PMS 2.0 1316 - Feel Good Friday With Sweet 16 Preview, Tyler Hansbrough, Paul Skenes, Ted Karras In Studio, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble the Bone, the Thunderdome, on this feel-good Friday, March 28th, 2025. This program starts right now.
Sports are happening all around us. Last night was a sweet 16, and thank you to the college basketball gods for delivering us four fantastic games.
being capped off, which I fell asleep for,

with an overtime thriller

where both Arkansas and Texas Tech

played their best basketball

when... Four fantastic games being capped off, which I fell asleep for, with an overtime thriller where both Arkansas and Texas Tech played their best basketball whenever overtime was wrapping up.
You're talking about an electrifying finish to this game. I think a lot of us were asleep.
A lot of people thought Arkansas beat Texas Tech. A lot of people thought that Calipari would add another dub into his 14-3 Sweet 16 record throughout his entire career.
At one point, they were up 16. Holy hell, Arkansas.
The Cinderella story lives on. Uh-uh.
This Texas Tech team, including Mr. Williams here, who popped a three late to tie this thing, really turned it on.
And whenever you talk about great basketball games, I don't care if you're talking NBA. I don't care if you're talking high school.
I don't care if you're talking and one Harlem Globetrotters. All you're hoping for is magic at the end and there was in this particular game.
Texas Tech got hot. There was a jump ball controversy.
The Gumpy certainly thought took place earlier in the game but in the overtime period neither team gave up. Neither team choked it away.
Both teams showed up. so happened to be that texas tech ends up with the dub congrats to texas tech winning in the nightcap and congrats to arkansas for covering and congrats to seth greenberg for basically going uh perfect last night in his bets he thought the byu bama game was going to go over it was 175 points well there was a chance alabama was going to score that and going into the first half there was like 91 points scored i think so i'm like wait a minute we were on track for 175 point over when a lot of these games went under in the first round we're seeing a lot of low scoring good defense bad shooting basketball out of college hoops this year and then this alabama team they broke a record old buddy had like 12 threes or something like that they had over 100 points they want absolutely absurd and BYU did as well let's not get it twisted they had to help to hit the over but Alabama looks like the hottest team in ball right now and they weren't the only team that won over 100 points that happened multiple times in all four games we thought were electrifying uh now obviously Now, obviously, Maryland's magical run ends.
That Florida team's a real deal. Yes, they are.
Yeah. That Florida team's a real deal.
Certainly. You know who else is a real deal? Who's that? Doug.
I wonder who is going to win this entire thing. It's crazy.
Legitimately. Like, is Florida going to win this entire thing? Is Alabama going to win this thing? this thing is the sec gonna be the year not only they have the most teams in a sweet 16 most teams in a tournament in history but are they gonna go ahead and win it or do we got an old school story that's gonna happen do we got a old school acc representative in there doing their thing got some more magic happening tonight obviously in the sweet 16 we'll actually be in attendance for a couple of the games.
Cannot wait to get down to Indianapolis. And shout out to College Hoops for being electrifying.
And for us understanding that although there was no Cinderella stories, maybe Arkansas was really the only one. And maybe NIL and the Transfer Portal have ruined it forever.
Got a lot of good hoops happening. A lot of good hoops happening.
And it's a magical time. There's obviously some NFL news.
There's some NBA news. we got a lot of things to chit chat about today it should be a good one psycho t will be joining us hell yeah yeah tyler hands bro be joining us in about 17 minutes that is what that man has accomplished obviously whenever he was at unc he was must watch you're talking about first one in last one out you're talking about coach's're talking about lunch pail guy.
You're talking about high motor. You're talking about trying as hard as possible all the time.
You're talking about smacking the wood. You're basically saying Tyler Hansborough basketball.
Yes. That is what you're saying as a whole.
He then would get drafted to the Pacers out here while I was playing for the Colts. I got to know him.
I got to witness the Tyler Hansborough experience on numerous occasions. What a weapon.
Yeah weapon yeah okay just what an absolute weapon and uh i believe he's covering college hoops uh currently for the field of 68 i believe okay so i can't wait to get his take on college ball also the mba have had a couple magical evenings uh buzzer beaters happening all over the place and then the nfl obviously we're gonna have new rules and the leagues meeting next week and there's still rumors going around. So we'll chit-chat about it all.
Paul Skeens will join us in the next hour. Fresh off opening day loss.
Okay. Opening day loss.
This was scheduled long beforehand. And he came out and he was doing some dealing, wasn't he? This guy's a professional dealer.
Let's get him in a blackjack table. Let's get him in a poker table.
Now he gave up a run. Had himself in a jam.
Obviously, a couple at-bats went a lot longer than anybody could have imagined. Had more pitches, I assume, than we would come to expect from a Paul Skeen's outing.
Because normally it's 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. That is kind of how the ball schemes.
Seven strikeouts already. Whenever he leaves the game, they're up 4-1.
Then they get a relief in. That's great.
Another relief. That's great.
And then they end the game and they shit all over themselves and he gets another loss to start the entire thing. Yes.
Well, he got a no decision, so he doesn't actually get a loss. Not a win.
Correct. We thought he was potentially going to have 30 wins this year.
29. We're down to 29 29 and no decision gives us no shot yep let's go over the talk to the table at bruce brown that tie schmidt opening day was yesterday for baseball uh we had it on here yeah multiple games yep we had multiple games on those tvs right over there it's kind of fun obviously when skeins is on the bump it's awesome when the yankees are playing that's great what were the big stories from yesterday, Ty Schmidt? So you hit the nail on the head because as a Pirates fan, Tony knows this.
You're going to come to find this out, and you already know this. But that's kind of the M.O.
And it even was last year. Skeens was super.
He was still winning a bunch of games and performing very well. But this is kind of always the M.O.
If you don't let him go deep, deep, deep into the game like there's a chance the bullpen is going to ruin it for him they did this several times last year but he'll bounce back is the you know first game of the year the the marlins had their ace on the bump too so that was a good game you mentioned the yankees austin wells is batting leadoff for the yankees he's their catcher the guy with the big mustache yeah you're saying who is this guy he is the first catcher to hit a leadoff home the Yankees. He's their catcher, the guy with the big mustache.
Great stache. Yeah, you're saying, who is this guy? He is the first catcher to hit a leadoff home run on opening day since 1900.
That's awesome. Jason Kendall? Well, a little bit before Jason Kendall's time as well.
The Yankees hit a couple of short porch homers yesterday, him and the quasi-hometown kid, Anthony Volpe, and then the Yankees closer devin williams was actually on the brewers last year so he closed down the brewers yankees get a win a couple other uh kind of big things yesterday tyler o'neill for the baltimore orioles he hit his sixth consecutive opening day home run which is just crazy the orioles hit six homers in total and beat the shit out of the Toronto Blue Jays. And then in the nightcap, Shohei.
He went yard again. Dodgers are 3-0.
A lot of people are already saying, hey, is this team going to go 162-0? Maybe. Can it be done? Is it possible? And people are starting to say, is it possible that Shohei maybe has his eyes set on the single season home run record this year, which would be 74.
That was Tom Hanks. Magic.
Yeah. Can't believe it.
City of stars. Yeah, that's Los Angeles baseball.
Shohei is the biggest star. Yes.
In all of baseball. Yes.
Yes. Makes sense that everybody's there.
He, obviously in Tokyo, they go 2-0, right? Because they started the season eight days ago in Tokyo. And they're doing that because this guy.
Tens of millions of fans in Japan of the MLB all of a sudden. Not that they haven't always been fans of baseball and fans of the MLB.
Obviously, Ichiro, who won out last night and threw an 84-mile-an-hour opening pitch. Japanese players have a lot of history.
I mean, this is gas in full uniform. Yeah, that's easy, baby.
In full uniform. And we're throwing heat.
Okay, that's a ball. Okay, but at least you know he's still got it.
They have an Ichi meter that is out in the stands. It's at 84 Ichi speed meter.
Yeah, 84 miles an hour on the opening pitch. I don't know anybody else is bringing that.
But with that being said, I think Japan has always loved baseball. Japanese history in MLB is a deep one.
But I think Shohei has brought the eyes completely back, you know, like to the MLB. And them just selling, they're selling ads to these Japanese companies right behind, because the amount

of Japanese people that are watching it,

it's like MLB has to be so incredibly

pumped and thankful that Shohei Otani exists.

The Dodgers obviously

paid massive money for him to be over there,

but I bet you like

everybody that's around him says he's the right one for it.

Seems like he is just, you know,

somehow was able to stay the course

when he was getting frauded by his translator who was supposed to be his best friend. I mean, best friend now.
Yeah. We've learned.
Sure. Might not always be what it is.
Exactly. Not always what it's cracked up.
In the media sports world. Yeah, in the media sports world.
But this guy was his eyes and ears in America. And then he was doing something that could ruin his entire legacy and then also stealing millions of dollars from him at the same time.
He still has just remained just like this. How old is Shohei? How many more years of Shohei do we have? And how many more years of Paul Skeens do we have, do you think? Paul Skeens, this is 15 years potential.
That's what great pitchers do. If he stays healthy, yeah.
I mean, Randy Johnson, who we've had on the show a couple times, he pitched until he was 41, 42. It's tough.
When a guy throws that hard, you just hope that he's not going to have a couple elbow surgeries. When I go back to when you're asking about Shohei and whether or not he's going to pitch this year, he's already had a couple elbow surgeries.
That really, at this point, is the only thing that could end Skeen's career short because he's going to pitch this year. He's already had a couple elbow surgeries, and that really at this point is the only thing that could end Skeen's career short because he's going to have good stuff like this for a long time.
So if he stays healthy, yeah, he could be doing this for the next 15 to 20 years. It also seems like with Skeen's that he's starting to chase movement more than just trying to go up in velo to like 102, 103.
Such a good drop there, VLO. Dude, he is

moving that ball

side to side like crazy. It's awesome

to see. Shohei's 30, so luckily

he won't be torturing us for

the next 15 years, maybe more like 8

to 10, maybe 12 on the high

side. We'll see with the pitching too

if he gets back after. He needs to get into the pitching.

Yeah, but it is. He's not going to do it.

No, no. I think they're going to have him do it.

Just let him hit 80 home runs.

I agree.

I agree.

You say, because why would we even focus any time on pitching?

Let's just keep seeing the beach balls that are coming down.

And there's already an injury history there.

If he had never gotten hurt before, then it'd be like, yeah, of course.

Have this guy pitch.

He's on the lead before.

Elbow and shoulder sliding into second base during the World Series. Now it's two different parts of his arm as well.
And a baseball pretty important part. Yep.
Playoff closer would be biblical. Yeah, that's what we're talking about.
Yeah, that would be sick. Him coming out with some music.
Yeah, just like he did the international things. Right, the World Baseball Classic.
Or even just a closer like every handful of games. He doesn't have to be the fulltime closer but i know you know it's weird if you have two closers because the closer is such a like a mental thing and having to close the same closer every game is a thing but like it would be awesome to see him in a closer role but i mean their arm gets worked a lot too i mean it would be 10 12 pitches versus 100 pitches um but i mean they're they're seeing they're they're closing every one to two days or whatever it is.
Just a spotlight. You can have your closer, full-time closer.
Sure. But, you know, tonight Shohei has actually hit two bombs.
He stole three bases. And he also feels pretty good.
Yeah. So we're going to let him go ahead and finish this thing out.
Let him get a close. You know, like.
I don't hate that. Those moments would be awesome.
There are. But there's no way with how methodical baseball is they would be making that decision on the fly.
No, and again, it's like one of those things where the Dodgers bullpen is unbelievable. So it's like, are you going to kind of like rob Peter to pay Paul when you have a really good guy already? Probably not.
You don't get a save if you're up more than three runs, right? There are certain situations because there are like multi-inning saves, like where if a team is blowing someone out, but like a relief pitcher comes in and throws like two and a third or three innings, sometimes those are save situations as well. There are situations though where the closer has gone back to back days and you're playing three games in three days and the closer, like they'll, they'll know before the game, the manager will say, our closer is not available today where he could go in a situation like that.
Edwin Diaz is isn't he? Well, I don't know. He didn't have an opportunity yesterday.
Yeah, he did not show up. Edwin Diaz is the closer for the Mets, who we missed out on last year because he broke his ankle on the mound at the World Baseball Classic.
Correct. We missed out on him.
The way we knew that he existed was most electrifying entrance in baseball.

Play the trumpets, Timmy.

He would come out from the outfield.

This is what we're talking about with Shohei.

Yes.

When the closer comes out and everybody knows, like, all right, spotlight.

Well, yep, follow the guy.

That's the one right there.

Take us home, buddy.

Take us home is literally the expectation.

An entire baseball stadium is waiting on your arrival

to kind of close this it is all it is a spectacle every single time it happens especially whenever timmy trumpets is playing live and then he's coming out and he was having the playoffs in the postseason he was having where he was coming and cooking and then he got paid and it was like We got this all year.

Yep.

I couldn't wait.

Yeah. And then he got paid, and it was like, we got this all year.

I couldn't wait.

Whole baseball season.

Paul Skeens is coming in.

We got trumpets coming in.

I'm a Mets guy.

I'm a Skeens guy. Sure.

He didn't even play all last year.

He's got her at the World Baseball Classic for his country.

Okay, respect it.

Now he's back.

That makes the Mets a problem, right? They pay all this money for Juan Soto. They get Edwin Diaz back.
The Mets are a new start spreading the news. Not quite.
So Soto's debut, he did have a nice single in his first at-bat, worked a couple of walks. Left stranded, though, did not score a run because of what we may have been talking about in the think tank a little bit.
You don't have Aaron Judge behind them. You got Brandon Nimmo.
You got Pete Alonzo. He's going to be left out there on second base more often than not this season.
And then his first opportunity to have his clutch signature welcome to the Mets moment, down two runs in the bottom of the ninth runners on first and third. Before it got to a full count here, it was actually a 3-0 count.
And Soto, like we all know Soto, he's not taking that pitch. He's not looking for a walk in the ninth inning.
No, he's mashing it. But no, he stares at a slider down the middle, 94 miles per hour, fouls off the next pitch, and then chases an outside slider in the dirt with an absolute sword.
People are calling it. These two are Yankees fans.
We should let everyone know these two are Yankees. This is biased journalism.
They lost this man. This man was on their team last year.
There's a lot of crashing out going on lately, and people are saying that Soto might be crashing out a bit over there in Citi Field. You'd be a good person to ask.
You're a Mets fan now. A lot of Mets fans out there, they're saying buyer's remorse already after one day.
I am not a Mets fan. Yes, please do, actually.
Please call that man. So we're going to call the Mets fan that I happen to sit next to every single Monday night and have very lucky to have text conversations with throughout every sporting event of every one of his team's games you know he's very active uh yeah i think a lot of mets fans said of course that's what that's i think that was kind of the the takeaway of course we did yeah paid the most money in the history of anybody get this guy here first game has a chance could win it yeah it's a there yeah we win this game uh instead he strikes out yeah i think there was, I think there was a lot of that, but a lot of season left.
He was still getting used to the uniform. We don't know what the equipment managers did with his arms.
We don't know if it was a little bit too tight. Maybe that chase, normally he's able to stop it because the shirt's tighter.
Looser, you know, because he doesn't have his jersey fitted yet, and that's why he goes all the way down. Do you call that a sword? Yeah, a sword.
It's when you swing, but you don't really swing. Kind of looks like a, yeah, a swing and a sword.
Like a medieval, you know, sword trying to behead someone. Yeah, I get what you're saying.
I get what you're saying. Shout out to baseball.
Shout out to Juan Soto. He'll be okay.
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, with the Metroport, Michael Cole. Hey, Cole, Juan Soto had an opportunity.
The Yankees fans here are saying, start spreading the news. They're the same as yesterday.
The Mets are gonna screw it up. Is that happening right now? Juan Soto, is this too much money? the yankees fans are dancing on your graves after one particular game in the eighth inning yesterday i text jeff passan and i said the mets suck and then he texted me back and said right on cue yeah same as last year can't score runs juan soto strikes out with the tying runs on base there it is he.
He was up 3-0 on the count, by the way, and this bozo here had walked like two straight guys and given up a single, so and Soto couldn't even hit him. I mean, it's the same shit every year.
I mean, come on. I mean, it's ridiculous.
I don't know what, Clay Holmes, the guy who was a reliever for the Yankees, now he's our number one starting pitcher, and now McGill's going today. This season's going to be a disaster.
We're going to be lucky we won 80 games. All right, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, Michael Cole.
Love it. Thank you, Cole.
That was awesome. That's awesome.
Oh, hell yeah. That was the text.
I don't know if he uses, like, talk to text or if he's actually typing this thing up, but these texts I'll get, it'll sound, I mean, that was exactly the promo. You know, someday, though, you guys will be the kings of that town.
Keep spending. We appreciate it.
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, live from an attic in Ohio, fresh out of, I believe, Mexico. Wow.
Ladies and gentlemen, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawk.
A.J. Hawk.
A.J. Hawk.
A.J. Hawk.
You missed a lot. You a lot yeah you'd say i'd say uh the the uh the news spread to mexico very quickly about the the lebron situation steven a going back and forth so yeah that was uh that kind of took over everything going on down there so yeah i missed you guys good to be back we missed you as well and uh we're happy you and the family had a good time we We hope the weather was great.
And yeah, it's been a wild week. Now, with that being said, you know, because it is March Madness, it does feel like the sports calendar operates in a fashion where they are kind of cool with each other.
Now, I know the NFL just took Christmas from the NBA. Like, that certainly happened.
But it feels like it's like March Madness time. NFL doesn't really have a lot of shit.
You know, like there isn't a lot aaron is the only outstanding conversation pretty much now obviously russ wilson goes to the giants that's great stefan diggs goes up to the new england patriots congratulations to both of them getting big time deals but this is like the fifth wave of free agency now and then owners meetings next like okay we'll kind of give the tournament the time so this week for us has been AJ I don't know how much you got to catch up obviously you said the LeBron Versace made his way down there talking to these college players we had a college commitment this week yeah we had a call I mean it's been a basketball it's been a fun time AJ I will say we're enjoying the basketball season more than we ever had in the past is what I'm telling you well yeah I mean they're scoring points at're scoring points at an unbelievable rate. It's fun to watch when guys are scoring, they're making buckets, and they're playing hard.
That's what college basketball is, I feel like. You, you know, smacking the floor, playing defense.
Guys that, you know, getting back to old school roots, obviously with some three balls mixed in that they may not have done 40, 50 years ago back when Kuzi was playing. But, yeah, it's been fun to watch.
Kuzi was a dog. Yeah.
Kuz had game. He saidoozie was a dog yeah koozie did have game uh we'll have tyler handsborough joining us here in a couple minutes uh if you want to talk about everything you just said right there in it but it's been cool to learn about these stories and the transfer portal nil thing with college hoops fascinating and i'm only saying that because you know west virginia had been looking for a coach for a while and i was watching what was happening with these other coaches that were going places it's like okay these coaches from smaller schools get hired at the bigger schools and now because the transfer portal they're just bringing their guys with them like hey boys we made the tournament we should be able to do better if we get better it's like you're almost like just paying for a group to come.
Like that is kind of – It's like you're bringing your book. You know, like if a financial guy works for a firm and then he gets recruited away and gets a big bonus to bring his book over to another firm.
Like that's what's happening in college sports, I feel like. Yeah, your network right there.
You're not just getting me, you're getting this network is what you're talking about. Yeah, I think – and it happens in the nfl whenever coaches get hired normally you'll see coaches hire the same assistant coaching staff now in college ball it's like same with the uh coaching staff assistant staff but it's also like if any players have any eligibility left probably going to come help you with the culture especially in basketball you get two to three guys that know the culture and are good college hoops you got a team you can bring other people in from the transfer portal you can bring in freshmen and then you're you're off and running fascinating what that'll be in the future because like willard the story in maryland was happening and uh he got booed while he's walking through the hotel i think i didn't get a chance to hear the entire thing he walked through like the maryland hotel to head to the buses and they said it was not like a welcomed response by the maryland fans this guy's got maryland in sweet 16 yep okay this guy got this team is and everybody's like well he's leaving he's leaving and afterwards he said he didn't know what he wanted to do and Maryland people are saying it's bullshit but you listen to Derek Queen he's the best player on the on the court for them he's like uh are you coming back next year he's like I gotta talk to my agency my family and uh obviously coach Willard as well and it's like Derek Queen's probably going to the NBA because he's 6'10", can move, shoot, and do everything.
He's an NBA guy. But if he doesn't, he's probably going with Willard to Villanova.
And it's like, does Villanova know that whenever they're hiring the coach? Like, hey, also probably getting a pseudo-made team coming alongside of it. Joining us now is a man who probably knows or has opinions that are definitely better than whatever we would say on the subject.
He's a national champion. His name is synonymous with college hoops.
He was an Indiana Pacer, and we were proud as hell to have him represent Indianapolis for a while. He played in China.
Then he played in Puerto Rico. Now he's covering the college hoops world.
Ladies and gentlemen, Tyler Hansborough. Yeah! Hey, thanks for having me on fellas glad to be on here tyler it is our honor to have you on the program just would like to let you know that massive respect for the way you went about doing your business and you never changed you were you through every situation north carolina every time i saw you you were tyler handsborough You came to Indiana, every time I saw you, you were Tyler Hansborough.
You came to Indiana, every time I saw you, you were Tyler Hansborough. Hard working, let's go ahead, do this shit, maximum effort, all in, guy.
And in the community here in Indianapolis, you were. I saw you at events you were crushing it at.
I saw you for the Pacers do that. And obviously North Carolina.
So I want to let you know, we are fans of the way you operate, Tyler. You need to know that, okay? Well, I appreciate that.
And that's kind of all I know, but I really enjoyed my time in Indianapolis playing for the Pacers. I'm a blue-collar guy, so worked for everything and kind of played an old-school style compared to what's being played now.
But I had fun at every place I was. Yeah, we were lucky for you, and I think that's a good descriptor.
It feels like you nailed who you are. You know who you are.
Let's talk about the current college hoops. I was just chit-chatting about it there for a little bit, where if Willard gets the job at Villanova, I think a good assumption is that some of the guys that he has on his team now are probably going to transfer with him to Villanova.
And a lot of people thought maybe the players wouldn't respond to or be distracted because the Maryland conversation and where they – I think they're just committed to the coach now. Do you agree with that? Do you think that is kind of what College Hoops is becoming? Absolutely.
Go ahead. Yes, I think you've got to kind of do that.
And a big reason – probably the only reason I chose North Carolina was to play for Coach Williams. And it wasn't just because I like the program and the tradition.
But, you know, if you're choosing a school to play, you know, you like the coach's style and you like how you fit the offense and you guys have good chemistry. If he leaves for another place, of course, a lot of players are going to go with him with him and also you saw this at arkansas calipari took a lot of his players uh and mcnees you're probably going to see a lot of will wade take a lot of his players from mcnees and bring them over to nc state and especially with the way that uh college basketball the the way the landscape is now you're supposed to have a quick turnaround uh programs aren't waiting for rebuilds they want to be good right now yeah and if you're good right now it can change everything you have one magical run in march the school tuition can go up the enrollment's going up the brand is going up it's a it's a great thing sports are great for the university university is obviously great for the sport and then if you get to a bigger one you would assume more more money available.
So then you continue to grow. Interesting.
A lot of young coaches. Yes.
Like I see that Florida coach on the side. I'm like, damn, I had no idea who that guy was.
I did not know. Texas Tech's coach last night.
I saw him. I'm like, I had no idea who that guy was.
And then McCollum, you know, obviously a Drake. I had no idea who that guy was.
Feels like it's a younger coach's game. It's happening kind of in football, where the modern world is something that these younger coaches are either more likely to want to do or also better at.
With the business side of it, the communication side of it, the brand building side of it, as opposed to older coaches. Then you got the Cal, you got Izzo, you got Patino.
What does it take, you think, to be a great college basketball coach well it's kind of changing I'm old school I like a coach that comes in there gets after the kids you lose a game uh you get back to the arena and they're gonna run you discipline you I think they're losing a little bit of that but also a lot of uh of the older coaches you know they weren't real receptive to change they didn't like how the landscape was kind of changing and they were kind of stuck in their routines and their styles. So they, you know, they just said, Hey, I can't take this new era of basketball, but the young guys, they're hungry.
They're more willing to adapt and to get a head position at one of these big time schools, of course, are going to change and kind of make, you know, get with the times. But the one thing I will say, I gained a lot of respect for Patino and how he handled things.
He's won at multiple errors. He comes in there.
He still coaches. He still gets after his kids and he's winning.
So he's a coach who's, you know, coached pre-NIL and after NIL. And I think he's probably the coach of the year.
So I gained a lot of respect for him this year. He was great in Greece too.
as you know ased pre-NIL and after NIL and I think he's probably the coach of the year so I gained a lot of respect for him this year he was great in Greece too as you know as an international player how easy or hard is that to get used to like a different country's league in basketball is basketball the same or is it different oh it's different especially in China China is one of the most physical basketball leagues in the world uh so oh yeah they'll they'll bang you in China. You get fouls.
It's like NBA in the 80s. Really? You were there for what, four years, then COVID hit, and you leave, right? Yeah, I played three seasons over there.
COVID hit in the middle of the third. I took back off to North Carolina, got out of there.
I had no idea that COVID would turn out to be what it was. And I was training in North Carolina, messed up my knee, so I never played again after that.
But playing overseas, there's a lot of different dynamics. I actually really enjoyed my time in China.
It's probably some of the best and probably my favorite experience playing basketball, just from the fact that I couldn't hear the fans talking trash. There was a language barrier right there.
It was just hooping. I took my best friend from my hometown.
He didn't have a lot going on, so he went with me to China, and he actually ended up staying over there. Got married, had a kid, and now they're back in the States.
But, yeah, it's a great story. So he got more out of it than I did.
Hey, you ain't got shit going on right now. You want to go to China with me? Yeah.
Sounds good. Hey, I fell in love over here.
I fell in love over here. That's awesome.
That is a wonderful story. I'm happy to hear that.
And you said it was physical, huh? You're just not calling fouls? It's physical. Well, you know, you can get some calls.
This depends on how much

the refs like the teams and, you know,

what the situation is. You know, the refs

in China and Beijing,

of course, the government team, they're going to give

a few more calls than

what we got at Gongzhou.

So that's just the way it goes.

But I love the basketball over there.

It's physical. They went inside.
They didn't

hemorrhage threes. And of course, they didn't apply the analytics and ruin a lot of the aspects of the game that I love the basketball over there.
It's physical. They went inside.
They didn't hemorrhage threes.

And, of course, they didn't apply the analytics and ruin a lot of the aspects of the game that I love.

Hemorrhage threes.

Oh, that's amazing.

You never would have guessed some of the officials

might be a little bit cooking the books.

Yeah, interesting.

Anyway, so I assume you knew that going in, though.

Go ahead, AJ.

Tyler, what are some of those analytics

that you feel like you may not be the biggest fan

of that you think may be changing or slash ruining the game that we watch now? I think it's got to be the three ball. And the reason I say that is because just because the NBA guys are making a high volume of threes and they think they can apply a lot of the NBA analytics to college kids, Well, college kids can't shoot as well as NBA guys.

So a lot of what, you know, the analytics that they're applying at the college level isn't necessarily going to translate. And I think it's really hurt a lot of good big men.
I think that they're not going inside. I think there's a lot of value in going inside, trying to get easy buckets and try to instead instead of passing it out and just shooting a ton of threes, I don't really think that translates all that well.
I'm old school. I think that, you know, getting open looks inside, layups, dunks, free throws, I think that's a huge difference maker.
And I don't really think the three ball analytics is really all that successful as people believe. Now, on that note, Alabama hits their threes, which might be why they are good.
Like, that is, if everybody's chucking up threes, if you hit your threes, you're going to be the team that is going to profit from it. I think 51 of Bama's 65 shots last night, I believe.
Yeah, Alabama took 66 shots. 51 of them were threes.
So to your point, exactly. The entire game plan is knocking down threes.
And I think last night during the Arkansas game, Arkansas hit a bunch of threes early. And you heard the commentators say, if you're Texas Tech, at some point, these shots have to stop falling.
Like at some point, these threes have to stop falling. falling that's inevitable and to your point about how your sport's probably going to evolve and has evolved football did too it became a real showy kind of lighter faster quicker finesse game and then it came back this year and over the past couple years into being a physical game because people are taking advantage of the humans that are on the field now or were on the field whenever it got fast and finesse do you think basketball will have the same type of thing like how do you do you think it only continues to go more and more threes because like in the nba wendy's seven foot nine and he's chucking up threes now great he goes inside and he swats the shit out of things but he's shooting threes like everybody's hooking up threes do you you think it's cyclical? Do you think that's how basketball will work, like football? Yes, I absolutely think it's going to come back around.
And I think a lot of teams that are applying these analytics now, Alabama, they're kind of like the – they've really embraced analytics and they've been on some pretty good runs. They have some really good players as well.
Nate Oates does a great job. But I'll just say Michigan State is a team that doesn't really shoot the outside ball all that well.
And they've had a lot of success. And everyone, you know, they're not the most sexy style, but they play defense.
They rebound. They dominate the paint.
And you know what? They win a lot of games. So I think teams that are applying these analytics and aren't really seeing the success or the wins translate, I think it's a matter of time before they revert back to going, you know, kind of the older style basketball that we're all kind of used to watching.
I watched the highlights of the Co-A-Peep. There was a kid yesterday that committed to Arizona on our show, and I watched his highlights.
His older brother, offensive lineman for the Raiders right now three-time pro bowler his dad offensive lineman in the NFL he's six foot eight and like he plays like obviously he's explosive but I think he takes a lot of pride in being like a like a physical like a physical player I think with the way the NBA in basketball kind of is right now if you do have somebody who can be a big body, strong,

while also having to have the finesse game,

that feels like the winner.

That feels like the future.

On that note, let's talk about the future of the NBA and the current of the College Hoops storylines.

Tone has a question for you

while he's wearing a brand new sweatshirt.

Yeah, I am.

I figured I'd represent this today for Tyler.

Basically, you were the mayor of Cameron Indoor.

I believe you're 4-0 at Cameron

and basically owned Duke your entire career.

So I figured, how would you defend Cooper Flagg who is going to be the overall number one pick in the NBA when he decides to come out? And how would you go up against this Duke team? Duke's a tough team, man. Cooper Flagg to me is the best player in college basketball.
No question. I know Jani Brooms had a really good year, but Cooper Flagg and what he's doing and how he's stepping up in these big moments is incredible.
I would be physical with him. I would bump him and make him defend.
I'd put him in a lot of duck-ins. Obviously, his length presents a lot of problems, but his ability to impact the game in so many different ways.

But I would run him.

I would try to wear him down, and I'd be very physical.

And I would make sure that he's not getting any open or easy looks

and try to limit a lot of his shots.

I'd run him.

Okay.

We're going to test him a little bit.

Then we're going to see if he can handle this elbow. Because this elbow is coming with a strong pivot foot.
Because that is within the laws of the game. Tyler Hansborough's elbow is going to be available too for your body.
And if you want to punch me in the face, do it. I've shattered his nose before.
No problem at all. We were looking up some of your photos, dude.
The bloody nose shot. The dive on the, like, just the ruthlessness of just tenacity, seemingly, at all times on the court.
Such a wonderful thing. You're a dog.
Psycho T. I don't think that was the proper name.
I think you're just Relentless T. High T.
High T. High T.
Relentless T. Tyler Hansborough.
What a fun – you would have been able to play in any era, brother. You would have been able to play in any era.
On that note, this era, you see North Carolina. We were just talking about Duke.
Used to be a lot of those. Ty has a question for you.
Yeah, Tyler, obviously when you played at North Carolina, the ACC was the bell of the ball and had been for a long time,

only getting four teams into the tournament this year.

What do you think the ACC needs to do to kind of get back to the top of the mountain

where a lot of people think it should be?

Obviously, with the SEC getting 14 teams in and the Big Ten doing what it's doing,

why do you think the ACC is kind of taking a back seat,

and what do you think they need to do to kind of reclaim their throne when it comes to college basketball? Right now, I think we're making a lot of the right moves. I kind of like some of the hires.
I really like the hire at Miami for hiring Lucas from Duke. I think that it's just a matter of time.
And the one thing I will say about the SEC is they have the money. And that's what college basketball has turned into, kind of pay for play.
So they have the ability to pay more than what the ACC has. And I know that's a little bit of an excuse, especially when you see teams, you know, having these runs outside of the SEC.
But I think that's why the SEC is dominating. But I think the ACC, I think this is just a bad year for us.
Now, let's not forget, recently we've dominated a lot of these tournaments, and so we'll be there in the coming years. This is just a bad year for us.
We're going to figure it out. We're hiring new coaches at these places that some of the coaches left or made some changes.
We're making the right moves. We're going to figure out the NIL, and we'll be back in the tournament representing again.
That feels like 10 years ago the ACC mattered. Do you remember that? Yeah.
Yeah, it feels like maybe 100 years ago. It's crazy.
It's an SEC sport now. Wow.
That's crazy. Just this year.
What's that? Just this year. I would say, you know, it wasn't so long ago that we met Duke in the Final Four, right before Coach K retired.
I would say that. North Carolina, we were a one seed last year.
Duke possibly could win it. I mean, it's not that bad of a year for ACC.
I just would like to stand up a little bit for us. Yeah, absolutely.
That's why we're saying what we're saying, yeah, because that has been the convo. Like, the SEC has just taken over.
It is the basketball school now. And you got everybody talking about how ACC used to be the creme de la creme.
Now they're even saying, and Seth Greenberg said this on our show and then said it on many others, in the concept of it, not bad, maybe the ACC links up with the Big East for basketball. How would you feel about that? I wouldn't mind having UConn.
I wouldn't mind having a little St. John's action.
I think that's great. We're both known for basketball.
So bring them on board. The Big East has a ton of great programs.
There'd be some great rivalries in there. And yeah, I would love that.
Okay. I like to hear that.
Let's go. I like to hear that because I think a lot of people are like, no, can't do it.
And then you got like one of the main faces in the history of acc basketball being like i think that'd be okay patino told us st john's doesn't have a football team so whenever this revenue share thing happens there might be in like a great position for the revenue share that maybe other schools that have a football team you know like the big east right now i think are maybe jordy primed for a a little bit of a basketball run because the amount of money that they're going to be able to have versus some other schools that are going to be splitting it or divvying it up with the football team so uh acc big east back on top let's go good luck boys good luck they need you to get back in there and coach go ahead aj yeah tyler as far as coaching like i'm curious, from college to pros, whether it's the NBA or overseas, how is the coaching different when you're at college? We think college for our era, Pat in our era, when we were in college football, he played for Rich Rodriguez. You're never late.
You're never doing anything out of line. You're part of the program, part of the system.
You're one little piece.

Are they able to do that in the NBA and overseas?

Can coaches still kind of hold guys accountable the way they can in college?

I think that's the one thing about the new era of college basketball that's really hurt.

I think a lot of kids need to be coached like that.

I played for Coach Williams, and you are never late.

You're late once, and you're never late again. I can tell you that.
I still have a little bit of anxiety about showing up late to anything. And, you know, the old school coaching that, you know, a lot of people associate with college getting after guys, you're still seeing like Izzo gets after guys, Patino gets after guys.
I think there's a lot of value in that discipline. But there's a big difference between the NBA, college, and overseas.
I think in the NBA, it's really hard for a coach, probably just like it is in any professional sport, for a coach to get after really an all-star, somebody of a high caliber name. But a lot of the younger kids, I actually think in the NBA, are a little more receptive to coaching just because they're not dealing with so many outside voices like a lot of the college kids are dealing right now.
And I think that they can make a big impact on young guys, young rookies. But overseas, you know, I saw some crazy thing.
You know, China's a little different. You know, they'll light up a cigarette right there in halftime i've never seen that before and so that was uh my jaw dropped when i saw that but they will get after you in china too yes coaches you were saying they were lighting up cigs or players were as well or both the players would light them up in the locker room i will say that but i wouldn't be surprised if they were you know they smoke over in china a lot of cigarettes so um yeah i mean I saw that that was a new experience for me but you know I got used to it didn't really

necessarily like the smell but you know that was the biggest difference was the coach did the coach

speak English at all or did you guys play charades not not many of there was a translator so uh they

you know they spoke broken English but it's funny after my first season I had a full-on

I don't know. Not many of them.
There was a translator. So they spoke broken English.
But it's funny, after my first season, I had a full-on conversation with my head coach in English. And I had no idea that he even knew what I was saying or knew English until after the season was over.
So I think he kind of kept it from me just because he wanted to know what I was saying and didn't think that I knew that he knew English. That was a setup, brother.
You had a hot mic. You had no idea.
No idea. It really caught me off guard.
Hey, talking to the translator, let me think of what to say to this piece of shit. All right.
All right. Tell him that I'm thankful for everything he's done for me.
That's the translator.

All right.

And then keep it moving.

What a moment.

That's awesome.

How about day-to-day over there?

How's the food?

Food's amazing.

Everyone always asks about that.

No, I didn't eat any of the crazy dishes that everyone's probably talking about.

A lot of meat.

You know, I'm a big, you know, I like some steak and stuff like that. So about uh a lot of meat um you know i'm a big you know i like

some some steak and stuff like that so uh i had a ton of that uh and uh the food was amazing yeah so they took care of it's a lot of western food too you could always get that but uh you know the the spicy hot pot unbelievable if you guys have ever had spicy hot pot it's amazing no i've, I've had rice roni. I've had number three from, what's the name of this one down here? China Express, I believe, is what it is.
I've had General Tso's. General Tso's, so good.
So good. Kung Pao chicken.
You bet. Unbelievable.
Orange chicken, obviously. Cooking of broccoli.
Would rather General Tso's than's than orange chicken every day like when you walk up to the chinese buffet and they're trying to sell you like it is general so's but you know it's orange chicken yes it's like hey similar but i know the difference so that was your life every day over there not necessarily like that you know i think you're thinking more of what we've made the chinese food out to be here i mean i never got a fortune cookie what a little disappointed yeah never got a fortune cookie in china so uh i always kind of laugh at that when i come back uh but uh you know there's a ton of pork ton of dumplings and stuff like that a lot of noodles so uh yeah i enjoyed that we had a guy who ate four fortune cookies just on a tuesday yeah he was that was this tuesday he did that just the other day monday too oh yeah and monday he had eight this guy had eight fortune cookies monday tuesday that's beginning of the week that's more than you had in three and a half years in china that's wild swallowed all the fortunes too right foxy because if you swallow the fortune only way they come true yeah that's not real okay so unless they told you that in china i don't know is that real no they would have laughed at me if they i'm not even sure anyone knew what a fortune cookie was when i was over there talking about i i've never seen any fortune cookies over here but yeah i mean i've never eaten i've never eaten the wrapping that's for sure so thank you yeah yeah that's because you're a smart man okay. Okay, last question before we let you go.
How closely are you paying attention to the NBA? And can we ask you who's going to win the NCAA tournament and who's going to win the NBA championship? Yeah, absolutely. Right now I'm really locked in on the NCAA tournament.
I'm going to go with Bama. I know they face up with Duke.
I actually duke losing the first game to the 16th seed oh really but you know so i'm a little biased uh and i picked bama at the early uh part of the year so i'm gonna stick with bama and the nba championship man i really want to pick oklahoma just because they haven't gotten a lot of credit i'll roll roll with Oklahoma. The Thunder.
Okay. They're a team that has obviously had a lot of wins.
They go into Boston. They beat the Celtics.
They're at the top of the convo, or top of the leaderboard, but not at the top of the convo, is what you're saying. Small market team not getting a lot of love.
SGA is electrified. Yeah, he's a beast.
Excited for playoff basketball. We can't thank you enough for joining us.
What's today look like for you? We assume you're squatting. You put a bar on your back every single day.
Maybe go till the land. What is today? What do we got today? You know, I'm not in the weight room today.
I know it's a big disappointment. I'm actually going to play a little pickleball action right now.
So, yeah, I'm fully addicted to pickleball. Everyone's going to laugh at it because of the name, but that's what I'm about to go through.
We know pickleball. You're a professional pickleballer, right? I wish.
I tried to play against some pros and realized that dream is gone. It's not a reality for me.
Where do you lack at? In the kitchen? The hands? It's your hands? You don't have good enough hands? What's your rating? It's not my hands. I got the hands.
It's more of, you know, the technique. I didn't play a racket sport.
And also, I'm on the back end of 30. So, I'm not, you know, the young 20-year-olds that just finished college are D1 tennis players.
I kind of struggle against those guys. They get you moving a little bit? Yeah, they get me moving.
I move like a school bus now. So, I have i will say you always did though you know you always did and the things you were able to do nobody could have expected absolute weapon what is your rating isn't there a number rating thing in pickleball i'm about a four or five not a five oh yeah so uh five oh means you're pretty pretty good but four or five's all right so how many games will you go? And this will be like against high-level talent, or these motherfuckers have no idea what's showing up at the pickleball court that's coming? I used to go out there and get smacked by the retirement community.
It was Martha, and that's when I really started getting addicted. So I've kind of outgrown that little community.
But, yeah, I'm playing against some high-level guys. If I go out there and give them work today, I'm going to be really happy leaving that facility.
Hell, yeah. Hey, go give them that.
You know what I mean? Old school. High T.
Yep. You know? Boosted T.
Not psycho T. Cerebral T.
Uh-huh. Kitchen T.
That's what we need today. Good luck out there.
We appreciate you, man. Thanks, fellas.
Ladies and gentlemen, college basketball and basketball icon, Tyler Hansborough. If I give these guys work, I'm going to be real happy.
These guys should beat my ass today, but they have no idea I'm coming 110 miles an hour out there. No, they don't.
Do you think they see a schedule of who's playing who

and they see T, Thought, Hansbro,

and they think to themselves,

it's going to be a long morning.

It's going to be a long...

He's got to be on the ground all the time.

What's the highest rating you can have?

I think it is five.

Yeah, I think five's pro.

I think you get to a five, you're like a pro.

What did AQ Lyon say he was?

Four three or something, four two.

So we don't know what every tenth is.

No, true.

I'm assuming it's pretty...

Thank you. You get to a five, you're like a pro.
What did AQ lie and say he was? 4-3 or something. 4-2.
So we don't know what every 10th is. No.
I'm assuming it's pretty... It'd have to be.
I assume a 4-5 is very good. Yeah.
Yes. No offense, AQ.
AQ has committed a lot of his life. He was a good player when we were out in Arizona.
Yeah, but I think that was at the beginning of his run. I think he has continued to play since then.
He's in tournaments now. He's got his own gloves, his own thing.
It goes up to 5-5+. So 5-5+, is top caliber players.
Okay, those are pros. 5-5 has mastered the strategy.
4-5 is high level of consistency. Use pace and depth to generate opponents errors or set up the next shot.
What's a 4-2, 4-3? 4-0 is consistently hits with depth and control, still perfecting shot selection and timing. Oh, so you're being judged for the score? Apparently, yeah.
Who's doing the judging? You got an adjudicator coming in? Yeah. This guy can't work the kitchen.
What if you pay him off? What if you pay off the judger? AQ would probably try to fight, I guess. Then you run into a 5-5 plus and get your ass kicked.
Yeah, I think AQ's probably trying to get his lower. I bet you everybody's probably trying to get theirs.
Yeah, sandbagging. Well, you should, but golf people should lie.
People lie the wrong way when it comes to golf handicap all the time. They're going, I'm a two, and then they shoot 95.
Yeah, but those people don't say that whenever they're about to compete against somebody. Those people say, I'm a 10, and they're actually a five.
You know, much like Brandon Bean. Sure.
Dan Orlovsky, I'd assume. People are saying Aaron Rodgers.
Josh Allen

said this about Aaron Rodgers because

he played in, was it Pebble Beach?

I don't remember which, was it Pebble Beach?

I think so, yeah.

Oh, Aaron's a seven. Did you guys see Aaron

Rodgers as a seven handicap in golf?

I think is what Josh Allen was saying.

Man, I just thought the guy was better. That's all

Josh kept saying. Aaron won.

I think Josh probably came in second or third.

And all Josh could say was

Thank you. I think is what Josh Allen was saying.
Man, I just thought the guy was better. That's all Josh kept saying.
Aaron won. I think Josh probably came in second or third.
And all Josh could say was, man, Aaron, I thought Aaron really outdid himself. Aaron really outdid himself.
But Aaron never plays, right? That is kind of the thing with Aaron Rodgers, which is so annoying. For what he shoots, yeah.
He plays a tiny amount of golf for how good he is. That one that was on TV for the match or whatever.
He had just landed from Hungary the day before that. It wasn't a golf trip.
It was on a golf trip over there and then gets his clubs. I think they were just fitted.
If the story is, it goes how I think. Just got his clubs and then he plays in his thing on television.
Has not played. These guys have been fucking playing, obviously.
And then he buries the putt to win the thing. He kind of carried Bryson the entire time.
What an asshole. Okay, on that note.
How the conversation's been with him. Is he happy? Was he down in Mexico with the family? What has he been? He did not make the trip.
He's been talked about, AJ. There's been a lot of reports about him.
That's really the only thing NFL media has right now. Aaron Rodgers, though.
Huh? Uh-huh. Huh? Where's he going? And then all of a sudden, Kwasi, who looks wildly young.
Yes. Kwasi, general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, at his press conference, he didn't close the door on Aaron Rodgers.
That's basically the only thing right now. Steph Diggs to New England.
Congratulations. That was about 20 minutes.
Yep. Right? Yeah.
It was that night. Yeah, and it was 26 million.
Congratulations. That's awesome.
Russell Wilson goes to the Giants. Oh, okay, Russ.
Okay, Mr. Unlimited.
Ten and a half million. Could go up to 21 million.
It's got Malik Nabors. It's got Jameis Winston over there.
Jameis Winston, Tommy Cutlitz, and Russell Wilson. That's a reality show.
Hard Knocks should be doing offseason again there. But obviously, I don't think the Giants will allow that to happen after what happened last year.
And then inevitably, it all roads go back to, what's Aaron Rodgers going to do? Because that affects the draft. So before we can really do a proper mock draft, have to know what aaron rogers is planning on doing so like basically he is still the only thing radiating at this time now next next week owners meetings there's going to be rule changes there's gonna be a lot of that but this week it's just been potentially maybe we heard potential situation brewing not certain but maybe aaron rogers waiting on the vikings we heard maybe aaron rogers thing about retirement we heard maybe the steelers and aaron rogers have

had a contract in place for weeks if not months at this point they're just trying to figure it out

after the meeting what have you heard and how do you think people should be talking about this

situation because my entire take has been i don't think aaron knows exactly what he wants and is the are all the options already shown to him that it's going to be you know throughout it all is he waiting until the draft to see who does what with a quarterback like what are your thoughts on it aj as somebody who we all know is a close friend of aaron rogers Yeah, waiting until the draft, I haven't really thought about that. I cannot imagine that would be the case.
Like, what would that do for him? Right now it looks like, what, Pittsburgh is an option, and the Vikings are possibly an option? Is that what's out there? Is that what it feels like? Yes, that is kind of what the – and retirement, obviously. So retirement, Pittsburgh, and then the Vikings haven't said no.
That's right. Yeah, they didn't close the door completely.
That's the thing. You had the opportunity to close the door completely, publicly at least, if you were the Vikings and you did not.
So what does that tell you? I don't know if that means there's a possibility that the Vikings would want to bring him in or not, but it means there's got to be some kind of chance of that, correct? Yeah, I would say that's probably why people are saying it publicly. I would say there's some chance.
And what, he visited Pitt? He visited Pittsburgh? He probably loved it? Well, Pitt and Pittsburgh have the same facility, so he did probably see both sides of it. But yes, allegedly, and I think confirmed by multiple reports, Jerry Dulac says Aaron Rodgers came to UPMC practice facility to visit with, I believe, Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, and ownership.
I don't know if he met with cafeteria, equipment managers, athletic trainers as well. Probably, though, if he's in the building.
Did you hear that as well? Yeah. Well, I mean, I do know that he actually really likes all the Pittsburgh staff.
He loves the staff, the front office, everything about Pittsburgh.

Yeah, the people there.

That's what makes the Steelers the Steelers, don't you think?

Like what they, from the top down, I think he definitely loves all that.

Well, great, yeah.

The program, the franchise, the city, the lore, the tradition,

that is everything that, you know, does make the Pittsburgh Steelers

the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But you're saying he loves everybody in the building.

Okay, so that is.

Okay, put that on a SeatGeek ticker down there. A.J.
Hawk says he loves everybody in the building. So, A.P.
Okay, put that on a SeatGeek ticker down there.

AJ Hawk says he loves everybody in the building.

So AP Tone has a follow-up question, I assume, for this.

Yeah, what'd he say?

Like, when's he deciding?

That's a question I don't think he knows.

I don't know what he's waiting on.

I really don't.

I have no clue what the timeline.

Maybe a big night out.

Remember, we called it a couple weeks ago.

Maybe he's going to pop in there and say,

Hey, I'm going to the Viking. That would be awesome.
Okay, we should think about that. By the way, everyone in Pittsburgh thinks that's happening.
What's that? Everyone on the internet thinks that's what's happening. He's deciding at that night.
On Big Night Out? Yeah, I know. That's crazy.
That is hilarious to think about. I do appreciate that people think that is what is possible, though, for Big Night Out.
Yeah. Guy's going to sign to the fucking Pittsburgh Steelers.
Big Night Out. Yeah, we actually scheduled it in advance.
He's leaving everybody in the dark until Big Night Out. Yeah, you caught us.

Now, granted, if we are still around

and a decision is made, then I would like

to let Aaron know that it's certainly an opportunity

for you. What a great way to introduce

yourself to the city. Yeah, and the people that we

have coming, I think, would be a good...

That'd be a great start

to the entire thing. Also, not a

bad time or place to give a little speech

about what we're looking to do. Yeah, I mean, it is an option for you, Mr.
Rogers, if you would like to change your neighborhood to Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, which was filmed where? Okay.
Rest in peace, Mr. Rogers.
Rest in peace. Great guy.
And the way he tied his shoes. It all checked out, too.
He always was a good guy, right? No matter what? He always finds the camera in front of the camera. You're not getting Fred Rogers, okay? That's not happening.
A lot of people are getting got right now. Fred's not wonderful.
He is a marine sniper. How about that? Was that him or Bob? Oh, I know.
Maybe both. I think they both were in the same regiment.
Probably. Could be.
Probably same platoon, too, potentially. Good.
We don't have so much talent. I know.
Could you imagine Mr. Rogers waking everybody up and then tossing it over to Bob in the middle of a war zone? I have bad news.
Rest in peace, boys. I have bad news.
Google's saying that's an urban legend. Which one? What? He was a Marine sniper.
Who? Oh, no. Mr.
Rogers. What about Bob? Bob.
All right. Come on.
Saget? I don't think Bob Saget was not in the military. I don't believe.
He was a sniper, though. I mean, he...
Yeah, for sure. Barker? Re in peace to a lot of people.
Everybody that has passed, another one. Rest in peace.
We appreciate you all. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify.
You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it.
Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.
From household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Shopify gives you a leg up with hundreds of beautiful, ready-to-go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code.
Tackle all those important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. Spread your brand's word with built-in marketing and email tools to find and keep new customers.
And did I mention that iconic purple ShopPay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world? It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already love it.
If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash network.
Go to shopify.com slash network. Shopify.com slash network.
Ever had your deposit blocked by your bank right before a big bet? Ever needed cash at 2am for another shot at the, but hit your ATM limit? Edge Boost has your back.

Edge Boost is the first ever bank account built for bettors. With Edge Boost, all your gambling related transactions will always be approved.
No more headaches. For you high rollers, you can move up to $250,000 a day on your Edge Boost Visa debit card with unlimited withdrawals.
This works 24-7 for instant deposits.

Never wait for a wire to clear again.

It gets better. Every time you deposit into a qualified gambling account, you earn cash back rewards up to 0.5%.
All this for no usage fees and no minimum balance. This is a bank account, not a credit card, so there is no approval required or credit checks.
Finally, Edge Boost has a suite of responsible gambling tools to help you manage your bankroll and make informed decisions. What are you waiting for? Go to edgeboost.bet.
That's edgeboost.bet. Sports.
Howdy, baby, AJ. Welcome back from Mexico off spring break.
It's great to see you. That's AJ Hawk.
Hey, baby, Hawk. Talks and Staples here.
Bruce Brown sitting in for Boston Conner. Send your love to he and talk.
They'll be back next week. At Ty Schmidt sitting next to him.
Sweet hat. Hey, thank you.
You know, anytime you can put on for the Rose Bowl and, you know, those beautiful San Gabriel Mountains and the cotton candy sky, you kind of just have to do it. How about just that B-52 bomber flying? Oh, so sick.
That thing kicking off with the sun setting in the background as we're sitting on perfect grass somehow, able to call two of those from the sideline. What a place.
Yeah, unbelievable. Getting in and out.
A nightmare. That's going to be tough getting in and out of there.
But anything worth getting to is probably not not easy to get to. Well said.
I think that is probably the Rose Bowl in a nutshell. Because if it was easy everybody would be able to get there.
Exactly. And if everybody was able to get there it wouldn't be a Rose Bowl.
Because you gotta really earn your way down into that beautiful valley. Oh my god.
One lane in, one lane out. Just get all the way down in there.
Nestled down in there. Okay? But once you get down in there, oh, it's beautiful.
Paradise. Yeah.
Para, para, paradise. For football.
Yes. Yes.
Let's go to one half of the hammer. Done.
Cowboys AP Tone. Saw you pandering to Tyler Hansborough with your sweatshirt.
I was.

I did have a change of clothes today, but as soon as I heard Psycho T was on, this sweater was

high T.

High T, Tanakia's T. You're right.

As someone with low T, I do respect

the high T nickname.

You can get that back, they say.

We're working on it.

I'm not

getting into it.

I believe they're saying things boost your testosterone. yeah and i'm like really sounds like you guys are making an excuse for your potential nicotine habit you're like yeah but side effect of the nicotine actually boost your testosterone no way yeah allegedly let's say you'd have to do your own research you'd have to do your own research that's true i don't think based on my anecdotal research, I don't think so.
I have done a focus group of one, is what Bruce Brown just said, and it doesn't feel like. That whole low-T thing is real, though.
And, you know, the science nowadays, where they can actually get it down to an exact amount you're supposed to have, that's a lifetime commitment, though, I think, once you start it. People need to know that.
Once you pop up. It can boost it? No, I don't know.'t know allegedly i think that's being alleged by companies that are trying to profit off you know so you know you never know what's real but it is they they start putting that on stuff you know like hey you can buy this like i think meat you eat red meat is just boost your testosterone you eat this is top boost your testosterone it's like that a conversation, I think, in the zeitgeist over the last three to

five years, probably, when people have

kind of understood it a little bit more.

I've looked into it, obviously, and

that's a lifelong commitment if you really want

to die. I don't think Doug Flutie or the Big Hurt would lead us

down a road if they didn't want us to.

Come on. How about him in that commercial?

Yeah, he stole that lady's that guy's wife

right on camera.

Just do one of these, too. With an actual bat? Was that a bat he threw on the shoulder? Yeah, he's a baseball player.
Oh. Can't he throw it on his shoulder? He did.
Right on that commercial. Anyways, baseball happened.
AJ, do you know that? I do know that, yeah. Opening day.
I know Shohei, obviously, he lives up to the moment always. Certainly, and has.
I think them having an opening day eight days ago, or nine days ago now, good for them to get the jitters out. You know, like first game jitters I think is also good.
Not that Shohei didn't do great in his first game. I don't think he hit a home run in his first game.
Second game, he hit a home run in. Third game, he's now hit a home run in.
But to get that opening day vibe kind of out, especially whenever he had to go back to Japan and spirits hit, what that was probably like for him. I think they're, I don't want to say mid-season form, but I think they were in a better position yesterday than maybe any other team.
Cubs, you lose a couple games over there. Is that good or bad? Start the season 0-2.
Okay. You could be behind the eight ball shot to Chicago doing that.

But everybody else was kind of

you know, which by the way

got the jitters out on opening

day. Travel to Japan.

Okay, who knows what's going to happen but probably

going to win opening day because your team will already have it.

Big storylines from opening day

Ty Schmidt are? Shohei

obviously going yard. Dodgers starting

3-0. Tyler O'Neal for

the Baltimore Orioles hitting his

Thank you. Big storylines from opening day, Ty Schmidt, are? Shohei, obviously, going yard.
Dodgers starting 3-0. Tyler O'Neal for the Baltimore Orioles, hitting his sixth consecutive opening day home run, which, yeah, that is ridiculous.
You can almost set your watch to it at this point. You know, again, not to grovel, but a lot of Mets fans saying, hey, did we overpay for Juan Soto? Is this the guy we want carrying the torch for our franchise for the next 15 years? As he strikes out to end the game with two runners on base down two in Houston.
Yankees get a big win at Yankee Stadium. Austin Wells, leadoff hitter.
You don't have to do the Yankee stuff right next to the Mets stuff. No, it's just coincidental.
It's coincidental, really. The New York teams kind of go hand in hand.
So it kind of just, I mean, the way it comes out is kind of crazy. That mustache is awesome.
It is. And a lot of Yankees yesterday, Carlos Rodon, the starting pitcher, he looked great with a beard.
He looked so bad last year. I mean, Javin.
And now it's like, okay, thank God we paid a lot of money for this guy, and he looks like a Yankee with a beard. He just looked weird last year with that one.
So Yankees get a big win with beards and all. And outside of that, it was a pretty solid day of baseball yesterday.
All right. Well, I appreciate the fact Paul Skeens will be joining us here in about 25 minutes or so.
He was scheduled to join our program because, you know, he's on the cover of the show. This guy obviously last year wasn't even in the majors yet.
Now he's opening day ace for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And such a young career, he's already on the show 25.
Which is a great, I believe this is a good video game. This is, yeah, again, talking about being able to set your watch.
This is one of the few things, you know, Madden gets killed because it just, it sucks every year, kind of, but people still buy it. This game is incredible year after year.
Like it's, it's one of the, the last really like elite sports franchise video games out there. Yeah.
Speaking of elite, that's a PNC park right there. You should have view in the back.
Yeah. You think yourself, damn, that looks nice.
You see in real life, especially whenever it's dark and the Zambelli fireworks are over top of it. I mean, you're talking about beautiful ballpark.
Pittsburgh Pirates have it all, including a fan base that's ready to go crazy,

a starting pitcher that is the next one,

and hopefully a team that doesn't just lose games for.

Yeah.

You know?

I think they need to get invested.

What Jet Passon said yesterday was it's a travesty,

the ineptitude of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yep.

They have the guy.

Everybody knows they have the guy.

Even people that aren't in baseball, like us, know that they have the guy. The guy have the guy even people that aren't in baseball like us know that they have the guy the guy knows he's a guy could you do something with aj all they care about is the bottom line the bottom line could be a lot higher could be could be a lot higher if you like have a winning team aj you know and from what jet passing said yesterday the days of potential ownership being lazy lazy and not active owners, I think are potentially going to get voted out.
Jet Passon had a little bit more fire yesterday than I had heard him talking about these ownership situations. He's basically saying other owners, I assume Cohen, who's spending so much money.
He's like, why am I the only one doing it? LA's probably thinking this. But the places and the owners that are very active, from what Jet Passon said yesterday, fed up with with the ownership that is not they think it's bad for the league as a whole seemingly is what jet said definitely i i think hal steinbrenner would probably be a big piece of that too because he's one of those guys where obviously he inherited the team from from george and he's like you want the yankees to suck we could just have them suck and i'll print money hand over fist too like we put some pressures on these guys to you know build something and and compete what else so what the other owners are saying what you're doing is easy any of us could do yes okay got it got it got it so i didn't even think about that angle yeah i thought about like hey our whole league like stinks because you guys think yeah the teams have to take care of the little teams right aren't in the revs here don't the big teams have to take care of the the guys that aren't spending money yeah certainly and they have to share money with you're right so i couldn't even imagine that aspect of money leaving our pocket we're spending a bunch trying to make this league trying to make good teams trying to get a winner the ones that are going to be on whenever everybody's actually watching baseball our teams are going to be and we have to give money elsewhere i didn't even think about that but also saying like yeah we could just sit here and collect the check too certainly like we all could do that's an easy thing you're not a genius yeah i appreciate that aspect out of it as well from ownership yeah yeah it is all so ridiculous on the one hand you're chasing guggenheim and steve cohen like the biggest hedge fund billionaire in the world on the top end you know with the dodgers and the mets and then on the flip side of it, you have owners like even with the A's getting out of Oakland, like they're playing in a minor league ballpark this year.
It's just it's all ridiculous. But hey, it's going to be.
They got guys this year, though. Shohei.
Yeah. Trout back.
Yes. Yeah, he is.
He's the worst luck. Yeah, he got hit in the hand yesterday.
It was either first or second at bat. I don't know if he left the game, but it's just like, what the hell has this guy got to do to stay on the baseball field? He just fucking nailed right on the hand, shaking it out, going to first base.
Are you kidding? First game? This is what? First at bat? Yeah. It's either his first or...
Yeah, first at bat. Third pitch? Yeah.
This guy... Just can't – Unbelievable.
Hey, Trout, we're sorry about it, dude. No, you're mine.
We're sorry. We are sorry about it.
We do love you, Mike. I mean, that guy – Yeah.
Dog. Oh, yeah.
Long, long time. And then he's run into a little bit of an injury bug, an unlucky bug.
And shout out to baseball. We'll cover it all 162 games, won't we, K? Yeah.
Can't wait. They're not overreacting after one game at all with the Mets at once.
So it only has 161 left. Michael Cole is very casual.
He's seen the big picture. Is that fun? I don't know.
When you see Cole's reaction, is it fun to be a Mets fan when you're Cole? I think Cole does enjoy our reaction to his reaction. But inside his body, I think he's not happy.
I think it's a miserable... I think he is a miserable fan.
That is kind of his M.O. I'm a Jets fan and a Mets fan.
He was spot on with the Jets too. Everyone else was going crazy saying Super Bowl when we got Rodgers.
They said, this is the Jets. They're going to screw it up.
What are you talking about? No questions asked. And look what happened.
It did get messed up.

And it wasn't obviously anybody's fault, the first

one. But it does end up

not going right. And then obviously the next year

it doesn't go right. And it's like,

yeah, everybody, I don't

even get my heart rate up whenever these types of things

happen. And that's just like, he expects that, I guess,

forever. I guess he expects that forever

with both teams. So the day that he

dies, which is hopefully another hundred years from now, he's going to be able to say, I told you so. My whole life I knew they were going to stink.
And then he goes to bed. I think that is his angle.
I think that is his style of fanhood. The Mets love to be miserable all season and then September rolls around and they have a couple big walk-off wins and then all of a sudden it's the Miracle Mets are back.
Look at all the magic at Citi Field. We're having so much fun.
We got a guy, Iglesias, he's doing the OMG song. Look at us.
It's awesome. And then, you know, it crashed and burns, and then go back at it again, be miserable all season, and then they'll probably do the same deal in September.
Two Yankees fans are sitting next to each other there giving those takes, and we need to remember that with everything that is said. Sidney Crosby in the NHL broke a record.
Congrats to Sid. We appreciate Sid and Pittsburgh.
Sidney Crosby has brought a lot of happiness alongside, you know, Geno and LeTang and Marc-Andre Fleury, who had that massive night last night, and the boys and Solly, who's been the coach for a long, long time. They brought a lot of happiness to Pittsburgh at a lot of great times.
Obviously, we're on the tail end of that, seemingly, with this particular group, but Sidney Crosby's still playing at a level that nobody could have expected this late into his career. This man was hyped up to be the LeBron James of hockey coming out of Canada.
He gets drafted to the Pittsburgh Penguins number one overall. He's been a dude, and you don't know him because he's done absolutely nothing wrong.
All he's done is committed fully to hockey, fully to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He rarely talks to anybody, doesn't do any interviews, never says anything wrong, never does anything wrong, just shows up in balls.
20 seasons now, he's averaged at least a point per game. Yes, that is absurd.
They play 80-some games a year. How many games is it exactly, Nick? 82.
82 games a year, just like in the NBA. And he's averaging a point per game at this stage.
With the record that they have, the team that they have, he's still playing his best hockey. And this is the type of reason why that he'll be remembered as a great of all time.
Because he wasn't, he's a lot, and I don't want to make too much of a comparison here because I think LeBron's like the all-time leading point scorer in the history of the NBA as well. But he was like a playmaker.
LeBron was much more of a playmaker and a sister than potentially Michael Jordan ever was, a facilitator. Yeah, different styles of basketball, different styles of people, I think.
And that's the way he played. But everybody wanted him to be like Michael Jordan.
Like, we want you to not pass the ball in that moment, even though the person's wide open. We want you to take it, be a dog, yada, yada.
Sidney Crosby's always been a playmaker first, not worrying about scoring, always wanted to just make the play pretty much. So him, his assist, his playmaking, his goal-scoring ability, obviously all elite, but just scoring points and showing up every single game is what he will be known for forever.
And obviously Wayne Gretzky is unbelievable. Ovechkin's going to go down as the greatest goal scorer of all time and all that.
But concurrently with Ovi's career, Sidney Crosby's been there. And you're talking about two greats that are near end and near a lot of records being broken.
So I think this is going to become a very common thing for both of these guys. Nick, what did I miss in that entire thing? Well, you made an excellent point with the LeBron-MJ comparison in the sense that Sid is a playmaker, and you mentioned Ovi chasing down Gretzky's all-time goal record here.
It's fascinating that two of these records could potentially be broken in the same season, two of Wayne's all-time great records, because Sid, being known as the playmaker, he captures this based on his assists, his playmaking ability, his point-per-game status. 20 straight seasons, unbelievable.
Now Ovi's got 10 games now to score six goals to tie Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record. Ovi known much more as the pure goal scorer, the pure sniper.
So these are two guys who came into the league after a lockout when the NHL was dead and buried, revived the league, saved the league, and now here they are both breaking

or potentially breaking Wayne Gretzky,

the all-time greats records, in the same time frame.

It's kind of unbelievable when you look at it

from that frame of view and lens.

It's just awesome. Historical context.

It's amazing.

Good for hockey, baby.

Good for hockey.

You talk about that lockout, they weren't dead.

Yeah.

And I think the owners were willing to just sit

for as long as possible. I think they made some rule changes, too too i think they changed some rules of hockey a lot of them during the lockout to change the style of hockey that people were watching and then obviously you get a couple superstars and get some teams and get some runs and it's like now hockey is strong as hell and they're looking for expansion teams i think and you got teams like florida winning lordo which only grows the game.
But it's like, there's a lot of good shit happening on the ice right now for hockey. And even though the Penguins haven't been in like the Lordo convo for a couple years, you know, which has been difficult, especially with Boston Conner sitting over here.
And then Darius J. Butler sitting over here.
And then Foxy.

Yeah, Hockey Beach.

Exactly.

And then Foxy just talking about the 50s and the 30s.

We saw.

And things like that.

Knight Superfan.

Yeah.

And then you got a Las Vegas Golden

Knight Superfan, and they've been

very good.

Obviously, expansion draft helps

with that.

They get a lot of high profile guys

that some reason weren't one on

their team.

Then they come together like

Island and Misfits boys.

Misfits, baby.

And then they absolutely crush it. So it hasn't been the most fun time to be a penguins fan but i do appreciate the fact that sydney crosby is going to be getting a lot of flowers you know over the next probably season or two for a lot of things same with ovechkin i'm happy ov he's getting all the flowers he's getting because anytime the capitals were playing for what the last 15 years probably must watch because ov's playing and uh penguins same thing you might not even know hockey but you'll see 87 flying around it's like hey that guy's fucking everywhere and ov and sid both would fight you know not scared to actually scrap which i uh i absolutely love hockey's in a good spot aj even though the penguins are not i mean just to play for 20 years in the NHL is is unbelievable and then the fact that he's averaging a point per game over that whole time like yeah the guy what do we talk about like consistent success in professional sports is like the most difficult thing to to I think put together especially as a team as an individual and what Sid has done yeah like there'll never be another Like how he carries himself, everything about him, it seems to be pretty special.
Yeah, I got massive respect for the way he's operated. Fully committed to hockey.
Fully, fully committed to hockey. And any hockey dude you ever ask, though, sorry to cut you off, I'm the hockey mark.
If I meet a hockey guy, I'll ask him, like, is Sid really that good? And every one of them is like, he's probably better than what you think. Like, he

is that good. AJ's brother-in-law, Jack Johnson,

Stanley Cup champion. I think

he's, his hockey career, NHL

career, how long? How many years?

He's with the Columbus Blue Jackets still. I think he's

20th year. Yeah, exactly.

And he went to Shattuck with

Sid, and he's like, no, Sid, from

day one, has always been the man. Yeah,

professional. I remember he got drafted to the Pens, and then they had him walk around L.A.
or whatever, and he's 18 years old, and they're doing an interview showing a picture of every other sports. I think they showed LeBron James.
I think they showed maybe A-Rod or something like that. I think they showed a couple other.
And then Sid was standing there, and then he'd be like, do you know who this, this is No Hi, I'm Sidney Crosby number one overall pick. I'm supposed to be the next LeBron James and then the mother he does you know, he actually lives up to it and What a good lad for Pittsburgh.
We appreciate you said good for hockey Speaking of sports that we don't normally get the opportunity to cover as well You know the NBA the NBA has been very good to us, AJ. The NBA has been very good to us.
I think our friendship with Tyrese Halliburton has obviously escalated that because I have felt very invested in the Pacers, okay? I have enjoyed watching the Pacers have success because I would like to see Tyrese Halliburton, TJ McConnell, Paschal, Coach Carlisle. I'd like to see those guys have great success.
And the city loves it. The city shows up for them.
And they went to the Eastern Conference Finals. So I'm like very invested in the Pacers having success, which has brought us into the NBA, I think, a little bit.
And then obviously a little conversation happens. Sure.
Okay? Just so happens to be coming into town to play the Pacers. He comes in, does his thing.
We appreciate the hell out of him. I am a Caucasian.
I am a Caucasian male. It was an honor to talk to him as a Caucasian male.
That was a very cool thing. Thankful he came on our show.
Obviously, the conversation has had a lot of reactions and everything like that. And we're thankful for everybody chit-chatting about something we were a part of.
But mostly, LeBron was the man was the absolute man so nice to us blessed us we're very very thankful for that uh but he had to go play the pacers then that night you know and uh so now i'm in an interesting predicament i'm like wow probably a billion views if you're just to count everything that has been ripped clipped at least everyone just okay probably one of the the biggest thing we've probably been a part of in this whole thing happens. That night, playing against our friends, our team.
He has two points in the first half. They're talking about worst game since 2010 for him.
I'm thinking to myself, oh no. We are going to be known as an NBA curse.
He was coming up on 2,000 straight 10-point games, so that was on the line as well. And Tyrese Halliburton earlier in the year comes in here, does a shooting thing, goes on like a month throughout.
So I'm sorry, oh, no. Literally, the guy who's called the king we just talked about for the first time talks some of his shit.
He's having the worst game he's ever had. This is not good.
Then he gets the game winner against the Pacers. So I'm a little bit torn.
I'm a little bit torn. I'm like, thank God.
He got a double-double and a game winner. That's the only thing that needs to be said.
Double-double, game winner, day his conversation. Then I felt bummed about that guy because I saw that shot and he just hit a game winner and it was a whole thing.
So then the next night comes around. Complete opposite takes place.
You know, basically Pacers go crazy. They're playing in D.C.
And the Lakers lose to the Chicago Bulls on a last-second shot from an Australian guy. But whenever you talk about bouncing back from a walk-off happening against you guys in your house and then having the greatest game that the franchise has ever seen, most points in the history of the Pacers last night, 162 points, most assists in the history of the franchise last last night 162 points most assists in the history of the franchise last night and then obviously most points scored in this season of the NBA that's an all-star game number they put up against Washington after the LeBron James walk-off so this morning I just asked Tyrese Halliburton if he could send a video about uh the last couple days from his perspective what's up y? Pat asked me to record a video.
I don't know why I'm doing this at this point, because I don't know if he's a Laker fan or a Pacer fan, but it's still love. Past couple days have been pretty crazy.
Laker game was crazy. The crowd, the environment was awesome.
Back and forth game. We came back from a big deficit.
You probably blame me for the jinx a little bit. I've been saying all year that I have yet to be gamed in the NBA.
Of course, LeBron's the guy to do it. And, of course, it's the same day as LeBronversation, which is good for the program.
Congratulations to you, fellas. Thank you.
And then the next day, have to go to Washington on a back-to-back. Set the franchise record for points.
set the franchise record for three-pointers. The rim was just big.
Guys couldn't miss. First, second, third unit all played well.
So it's pretty crazy. And that's just a great part about the NBA when you have a tough game and you have a back-to-back.
You can kind of wash it off and get ready for the next one. So we'll take it.
And now we've got to get ready for OKC. And those guys are a really good team.
So ready to go hopefully pat and the boys still pacers fans appreciate you guys oh we are okay and he said first time uh i've never been gamed before that's walk off buzzer beater calling game you know which is what braun did to tyrese never happened before he actually i said i think he said that in the press conference afterwards was going through your head well that's the first time that's ever happened to me and uh of course it's this guy and uh i the reaction to the lebronversation from the basketball world and from the media world and from the fans world was so cool watching the game winner happen you know literally that night was like okay we're not a jinx okay that's good news we're not jinx that's good news back for the pacers but then for like tyreece and the rest of the nba i think everybody watched the convo and i think everybody was like kind of pumped about it like uh thank you for talking about the nba in the way that you were talking about the nba and let us do us and then tyreece and the boys go bananas the next night, and then LeBron James is on the complete opposite side of it, where a couple mistakes late and then a half-court shot goes in there. It's like, wait a second, maybe the NBA is awesome.
Maybe the NBA isn't the shithole league that some people think it is. Maybe the play on the court isn't a nightmare.
Maybe the players aren't all prima donnas. Maybe the guy who has been talked about that way after our i mean hour and 15 minutes is a long time yes that is a long time to chit chat with people you don't know like he doesn't know us and we're coming from a different angle a lot of people say we're not in the basketball world yada yada it's like exactly we're coming from a complete different angle of conversation i'm sure he got to relive some stuff but it's like he was incredibly cool to cool to us.
Like very nice to us. Chit-chat with us, open about us.
I assume there's situations out and about where he's not necessarily as kind as like maybe in public, like things have happened where he hasn't been perfect in the last 27 years. But we talked to Tyrese, love Tyrese.
Braun came in here. He was awesome.
Maybe there's a lot of perceptions about the NBA that aren't necessarily true. maybe is what i'm saying maybe it just from my experience and are we living a different experience yeah yeah lebron james walked in here the other day of course here for four hours we were all very surprised like i think we're all very surprised how he was and i try to tell that to tyrese every single time i'm like well your league you guys soft as shit anyways he's like no what do you know we're not true.
I'm like, yeah, it is. I've been told it's true.
That's what I've been told. You're soft.
Oh, wait, you got a pinky? And he's like, well, actually, finger and hand injuries are a big deal. Okay? For basketball.
It's like, okay, all right. Okay, okay, okay, okay.
You know, so it's like, I'm pretty excited that we're potentially a part of a time where we're learning, like, maybe this league isn't just what we potentially thought it was or have heard it was. And if it wasn't, maybe they're trying to change into a being.
I appreciate what they've done for us. The NBA is awesome.
The NHL is awesome. College basketball is awesome.
Golf is awesome. All these things are awesome.
It's just from August to February, there's something more awesome. So during those times, we look at them differently.
But then when you get it into the scope of light when football is not being played and all we're watching is NBA and college basketball and stuff like that, we're like, oh, these things are awesome. It's just from August to February, football is king, baby.
And the numbers the numbers say that the ratings say that i think the sport itself is always going to have that because what the sport is you know introducing our sport to new people like scottish people who have fallen in love with another sport this is their second sport like maybe it takes a little bit for everybody to fall in love with the sport but i think they're seeing growth especially after how much time has been in there more exposure learning the rules learning the pace learning what's possible in places like in america that's already all built in so it's like i think i think the sport is a great sport first of all for entertainment and to pay attention to but it's like you're right nfl is king and i think we always come from that perspective and then uh we might say some things that aren't necessarily as good about these other leagues at times get caught up in the moment yeah get caught up in the moment but we're learning the more we learn about something the more we like it that's weird well it's weird it's still like with the nfl like you guys you guys have connections with damn near every team you know and we are an nfl show so like by this point like you wouldn a player that would be like, oh, I don't know what the Pat McAfee show is. You know, like everyone is aware of what we do.
And you guys know a lot of these guys. Like that was always the big thing is like we need to hear from these players because anytime we get a hockey guy on the show, which is far and few between because they don't do a whole bunch of media, those guys are always awesome.
And you said the thing about the bubble where it was like they were deciding whether or not they were going to play or what was going on and you know it was basically like hey is LeBron playing yeah he is okay we're all playing so I wonder if a situation like that where LeBron comes on and he does an interview with us where you know like we we don't know him at all he doesn't know any of us like and he was very. You wonder if it does kind of trigger something in a lot of these other guys be like, Hey, maybe I can do like, I can sit down and do an interview with someone like, and I can let people know a little bit about more about me.
So it's not just the only thing they're seeing is, you know, and, and again, I think the back-to-back stuff gets blown out of proportion, but like, Oh, this is a star in this game and he played tonight and he's not playing tomorrow night because of load management. Like, hopefully that opens up a lot of guys' eyes where it's like, hey, I can go sit down and do an interview and let people know a little bit more about myself.
What I've learned with our show, AJ, and it's not great, is you're going to get killed if you come on our show. There's going to be people that are going to kill you because you're going to say stuff on our show that's probably hasn't been said before you know because we're asking questions from an

angle that probably haven't been asked before so there's going to be some people that hear some

things potentially in a manner or uh context that they've never heard before so there's going to be

times to bash like there is that side of it but the reactions i saw a lot of people like yeah you

know i didn't know lebron i might i didn't like lebron but knowing a little bit more about him

Thank you. of it but the reactions i saw a lot of people like yeah you know i didn't know lebron i might i didn't like lebron but knowing a little bit more about him does seem like i understand what like that type of stuff he was super likable i i told you like he was very likable very comfortable and also felt like he's at the point in his career where he's not worried about everything surrounding like kobe got to that point where kobe was just he was just honest i felt like towards the end of his career where he was taught when he would talk and i appreciate it i loved it i thought it was great and some people might not like that but i think the majority of people would actually listen they're like yeah i at least respect where this dude is coming from and i respect what he's doing yeah he's a human i think you know i think that is uh that's what you need to know you know they're a human and that they're relate i think he was very relatable too yeah yeah and obviously there's gonna be people who say nah I wasn't and I saw I think Outkick had Outkick had a headline that said uh four swear words or something something in unfunny interview it's like okay so you put unfunny in a headline okay I'm sure we go back in there and find some things that are laughable definitely I like that but I appreciate that you have to put it's unfunny in there so we all understand your thoughts We get it.
Okay. I'm sure we go back in there and find some things that are laughable.
Definitely. I like that, but I appreciate that you have to put it's unfunny in there so we all understand your thoughts.
We get it, okay? So there's been a lot of people, obviously, in the media that didn't appreciate some of the things, and hey, as it was happening. Yeah, we kind of knew that might be the case.
We understand, and if we were on there, we understand that. But it was like, also, we learned a lot about LeBron James, I think, and the way LeBron Jamesames operates and i don't like to toot our horn much okay i don't like to do that i think this show stinks but there's a lot of people like kind of upset at lebron for doing it on our show if other shows could have done that would have happened right so like maybe we are good at some things like maybe we do have an ability at some not everything obviously obviously not every I completely understand that.
But like we're pretty good at some things. Like, maybe we do have an ability at some, not everything, obviously.

Obviously,

not everything.

I completely understand that.

But,

like,

we're pretty good at talking to people.

We enjoy talking to people.

Like,

it is kind of,

it's kind of the whole essence

of this show

is we enjoy talking to people.

So,

it's like,

hopefully,

there'll be a chance

for that to kind of

be understood that

LeBron walked in here

with no teleprompter, no scripted questions, which is how we operate. Always will be.
Always have. That's just how it goes.
And we had no idea where that was going to go. No clue.
But as one thing leads to, no. It's like, as we're in the middle of it, we're like, it feels like LeBron just having a conversation with us here.
Like, this just feels like he is very comfortable. And in the middle of it, it was so cool.
It was just like a cool feeling to have. And then he takes a picture with us and he's 14 feet.
Yep. So tall.
Huge. Right? I saw a lot of people say they like LeBron now.
Yeah, there was quite a bit of that. A lot of people saying they like LeBron now.
And I feel like we did like, I think that's good for sports as a whole. Because this guy's been famous for 30 years.
And I feel like we learned a lot about him. And I did see a lot of, maybe not necessarily like, oh, I like this guy now, but like, I used to hate this guy and be a hater just to hate.
And like, now I at least respect him a little bit. You know, like I might still be a fan of another team, but I respect him now.
And with that being said, you're allowed to feel that way. You're allowed to change the way you feel about something.
If there's new evidence given, you're allowed to evolve your opinion. Let's go, society.
Let's go, society. Ain't that right, AJ? Feels like we're there.
Yeah, I think truly smart people do. When they're presented with new information about certain things, they are able to change their opinion on things.
Okay, good. Good news.
You want to know my opinion on this guy that's joined us? Goat. Already.
It's going to happen. It's only his second year in the majors, but he's already on the cover of the show, one of the greatest video games in the history of video games.
Yesterday, he struck out struck out seven uh obviously had a no decision against the miami marlins on opening day but he was the opening day ace for the pittsburgh pirates former national champion with lsu ladies and gentlemen stallion paul skeins how you doing man doing well what's up guys hey sorry about the loss the no decision uh legitimately i know's a lot of games left, so you can't get caught up on one particular game, but opening day is a big deal, especially for you. Sorry the game ended that way, but how did you feel? And is there a different feeling now as an opening day starter as opposed to coming out of college, doing AAA, then getting caught up mid-middle of season? How does the body feel? How's the arm feel and uh where are we at as this season starts brother yeah i mean body feels good um definitely good to get back out there get in front of you know full stadium again um at the end of the day it's just baseball so um you know triple a college the big leagues like it's kind all the same.
Hitters change a little bit, but execute your pitches and they're out. So it's kind of how I'm looking at it.
Okay, let's talk about your pitches. You added some pitches this offseason.
It was a big topic of conversation. Paul Skeen's got better this offseason.
Oh, yeah. Look out, okay? The big throw the ball hard guy has added some more shit to his arsenal.
How much of that did you get to use yesterday and how confident are we with every single pitch and will we add pitches during the season? Yeah, I mean, confident with everything. We didn't really use any of the new stuff yesterday.
But, yeah, feeling good with everything. Maybe we'll add some stuff.
Maybe we'll take some stuff away during the season. We'll see.
It's kind of just, the game will tell us. Yesterday, when you're down in Miami and you said full stadium and it's just baseball, it's just in there.
That game ends. Are you thinking about that game at all? Do you watch film of that game? What is the process whenever there's 162 of these things and you literally just wrap up number one of the season yeah uh really got to figure out something that works over the full 162 um not just when it's going going good or bad um i haven't watched film yet i'll do that today um but i got basically a day to think about, you know, the game yesterday.

And then the next few days I'm going to prepare for my next outing, basically.

Go ahead, AJ.

Do you have a, when it comes to, like, scouting your future opponents,

do you have a book of all the hitters that you may be facing?

Do you, like, how do you consume all this information?

I would assume the coaches are giving you about each individual batter you'll be facing. Yeah, I mean, at this point, it's kind of cool because I've faced a fair number of the guys that I'm going to face before.
So there is a little bit of a book on what I've done in the past, but also, like I said, there's few day process to prepare for the next game um and uh kind of take it slow do do chunks you know each day look over the hitters all that um but and then go go out there and pitch my game basically okay so quarterbacks like recall blitz packages or disguises from earlier in their career obviously you're very early in your career right now but as a hitter's coming up or in the middle of uh an at-bat are you thinking about a previous time that you faced this guy or is that all pre-pitch with that guy is it is there anything happening in the middle of a at-bat where you're audibling or changing or seeing something uh is that something that takes place in pitching this is literally coming from somebody that has no idea about baseball yeah i mean all the time uh because you you can uh look at getting guys out or i i look at getting guys out you know the first time through um and trying to save pitches for the second and third time through a little bit um it doesn't always work out that way um so you don't want to show them all your stuff all the time but you know you're going i faced uh i faced the cubs four times last year i'm going to have to figure out how to get those guys out you know three to four times a game all four times i pitch against them so there's definitely going to be some overlap there okay so let's talk about a thing that happened yesterday i think there was somebody on first and third uh one out i believe it was zero zero the the one score ended up happening on this at bat i think you were throwing because ty's sitting right next to me ty loves baseball we're watching it and Ty thinks you're going high heat just to blow it right by the guy like he's gonna go high instead you were throwing some breaking shit I think to try to pull a double play there after he fouls off like four or five of them is there a thought like okay now we bring that like are you playing that with the catcher in the middle of that like to keep him guessing how are those decisions made decisions made? Is it you signaling to him, him signaling to you? What is the kind of breakdown? Because that at bat was fascinating. It was like a very, it was a good joust.
It felt like between you, the catcher and the batter at the time. Yeah.
I mean, we both, the catcher has a pitch calm and I have a pitch calm, so I can basically tell him what I want. Um, and he, you know, tells me what, what he wants.
Um, so, and then, and then we have a lot of conversations before the game. Uh, you know, Joe was catching me yesterday.
He knows me really well. I know how he thinks.
Um, and so we can kind of, you know, skip some of the like inner intermediary steps of like, you know, okay, this is, you know, what we're thinking. thinking and we kind of just know what what each other's thinking a little bit a little bit more than uh you know probably you guys watching at home basically yeah i'd hope so that's good chemistry actually that's good chemistry because you're playing like poker you're playing poker with that batter right the batter is trying to guess what's coming that that is what's happening in there as i'm trying to learn about baseball i'm trying to figure out like the at the batter's trying to figure out what pitch you're throwing, right? That is kind of the reason why a tail is such a big deal, and the garbage cans are such a big deal.
That's kind of the game. You not giving it away and them trying to figure the fuck out? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a really good way of putting it. I'm going to get a read on you by the end of this.
I'm going to get a read. I'm going to try my best.
Ty has a question for you, Paul. Paul, going into the season, a lot of analysts are picking you to win the Cy Young and bringing up the question of, hey, could this guy set the single season strikeout record? Obviously, last year you had 170.
383 is a lot, and you were dealing with limited pitch counts in certain games last year. Is that something this year, I'm not saying you go into the year thinking like, hey, I'm going to set the single season strikeout record, but as you kind of get into things more, are you still hunting strikeouts, or are you trying, like in that situation Pat's talking about right there, like are you trying to maybe think about like limiting your pitch count more and like inducing more ground balls and stuff like that as opposed to in years past where it might just be

like hey i'm gonna try to set this guy down so that you can go deeper into games yeah i mean uh

the strikeouts will come um i think because you look at my game yesterday i think i was in uh

two strike counts like 14 times 14 or 15 times maybe 13 maybe 13. And I had seven strikeouts.
So you get into two strike counts, you're going to get strikeouts. Those will come.
We were, you know, that first and third situation with one out, a strikeout is great. A double play is even better because it saves you pitches.
I think that's all you know the art of pitching so uh um the single season strikeout record is great um making the playoffs and winning a world series is even better and that happens you know from throwing more pitches and and you know being on the mountain for for a longer period of time okay so let's talk about that what you just said there there, because winning a World Series as a Pittsburgh Pirate is a hilarious thing to hear if you're from Pittsburgh, but your entire preseason messaging here has been the complete opposite of that. AP Tone, Yinzer Legend, has a question for you.
Yeah, Paul, I appreciate you kind of had some comments about the 2013 wildcard game against Cincinnati. PNC only holds 40,000 people, but I think 500,000 people were there that night, according to stories that everyone says it.
And you gave respect to the guys that were on that team. And Kutch, Kutch is obviously still one of your teammates, was probably the only one still left on that team.
But you said, like, that should not be the bar or the standard for this city. The standard should be World Series.
Is that the messaging kind of going into the season, or what is the message in the locker room to start the year? Yeah, I mean, that's obviously something we look at because that's, you know, basically what I meant when I said that was, you know, if this is what they're going to show up for a wild card game, like imagine how they'll show up for a world series game in Pittsburgh. So that's kind of the, the mindset behind that.
And you know, it's, it's to win the division. That's, that's, that's been the messaging all spring and that's the messaging now.
And you know, we, we have the opportunity to do that. You know, got to win today, got to win tomorrow and, you know, when the opportunity to do that um you know gotta win today gotta win tomorrow and you know win uh win each day after that but um yeah it's gonna it's it's a cool opportunity you guys gonna be 161 and one we get it yeah yeah i i understand my opening miami got taken l there i guess let's win 161 straight as we head into the playoffs is number one seed and i'm sure that matters in baseball i would i would assume that yeah that's right okay good it does matter i know a lot about baseball i get it i understand the ins and outs of it the day-to-day but what you just said there about the world series imagine the boats oh behind pnc park there in that river just bopping over dead bodies to get back i mean that thing you wouldn't even it would be it would be packed up People on the bridge i mean the city would be upside down and i think the city just appreciates the fact that you're like hey this city like deserves it like no pirates say that you know going into the year the conversation around the pittsburgh pirates is always like another year ownership's just going to try to make money and uh our best players get traded away you're the first person and you are the first person who's been there who a guy.
And I know you don't like to hear that and all that, but you are the guy. And for you to say, like, let's go win this thing, that's a rally cry, brother.
You should be, Pittsburgh loves you, and for good reason. Bruce has a question for you.
Yeah, Paul, I know there was a lot of off-season talk about the addition of the Mariano Rivera cutter, and we didn't really see a ton of that on opening day.

But the two seam, 98, 17 inches of horizontal break, absolutely spicy.

Have you made a conscious effort to focus on adding movement with the velocity

instead of just cranking that four seam up as fast as you can?

And what is going through your head while you're painting that thing fucking high outside corner like that it's got to be the best feeling in the world yeah uh i mean my four seam naturally runs so some of the pitches you guys saw might have been four seams that got tagged as cutters so uh sorry sorry to ran on the parade there but it's a good question good research good question good question. Good research.
Good question. Did throw a couple two-seams and it has, I mean, it's been good.
Splanker was really good yesterday, so I didn't have to throw a ton of two-seams, but yeah, I mean, it's constantly just playing around with everything and when it goes right, it definitely feels good. So when you're in warm-ups and you're doing that thing with the fucking yeah the thing you know and then you're doing the things with the fucking football yeah and then you're throwing footballs core mall all that and then you you finally cue country roads still are we still queuing country roads yep yep always hell yeah hell yeah banger when you're going out there and you're starting your first pitches i assume you know what's good that day like is there is there a reason like if there's more humidity in the air like you might go to another pitch like when do you find out what is your shit like you said the splinker was working uh pretty good right there so we didn't need a lot of twos when do you find that out in mid game or is it like warm-ups you kind of know what it's going to be and who's and who's going to show up in your pitch count yeah a little bit of both but funny thing about warm-ups sometimes you got to just get the bad ones out of the way early and then it ends up being really good so can't put too much stock in warm-up in warm-up throws but uh i mean really the first inning of the first inning of the uh of the game um and the hitters will tell you what's working or not when you hit that little you because you're super humble but you do have a little sauce whenever that thing hits the whenever that thing hits the mitt and uh you're fun to watch brother you're donating a hundred dollars for every strikeout yet again to the gary sinise foundation like you did last year last year you had 170 strikeouts and ended up being 17,000 from you.
Others joined along, myself included, raised over $100,000, I do believe. Doing it again this year, $100 per strikeout.
You can match Paul Skeens like we will be doing yet again. Why the Gary Sinise Foundation and why are you choosing to do this again, brother? Yeah, I mean, for one, it's a veteran and first responder charity, a charity that helps veterans and first responders, which is basically being an Air Force guy and seeing the impact that it's had on my life and my family's life.
It's that i i feel i have to do so um that and uh it's it's a

good foundation where you know the money that you donate to to the group uh is going to go toward

toward helping people so holy shit not a not a ton of fluff yeah that's a that's a that's a big

smile there huh yeah but that fireman firefighter stash. Oh, my God.
You look right at home. Yeah.
A little taller than I think most, you know, because that's why your head's up there at the roof. But, boy, you look right at home there in South Baldwin.
Yeah. Yeah, South Baldwin.
Took a visit over there and got to toot the horn. Everything.
It was a good time. Did you get the hose out you get to use the hose you get to use the hose i didn't no they they you got to draw the line somewhere with that kind of stuff you can't you can't give a ball player a hose yeah but what if you got those uh remember those firefighter races those ladders yep where they're sprinting yep through those ladders they climbed it up then they pulled it did it again we need to see you do that i you really want to commit to this.
We need you on the speed ladders with the firefighters. And we appreciate the hell out of what you're doing for the city and how you're giving back through success.
170 strikeouts, about half a season with a pitch count where he had a perfect game, I think, going. Was it no hitter or perfect? Few.
No hitter. Okay, you do remember.
If it was a perfect game, you'd be like, let's not. Nah, I'm going.
Yeah, well,'m going yeah well ball stays in my hand bud but uh zmlb we can't wait to play with you in the show as you're a cover guy now and uh thank you for everything paul we'll see you soon awesome yeah appreciate y'all hey tell the lady we said hello tell the family we said hello tell pittsburgh we hi, and let's go 161 straight here.

Here we go. Yes, sir.
Love it. Love it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Skeen. Yay, Paul.
Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills.
Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign.
Get started at LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply.
If you want tools that stand the test of time without testing your wallet, Harbor Freight is the place for you. Expert engineers design and rigorously test Harbor Freight tools to bring you top quality.
Whether your next project is big or small, Harbor Freight carries a wide selection from hand tools to power tools to automotive tools and welding equipment. And with prices lower than other top brands, but with the same top quality, you're getting more for your money at Harbor Freight.
There are over 1,500 Harbor Freight stores in the U.S., so come see for yourself. Whatever you do, do it for less at Harbor Freight.
So pissed they lost yesterday.

Yeah.

So mad that that was scheduled ahead of time.

I bet.

We did send over a, hey, don't have to.

He's like, no, no, no, we're good.

We're good.

It would have been different if he would have got like shell,

but like he pitched good enough to win.

Yeah.

He's got a little sauce.

Like when that thing hits, you see a little pot.

There's like a little, how you do it?

There's a, you know, hi, hi.

Thank you. he pitched good enough to win.
He's got a little sauce. When that thing hits, you see a little how you do it.

You know?

It feels good. He's not a complete robot

is what I'm saying. He does have enough

robotic qualities that are

great to be

front man, organization man, number one

guy in the entire league. He has enough

of those robotic qualities. Like, hey, what are your hobbies?

Napping, I guess guess in between baseball stuff what do you uh what do you think about baseball it's the greatest sport of all time okay uh how do you feel about working love working yeah i love working getting better i think i owe it to everybody to work my hardest and become the best i can possibly okay you sound like a robot that was kind of planted here to be a baseball pitcher that is what you're thinking and then you see him do a little shit and it's like hold the phone down in there there's a dog and there has to be and i think at the pitching position what a perfect guy to lead baseball kind of going forward ty yeah i mean same deal his his stuff is you know there i wouldn't say there's a whole bunch of guys who if you're not a fan of that team they're like must watch in terms of pitchers he's definitely one of them and even you know like digs has said like the pirates and that's kind of that's that's what they do they did that a lot yesterday where he pitches great through you know six innings or seven innings and then somehow the bullpen comes in and blows it but when you have a guy that throws that hard and his stuff moves that much like he's one of those guys where it genuinely does feel like if i watch him pitch today like he might strike out 20 guys and they're just there are very very few maybe maybe like one or two guys who are like that in the majors. What an absolute dream for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Hopefully we take advantage of it. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a friend of the program.
He's from Indianapolis. He currently plays for the Bengals.
He won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. Ladies and gentlemen, fresh off of the Cincinnati Reds opening day parade, Teddy Cash.
Yay! Thanks for having me on, man. Thanks for coming, dude.
An indie landmark. Yeah, you'll be sitting over there if you want.
Sorry about the close quarters. Good Air Forces.
See you. Great Air Forces.
Sick chest lettuce there. Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I do like the gold in the hair. Yeah, it's a good idea.
Let a little cheese out, you know? Yeah. Yeah, let them know you still got it.
Heck yeah. Mic phone's muted, I believe, I hope.
Unless you just can't speak. You look great.
Thank you. There we go.
Is this playing weight right here? I'm like probably 304 right now, so probably about 10 more pounds. You look unbelievable.
Thank you. I mean, you look great.
We're a little lighter in the off seasons, you know. Yeah, we remember the milk story.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, you got to put it on weight.
I get a lot of questions about that. People think I can't actually do it, but I did do it.

Yeah, but that's kind of the thing.

We learned immediately afterwards.

And for those that don't know, Teddy in high school, I think 9th grade, 10th grade?

Yep.

9th grade and 10th grade drank a gallon of milk every single day because he needed to get bigger.

You needed to get bigger.

I was too slow.

Your dad said this. My dad said this, yeah.

Yeah, your dad, NFL guy.

Yeah.

Football guy.

So dad in NFL looked at old Teddy, freshman, sophomore year of high school,

and said, but I don't know how to tell you this.

You're too slow.

You're too small to play any other position other than offensive line.

That's it.

And to do that, you're going to have to gain weight.

So you chugged a gallon of milk every single day for two years straight, right?

Yep.

Most days.

We asked you if you think it worked and if you needed to do it.

And I think your immediate answer was probably not.

I think puberty would have helped out.

Do you think it is a big piece of your story, that entire thing? And do you still carry it into today? I don't drink as much milk. I do think it was fundamental in that crazy amount of weight game in that period, but I don't think you would need to do that to gain that much weight anymore.
Just protein shakes? Protein shakes, just a lot of calories. I mean, that's when I turn it on, you know, we've got work in a month.
You know, I up the calories, get up to three 15 and then report to work. What do you do? We do a lot protein there.
We just eat a lot of protein, a lot of like, you know, late night snacks, try to get a thousand calories in before bed. Uh, yeah, I got like, uh, they got these beef patties at Costco frozen money.
What do you do? You just, you just microwave it up. And then we're just housing those right there.
We put cheese. What about a sweet tooth? You about a sweet tooth? You got a sweet tooth? You know, I don't.
You don't have a sweet tooth? Not really. I mean, maybe some candy every now and then, but yeah, that's probably would help me if I had more dessert.
Yeah, but whenever you're done, not having a sweet tooth is good news, not bad news. That is.
That is. I have a sweet tooth, so anytime I try to lose weight, any diet I'm on, that is always the problem.
Because I'll get late night, 11 o'clock. Late night dessert.
Maybe we're touching the clouds a little bit hold just hold the phone are there any cookies here no but door dash actually can bring me mcdonald's soft baked cookies you can get three of them six of them maybe even a bucket of them yeah that's 11 30 this is seven minutes away express order do i want that yeah i do that's my issue you don't have that issue you're gonna be like marshall yonda when he retired hope. Hope so.
Or Joe Thomas. Beast.
Beast. Or Andrew Whitworth.
Whit looks great. He does.
Okay, so before we get into a full conversation with Teddy about Cincinnati Bengals, his life, and these hat sales to raise money and to make the world a better place, we have to send you off of ESPN. We'll continue on ESPN+, Disney+, YouTube, and TikTok Live.
TikTok's still going. Did you know that, Teddy? I did not.
They were going to have to sell it, and they were going to shut it down. That thing survived.
It did. Thrived, some would say.
A lot of people making money off it. Good for them.
Will you watch any of the college hoops tonight? I'm going to Tennessee, Kentucky tonight. Okay.
So are we. Let's go.
We'll see you down there. Let's enjoy the hoops.
Let's enjoy the NBA. Let's enjoy the NHL.
And we'll see you back here for Overreaction Monday. It's going to be spectacular.
Have the greatest weekend of all time. Be a friend.
Tell a friend something nice and might change their life. Okay, they're out of here.
Let's talk about your team. Yeah.
Everybody's getting money. Yeah.
How do you feel about it? You got to be pumped about it. This is what Cincinnati Bengals fans, I think, have been hoping for forever.
A team that spends, a team that's all in. Now all in now we got t jamar joey and then trey hendrickson they're saying they're going to try to keep him around there as well i hope so you enjoy what's going on i said heck yeah i mean we're keeping our best players in house i mean that's a big strategy for winning in the nfl is developing high picks into good players and then retaining them and i'm really happy for those guys those guys work hard they're those top three, I mean, that makes us a very serious offense.
Okay, so let's talk about the amount of drama, controversy potentially around these contracts. Feels like Cincinnati has had in the past these types of situations and they've ended differently.
I mean, you can go all the way back to Carson Palmer. Carson Palmer said, I'm going to quit if you don't get me out of here.
Instead, they keep the team. How much of the chatter in the locker room is like, what does the future hold for us?

Or do you guys just worry day to day?

You can't really focus on like T's situation or Jamar's or Trey Hendrickson's situation.

I think it's going to be a huge plus that we're not having like the hold in with Jamar.

And just, you know, so there's not that periphery distraction.

Overall, it's not a big deal.

I would say in an NFL locker room, but it can, when it builds up like that, it can be a negative. It got real loud every offseason.
Yeah. And this was the first time Joe, I think, was healthy during training camp.
Yep. And you guys still started a little slow.
And then you obviously make your run. You're lurking.
How do you describe last season? And, like, what is kind of the mentality going into next year? Well, I think not making the dance two years in a row. I mean, the pressure us i think everyone knows that and is taking it very serious i was you know checked in with them yesterday a lot of guys in there grinding okay yeah yeah because you were over there for the parade for the parade yeah how was that it was awesome since he's unbelievable it was funny because we sell hats and you know started at one and everyone was together really energetic and then just and since he just got progressively a little bit sloppier and sloppier throughout the day by 4 p.m it was it was a pretty funny crowd a little bit of a runaway a little bit of a runaway over there yeah you guys had a little bit of a uh you tied one on a little bit yesterday baby we had a night yeah we had a great night since he's fun man i don't you know good people great people great fan base unbelievable they're expecting you guys to win I think always everybody outside says can you build a roster with paying that much money to those amount of players do you think so I think so I think if you look at the the Super Bowl champion Eagles have a have a lot of money out to a lot of different positions so I think you know obviously it's going to come down to managing cap which I you know kind of confuses me overall I wouldn't say I'm a cap scientist.
Because some of these teams, does it exist for them? I'm not a cap scientist. You have to maneuver that with that.
But I think, you know, we have a lot of good players in the building, and hopefully we get some good rookies that contribute. And let's go.
It's a big year. Big year.
AJ has a question for you. Yeah, Ted, what do you think camp's going to look like this year? I know you guys have struggled getting off to a hot start.
And you always talk about what you can do to change up camp to try to, you know, switch things up in your favor. Do you have any idea what that might look like? I don't yet.
I think that obviously we have to change something, though, with, you know, these 0-2, 0-3 starts. So I think maybe spring might look a little different, too.
I don't yet. I think that obviously we have to change something though with these 0-2, 0-3 starts.
So I think maybe spring might look a little different too. I don't know what that's going to entail, but I know that probably some more playing time perhaps in the games, these preseason games for the starters.
That would be probably the easiest thing to change and try to switch up that early season mojo. How do you feel about preseason activity? That's such a every single it's not a conversation in reality until we get to it.
And then whenever we get to it, there's always the debate. Well, are they going to start? Is it rust or is it rest with the players? And then there's different strategies.
Obviously, there's teams that are top heavy with their money and they can't risk an injury, which could potentially be situation you guys are in so they kind of and then there's teams like the chiefs the chiefs spend a lot of money on the high end and they play as well and then there's teams that opt none of it what are your thoughts on you've been in the league a long time yeah so i mean i have kind of interesting perspective because you know early on in my career first four or five years that pre-season four ps4 was basically my last chance at a resume i was a you know had to go make the team in this game so i would play you know 85 to 100 of the snaps no tapping out no tapping out i mean that was like you know the obviously pre-season three was traditionally like the dress rehearsal and then every fringe guy all the starters rested and then that was our game so you know i do appreciate what the pre- means to a lot of guys going out there and fighting for a job it's been nice to sit down for a few later in my career but I'm a football player though so if coach is telling me to go play let's we're lacing them up is there something to the first time seeing full speed even if it's not reality I guess in joint practice do you guys do joint practices do them with? We did them with the Colts this year. Okay.
And the Bears. Have you done them in the past? Yep.
Fight every time? You know, I think the second day. So I think a good rule would be one day of joint practices because I think it's good work.
That second day, it gets a little sloppy, in my opinion. You think it's because people watch film and think, oh, that was a little on Buddy? Or do you think it's there sick of hitting the same person? I think it's a little bit of both.
Obviously, you might have a vendetta from a one-on-one the day before. You know, it's hard practices, too, so guys are tired now.
I mean, I think some guys probably start fights sometimes and get kicked out. I've seen that happen a few times.
You know what? This is a long... What period are we in right now? We're in period four.
This is a 20-period practice. It is 100 degrees.
100 degrees. I'm on the team.
I know I'm on the team. Yeah, why not a little...
A little one-two. Hey, bud.
A little one-two. Go to the showers.
Hey, bud. We want to work here a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right. I'll keep my helmet on.
You too. Bye.
Boom. Boom.
And then all of a sudden, it comes in. Yeah.
Yeah, you're right. I didn't even think about the gamesmanship happening.
There's a ton of it. You can handshake afterwards.
Good work. Nice job.
The worst is though when you don't get kicked out and now, I mean, we're completely exhausted from fighting and we line it right back up. Yeah, that's...
Oh, you think you're getting... No, no, no, no, no.
Red zone. That's awesome.
If Zach does that this year, Ted gets into a fight day two it's 105 degrees i heard you yeah i know what you're doing logan logan wilson last summer right then you two get into we did get into it and that's uh you know i think there's a certain amount of healthiness to that on a team just some chippiness and edgy in camp because camp is a pretty insane month of your life i mean you're either going to have a job at the end of it or not. And everyone's fighting for 50 spots out of 90 guys.
So I think it was good. But it was – Hell, yeah.
Yeah. I think I'm a little bit more worried if nobody on my team fights.
And we say that every year. AJ, isn't that kind of our big takeaway? Yeah, it's got to be a couple of them at least.
Because there is – and you can tell us if we're right or wrong wrong but there's a lot of media that cover the fights and they're like we want charges pressed there's people that are like this is disgusting and yada yada yada that's actual how some people feel about really okay yes that is actually talked about we then we come on these people are you know in the same world that we're in sports media and they're talking about all the things that could happen and obviously you can't be throwing helmets and yada, yada, yada. And then our dumbasses come on and we're like, this is going to happen.
These are actually kind of want it to happen. If nobody on your team does it, then you almost have more fear about your team going into the season than if everybody was to fight.
I want to say whoa more so than go. And we talk about that and people think we're the dumbest people on earth, but think that's real i do too i think if you believe that you're totally missing a huge context and cultural part of football i mean this is a violent game and guys are out there we're hitting each other it's four weeks straight of just us and yeah like you said it's better to want to hold your athletes back than to have to rally the troops every single day you think enough dogs coming through society for society for football to continue to be? How many years have you been in the league? Ten.
Going on ten. Congratulations.
Thank you. Let's go.
Thank you. Pretty crazy.
Very good. Frank, I had a shot in gallons of milk.
Yeah. Big-time dreams, obviously.
It's in the family. But do you think there is a dog supply for the NFL to continue to go the way it is? I do.
I think a lot of kids are playing good. I think the seven-on-seven culture could get a little bit interesting.
I think that youth football could use a refresh as far as maybe no pads or helmets until seventh grade. Let's let everyone touch the ball.
You're a bigger kid in second, third grade. They just put you at right guard.
I mean, of course the kid doesn't love football so much. He's just grinding at right guard.
Why wouldn't he want to go play basketball or something else, rugby, to touch the ball, be part of the offense? Interesting. I didn't even think about scaring people away from being offensive linemen.
Maybe just let them happen to figure that out through a little bit of a development of the sport. Everyone, you know, like a rotating flag football type thing where you get a couple rips at QB in the game.
You can spin it? Oh, yeah. Yeah? Oh, yeah.
I won Sam Hubbard's foaling tournament two years ago. Oh, really? When you're throwing a football at the pins.
At the pins. How far of a throw is that? 10 yards? 15 yards? Yeah.
I think probably closer to 20. Did you roll it or is it a throwing? No, you throw it.
Yeah. Are you trying to find a pocket or is it like standard bowling? Yeah, standard bowling.
Trying to go right down the middle, really. And the owner of the folding warehouse has a really interesting technique.
He launches it up like a pop shot and he's really hard to beat. He's a very good player.
So, backspin? Yeah, he launches it up almost like a really high cornhole toss. And hits the front or the middle? Hits the middle and just bounces around and knocks pins down.
That's chain reaction. You ever do duck pin bowling? We did down at Indie Pins Mechanical.
Have you ever done that? Oh yeah, I've been to pins many times. This might be my new favorite place, to be clear.
It's a cool spot. Very cool.
I mean, when you have the whole place, it's awesome. It is awesome.
All the pinball.

What is it?

Pinball.

Pinball, yeah.

Pinball machines.

Jenga.

Every game.

A little sit-down soccer thing that I busted Gumpy's beer.

Just so many of these little games, it was a good time.

The duck pin bowling really had Ty on the ropes.

Big time.

Really?

Ty was pretty boozed up trying to figure it out.

Tough to figure out.

I figured it out by the end, but it's all about the chain reaction. You got to just throw it as hard as you fucking can and hope every pin falls down.
Force on the pins. Yeah.
A couple of the employees, we were asking for tips because they had more employees than we had people there because we were running the whole place out. Normally, it's massive events, and they didn't really have to do anything.
We were like, we'll just kind of sit right here. We got this whole place.
So we started asking them.

They were a friendly group of people.

And we said, like, what's the thing?

And all the guys said was chain reaction.

And that's all Ty needed to hear.

So Ty, for the rest of the time, was just fucking throwing this ball.

Where's the chain reaction?

For two hours, it was unfixable.

Fouling or foaling, I've never done before.

It's really fun.

I actually really like it. Because I think it's a good barometer for some of your guys you know.

Can you throw a football?

Let's see you throw it in front of everyone.

It's a good barometer.

How should we be talking to you going forward?

Can you throw a ball or not?

You don't have to catch it all either, right?

Nope.

But you have to play defense if it bounces.

And other people's balls can also knock your pins down.

If there's a wild game going on down there and it flies in, you've got to keep your board. Wow.
Wait until you get introduced to Thunderbuckets out here, buddy. All right.
It's an active game. You've got to play defense.
I like what you've done. There's a couple changes since I was here two years ago.
Yeah, is there? Has there? Your dad came up outside. He was like, what are you doing here? I'm like, what? He's building a deck.
Yeah, he's building a gazebo out there? Yeah, on top of the deck. Yeah.
Obviously, it's small enough so we don't have to license it. He looks good, man.
He's a bloodhound. Yeah.
You know, they said like those dogs, those bloodhound dogs, if you put them on a scent, they'll go until they like die Yes. That is just what they are.
That's Tim McAfee.

As soon as we decided that we were going to try to maybe put somewhere right outside that we could sit that isn't just grass that kind of gets all muddy, he was like, I'd do a deck two days.

What's that?

I could pull a deck up in two days.

He's grinding out there.

He's a bloodhound.

This guy almost died out there yesterday.

I think I had to take him on water.

I'm like, why don't you sit down?

Sweat dripping all over him, limping because he pulled his calf on St. Patrick's Day.
He's like, nah, I'm good. He's pouring concrete for 10 hours or two days ago.
Unbelievable. Yeah, he's a weapon.
Absolute weapon. I do appreciate the fact he came up to your car and was like, what's going on here? What are you guys doing here? I'm on the show, man, but you must be Mr.
McAfee. I mean, you guys are almost indistinguishable.
Yeah, he's awesome. Yeah.
He's jacked, too. He's in here working.
He is. Yeah, he's absolutely jacked.
Moving the water around out there, I'm impressed. Yeah, he's got three guns on him, too.
You got the answer right. Yeah, I got the answer right.
Tone has a question for you. Yeah, Ted, you guys have had some kind of movement on the O-line with guys leaving and coming in the last few seasons, and now you have it again.
Kappa's leaving. I mean, Trent Brown, I believe, is gone as well.
But at least all five projected were on the team last year. Does that make it a little bit better than a guy coming from the outside and trying to join you guys for this year? I think it's always O-line is such a continuity position.
So whenever you can retain guys that have worked together and had a lot of reps together is a positive. You know, I'm excited for Lucas Patrick coming in.
I think that's a great signing. He's another year 10 guy, been solid everywhere he's gone.
And, you know, I think it's going to be great, healthy competition for a couple of guard spots. I think there's a lot of guys who could take it.
I think that's healthy for a team. And I'm excited to work with, you know, the guys that are there So you lose Lou and Arumbo.
Any other members of the coaching? Obviously the entire defense. A lot of defense, yeah.
Anybody on the offense? We got a new online coach, Scott Peters. Okay, how do you feel? I feel great.
I've talked to him. I haven't met him in person yet.
I was going to call him and meet him up last night, but I was like, ah, we're just hanging. After opening day.
opening day but no sounds great man i think that'll be that'll be great for everyone to get you know a new a new voice a new you know way of working i think that's always a positive or can be um you know i had a lot of respect and love for frank pollock but um and then losing town here yeah yeah yeah very pumped i was happy for him yeah me too don't, your guys is, that was an interesting storyline of last year because we all have respect for Lou Anarumo. We all know that Lou Anarumo is a good DC, but it felt like the defense was potentially, you know, and now you have the sack King on that defense as well.
It's like, how much better can the defense get? I guess that is the big question mark. I guess that is the big deal over there.
I think it'll be great. Was it injuries we didn't pay attention to on the defensive side? I think there's always an element of that.
I mean, obviously we were in some high scoring, one score games. I think the narrative's a little different if we pull out at least three of those.
Really what it comes down to is just wins and losses. I think that the defense would have taken less heat had we been able to pull out some of those one-score games.
In-season hard knocks. Not bad.
Okay. First time ever on it? Yeah.
Not bad. Barely noticed.
And we had the quarterback thing, too, and barely noticed that. I think those guys, they did a great job.
I mean, it really was not infringed at all. Congrats, NFL Films.
I thought it sucked. I think it was good, too, to show everyone.
I thought it was a good, well-produced show. I thought so, too.
Whenever they were showcasing how, I think you guys were playing Steelers. It was, the first episode.
And they were literally going from Tomlin's messaging on Wednesday morning to Zach's messaging on Wednesday morning. And it was crazy how much they mirrored each other, but then also like, ooh, this is what they're thinking.
This is what they're thinking going in yeah and then the studying of the players and then tom and i think says the gp like what they're saying about you right now is this and then hilton was like this is exactly what it is i think that was a view that nobody's really got to see before just like the office did you watch the off season one of giants i didn't poor poor giants for that one but yeah i don't think anyone no one wanted to do it this year. Everyone was like, no, we can't have that.
What you guys did, career assassination potentially for two guys. But that's also the first time we ever got to see it.
Just like it was the first time we ever got to see two teams preparing for each other. Watching Zach work was interesting.
Has he always been like that? Has Zach changed since you've got to know know him because obviously he was a young head coach when he gets the gig over there but it was a showcase of the head coaches for a lot of that hard knocks i don't think he's changed much i mean i you know he's obviously i think he's delegating a little bit more now um and being more of a head coach and involved with the you know in all facets um but yeah it was great to see i love the division aspect of the show did you expect the you expect the Ravens have that castle that they had? I did not. I didn't.
I didn't. That thing showed up on a drone.
I'm like, so sick. That's really cool.
That's an underrated part of the NFL though, is how cool the facilities are. I would say.
Okay. Let's talk about yours.
See, I love our cozy facility. I love it.
I think for me, it's been really cool in my career. This is the first time that I've got to work downtown.

Because New England was an hour south of Boston.

Miami was about 45 minutes north.

So, I mean, you're pulling up downtown early morning.

People in their peacoats smoking cigs.

I just love the feel of...

Coffee in hand.

Yeah, just driving downtown for work like everybody else.

Okay.

Do you like walking across the street to the practice field?

I don't mind it.

Did you see that one video? Was it a Hyundai? Oh, that came close? Yeah, oh yeah. I know.
Watch it, I know. You need to watch that.
Especially we got a $40 million wide receiver. Let's make sure we're...
No, they got on the traffic detail pretty hard after that one. Tightened it up.
Tighten it up.

AJ has a question for you, Ted.

So, Ted, I see that you are

on the executive committee with the NFL

PA. Like, what's your expanded role?

And is there any kind of changes you're going to try to implement?

Well, I was very grateful

for my peers to elect me as the executive

committee. Thank you.

For he's

a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow.
For he's a jolly good fellow. What you doing? That's what they said when they elected you.
Yeah. We didn't quite chant.
It was the fourth day of our Maui conference, so I think everyone was getting a little. Oh, you guys were in the Four Seasons out there in Maui? We were Grand Wailea.
Okay, yeah, really nice spot. We're keeping it stateside from now on.
Oh, really? I think so. I didn't know if we were upping the fees and then maybe taking the trip to fucking Japan.
It's been a standard fee, and I've been, you know, I told the guys too, I've been really impressed since how when I joined the union about year two, when I really started getting involved, the player perception of the NFLPA is much more positive now come on i think uh i think lloyd's done a great job obviously jc treader has you know really fundamentally elevated our union and and jalen reeves maven has done a great job as president now too okay so we're saying that morale is high amongst the members felt high in maui and i think well but i think we had we had a productive meeting though and you know to be fair we are in the middle of a of a 10-year cba so it's not we have don't have too many pressing issues but to get to uh aj's question you know i i think that they've been onboarding me i've been in a few few meetings with them um you know i think you know what we're going to do on the ec is kind of delegate roles that people are interested in and just do a light investigation into things and see if we can expand some of our processes. How are the guys feeling? My big thing is I'd like to educate our membership more on just the standard things so that a big FAQ packet that you get in your locker, almost like a pocket constitution but for our cba and our rules and policies just so everyone can reference it ce chief uh executive committee and then um faq frequently asked questions yeah down there get those out there guys we'll read those i'm sure and uh i think that is uh right aj the only thing that is exactly how every one of them you one of them.
Every player. Everybody.
Make it like 10 pages. Make it 10 pages.
It's going to be very small but I think there's I get a lot of repeat questions just on a couple fundamental things of our union so I think if we just put it in there. Can I pitch some ideas? Yeah.
Let's hear them. So you guys need to have a public speaking instruction.
Okay. Because everybody's story is worth money whenever they retire, no matter who they are.
They can make maybe a little bit of money speaking or turn it into a full-time career where they make a bunch of money. I think providing ideas that can profit, like guys can profit off of, is something that the NFLPAPA has an obligation to do.
Okay. You know, because the lifetime insurance feels like that's going to be difficult to figure out.
You know, who's going to do it? Is the NFL going to give that up ever in a CBA negotiation? Hopefully one day they figure out how to make that a marketing thing. Will the NFLPA ever fight enough for that because of all the other shit that'll potentially go against it? You know, that's kind of how negotiation goes.
But I think the NFLPA should take time trying to figure out how guys, when they retire, can continue to profit. And not just some guys.
Like, I know there's a broadcast boot camp. I was denied to it three times.
Shout out to them. Really? Yeah, I think I'm the first person.
What a miss. Yeah, no shit.
Fuck them all. Why is that guy kind of contentious towards some fuck you? Okay.
The whole thing. i understand that's an avenue but like public speaking is an actual in like content creation like i think that works for every industry too if you can be a good communicator i mean you can go into any industry and tell your story yes i think so i think that's something that uh so do you think this would be more like a rookie onboarding workshop or anyone can do it at any time i think it should be something like people sign up for it yeah you can bring in different like public speakers like i would probably go whether i'm a public speaker or not but you could probably pull anybody you wanted to if they were able to work with nfl players and then just set up like seminars on how to set up a speech how to tell a story like when you should how you should approach you should approach these speaking fees.
Because, you know, there's that old adage about the 80% broke, right? That was the 30 for 30. Broke is what it was called, I believe.
80% of professional athletes were broke. With the way the world is now, and content being king, and stories mattering more than ever, if somebody's able to make it to the NFL, their story somewhere is valuable, has some sort of value for it.
So I think that'd be a cool thing. Even maybe like have like a standard studio that you could go and use it in.
Record it. Yeah.
Free time. Content creation area.
Boom. Yes.
Because I think that is money. Like I think guys can make money.
I love that. As opposed to like, hey, we want free insurance, which is always the thing.
Always the thing from like retired guys. Yeah.
We want money. We want free insurance, which by insurance which by the way should get it we appreciate that but if you could figure out ways for them to make fucking money i think that'll that could be uh i think that is a that's truly a responsibility one thing i encourage guys to do especially young guys is take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program definitely i got my nba while i was playing in the nfl through iu and through our tuition reimbursement program took me five off seasons so theseseasons.
So these are FAQs? These are FAQs. These are FAQs.
And then I have who you call for that and who will get information because we had great people at the PA. You've got to submit your forms.
You've got to get a C or above to get your class paid for. I got one F.
Yeah, but you just said what was it. Accounting.
Oh, man. And Kelly's hard.
Kelly School of Business is not easy. It was not not a slouch mark cuban went through there yeah so yeah i do believe the um accounting is effort too a lot of effort a lot of effort and it really the thing that killed me was some of the accounting equations they have like the same value but on both sides of the equation so that didn't make any sense to me why wouldn't they just cancel out yeah i think i could actually teach you teach you guys some things.
There's some flaws in your system here. Better be good at Excel too.
Better be good at Excel. This guy got a spreadsheet.
Phil, you're CFO Phil. He is a Excel spreadsheet fucking guru.
It's a good trait to have. Hey, what is blah, blah, blah, blah from blah, blah, blah? Then bang, bang, boom, boom, boom,, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah lot of the impact.
Now, does it affect your neck differently if two guardian caps hit and then it doesn't let the helmet slide off? Like, does it catch it off? Now it's a longer. So now it's like a drag hit to where, like, you know, two helmets hit and usually just bounce off or, like, ricochet.
Do you do, um okay so you don't want to say too much about yourself obviously in the world that we're in with concussion talk but let's say after a practice would you normally have like a soreness or a buzzing or something in your head and then with guardian cap on you feel less of that like how do you judge if the guardian cap is working i think you know the early days of camp is when you really feel like when you first start hitting in those long hitting days when you come off you know your head could be ringing a little bit or you're sore and you're you've taken some hits i think the guardian cap did eliminate a lot of that i would say okay so a benefit it is no i i believe in the product i think that you know we should i'd like to see what the drag test or something, but I think overall it's been a net positive for our players. AJ, any questions? As far as the guardian cap situation, I think that's very, uh, it's true.
Like all these new age helmets, Ted, you know, they build them to look like horrendous, you know, in my opinion, I guess, because they want ricochet shots, right? They want you to, they don't want it to, I guess, have like sustained, you know, contact. But when it comes to those guardian caps, what if you ever strap two of them on and say, Hey, I'm wearing two guardian caps.
You're wearing one condoms. My head's much better.
Yeah. Just like the two condom thing always works.
Are you saying we're double wrap guardian caps? Yeah. What if you, what if you don't really want it? Yeah.
You're double wrapping. He is only a single wrap.
Are you better? Are you not going to get CTE? No, that's 60%, right? So what they were saying is 20%? Yeah. So if it's three caps, one collision.
Produces 60% of the impact. Yeah.
Was it weird, though, Ted? I think it would look weird, but if they had like a supplement for even more, I guess. I mean.
Was it weird, though, coming out of the Guardian cap when you got to the first preseason game or whatever when you actually had like, oh, this is the contact I am used to minus the Guardian cap? Was that an adjustment? I just, I think no, not really. The Guardian cap is really light.
Ours are black though. So it kind of gets kind of hot on your head.
I just think, I think the film looks better without him because it's kind of like we look kind of goofy. Like my head's so head's so huge and i'm you know practice film looked that was like the biggest adjustment i had to be i was like this kind of looks kind of goofy here but works yeah but you're saying it works so that's the only thing i mean you can even feel though like my helmet from 2016 and to now i mean it's a much different weight our helmets now are very like lighter yeah heavier or lighter yeah heavier you like it it's heavier now heavier now what i like heavier i think heavier is better but i thought they were going lighter for all these new age when i hold my two i think it's a stark difference of just like you know those rubber square not rubber square pads whatever that was faux leather pads in the helmet you know they wore in 2016 now i have like the form fitted scanned mold of thick whatever material that is i feel that it's much heavier so you got a nice girthy material surrounding your head inside of the helmet scan to your head you put a you put a sock on your head and then they put you in a head scan what and then your helmet has like your signature on it's pretty cool that is very cool yeah i think that's like racing it sounds like it is like a racing helmet almost because you get form fitting in there form fitting heavier but it feels better more comfortable than the 16 helmet i'd assume yeah definitely not you know sometimes you know when you get really hard you hear that like sharp ring i don't know if i'd make sense to anyone but yeah kind of yeah took that away haven't, knock on wood, haven't felt that in a while.
Haven't got a concussion in a while. Ty has a question for you.
It hasn't happened yet, but there's been talks about them outlawing the tush push. Now, I'm not going to ask whether or not you think they should, but as a guy who's right in, you know, like kind of the line of fire there, and granted you guys don't do it a whole bunch with Joe, but what is just your opinion on that entire situation? Because a lot of teams are very successful at it, a lot of teams aren't, and I think that's one of the reasons they're trying to outlaw it.
Well, I think that point, with only one team really being elite at it, kind of validates the point why it would be a good strategy. And I have a lot of respect for Jason Kelsey and now Cam Juergens that they do it so much.
I mean, that is a brutal place to be. And they are very effective at it.
The Eagles obviously train that a lot. I don't think that – I mean, I think that would be kind of weird to ban something like that.
No one's been hurt so far, I guess. I mean, knock on wood again.

Not too hard.

You don't have a guardian couple.

Yeah.

True.

But, you know, they're so effective.

I mean, other teams have tried it.

I'm a big believer in just the traditional QB sneak.

I think that that, you know, is an effective play

and obviously an important play to be able to execute.

And they've taken it to a new level.

So I wouldn't want to see that banned.

Just draft that kid from Florida that's coming out.

Yeah, 370 or 380 or 480.

I thought it was a new level, so I wouldn't want to see that band.

Just draft that kid from Florida that's coming out.

Yeah, 370 or 380 or 460. I thought he was 460.

He started at 370, 380 whenever he was a freshman.

Now he's 460.

I remember him coming to Florida.

I did not know that he is already eligible for the draft.

They've given him the ball.

Oh, yeah.

They've given him the ball before.

He's 400 pounds.

Good luck. Yeah.
Hopefully he's slow no yeah he ran a real slow 40. yeah but if it's on your team he's also running right over your back that should be a good yeah that'd be a good time for a nice center in the middle another thing like how philly does it too is i mean obviously they have a lot of great players but if you watch their t tush-push, Maialata is coming a little bit behind

and then adding his big self in there.

They've strategized it out and made it into something

that has been kind of unstoppable.

They're saying the momentum currently is that they're going to ban the tush-push.

There's a report coming out of the NFL League meetings

down there with the competition committee.

I think there's a chance that they ban it on the precedent of like former special teams, field goals. You remember they used to push.
Oh yeah. The linebacker just go get the D tackle.
And then they banned that for that particular play. And I think back in the day, there used to be pulling and pushing a little bit more that they banned.
I don't know. It feels like that plays.
I'm worried about that place existence after next week's meetings. Like legitimately, I think it's well they can do whatever they want well look what they did with the extra point yeah look what they did with the extra point yeah whenever that became like a i thought that's been kind of successful though to move it back i think so too i think we probably hit a little bit of a kicking regression this past couple years as far as percentage wise right yeah i mean the kickers are doing just fine i know they are they are, but I think we went on a run there for a while of really expecting all kicks to go in.
I think a lot of kickers took some heat, really just regressing back to the mean of what a professional kicker does. I think that's good analysis.
I think it's not easy to do that. Not easy to do that.
You're not on field goal team anymore, right? No, always on field goal team. Is that the worst gig no i i did scoring points and it's another snap for player performance shot to the nfl pa yeah on the player performance negotiation way to go on that little bonus money at the end actually make up for how much you played versus how much your contract value is offensive linemen eat normally off of that i believe young dbs do a lot of good on that i think we have our first million dollar pp bonus coming out this year really yeah so congrats i don't know who it is but congrats to that young gentleman congratulations yeah how does that go against the salary cap doesn't it does not no that's a bonus that is out of a different pool um so explain what this is for people that don't know what this is, there is a bonus fund that has been created.

I don't know how long it's been around.

It's been around since I've been in the league

where it matches up what your contract is

versus how much you actually contributed.

And then they try to make up the value for that in a bonus.

I don't know if it snaps.

So it's all snaps-based.

It's how many snaps you played,

what your contract ranks amongst guys in your position playing. And that's really just about it.
It's a way to incentivize guys who aren't making on a rookie deal that contributed 95% of snaps. They get a nice bonus at the end where the guy making $25 million, playing the same position, same amount of snaps is way less.
Whatever weight is in the equation is way less. I made like an extra $80,000 my first couple seasons.
It's a big check, too. Like right in the middle of the offseason, March 15th, saved me a couple times.
Yeah, bingo. Yes.
Because we've had a pretty good offseason. Saved me a couple times.
Early on, you don't have that much saved up. You don't get a check for four months now we get now we get paid on 34 weeks really yep i did not know that that's league-wide i'm pretty sure yeah you're pretty sure you're smart executive well i know i don't want to speak for every team i'm on board i actually voted against it because just because you know i just give my it's my money and i want it now but then i forgot about it and we had passed it and it was like you know mid you know early april and i was like oh man you know you got a check i'm like oh nice yeah this is not a bad got some cash flows coming in i thought i thought it was i was like budgeted out of what i had for the year and all we get another way another half coming there's more on the way let's go that's good news yeah aq shipley used to eat off his portfolio.
Oh, yeah. Like $200,000, $300,000.
He used to be so pumped, as he should be. Yeah.
I mean, that was a million dollars going to somebody. Yeah, sure, with the Jets linebacker.
Got 1.1. There you go.
So you'd wonder, like, Purdy, you know? Definitely going to. How did he not get a million bucks? Yeah.
What are you guys doing? You don't like Purdy either? QBs must be a little bit. I don't know, though.
I like Purdy, though. I'm rooting for him.
Oh, God. I didn't know if you were.
It sounds like NFLPA doesn't want to give him any bonuses. That's what it sounds like to me.
No, it doesn't. Yeah, it does.
Yeah, it does. Sounds like you're getting downloaded the wrong information right now.
Teddy, we appreciate you, man. We'll see you at the game tonight.
Thank you so much. Always great coming in.
This is an indie landmark, man. A lot of guys appreciate that you do the show here in Indianapolis.

So thank you so much.

Come on, come on, come on.

Ten more pounds until when's everything gets started back up?

April 21st, day after Easter.

Yeah, 420 is when the testing starts, right?

No, no, that's changed now too.

The first week of camp is the only time you can be tested for marijuana.

That's it?

That's it. All year? That's it.
Stop after July 4th and you're good. NFLPA.
NFLPA coming through. FAQ.
Yes, that is. Yes, that is.
Yeah, that's right there at the bottom. Nice little asterisk.
By the way, celebrate America. Go ahead and light a couple up.
And then we are done until the end of the first week of training camp as a team. Usually put the pads on and you can enjoy a chill evening, fellas.
Yeah, because that becomes an intelligence and discipline test as opposed to anything else. Good work by you guys making that happen.
And good work with Cincy Hat Company. Thank you so much.
Still raising money? Big time. Big sales day yesterday.
We've done stuff in Indianapolis right down the street in Lawrence is the village of Marici, and that's where most of the funds have gone, and they built a brand-new condo building for adults with disabilities. Let's go.
Our big goal this year is we're going to bring infrastructure into Cincinnati. I can't wait to announce some of the things we're doing.
We're developing right now. The dev team is rolling.
Can't thank the Cincy fans enough for all their generosity. We want to make sure there's things in the Cincy community for these people.
FAQs for the dev team would be how long has this been the vision? You you know like you becoming a gap pretty much between two states doing something for a foundation and a mission that you obviously care a lot about having one built over in cincinnati is awesome that that has to be dream come true whenever it comes to this type of philanthropy for sure unbelievable how this has unfolded i think one of the things that makes it so special is how organic it was. I didn't set out to sell any hats.
I made this hat, and people loved it. And the volume of hats we've sold has been able to do real, fundamental infrastructure change for these people.
So we're going to go hard forever at it. I saw you had a news reporter asking you a question yesterday about your hat, and then he said, you get emotional about how much you have feeling? Awesome.
Yeah, I get emotional for the Reds. Let's have a...
Well, yeah. I'm on a float in a parade, and my emotions are I'm flying high right now, brother.
That was awesome. All right.
Well, I'm sure the Bengals fans are pumped that they have you in the city. Congrats on all the success thus far.
Thank you for making the world a better place. Thank you for stopping by.
Do you want to do a giveaway of some sort? I don't want to put you on the spot. You said you could throw a football well, though.
Yeah, let's go. I brought you guys a bunch of gear, too.
Got you some tanks. Got you a bunch of hats in the green room.
Cincy hats? Oh, yeah. All right.
Well, I mean, I'll wear them, I guess. I'd like to see one on the desk maybe a couple times.
I will for you. It doesn't have to be a mainstay, but throw it up there.
You saw the Bengals social media team dunk on me? You see that? I did. I did.
I did. That was good.
That was good dinner. That was good.
They're pretty good. That was really good.
That was really good dinner. Now, I will say, the Cincinnati Bengals fans, yeah, they're passionate.
They are. I love them.

And they love you.

They'll love you more if you're able to win them some money.

Is there footballs down here?

Yes, there are.

All right, Teddy, let's do this.

We appreciate the swag that you're going to give us.

Are you connected over there to your headphones?

Yeah.

No, no, no. You can get up and move?

Yeah.

Okay.

Why don't you grab one of these balls?

Okay, Teddy.

Where do you want to throw it into?

Do you want to throw it into that hoop? Do you want to throw it into that hoop? Do you want to throw it in do you want to throw it into? Do you want to throw it into that hoop?

Do you want to throw it into that hoop?

Do you want to throw it in the net in front of the bear?

Do you want to throw it into a trash can and thunder buckets?

Where would you like to put that particular duke that is in your hand right now?

Let's drop it in the bucket.

In one of these buckets?

Is that cool?

I get the whole beer pong.

I think you should have to call a section of at least, is it like the back three?

The front three? I'm going to try and hit this front middle one. Front middle one.
Okay, from us. So if you're looking at it straight on, it would be the left one right behind the front cup.
If you were looking at it from the front. I'm looking at it right in the middle here.
The row of three, the middle one. Yeah, sorry.
I got it. Yeah, this one closest to us right in the middle.
If Teddy Karras is able to bury this ball into that particular bucket right over there, we'll give 30 people $500 to repost this. Say something nice to somebody and put the easiest way to pay him.
Teddy, in his Cincy hat, raising money for a good cause. Can he spin it? Too strong.
Way too strong. Missed all the buckets.
Missed all the buckets. He lifted today.
Recalibrate, recalibrate. Did you lift today i did not you look jacked though thank you yeah are you working out all year round do you take down time no i mean i do like the start of the off season i'll do light lifts um but now i'm grinding in my garage in florida hell yeah it's fun hold on bucket.
That was way too short.

Recalibrated.

30 people, $500.

Once again, he overshoots a recalibrate.

Recalibrate.

Sorry, guys.

Sorry, is there any more balls done or no?

Yes, there are several.

Several do.

Let's do a different target.

Let's do a different target.

Same one right here.

Okay, same one on the right side.

All it has to do is hit the middle one closest to this stage.

If he's able to do that, 30 people, $500! Take a little off or move back, maybe. I'm not playing your games.
I'm done. I respect that.
I do respect that. Good work, man.
Thanks, fellas. Good luck with everything.

We appreciate the hell out of you.

Thank you for stopping by.

We'll see you tonight.

All right.

Have an incredible weekend, everybody.

We're going to just hold your horses down.

I'm not embarrassed now for my throws.

You play hoops?

No.

Marginally.

Marginally. You think you can put a basketball into that hoop right over there?

I bet he does.

He does.

From right here? Let's try it. All right, Teddy.
If Teddy Karras is able to put this basketball into the hoop to his right, 40 people waiting $500. That's right.
Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

It's great because AQ did the same exact thing.

We knew you were done, and then we got you to do another one.

Now we're just making fun of you.

That's going to be a horrible clip.

You almost broke your ankle. It's even better.
You said shot of my life. You're a ledger, man.
Appreciate you coming by. Thank you, guys.
All right. Have an incredible weekend.
Let's enjoy these Sweet 16 games tonight. Let's enjoy the weekend of sport.
I believe golf is happening. Scotty Scheffler was like 7-under through 7.
Yep. I don't know where he's at right now.
now houston open houston open so scotty's golfing that should be electrifying to check out as well we will see you on monday be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change their life it was great to see you aj uh we're in this thing together never forget it team on me team on three you got anything to say team let's go big year. Big year.
One, two, three, team.

Goodbye.

Calling all fun lovers and memory makers, Texas invites you to cheer from our stadiums and dance like no one is watching.

Culture seekers can find the art that truly inspires.

Wow.

And from our shopping hubs to our chic boutiques, fashionistas will never leave empty-handed. Texas is an unforgettable experience that's waiting just for you.
Visit TravelTexas.com and plan your trip today. Let's Texas.
Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a kingmaker. He had wealth, fame, and power.
What's up? Welcome to New York! Until it all came crashing down. Federal investigators raiding two homes owned by hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor. As Diddy heads to trial, we trace his remarkable rise and fall and what could be next.
Listen to Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio.

Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.