seven.

Would be great on a Tuesday.

Well, you know, we'll get that for the World Series.

Would be great on a Tuesday.

Would be great if that was happening tonight.

If we knew that was happening.

very true in hindsight though like boy do i feel bad for you uh if you were like a seattle resident and you decided to watch the seahawks game instead of that because that game sucked and this game was awesome so like you know you'll have more seahawks games that could have been you know the end of it but just for context the the blue jays their preseason win total 79 and a half the dodgers 105 and a half so like the blue the blue jays aren't were not expected to be here at all.

So if you really want like the underdog against like the, you know, the big bad superpower, that's exactly what we're going to get with the World Series.

And David Roberts said, let's win four more games and make everybody hate us for something.

He did.

Then Shohei, you know, in their closeout game, had the greatest game in the history of baseball.

So we'll see.

You know, something's got to give.

Is Shohei just going to do that four more straight times?

Let's just put him in there four straight times.

Just let Shohei have a Shohei night and just let's go ahead and win the World Series.

At this point, I'm with it.

You know, hey, four games left.

If you burn three years off this guy's career because you let him throw four nights in a row and give him the opportunity to hit 12 homers and 12 at bats, We need to see.

Sounds like there's a little bit of mockery in that answer.

Not at all.

I love Shohei.

Blue Jays also thought they were getting Shohei when he went to the Dodgers, too, so there is a little bit of beef there.

Well, I want to let you know.

Bad news for the Blue Jays because he is everything they thought he was going to be.

Without a doubt.

And he was never going to Toronto.

I hate to break it to him.

He is special.

Yeah.

This guy is unbelievable.

They released that the $750 million contract was made back in one year for merch and ticket sales and everything for the Dodgers.

But you said best performance in baseball.

Is that the greatest single game in just the history of sports when it comes to 10 strikeouts through for three?

I think it's definitely on the Rushmore if there was to be a Rushmore.

I don't know.

I saw a guy scored 100-some points in a game.

No, that's not real.

What?

Yeah, that was

Leslie in high school?

Halftime?

100 and a half?

Oh, yeah.

Reggie Miller's sister as well.

What are you saying?

Will Chamberlain scored 100?

You saw it?

I haven't seen it.

It was in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

That's what they said.

You should have asked Steve.

Were you there?

No.

No.

Was anybody?

There was a bunch of folks there, but yeah, we'll scored 100.

Really?

Are we 100% sure?

I'm pretty sure.

We'll put you as a vote for yes.

Okay.

Conman, you already said no.

That didn't happen.

Absolutely not.

Ty?

I'm going to say yes.

Debut?

No.

Okay.

And Ty's yes also comes with the asterisks that he believes we went to the move.

Correct.

So we have

to.

We did go.

We're all kind of consistent up here.

How we feel about this?

Yeah, a little open-minded versus, no, I believe it type conversation.

On that note, I wish he did.

I hope he did.

Oh, people at Hershey would lie.

But if we're talking about they are good people up there, you know, I think their park is far inferior to Kennywood, but that's neither a conversation we need to have.

No.

Is there any

tell him, Bruce?

Tell him, Bruce.

I got my first kids at Hershey Park.

That was back when it was good.

Kennywood has evolved.

Kennywood is the best.

Long time ago, brother.

Long time ago, brother.

What is another one?

What would be another one?

Is there some game seven hockey

for like four goals?

Well, what was it?

If the guy would have to fucking score a hat-trick and have 40 saves in the netball, you have to throw three touchdowns and then also have 20 tackles.

Yeah, and a pick six.

I don't know how you do it.

That's game seven, too.

And then scoreless through seven, 10 strikeouts, three dong shots, and everybody was hoping that would what you would do.

And you go out there and do it.

That guy's a machine.

This Marshawn Beast Mode Lynch.

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Hey, fans!

welcome back to Fansville's cheers

and tears.

Okay, so like everybody deals with losing, right?

To a rival on a last-second field goal, whatever, it's fine, I'm totally fine.

But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr.

Pepper.

Those 23 flavors are like so delicious.

They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L.

College football, it's a pepper thing.

Football!

Yes!

See, I got a little laid off the ball that time because I was so excited to get to Cadence, ladies and gentlemen.

That's 47-year football coach, multiple-time Super Bowl champion, Bruce Arians is joining us.

The nine-year NFL vet Darius J.

Butler is here.

The Toxic Tables here at Boston Connor and Attai Schmidt.

Joining us live from Manatic in Ohio.

Is a man who's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Rodder Cup winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.

Hall.

Yeah, Hawker.

Hawker, let's talk about what you've seen from the Detroit Lions defense last night.

Listen, we got four or five guys out.

Okay, this is kind of becoming the thing for the Lions.

Last year, they had like 14 of their starters somehow out on the defensive side.

They still rallied to the number one overall seed in the NFC.

They lose both their coordinators.

Peter Schrager, who will be joining us in about 10 minutes or so before the season, said, There's a chance this Lions team doesn't even make the playoffs this year.

Well, prime time against Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield is maybe on an MVP run.

They show up and show out up there at Ford Field.

What's your takeaway about this Detroit Lions team, AJ Hawk?

Yeah, I mean, the defense and what Kelvin Shepherd was able to do, that's the thing.

Like,

when you lose one DB in the back end, it's tough because you're working together so much throughout OTAs and camp and everything.

But when you have multiple guys, younger guys or less experienced guys in there together, and to be able to match up like they were like on third downs, you see them chasing guys all across the field here in all of these highlights you're playing.

Like, it's just, it's pretty impressive.

See, that's a zone drop right there, obviously, as I'm talking.

I'm mixing it up.

Yeah, I think it's just,

it's unbelievable that they were able to do it for four straight quarters.

That's the thing.

You can sometimes hold up for a while, but

it's a collaborative effort.

Obviously, the front four did a great job.

If they weren't getting the quarterback down, they were pressuring him, making him feel uncomfortable.

Yeah, the Detroit Lions have taken on the attitude of Dane Campbell.

What's his record in primetime games, Con?

13-3 under MCDC with the Lions.

Isn't that a completely, vastly different world in reality for Detroit Lions fans, Foxy?

This must be really nice.

100%.

And it just changes everything about the Lions.

People in Michigan now, kids, adults, everyone wears Lions gear.

And I think it's because when you're watching them on national TV, people enjoy watching this brand of football.

They love MCDC.

They love the Jared Goff story.

So it's changed everything.

I was mentioning this to you earlier this morning.

The Colts are so good right now, the nation needs to see them.

The Colts need to get on national TV.

That's a big deal, especially for a team like the Lions who have been so shitty shitty for so long.

It's changed everything.

They talk about a national appeal that getting on primetime TV gets, but also like fans that are maybe on the outskirts locally, like who are maybe checked out on the team for a little bit.

It's like, oh shit, we're on primetime, then get a huge win.

All of a sudden, you're reback invested.

Primetime games tell the story of your teams.

They showcase your team.

They're very important.

The Colts.

I'll tell you what, we got a couple four o'clock games this year, and that's awesome.

I'm pretty excited about that.

But last year it was one o'clock across the board, brother.

Didn't even have a Thursday night.

I thought everybody had a Thursday night.

The Colts didn't even get one.

They you had to.

I thought you had to have a Thursday night.

No, first year they didn't.

The Colts didn't have one.

I'll tell you that.

In Dan Campbell's first year, we had all one o'clock games.

Yeah,

it is a different world whenever you're doing that.

And then you're on prime time making magic happen, especially whenever you lose both your coordinators coming into the year.

Tell me about MCDC, Bruce Arians.

Tell me about his style and why you think it works up there, even though they have new coordinators and new pieces.

Because he's real.

He's real.

He keeps it straight.

He didn't pull any punches.

And those guys know what he expects from them, and they deliver.

He's got a great rapport.

I really think he's a younger Bill Cower

and reminds me a lot of Bill.

And

he's fiery, he's into it.

He obviously loves it.

And his players play that way.

How about his neck, B.A.?

You know, we talk about

his neck and Cower's jaw.

Yes.

That's a combination.

That would be quite a tag team there.

I couldn't even imagine you'd be able to actually chop wood if you had Cower's jaw on that neck right there.

AJ, we always talk about Vrabes, obviously, being able to handle himself in a league-wide head coach battle.

MCDC's only getting bigger.

Is that what we're all seeing from him?

Yeah, it sure feels like it.

I mean, yeah, you're right.

Look at his neck, his neck and traps, his shoulder, his back.

I mean, this dude is, he's a great representation of what the NFL could be, I guess, or I guess what the NFL is.

There's, I guess, man, think about him and some other coaches around the league, other head coaches when they stand next to each other.

Yeah, I couldn't even, you remember

it was Vraves and Harbaugh, right, when the Titans and Ravens were about to fight

and Harbaugh and Vrabes were talking to each other, and then immediately the internet goes, John, John, you're the one API of that.

Then the convo immediately goes to, would Vrabes have a problem with anybody, basically?

And in Vraves' mind, I assume he's always going to have to think, no, he would not have any problem with anybody.

MCDC feels very comfortable as well.

B.A., I think you would have been a great shit talker.

If you had to put brackets with head coaches, Dan Campbell's definitely one seat.

And if there were two sides of the bracket, Frabel would be the one side, one seed on the other.

Okay, but let's say there isn't two sides of the bracket.

You're saying one seed is MCDC.

One overall,

yeah, I'd probably go MCDC.

Okay, I expect that.

Because I've heard similar stories about MCDC, maybe two SIGs.

Oh, yeah.

Charles.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, he's a dude.

We know that.

Back in the day, not now, obviously.

D'Amiko Ryan is certainly throwing in there.

Mike McDonald is a fire psycho.

He's a big bitch.

Who would be a sneaky little guy Did you think we just

got?

Yeah, McDaniel would not.

Biting on

ankle.

He gets your ass, too.

He gets your ass real quick.

McDaniel will come on your ass.

And then some little right hand will come across.

Not tough.

Not little, but not that little.

But now that we've seen him in action, Gannon's got a hook on him now.

Oh, yeah.

He's got a point.

A chop and a chop.

He's got a backhand and a forehand.

Now that we've seen it, expensive, too.

He's got a valuable chop.

That's a six-figure chop and slap that guy's hand.

He doesn't even care about that.

He actually chops that to the side.

Exactly.

I don't care.

Yeah, whatever.

Out of power.

Sean McVay, definitely fiery.

Yeah.

I think he's a survivor no matter what.

Like, if it's a brawl till death, I think McVay's around long.

Yeah,

you better, you better put Pete away early because Pete's never stopping.

We know that.

Yeah, but with the way the Raiders look right now, I don't know if Pete's even walking into that.

You boys can have it.

You know, you boys can have it.

Have you heard the reports?

Man, we haven't heard from him in a long time.

Good to see you, actually.

Trey Wingo reported that

the Dallas Cowboys have inquired about a trade for Max Crosby potentially, which obviously Trey Wingo used to work at ESPN.

I think he does have sources of some sort, might still have them.

Good to see you, Trey.

Good to see you, Trey.

Out there doing it.

The Spo Track immediately puts together a bunch of numbers for if he was to be traded, what it would cost, when it would cost it.

Two years of guaranteed money out of the Spo Track, folks, first year and second year.

Then everything else not guaranteed basically the offsetting money comes in March 2nd of next year is the guarantees yeah here's the here's the entire thing Crosby's 29 million 2027 salary becomes guaranteed next March making it a two and a half year $80 million contract for practical purposes 20.3 guaranteed 30 million guaranteed in 2026 so first three years potentially fully guaranteed there that price though for a max crosby makes you wonder well uh if you're gonna pay that to max

could you have

could you have paid something to Micah?

But we're not even going to get into that road.

But now that everybody kind of knows what the numbers are exactly for Max, and Trey Wingo is reporting that people are interested in potentially trading for him, does that mean more people also probably interested behind the scenes, BA, if they understand that maybe Max is available at this point?

Yeah, if he's out there, somebody's shopping.

And when you hear that stuff, so there'll be a lot of folks that want to get in on Max Crosby, I promise you that.

What makes Max different?

Obviously, his motor.

Is that everything?

Yeah, I think when you think of Jared Allen and those, he's all those guys wrapped in one i mean he's relentless and uh does he have the biggest strongest looking body no but man he's powerful but his motor is unbelievable he's also a menace it feels like he would be a great hands cowboy he has unbelievable hands watch i'm sorry to interrupt but like i i love watching max you watch like you could have three different defenders at different levels get to him and he does such a good job he doesn't he's never looking at his blocker he's always looking at the quarterback wherever the ball is and he's just so good flipping his hips flipping his shoulders his hands like he never lets guys get a good shot on him and he can also though, you have to be able to bull rush as well.

So, Max definitely has the power, but it's just he's so fluid with his hands and just relentless.

He just doesn't let anybody block him.

Like, it's really fun to watch.

He actually fights in the offseason, right?

Isn't that like his thing?

He does a lot of handwork, obviously, mitt work, cardio work.

He has a battery and energy that I don't think anybody else has in the entire league.

Obviously, his works on his technique.

His work ethic is tremendous.

His tats look very cool.

We got to see him live whenever the Raiders played against Colts.

He looks so cool.

He would be a cool cowboy.

He would be a very cool colleague.

Condor the cowboy.

That would be a very cool cowboy.

And Jerry Jones goes, these fucking guys available.

Remember, I said, hey, I got these picks now.

You never know what's going to happen.

People never think I'll bring in another pass rusher.

Same, a little bit older, maybe, actually.

This guy.

He's already been paid.

This guy's a little bit older.

Nobody would expect me.

Cheaper, too.

Nobody would expect me to give up a couple first for that.

Boom.

Then the Magic Man does it again.

Look at the landman pulling this thing off.

Max Crosby now is getting to the quarterback and are the Dazz Cowboys all the way back.

We get MVP Dak.

Everybody's calling me a big, dumb dip shit.

MVP Dak Prescott.

Now we got the Kondor playing for the Cowboys.

And don't look now.

Is Hebra Flues excited?

Jerry Jones has a chance to really do something sweet here.

And then he has a chance to walk his ass right up to those cameras,

probably big tuck-in.

Had to.

Bring him in.

What'd I fucking say?

And then he gets a chance to flex, which is why I think this is possible.

That's the only reason why I think it's possible is because Jerry Jones will take a victory lap if he's able to accomplish this.

And Max Crosby, I think we know exactly who he is.

Now he got hurt, I believe.

Yeah, I think he had a groin.

He didn't finish the game versus the Chiefs.

So we don't know his health status, but he's a guy that we know is going to be productive.

Yes.

Like all the time.

So that would be a home run type signing for anybody, but Jerry Jones, definitely, with everything that took place in the offseason.

Yeah, and AJ talked about his hands, like his being, he plays well against the run in the pass.

And usually guys who have that type of effort down in the down out, we kind of like to put him in that bucket of like, oh, he's just a lunch pale guy.

He's going short to work.

But he has high-end, like, elite pass-rushing traits as well.

And he's going to elevate anybody on that defense.

I don't care if you're running his own coverage, coverage, if you're on a man coverage, having a guy like that that doesn't come off the field, I mean, that's going to boost that entire roster.

I mean, it's just got classic Jerry written all over it.

If they do get him, he's going to say, well, that was part of, that was the plan all along.

What are you talking about?

You think I thought the Raiders are going to be good?

Yeah.

Michael's a shitbird.

That's why we got him out of here.

Max Crosby, he's a cowboy.

But ultimately, like, this just makes them look good, right?

Because, like, we had Chef Deon yesterday and asked him about that.

And he was like, this has always been the answer from the the Raiders: people reach out about him, and it's no, we're not trading him.

We're not doing that.

So, like, they can put this, hey, sources tell me that the Cowboys are snooping around in Vegas.

They want, like, that doesn't mean anything because if the.

You're talking about Trey Wingo's report?

That is exactly what I'm talking about.

You know, I mean, it's a nice phrasing because it does, you know, you're talking about wingo's?

I mean, what's it going to take to get him?

That's right.

Like, you're talking about Trey Wingo?

Yes, yes, I am.

Really?

You know what?

Yeah, I just

get it.

Trey Wingo?

It's out there.

I get it.

I mean, it means nothing.

Trey Wingo gets a little chirpy, doesn't he?

Yeah, I'm a big.

Yeah, Trey Wingo is full of shit guy.

That's me.

Is that you?

Yeah, I'm a big...

Sorry, I should have done the full sentence.

I'm a big Trey Wingo's full of shit guy, but I do know people like him.

Yeah, and he did, do they?

He did the, he did have a long sports media.

So we assume he has inside information at different places.

Joining us now is a guy who has a lot of inside information ladies and gentlemen friend of the program a man who's an emmy award winner and he's fresh off a red eye out of seattle running on no sleep ladies and gentlemen peter shrake

shrags how you doing buddy i'm doing great it wasn't just a red-eye pat Red Eye with a connection in Minneapolis.

Yeah, two red eyes.

We're like two red eyes.

Yeah.

If I can just tell you, last night was the latest an NFL game has ever ended.

I think I I did the latest post-game interview ever in the history of sports.

I did this thing at 1.30 Eastern.

Me and Sam Darnold, basically, Darnold, I'm like, all right, up and down game.

I'm like, I'm not even listening to what you're saying.

I got to get on.

I got to get to the airport.

It was great, though.

Darnold played well.

The Seahawks, the elements, the everything was awesome.

And then I run, run, like I've never ran before.

And I'm not AJ Hawk.

I'm not a runner.

Okay.

I run to the trucks.

And I'm like, where are we going?

Look at them.

They're like, well, we got to wait for Orlovsky.

Like, okay, well, I have a flight that takes off in about 30 minutes.

Well, we got to wait for Orlofsky.

Dan Orlovsky just called the game.

Did a great job, by the way.

Comes down, starts like, Straights, we're good, bro.

We're going to be fine.

I'm like, no, no, if we miss this flight, I missed my kids' flag football game tomorrow.

I don't get to go on McAfee.

And Orlovsky's like, bro, we're good.

Coolest customer.

He just called the game.

He's feeling himself.

We get in the car.

Our guy Steele is driving.

We got Jeff Define, the producer in the back.

We got Credence Clearwater Revival blasting.

Okay.

CCR blasting.

We pull up to the Seattle airport, run to the gate, little line, TSA.

Who knows what's going on in that world right now?

We get through TSA.

We get through security.

We are the last ones on the plane.

Orlofsky didn't break a sweat.

I was a complete drenched mess.

It's just our lives.

We made the fight.

We made the fight.

There we go.

Hell yeah.

And that's Dano.

That's quarterback.

You know, that's Dano being a quarterback.

Everybody mocks him because of the 11-yard end zone thing.

But, you know, he's got a lot of the qualities of a quarterback.

You know, like, hey, let's not get, hey, whoa, whoa, this ain't helping us right now.

Okay, what you're doing right now?

That was it.

Not helping any of us right now.

We kind of got to go ahead and do this.

Now, Dan Orlofsky, he didn't book that flight.

He had no backup plan.

And he also had no idea about what was happening probably in that moment.

Ignorance is bliss.

Let's talk about you making the flight and also doing our show.

We appreciate that.

That game, what were you talking with Sam Darnall about?

Were you talking about how their team was able to turn over so quickly whenever they kick Pete Carroll out the door?

They paint over the walls.

McDonald's taken out of the Baltimore Ravens defense.

They're basically turning the page.

DK Metcalf, see you later.

We don't want you on the team anymore.

Lockett, see you later.

We don't want you on the team anymore.

Gino, see you later.

We don't want you on the team anymore.

Brand new Seattle Seahawks.

And they've turned the page here pretty quickly into a great team.

Is that your takeaway from last night?

Or are the Houston Texans?

uh shite and i love how explosive jackson smith and jigba is able to one step and dunk that thing as if he's seven foot tall.

Yeah, let's start with the former the Seattle Seahawks because, and there I am on the sideline in that beautiful blazer, if you see on the near sideline, uh, I talked to John Schneider, who's a GM for a long time before the game, and Schneider's really the one constant.

He's been there since 2010 and has been through not only the Pete era, but the Russ era.

And now we're changing guards, and now it's Mike McDonald and Sam Darnold.

Pat, Sam Darnold's only 28 years old, he's only 28 years old.

He started with the Jets at 21, And I thought it was fascinating talking to Sam for a while during the production meeting call.

He's engaged.

He just bought his first house of his life.

He's always been a transient guy, renting in New York, renting in Carolina, renting in San Francisco, renting in Minnesota.

And he's like, and I'm finally feeling the love that I'm wanted.

And it's almost like sometimes it takes guys this long.

And Darnold is so in control, is absolutely the leader of this team.

And yesterday, he and Jackson Smith and Jigba looked as good as he looked with with Justin Jefferson last year.

It's unbelievable the connection they had.

Eight catches, I think 153 yards, maybe something less than that.

But every time that JSN was getting open, Sam had an eye on him and would hit him.

And the two of them have this great connection.

And he's like, this guy, not a diva, not a give me the ball, just does everything right.

And the two of them are on the same exact wavelength.

I loved watching these two connect.

And I loved watching Mike McDonald, this

very even-keeled guy who is a defensive first coach, putting the ball in Sam's hands and saying, Sam Darnold, you lead us there.

Our defense will do the rest.

And oh boy, did they?

Yeah, I think Sam Darnold with his little revenge tour here that I'm a good player.

Buying his first house is crazy to think about at the age of 28.

Feeling the love is crazy.

The fact that Minnesota just let him out of the building, also crazy every single week that continues.

Jackson Smith and Jigbo, one of those Ohio state wide receivers, you can't be a diva in there because there's another guy right behind you that's willing to take a spot.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, Shrix, what was the atmosphere like?

Honestly, on TV, I couldn't really, you know, the game was, you know, it was, it was a slog at times, but what was the

atmosphere like?

And also, though, about that Seattle Seahawks defense, can you talk about them a little bit?

I think they, they obviously are under the radar for what they're doing.

JJ Watt and I were texting Humble Brag during the game.

I'm over there on the sidelines and he's like, I'm sorry, bro.

I gotta, I gotta, I gotta turn it off.

I can't keep my eyelids open.

I'm like, I felt like I was watching Bruce Springsteen in a small New Jersey bar in the Jersey Shore, like the stone pony in the 70s.

Like if you're watching this game,

you're one of the diehards.

You're one of the early.

And like, that's fine.

What you missed was an atmosphere that was completely deflated at about the 10 minute mark of the second quarter because George Springer hits this home run.

And it basically eliminates.

the Seattle Mariners from their first ever trip to the World Series.

While that's happening, everyone's checking it on their phones in the crowd.

They have it up on the big screen.

It's a heartbreaker.

And then the Seahawks defense is basically like, all right, not only do we have to carry our offense at times, we're going to carry this entire city sports fan on our back, too,

because they start showing up and it's, it's Leonard Williams, obviously, who's in his 11th year and is still as dominant as ever he was.

Demarcus Lawrence is everywhere.

Nuwosu's everywhere.

And you're looking around, you're like, oh my gosh, they play with their,

you know, on fire.

And here was the deal.

It was interesting.

This one should have been a safety.

I don't want to say that.

Mike McDonnell lost his mind on this one.

They called that forward progress.

There was a third and short and a there was a third and short and a fourth and short.

And the Texans decided, Nick Kaylee, the offensive coordinator, said, let's run it both times.

The Seattle defense just closed the door.

You know, Seattle turned the ball over four times yesterday.

They also had a field goal blocked.

It didn't seem to hurt them.

They were up the entire time.

It's because that defense did not let the Texans do anything on offense.

Yeah, and not doing anything on offense.

The Texans, interesting interesting story, brother.

I mean, I mean, it's an interesting story just from a couple years back to what we were crowning them.

You talk about J.J.

Watt.

J.J.

Watt, a couple of years ago, was like, we got future.

We got 10 years of greatness down here in Houston.

They make some moves.

They get rid of some people.

They lose Bobby Slowick as DOC.

They've looked like a very different team.

After talking to them and getting to learn about them, what is their thoughts on where they stand right now?

Yeah, we met with C.J.

Stroud.

We met with D'Amico Ryans, Nick Cayley,

and Will Anderson in person and Matt Burke, the defensive corner, in person late Sunday night.

So it's like you really get a feel for where they're at.

And they're hopeful that these young wide receivers can step up.

I know D.

Butt mentioned earlier that they have the two wide, the two wide receivers from Iowa State that they drafted.

And the hope is that like maybe they'll play a role.

Well, they have to play a role now.

You're out there and it's Dalton Schultz and Nico Collins, basically the only guys that are established players at the wide receiver or tight end position.

And the running back spot, Nick Chubb, used to be one of the better running backs in the league.

He hasn't really done that this year.

And then Woody Marks is a nice complimentary player, but like without Joe Mixon's leadership out there, with Nico Collins hurt, it just didn't feel like they had the weapons.

And then you get to the offensive line and it's so young.

It's a lot on C.J.

Stroud.

And he's not, you know, he doesn't get no blame in this thing.

He, he had some passes that maybe that were, you know, on him, but for the most part, you're looking at this offense and you're like, wow, that was a really lopsided situation, that defense in Seattle, that offense in Houston.

It might still be enough to win the AFC South and

challenge the Colts.

We'll see.

Shut up.

It's not too late.

It's not too late.

It's not too early to say.

Yeah, two red eyes.

Yeah, two red eyes last night.

I understand.

I understand.

The business in the AFC South.

Oh, yeah, the Colts in the AFC.

The best team in the AFC.

Yeah, oh, shit.

I forgot about that.

I understand.

I respect where you have, because they have been running the AFC South for a long time.

And then they get CJ Stroud, and it's like they're only going to get better.

And then it kind of

busy.

Stroud's won playoff games the last two years, right?

They've gone to the final four of the conference the last few years.

So you're like, we're going to take the next step.

They move on from Slowick, which I thought was interesting.

Nick Kaylee comes from the McVay tree, also had eight years with Belichick.

So it's like he's going to mesh those two systems.

I just didn't get a feel for them last night on offense that they have the firepower to compete with a Kansas City, you know, an Indianapolis right now.

And of course, you go up and down the board of all these AFC teams that are airing it out.

All right, Trakes.

You're saying right now, you're saying a lot of things.

I don't have to go back to your Lions take after what happened.

We'll just skip that entire thing, okay?

And the Dolphins, and we won't talk about that, okay?

okay?

The Dolphins was bad.

Yeah.

You had a lot of good ones, those Regs.

We're out here live in real time.

It's going to happen to us all.

But you talk about the Texans' defense.

Here's some hembo stats.

Below is a non-comprehensive list of statistics in which the Texans' defense leads the NFL.

Points per game, points per drive, drive score, QBR allowed, EPA per play, pass EPA, which we know EPA matters.

What are you talking about?

But the Texans defense is real.

And that is certainly something that D'Amico Ryans probably has a lot of pride in.

If the offense can get rolling, they get healthy, maybe get some more weapons.

Maybe the Houston Texans are all the way back.

But welcome to Danny Dimes, AFC South.

Now, Danny Dimes, obviously in the Colts on an incredible run right now and to continue for the rest of the season.

D-Bud has a question for you, Shraiges.

Yeah, on that note with the Texans, that defense, that is a reason to be optimistic.

It's not just a complete shit show.

You do have one of the best defenses in the league, so hopefully they can figure it out.

But, Shraigs, at this point in the season, what team do you see that can maybe, aside from the teams that are already hot, that came out of the gate hot, that can kind of get hot and make a run down the stretch?

Yeah, look, you look at the records right now, and it's like, there's so many good teams.

I think someone posted that in the NFC, you know, everyone, there's nine teams that are, you know, a half a game apart.

You look at the 49ers right now, they're leading the NFC West.

With the playoffs were today, they'd be the two seed.

And that's with everyone injured.

So you pick it.

Now, the team that...

Really intrigued me last week, and I could easily say the Patriots.

They're 5-2.

I thought the Bengals found some magic on Thursday night.

And suddenly it's like, if Flacco can throw the ball 23 times to Jamar Chase and complete it 16 times and get six receptions to T.

Higgins and they have an offense, that was the plan all along.

They were going to outscore you.

That's what they did against Pittsburgh.

Suddenly, you look at the Bengals.

They're just three and four.

Do we know when Burrow's coming back?

Do we know if Burrow's coming back?

It might have been just a flash in the pan, but I will promise you this.

That trade, they give up a fifth round pick.

And basically, they're paying an extra million dollars here that the Browns don't have to pay to get Joe Flacco.

That was not a white flag by any means.

That trade for the Bengals was essentially them telling the rest of the league, no, no, no, no, we're not quitting.

We see this isn't working, and the season's going down the drains, and we're swirling around like we've got some fight in us.

I thought that might have been the most impressive win of the week, and it happened all the way back on Thursday night.

But Flacco suddenly gave life to this team, and that's the strength of their team.

Higgins and Chase.

That's who they pay the money to.

So, if you're wondering, well, what about the offensive line or the defensive line?

It's not a priority as far as getting those guys their balls.

And guess what?

That's what they did.

They outscored the Steelers and they were able to make that very high-priced Steelers defense look very mediocre.

You can hear a tone all the way in hammer

sighing saying, I know, I know.

Yep, there it is.

Yep, there he is.

Absolutely feeling that as you're saying it.

And also think about T.

Higgins doing that slide at the end of the game so they can go for the game-winning field goal.

That's a testament to their culture, I think.

You know, you talk about them saying, this isn't a white flag.

We understand it's not working.

We want to keep going.

T.

Higgins getting paid all that money, having an opportunity to go ahead and maybe hit an incentive, maybe get another touchdown, especially fourth quarter, game-winning touchdown potentially against Pittsburgh Steelers.

Instead, he slides.

I think that it says a lot about the culture they have inside that building.

I'm a fan as well.

Now, there was a game that happened on Sunday that has only happened one other time since the 1970s merger.

And it obviously happened to the New York Giants team, but it happened for the Denver Broncos team.

So, Denver Broncos, go on you.

That's right.

Good on you, Denver Broncos.

That's an incredible display of resiliency and getting back into it.

And I don't know if anybody's ever put 33 points up like that in a quarter after looking like such ass the first three quarters.

And the answer is no, they haven't.

Now, on the flip side of that, have we lost the Moxie?

Ty has a question for you.

Yeah, Shraigs, what is the temperature?

What are the vibes around the Giants right now?

Obviously, a couple weeks ago, hey, this team's going to the playoffs.

You know, we might have a Hall of Fame quarterback, and then they have arguably the worst collapse in the history of the NFL.

Is everyone still very high on the Giants with Scatabo and, you know, Jackson Dart?

And are we thinking, hey, Dable is going to be safe?

He's going to be around.

He showed enough the last couple of weeks with Jackson Dart that everything's going to be okay.

And we're kind of just playing with house money for the rest of the year.

No, Giants fans are depressed.

They are completely, you know, in misery form.

And knowing my Giants fan friends and knowing people in the New York City area, not only do you have this terrible Jets team right now you have a giants team that for 55 minutes looked like they were going to go win the super bowl on sunday and then completely you know gave up everything in the final 10 minutes of this game it was a historic loss um this is a team that was good enough to beat the 4-0 chargers a couple weeks ago they were good enough to be up with the cowboys by you know with 13 seconds left they were good enough to beat the defending super bowl champion so you think all right got shot but then you lose to spencer rattler and the saints and then you lose in this fashion and you wonder well what's missing here?

They're young, but that's not an excuse.

Up and down

the roster, you could say, well, this guy played well, but this guy didn't play well in the moments that mattered.

Then the coaching questions, it's game management.

And then at the end, the defense completely giving up 33 points in the fourth quarter of a game that you had them shut out the first three quarters is so inexplicable.

that I think a lot of Giants fans and even the journalists covering the team are still numb trying to piece it together.

Now,

journalists are numb.

You know, that's deep.

You know, that is.

Show some grit.

No, they are.

They're just, they're shell-shocked by this entire team.

They're journalists.

Yeah, it is a quagmire.

They're flabbergasted, I believe, by the entirety of it.

Are they not, Ty?

What are some other predicaments that these journals feel?

Gobschmack.

Oh, Gobschmack?

Maybe, you know, right at the top of the list there, bamboozled, maybe.

Oh, really?

By the Broncos or by their own team there?

Well, it's actually one of those very rare double bamboozls.

You're bamboozled by the Broncos coming back, and you're also bamboozled by your own team who, you know, just

at the most important moment, once again, has failed you.

Okay, so do you think they're going to be okay after all the bamboozling and the obviously quagmire and gobschmacking-ness that's been happening to all the local journalists around the Giants?

Well, it's very interesting because, you know, you've got the Super Bowl championship coming in, and they're going to be red-ashed after getting beat, you know, by the Giants just a couple weeks ago.

So, in my opinion, Dable,

the bamboozled needs to turn into the bamboozler.

He needs to find a way to bamboozle that Philadelphia defense and stymie them once again.

And I think that's what they're trying to do.

Stymie's a good word, too.

Yeah.

Stymie's a good word.

We got journalism over here.

Look, that was Ty Pete right there.

That was an actual journalist, the authority in it all.

But you're saying that everybody's kind of gobsmacked, if you will, by the loss to the Giants, to the Broncos, which is a good thing, not a bad thing, I think.

Well, they also got smacked, whatever.

Then there's questions.

Well,

Graham Gnow got hurt in like the second week of the season.

You bring up, you sign Youngwei Koo.

You're thinking he's going to be a kicker.

Then they had, you know, the Irish kid who's number 99.

I don't, I can't get his name right now.

And he missed Jude McAtamney.

Jude McAtamney, lad.

He's missed three extra points.

And you're like, should he be kicking for an NFL team right now?

I don't know.

Maybe there should have been another option there.

I would imagine a move will be made or that Gano is healthy to play Sunday.

You can't trot out that same situation.

But like, there's these little things that like, yes, we love Dart and Scataboo and we love the fact that this team responded when Malik Neighbors went down and still found a way to win games.

But like, should they be four and two or five and one based on what I just rattled off?

Like the Saints game, they had five turnovers and five straight possessions.

Against the Cowboys, they were in that same

deep prevent defense when they're just head scratching stuff.

Brian Burns really pumped pumped up about that.

Brian Burns, not happy.

Not happy at all.

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of people are not happy.

And McAtomney, this is life as a kicker, brother.

You're going to be okay.

I like that he owned it, took accountability for it.

And I also appreciate the fact that the Irish lads now, you know, because the international pathway is.

I saw McQuaid.

McQuaid said he's getting some terrible things said about him.

It's like, yeah, this is the world of a kicker now.

That is the, I don't like it.

I don't like, we should, somebody should have been a little bit more transparent with the Irish lads saying, hey, you miss a couple of these.

They're going to fucking kill you.

People get real mean, mean lads they're real mean don't go out for dinner exactly you should see these irish nfl reporters talking about it they're like

the things they are saying 7500 kilometers away from his family lads take it easy out

they are they're like he's they're saying mean things this guy it's like yeah that it my daughter will never be a kicker in the nfl or in college wow you know amen won't let her okay no chance okay i think back whenever we're at the game i'll watch like a kicker jog out or even a punter jog out.

I'm like, yeah, right, dude.

Thank God I don't have to do that anymore.

I have no idea how that was a chapter of my life.

Because that Makatomney got such a good story for the NFL.

Yeah.

Incredible.

Got an Irish guy.

Holy hell.

This is big.

On the Pathway program, which they've been promoting so hard everywhere.

This is awesome.

33-yard extra point.

That's no big deal.

And then you just hit it a little bit thin, and all of a sudden that thing goes to right and then it's like, get this Irish bastard out of our city.

It's like, that's the opposite side of the coin, Meg.

That's the other side, Lad.

They're tough enough for it, though.

The Irish lads are tough for it.

Bounce back, Lad.

But that's not going to be the first.

You know, there's going to be a lot of, I think, I think the international influence in sport, our sport, is going to come through ball kicking sports.

So like it's been a lot of punters, obviously, because Australia and Jamie,

Scotty,

which comes from rugby as well.

But I think as the soccer players come over, I think there is going to be a little bit of an adjustment to like, hey, these people are expecting you to shut up, make these kicks.

And if you don't,

it is game set match.

There's only 32 jobs, BA.

Yeah, my son had one of those.

I know what you're talking about.

He was in NFL

for a couple of years.

Jake was a kicker, right?

Yeah.

Kicked for Buffalo and Atlanta.

And you thought to yourself, every time you went out there, please, God, make this kick.

That's a nightmare as a parent.

That's my worst nightmare as a parent is having my kids.

It was hard in high school, as hard in college.

Dude, my mom, my mom in college, there's no way she enjoyed any of the games.

Not a single one.

I'd go onto the field and it's like this.

And I ended up being the all-time leading scorer, and I still get death threats because of the situation that happened.

One bad night, obviously, your entire everything is talked about.

But every time I went on the field for everything, a punt, my mom, please hit a good one.

Please hit a good one.

Then every single field goal, please snap good, hold good, block good, ball go through the uprights, please.

And then she'll hear the reaction.

Then it's, oh,

thank God.

And it's like she did that.

Like when I went to punt her, I think she was like,

thank God, this one is a lot easier.

Tough.

Because, I mean, sports is sports, but it's certain sports and certain moments where like, okay, all right, your turn.

Everybody's looking at like back off.

Like, okay, your turn.

Everybody is just.

Pat,

I'll never forget.

In Seattle, a wild card round game, Vikings versus Seahawks.

I'm the reporter.

It's zero degrees out there.

Blair Walsh, who had an amazing season, misses that little chippy.

I'm the one at the locker.

And Blair Walsh has.

10 of us, you know, slob journalists with a microphone in his face, and he's having to answer it.

He's a world-class athlete, but it's like,

that's the job.

It's a real burden.

And even last night, Kayami Firebarn, who's one of the best kickers in football, at the end there, there's a situation where there's two minutes, four seconds left.

If he kicks it straight out of bounds, the Texans get the ball with a timeout or that there's a timeout and they can stop him before the two minute warning.

Or if he blasts it through the end zone, they save a timeout also.

kicks it into the end zone d'Iko Ryans look like he's ready to lose his mind like what are you doing it's it's there's so many thin lines and there's little grace from the fans when it comes to kickers.

Yeah, very little.

Especially, we just saw a guy almost break his neck hitting each other.

And then you come trotting out here.

That's cute.

Make the kick, dude.

Okay, these guys.

And obviously, you got to know these kickers feel terrible.

Okay.

Because they got to walk into a locker room.

Like, everything you guys are saying in support of the other players, those actual other players are in the locker room where he's headed.

You know, so it is like, you got to look these people in the eye that are sacrificing their bodies for the betterment of everything.

And you just trotted out there and just ruined it for everybody.

And then you got to be like, so sorry.

Sorry, Lots.

Sorry, Lots.

Lads.

And it's tough.

They need to start telling these international kids the actual reality of this entire thing because McAtomney, I think he'll be strong enough to bounce back, but that's the real life of being a kicker.

Now, let's move forward.

Let's talk about teams that could potentially go and win Super Bowl.

And then we got bye weeks happening already.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Shraigs, the Bills were on a bye, so no one's really talking about them anymore.

And it feels like everyone's low on them because of their loss to New England in prime time.

But there's still another team that is very good.

Even as a Patriots fan, I can foresee a massive Bills run in them winning the AFC East.

But right now, times seem to be tough.

What do you think about Buffalo's chances this year?

Do you think it is one of those terrible situations?

It's going to be a bad season, or do you think they'll figure it out and eventually go on and make a run at the Super Bowl?

And with that being said, too, is there ever a chance that they don't win 10 games and they stay with McDermott forever?

Yeah, I mean,

I did their last game, their Monday night game against the Falcons, where they look like a shell of themselves because of all the injuries.

And you get down there in big time moments on third and one, and Joe Brady's calling an end around to Elijah Moore, and you're like, well, what is that call?

And then you look on the field and it's Elijah Moore, shavers,

you know, no Dalton Kincaid, no Josh Palmer.

He was hurt.

And you're like, wait a second.

Is this the team that we thought was the class of the AFC or is this team going to have to fight and crawl for everything and just put it all on Josh's shoulders?

I do think there's too much experience, there's too much history, and there's too much talent at that quarterback spot for this team to just fade away.

So, to me, I have the Bills winning Super Bowl this year.

I have not changed that pick.

I still think the Bills win the Super Bowl this year, and I think it is Josh Allen's time.

The buy could not have come at a more perfect time for Buffalo, and they're going to come back healthier.

And I would not be surprised if they come back scorched earth.

What were the records of the teams coming out to buy this week?

0-2 this week, 4-2 on the season now.

Okay, so because they were 4-0 the first week of buys coming back, and then this week they were 0-2.

Texans, one of those teams, and then now we got the Bills.

Now we're in buy season here.

It would suck to be that first week like the Steelers were.

I mean,

especially with how old that team is.

And I don't want to, you know, call them old, but you got a lot of old heads out there.

So that being like week five and still having 13 more weeks on the other, that sucks.

That absolutely sucks for them.

Right now is when you get into the time where if it's a buy, it's like, we'll deal with it.

This is a reasonable

too late's not good either.

Nope.

Because then you can work your ass out of contention and not be able to catch up.

I'm curious.

Ravens out of the bye is what I'm fascinated by.

Because that was.

Well, everyone is.

We're all like, oh, yeah, here come the Ravens, but they have been terrible.

Terrible football team.

So why is it?

Here comes the Ravens.

Lamar missed yesterday, right?

I think Lamar, they're saying Lamar's hamstring's still not good.

Because wait, I thought Lamar was going to play coming out of the bye, which is why Lamar still and AFC North still favorites and everything like that.

We're all saying, saying way to hold the phone early in the week but yeah yesterday

monday though yeah monday not a lot happening yeah but still

no we'll see i and i and i you know i was on get up i think that friday morning after the steelers lost and i think we all kind of agreed like well here come the ravens and when everyone's saying something it's like here comes the ravens why i don't

why so they'll all get healthy and we'll see but they need to actually win these games you gotta watch your tone shrinks you gotta watch your tone okay with your whys okay your dog will be coming for you Chuck's coming for you.

Chuck Bogano, Shay.

Hey, Shrek, you know why?

Because we're fucking playing football.

All right, taking that, brother.

We appreciate your coverage and your commitment to the game.

You're the man.

You are the best.

And Sean, the Rainman Kemp, belongs on that

gang Rushmore, the power dunker.

Let's go.

He might be on the final Rushmore.

At Rushmore on X, available now.

You're the best, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Shrake.

Yes, Shrag.

From Shraig's age to one of our favorite segs, you know, we got good segs on this show.

Great seg.

Yeah, we have good segs.

It's all about that good segs.

Yeah, that good seg.

Hey, what's next?

That good segue.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for BS or no BS with BA.

We will make statements of fact that have been said around the NFL, and BA will tell us if it's BS or if it's no BS.

Let's start with the first one.

Pittsburgh is a lock to win the AFC North.

Obviously, this is fresh off a Thursday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

They are a lock to win the AFC North.

Aaron Rodgers, our quarterback.

You got TJ Watt out there, DK Metcalf, Cam Hayward, Fryer Muth, Matt Washington, and Mike Tomlin.

He always has a winning record, and they still have a winning record and have done some special things.

Feel like they would say they're ahead of schedule on the offensive side with Artie Smith and Aaron kind of finding their groove.

Pittsburgh is a lock to win the the AFC North.

Is that BS or no BSBA?

I think that's total BS.

Oh!

Yeah, because Mike T's worst nightmare, Joe Flacco went to Cincinnati.

Okay.

And he was absolutely right ripping Andrew Berry's ass for that one because Joe Flacco now has a winning record against Mike Tomlin.

And that's all Jamar Chase and T.

Higgins needed was 33 targets

and a running game.

All of a sudden, the offensive line can block for Cincinnati.

They could have blocked two weeks ago.

Isn't that interesting?

It's crazy.

All of a sudden, a sudden, now they're blocking TJ Watt, High Smith, those guys that got close to him, and Joe just lit them up, lit them up.

And he did, Joe did so many good veteran moves, like for Jamar to get, what, 26 targets?

A lot of those were running plays.

Right here.

And boom, he's just, you're 101.

Yeah.

We used to call that whatever the run was, X hot.

All right.

Run a slant, run it.

If they're off of you, I'm just going to throw it to you.

And he's going to get five, six, eight, ten every time.

And Joe Flacco, veteran unknows when to do that when not to do that every single time loaded box boom he's one-on-one they have a little hand say don't run a slant or just off coverage i'm just throwing it to you the little single bubble screen and he's what there for 10 days that's only going to get better he's what crazy numbers for he's

Connor, you got the numbers.

Yeah, he's got like a 50.

Here it is, 60 for 92 for 561 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and it has only been sacked three times in two games.

Two games.

That's crazy.

I've only been there 10 days.

Now,

on that note,

Joe Flacco

doned the Cincinnati Bengals.

Is enough for them to win the AFC North?

Are the Cincinnati Bengals now your favorite to win the AFC North?

Because the statement was the Pittsburgh Steelers are a lock to win the AFC North.

And you said, that's bullshit.

Then you went straight to a Joe Flacco highlight package.

Are you saying the Cincinnati Bengals are your AFC North favorites?

I'm not saying they're favorites, but they're a game back, and they have the tiebreaker now on the Steelers.

So it's just a matter of Steelers better stay ahead of the Bengals because the Bengals ain't going nowhere.

They're just going to get better.

So you're saying it's not a lock, brother?

And we're just saying that.

There ain't no locks in this business.

Let's go to Hammer.

Don!

Don!

Tone, how's it feel here today?

It's bullshit thinking that you guys are a lock to win the AFC North with how that season started.

Yeah, it's tough because it'd be stupid of me to argue with a Super Bowl winning head coach.

You know, that would be tough.

But, you know.

Joe has always turned back into a pumpkin.

He does always have these flashes, but

since the 2015 season, which was 10 years ago, his record is horrendous.

So I'm not worried about the Bengals.

I think Steelers will be fine.

Okay, that's Pittsburgh Steelers, Super fan, Teddy Diggs.

Craig's NBA on the Bengal.

I know, it's getting a lot.

Hey, Joe Flacco, you ain't sneaking in any games anymore.

Flacco's ready for you.

Yeah, year 19, year 20, you're not sneaking in there.

Joe Flacco, too, just having this aura about him of confidence and moxie, I think that helps everybody, AJ.

I told you, he didn't sweat during the game.

I feel like he didn't sweat and just catch, just so I just make it look easy.

Like, he, I don't know.

You got to show young kids that might have like happy feet in the pocket or, you know, are like just too amped up.

Show them Joe and be like, I don't know how you get this demeanor.

Obviously, through reps, but man, just very impressive.

We will see, though, I guess, if he can keep it up.

Can't say this enough.

On the post-game interview with Nightcap, which Thursday Night Football does a great job with all of that, Joe Flacco said he had no idea what the plays were.

There's multiple plays where he had no idea what was going on, and they still did what they did.

Obviously, Cincinnati Bengals have a chance.

Let's go to the next BS or no no BS with BA debuzz.

Yeah, talk about another team that ain't sneaking up on anybody.

The Chiefs are the Super Bowl favorites, and they should be.

BS or no BS, Coach.

I think that's total BS.

Whoa!

What are you talking about?

We saw brand new Chiefs.

They're third place in their division.

They're two games behind, the Chargers and the Broncos.

They got to come back and beat a bunch of folks in their own division to get to where they want to go.

Now, can they?

Sure.

But if they stay healthy, I just don't think there's any way that there's a lot.

They're third place.

They're going to going to fight a long way just to get to the top.

Okay, so let's talk about whenever you see them start to be good again, though, like when they start putting it together.

Rashi Rice obviously comes back, added weapon for Patrick Mahomes.

Patrick Mahomes looks like two years ago, Patrick Mahomes, as opposed to whenever they turned to the conservative run game, let's not turn the ball over.

Let's let our defense do our thing, Kansas City Chiefs.

They've been able to win in a variety of different ways throughout this dynasty.

Now it looks like showtime.

Patrick Mahomes is all the way back.

Sportsbooks got excited as soon as they saw a glimpse of it.

He's the favorite for the MVP.

And then as soon as they saw it, they go, yep, they're the favorites to win the Super Bowl.

In your eyes, you're saying not so fast, Jack.

This is going to be a tough road in that AFC West, which Bo Nick's is in there and only getting better and better each week.

Yeah, I mean, if the Chargers can get some guys back, I mean, they've been decimated with injuries, and

they beat them pretty good, and Denver beat them.

So

it's going to be a dogfight in the AFC West, just like a couple of the other divisions.

But, I mean,

beating the Raiders by a 33 to nothing that doesn't impress me at all.

What?

Beating the Lions the way they they beat the Lions, that's that impressive.

Okay.

That's different.

Okay, now you beat a hell of a football team at your place.

Now go on the road and do it.

Okay, so you said not so fast, my friend.

Okay.

So they can't see the Chiefs, even though all of us have fallen in love completely.

Let's go to the next BS or no BS with B.A.

Ty.

Yeah, coach, after last night, a lot of people are saying, hey,

the Texans' offense is in trouble.

Is that BS or no BS, BA?

That's no BS.

This one felt like a layup.

A little bit.

This is a little bit of a layup.

I mean, I don't know what happened to C.J.

Stroud.

I mean, he was the

odds on favorite to be the MVP for the next 10 years after his rookie year.

And with Bobby Sloick and everything they were doing offensively.

And all of a sudden now, they obviously missed Larry McTunso.

They missed Joe Mixon, guys that were leaders and great players.

They haven't replaced them with great players.

And with Nico getting hurt, I don't know who the hell he's going to throw the ball to.

And they can't run it.

They can't run it.

And that's the other thing, Cincinnati, that Chase Brown had

120-yards rush, and all of a sudden they couldn't get 50 two weeks ago.

Now they get a 100-yard rusher.

That changes everything for a quarterback.

It's crazy what a quarterback can do.

AJ, are you completely out on the Houston Texans?

Because I tried to watch that game both last night and this morning.

That's been my new thing.

And it was just ugly.

It was hard.

And

I want to say sorry to the Seattle Seahawks.

I hope they forgive me because they put on a dominant performance, but nobody in the East Coast was up for it.

So once again, Seattle Seahawks are kind of getting overlooked or slept on, actually, in this entire thing.

But the Houston Texans have not looked great, AJ, to BA's point.

Yeah, with how BA lays it out, yeah, it makes you

pretty easy to, I guess, to be out on the Texans.

The only thing that keeps me in, though, that defense.

I think that defense can play at a high level all year.

And if your offense can find something, I don't know what that might be, you still have a chance as long as your defense is still playing at a high level.

Yeah, start run the ball.

Classic run the ball.

All right, let's go to the last BS or no BS with BA con man.

Yeah, BA.

Some people think the AFC West, the AFC South, maybe even the NFC West, but is the, excuse me, the NFC North is the best division in football.

Is that BS or no BS, B.A.?

That's no BS right now.

It would be the West if the Arizona Cardinals could figure out how to win a game at the end.

They've lost five

score games, three on the last play of the game.

Then everybody in that division would have a winning record like the North does.

The Vikings are on a little shaky ground right now at 3-3.

But everybody in that division right now got shot to go to playoffs.

And if the Cardinals could get it going, because they're so close, so close each week, then I'd say the West is the toughest division.

We all love Phoenix, Arizona.

Okay, we just talk Steve Nash.

He's part of the thing.

We talked about incredible place.

We love Arizona as a whole.

That Cardinals team, I don't know, man, just feels like one of those things where, yep, I just don't think they're going to be good.

And I don't like that.

I think that, but it's just kind of becoming synonymous.

And you talk about the last play of the game and five games are not able to finish it.

Look at the rest of that division.

Five and two, five and two, five and two, two and five.

I guess we shouldn't just rule out the Cardinals for being bad.

Maybe they're in an incredible division, you know.

Maybe.

Yeah.

Eight of their games are against three teams that could potentially, you know, go on and win the whole damn Super Bowl out there in the NFC West.

A little cannibalism potentially in the NFC West.

And then the fact that the NFC North now is what it is is obviously a spectacular testament to what the Lions have been able to do.

Ben Johnson is doing with the Chicago Bears.

And obviously, KOC trying to figure it out whenever they got quarterback questions.

Yeah, but to your point, just about the Cardinals, like you have that thought towards them, and maybe it's because the Patriots played the Saints.

Like, I feel better about the Saints than I do about the Arizona Cardinals.

In the Saints, there's really not too much you can look at and be like, they're great, but Rattler

is kind of electric.

And like, Kelly Moe, I personally had no faith in Kelly Moe, but then you watch him play, and it's like, oh, shit, they're actually like playing their fucking asses off.

And I'm not saying the Cardinals aren't doing that.

They are.

They're in all these games.

it's just they don't the saints really coming into the season nobody had any high hopes for them you're saying they're playing their balls off still for them for kelly mo which is good to establish the culture i think they also have some salary cap stuff so i think it was like a projected couple year thing for the saints so them being one and six not a surprise the cardinals uh having kyler paying kyler and then having another year with marvin harrison jr and everything like that it's like at what point are they gonna you know at what point is all the plans gonna be the well that that's that's the biggest thing because like it's pretty evident after the last two weeks i mean like like, the Cardinals gave the Colts everything they could, like, everything on the road, damn near beat them.

And Jacob.

And then they look great against the Packers.

So it's not.

This is like, I mean, if you've watched the games, Jacoby Rissette has made them look like 10 times better of a team than when Kyler is playing.

And that's not good when he's supposed to be your franchise quarterback.

So if they do want to win these games, it's tough to, they probably will go back to Kyler, but clearly Jacoby has been the better guy for them this year.

I'm a fan of Kyler Murray, okay?

Anybody that's that athletic and that that successful in sports, I am a fan of.

The amount of time that he has had to commit to sports throughout his life to be a top 10 pick in baseball and a top 10 pick, obviously, in football is incredibly impressive.

But at this point, I'm starting to wonder, like, what his baseball career has been

a lot better than the football careers, right?

And I'm not saying that it can't be still.

He's still young, man.

He's still got a lot of opportunity and everything like that, but it is, it's crazy to think that always, like, what if?

I wonder if he does that ever, AJ.

I wonder if he ever does that.

Remember the whole hoopla when when he was coming out, like when he was getting drafted, like the whole baseball situation?

He wouldn't really answer it.

But he was, was he a top 10 pick?

I know he's first round pick.

He was top 10 pick.

Ninth, ninth, right?

Yeah.

In baseball.

And actually, like, if he wouldn't have gotten drafted by the A's, who are, you know, like parentally just kind of a shitty franchise, like, if it would have been one of these teams who has a massive payroll, like, I wonder if that decision might have been muddied a little bit more.

Yeah, because he's got a hose, right?

Yes.

This guy's got an absolute hose.

He's a great hitter, too.

Yeah, I heard he can hit the curveball.

Yeah.

He can see it in there.

He can also hit the fastball.

Yeah, only player ever drafted first round in both of them.

And we know all these great athletes that's come through and been able to be drafted.

Like, obviously, and it'll always be the what if.

Even Deion Sanders, first Battle Hall of Fame, greatest cornerback ever.

He always talks about, what if I would have committed to baseball?

I like baseball more.

Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, retired and went and played baseball.

So it'll definitely always be the what if.

But I feel like it's always the what if or it's always something with Arizona.

We're talking about being in these games.

And even if you just look at that division as a whole, like everybody in that division kind of could use, they have excuses.

Like Sam Friend, they're injured.

Most of their, a lot of their top-tier players, including their starting quarterback, hurt.

New head coach, new quarterback, knew a bunch of things in Seattle.

LA coming into last year, nobody had them on the radar to go as far as they did.

But every year, these coaches and these teams, they find a way to win.

And we always say in the NFL, you are what your record is.

You know, it's a one-possession league.

We know that.

It's a lot of games that come close to it.

Will that quarterback and team marriage happen?

We all remember the contract and the language that was in Kyler's contract that made a big stink about it.

I think they changed it, but it's always going to be that whatever.

I'm very interested to see how it plays out, but I think we all can kind of see what's coming down the track.

Yeah, because I mean, they took Seattle and San Francisco to the last play of the game and lose on a kick.

And it's just really one bounce of the ball, and they could be four and three and in the hunt.

And so they're not a bad football team.

And I do agree.

They're playing better with Jacoby.

I mean, Jacoby knows where he's going.

He's lighting it up.

And

I don't know where they go when Connor gets healthy.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that seemed like pretty deep.

They paid him a lot of money now.

Jacoby's a great leader.

When Jacoby was a backup quarterback here for the Indianapolis Colts, I think he was the one calling team meetings.

I think he comes from the Parcells tuna tree of leadership and everything like that.

We are big fans of Jacoby around here.

I was trying to get him the MVP.

But for the Indianapolis Colts now, I don't think he's necessarily winning one of BA's game balls.

Okay, we started this seg last week.

Who are your two game ball award winners, BA, from week seven of the NFL football season?

Well, the first one for me is a no-brainer.

That's Joe Flacco.

I love him.

What he did in that game on Thursday night.

And again, only being there 10 days, not knowing half the damn plays,

and just lighting up what is a great defense in the Steelers.

To have 33 targets to those two guys is amazing.

I think what else is amazing?

BA coached for the Steelers for a long time.

You hear the way he's talking about them.

Tomlin, obviously, Steelers long time.

You hear the way he's talking about it.

The only people that aren't talking about Joe Flacco like this are people that didn't have to play his ass two times a year whenever it was really

important.

Because he can still spin it, man.

And then NFC is Christian McCaffrey.

I mean, boy, there's a hell of an argument right now who the best back in the NFL is.

We talked about Bijan a lot last week, and you saw Jamar Gibbs last night, but man, Christian McCaffrey, he never goes away.

I mean, 63% of their offense was him.

Yes, that was a record for the year, actually, most by one player on a team for any of the teams this year.

He's on pace to have, I think, like 1,200 both rushing and receiving.

This is exactly what they were missing last year when Christian McCaffrey got hurt

four days before the

game started.

What do you think, Christian?

Can he continue?

continue this?

Can this be a year-long thing for Christian McCaffrey?

Yeah, as long as those guys up front stay healthy.

Now they got Kiddo back, who's one of the best blocking tight ends and receiving tight ends.

And

all those guys, if they just stay healthy and start getting a couple wide receivers back.

All right.

Mac Jones is carrying them right now.

Putting his ass off.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

But Brock Purdy will be back soon.

Okay.

Okay.

Do you think that's a potential?

No.

I think they're sold on Brock.

$200 million or something like that.

Yeah, that's a lot of cash.

That is a lot of cash.

Good thing that Mac's getting them wins, though.

And obviously when Brock Purdy comes back, we'll be excited to see him.

But that is an interesting situation, Brewing.

Yeah, which is a good one, by the way, not a bad reason.

I got to give John Lynch credit, man.

He's had a hell of a backup quarterback for the last two or three years.

You know, when got Sam, they've always got a guy that's either number one pick or first-round pick as the backup.

Yeah, he's franchise quarterback maker out there, John Lynch.

You know, like Saban would have coaches come into his tree.

They'd get a head coaching gig.

Obviously, Baker Mayfield's turning offensive coordinators into head coaches, might do that again this year.

And then John Lynch, you come in as a backup quarterback.

Kyle Shane coming in as a backup quarterback.

You're going to go take over a franchise after this.

You're welcome.

Congratulations.

That's a beautiful thing to be having over there.

Yeah, incredible.

And having CMC to kind of wrap the whole thing together is even better.

Kittle said Shanahan told the entire team, like, hey, the game planned is Christian McCaffrey.

This is going to be a Christian McCaffrey game.

Like, what does that mean when you're a head coach telling your team something like that?

It's a five-star game, baby.

And the five-stars, he's getting the rock every way we can get it to him.

And

they are, they're struggling at wide receiver, you know, and having Kiddo back help, but man, he put on a show in this game.

It's fun to watch.

They haven't been able to run the ball all year, really, till this game.

Kiddo makes a big, when you can block the edge, it just changes the whole running game whatsoever.

If you're stuck between the tackles and they can condense you all day long, but when you can block the edge, stretch it, and hit the middle, that's hard to defend.

A five-star game is one of BA speeches.

You know, there's five stars and there's the other guys.

Okay.

Sometimes the five-stars kind of counter each other.

Okay, this ain't about the five stars.

They're all going to kind of counteract each other.

You other guys are going to have to win this fucking game.

Okay, that is the speech.

And then whenever it's a five-star game, it's like, hey, our guys are better than their guys.

Our guys got to go win the game.

That's it.

Pretty simple strategy and motive.

And the message gets through very clear to the team.

It's like, all right, these are the guys.

We'll continue digitally.

We have an entire conversation with the state of the NBA, with Commissioner Adam Silver.

And also, more breakdown of the news.

That's AJ.

I'm Pat.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Goodbye.

I think it was off like half a second.

And on that note, I feel like we really hit a home run there.

We did.

We were covering something.

Not just me.

We were covering something there until about 17 seconds before the heart out.

That was great work by you.

B.A., you're a TV host.

You are.

Did you know that?

You're a TV host out here, brother.

You're killing it.

Absolutely crushing.

We're giving out game balls to people.

Love it.

Bro, you.

How about this Joe Flacco shit?

It's the best thing ever.

It really is.

Yeah.

We are fans of Joe Flacco.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

So, like, we obviously love everything that's happening.

Let's go to Hammer.

Don.

Ton.

Tone, whenever Joe Flacco gets traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, your immediate reaction was to tie to stop being so dramatic.

It's not the Sunday game that's the problem.

It's the Thursday game that is going to be the problem.

That was certainly the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But as Pittsburgh Steelers fans, you don't have the same fear that it sounds like Steelers coaches have of the big bad Joe Flacco coming in and doing his thing in the AFC North?

No, because, I mean, I've watched him turn the ball over a million times to the Steelers in the playoffs.

He never had Jamar and T, though.

He's never thrown a Jamar and T.

I didn't know that.

That's a good point.

I just realized that so yeah I am worried then

sounds like he's a little bitter about yeah I think he might be a lot of arrows headed up there at Andrew Berry man what the fuck are you doing and Andrew Berry's like that's why I did it Pittsburgh's up in arms sorry about it hey rather screw the browns than help the bangles this excuse me fuck the steelers

the browns are all about fucking the steelers all right

it ain't got nothing to do bengals they're our buddies they're down they're down the road down there hey let's help them fuck the Steelers.

Okay, that does feel like that was kind of the move.

Oh, yeah.

And it started with paying Miles Garrett $40 million.

It starts with paying a quarterback $230 million.

Then trading a starter in the division just to try to take down the, it does feel like there is a little bit of a from ownership down the Andrew Barry.

Hey, if you want to, if it grinds the gears a little bit of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we're okay with that.

That isn't okay.

And once again, that's great for football.

If two cities are doing that to each other, we love everything.

That's AFC North football, literally literally in a nutshell.

Yeah, another great kind of in this

conversation when it comes to quarterbacks like this.

I mean, Andy Dalton going for the Panthers at home against Buffalo after he, Andy Dalton, got Buffalo into the playoffs all those years ago by beating the Ravens.

And not to mention Brandon Bean and most of their front office comes from Carolina.

Like the older quarterback, like Joe Flacco, Aaron Rodgers, and Andy Dalton are starting football games in 2025 next week.

Like, that is insane to think about.

It's a great time to be alive.

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This is Kevin Clark for Manscaped.

Look, being a man doesn't mean skipping self-care.

I do this show three times a week and every single time I do a little self-care beforehand, okay?

Grooming, the hair, everything.

You guys see it.

You don't wake up like this.

You don't wake up like that.

You got to do.

You got to get the stubble going.

You got to get rid of that awful mustache i had last spring listen i tried i thought the mustache over the

over the stubble was a good look not a good look it wasn't a good look you have to learn that the hard way manscaped makes it easy to feel confident clean and ready for anything whether you're at work hitting the gym traveling for business or heading out for the night the lawnmower trimmer gives you precision the beard hedger keeps your look tight need that and the grooming essentials smell incredible manscaped's tools are built to perform helping you stay stay sharp, smooth, and feeling your best every single day.

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

On this BA day, October 21st, 2025, Power 3 of the program begins now.

Football!

That's 47-year football coach, BA, obviously with a great cadence there.

That's AJ Hawk.

You know, we haven't talked about it.

So

I think now is a good time to talk about it.

AJ's hair looks cool.

It does.

AJ, your hair looks cool.

Have you figured out what you're going to do?

Is this what you're going to do with it going forward?

Because you used to be scalp to

straight back.

Then you changed your face completely with a whole new, we're growing this thing out.

Thought maybe you're going back to draft hawker, going back to all-time leading tackler for the Packers hawker long hair then you start shaping a little bit we want to let you know we think it looks very good you should be incredibly confident with what's going on on your head right now oh thank you yeah i don't know who knows i haven't put much thought into it just get a little low fade now and we'll see what happens who knows i like that age got barber you got a routine you go low fade shave the face up a little bit how live your life Yeah, of course.

I mean,

I know you've been shaving your face lately.

That's a thing now, a new thing for you.

Do you actually use like a razor like old, like our dads used to do back in the day?

No, I got that metal uh the uh foil bomb

okay yeah yeah the the zero foil yeah i use hair clip i just use hair clippers on mine i used to use the hair clippers just straight across yeah yeah so i used to do that but it was always like a little stabby this one gets it down to like your baby's baby's fresh you know smooth in there can do it in the shower too yeah take that thing into the shower yeah so it's like that tough to get some spots as a new shaver not really this is very difficult here to kind of i don't know how you guys do it i'm gonna be honest i still get yet to accomplish it every once in a while there'll be like a 7 p.m shadow not even a five o'clock shed both my jaws then i started thinking to myself wait does it actually give me a little bit more of a jawline in my shading my add shadows yeah my adding the shadow so then i started telling myself don't even worry about shaving it and then i started looking like an asshole so it's a whole new it's a whole new world for me doing the shaving but i am uh i'm enjoying the process i do like it i mean never doing it before it like kind of gives once i become a fat ass again post holidays probably won't see see it.

You see the beard be bad.

But right now, it's been nice to have a little baby face.

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

Conman basketball starts this season.

Good luck to your Celtics and good luck to all the boys trying to go ahead and get to the top of the Commissioner's Cup first and then to the NBA title at the end of the season.

Yeah, it'll be cool for the other teams.

I think for both of us, both the Pacers and the Celtics, it's a little bit of a, we'll see what happens type season.

But like Kevin Duran on the Rockets, I am pumped to see what that's all about tonight.

I think that'll be pretty sweet.

And then, you know, the other other one with Jimmy Butler.

Jimmy Butler full season with Golden State tonight.

It'll kind of be the start of their new era with those guys.

It'll be a good season.

There's the odds on favorite.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the reigning champions, are the favorites to do again.

They paid everybody that was on their team.

They're all back.

And obviously, Oklahoma City has proven to be an incredible home court advantage as well with the way they got it going.

Plus 200 to win the championship.

Cavs plus 650.

Nugs.

Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, and the Warriors round out the top 10.

And the Celtics still sitting there pretty because they got Missoula and they just put on a clinic against the media, the coaches.

Yeah, if you're going to bet on them, it's kind of a cash out situation.

You can get them at really good odds there.

Missoula and Jalen Brown will help them, you know, win a bunch of games, and then Tatum will come back and those odds will change drastically.

So you should bet on it and then cash out of it.

Yeah, they're talking about Tatum coming back.

Crazy, because the initial reports are like, he's done, he's done, he's done, he's done.

And he's like, I never said that.

Yeah, exactly.

Wow.

That is crazy.

How many months would the playoffs be?

Sorry.

How many months would the playoffs be from post-surgery?

From post-surgery, yeah, it'd be, yeah, 10, 11 months, I think.

I think it was the number I saw.

It was 10 months.

Because I'm watching it, obviously, because Tyrese is like two months behind.

So like what we, you know, like daughter's two years old.

When out and about, you see a kid, and the kid's like three years old.

I've always asked, like, hey, how old is your child here?

Three.

Okay.

So I'm watching.

Okay.

So that's where she's headed to, you know, because there's like little steps and that whole thing.

Same thing with Tyrese and Tatum.

I'll see something, a video come out of Tatum.

I'm like, okay, immediately call Tyrese.

Hey,

are we working on getting it standing dunking like Tatum is able to do right now?

He's like, yeah, I'm moving, you know, so he's probably chasing that as well.

I assume they're in constant contact, but it's crazy with the Achilles that it's still just assumed like, hey, you're going to be out for a long time.

And I think the worst part of it is you can move a little bit.

And that's like a part of the problem.

Like, no, you really.

can't.

And we're seeing Aaron kind of come back from it now, like two years later.

Kevin Durant was able to bounce back quick, I think is what everybody kind of hopes for, especially as an older player, superstar player, and he continued at that level.

The Achilles is difficult, though.

It's a tough one, obviously.

Absolutely, especially for these big guys who got to run on fucking hardwood for however many games a year.

But with those odds, I'm surprised the Mavericks are so low.

We know Kyrie's, you know, he won't be starting off the season healthy, but number one pick, you got Anthony Davis there.

You got some depth.

Are they behind the Boston Celtics?

Yeah.

Am I seeing that correct?

Longer odds than the Celtics.

Surprising to me.

Once again, Missoula will take Cooper flag, and I mean, he'll break his back and choke him out if he has something.

Yeah, Jalen Brown.

He said if him and Jalen Brown were getting in a fight, who would win?

He'd say, oh, I don't know, because we both die, because I'm not dying alone.

Okay.

He'd been one seat.

NBA coaches, I think, Jalen Brown.

Oh, yeah.

Interesting.

Carlisle has real killer vibes, though.

Yeah, sure.

He would potentially kind of the McDonald feel.

Sure.

Missoula's out there.

J.J.

Reddick, whoa.

Yeah,

J.J.

Reddick will fight to a death, I think, if we had to put a...

I'm guessing Coach Spo is just very scrappy.

No team of USA coach.

So I would hope that he would be willing to go to a day.

You know, I think we don't give enough credit to the toughness of basketball players.

Let's not get crazy.

Okay, let's not get it.

Let's not outdo ourselves here.

But I think there is a little bit more to that league than just a bunch of divas that don't work hard.

And I'm thankful for this season to get going.

And maybe the Pacers are able to figure it out.

Obviously, Coach BA is here.

There's some news coming out of the nfl world because the owners are having their meetings right now which i don't think we knew about we should have been on top of that we apologize woody johnson was asked about the state of the jets and the state of his head coach aaron glenn in his first year here and obviously as you recall aaron rogers uh this past offseason flew from los angeles to new jersey to meet with the new head coach and gm and the way he tells the story is that thing ended before it even started.

Aaron Glenn said, we're going a different direction, basically kicked him out of the building.

And Aaron said, well, what the fuck I fly out of here for?

He could have told me this on the phone.

Now, Aaron Glenn, obviously, after a rough start with the New York Jets, is getting a lot of heat, a lot of conversation.

Woody Johnson was tasked with asking some questions or answering some questions.

Here's what he had to say from Tom Rock at Newsday Sports.

What's your confidence level in Aaron to turn it around?

Well, it looks like he's turning around parts of it.

You know, it's hard when you have a quarterback with, you know,

with a rating

that we've got you know I mean he has the ability but something just is not jivin

but if you look at any any head coach with a quarterback like that you're going to see similar results if you go across the league you have to play consistently with you know

at that position and

and that's what we're going to try to do for the remainder of the season

so what gives you hope then doesn't give you hope I just think defense special teams are doing better defense is pretty good

and

if we can just complete a pass, it would look good.

We got to complete some pass.

You got to convince them that you can do something.

Otherwise, it's hard to have

a game that you could win.

What do you say to the fans who've lost hope?

I mean, I know it's really...

So, yeah.

Our Corvette stinks.

Okay, so kind of what he's doing.

Real vote of confidence there for the QB, man.

That's tough.

Paid him $20 million a year.

You got to be able to just complete a pass.

You know, like that is something you got to be able to give confidence to the coaches in calling in.

And we appreciate that in real time being reported from the owners' meetings.

But yeah, I appreciate the fact that Woody Johnson's like, you guys think Aaron Glenn's a problem?

Fucking look at the quarterback that I paid $20 million a year every week Darren Rodgers out of here.

That's an interesting dilemma, but I think it is the truth that we're all kind of seeing with this Jets team, but it's tough coming from ownership is probably how Justin Fields is feeling.

Yeah, I guess what were expectations for the Jets coming into this year?

Like, okay, somehow

if they had won one or two games so far this year, would we be okay and people wouldn't be questioning his job or what?

Paid Garrett Wilson, paid Justin Fields 20 million, paid Sauce Gardner, have a good defense.

Aaron Glenn's coming in, we assume, with a brand new mindset for the entire building.

They were obviously very focused on turning that place around and trying to become a contender and a winner.

And then it's just same old Jets stuff, I think is what Jets fans would say.

But I would like to say, okay, even though Aaron Rodgers Tuesday was something that we were very lucky to be a part of, we didn't mind Aaron Glenn moving on from Aaron Rodgers.

We didn't mind the decision to kind of go ahead and have your own team.

So I think it's going to take a couple years, obviously, to have to change a culture at a place, but I think everybody was hoping that they'd be able to do it quicker.

What are your thoughts on what Woody Johnson said there about the reality of the Jets scene?

It's going to be hard to go in that locker room right now as the owner.

and look at your quarterback if he's still the quarterback.

I would think they're going with Tyrod Taylor the rest of the year.

Yeah.

I mean.

after that.

After that, for sure.

Tyrod just about beat the Bucs a couple weeks ago down in Tampa.

Last second field goal when the Bucs win.

The Jets are close.

They're getting closer.

And I like what he said.

Defense special teams, they're doing a better job, but they're going to let Tyrod go the rest of the year.

Rapsheet reported another quote coming from Woody.

I do believe in Aaron.

If I were a player, I'd respond to him.

There's no BS.

There's no agendas.

Aaron Glenn's trying to bring a whole new culture to the Jets.

How do you feel about what just happened there, D.C.?

I mean, that was tough to hear, to hear that from like everything BA said.

It'd be tough.

I mean,

he's still on the team, so he's not going anywhere.

But speaking on your quarterback like that, the guy you just paid, that's rough.

But to you guys' point, the defense have given up, what, 13 points back-to-back week?

So that's something to build on.

And defense, at some point, that's going to wear the bad offense, it's going to wear on your defense as well.

So they got to figure it out offensively.

And it's been a shit show in New York for a long, long time.

I don't know who was recording this kid, but somebody caught this poor kid walking out of a jets game and he was like man i'm i'm i was born in this shit i'll be a jets fan for the rest of my life but it is it's horrible and that's been a state of jets for a long long time so it'll take some time to figure it out but uh at this point uh what's today's day october 21st i still believe in aaron glenn i'll give him some time me too me too aju

yeah you got the guy you got to have at least a season and an off season that was off figure things out Yeah, that was.

We need a little bit more of those.

Yeah, that was sick.

We need a little bit more of those.

Yeah.

You know, but we've seen this this team, this organization, suck the soul out of somebody.

Robert Sala didn't smile for five years.

And he was the guy that was all over the field for the San Francisco 49ers, and he's back.

So I like seeing that from Aaron Glenn, but he knew what he was signing up for.

He took the New York Jets coaching job.

Yeah, exactly.

He knew exactly what he was signing up for, you would assume.

And Tyrod Taylor, much like Joe Flacco, He'll do it.

And there's a reason why he's still in the league right now.

Like everybody talks about these older players.

Why do do they have these older players?

Because these fuckers are good at football.

Like, and they also know a lot about it.

So, if the Jets are able to somehow maintain on the offensive side and their defense and special teams are able to do some shit, Aaron Glenn steals some wins, goes into the offseason, everything's on the up and up.

Let's find our quarterback for the future.

Let's go ahead and do this.

And the Jets fans will all be all the way back.

Michael Cole, yeah, we got our culture back.

We're a tough team.

You see Aaron Glenn?

And then I fear.

You're right.

Then I fear that next year comes and then all of a sudden it'll be some new shit that they'll figure out.

And that's what Jets fans fear as well.

There's just always some new shit that's going to come down from the clouds and rain on the New York Jets success.

Is how Jets fans feel?

That's going to be a tough culture to change, brother.

That's going to be a tough culture to change.

Really change.

It takes some time.

I'm wondering, how's Greene doing?

Is Greeny all right?

Have we checked on him lately with the Jets?

Did he just completely just give up?

I think he's packed it in.

Yeah, this is normal.

This is normal.

Could you imagine him listening to that Woody Johnson quote there for the first time?

Do we have to say that?

I don't know if we have to say that.

You know, like there's some things we probably don't have to say publicly, but I guess that's one of them that we just need to let fly is the ownership of the New York Jets, which a lot of people have brought into question.

A lot of people have said ownership is part of the problem.

And we're not going to say that this particular answer is part of the problem, but we do know you're not hearing other owners throw the quarterback under the bus in most situations.

Certainly not.

So that's certainly an outlier.

Yeah, and that's the thing about when they signed Fields.

It wasn't like, oh, this is stupid.

Like, Fields won a bunch of games for the Steelers last year.

So you kind of thought that they were going to go with the running offense during the clock.

And then, you know, it turns out they're trying to throw it and they can.

And, you know, maybe this is an MCDC umbrella type thing.

Any really, really poopy organization you go to, it's going to take some time.

Ben Johnson would be the outlier because, you know, that setup was kind of perfect for him.

We also probably should have known when multiple people came on the show and they said that the Jets' formula for winning every game was like, hey, they got to win 13-10 every single week.

Like, they got to play from ahead.

If they're down by 10 points, they're going to be screwed because they can't, you know, throw the ball the way that they're going to want.

It's like the NFL is not like that.

We had teams scoring 30 to 40 points every week.

So it wasn't exactly a stroke of confidence going into the season, but it's New York.

So people get excited.

How's Graney feeling?

Well, we have some tweets from him during games.

For the second consecutive week, Aaron Glenn chose to let the half end without attempting a Hail Mary.

With a team that didn't score a touchdown in either game, it's inexcusable.

Hashtag Jets.

Seems like Graney's already on his way out of this whole thing.

And Woody Johnson's reading his tweets.

I agree, man, but what do you want him to do?

The guy guy can't complete a pass.

You think we're going to do a Hail Mary?

Every throw is a Hail Mary.

We're running bubble screams and we're calling him Hail Marys over there with Justin Fields.

Good luck to the Jets and Justin Fields.

Don't worry about it.

He's paying you.

Sheckle cash.

When's the last time Jets have been like good?

Sustained?

I know Ricky.

September 11th, 2023.

Yes.

First four games or four plays.

Do you remember that?

I do.

The entrance.

That was

they were good.

Yeah.

Weren't they?

Yeah, it was Fitzmagic 2015, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker.

That was the last time I think they won 10 games or nine games, and it was Todd Bulls, I think.

How about you during your 47 years of coaching, 27 in the NFL?

How many of those decades were the Jets like good?

Two at least.

Do you remember like a

Curtis Martin?

Little Holtz.

Curtis had a little run.

Curtis Martin, all those guys.

And Finney.

Rex Ryan.

Rex Ryan.

Rex Ryan took championship.

We played him in the championship game at Pittsburgh.

Yeah, we played that.

Dougie O'Brien missed that field goal.

Oh, yeah.

Who?

It was Herm Edwards.

Yeah.

Who missed the field goal?

Doug O'Brien.

Doug Bryan.

I don't remember him.

He was kicking for the Saints and was up at the Jets, and

it was like 10 below zero.

And we ended up winning that game.

Rex Ryan had them rolling.

Yeah, Rex Ryan.

Chris Ivory.

I think that was Herm.

I think Herm was the head coach that year.

Herm Edwards.

So you need somebody that's pretty,

you know, feels like have to take on that entire thing.

You're talking about Herm, obviously, very,

what would that be?

That's why you play the game, baby.

Extrovert.

I think he's a good extrovert.

Rex Ryan, obviously, big time extrovert.

Aaron Glenn has a lot of dog mentalities.

Feels like that might be the style of coach that you need to be able to win at the Jets.

That Rex Ryan run was fun.

That was a fun time.

That was

grounded pounding defense.

They had a great defense weekend and weekend.

That was the year, actually,

that was second year with 14-2.

Can't wait that moment came into new england won and then went to the afc championship but you know that was a few years and then you talked about the curtain curtis martin in that era back then but like as far as like sustained you know with the giants you know they had they have a run now where it's been a shit show but we all can remember when the giants and won a couple super bowls did their thing so like the jets man it's been a long long time on that note nick mangold pulling for you brother yeah

i know uh we shouldn't like expect updates all the time i think next next update could come in like November, I think is what he said.

For the next month or so, he has to go through dialysis.

I think we'll get a heads up in November.

We're obviously, hey, Nick, we love you, dude.

We absolutely love you.

And I think from this all, there's going to be incredible awareness of like what organ donors or donor, being a donor can do for other people's lives.

Obviously, Nick, but many others that are currently waiting for anything in the hospital.

So we love you, Nick.

Nick was a great thing for the Jets.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Love him.

He was the leader.

That was the only player for a while for New England.

It's like, well, the Jets suck, but they do have Nick Mangold.

And then when Sanchez and, you know, Chris Ivory and those boys started running and going to those AFC championships.

At Lefanneca, yeah, Fanneca.

Oh, how about Fanneca first?

Ricketshall, yeah.

Ricketts first all together.

Yeah.

Woody.

Well, yeah, Damian Woody, right, was also on that team.

Here's how you can help Nick Mangold.

You can scan that QR code or go to columbiasurgery.org forward slash kidney dash transplant.

Sign up at the link and then you'll get some tests to see what your blood type is and then they'll let you know who you can help, whether it's Nick Bangold or many others that are looking for any type of help and just kind of waiting, literally, for somebody to help them save their lives.

Nick Bangold is one of those people with type O blood.

There are many others as well.

Hopefully that story will inspire people to give back.

Now, before we run the Adam Silver conversation,

which is great,

We have to do some sort of giveaway, don't we?

Do we have to do some sort of giveaway, AJ?

Is BA getting a putt again?

Because, I mean, that was a flawless performance.

I don't know if we should have BA do anything after the four putts ever again.

You know, it's kind of difficult for this entire thing.

Yeah, first day of NBA, we could have Debone

maybe or one of D-Bone and Butt to maybe shoot one of the U-ball shots.

Okay.

Yeah, Bone and Butt team, yeah.

Put them out.

Yeah, Bone and Butt team.

When was the last time you guys played with Bone and Butt?

When did you guys last week?

Wednesday.

We didn't play yesterday.

You guys, you know, ducked the smoke yesterday.

Yeah, had some things to figure out.

Got a lot going on

right now a lot of business t-bone throwing a u-ball is the right way to do this oh yeah bone hey uh d-bown will you please step out here to the u-ball court in the middle of the thunderdome you uh your presence is a necessity at this point for a giveaway now d-bone uh is a champion of u-ball in the past he is not currently the champion that championship basketball obviously resides right here on uh my desk down there uh down left right there it is a bedazzled uh ball which is certainly fantastic shot to the nba sending it boom right there

boom that is a bedazzled ball that is perfect for the u-ball title actually that would be a u-ball if it wouldn't shatter if we were to shoot it great somebody took a lot of time on that we are very grateful for our the nba sending that to us it is currently uh me and foxy's you ball title okay so as it's worn it'll move yeah it'll move yeah it'll move nice probably not though like because me and foxy got it figured out will d bone have it figured out will he be able to win 25 people 500 coach will you please give d D-bone a D3 national champion offensive lineman, a little maybe words of encouragement before he attempts the impossible, which is make one U-ball shot from the opposite free throw line.

Go ahead, Coach.

Okay, now, brother, we had this opportunity not long ago.

Never know you didn't get that opportunity.

Make the best of it, my man.

Boom.

We only have right now, D-Bone.

25 people could win $500.

Let it fly.

Take a deep breath, says Coach Mia.

Did you shoot any of them?

What's that?

Nope.

No, he throws them.

The only way he throws them?

That's okay.

What's not on the line?

Jesus Christ.

Why don't you shoot?

Holy shit.

That's my partner.

Count it.

Count it.

Count it.

25 winners of $500.

All you got to do is repost that miracle.

Wow.

Go buy a lottery ticket right now.

Say something nice to somebody and put the easiest way to pay you Debo, and that was spectacular.

Wow.

If you were playing against me and Foxy, the champs, we would have have batted that shit or dunked that shit so quick.

But for the people you stepped up and made it happen.

Coach BA, what an incredible speech.

What a way to motivate that guy.

Wow.

What a shot.

What a bounce.

What a day.

Congrats to Debone.

Congrats to the 25 random winners.

And also, shout out to the NBA launching in beautiful fashion.

AJ, you're the man.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

Boys in the back, great work.

Coach BA, we love you.

We'll see you next week.

Thank you for joining us.

And here is a state of the NBA conversation with the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver.

Congratulations.

Another NBA season tipping off today.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

How do you feel?

Obviously, we got some new media rights deals going on.

We got some a younger generation of stars about to take over the league potentially.

What are your thoughts as you embark on another journey to an NBA championship here?

I'm feeling great.

I mean, as you said, it's an interesting blend of old and new.

Just beginning on the media side.

NBC is back, of course.

It's been 23 years since we were there on their era.

For your viewers, who saw the Today show this morning they had John Tesh on they brought back Round Ball Rock

so that's that's wonderful and with Round Ball Rock came Michael Jordan so he's going to be on tonight's NBC telecast being interviewed by Mike Tarico so but on maybe more importantly on the basketball side

you know as I said we got you know Oklahoma City thinks you know they're going to be right back there this year but of course we've had seven different champions over the last seven years so you know people always ask me this question is that what you want a different champion every year?

And I said, no, you know, we just want, we want the best competition.

We want a system where everybody has a fair shot.

But if, you know, great GMs like Sam Presti can put together an organization that can win, you know, multiple championships, you know, great.

You know, so, but you got Wemby back in San Antonio, you got Cooper Flag in Dallas, you got Jalen Brunson, who's, I think, it'll be right up there competing for an MVP this year in New York.

So, you know, and sorry about the Pacers.

Yeah, okay.

They're going to fight their way through it, but Tyrese, I mean, you know, it was heartbreaking, obviously, to see him go down in game seven.

But, you know, he and I have been texting back and forth.

He's going to be right back there.

I think that's the thing about you that we respect, especially from the NFL world and understanding what the commissioner's job is and how it's not an easy one.

Now, the NBA's relationship with the commissioner is clearly different than maybe the NFL, but it does feel like you really care about ball and the players.

The fact that you're texting with Tyrese, obviously, we're thankful for.

Jason Tatum, also another mega star that's going to be out, missing a lot.

But whenever you talk about Cooper Flag and Jalen Brunson and all these stars, Ant, let alone Ant, who's a megastar in Wemby, and then you got Kevin Durant.

Then you got the OG still kind of around Booker, and then LeBron James out for a little bit.

How do you kind of view?

You talk about it in a transition area, but as a commissioner, obviously you would like the next generation to kind of take the next big step.

Is that kind of goals for this season as you lay them out from a league?

It's like, all right, we'd like our young stars kind of do their thing.

It's it's in their hands potentially in the next couple years let's see what we have going forward is that something that the league thinks about or you think

absolutely by the way i should say you know i'm a duke guy so with jason tatum you know in his spare time now as he's recovering from his injury he's been named uh like i forget the exact title but he's got a duke basketball title now so he's helping to recruit and run the program down there so i mean you guys are keeping busy in college even when they're not on the floor.

But to answer your question in terms of old and new, I mean, look at Luca.

I mean, I don't know if you guys have seen sort of his transformed body.

You know,

he completely retrained himself

over in the offseason.

You know, he was obviously upset with the trade, but I think is using it as motivation now to show everybody that he's one of the greatest in the game and wants to be viewed as one of the greatest ever.

You know, at the same time, like then having him play with LeBron, who he's out just for maybe a few weeks now, but no doubt has one of the greatest work ethics ever.

I mean, I'm always saying to the younger players, it's it's a combination.

Part of it is, you know, your God-given talent.

Part of it is, you know, the training and coaching you get, the mentorship to be put in that position.

But once you're in the league, the really great ones, and you know, from the NFL, have these incredible work ethics.

I think people don't understand how hard a player like LeBron works to be able, he's about to be 41, to play at that level for that long.

So yeah, you know, they're going to get dinged up along the way.

He's got a little injury now.

But I'm hoping for a much younger player like Luca, he realizes that there's a lot more to it than just having that talent

and that experience, that you see what a guy like LeBron is actually doing.

And by the way, you know, over some of these Olympic teams I've been with around over the years when these stars come together, I mean, I can remember in 2008 in China, like when some of the younger players were getting an opportunity to see Kobe's work ethic, you know, where they were meeting in the morning and Kobe was coming back from like a 5.30 5.30 a.m.

You know training session, you know, and he was coming in with towels wrapped around him and guys were like rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and like where's he coming from you know and I and like that matters and when guys see what it takes to be you know truly great, you know, and I think we've all had that experience that you know you sort of, whether it's in sports or whether it's in business, you know, when you start meeting other mentors, you say, wow, that's what they do, you know, and you realize that so much of it is you have to have good luck, you have to have good health and certain talent, but that it ultimately comes down to that work ethic.

And it's something that for the MBA, the WMBA, it's what we try to teach all the younger players, I mean, broadly, you know, in all our programs, that a minuscule percentage of players are going to be fortunate, as you were, to play at the highest level, whether in top college programs or top programs.

programs.

But like that rub off of those values that come from sports is truly remarkable.

Yeah, sports help people in everyday life.

I think you have to be a team sport person to do anything.

Like my daughter, obviously, she's a dog and I can't wait to watch her, but she's going to play team sports because she's going to learn a lot of things through that that she's going to carry into her life.

I agree with that.

And I think after watching the NBA more and also getting to know a lot of these NBA guys, there used to be, I think, kind of a narrative about the NBA players being soft.

You know, these guys are soft because there was, you know, they're resting some games.

They're not resting some games.

And then you meet these guys that are at the top and it's like, these are dogs through and through.

And you go back through the history of the game.

I mean, you guys got them on NBC's coverage.

Give me, give me the basketball.

Yeah, we can't wait for that, obviously, with MJ being back.

But that mamba mentality you talk about.

And then I can echo that sentiment about like, I had Adam Vinatari.

Okay, I had Adam Vinatari literally on the same team.

It's like, hey, what does this guy do?

And I'm just going to try to do that.

The NBA does feel like a family whenever it comes to that type of thing.

And I think you guys are in a great spot just from what I've witnessed and the people that I've gotten a chance to chat about.

And your league's a fun league to be a fan of at this exact moment, especially with all the different media broadcast partners and also you leaning into the digital side of things, which I respect and appreciate because you guys are a digital league.

You guys take over the internet.

On that note, Rushmore on X Dunkers is available now.

Have you seen this?

Shaq and Reggie Miller put up their Mount Rushmores of Dunkers throughout the history of the game.

We'll send it over to you to get your opinion on it.

It is a fantastic combo about the history of basketball, basically, and rim rocking.

So I like where your league's at.

I assume you do as well.

Now, the world that we're in is a little bit different than maybe 15, 20 years ago, especially with all eyes on the money side of things during these games.

Go ahead, Debutch.

Yeah, Adam, with the huge growth of the game and obviously growth of sports betting as well, I can't wait to put a 12-game team parlay together tonight.

But how do you balance, I guess, protecting, I know, sorry, protecting the integrity of the game and like how do you balance that with the growth and obviously the relationships that you have with these sports betting partners you know interestingly enough I think in the in the modern digital era the choice is between legalized sports betting or illegal sports betting not do you want sports betting or not and so ultimately our view has been that since we know there's going to be enormous betting on sports out there, there always has been lots of illegal betting when I was younger, but it was was much more difficult before the internet.

You'd have to meet someone on the corner, there were betting slips, things like that, or you had an old school bookie.

Of course, now you can just bet on your phone.

So on one hand, with this regulated structure of legalized betting, we can monitor it in ways that were unimaginable years ago, that if there's any aberrational behavior, people betting large numbers who hadn't historically done so, just opening an account to place bets, or even the geotargeting, we know exactly from where the bets are being placed.

I mean, very specifically, if you're in an arena and place a bet, we know you're in the arena.

In many cases, we know where in the arena you are when you place that bet.

So sort of analogize to a stock market where there's, you know, of course, there's a legal framework, but there's a lines that make activity illegal, like insider trading, for example.

And so you have potentially the equivalent in sports where somebody may have inside information.

It may, It could be a player and the worst case scenario is a player who's trying to impact their own performance for a bet or it may be people around a player and it may be unintentional on the part of a player but somebody who's around the player knows that the player isn't feeling well or isn't going to play even though that hasn't been announced yet.

So, you know, we have

a framework, a structure in place to monitor, to prevent those kinds of things happening so that

the information is available to potential betters so that it's a level playing field in terms of placing those bets.

But there's no question, it introduces a whole new set of issues.

One of the issues you see in arenas, and I hear from players and coaches on this, are fans.

I mean, who are yelling out about, you know, especially when it's a prop bet.

My part one!

Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah.

Yeah, you know, but it's often the case that, you know, your team wins and a player scores 25 points, but the fan better had bet that the player was going to score 28 points or 30 points or whatever else.

I would say one thing, we sent a memo out to our teams recently and we made it clear in conversations with them that we want to see strict enforcement of those rules.

I mean, we have to protect the competitors.

You know, we want to protect the environment in the arena of people getting out of hand.

I mean, but as I said,

we accept betting is legal in roughly 35 states now in the United States.

It's unlikely to go away.

I think probably there should be more regulation, frankly.

It may be surprising to hear from me.

I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state.

I think you've got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it.

And also, we've pulled back.

You know, it's not completely in our control, but we've asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they're on two-way players, guys who don't have the same stake in the competition, where, you know, it's too easy to manipulate something which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score.

Maybe

the couple rebounds that some player

gets or whatever.

So

we're trying to put in place and learning as we go and working with the betting companies

some additional controls to prevent sort of some of that manipulation.

I think that's really good defense.

Getting rid of kind of smaller, obscure bets.

Like, hey, do we really need this to even be a potential distraction

or a potential setup?

Like, I respect that you're trying to figure out and navigate this as it's happening in real time.

Do you feel the, and you said you wanted it to be strict on the fans in the environments, very intimate, very, very intimate, the NBA.

I mean, there's been a couple of times where I felt like I was sitting on a bench, you know, and it's like, now, granted, I loved it.

I enjoyed being there.

Let's go, boys.

Let's kind of do our thing.

Give me a microphone.

Maybe not.

Let's not do that.

Maybe I just sit here and talk to the group here.

John Mellencamp's camp's gonna be pissed but there is a very intimate relationship between the nba and its fans i think in the arenas that's a part of the allure i think hey come watch these six foot eight six foot nine tall guys run back and forth dunk it bring the kids out you even maybe get a high five as they're jogging through the thing and on the flip side of that when it's not a family or a little kid and somebody that's pissed off about the amount of turnovers you had and instead we got to win but should be happy you understand i can see how that could get a little loud and there's been you know nba and players and fans interactions before i don't know how it doesn't happen more often okay just strictly because bruce i've seen bruce at an nba game and he's a problem he's a new york knicks fan and he's a good shit talker and he is very okay doing it right to tj mcconnell's face and they're like three feet away in real life tj mcconnell potentially

knock Bruce Brown out, especially with his punchable looking face.

But instead, TJ talks back and they keep it moving.

It's a beautiful part of your sport.

I'm happy to see that you want to keep it a safe thing for everybody.

And when it it comes to the gambling, do you feel like you have to set a precedent now with this?

Because like,

to the players, obviously, do you feel like we got to kind of make sure we nip this in the butt before it gets big?

Or are like you all just kind of riding the wave together to see what fits this situation best each time?

Well, you know, we deal obviously case by case with anything comes up, but I think we've made it clear to our players, and I think Adre Guadalu is head of the Player Association, you know, former all-star champion himself, knows that there's nothing more important than the integrity of the competition.

So for if a player steps over the line, I mean, there have been players, I think, as you know, who've been banned from the game because of betting.

We monitor it really closely.

There's signs in every locker room.

We have continuing education throughout the year just so guys know that it's a really bright line.

Because the problem with all those prop bets is that I always worry,

I'm sure there are players who would never, ever think they would would want to manipulate the ultimate outcome of the game they wouldn't want to do that to their teammates they wouldn't want to do it themselves but are thinking oh what's the difference if you know I've won fewer more rebound or whatever else so that's why you know we've made it clear there's there's very strict enforcement that anything you do around betting you know just just the mere betting on a game even if it had nothing to do with your particular performance you know will result in a suspension you know and and possibly the the end of your career so i you know again, we live in an environment of legalized sports betting.

And by the way, not just in the United States, but the NBA is

a global league.

I mean, remember, when sports betting was legalized in the United States, it was already for decades had been widely legal throughout Europe.

In the old days, it's all moved to the internet now, but in the old days, you could go to a soccer game in England and they had betting windows, you know, like at a horse track.

And there were betting parlors throughout London.

Again, most of the action is now online, but that's actually a good thing that's online because when people aren't using cash, you have to identify yourself to the betting company.

You're putting in a credit card.

And again, so if there's something unusual that's happening, or if somebody is, and there's a whole separate issue about problem gambling.

So let's remove sort of irregular activity among participants in the game.

But then there's people clearly who get sucked in and are betting too much money and or are betting over their means.

And so there's also ways to monitor those things and to cut those people off if the betting company detects that there's an issue.

Yeah, we had some friends that had that happen to them from Sportsbook.

Looking at you again, Bruce.

And looking at you again, Bruce.

And we like that.

You know, got him out of a potential spiral, though.

And I agree that it has gotten to a much better place in the gambling world.

But for you guys to have to navigate it, we're appreciative of the amount of thought that you put into it because the integrity of the game is everything.

Because what are we betting?

What are we watching if

we don't think that's a big deal?

And oddly enough, I mean, even the betters want to be ensured that they can take

in the data because if they think it's not a level playing field or somebody has information they don't, they won't bet your sport.

Yeah, they're on the take.

Listen, if they're going to be on the take, I would like to know that they're on the take so we can do that because then they feel like they're getting bamboozled.

So we appreciate the amount of work that you're putting into that to play defense and also make sure that the NBA will continue to be a sport that we can all, you know, definitely know what's going on wherever we place our wagers on.

Now, you brought up Europe there in the gobbling culture, but let's talk about the basketball world that's starting to brew over there in Europe.

Love what you're doing with the all-star game format.

USA versus the world, basically.

Maybe this will entice people to care a little bit is the hope.

Is that kind of the hopes, Adam?

Because we all know that it's not just the NBA.

The NHL figured it out with the Four Nations.

The NHL figured out with Four Nations, but they were having problems too there for a few years.

Baseball, obviously, has the home run derby.

They were going back and forth with like home field advantage and the playoffs.

They kind of got rid of that.

The NFL had a problem for a while.

It was bad football.

It was bad, bad football.

Now they try to make it a festival.

So these all-star games and festivities aren't the easiest things to nail.

Okay.

You guys saw what the NHL did and thought maybe we'll take a hack at that.

Saw what the Olympics were for the entire world.

We'll try to pull on that, maybe find what guys care about.

Is that how we got to this point?

And what is your expectation for it?

Yeah, Pat, exactly.

I mean, we try to learn from everybody else.

There's no question that what the NHL did in terms of the Four Nations was incredibly successful.

And then in addition the All-Star Game is moving to NBC this year and our All-Star Game falls smack in the middle of the Winter Olympics.

So we want to take advantage of the fact that you have this global international competition, you know, where the country is focused on

USA, USA, and taking on other countries.

So we're going to move to a rider cup type format, again, like taking from golf as well as hockey.

And because we have an imbalance in the league of international players to U.S.

players, it's roughly 30% of the players are born outside the United States.

We've got to play with the format a little bit.

I think where we'll likely end up is, you know, a round-robin where you have two USA teams and one international team.

And then they'll play each other in a round-robin.

USA versus USA in the finals would be great.

I would be celebrating.

I think the guys will be motivated because of the Olympic atmosphere they'll be in the middle of, because of wanting to play for their country.

So, and in addition, I would just say on behalf of the players, I mean, last year we were hoping for more.

I mean, I think the format didn't quite work, but the players care.

And I don't know what, there's something about NBA All-Star game, and even as I, I was in Europe for a bunch of things this summer doing some other stuff for the NBA, and I was amazed how many fans came up to me and said, you know, great, Oklahoma City won, finals were incredible.

You got to fix the all-star.

And I think it seems to me to take on disproportionate interest.

And I think when we've had bad all-stars, I think maybe a little different from other leagues, it seems to linger longer in this league.

That, you know, sort of, you referenced it, that

it becomes a proxy for how much the players care or their investment in the game.

And it seems very unfair to them in ways, because sometimes there's just a larger conspiracy that includes all the teams who don't want their guys to go out and get injured in what seems to be an exhibition game to a lot of people.

But I think that the younger generation of NBA players are understanding that all-star is really meaningful and it's not necessarily needs to be played at the level of the finals, but we also don't want to see guys going out there, not playing defense, and sort of just sort of like bombing away three-point shots the whole game.

I mean, and I think there's a happy medium there.

And I'm encouraged this year, as I said, like Andrea Guadalupe at the Player Association has been great.

Terrific individual conversations with players were like, we get it.

You know, we're going to be in LA this year.

It's going to be a big stage.

So, again, I'm hoping we can bring back that tradition.

I think there's going to be great tradition.

And I'm outsider looking into your world.

Dream Team was so big for basketball because a lot of people watched basketball for the first time, saw the stars.

They were like the Beatles, right?

If that documentary is right, whenever they come to town, I think the All-Star game provides similar opportunity.

It's where all the stars are.

Some people are maybe only watching that first time, really getting to see people.

I think that is why it is such big interest because you guys have such a limited amount of people that can be so good at your sport.

And there's only a couple of times that we see them all together.

Olympics, certainly when we see them all together, we love it.

We all love it.

KD takes over a game.

Steph takes over a game.

LeBron takes over a game.

It's like, here we go.

These are all the greats doing their thing.

Tyrese Halliburton's holding it down.

Exactly.

Holding it down over there in the entirety.

And then whenever we get the all-stars, same thing.

We see everybody, and then it's just kind of like what it is.

So I think that's potentially why your fans are.

a little bit more passionate about the all-star game than maybe the NFL.

Like Pro Bowl, I mean, nobody cares it stinks yeah nobody cares about the word so it's good that people care i think but what you're saying is it's a tough thing to get right maybe this will be the right answer on the internet to your to your point it would it'd be a worse problem if nobody cared bingo yeah yeah yeah i think it's a good thing but also figure it out adam

figure it out need to figure it out this thing that can only hurt people for the future as they're trying to win an actual championship and there's a lot of money on the line other people are getting arrested the best players don't get arrested go ahead and nobody's dunking don't want to hurt themselves just adam figure it it out, dude.

Make it great.

Okay.

We need that thing to be amazing.

Now, you talk about the international team and how great they have gotten.

I'll tell you.

I wanted the USA versus USA final.

I'm thinking that's probably not going to happen because what's going on overseas with this sport is obviously incredible.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Commission, you just said it.

30% of the players in the NBA are international.

But I mean, if you look at the MVPs, damn near 100% of the MVPs are international now because they have.

I think our last seven.

Yeah, the last seven of them.

There it is.

I thought thought there was a number there, but

the NBA International is huge.

NBA Europe is going to be massive.

How did you kind of, you know, decide to launch it this year or next year or whenever it's launching?

And then is there any worry that some of these international players are going to leave the NBA to go to NBA Europe, whether that be, you know, 10 years into their career or even just towards the end?

Because you think of guys like Dirk Nowitzki, who, you know, might have gone back to Germany for a year or two.

And then you think of all the international players and how much they love their home countries.

Giannis with Greece, Jokic, Luka, there's a ton of them.

SGA is Canadian.

I don't know if he falls into that category, but still, you know what I'm saying.

Is that ever a thought with the NBA Europe?

And how excited are you for that launch as a whole?

Yeah, well, so a few things there.

I mean, I think if some of those international players decided to either end their career or prolong their career a bit by playing in Europe, I think that would be fantastic.

I think for the foreseeable future, the NBA is so big, is so global, the pay is so high, I think it's highly unlikely that any of these players would choose to forego the NBA to play in Europe.

And I think that's kind of the case right now.

I mean, the quality of European basketball is off the charts right now.

It's just not commercially successful.

And so to your question, why now,

I think that you're seeing enormous interest, maybe clearly unprecedented, in live premium sports right now.

It's being reflected in all the sports.

I mean, it's as if other than honestly, shows like yours around sports that people want to consume live or near live because you're talking about such topical issues

or the live games themselves, they've separated themselves from everything else, certainly on traditional television.

And now people are watching more streaming than traditional broadcast and cable.

And by the way, you were mentioning before that, Pat, I mean, you were a pioneer there.

I mean, to have a show that's simulcast on ESPN and YouTube, and then to then take portions of it and then make those available on social media, it's not that different than what the NBA has become.

There's sort of the live aspect of it, and then there's the sort of highlights and other aspects of it that people will watch after the fact.

But in terms of Europe, I think we're at the point now where there is just, there's a huge opportunity both in the quality of the game in Europe.

As we're all talking about, 15% of our league now is European and they represent some of the very best players.

There's enormous interest in the game there.

Our number is something like over 250 million basketball fans in Europe.

It's the number two sport after soccer.

And on top of that,

there's an opportunity to build an arena infrastructure in Europe.

Like even when we were all in Paris for the Olympics, the building there, they did some upgrades for the Olympics, but it doesn't have the sort of amenities that you see in Indianapolis or you see in our MBA cities where there's a lot of areas for pre-gay meals, big halftime celebrations,

fancy suites, the whole thing.

And the great thing about arenas, really different from stadiums, is that the top arenas are used 250, 300 days a year.

It's sort of a separate economic engine for communities.

And again, just like you see in Indianapolis, then you can build around it.

You have commercial space,

retail, residential.

We saw it in Milwaukee with the new development there.

You know, you saw it in LA.

You're seeing it all around the country.

They're talking about that in San Antonio right now, moving their arena to downtown.

So a combination of all these factors are coming together.

I think we're not all the way there yet.

We're working at the league office on

what the right model is.

But there's certainly no lack of interest in potential owners.

I'm hearing from you know, a lot of well-known wealthy European families who are interested, American families, institutions who would like to see this happen.

So if you look at the gap right now, I mean, soccer is, you know, head and shoulders more popular than any other sport in Europe right now.

But basketball follows, like, let's say this far behind, but the economic gap is like this.

I think I just went out of the picture.

Yes.

Yeah, we don't want it.

And so, you know, right now, the teams, and even some of those well-known soccer brands in Europe, like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, they field basketball teams, very competitive basketball teams.

In fact, you know, Luca Donchas started his career at Real Madrid.

But it's just

a yearly investment or loss.

There's no chance they have of making money on those programs.

And it's not just about making money at the end of the day.

It's the way market economies work.

If you can generate money, you reinvest it.

You reinvest it in your facilities, in your players, in your marketing, and making the enterprises that much bigger.

So, you know, as I said, I mean, we're probably a couple of years away from being able to launch something in Europe, but we're spending a lot of time on on it.

We're really lucky for the NBA here in Indiana.

Obviously, we just explained it.

Ty's about to ask a question about that here in a matter of moments, actually, not just here, but many other places.

The fact that you're investing in towns and cities over in Europe for your good of your sport, I respect that.

I really do.

I respect and appreciate that.

And also, you talk about the arenas.

We're talking about building stadiums in the NFL.

You need a lot of space to do that.

Arena is a little bit different ballgame.

I'm not saying you don't need a lot of space, but the footprint, obviously, much smaller in these towns.

And if you can get those things up, bring the city around.

I don't like what's going on with American basketball's future.

Okay, I don't like that.

And Pat, I'll just say the other issue with stadiums,

it's hard to fill them for

whatever the NFL represents

with preseason, I don't know, 10 dates or whatever it is.

Maybe you get a Super Bowl occasionally.

You better watch them.

But then talk about it.

There's only so many acts these days.

There's only so many Taylor Swifts and Beyoncés or whatever else who can truly fill a stadium.

And then some of the roof stadiums,

they can bring in some some corporate, you know, you know, big sales, you know, organizations coming in and a few other things like that.

But arena business is very different.

As I said, like arenas, because they're smaller, they're obviously roofed facilities.

You can, in many of these buildings, it's like 300 dates a year.

They're active.

That's good business, brother.

And it's what, 16, 17,000?

13,000, 16,000, 17,000?

Yeah, you know, you know, 17, 18,000.

That's a huge audience, though.

Like, whenever you talk about life.

A stadium, everybody's like selling out stadiums.

And you mentioned Taylor Swift.

Obviously, she has records all around the world for how many stadium tickets she's been able to sell.

Beyonce obviously does as well.

Morgan Wallen filling up stadiums all over the place.

Luke Combs, Zach Bryan.

But you're right.

This is just a Chris Brown could fill up a stadium.

You're only talking about a few people.

I think Kevin Hart did two stadiums.

I think he did a stadium as a comedian one time.

I think Chappelle might have as well.

But then you talk about arenas.

It's like arenas is a stage that a lot of people can get to.

And that's a great payday for these acts.

You sell out an arena.

And also, it's a great setup.

Like this Gainbridge Fieldhouse down here, the green rooms, great setup.

Beautiful.

You got food everywhere.

Easy walk, easy access for the crowd.

Not a bad seat in there.

The modern arenas are spectacular.

I mean, I think

it's a recognition.

It's the entertainment business.

So you go to a game and part of the whole ambiance of the event is, you know, what are the suites like?

What are

the concourses?

You know, what kind of retail do they have?

Like think, you know, when I was a kid, certainly it was a hot dog and a pretzel.

Now the food selections off the charts, you know, local specialties, you know, you know,

everything

you can imagine.

And I think that, you know, and in our league, as each new arena comes online, they keep upping the bar just in terms of, you know, wanting to be part of the festivities there.

So, and the issue is in the NBA with the recognition that, you know, roughly half the teams are going to be under 500 in any given season.

Not every game is going to light it on fire.

So part of you're going for the experience.

And one thing we're seeing change in the arenas is that people want the communal experience, I think, more than historically, where you'd go to a game, you'd sit in a seat, you'd sort of talk to the person on your left, talk to the person on your right.

Now, if you look what's happening in the arenas, they're creating more common spaces,

more mini-suites, more

lounges sort of overseeing the court, kind of in a way like a sports bar.

But instead of having screens up, you're in a sports bar and big windows are opened up to the court.

So you can, you know, singles can go, you can use it to meet people, you can use it to entertain.

But, you know, rather than being locked in one spot for two and a half hours at a game, you can be talking to 20 different people.

And I mean, I enjoy doing that at games when I'm

in sort of one of those areas or in a suite or something,

not just you know because there's food and stuff up there but it's an opportunity to talk to a lot of people yeah a lot of people come to your guys' games I'll tell you what I appreciate the fact that you're talking about streaming in the future of trailblazing for you know rights and deals and everything now you're talking about the live event experience talking about the arena experience versus stadium experience I'll tell you what Adam Silver under that bald head, you got a pretty good little brain in there, buddy.

You got a pretty good little brain in there.

Playing defense against the gambling or the potential of that.

Now, I just mentioned about how Indiana has obviously been very appreciative of what your league has done for us.

More specifically, over the last few months, that was amazing.

Ty has a question for you.

Yeah, Camish, you mentioned, you know, Indiana and the Pacers and Milwaukee and obviously Oklahoma City winning it all last year.

But when we got the finals matchup initially, the only conversation is, oh, this is going to be the lowest rated finals of all time.

No one's going to watch this.

Is it good for the league when small market teams around the league make deep runs into the playoffs, especially because it sounds like the linear number or like the television numbers really aren't the end-all, be-all anymore.

Well, so first of all, in terms of those predictions, Oklahoma City, Indiana ended up having more viewers than Dallas Celtics

before.

And the reason was because the competition was better.

And at the end of the day, we're largely, you know, if markets the size of Indianapolis and Oklahoma City are considered small markets, we're a league of small markets.

On the other hand, as the mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, pointed out last year, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are larger than roughly 90% of the cities in the United States.

So by really any standard for most of your listeners or viewers, they live in smaller cities and towns than Indianapolis and Oklahoma City.

So again, from the league standpoint, you know, I've said this before, the goal is to be more NFL-like from that standpoint.

If the, you know, this the Steelers, you know, are playing the Browns or whatever, Nobody is saying, you know, it's a matchup or Green Bay.

If the Steelers are playing Green Bay in the Super Bowl, like nobody's ever saying it's a small market Super Bowl.

And when in our league, you know, we still carry that title or that headline going in, it's small market.

The goal for me is to make it, it's

about the two best teams playing in the finals.

And frankly, in this world now, digital media, I mean, look from your standpoint, like you're broadcasting from Indianapolis and I've been to your house so like right outside the city.

Like it's irrelevant, right?

Like nobody's going to suggest that you would be more popular if you were in Chicago instead of, I mean it's it's almost a ridiculous point.

And I think in a digital world, you know, Giannis in Milwaukee, you know, winning the MVP, winning a championship, talking to a global audience of billions, which the NBA has.

You know, as I've said before, if you went down the road to Chicago, I don't know, an hour and a half drive or whatever it was, and there's a million more people, in a world where we're reaching billions of people, it's immaterial.

And I think like, again, hats off to Oklahoma City.

I'm not saying there are some advantages to being in certain markets over others, but I think just like the NFL, the players ultimately realize in a cap system, they're going to make their money based on the quality of their play wherever they go.

And even in terms of commercial endorsement deals, those are going to come not from the market they're in, but from winning.

And so they want to put themselves in winning situations as well.

So, you know,

I think we've really evolved the league over the last decade or so or longer to where market size is less relevant.

One more interesting statistic.

So for the first 65 years of the NBA, three teams won 60% of the championships.

And as we've talked about, so now the last 15 years, it's been 11 different teams and seven different teams over the last seven years so it's like and it's not a close call when people say well don't you miss those dynasties again you know as I've said if Oklahoma City goes on to win two more championships in a row I'm not going to say no I wish there were other teams that were winning I think that's great but they're doing it with a level playing field you know it's not they're not doing it because they're outspending every other team in the league and I think that's the way it should be and so you know let whatever happens with the competition but I don't think having a few teams dominate the competition year after year is good for the league long term because fans in those other cities don't think their teams have a legitimate shot.

And we want, like, this is about a hope.

We want teams, you know, we want fans of every team, regardless of market size, to believe if I have a well-managed team and, you know, and the

luck falls our way and the players remain in good health, that we got a shot to be there.

And you got to believe it.

You can't, you know, it's not any given Sunday.

It's a different sport.

You know, a single player can have such an outsized impact we have to be realistic about that but we also want every every city to think they got that same shot at getting that superstar hell yeah I love everything you just said and the Packers Steelers reference is such a good metaphor because they're playing on Sunday night football yeah okay that's coming up this weekend and nobody's like you know two small markets Pittsburgh

nobody's saying that at all I mean and also AFC NFC there and you said in a Super Bowl pretty good pretty good at I mean you are you know you I don't even know if you knew that that that was a home run there, but people that know ball would say Silver actually not a bad dick.

If you would have won with Steelers Brown, Super Bowl, everybody would have said Adam Silver's a dick.

No, you see, I checked myself.

You moved a little bit.

That was good.

All right.

Have an incredible season.

Thank you so much for the time, and we'll see you again soon, man.

Are you moving to Christmas Eve?

When's that happening?

Are you moving to Christmas Eve?

We're on Christmas.

Yeah, no, we were on East East.

Christmas Eve.

Eve, we need you to move to East.

Oh, no, no.

Oh, I'm sorry.

No, no, we're not on Christmas Eve.

That's been a traditional day off in the NBA.

I understand that.

It's a trade-off, right?

Guys are home Christmas Eve, don't play on Christmas Eve, and they're not playing on Christmas.

Don't you think maybe?

Listen, Chris.

And they are playing on Christmas Eve.

Wait, confusing me.

Christmas Eve has been a traditional day off, and we do play on Christmas.

I understand.

And the NFL

has joined us.

To my point, Christmas Eve?

I don't know.

I'm not,

no plan to do it at the moment.

Okay, I respect respect that.

I respect that.

I do.

I appreciate you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the commissioner of the NBA, friend of the program, you're the greatest, dude.

Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Silver.

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