PMS 2.0 1309 - St. Paddy's March Madness Monday With Darius Butler, Rick Pitino, Greg Sankey, Tom Izzo, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this St. Paddy's Madness Monday, March 17th, 2025.
This program starts now. Paddy! That's right, a lad from Ireland way back in the day who eliminated all the snakes from Ireland.
We celebrate the shit out of him today. Happy St.
Patrick's Day to everybody on Earth. Obviously, it's a holiday that is supposed to revolve around having a good time, celebrating life, and maybe having a booze cocktail or two.
Maybe a little green beer. Maybe smoke a little green tree.
Have the time of your life. And in memory of not only St.
Patrick, but your Irish friends who like to enjoy the shit out of life. Now, I'm not saying life is always good for the Irish folks.
I've been a very blue-collar crew since the very beginning. And if you look at the history of what the Irish have done for the United States of America, I think people would have a lot more respect for what the Irish have done and what they've built and who they fought for and how they fought for this particular country.
But on this St. Patrick's Day, all we say is c'est launcia.
And we hope you all get a chance to enjoy life for a little bit in honor of your Irish brethren. Now, with that being said, we decided to stay in the blue-collar jeans, and we have two Italians on today, okay? Two of the greatest Italians in sports history.
Coach Izzo of Michigan State, greatness, icon, obviously, for the Spartans, will be joining us in the next hour. And the godfather of New York, Coach Patino of St.
John's, Johnny's, the rise of the red storm on Vice is currently electrifying. He'll be joining us in about 19 minutes or so.
And then at 1240, we'll have the commissioner of the SEC, Greg Sankey. Okay, he's got 14 teams in the tournament.
Nobody's pumped. That's a record in the history of the tourney.
How many teams did they have like 10 years ago? Like six or something like that. Four maybe.
Then he got eight. Then they were down to six.
And post-COVID, you start looking at the numbers of how much the SEC has invested in basketball. Now they have a record 14 teams in the NCAA tournament, which is obviously a record.
Can't wait to talk to Sankey about that and let him know everybody's pissed. Everybody's pissed.
No league is good enough to have 14 teams in the tournament is what people are saying on the internet and around the world, but also most people are saying West Virginia got screwed. West Virginia, the Mountaineers.
Now, listen, has it been the highest of highs for the Mountaineers over the last five, ten years in sports? Our rifle team just won another national championship. Boom! How you doing? Keep it moving.
Our gymnastics team I believe is a top 40 program on earth. There's other sports that are obviously soccer team dominating both men's and women's.
So you talk about sports at West Virginia there's been a lot of success but at the men's basketball, men's football, there hasn't been you know the national moment for a while and I think that was held against us. Coach DeV now there's a lot of future conversation about him maybe leaving west virginia which sucks completely because he and his son uh you know came into west virginia uh in the city in the state in the university really love these these two you know they're saying he's gonna leave i'm hoping he doesn't i'm hoping that he has a little bit of an axe to grind because how this season ended.
But they held against us that his son, his boy, got hurt.

His boy got hurt whenever Rich Rod's introductory press conference happened.

That was two months ago, three months ago.

And they were used that against him for going into the tournament.

Now, with that being said, in football, obviously,

Florida State was on like their fourth string quarterback, third string quarterback.

That all happened like the last games of the year.

Like boom, bang, pow. Everything happened.
This has been like a long time this kid hasn't been playing. And in 111 of these so-called bracketologist specials people, you get it.
West Virginia was in the tournament. Now, it wouldn't have been a high seeding, obviously.
We should have played a lot better throughout the season and, had a little bit of a get-back, a set-back.

We didn't do well in the Big 12 tournament either, lost very early.

But in 111 of these so-called experts' brackets, we were in, West Virginia was in,

first time ever a team has been in all 111 bracketologists' brackets

and didn't make the tournament.

So, obviously, they're holding something against West Virginia.

That is just another chip on the shoulder.

Obviously, it's bullshit. We don't love it.
We don't like it. Play better.
You're in definitely. But nonetheless, West Virginia will be back.
Okay? West Virginia will be back on top in all the big sports. And it starts with a football program.
Will that start next fall? We're not sure. Will that be in the next two years? I believe it.
And this West Virginia basketball team obviously had a great year this year. Not good enough.
I had a good year this year. Not a great great year this year in the conversation to make the top 68 is you know you can't be getting too upset in that entire thing but with that being said westwardeen got screwed and do you know who uh benefited from all this who's that the university of north carolina who i think we're all starting to hate i guess are we all starting to hate university of north carolina i think so is this just because of what happened so riddledle me this.
The athletic director of UNC, Bubba Cunningham. Big Bubba.
And obviously his name came up because I think he wasn't the biggest fan of Mac Brown. Mac Brown was the head coach of the football team.
What does Bubba want versus what does the chancellors want? Bubba's name has been, you know, through the tabloids and the headlines, we shall say, especially whenever you're the athletic director of a program, a STEAM program like University of North Carolina, especially in that Tar Heel blue with Jordan and everything they got going on. People are going to talk about Bubba Cunningham, especially when your name is Bubba.
That's not a very normal athletic director name. Got Bubba calling a shot stand in North Carolina? Well, everybody's saying Bubba did call a shot.
Bubba was the head of the selection committee chair or whatever the hell it is, and he also gets a $104,000 bonus if North Carolina makes it in the tournament. Bubba's made a lot of money.
Okay? Bubba's made a lot of money. About a $104,000 check coming around, that's not a bad thing to take place.
It's hard not to automatically say, well, this seems to be a little bit contrived, doesn't it? The last team in that got in over, I think there's multiple teams that are not necessarily thrilled. Indiana was the second team out.
Now, once again, play better. I'm pissed off about it, too.
Who, who, who? Hoosiers are a basketball place. Now, granted, Signetti's got them playing great football as well.
Could be a fantastic sport university. Not making the tournament sucks, but UNC makes it over them, and they have a gripe as well.
Obviously, West Virginia's pissed, and then Bubba's sitting up there, chair of the whole thing, get a $104,000 bonus because of this. It's hard not to be like, you cooked the books.
Hey, Bubba, I've met some Bubbas before. They weren't above cooking the books, okay? And I know you are probably a fantastic athletic director.
Congratulations on getting Bill Belichick down there. That's a big play.
They've also said that you guys are all in, obviously, football-wise. That was a part of Bill Belichick going there.
So I assume there's some good that you have done. And I'm sure you are respected by a lot of North Carolina people.
But I'll tell you what we think at West Virginia. We think this crooked son of a bitch won in there and he said he wasn't in the room when North Carolina was being talked about.
Okay. Were you in a room when West Virginia was getting talked about? Did North Carolina get brought up when West Virginia was getting talked about? Because if it doesn't, then I don't think you guys are doing your job properly.
So nonetheless, Bubba, I know it's a hard job. I know we're talking about 64 to 68 here, although there's automatic bids to teams.
Like, everybody's mad North Carolina's going to get in. Then I saw the same people on CBS Sports that were upset about it say they're going to beat San so like you're not supposed to be in the tournament but also about to probably win their first round not saying that's guaranteed i'm saying that's been the chatter so there is madness already begun in march and uh people west virginia aren't happy not at all people of indiana aren't happy no and that happens to be a large part of my rolodex uh so i got a lot of texts from people saying, you're going to be a coward tomorrow?

Because ESPN's one making these decisions.

You think ESPN wants Bubba Cunningham

to look good? That's what you think?

Why do you think that is the case? Why do you think

they want to put over the ACC now

over everybody else when I thought all they wanted to do was put over

the SEC? Well, they do want to put over the SEC. That's why they got

14 teams there. It's like, okay, who are we pissed at?

Are we pissed at Sankey? Are we pissed

at ESPN? Are we pissed at Bubba? Are we pissed at the committee? I'll get to the bottom of it because fuck everybody. Now, with that being said, go Johnnies.
Go Johnnies. Come on now.
Go Johnnies. Redstorm's coming.
St. John's team won the Big East.
Hey, who was the team that won the last couple Big Easts and what did they go on to do? Let's go to the talks table at Boston Connor. Happy St.
Paddy's. Who won the biggies uh past couple years uh it'd be uconn and happy st patty's day to you too thank you thank you and then uconn would do what i i believe if memory serves me right and granted it is st patrick's day so yeah we've been making fun of italians and drinking beers all morning but okay i i believe uh they went on to win every single game by 10 plus points on their way to back-to-back national titles.
So is that what St. John's going to do? We shall chat with Patino here in about Coach Patino in about 12 minutes or so.
Ty Schmidt, I know there are some people in the back that are saying, Big East, or I'm sorry, the Big Ten, I got a chance to go down and watch. Sure.
Big Ten basketball something. Michigan back on top.
Congrats to the Big Ten champs, Michigan. You guys fired your coach.
Allegedly, you guys are going to take West Virginia's coach, bring him back to Iowa. I hope you don't do that.
Obviously, the guy's building something special over there. It's supposed to be a mountaineer, but if he was going back home, everybody would be like, yeah, this is always going to happen, you know, that whole conversation.
Big Ten basketball, though. Michigan State's the team we've got to help here.
Michigan going to be able to go on the shot because I watched this Michigan State team lose to Wisconsin with my own eyes. Obviously, got studs everywhere.
Jay Rich's kid is a real guy. Atkins, what's his name? Atkins, yes.
Atkins, he has this swat four feet, I mean 15 feet in front of me probably. He was flying through the air.
You got Coach Izzo, obviously he's going to be joining us next hour. Is Michigan State going to be able to go on a run? That Wisconsin team beat them.
And then Wisconsin obviously loses to Michigan. Michigan, great, I think, early.
Then they got a little bit of a downtime. Now they're back being great.
How's the Big Ten going to fare in this entire thing? I think Michigan State will be pretty solid, but you talk about just how everyone perceives it. I mean, Michigan wins the conference tournament, so they're playing their best ball of the year.
They get a five seed in the tournament. So it's kind of like...
Yeah, I saw they beat Wisconsin twice, they beat somebody else twice, and then they got seeded lower than those people. What the hell is the selection committee doing? Everybody's mad about UNC over West Virginia and Indiana.
There's a lot of other issues everybody's saying about this selection committee as well. Exactly, but a lot of teams in the Big Ten, I think Foxy would attest to this.
Not only is this probably a down year for the Big Ten, but you've got a team like Michigan State who should be there. They're talented.
They have one of the best coaches. But teams like Wisconsin, they're one of those teams where if they shoot the ball well, they might score 90 points and could beat anybody.
And if they don't, their defense is unbelievable. But we're looking at, I mean, the Big Ten championship in the first half, I think it was like 29 to 26, a bad basketball.
You get a lot of that in the Big Ten. So it's one of those things where a lot of these teams, if they shoot well, they can beat anybody.
But if they're not shooting well, they could get beat by 30 by anybody. And that's kind of the problem with the Big Ten, I think.
Big 12 didn't get as many teams represented. I saw their commish came out and spoke a little bit.
Obviously, the ACC is having a down year for the ACC. So all eyes are on the SEC, which we'll talk to Sankey here in about 30 minutes or so to get his thoughts and opinions on the amount of people saying the SEC's bullshit.
Now, quickly, one half of the hammer, Cowboys AP tone with a sweet hoodie on. Happy St.
Paddy's to you as well. Who's the odds-on favorite to win this entire thing? And what are some lines that we should keep an eye on? That would be duke blue devils uh they are the odds on favorite even without cooper flag right now they assume he's going to play here at some point but they are your odds on flavor favorite and then you got the two big dogs florida and auburn at the top of the sec obviously we talked about the sec and how many teams they have they are just littered with favorites up there to to win the tournament but as of right now du Duke is your favorite.
And then, you know, the SEC teams and, you know, Houston, teams like that that are – and then, of course, your guys, your guys, Johnny's one of the favorites. Yeah, Florida, I watched them against Tennessee this weekend.
Got a chance to watch all these championship games. You know, it was fun to kind of like dive back into basketball.
Awesome. And it was – watching that Florida team, very good.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. And I haven't watched any college basketball all year.
And I think Tennessee team's very good as well. And then getting a chance to watch Michigan State-Wisconsin, number nine for Wisconsin.
Light-skinned kid, I didn't know his name. Killed us.
He's got a gun. This kid was a real dude.
He was so good. He was a real dude.
It was like I got real excited to get back into the Madison March. And speaking of the Madison March, last thing here as we wrap up, Pete Dam was reporting that West Virginia politicians planned to announce an action against the NCAA and Tournament Selection Committee later today tied to WVU's snub.
Worth noting there that now Governor Patrick Morrissey was the attorney general in the state who successfully challenged the NCAA transfer rules. If you remember, that was because people were getting paid.
So you're taking away employment opportunities by only one transfer happening if you do recall this at the beginning of the NIL Patrick Morrissey was the attorney general now he is governor one in November follow up this is him replying to it yep today I'm joining West Virginia attorney general to announce actions against the National Corrupt Athletic Association live stream at 1 p.m. right here on X.
Governor Pat Morris, he said, listen, I wanted to do this as an AG. I did.
Now I'm governor. So I got a little bit more to say.
I'm sick and tired of what's going on at the NCAA. Good luck over there.
I don't know if they'll be able to overturn it in a few days. Probably not.
Maybe Washington gets an attorney. And maybe because

of all this momentum

that they're going to

be able to go on a run.

I do like that

the state's like,

nope.

Yeah, this is bullshit.

Yeah, we're not going to

do it.

We're going to need

some answers.

Okay, you're not just

answering Reese Davis

who did a great job

in his interview.

You're going to have to

be answering a core law,

brother.

Okay, who said what

at what time?

Can we get a transcript

of what happened

in those meetings?

Hey, Bubba, you said you weren't in there when North Carolinaolina was being discussed that's interesting because the notes that i see here you were eating a muffin in the corner of the room whoa whoa that's what he's ready and willing to do former suit obviously so he's ready for the suit excited for all that the madness has already begun before the game started and that is a magical thing now let's go to the nfl massive deals were done over the weekend t higgins jamar chase highest paid congrats to them we'll talk more about that in a matter of moments but at the db position there was a signing that ruffled the entire numbers of every salary cap across the nfl derrick stingley jr of the houston texans signed for 30 mil a year this comes a few days after jc horn Horn of the Carolina Panthers signed for 25 mil a year. There was a convo about maybe the DB market being down.
Now we're seeing $89 million guaranteed over three years for an absolute stallion in Derek Stingley Jr. Ball Hawk.
Joining us now, EverythingDB, GoodD, BadD hosts, Darius J. Butler.
Hey, buddy. Yo, yo, yo.
What's good? Y'all got me? Yes, you look fantastic. Where are you at quickly so we can tell everybody? We are back in New Orleans where we were for the Super Bowl, obviously, but now we're here for a huge volleyball tournament for my daughter.
Shout out to you. Gave her some great tips.
She's playing a new position this weekend outside hitter. She's usually libero, the back line defense, and now she's up near that net.

So they've been kicking ass, having a great time out here.

A lot of, I feel like kind of a bum because I'm not in the St. Paddy spirit.

A lot of green out here.

Big St. Paddy's town out here.

Was not aware of that.

What's your problem?

What is your problem?

I thought you were Irish.

Honestly, yeah.

You were telling us you were Irish.

The coach said they had some shit for us.

I haven't got a chance to see the coach yet.

So once I get into the convention center.

Uniform.

Yeah, hopefully I don't get pinched before she gets it to me.

Listen, all you got to do is happy St. Paddy's with a D.

And then just keep walking.

Act like you understand it more than anybody.

Okay, we know you're very busy.

Shout out to your daughter, by the way. I saw that spike.
That was awesome. She, they started kicking ass.
A lot of floater, huh? Service. A lot of everybody floating? Not everybody.
It depends on who you run into. Some of these teams, look, you got teams from Cali, Texas, Alabama, New Orleans, Florida.
So you run into some of these, it's a difference. It's level.
So that team, that was a lighter level team,

but we've definitely ran into some dogs where it's one player that just controls the game.

Every time it gets to that left side, yaga, it's getting on.

You got to be careful.

No free balls.

No free balls.

Yeah, I understand that.

And the video you sent me, shout out to Maya.

She had a great pass.

Then she got outside.

Boom, bang, pow. It was beautiful to watch.
Anyways. I love it.
Good dadding. Volleyball is a great sport.
I played in high school. It is.
I love the sport. It was probably my favorite sport I played in high school.
I think probably because there was really no pressure on what was going to happen. There was no thought of like, am I going to do this for a professional? Because I just got introduced to it.
But I loved it. It is a great sport.
Okay, let's get to the DBs getting paid. J.C.
Horn, 25 mil a year less than a week ago. Now, Derek Stingley Jr.
getting 30 mil a year, 89 million guaranteed. Why do you think Derek Stingley was the guy to take this big jump and to pay for DBs? And how do you feel about the deals that are kind of unfolding now? First of all, talk about good dadding.
All these guys, football is in their blood. You're talking about second, third, even fourth generation with Stingley.
His grandpappy, a great grandpappy, was a New England Patriot. All SEC guys, all first rounders, all guys living up to their billing.
But Derek Stingley Jr., he's just a little different. Even even as talented as that lsu 2019 team was a lot of people that you talk to in that building around that program said this is the guy this is probably the best guy on the roster and he's lived up to it outside of injuries that kind of plagued him uh throughout his college career and then early on his nfl career but he's been healthy he hit his stride last year been a first team first-team All-Pro.
Five interceptions, played all 17 games. He could do everything.
He could play off. He could play man.
You could leave him on an island. He can come up and tackle.
But his ball skills, I think, separate him from the pack. Patrick Sertan Jr., defensive player of the year, phenomenal technician, can do everything as well.
J.C. Horn wants to get another guy who, if he stays healthy, he'll continue to be one of the best DBs in the league.
But Derek Stingley Jr., him and Patrick Sertan right there, 1A, 1B as far as best cornerbacks in the league go. Okay, so we looked up the numbers.
Jalen Ramsey, I think, has the third highest average per year. And Jalen, though, we've seen him doing this a long time.
Jacksonville, we've seen him in Jacksonville, L.A. Now he's in Miami, obviously.
That's a very long, great career. We would say that the next generation of DBs, corners, we're in a very good spot.
Yeah, we are in a great spot right now. The Quinone Mitchell of the world, even Cooper DeGene, we'll see what he does.
Hey! Happy St. Paddy's Day! Leading the way for the exciting whites.
But, yeah, these guys, they're doing their thing. And it's still a wide gap.
You just saw Jamar Chase get his bag. He's getting 40-plus a year.
And now with Derrick Stingley Jr., really, really completely resetting the cornerback market, getting $30 million a year. So it's still a wide gap there.
But these guys are valuable, especially when you can travel, when you can follow that number one receiver to the left

or to the right side of the defense with the

guy we got all pro money or Indy now,

who's going to be doing that following number ones that

kind of change the defense. It gives the

defensive coordinator a little bit more freedom

when it comes to taking the other guys

away around the field. But yeah, we're in a good spot

right now. As long as that continues to trend

north for those top cornerbacks,

that's big time for the whole position group as a

whole. All right.
Well, good luck down there to

your daughter. I hope they gave you

Thank you. As long as that continues to trend north for those top cornerbacks, that's big time for the whole position group as a whole.

All right.

Well, good luck down there to your daughter.

I hope they give you some green.

Yeah, I got to get something.

I got to watch my six.

There's a lot of everybody else got green on.

Standard white guy in the corner.

Just a white guy sitting there.

Boom.

Yeah, I get on board.

All right. Good luck out there.

We appreciate you joining us. Congrats to the corners, ladies and gentlemen.
Darius J. Butler.
Yes, sir. Thank you, buddy.
Thank you, buddy. Thank you, buddy.
It was cool. He was sending me videos.
Saw it on his story, too. Yeah.
He's so into it, too. He was like, hey, she's playing a new position.
We got to get to a gym. We need like 30 minutes at least.
Is there anything I could do quickly? I was like, yeah, let me remember back to high school. Let me think back to a drill that we did.
I don't know. If I had to teach my kid, this is what I would do.
Bang, we're working while standing. Let's just get the top spin on this thing.
Then we had the jump. Then we had the point.
Obviously, she's more athletic than I would ever be. She's Darius J.
Butler's daughter. She's good.
She's a good player. She's good at defense.
She's good at offense. Seems like those tournaments, he's really enjoying the shit out of it.
That's good dad. Now, ladies and gentlemen, joining us.
Okay. You want to talk about dads? How about a godfather? Uh-huh.
Okay. How about going back to New York and turning the place upside down? And in doing so, having a documentary shot about the season and just delivering gems seemingly every single time that he speaks.
Only coach in the history to take six different teams to the NCAA tournament. The Big East Coach of the Year from the St.
John Johnnies. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Rick Pitino.
Yeah, Coach! How are you, Paisan? I'm great, thank you. Hey Hey happy St.
Patrick's Day. I know you can't wear any green because of the school colors and everything like that but just know that we're celebrating the hell out of you and the Johnnies over here while we're drinking some green beer or such.
Let's talk about this season and coach first of all you're electrifying. Every clip that comes out from you speaking to your team is wonderful.
The one that I enjoyed most that made me feel like I was back in the locker room is whenever you were pissed off at your guys for when adversity struck that they continued to kind of collapse. You said, where were you raised that you have such a weak mentality? When do you dig in? The motivation that you were given to these guys obviously struck home.
They come out and crush in the second half. Is that like your life motto that you're putting into your players? Like how do you develop what messages you want to send at the time? Is that just your beliefs and how you have got here? And honestly, I fucking love listening to you coach.
And I've never played basketball a day in my life. Well, thank you.
I think it revolves around the structure of your team. This team is a hardworking team, but they count their misses too much.
We're not a great shooting team. We rely on perseverance, a very strong defensive work ethic.
And if we miss two or three, we deflate. And I keep telling them, you keep shooting.
You move the basketball, you take open shots, you never deflate. You just get on to the next play.
And we had a tendency early in the year, because we're all new to each other, of deflating. So I got him out of that.
We went out at halftime of that game. We won it in the Big East final.
We were down three at halftime. We back out we won we got down 15 early down three at

halftime won it by 15. so it's it's just a matter of dealing with adversity i i never ever uh wonder

about dealing with adversity with my team i've always concerned myself with dealing with success

with every team i've ever coached success is so much more difficult to deal with than adversity

you get comfortable you win the big east title obviously and i saw you talk to the team and to

Thank you. success is so much more difficult to deal with than adversity you get comfortable you win the big east title obviously and i saw you talk to the team and to the press about it and obviously you're incredibly proud you talk some shit which seemingly is classic uh coach patino and that all but what is the message to the team after you win the big east title because obviously there is a comfortability about having a successful season that comes with winning a title and now your most important basketball happens.
So how do you keep everybody kind of grounded? Well, we broke down a season from the beginning in three phases. Phase one was to try and have the best Big E schedule season that you could possibly have, try to win it, get in the NCAA.
Then you play three games and we tried to mimic these because we have very little NCAA experience on this team only two players have played in the NCAA and one did not play Zuby Echefor who's had a great year did not play so we took the Big East tournament said okay this is the first round NCAA second game is the second round third game and so on and we put a lot of pressure in each game to survive and advance. So we did that.
Now, phase three is you're playing against teams you've never seen before. And probably if you're lucky enough to get by the first round, then you played a toughest 7-10 matchup there is in the country.
Yeah, the next round is what everybody's talking about, because could be a couple of legends. On that note, Anthony DiGiulio has a question for you, Coach Patino.
Yeah, Coach. I know it's one game at a time.
Let's say you get by Omaha and then it's either Bill Self or Coach Cal. Do you like in that second round potentially going against a future Hall of Fame coach in those guys where you kind of know who their teams are, who their teams will be versus a coach that you've never gone against and you don't know their style?

You know, it doesn't come down to every coach in the NCAA is going to be really prepared.

They, both Bill and John, know exactly what not to do because they've been there many times.

An other coach may not have been there, and they're not familiar with the NCAA,

but these two guys are Hall of Fame coaches. They know what not to do.
Their teams will be well prepared. They're going to have great talent, certainly.
So we're super excited to be in the tournament. St.
John's right now, we've turned the corner, we've built the culture, and now we just got to take it to another level. In the next few years, we hope to build it to a new level uh i love what you're doing love the excitement around the city i don't get to new york as often as i should you know it's a beautiful town beautiful city uh seth greenberg told us that you're just dominating new york post back page is just patina patina patina and then uh i saw your quote about being from here and how the saint john's is representing the the entire city.
I assume that's a massive piece of the recruiting pitch, right, to build back St. John's? I think more than anything else, think about this.
At Kentucky, we went to two championship games, and we were never invited onto the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Here we win the Big East.
We're on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. So as you know, New York's the media capital of the world, the financial capital of the world.
And if you win, everything is exaggerated. If you lose, everything is exaggerated.
So you better win. Yeah, well, I think you're doing just that.
It feels like that's the only thing you do. Speaking of winning, how'd your liver do against the Court of Jameson? I had two beers.
Okay, okay. All right, just journalism here ty has a question i was looking i was looking for jameson's commercial they didn't hit me yet yet hold on it's on their way you know they got a lot going on right now at st paddy's they were underwater they'll probably catch up later this week ty has a question for you coach nil has obviously changed the way college basketball is in a big way and it's still early on but how have you noticed your booster support and NIL has obviously changed the way college basketball is in a big way, and it's still early on, but how have you noticed your booster support in NIL compared to maybe what it would have been at a Kentucky or a Louisville? I know Mike Rapoli just came out and basically said, hey, anything coach needs, he's going to get moving forward.
So how has that whole situation been at St. John's? Obviously, winning a Big East tournament doesn't hurt either.
So obviously Mike Rapoli, along with other boosters, have been great for St. John's.
But everything's going to change next year. So, we've adapted to the NIL last two years.
Now it's going to change. It's going to go the revenue sharing by the schools.
Each school gets $22 million. Football will dominate the pool because they have more players.
So, here's the luxury we have, along with the other 10 big east members the we don't have football so the revenue sharing will come more into basketball we will have more money in basketball than all the football programs so we we've got a lucky break along those lines and revenue sharing will really help the big east coach you know your journey back here to the spotlight is a beautiful one. And, you know, we live in Indianapolis.
We're not that far away from your previous homes. When that ended, how it ended, and you gave that adversity speech to your team, was there ever a doubt that you were going to get back to this moment? Not that you didn't with Iona, you know, but like now you are back to being in the spotlight, being talked about as a goat again.
Everybody, you know, like, did you ever have a doubt that that was going to take place or is this always the vision to get back to the top well the ncaa enforcement staff the is is i won't i won't call them corrupt i will call them inept okay and the reason i say that is it takes them five years to decide your faith. So whether you're guilty or innocent doesn't matter.
It's going to take them five years to judge you. So after five years, I get exonerated.
Well, now I'm over in Greece coaching a legendary program, Panathinaikos. And to be perfectly honest with you, Pat, I thought I was going to end my career in the EuroLeague, which wasn't bad, by the way.
I was visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Tel Aviv.
I visited places I'd never experienced. Panathinaikos is like the Boston Celtics of Europe.
So it was a wonderful thing for me. I learned an awful lot at age 65 being over there.
So I thought that was the end for me. Then I went back to coach Iona university,

where we lucky enough to go to NCAA two out of three years. And, uh, that was very exciting.
And I wouldn't have moved from my owner, uh, just St. John's as a local team.
And I got a chance to move over to here. Okay.
So expected to maybe stay over there in Greece or in the Euro league. And then as opportunities continue to arise and I, did you get a new, I don't want to say perspective or love or hunger after the five-year exoneration to reprove like everybody can eat shit basically a lot of things were said about you coach a lot of things i think a lot of people say well it's great you're having a redemption i really don't believe in the word redemption because those who judge you really don't know the facts they they really don't know either way, innocent or guilty, they don't know it.
And so you take, obviously, if something went wrong, you're the head of the team. You have to be responsible for all actions that go on.
So obviously things were done the incorrect way. I suffered the consequences, left a great job at the University of Louisville.
And I talked to my team. I didn't hang my head.
I took off for Greece, didn't know one person. My wife and family did not go with me.
I arrived in Athens, Greece, not knowing a person. The entire arena at halftime when I walked out, there's a cloud of smoke.
Everybody smoking in the arena. I was smoking to death.
And if I did anything good over there i said to the prime minister listen you got to stop smoking in restaurants you got to stop and we got that passed they don't smoke in restaurants anymore they don't smoke in arenas so that was a great thing the experience of coaching panettinaikos was about as enjoyable as anything I've ever done in coaching. And like I said, just early alluded to, I learned so much.
The EuroLeague is like the Golden State Warriors with 35 year olds who didn't make it in the NBA. They had a pass cut move and the offenses were brilliant.
So you're a Greek lobbyistist one of the goats and the only guy to ever take six different teams into the tournament now you talked about the three years with iona we actually have a little year question for you connor has one yeah coach usually doesn't take three years obviously you mentioned with st john's this being your second year and things already kind of turning around and then there's a graphic uh that have, and it was basically every single school you've been at. The year before, they were obviously not very good.
And then by the second year of the Rick Pitino coaching tenure, they are unbelievable. And you've been to the tournament, obviously the first coach ever to win the conference tournament with five plus teams, I believe.
What would you say is kind of the coach Rick Pitino culture that gets instilled that kind of hits home for so many of the players year two is it the guys you bring in after that first year or is it the guys that are kind of already there understanding how you want them to play basketball well all of those combined but let's look at it this way you're taking over a program Kentucky on probation uh the Knicks won 21 games the Louisville was down and out Providence was dead last place since the inception of the Big East so they're all falling on hard times you come in you don't have enough time to recruit so the first year is just building a culture of hard work building a culture where everyone plays with unbelievable passion and in the second you bring in your own players, you've established the culture, and now you're ready to go. And then from that point on, now you've built the culture, now you have the reputation to bring in even better players, and now you've built a strong program.
So it's all pretty much been the same. But the one thing I can tell you is this one of all of them means the most to me, along with the Knicks, because the other programs, we went into Madison Square Garden at Louisville, won back-to-back Big East championships.
And I was so proud of the guys and one team won the national championship. But this is doing it the same way, but you're doing it where you grew up eight streets from Madison Square Garden.
And this is your home the people all talk like you uh when i was in louisville and and lexington nobody sounded like me yeah you said the word prepared the way you said it earlier and everybody was like the hell is this guy saying around here uh all the people in new york seemingly rallying around you i was in at Madison Square Garden last Monday. What a place.

Unreal.

20,000 somewhere in there.

I mean, it was glorious, coach.

Yeah, the Big East semifinal and the Big East final with all St. John's fans,

it just brought back memories of when I was coaching.

Unfortunately, I coached against Lou Karnasek,

who was 100 this year and passed away. But I was coaching against Lou Providence versus St's remembered coached against roley massimino john thompson senior uh jim boeheim pj calissimo all the uh jim calhoun all these great coaches in the big east at that time it was a wonderful experience for a young coach okay so let's talk about that in conferences i went to west virginia when west virginia was the Big East, obviously absolutely legendary run in the football world and still running in the basketball world.
The SEC now is having a moment here in college hoops. Do you pay attention to all of that? Is there something or a reason you would point to other than just NIL and maybe the SEC investing more at these schools? Why do you think the SEC is having this record-breaking type season?

Well, obviously, they have more teams than just about anyone,

the Big 12, Big 10 now.

They've all expanded, where the Big East has not expanded.

I've been trying to get them to expand now for two years.

I think that even combining, like Coach K said,

the ACC with the Big East in basketball would be a wonderful thing so larger is better certainly but the sec i can tell you right now from every team that i've watched they are unbelievable every team uh you're talking florida tennessee mississippi mississippi state arkansas uh i'm leaving out a Auburn, Alabama. Yep, yep, yep.
They're all incredible. Also, great veteran coaches.
You know, they're all great. You pick your boy.
Who do you like better? Nate Oates or Bruce Pearl? Who do you like better? John Calipari, Mark Pope. You know, they're all great.
And they're veteran coaches who, again, know what not to do as well as what to do so the sec has maybe the best combination of coaches uh who have had wonderful experience but so does the big 12 and so does the big 10 the biggies right now has a lot of young coaches including myself yes absolutely hey you look younger than ever that lotion routine must be the real deal you italians got something special in there you know, you paisans got it figured out. Big East ACC would be absolutely bananas.
That would be great basketball. Holy shit.
Yeah, and I think it's necessary to combat all the people combining their conferences. We need something to, although we had five teams out of 11 make the tournament, that's great.
But we need something to make it it even better and i've always believed if it's not broken and you're successful break it and make it better because other people will because other people will you're right other people who have either a different motive or more money will come in and try to change what is working that's been since the beginning of time in all businesses speaking of business your business the film who you said when every time you watch the sec for a tournament what do you do are you how far out are you watching film and preparing your team is it game by game like how do you prepare the johnnies here i think what i've always done is defensively we will prepare do everything to go against omaha's offense but offensively in the next three days you prepare after the weekend weekend. So let's say that it's not true, but let's say that Arkansas played a matchup zone.
So in the next three days, we got to prepare for Kansas, Arkansas and Omaha offensively. So we don't go into one day prep offensively going against defenses you haven't seen.
But defensively, we just focus in on Omaha. Okay.
Hey, thanks for that for that insight now i feel like a genius uh you know they've been preparing for this defense for the last four or five days yeah that's what i'm gonna sound like an asshole whenever i act like i know what i'm talking about when i don't you certainly do though and you're a good lobbyist in greece i assume you'll be a great lobbyist at the big east office big east acc would be awesome that'd the best basketball, that would be the best conference tournament in MSG, obviously. Oh, my.
Matt, do you remember the pitch-noggle game against Louisville in 2013, 2005? Yeah, brother. Pitch-noggle and I maybe four to five, just like you, a couple beers, maybe a quarter, Jameson, four to five pitchers at Club Z afterwards.
Yeah, I remember Pitt Snoggled. You got Pitt Snoggled.
So we were playing basically 2-3 zone because we only had seven players. And the seventh player had a stress fracture, so he couldn't practice.
So we were just playing flat 2-3 zone. We went out there, and they made, I believe it was 13 or some incredible number of threes at halftime.
We cut it from 18 to 13. We went up at halftime.
We had about 10 minutes. We took all the chairs.
They run a Princeton offense with their great coach, and we're going over at halftime man-to-man, which we hadn't played the whole season, trying to defend the backdoor offense. And the guys were so brilliant, we won it in overtime.
We changed our entire season defensively in a halftime moving the chairs. That's good coaching.
It sounds like you know what the fuck you're doing. I'm happy you did that.
Beeline was obviously the coach. Beeline was a tremendous coach.
Gansey, Beeline, Pit Snoggle. I'm trying to think of that there was a jamie on that team his son was great yeah pat yeah pat was and gansey was a dog don't get it twisted that squad was great until you moved chairs at halftime and caught him and man you're an ass of course we could have a great time in morgantown coach we could have a great time we appreciate you Good luck the rest of the way.
You don't need to know this and add

any extra motivation. Connor and I

are heavy

on the Johnnies, especially since West Virginia

got screwed. Heavy on

your team. I can't wait to watch you.

Thanks for having me, guys.

Ladies and gentlemen, the godfather, Rick Pitino.

Yeah, coach!

Alright, halftime.

Changes the time. They were prepared.
They were prepared. It comes down to that.
Preparation. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know either. I'm guessing now.
I don't know how you transition into preparation there, but yeah, I don't have enough of a New York accent. But as soon as he said prepared on the thing there, I'm like, oh, he gets back home too.
I assume it's just dialed up 1,000.

He's the king back there.

And watching him win this weekend was cool.

That was a cool thing to kind of watch him do.

Scared me a little bit, you know,

especially because of the hefty bet that we placed on them to win it all.

But then the information was immediately put up.

UConn won.

They won one.

You win, you win.

You got a good squad.

You got a good squad.

I like that he's like, hey, guys, we're going to miss shots.

We can't shoot. Yeah.
All right? So you guys get upset that you can't shoot i know you can't shoot so whenever you miss let's let's just actually the only reason why we're shooting so you guys can have some fun okay we need to be yeah that's a that's a good mindset it's all in how you frame things i bet you patino it sounds like from watching his vice show every message he's delivered i'm like i like the way this guy talks and frames things that's all coaching is how do you frame something in somebody's mind to either drive them or bring out the absolute best in them and the way he delivers his message like that the uh mental toughness speech that he gave about adversity and battling and digging in like it was awesome to see him kind of deliver that and i the boys obviously listened and reacted in the second half well Well, you said, too, like, you know, you've got to empower these guys.

You said a lot of the guys on this team, like,

don't have any NCAA tournament experience, which, like, we've seen when you have, like,

teams with older backcourts and guys who have played in the tournament before.

Like, that really matters.

But it's also a good thing they won the Big East tournament

because with the selection committee, who knows, they lose that.

They might be looking at, like, an 8 seed or a 9 seed. Yeah, maybe worse.
Yeah, well, that leads perfectly into this. The selection committee seemingly liked one conference more than everybody else, didn't they? Ridiculous, man.
What's that all about? Record-breaking 14 teams in the dance. Joining us now, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, ladies and gentlemen, Greg Sank.
Oh, how you doing, Greg? Didn't know you went into the selection committee's office and paid them all off. I didn't know that's what we were doing in March, Greg.
No, that's earned, man. I can go through the record if you want.
I think they said it on the show. 89% of our non-conference games.
I'll go through all the data for you that that informs it no greg uh that's why we love you uh because we think you not only represent your conference in a fashion that has all your schools thankful but you have a lot of pride in the sec so whenever i see the reaction that i saw whenever 14 teams were selected on the internet i couldn't wait to chit chat with you going into Going into this particular, I guess, SEC conference tournament,

then into the selection Sunday,

everybody talks about how great the SEC was this year.

The SEC, the SEC, it's the SEC's year.

Now, granted, that's media fodder, and people say that that is what it is,

but why do you think the SEC was so good at basketball this year?

Is it investment? Is it commitment?

What do you think it is that really transitioned

from you guys having four to six to eight teams in the tournament each year to now to 14, Kamish? We had to learn some hard lessons. We spent a lot of years with three or four teams being in, and that was it.
And I think all of those words you used are part of it. I'll start with coaching.
Every one of our 16 coaches has been in the NCAA tournament with one team at least as a head coach. I think six of them have been to the final four.
A lot of depth and a lot of experience. There's the commitment.
We have new arenas, new facilities. Trying to manage through this new era of name, image, and likeness in the transfer portal.
Perhaps we've been a bit ahead, but I don't know that it really matters if you're great at like namams and likens if you don't have the right leadership in place and and i'll really start there to go back 10 years ago we needed new expectations for how we performed on the men's basketball side because we we succeeded in everything else quite candidly but we didn't even meet our own expectations in men men's basketball. And that's what's different today is we're functioning in men's basketball like we do in women's basketball or baseball, softball, football.
Gymnastics. I mean, you go through the golf.
I assume. Yeah, all of them.
Yeah, men's and women's is what he was talking about. You guys take a lot of pride in how your sports do.
And, you know, the conversation about the basketball, we need to get better in the men's basketball for the dance. I think a couple years back, the Big Ten had a shit ton of teams.
I don't remember the 10-something, maybe. 10-plus.
Yeah, maybe 12. And then first round or second round, not great.
Like, the Big Ten ended up not performing as well. Didn't have 14 teams, which is obviously a record-breaking number, but had a lot.
It was supposed to be the be the big tens year and then got in and it was almost like upset after upset do you think your teams are built for the tournament to go on a big run and how will you be shit talking throughout all this if your teams do well will there be a tweet oh oh or are you just going to idly watch your squads go out there and compete well um talking seasons behind us and pat last monday i sent a memo to our coaches to say hey whatever wherever you're seated wherever your sights set whatever your opponent just focus and so we want to stay focused as a group so i'm going to own that as there is a level of pride. And I think there's a level of pride in the league.
Really cool set of text messages from coaches yesterday who gained access, who got in maybe as 8, 9, 10 seeds. And it's a grind for those guys.
And I said back to them, I'm proud for all of us. I'm proud of what we do on the women's basketball side.
You know, we've got every one of our 16 universities represented on either the men's or women's side i think that stands alone um we've got two number one seeds on the men's side two number one seed on the women's side i i think as we go forward there's a chance for upset sure when you're when you're like eight nine ten eleven you know losing is not an upset yet the level of competition this year in our league and winning almost 90 percent of our non-conference games bunch of those against high level teams and then playing through the grind of our conference schedule on the men's side and the women's side means you're prepared for just about anything now you have to to go meet the moment. You have to go meet the moment.
And that's the question that comes up and the records are clean. We're all undefeated at this point.
And then week to week, game to game, you have to make your way through six games over three weeks to see the national champion. We'll be every time you answer.
I just think to myself, I wish this guy was the commissioner of whatever league i had you know the amount of pride investment everything you go to all these games you talk to all these people and you're not scared to be like yeah our conference we're better than you at sports like we are that is our goal that is our mission not only academically but we like to play well uh on the on the athletic side of this all i love the way you chat and i think there's a hate because of, you know, for a long time during the football season, the SEC, SEC, SEC was a big thing for ESPN. Obviously, ESPN has deals with the ACC.
They have deals with the Big East, I think. They have deals with the SEC.
They got deals with a lot of people, but no, it's SEC, ESPN. Like the fact that you're even on my show right now, people are going to say that I'm in on the SEC, ESPN.
It the big 10 had this many teams in there we'd have patito on here too paisan say happy st patty's like it's just a conversation you've been very good to us but i think the sec just gets a lot of disrespect because the amount of shine and light on the sports teams from down there do you agree with that or do you try to not pay attention to any well i i um i hear the noise um i'll tell you one thing about the southeastern conference we are not uninteresting right and i think people want to watch they want to be in conversation about that which is interesting and whether it's 14 men's teams 10 women's teams you know you go back when i threw out the Sesame Street quote at Game Day last December about one of these things is not like the other. Like, I can only use that once.
I can't use it over and over. People may interpret that as arrogance.
I think that's really defining who we are, who we've become, how we want to function. We want to be unique.
i use with pete thamel in an article the word unicorn because we're a unicorn league just the the historical success it hasn't happened in over 40 years in men's basketball at the college level the kind of non-conference success the kind of high-level competition and i'll just say from our fan standpoint to be in nashville for the last week you can hear in my voice yeah i've got the post-tournament um congestion of course that feel that environment that intensity that that's really unique and special and credit to what happens on our campuses and our communities sometime that might be a little bit over the top but it us special, I think. Yeah, and go back to your point about the early history of those SEC schools.
I think Saban talked about how, you know, there was no professional sports in any of these places. So the universities were the sports teams.
They were the ones representing the entire state, the city, everything like that. So generations and generations, I'm not saying it's not like that, like Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan.
You go through the big organs. Like there are places that have massive fan base, and i'm not saying it's not like that like ohio state penn state michigan you go through the big oregons like there are places that have massive fan base and i'm not saying that is just in the sec but it feels like it's everywhere in the sec it is like this is what we will live and die with and the sports teams obviously are supported in a massive level now on that note you did a little bit of this with texas and oklahoma now coach Patino just brought it up literally 15 minutes ago.
Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Commissioner, when it comes to conference expansion, do you talk to other commissioners about the benefits? Do they ask you, hey, how did you go about it? What is that process like? Because Pat mentioned Coach Rick Patino has been kind of lobbying to the Big East about bringing in more teams, maybe something with the ACC.
Is that something you talk to other commissioners about, or is it more so if the right teams come along, that's when certain conferences should consider adding teams in? If you want to shut a meeting down, ask me to talk to my colleagues about expansion, and you will watch them run to the the corners of the room like all of a sudden me talking about expansion is like uh front page headlines what's going on so uh not a lot i i really look at our expansion with oklahoma and texas and i again i said this last week like if if you want to go someplace and challenge yourself academically, challenge yourself at the highest level of athletic competition and not spend hours upon hours on an airplane, this is the place to be. We can get from one side to the other pretty efficiently.
And the last three weeks, I've been on 14 of 16 of our campuses, and I can make that happen, much like our teams for in-person meetings. When I think about expansion, I've always thought about something that's connected to who we are and Oklahoma and Texas really represented that.
Great universities within a geographic footprint, you know, Oklahoma contiguous state, relationships from the Big Eight, the Big 12 days, high levellevel expectations for their athletics programs across the board. And that's who we are, and that's why it fits.
And that's probably driven other decisions. We obviously were kind of early in this current round of movement.
But the bottom line is, if I roll into a meeting and say, hey, let's talk about expansion, it goes quiet really quickly. quickly well you should tell acc and big east to combine forces for basketball come on you should you should that would be that would be that one alone okay you don't want that 14 to get touched that 14 number getting an attorney obviously uh could be dancing tone has a question for you just mentioned something about it yeah commissioner you just talked about being on 14 of the 16 uh campuses and being in nashville and we've been with you at the national championship stuff we know you like going to the games with 24 teams in between the men's and women's tournament can you just tell everyone like hey there's too many teams and i'm just going to stay home and watch these no i'm not i'm gonna go so i'll tell you a long time ago, I'll tell you the Rick Pitino thing in 1986.

I thought he was going to be a high school basketball coach in upstate New York.

He was speaking in a coaching clinic when he was at Providence.

It was the year that Billy Donovan was a senior. They went to the final four.

So like October 86, he spoke for three hours and it was riveting.

Just like went by in 10 minutes. And so you go back to like the 21 year old me who was going to coaching clinics trying to figure out how to coach basketball to be able to go and experience first and second round games in this role is a moment i i cherish um and appreciate so this week my plan is to be at games in lexington and raleigh i'll see five of our teams between those two places bounce back and forth on the men's side.
Next week, we actually right across the street here in Birmingham host the women's Sweet 16 and Elite 8. Hopefully have a bunch of our teams there.
So I'll split my time that way. And then coming to the Final Four, you know, you don't know what happens.
But I'd really, really love to be figuring out how to bounce back and forth between Tampa and San Antonio because we have a bunch of teams in those men's and women's final four events. Buddy, the whole world is hoping you guys have nobody in a tunnel.
I'm saying, it's crazy because in your mind, it's like, hey, we got to go here now. We got to go.
Now we're in there. And the SEC probably feels as if there is like a us against the world mentality all the time.
But it got, especially with a record-breaking number of teams, you know, a record-breaking number of teams getting in there after West Virginia gets absolutely hosed. Absolutely hosed, Kamish.
I don't know how you could change it, but you need to. You need to change everything that happened to West Virginia.
Maybe let us in the SEC. Something to think about.
That'd be good for football. That makes people nervous when you start saying that.
I was going to put you on the selection committee. That could fix it as well.
You've got two ways you can go there. It seems like I might watch more college basketball than people that are in there.
And I watch next to none. So don't laugh.
Don't laugh. Don't laugh, Kamish.
Can't be laughing at that. I'm not.
I smiled some and then I self-corrected so that people wouldn't interpret anything from that facial reaction. Smart.
That's a good play. That's why you're the best, Kamish.
Last question here. Speaking of your conference.
Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Kamish.
So obviously we're coming off a national championship where the Big Ten wins in football, and then you have a record-breaking season in basketball. Do you think it would be fair to say that it's kind of trending towards the SEC becoming a basketball conference? I know it's different down here and all that kind of stuff, but do you think that narrative will get started at all after you have a season like this? First, I'm thrown by the Iowa gear in front of you and not on you for the first time that we've ever been together.
We're going through some tough times right now. I got no coach! The reconfigure.
We want to be in everything. Pat's the one who threw in gymnastics.
I think we've got one, two, and three in gymnastics nationally right now. Baseball.
Baseball, one in softball. I haven't checked the golf and tennis rankings, but we've got to be close.
There was a point a couple weeks ago where we had 14 sports in competition, and we had the number one ranked team in 12 of those sports that's what we want to be damn and when we go through this change we talk a lot about opportunities across the board we want to be great in everything and i think we can do that now we're going to go through change as we we deal with name image and likeness payments and this revenue sharing stuff out of a legal settlement of it's but that doesn't change our aspirations all right we have a hard out here in like 90 seconds you saying 12 out of 14 sports currently being played have uh sec school as the number one overall team is that good i don't know everybody can keep getting mad we just stay committed to sports down there which is why i think a lot of us who understand what's going on down there have such appreciation, respect for it. Quickly, though, you just mentioned that their revenue sharing, that's going to go through, we all just assume.
I mean, that's been the conversation basically for the last six months. Well, we have a responsibility to prepare, but that's up to a judge, not to me.
Okay, but everybody is acting as if it's going to go through, right? As far as the behavior, understand they're preparing for that reality but again whether a settlement is finalized is up to the court and to the judge in the courtroom not not to me all right so let's hope that it goes through let's hope that judge goes hammer on some regulations on college sports going forward we appreciate you so much commission good luck the next few weeks with your conference. Thanks, guys.
Good to be with you. Be well.
Hey, that Nashville voice is sounding fantastic. We've all heard it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Greg Sankey. Hey, Commish.
We became a fan of Greg Sankey during COVID, which a lot's coming out now, I'm learning. If you were just to scan some things, like some new articles coming out.
Big publication. Yeah, I think so.
A publication that's potentially – anyways, we're all learning, and we all need to remember it for the future. But remember, there were some conferences that were saying, we're not playing football, we're not playing football, we're not playing football.
Sankey came out and said, we're playing football. Okay, I don't know what everybody else is doing.
We're playing football. Then some schools were trying to get to the SEC, and then all of a sudden kind of force everybody else's hand to continue to play football.
That's when we met Sanky. We're like, this guy, this guy loves ball.
And he's always been good to us. People are hoping his schools lose.
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That's edgeboost.bet. Petty! This day is happening currently and obviously we hope you all have a moment to take a breath and enjoy your life and cheers to your Irish, you know, family compadres, brethren, you named it.
Just a slouché to forget about the worries and the bad times and to have a good time in the name of the fine Irish folks. The Toxic Table is here at Possa Conner and at Ty Schmidt.
Con man, like seeing the green jacket on this St. Paddy's Day alongside the Kangol.
Yeah, it's one of those days that you look forward to. I also have my Tim Robinson t-shirt on, just kind of my favorite one that I have.
It's just one of those things that reminds me. That's the first day of school shirt right there.
Yeah, exactly. It is the kind of first day of school shirt, and you wear that on St.
Paddy's Day as as an irishman you want to have your best fit you want to be doing everything you can to enjoy the day to the fullest and that's what we we've been doing you know i mentioned in the first hour we've been you know drinking gina and making fun of them and there's nothing more fun than doing something like that on a day like today i believe it is guinness i or guinness i excuse me i believe i don't i'm not 100 sure that's on me we that's what we were saying we're saying gina in ireland so I figure we can Guinness Eye. Guinness Eye, excuse me.
I'm not 100% sure. That's what we were saying.
We were saying Guinness Eye in Ireland, so I figured we kind of keep that. You were saying, I believe.
Plural Guinness, yeah. We had a good time in Ireland, by the way.
I hope everybody's having as good a time as we did over there. They definitely are on a day like today.
I hope they are. We had a blast over there.
I don't know what's going on over there day to day. I guess my algorithm showcases, I guess because my name's Patrick Mccafee they're like you're gonna want to see this bub uh and i'm like oh okay uh hope it all gets uh figured out obviously we can't wait to get back there the more events that ireland hosts the more opportunity it is for us to go over there so every time we get a chance to you know say do we want to go to ireland everybody in here goes uh yeah yeah we would like to go to Ireland.
Ireland's a fun time. They took care of us mightily, and obviously there's another college football game.
Iowa State is in that game. There's an NFL game obviously happening over there.
A lot of things taking place in Ireland. We will enjoy it, as we will enjoy the Irish today.
We'll have the hammer. Cowboys AP Tone is here, and joining us live from an attic in Ohio, ladies and gentlemen.
He's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.
Hawk. Yeah, Hawk.
Oh, green hoodie. Green hoodie on A.J.
Hawk. Good lad.
Hey, happy Patty's Day, America. That's what Connor told me this morning, so I strapped my green sweatshirt on.
Yeah, it's a big day here. I live in Dublin, Ohio, so St.
Patrick's Day is obviously a big day. A lot of drunk whites rolling around tonight.

I can't wait to see the photos or the rollout.

Happy St. Paddy's to you, Bub.

And it's a glorious day.

You know, maybe a little shamrock, maybe a little lucky.

You know who didn't get lucky, AJ, over the weekend?

Who's that?

I heard you.

You're a little bit upset, huh?

West Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio State.

You need to start speaking up too, pal. You have a platform.
Obviously, you're the former president of Ohio. Ohio State got screwed in this entire thing as well, pal.
Yeah, they did. The thing is, Ohio State, when they dropped their first game of the Big Ten tournament, I think everyone kind of knew their chances were very slim to get in.
Now, West Virginia felt like they got even ripped off even more than the Ohio State team. So, I guess we just had a couple days to prepare for this.
We dropped our first game in the Big 12 as well. I don't know what you guys were thinking after that, but I know at least Ohio State fans thought we missed our opportunity.
We missed our chance here. Our quad one record was so good.
Six wins in quad one. What do we got quad one, quad two, quad three, and quad four for whenever we go to make decisions? We don't care if it's the first quad or the fourth quad.
Yeah. Because UNC, one and 12 or something in good quad games.
That's right. West Virginia, undefeated in good quad games.
Maybe one loss. So you tell me how that works out.
Oh, I know how. The guy running the whole thing is getting 104 racks.
If his team gets in and all of a sudden he said he leaves the room. Okay, Bubba.
Okay, i would like to let bubba know that i understand he is a man of honor i would assume some people would say that to know him i understand he's probably a phenomenal athletic director and i would hope that my athletic director would be in the room where it happened making moves too trying to get my school in there that's why i'm saying ren baker hey we need to get you in the room where it happened right so you can do some handshakinghaking and maybe a little bit of moving and rattling and saying, you know, next year maybe we shake your hand if your hand's located maybe still on your wrist or anywhere else, you know. Or if you need us to shake, rattle, and roll, we'll be able to do that.
Ren Baker obviously said he was devastated for the team, disappointed for the team. Coach DeVries, who is potentially not going to be the coach of the Mountaineers much longer, which is the rumors.
Are you guys's tough. Are you guys hearing the same rumors in Iowa? Yes, yep.
That and Drake's head coach as well. But apparently his buyout is pretty hefty, so I don't know if that is.
But that is, yes, he is linked to Iowa heavily. Okay, so, I mean, that's what's happening in West Virginia.
So, yeah, it's a bummer, but we have to pick another team now. West Virginia said no to all tournaments, by the way.
They said no to all of them. Respect.
NIT, there's another one. No, we're not doing it.
I mean, maybe, but it also might be because the coach. You know, it all feeds the speculation that a coach who is a guy, seemingly, good for West Virginia, his boy, good for West Virginia, and then we get him, and then all of a sudden he's gone.
It's just like, that's a heartbreaker. That is a heartbreaker, especially if we're supposed to be an attorney or not.
So, Con Man and I kind of put our wagon on the St. John's Johnny horse.
Even more so after talking to Patino in the last hour. What a legend of a man.
Now, granted, that could change here in about 14 minutes. Whenever Coach Izzo of Michigan State joins us, we might latch our wagon elsewhere.
But since Ohio State is not in, what is the team that you are potentially pulling for? I don't think... Yeah, I guess we pick St.
John's pretty high up. It can be anybody.
What team are you latching? No one seats. Yeah, no one seats.
Okay, no one seats. See, when I was a kid, whenever I thought of bracket, I always had Duke winning no matter what.
I grew up a big Duke basketball fan. Stay with Duke.
You got Duke. Okay, we need somebody to represent Duke on this particular program.
Give me Duke. Okay, so you got Duke.
All right. Tone, who are you going with? North Carolina.
I like what they did. Okay, North Carolina.
Fair. What'd they do, Tone? Well, they potentially, you know, their way.
Is this the first time anything like this has happened, this blatant? Yeah, so the stats that are coming out are interesting. Like, West Virginia, and I don't know if it's a real stat,

and I don't know who is the 111 people.

There was 111 bracketologists or something that fill out their projected brackets.

I don't know if it's media or pundits or experts or whoever it is.

This is the first time ever that all 111 had one team in,

and then they don't go in.

So not even one out of the 111 experts thought that West Virginia

was not going to be in there. And it's all because of the quad one shit.
The quad one record, the quad two record, all the points, some of the wins, and yada, yada, yada. Now, granted, they exited early from the Big 12 tournament, so that was probably held against them.
DeVries got hurt like months ago. They held that against them, too.
It's like, okay, a lot of basketball has been played since that took place. But, yeah, a lot of people are saying it's the first time in the history of basketball it's happening even though every single year we're talking 64 to 68 here and people are upset about who didn't get in which reminds us whenever we're talking 12 team playoff for football they can make this thing a hundred team playoff and 101 102 are going to be pissed about not having the opportunity i changed mine i immediately regretted my decision yes who are you going with i'm going to go with bruce burrell and auburn i like the way he talks about his guards yep he talked about his guards in a fashion and said they were uh tough now he said it differently and obviously uh there were some on the internet they're like you can't say that well it's the real world everybody else was like yeah it's probably how a basketball coach talks to his team and we're finally getting actual sports coverage okay this is actually what it sounds like whenever a coach is talking to yeah but i don't like the way it sounds well that's on you we're just telling you how it actually goes as opposed to everything else you saw his his point guard was like yep absolutely yeah and bruce just kept rolling he said it and then just kept rolling they had to stop him almost and be like do you know what you well i don't know what are we even talking about yeah that's the reason why our team's different it's a compliment guys will get down the page yeah i'm this is the cop hyping up the boys here i'm hyping up the boys in this entire thing you're right i mean auburn can certainly have a squad tennessee look good florida look great ty what team are you picking because your team doesn't even have a coach right now yeah i'm gonna roll with drake i'm gonna stick with iowa the state of iowa uh and i'm gonna go with the drake a lot of – in 29-3, a lot of people said they got a job of getting an 11th seed as well.
Okay, so we have our teams now that we're picking. I would like to showcase another one of the small schools that got in for the first time ever.
And I guess the way people are talking about it down in Carolina, the school is a good time. Oh, yeah.
When High Point University, the Big South champs, announced uh into uh the bracket their place won ape shit look at this video aj that's awesome i mean that's what it's all that huge pop that's what it's all about they packed that whole arena out just because they already knew because they were champs so they're automatically in it's like let's just go find out where we're going to be and then also let's go berserk and let the world know how appreciative and pumped we are about this i hope high point does well i hope they go on a magical run strictly because of the way they were rolled into my life which is them getting announced their seating in the tournament yeah i don't know like how much if you guys know a lot about high point or not the only thing i knew like high point was where my wife goes there for a big interior design like thing twice a year and then i hear their college there is gigantic for like ceos and big time business school and networking and everything i don't know what you guys if that's true's true or not. So what we heard, and I think Connor knows a little bit more,

so he'll go here in a second.

What I heard from a lot of people is they have a good time down there.

I heard it is a good time.

Very nice.

Very nice.

And you get set up for life if you do the right thing when you go to school there.

That's what I hear.

And good time university, from what I heard.

Yeah.

People were talking about like not a lot of people make it, you know,

because good timing so much is what I heard. Yeah.
AJ kind of just said, you know, if you do the right thing there, you're set up for good. But that's about 1% of the student body that does the right thing.
I believe they have a couple pools on campus. What? You can just go outdoor.
I guess you got to pool in the middle of campus. Yeah, you can go shoot the shit just hanging out there.
I actually did. I know a guy.
It took him eight years to graduate, and he didn't regret one of those years, even though it did cost him about half a million dollars to get through his time there. But most people who end up at High Point, if they're not from a warm climate, they don't last at High Point.
They have to go back up north, go back to the cold, and actually go to school somewhere. Which I is why they have like an 80 acceptance rate like it's i've looked at like you don't even need to take like the act or the ssat to get in there it's it's not you know like so pretty much off my bad i'm way off on this school then yeah you're saying a lot of things that i heard the complete opposite about no i'm going off one i'm going off when one person told me that's the problem i'm doing i didn't check i didn't check this person when they told me all this information like oh that's pretty cool man that's great because i saw the video and i'm like i love this place holy hell i love this place so i come in here this morning another coastal elitist uh bruce knew some people that potentially went down to high point then we started looking into it i think i think there was comparisons the south harman institute of technology which uh i love i absolutely love that but the way they reacted to the seating it's like that looks like a place i would love to go to and i assume there's going to be even more people now what did you learn in more of your research yeah like i said you know i am it must be because they like to have a good time down there if you're letting 80 of the people who you know want to go to your school in a lot of people are dropping out.
So I think it's very, very easy to get in there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's kind of a come one, come all situation.
And guess what? If you can't hack it here, at least you have a great story to tell after a year or two. We hope, I don't know what their football team, if they have a football team, but we hope they have a massive football game someday and would love to come do a show there.
Would love to come to High Point just because of the energy that is seemingly around that university. Let's pivot away from the madness.
We'll dabble back in about seven minutes or so when Michigan State icon Coach Izzo joins us. Let's talk about the NFL, most specifically Cincinnati, Ohio.
They get Jamar Chase and T. Higgins' deals done.
Jamar Chase becomes the highest paid non-quarterback

in the history of the NFL, 40.25 a year. You see, if Miles Garrett's going to get 40, I'll get a little

bit more than that. He certainly did.
And Tee Higgins becomes the highest paid number two wide

out in the history of the NFL, both over $100 million. Now, granted, the Super Bowl champions

have paid two wide outs at a very high, high they also paid a quarterback a high number they've now paid their running back at a high number and they were able to win the super bowl now they had a lot of young dogs on the defense they were able to build up an offensive line become the best in the nfl and go on a run what is this deal or these deals say to you aj and what is most important now for the bangles to get back into the relevancy of the Super Bowl? They're going to be able to score. They're going to be able to light it up.
I think if they hit on a couple key pieces, welcome back, Bengals. Is that how you're feeling? And is that how Ohio feels? Yeah, I think, I mean, this is like a, I feel like this is a turning point for the Bengals as a franchise, as an organization.
What do you think of when people think of the Bengals? They think, oh, they're family-run, they're cheap, they don't want to spend money, they're not going to do this. But we know we've talked about the indoor facility they have now, and I didn't think there was a chance that they were going to sign both these guys.
I thought they were only going to be able to find a way to get Jamar done. But I believe, what, Rap Sheet last week said it's definitely possible that they're going to get both these guys done.
And now they're talking about their ongoing talks with Trey Hendrickson. If they can get Trey back as well, then yeah, this is like turning the page.
This is a new Bengals organization. Before we dive into Trey Hendrickson, for these two dudes, congratulations.
Unreal. And to your point about Cincinnati Bengals spending money to the Bengals fans, congratulations.
This is a fantastic time to be a Bengals fan. You got a quarterback from Ohio.
He's got his pieces that he absolutely loves. And your team's investing and doing business.
You talk about that indoor facility. He also sold the naming rights to the stadium for the first time in the history.
So it's like, welcome. Welcome to the Cincinnati Bengals.
I'm excited to see if it works out. Now, with Trey Hendrickson, there's been a lot of different reports.
A lot of different. I believe Diana Rossini tweeted, sources say Cincinnati is working to retain Trey Hendrickson and discussions are ongoing between the two sides.
The Bengals are attempting to do what many in the league thought difficult and keep in pay all three of their stars. Then Jeremy Fowler put out a tweet this morning uh that was basically

alluding the same thing about the pieces that would have to fall in place for a deal with

trey hendrickson to take place i uh that feels difficult that feels like a uh really difficult

that feels like a very tough move at this particular case especially what the market is

for a sack king like player hopefully we'll be able to learn more over the next few days uh

but this one feels very difficult so i understand that they've said that they were going to sign Tee and Jamar, and Tee even put out a cap thing, and then they get the deal done. And I understand they said they're going to sign Trey Hendrickson as well, but in the modern world, this one feels like it's going to be difficult to get done, just because he's coming off his best season.
He's the best in the league and uh this is potentially the last time deal is going to happen for so that that'll be impressive if duke does this you're talking about magician with this entire thing and obviously we're pulling for him yeah it just doesn't seem possible like with if you look at max crossby what'd he get 91 and a half million guaranteed and then miles garrett got you know 110 million guaranteed i forget if that number is correct but it was north of 100 million and both those guys didn't have the year that trey hendrickson did and sure trey's you know 30 31 but then there's reports about you know teams from gms that they're calling and the asking price for trey is impossible impossible to meet yeah so it does feel like one of those situations where unfortunately for tre Trey Hendrickson, he's about to bite the, hey, this is how Cincinnati does business bullet. No, no, Cincinnati's new business.
Yeah, well, we know how that works. And the T and Jamar thing is incredible.
The fact that they could get that done is awesome. But, you know, you posted something on X last night, and it was just a question.
You know, Is this style of ball? Is pouring $125 million in cap hit between your quarterback and two wide receivers? Is this a way to get back to the Super Bowl? Yeah, there it is. Can Cincy make it back to the Super Bowl? And I think if we've learned anything from the past two Super Bowls, no is the answer.
And I know it stinks for Cincy. Eagles paid two guys.
They paid a quarterback. For $100 million less than what the Cincinnati Bengals just did.
But the salary cap went up. But the salary cap did go up, absolutely.
But the thing is, too, the Eagles have those very pivotal positions on defense locked in with the draft. And Cincinnati can absolutely draft guys.
And I saw a report that was kind of mind-blowing, and that was that the Bengals are really going to have to nail their draft picks on defense, which, holy shit, I didn't even think of that. Maybe they do that, and then they're fine, and it doesn't really matter.
But the thing with the Eagles is they did nail their draft picks, all of them, at the most important positions, the D-line and the corners. So it's one of those situations.
And the Chiefs even and the Rams going back to the Super Bowl from the 2023 season, that was a ground and pound. Like, hey, we're going to beat you up.
We're going to hold on to the ball. It's going to be possession versus what Cincinnati seems to be fixing to do, which is still electrifying football.

It is cool to watch them throw it all over the yard,

and a lot of fancy teams are going to have their players.

The Eagles have the best offensive line in football.

Boom.

That's a whole other conversation about whenever you start comparing the team,

well, they pay two wide receivers, pay the quarterback,

even pay the running back.

It's like they have the best offensive line in ball.

They lose Jason Kelsey, still have the best offensive line in football.

That is a massive ordeal. Can Joey B stay upright? If he can, the offense can go.
Now, how are you going to stop the other team? And are you going to be able to give your defense enough rest? I don't know. I'm excited to see their vision, you know, because obviously Duke is a good football mind.
They were in a Super Bowl just a few years ago. So can they replicate that? We shall see.
Yeah, if I'm a Bengals fan, I'm spinning like this because and I've watched terrible offensive football over the last however many years I think it's it's easier to get better quicker on the defensive side so if you are going to pay a side I think the right side to pay is offense so because you're not going to like it's just the Eagles went from 26th to in 2023 in defense they get it they get a new DC which theals are going to do. And as long as you hit on your first two draft picks and they're incredible corners, you know, and they turn out to be great and you're off your defensive line youngins, they're playing well too.
You know, you get pretty good on defense pretty quickly. Okay, so congrats to the Bengals and today's boys.
Trey Hendrickson, I don't want to bear a negative news, but that feels like that's going to be tough. That feels like that's going to be tough.
Only one year left on his deal. This is from Jeremy Fowler.
A few things to keep in mind as the Bengals try to extend Trey Hendrickson. Uptick in talks occurred late last week before the Higgins chase started to get locked in.
There's definitely trade interest, but the Bengals have not shown any eagerness to deal him. Okay, we've heard the same thing.
This will new money issue currently owed 16 million in 2025 so even as since he offers two years 60 million that makes three for 76 this dynamic is a factor here yeah because 90 just became 90 something became number for max just a few weeks ago so you know how will they be able to do it duke was able to get it done with the wide receivers so hopefully hopefully he'll be able to do it with Trey, but that seems unlikely. But if it is unlikely, how come they won't let him go get him? Entertain some trade talks.
Well, I mean, they're negotiating through the media as well, I would imagine. They want to get to – if they're going to deal him, they want you to, hey, come throw us a few first-round picks or something.
Yeah, I – Which isn't going to happen. Yeah, I think that's potentially what has been happening.
You know? Hey, you want Trey Hendrick and sweet? We need four ones. We're not going to do that.
Oh, we got to pay him, too? Okay. Alright, we'll do it.
You guys said you wanted him. We have him, too.
Would DK go for? DK Metcalf? Different position? Second. Yeah, okay.

Well, everybody wants a first and something.

And then all of a sudden, reality sets in.

Yeah.

And it's like...

We'll take a second.

Yeah, we'll take a second.

We'll do that for sure.

And then some guys go for an absurd hole.

Oh, yeah.

You are exactly what you're worth.

And your worth is what somebody's willing to give.

And that is just kind of how it all works out. Congrats to Derek Singley Jr.
Speaking of worth. Highest paid corner.
30 mil a year he's getting from the Houston Texans. This is obviously a massive signing for corners as a whole.
We had D-butt on in the first hour. He is currently at his daughter's volleyball tournament down in New Orleans.
Good luck. Hey, let's go.
Let's get some wins. He said that they run into some teams that got some high from different states, but they're going to battle just like this dude.
Absolute stud. You know, D-Bow brought up how injuries early kind of slowed down, but then whenever he was 100% healthy, he's become exactly what they projected for him to become.
Casario didn't want to lose him. Casario paid him a shit ton of money.
And he becomes the third, I guess, multi-generational player to get broken off at the DB position. Sertain obviously gets paid a shit ton of money.
JC Horn gets paid a shit ton of money. Now Derek Stingley Jr.
gets paid a shit ton of money. And Jalen Ramsey rounds out like the top four in DB pay.
do you feel about the signing AJ and what were your thoughts immediately upon reading it I was surprised with the number I was very surprised that it was 30 a year but I was incredibly pumped for Derek and his family yeah I mean I guess you're surprised by the number but with the salary cap going up in the salary some of these dudes are getting I'm not not shocked by it but D-Butt said it best. I mean, when you have a guy that can line up outside, he can follow

the best receiver, and you can trust him

and you feel very, very good about that. It opens

up your whole playbook as a defensive coordinator.

So yeah, I give him credit for

getting this thing done. Who knows what a corner's going to get

two years from now. So good for them, and good

for Derek Stingley Jr. If you can cover guys

and you can rush the passer defensively, you

are going to get paid, that is for sure. Okay, so

I don't want to, you know, hypothesize too much because, you know, I'm a dumbass, so why would I want to do that about what the future potentially looks like? But now that we're getting back to running a lot, you know, being able to, man, on the outside is going to be vital. So we go back now to the Darrell Revis type days, you know, whenever people are just locking people down so you can commit more to the box.
Because it feels like the box is going to become more important with the prevalence of running coming back into football. So if you've got a guy, I think you're going to keep a guy.
And that means those prices should go. There's going to be a high end, and then there's going to be a young group.
That's what there's going to be. I don't think there's going to be any more middle ground at corner, you know, where they're going to move into safety or nickel or something like that.
I think with how you're going to have to commit to the run game, and I might be talking completely out of pocket. I am a doofus.
But with how you're going to have to commit to the run game, I think they're going to want to have guys that can ISO. I think that is going to be a – we either got a guy that can ISO, we're going to pay him, or we're looking for somebody that can do it.
I think that's potentially the next step, AJ. You would know football better than me.
Your early thoughts on my hypothesis. I like that.
And think about, like, just think defensively. If you were a coach and you know every team you play has, whoever their number one receiver is an absolute monster.
He's a complete stud. A lot of teams now have two, sometimes three guys like that.
So if you at least have one lockdown cover corner that you feel great about, that he can take their best player away, at least limit their explosives, yeah, it really opens up everything else you can do. And like you said, it is a cool time in the NFL that we are getting back to some physical downhill football when it really matters.
And if you have a dude outside like that that you feel good about, it just makes your job that much easier as a play caller. Rivas is literally just, all right, you know, they were playing 10 on 9 or 10 on 8 or whatever, you know, on that defense because it was just Rivas is going to do Rivas and then we all can now play football.
Like that is that is a weapon, you know, like Rex Ryan obviously understood that. Bill Belichick obviously understood that and I'm not saying that there's going to be just Darrell Rivas is falling out of trees, but it's like everybody's going to be looking for that now, especially

with this.

It's back.

Yeah, because you'd be like, well, why would skill

positions get paid? Well, because they need a counter

so that we can send more meat and more

men at these running backs

that are fast, strong,

and bigger than they've ever been in the past.

Yeah, and it's not just running backs now. Every single quarterback

you run. It was 10 on 9

when Revis was there, but it's 10 on 10 now.

You know,

you know, you know, that are fast, strong, and bigger than they've ever been in the past. Yeah, and it's not just running backs now.

Every single quarterback.

It was 10 on 9 when Revis was there, but it's 10 on 10 now.

Every single QB is moving around,

especially the young ones that are coming into the league.

You saw what Jaden Daniels did.

I'm not saying anybody else is going to be able to do that,

but just looking at the QBs that are projected in the first round now,

Shador, Cam Ward, Jackson Dart, when we pull up their highlights, they're running. They're moving around all over the place.
So even that aspect of it makes you think, okay, well, having those man guys on the outside, and then to AJ's point about him getting paid, he's going to be 24 in June. That's a three-year extension.
Think about when he's 28 being able to re-up again, and who knows where the league will be at then. It might already be turned back to throwing the ball all over the place.
All right, let's go back to the madness that is March. Ladies and gentlemen, it is an absolute honor to be joined by this icon from Michigan State.
He became the head coach up there in 1995. Eight Final appearances a national championship obviously an absolute stud in a paisan that has led michigan state in a way that has every spartan fan around the globe saying that's our guy legend go the best love tom is so much that's evan fox you have no idea evan fox actually put a photo of he and coach izzo into the group this morning when he was 10 years old yep wow 2005 michigan state basketball camp right there ladies and gentlemen the man from that photo alongside evan fox coach tom is well i know your show is a little different than most but i didn't think you guys were drinking on the show.
God almighty, that's a little bit too much for me. I don't deserve that, but it is an honor to be on your show.
I think I know my buddy Mariucci just talked to you the other day, and him and I have been a long time together, so this is great. I'm a football guy at heart.
I actually like football more than football more than basketball okay well that's probably why your teams are so damn tough you know and uh why we have so much appreciation and that's what i was telling uh coach mariucci and he said obviously he grew up with you uh in michigan has watched this what tries to support as much as possible says he comes to every big 10 championship says he's trying to get to a couple games this year that are historic. Let's talk about that now.
You've been breaking a lot of people's records

as you've continued to go here with Michigan State.

And every record that passes,

do you try to celebrate?

Do you try to think back?

Do you reminisce?

Is there nostalgia?

How do you handle all the shit

that's kind of coming with this stage

of your career at Michigan State?

You know, Mary Chi came in for our Indiana game. I was supposed to break Bob's record then, and we lost at home.
So Marucci wasn't invited back for a month. You know, I got rid of him.
But you know what? Those kind of records aren't as important to me because that just means you stayed somewhere a long time. I think the records that are important to me are the banners that hang and the rings you get and the things that'll last you know records are made to be broken banners are made to stay forever 11 time big 10 season champions obviously and you say just because the records happen is because you stay somewhere a long time that's very rare man especially nowadays coach they'll get rid of people get rid of people.
They will can people. They will move on.

Fran just got moved on in Iowa.

I think a lot of people assumed he'd probably be there for a long time.

But everybody in Michigan State loves you,

from the football people to every single fan.

It's like you embrace everything that is Michigan State.

What does that mean to you?

And what is Michigan State to those that maybe don't understand?

What are the type of people?

What is the type of culture that you try to have with your team? we're kind of the blue collar institution in this state and damn proud of it by the way but uh you know nick saven and i started together as assistants then we started together as head coaches and kind of had similar philosophies and uh you know what i've enjoyed about michigan state they've been good to me i think i've been decent to them and um you know the blue collarness is what i like you know it's a multi uh there's many different kinds of people here and uh multicultural in a lot of ways and um you know we are what we are and uh for the most part um you know i'm really proud of what we are mark d'antonio came here and we went to a final four they went to a final four in the same year um those are exciting times when you can do things like that yeah foxy still remembers getting all boozed up i was in college when that happened coach so i went to both the final four in indianapolis watch your team and i watched the football team as well one of the greatest years of my entire life. Foxy, we love you for that, man.
We love you. Let's go, Coach.
Foxy! You have no idea. You're the legend.
Foxy actually has a question for you, Coach. Okay, Coach.
January, February, Izzo is an absolute real thing. I've watched it my entire life, and I just need to know from your perspective, what's the secret sauce? How do you do it? Is it just a combination of the entire season coming together and finally you're getting hot at the right time? Or do you actually right now at this time, crank practice up, do anything different? I need to know because I've watched it so many times in my life.
Well, these last couple of years, there was no March then because it was January, February, and things weren't as good. But for the most part, guys, we have had some luck in March.
I'd said God put March on the planet for basketball coaches, and it's been good to me. But I think it's a combination of things.
Some good players. I think we try to, after the first couple of years, year four, we're in a final four.
Year five, we won it. And I kind of learned then that this is the new standard.
Nothing else will be accepted. And you got to build towards it, you know, and you don't want to be so good in December and then not very good.
You don't want to burn guys out. So we've kind of had a philosophy.
And at the same time, I'm the luckiest guy in America. Why Michigan State? From Magic Johnson, Mateen Cleaves, Steve Smith, you know, Draymond Green.
I mean, those guys are all calling back now this week and making sure they're threatening our guys to be very blunt and honest about it. They threaten them.
And that works better than the coach doing anything. Hey, the standard's the standard, okay? We will rip those jerseys off of your backs.
You don't show up. I got respect for that.
When the alumni buys in, especially whenever you've been around that long, it's easier to sell to the team, I would assume. Go ahead, AJ.
Coach, you mentioned that you like football better than basketball. What is it about football that you love so much, and do you ever incorporate some kind of football drills, bring the pads in, knock the guys around a little bit at practice hell yeah well i can tell you the funny story now you probably heard it but in uh 2000 when we or 2001 when we won the national champ we went the three final fours and we went to ohio state and we lost the rebound battle for the first time in i think 18 games and i I said then, I got back, I told my equipment man,

call Saban, tell him I need 12 sets of gear at practice tomorrow.

We play a game called the war game.

It's a rebounding drill.

So we had practice.

I was mad.

I brought out the pads.

All the players, you know, the 6'9 guys are wondering,

what the hell is a pad?

So Mateen Cleese was teaching guys how to button their chin straps. He was loving it.
I was mad. I wanted it to be a grind drill.
They started having so much fun. For 15 minutes, we beat the hell out of each other and nobody got hurt.
Now, if I did that today, I'd probably get sued. So I don't do that as much anymore, but that was fun.
And you know what? I had Zach Randolph. I had some guys that got after it.
And that's why we went to three straight final fours. Okay.
So hold on. I know you can't do the drill now, but let's go back in time.
We're on wood with pads. Are we on a wrestling mat? Can you take me through the drill? How's this, are we we, Oklahoma drills? What's going on? Coastal Oklahoma drills.
I know that one too, but five guys line up under the basket, five guys at the three-point line. Boom, we hit each other, and whoever gets the ball gets the ball.
And it was all on hardwood. It was a football team on hardwood.
Somebody called my team that at the Final Four that year. They said, well, that's nothing but a football team on hardwood.
And somebody called my team that at the final four that year they said well that's nothing but a football team on hardwood and he was right but it won a national championship so it wasn't all that bad no we need to get the pads back out we need to get the pads back out it sounds like uh i like that you have a tough team i like that you have a tough team i like that that's part of your culture the blue collar and it came out on senior night one guy. One guy was ready to fight two people.
Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, coach, as a football guy, clearly you were pretty pumped about Trey Holloman kind of throwing down at midcourt when Michigan decided to, you know, basically do the exact wrong thing.
There's actually cut up footage of them not standing there for any free throws until then. It became a little bit of a scene.
And then after the game, of course, you gave the speech and kind of gave Trey that honor as a junior to kiss the logo at midcourt, which is reserved for seniors only. When a moment like this happens, is this something you're showing every recruit? Like, hey, you're coming to Michigan State.
This is the kind of guy we want being able to throw down for your teammates. How proud were you when just watching from the sideline sideline after the dust settled like wow i try almonds an absolute junkyard dog and we gotta love that well first of all time out you know i wasn't proud of it okay okay i gotta do my job and i didn't even know what happened but you gotta flash back to the fab Five sitting with their butt on that thing, rubbing it on it.
There was a lot of things people don't know. When you've been here 30 years, you know, I was actually here 40 because I was here as an assistant.
So there was a lot more to it. I talked to my players about it.
But I don't condone anything that is that crazy. I'm not that crazy.
and I didn't condone it but i don't condone anything that uh is that crazy i'm not that crazy and i didn't condone it but i uh i felt like after i heard what happened after i saw the voice stuff there was a lot more to it than you would the average person would know so uh i just wanted to make sure they know everybody's got a tradition can you imagine guys you you guys you you played football both of you can you imagine the banner at michigan that they touch every time they come out if our football team stood under it and didn't let them do it maybe a hundred thousand fans fighting no that's just the way it is i got it and uh i think all of us respected and appreciated the way you handled it with your player now Now, the Michigan people are going to be like, hey, they're just standing there. What do you want them to do? There's always going to be an out.
But I do appreciate the rivalry. You know, like that only happens in a rivalry.
Yeah, it's weird how it's never their fault either. But, you know, neither here nor there.
Coach, don't laugh. Coach, you know it.
You know it. He knows it well.
But you know what? You know what? One thing that a rivalry, you know, like John Beline used to ask me, you know, one day I said, well, you got to hate your rivals. You know, you can respect them.
You can't like them. Do you like your wife's ex-boyfriend? I mean, it's illegal to do that.
Respect, respect, respect. Ty has a question for you, Coach.
Coach, being another Big Ten guy, I've watched enough of your teams over the course of my life to know that you're not exactly about the bullshit. Everyone these days is kind of talking about how much kids have changed from maybe know maybe 20 25 years ago how much has like your coaching philosophy changed over the course of your career and like how different is it coaching kids now than it maybe was when you had those teams with mateen cleaves and mo pete and guys like that oh those guys were fist fighters you know i mean i mean it has changed but I use the football term all the time, you know, when, when things change, and you got all these different offenses and defenses, and at the end of the day, you still got to be able to block tackle and not turn the ball over, you know, and, and in basketball, you still got to be able to defend and rebound to win on the road and, and not turn the ball over.
So I think I've changed some changed some unfortunately i think i'm getting back to the my old self your show maybe brings it to to fact you you say and do what you want on this you're not politically correct all the time whoa and i would be considered not a politically correct guy all the time but uh i think if you spend time with your players they know you're coaching them them to win championships. You want them to be pros.
They want to do these things that 1% of the world does, but they think everybody should just be able to do it by patting you on the back and, nice job, buddy. You just missed 10 shots in a row.
That's great. Remember, the old cliche is they don't care what you know until they know that you care.
Like obviously those moments. Yeah.
Oh really?

Yeah. I got, I had a sign that fell down,

but I keep it on my desk all the time because you're right about that.

It is true. I got to make sure I get in here.
Oh no. Oh no.

This is the 20 years difference thing too. You know, it's got a half face.
slide to your right i think am i right there you go is that better smack the wood slide to the left yeah yeah perfect you nailed it you nailed it absolutely other right i got it yeah the um that whole that that's a cliche for a reason though like what people see on tv at the biggest game a coach and a player interacting they don't see the actual hundreds of hours beforehand to get to know that person are you a guy that views all of them like your kids you know you hear a lot of coaches say that type of thing like i wouldn't let my kids do this so i'm not gonna let my players do this is that how your relationship is with the boys on the team and has it been that way throughout the entirety of you had to evolve well you know my two kids are now 30 and 25 and i i unfortunately i have to admit i spent more time with my players than i did my kids and that's not always fair that's the reality of coaching as i think every football and basketball coach and probably other sports too but that is the reality of it i try to bring my family in with my team because you don't get enough family time unless you do that. But hell yeah, you look at them, you know, you want them to be successful.
You want them to be great. You want them to win championships.
You want them to, you know, have a life after basketball. I mean, really our job is to make the next 70 years better than the first 20.
It's getting harder to do because holding people accountable and things is, you know, people look at that as illegal nowadays. I think it's coming back.
I think it's coming back. Stay strong.
Stay strong. I think it's coming back for the good of everybody, by the way, for the good of everybody.
Everybody's allowed to make money while, and earn money for what they do and what they bring sweet. If they're also able to evolve and to become men, you know, going forward and women in sports sports that'll be great for society as a whole i think it's coming back tone has the last question for you here coaches oh yeah coach kind of around that around the family and in the 20 years difference and being able to coach guys harder is it is it easier when you have jason richardson's kid jace richardson on the team are you allowed to coach him a little harder because he is the son of a professional athlete and they kind of just come in with an idea of of the work and the and the ethic and all that that you have to come in to be successful you know Jace has been a treat he was not only raised by his father who was 14 years in the league and won you know championship two final four national championship here and all the things he accomplished but his mother is a coach too she coached him so he's getting it from all sides and he has been an easy kid to coach because you know he expects more of himself than i expect of him and that's that's pretty cool when that happens so yeah jason has helped and when jason was here with mateen and those guys man it was it was a little crazier back then but uh it was fun too and it's an honor that he'd put let his son come play for me uh after 25 years for your team to go on a run what do they have to do coach what is the like what is your main thing here for your squad yeah we got to get a little better with our three-point shooting that's been a weakness all year but we've defended we've rebounded we've we've ran good we shot free throws we got to the line um you got to be good enough to be great and then lucky enough to win in this tournament because there's always a cinderella out there or there's always an upset waiting you know unlike your guys sport football usually the bigger stronger better team wins We got to put that damn orange thing in that hoop.
And some nights, no matter how good a play you run, it just doesn't get there. And so that's why I say you got to be a little lucky too.
But I like the fact that our defense travels and we'll see what it can do for us. All right, coach.
Well, good luck. And hopefully it's nine final fours for you and all of the Spartys.
Fox, do you have anything you say to him on the way out? Coach, thanks for everything. You're the man.
You're the GOAT. Can't wait to watch you guys win the title this year.
And, and, and. Go Green.
There you go. Go White.
Hell yeah. That was a big moment for Foxy there.
It was a big moment. We appreciate you, Coach.
Ladies and gentlemen, Tom is... Yeah, Coach!

Needed you to get a go white back for you.

Had to.

Yeah, had to. Get this guy a new pair of pants.

I thought you weren't going to do it there.

No, thank you.

You lobbed that one up for me.

Yeah, well, also, I thought we were going to miss the entire...

What's the entire thing here?

The entire thing is go green, go white with Coach Izzo.

Got that photo of if 10-year-old me would only know...

Watch this. Congrats to you, Fox.
Yeah, it's cool. I mean, you can grow up in the Lansing area.
He literally is God, like actually. Foxy has loved Michigan State.
Yeah. Loudly, proudly, threw a lot.
Ride or die. And when you play basketball from the Lansing area, every single coach you ever have tries to be Tom Izzo.
And, you know, it means you're running a lot, you're physical're physical the rebound all that you're getting yelled at all the time and obviously none of them are tom but that's how it is really do they yeah do they do they he got he got an octave up there oh he's known for his raspy voice because he's yelling all the time raspy no so my voice he did have a raspy voice it was fantastic my voice gets like that whenever i lose it and i never know if there's gonna be a a voice there so like i'll go to speak which is tough whenever you're a professional speaker you know not knowing if you're going to have it so every once in a while you'll you'll travel to a different octave because you know you have to go you know it's there you know it's there so whenever he did the rival race and got all the way up there i'm like oh i wonder if he was battling there didn't know if the voice was going to basketball coaches, some of them him, very much so. Oh, definitely.
Had they won Saturday and played yesterday, he probably would have had no voice. Him and Hurley? Yeah, it feels like all the most successful ones, Calipari, Patino, like all the ones that actually go.
They get. Oh, yeah.
Last year, I think it was last year, right, Foxy, where he was ripping a kid on the sideline. Was it two years ago? No, was it for a three-point? As he brought it up, every once in a while I'll get after a guy, and I'm not always politically correct, I remembered him on the sideline.
People killing him. People were so mad.
It might have been two years ago. It might have been two, yeah, yeah, yeah.
As he was saying it, I was like, oh, yeah. I do remember you getting fucking after somebody.
I like that, though. I like good accountability coaching.
You have to in basketball. Basketball, I feel like you kind of have to.

You've got to be on them every second because if you have one lapse,

yeah, the team goes on a run, you're done.

Did you see the player that his – I think it was Michigan.

His gum fell out and he decided to pick up his gum off the floor.

He got back cut.

Easy layup.

Screwed him.

Who's coach at Michigan first year there, right?

Dusty May.

First year at Michigan.

Wins the Big Ten. I think he's the first coach ever to win the Big Ten tournament in its first year as the head coach, I believe, is what I heard yesterday.
I was trying to keep up with all the news and learn as much as I possibly could. I had to go over to CBS Sports Network.
They had a show on for a long time. I appreciate them.
They were on for like three hours afterwards, breaking down every single team. I was trying to learn everything I possibly could.

It was hard to find information out there

from any other network.

CBS was seemingly on it.

We appreciate them doing that.

Biggest story of the day is what?

Oh, the fucking bracket's out.

Okay.

Who are these teams?

Can we learn about them?

CBS did that for us.

So shout out to them

and shout out for spending the day with them.

Also yesterday, AJ,

I don't know if you saw this.

The players had like a four-hour rain delay.

Thunder, lightning down there in Jacksonville.

Rory McIlroy, was he going to blow it after such a long wait?

Well, he ended up tying with a man named Spawn.

Then they slept on it overnight.

Spawn, probably not a lot.

Rory knew it was going to be St. Paddy's whenever he woke up in the morning

and had an opportunity to win his 28th PGA Tour Championship. Damn.
Rory, very early, very quickly, established dominance over Spahn. First hole would end up getting a birdie with a beautiful drive and a beautiful chip and a wonderful putt.
He would be minus one through the first hole of a three-hole aggregate battle. And he didn't have much competition.
Spawn lasted about one shot on 18. And the first hole, he sprayed it into the rough, couldn't even see the ball.
Then they get to 17, the second hole. He puts one in the water, as expected.
He was plus three through two holes against Roy McIlroy. And Rory just coasted to a dub in a three-hole extra playoff this morning down at the players in Jacksonville and uh I'll tell you it was pretty obvious what was going to happen literally from the first swing of spawn and that's like the experience that's uh understanding and I think it's a little bit of the Irish understanding that St.
Paddy's Day needed a Rory dub. AJ, from the beginning of this week where Rory was grabbing phones of collegiate golfers to now being the champion on a Monday with the longest players in a long time, how do you feel for the state of golf? I watched yesterday and would have watched if there was no delay and did watch after the delay.
I enjoy that golf is back. Yes, but I think this venue makes it awesome.
Obviously, the Island Green, then the winds picked up on the weekend. These guys make it look too easy, though.
That's the problem. They're shooting these crazy scores when it's blowing crazy wind.
It doesn't matter. They just find a way to continue to score.
But yeah, I felt like wins. If you watch Spawn, if you would have drained that birdie putt on 18 on Sunday night to win it all, boom, he goes home.
He wins it. When he left that thing like an inch short, you felt like, all right, yeah, It's been a good run, bud, but it's going to be tough for you to win this three-hole playoff tomorrow.
Yeah, he's going to have to eat dinner on this, he's going to have to lay down on this, him and his brain and his pillow tonight are going to have a lot of chat about, yeah, I'm supposed to win this thing tomorrow morning. Three best holes of my life.
Three very difficult holes. 16, 17, 18 seemed scary as hell to play as well.

Yeah, hard closer, which I respect out of the way

the whole tee piece of sawgrass is constructed in it all.

I put out a tweet that said, you know, it's St. Paddy's.

Like, Rory has no chance of losing this.

And it really did feel that way.

Like, even from their warm-up to them showing up

to getting to the first hole, it all felt like Rory was comfortable and Spahn was not. And that is what? The game of golf.
Yeah, and Rory even said, I think Rory coming into it knew that. I think he said, hey, after he won, he said, this is the fourth time I have won on St.
Paddy's Day. And now Rory joins Jack, Tiger, and Scotty Scheffler as the only players in the history of golf to win multiple players and multiple major championships.
So, yeah, it's quite a group to be a part of. Congratulations to Rory McIlroy.
Obviously, a beautiful day for the Irish lad. And now the next tournament starts tomorrow.
That goal for life is quite a grind. But he won $4.5 million, I believe, today at the Players.
And then he went back to, what's that? I thought it was more like $5 million. I think the tweet I saw said $4.5 million because Jack was like $50,000 or something whenever he won way back in the day and how much golf has kind of evolved and changed.
Yeah, and Spong got like $2.275 million. Both are still going on very happy.
He knew that last night when he was laying down. Exactly.
Worst thing happens, I win 2.27 million. He's exempt into a lot of the big tournaments too the rest of the year.
Still like a life-changing second place finish for him. Certainly is.
Let's do another NFL deal that happened over the weekend. Makai Becton is signed with the Chargers to play guard to your 20 million bucks.
Congratsekhi. Mekhi goes from being a bust out of the Jets at tackle, goes to Statlin University in Philadelphia, moves down to guard, becomes a dominant interior offensive lineman, wins a Super Bowl, and now signs a two-year, $20 million deal on a Jim Harbaugh team.
So congrats to Mekhi. They're going to love him over there, I think, from everything we heard.
And once Herb gets his hands on Makai in that weight room, the sky is the limit for old Makai in that offensive line. Yeah, we've talked about the Silver Bells Club with Khalil Mack, you know, using those 200-pound dumbbells.
I assume Makai Becton might have some of that in his future as well. Ladies and gentlemen, before we wrap up here on ESPN on this St.
Paddy's Madness Monday, March 17,, 2025. Happy St.
Paddy's Day to all of you. Who would we be if we didn't bring in our favorite Irishman, ladies and gentlemen, from the WWE, Sheamus.
Yeah, Sheamus! Oh, he wants to crack! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Thanks for the hospitality. That's brilliant.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Hey, happy St. Patrick's Day.

We're part of you for your hair, lads.

Okay.

Get on the chest there, Pat.

Get on the chest.

Get over here, all right?

All right.

Hey.

Have a few points.

Sláinte, fellas.

Hey, sláinte, Seamus.

Sláinte, buddy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Hey, thank you, Irish people.

All right.

Sláinte, sláinte.

Turn on a great night.

We'll never remember.

Okay.

Yep.

Amen.

Go on.

Go on, Seamus.

Go on, Seamus.

Go on.

Go on. Seamus.
Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus.
Go on, Seamus. Go on, Seamus.
Okay, thank you, Seamus. Seamus, happy St.
Paddy's day. Okay, all right.
Legend. That was chocolate milk, obviously.
He would never chug actual beer on television. Yeah, I would never do that.
He's going to have a good one. Yeah.
James is ready to go. We will continue this program on YouTube, ESPN+, Disney+, and TikTok Live.
The March Madness stuff is so spectacular because it's a sport we rarely pay attention to on this particular program and then it injects itself into our life and it takes over and i can't thank the college hoops committee enough or community enough for a kind of building to this moment and from what i've heard the sec is about to walk right through this thing or what a saint john's johnny's make some magic how about some teams out of the big 12 that maybe got in over top of west virginia will they be able to do their thing? Big 10, grind and pound, football. Are you going to be able to go? Or maybe a Cinderella story that won their conference championship for an automatic bid.
Who's going to turn their school into a place that every basketball fan on earth knows about? Who's going to change their enrollment from one to maybe triple the size in one magical moment to a shining moment just a few weeks from now that's what march madness is all about so from us to college basketball sloucha happy saint paddy's day we'll see you tomorrow goodbye i don't think we're off yet yeah i was gonna say did we change it to 153 oh yeah it was 54 30 yeah got another minute and a half that was sweet Yeah, he was good. Maybe the best guy now for the history.
That's all the time. That's all the time.
It's 153 right now.

I think we're still on. I think we're still on.
Still on. That might be my favorite thing that's ever happened.
Yeah, pretty good little happening there. I'll tell you, it's been a great St.
Paddy's morning. Fantastic.
I mean, yeah, one of the best days of the year. You're going to start to finish, really.
Tim McAfee went to a beer garden this weekend. Nice.
Shot her down, obviously. Busted his shit, right? Yeah, pulled his calf.
It happened last week, obviously. You tell me, Bob.
Was he racing people in the street? You know, my dad's not like a boozer, like a big boozer at all. But St.
Patrick's Day just becomes like, it has, like he's for a long time. Squatting a picnic table with everyone sitting on it.

Probably. That's what happens.
Are we drinking or not? Puts it on his back like

he's John Cena with the AA. Speaking

of tonight, Monday

Night Raw in Brussels,

John Cena returns

from what I've been told.

What will he'll Cena say?

I will not be there. It was like a nine

hour flight. It's tough with the day job.
But I do know Michael Cole and the boys will be absolutely crushing it. We will all watch along in awe at the greatness.
Happy St. Paddy's to all of you.
And I already said goodbye once. I'm not doing it again.
Okay? We'll continue this digitally. And we'll see you tomorrow.
Sláinte! All right. All right.
Let's go to the bathroom. Yes, Luis.
Jeez, Luis. That was such a good one.
Still, yeah. It was still great.
You know, it was still great. It was...
No, 53 was a good one. Oh, that's what I'm saying.
It was still great at 53. We should just want the black.
Yeah. Just let it sit for 90 seconds.
And people can just read all the shit that's on the screen still. SportsCenter.
After us. I don't know if we should take pride in this or not.
Up. Yeah.
Nice. Huge.
Good show, though. We like the people that host that show.
Yeah. They like us as well, which is very cool of them.
And I think it's doing good. So if we were to leaving 90 seconds dead air i would kind of them a little bit good point which we would not want to do to them no ever there are others well i'm joking it's another year around the sun world or more mature now mm-hmm that's how it works yep

yeah or we're more mature now that's how it works yep yeah yep all right ladies and gentlemen here's the you here's the dream here's the us from the whole damn team can't thank you enough for wearing your green happy st pat. Paddy's.
Sanchez, everybody! Race the rudders! Race the sails! Race the sails! Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over.
Roger. Wait.
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Patrick's Day in Ireland where I was. But they did it like the night before.
I was in this like smaller town. They did it the night before into the morning had a parade through the town.
And then it was kind of over after the parade. Everybody like kind of called it quits.
I don't know if that town is like every town, but that was the town I was in. You're pretty exhausted at the end of it, but you're definitely pretty banged up too.
The parade is obviously fun and you go through the entire town. Everybody's shit-faced.
Then you're kind of done for the afternoon. I think they did celebrate it over there.
I assume it is different than over here because over here, it's just a lot of people saying we can get hammered because the Irish are having a day today, and that's okay, too. We currently have a live camera on the Temple Bar in Dublin, Ireland.
Sláinte to all parties enjoying themselves. Love the lighting.
Love the lighting. Love the shamrocks.
I love that we walked through that area and certainly remember all of it. No doubt you know that is the uh that's the best part aj we can't wait to get back over to beautiful dublin ain't that accurate dublin's pretty awesome man it was my first time ever getting to step foot over there and yeah the people it's everything's about the people like obviously the old history tradition everything about it but the people are people are all like seamus which look at seamus he's like the nicest most fun dude you could ever be around I said this at the beginning nicest until not you know like that's the thing I said this in a good way yeah in a good way uh obviously but also if you want some come get some you know that is yeah I said that at the beginning of the show that like you know we're having a couple Italians on the show today and his own patino and it's like the Italian Italian and the Irish, you do the research are like the, uh, Hey, these are blue collar.
One in the same blue bloods. These are the blue collar, blue bloods here, the Irish and the Italian.
So it is a, uh, I think it's a very similar group of humans. And whenever we got over there, not scared to shit talk, you know, not scared to shit talk, which is blue collar community, which we all come from one.
So I think that's why we adapted so easily over there uh but just willing to have a good time too like yeah if this is what you want to do let's do it live music everywhere you know i had a uh i can't wait to get back oh so punk i can always i'm gonna do it differently this time what do you mean why well we're gonna make sure that the audience can hear our show so that our show isn't just me chugging beers to a crowd of a couple hundred Irish lads who are packed into J.R. Mahins over there having a good old time, which I would recommend to all those people that we just saw in Dublin.

Go to J.R. Mahins.

It is a great pub.

Stories.

Great time.

Good people.

But it was packed in.

Nobody could hear us.

You know, everybody's being quiet.

And these Irish lads are like, hey, pal, we're having a Friday here.

You know.

Trying to get fucked up.

And you're kind of. Come on, live.
We can't even hear what you're saying. We can see you.
We can't hear you. So that's when the beer chugging started.
It was like, hey, here we go. Thanks for coming out.
You can't hear a word we're saying. But let's go ahead and do that.
And then one thing led to another. I think I did 10 and 12 of them.
And dance with Mrs. Saban.
Yep. Obviously a lot of hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.
Talked to a local American football coach. Yeah.
He was awesome. He was good.
It was a good time. And then got a chance to kind of meet everybody that was out and about in the city, felt like.
And saw a lot of different places. And it was a good time.
I legitimately can't wait to get back. And happy St.
Paddy's to everybody over there. And in the United States, recreating uh recreating what we did you know over there either today or yesterday or saturday a lot of people had their saint patrick's day celebrations over the weekend obviously so you know congrats to everybody surviving or thriving currently on this saint patrick's day aj yeah it reminded me i was walking with seamus when i i got separated from the pack i walked with seamus somewhere that night after the show and And we're just walking and there's people everywhere.
And all of a sudden he's like, oh, hey. And he goes and he hugs his car.
He goes, hey, AJ, meet my sister. And his sister was right there standing outside some awesome building that they were at.
And I never asked him like, hey, did you just randomly walk? I hope you guys work this out. If not, this is awesome.
And we hugged her, met her. It was great.
And then we just kept moving and she went in her direction as well. I'm like, I never got to ask Seamus, like, hope you guys work this out if not this is awesome and we hugged her met her it was great and we just kept moving and she went her direction as well i'm like i never got to ask sheamus like did you guys talk before this and does sheamus call everybody that he knows his sister yeah is that exactly what's this oh that's my brother that's my brother he might be right yeah i mean sheamus she was the greatest he is the man he is so much fun him on that Just the best.
Holding court. You know, his seat was at the perfect spot as he was just pouring.
We delayed our trip 45 minutes. Strictly.
Because Seamus was trying to find proper mugs. That's right.
He did. Proper Guinness mugs from a proper pub.
He goes, I finally found a, you know, gave like a, put over some bar we've never heard of. And there, uh, Magali's is a...
It's great. It's a great bar.
And then Paulie over there in Jersey. I assume that, uh, they...
It's my brother. I'm surprised he didn't say it.
Yeah. It's my brother.
All right. Let's talk about some news.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody.
And, uh, congrats to Tim surviving another one. You know, that's good news.
Kind of. Pulled a calf.
Yeah. Strained a calf.
Not 100 you said day of last week just kind of leaked into the weekend i saw him limping that's not true yeah he was doing calf raises over here on the steps in the he was over there i got workers thing uh what happened strain my calf when'd you do that last week oh really wasn't st? Wasn't St. Patrick's Day celebration on Saturday? No.
What do you think? Why is he lying? Yeah, it was last week. You know, it was hurt.
I'm like, all right, Tim. He needs to get better because what he's doing in his weight room on a daily basis is awesome.
Have you seen this guy in here? Yeah, yeah. Hey, we're talking.
Tim? Yeah. I believe it.
And I'm telling him he can get on some science science you know like at his age there's a lot of things you know that if you wanted to get like all the way back like it easily do to you I'm not doing that I'm like all right okay okay you know it would help maybe even with this calf or something I'll need it all right shout out Tim McAfee happy St. Patrick's Day to him some football news we chatted about.
Cooper Cup, we officially get some numbers. Three years, $45 million deal in total.
And I don't think I fully understood the significance of him going back to Seattle. I guess he's from outside of Seattle, obviously played college in that state.
And he talked about, you know, having Washington back across his chest and then the letter and then like the response of the people. The ball is coming home.
You know, it's like that is really what they're selling. And in a time where the Seattle Seahawks are potentially losing fans that they can definitely regain, but they've certainly lost interest of some of their fan base.
Some of the 12s have certainly seemingly not had as much optimism about what's going on with the Seahawks than they had in the past,

especially moving on from Pete Carroll, moving on this new era. Other teams were actually taking

over the stadium in primetime games. Never happened in the history of my understanding

of the Seattle Seahawks. Bringing a hometown kid back, especially one that is beloved as it appears

as Cooper Cup is in Washington. Good move business-wise.
Also, get Sam Darnold a weapon, good move football-wise. I like this a lot for the Seattle Seahawks, AJ.
I think it makes sense on all ends. Obviously, Cooper gets to come home and everyone, all the fanfare with that, but they need him.
They need Cooper Cup to step in day one and be the man and be a stud for Sam Darnold. It's going to be huge for that whole receiver room.
But yeah, Cooper Cup, like we've said a million times on here, when healthy is one of the best receivers in the NFL. The question is, how long can he stay healthy? And I think there was a report that the Seahawks can get out of the Sam Darnold deal.
I think Florio reported the Seahawks can get out of the Sam Darnold contract after one year, $37.5 million. So I don't know exactly how that all comes to be.
The structure allows the Seahawks to escape the contract after one year and $37.5 million. While it's generally frowned upon for teams to scrap contracts when the guarantee flips from injury only to full in the early days of the waiver period, that's what the Raiders did with Derek Carr in 2023.
The good news for the players that it gives him a head start on free agency by more than a month. If the Seahawks pick up the second year of the Darnell contract at $27.5 million, it's a two-year $65 million deal.
That's an average of $32.5 million per year. Okay, so it's a one-year deal with a two-year option by the team coming up next year.
$37.5 million this year, then a two-year option team side after the season ends before free agency period opens up so i wonder why that was the structure that sam darnold agreed to how much was he being offered at other places and is this another opportunity for him to bet on himself and play great ball while making good money yeah another thing talked about in the article and just about the contract was how you know towards the end of the year if seattle isn't having a good year um it would be a situation where he might get benched because of his injury guarantee uh for next season so just like what happened with derrick car just like what happened derrick car and uh dan jones is who they referenced with the giants just this past season because that's exactly what happened with with them that's why they benched him so they won't have to pay him so the deal is uh you're not our uh dan jones and derrick carr you are not in our uh next year plans so we're not paying you any next year's money right now uh and you might injure yourself walking down the steps and that what they said derrick carr right oh yeah kept get out of here turned his fob off he can't get in but he goes from starter for however many years not 10 whatever was, from the transition from Oakland over to Las Vegas as well. He goes from starter, starter, starter, and then, yeah, you're not allowed in the building.
How about that? We'll get your shit out of your locker because we don't want, you know, on the back. So you're not getting hurt here.
If we haven't made this point clear enough, you will not be around, and we will move forward. And then he's come out and been like you know i wish it was a little different i would yeah i wish i could have said goodbye to a couple people in the time i don't think he said anything negative if i recall i talked to him at the pro bowl afterwards and i asked him about it and he was just said all the right things did all the right things he ends up with the saints they give him a big deal he's a starter coming up next year but But that was an interesting situation.
Daniel Jones was different because they wanted to keep him around. They just wanted him to do, like, defense and stuff.
Yeah, practice, squad, safety. Yeah, hey, you're going to be all over here.
Half speed now. Let's not get too good at defense, Vink, because then we've got to maybe play you.
We don't want to do that, remember? So let's not do too much good stuff. And then he asked for his release, ends up with the Vikings now with the Indianapolis Colts.
So those contracts are so many interesting little things because of precedent that has happened you know anytime something has happened in the past people lean on that and uh that's why everything happening for a first time is so damn important well and like you said like it really does make you wonder whether what other offers he got because like when you really dive into this like this isn't that I mean granted you know it gives him another opportunity to, prove himself. But for what he did, I mean, this really isn't that much security.
Like, there is a chance, you know, they're a new team. Their offensive line isn't as good as Minnesota's was.
He's going to have, you know, I mean, Cooper Cup, but then in Jigba, they're losing two of those receivers. Like, there is a scenario where you could see he doesn't have a great year and he does get benched at the end of the year.
And there's a chance he goes on in balls. For sure.
And then, you know, everything activates. Only team decision is an interesting forfeiture.
You know, like after this year, it's like team decides whether or not they want to implicate or imply the next two or implicate in, what's the word there? Like activate? Whatever, there's a word somewhere implant no no what institute institute the next two years of the deal impale yeah they want to impale sam darnold's bank account the next two years of uh this deal they can do that that's interesting because you would think you would at least want a uh a little bit of say there i don't know how often't know how often this takes place. Was Sam Darnold offered by Minnesota? Yeah, I mean.
Was he offered by Minnesota? He was offered by the Steelers. Was he offered? Okay, so it's like West Coast maybe? It must have been similar situations though.
There's tiers to contracts. Some people have, it might look like a five-year deal, but it's really a two-year deal.
And then it's like year by year the team has a decision after that. If you're an owner, if you're a GM, you would like every player on the roster to have a contract like this for every single year.
They get to make a decision. Hey, if you live up to it and you earn it, yep, we'll pick it up on the next league year and you'll have another year under your belt.
But yeah, this is definitely a team-friendly situation. Yeah, because they're negotiating at this year's prices,

but salary cap's going to go up and potential value's going to go up,

and you're stuck in it whether you like it or not.

That's good.

Hey, Schneider's driving a good business up here.

Oh, yeah.

Well, in Vegas, like Vegas was tied to Darnold,

but you could kind of make the assumption they picked Geno Smith over him

because they ended up trading for him and gave something up

instead of going after Darnold. But with Washington, we do kind of have to remember it's no income it's just like florida you're kind of getting that entire great tax benefits in the state of washington uh not washington dc but in state of washington you have great i wonder because remember they came out and said geno smith was offered the same deal yes i wonder if it was this type of deal and Gino was like, that's no.
Because they said 35 to 40. This is 37 and a half.
That would be right in between 35 to 40. So now we know a little bit more about why Gino opted basically to be traded out of Seattle and turned down their deal.
Probably because of that. That is probably the reason why.
Especially after being proven being there for a few years. Now now everything's starting to come together isn't it everything's starting to come into focus yeah a little bit like what the hell's going on with aaron rogers i saw him playing flag football this weekend looks like he could still spin it he was he was he was staying flat-footed just like this right here flat-footed didn't even move boom bang pow touchdown look at this boom bang pow out route running back thank you touchdown feeding that guy might be a player yeah hold on we should think about maybe moving him in there what did you hear uh from aaron about the flag football tournament and obviously he does this every year and the reason why i know that is because normally when he's at this it does become news because there's something that has to be done and uh it's for charity it's given back he does he's done this every year that he's been on our particular program i don't know how many years going back i don't know if he won this year i don't know if josh's team won there's a little bit of shit talk which we love but nfl quarterbacks former nfl quarterbacks take a team and then they play in an actual tournament and then they raise money it's a beautiful event and every time aaron's at it there's a conversation happening around him what What have you heard about the tournament, and what have you heard Aaron's going to do, AJ? Just tell us.
I mean, honestly, I wish I knew what was taking so long. I really do.
Like, for real. I have questions as well from my side.
So I don't know what the deadline might be. I don't know when a decision would come, and I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes.
But, yeah, like be holding up now and when does it happen uh you tell that that's the those are the questions what

he's asking those are the questions this one yeah this is this one i don't know for real this one i

don't know what's happening for real i'm confused okay so as the days have moved into at least a

week you know there's never been any indicator that aaron was going to give an answer there's

never been anything from aaron's team that says he's making a decision there's been nothing from

I'm going to go to give an answer. There's never been anything from Aaron's team that says he's making a decision.

There's been nothing from Aaron Rodgers about him playing ball again.

Like, there is literally nothing.

And there's been cities that have gone through full cycles.

This guy's going to be our quarterback all the way to, fuck this guy.

I'm sick of this guy.

He don't want to be our quarterback? And it's like, yeah has said a thing. He's just kind of waited on the beach with a blanket around him.

With obviously wired headphones.

That beautiful sun.

With the sunset with our last sights on this continental United States of the sun.

And he's contemplating, wondering, trying to figure out the life that is Aaron Rodgers. And there's obviously a blood moon last week.
So the views were obviously spectacular out there. So there's all that going on as well.
So it's a fascinating dilemma because there's reports that came out now that said the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what the fuck they want to do. And Aaron's allowing them the opportunity to figure out what they want to do.
Once again, I've been told nothing. I have asked.
I've certainly asked. AJ certainly hasn't asked.
AJ said, I'm not. That's my friend.
I'm not going to fuck in. Have the Vikings said anything, though? Have the Vikings said anything like, hey, JJ's our guy? Nothing has been said by the Minnesota Vikings, which also leads to the mystery of it all.
I believe Schefter said on the Schefter podcast last week that nothing has indicated that the Vikings and Aaron Rodgers are in there. Is that something that was said? He may have said that.
I know that, yeah, he indicated because I know I asked him, like, hey, is it a possibility? This was a couple weeks ago, but is it a possibility that the Vikings decide that he wants to go there? And he said he supposes it is a possibility, but nothing he has heard would suggest that they have any interest in Aaron Rodgers. And Rossini has had a lot of posts.
Once again, every situation is fluid. Especially with Aaron.
You're talking about a goat. Basically, every situation, especially whenever it's business or free agency.
Look at the Milton situation. Everything is pretty fluid.
So there's been multiple different reports. But I believe Rossini last week put out a post that was like, the Minnesota Vikings are trying to figure out what they want to do in the future, and Aaron is willing to give them the opportunity to figure out what they want to do.
That was the first time, really, that it was reported. We had hypothesized about Aaron going to the Minnesota Vikings a lot just like hey they need a quarterback

or they don't and JJ McCarthy but they might need a quarterback and with the way they're built they're built to win right the fuck now and Aaron Rodgers might not be able to run like he was able to run 10 years ago he can still move and he can still spin it and in that offense if you can spin it I think you're in an okay spot with Kevin O'Connell.

So is that a real thing?

Now we sit and wait and see. And once again, Aaron has said absolutely nothing.
I think Aaron is still trying to figure it all out as well. Or maybe he's just wrapping.
I know less than anybody. AJ knows more than anybody, which is what everybody needs to understand.
For sure. Which in this situation is basically nothing.
Okay. Basically.
Boom. We're on SeatGeek Ticker.
Speaking of SeatGeek. Yeah.
Thank you to SeatGeek. Hey, the SeatGeek Ticker's becoming a thing.
It's on a couple other shows. Oh, really? Have you seen it? I have not.
Yeah. Shout out SeatGeek.
I like that. That's a good play.
Nobody was ever on the ticker, SeatGeek.

You know?

It's a good business.

It's a good move.

You're on the screen.

Shout out to the SeatGeek ticker.

And shout out to SeatGeek as a whole.

The greatest ticket-buying platform on planet Earth.

And, AJ?

The Moon!

Over 28 million downloads.

Let's assume it's near 29 million now, because this is from a month ago or so.

Maybe 30.

Maybe. Especially now with so many events to go to.
So many live events. Summertime coming up, yeah.
Summertime in the limited season. Get a ticket you can go see.
It's fucking 40 degrees outside. It is.
I'm done with it. I started looking at houses in Puerto Rico.
Yeah. Next Next to the Paul brothers I don't know where they're at exactly Yeah, that's what I did I wanted to take my daughter On a nice stroll outside Get home for the weekend Let's go outside It's fucking 40 degrees How is it? Why is it so cold? It was just 70 degrees.

This is the fifth winter we have had in this spring cycle.

I'm done with it.

In Puerto Rico, Zeta's point, it's 82 and partly cloudy.

I saw the same thing on my phone on my weather app.

Son of a bitch.

I'm fucking going.

I just want to go outside with my daughter.

I can't.

There's 50 mile an hour winds and it's 40 degrees.

Okay.

Jesus fucking Christ here. Pretty windy.
Very windy. So windy.
So. So.
People were scared to death in Ohio. People thought like it was going to be one of those storms.
Like you got to get in your basement, hunker down, like all that. Neighbor's house, dock off through garage.
That's a big dog through also is wendy through the like the dock or i don't know what it's called foxy grew up on a lake the boathouse yeah through the boathouse garage that's cool oh god they leave theirs up in the winter uh yeah that's on them yeah yeah that's what that's what I've learned in this entire thing, because I was surprised by it, and they were like, nah, I shouldn't have been there. It's like, well, it's in the fucking garage.
Nah, I've never seen anything like it. Waves, these waves that are hitting? Oh, boy.
Unbelievable. It looks like the fucking Pacific Ocean.
It's real chop when it gets that windy. Yeah, it was unbelievable.
Real chop. And then the lake effect, I guess the wind, because there's nothing to stop.
It just kind of, it seems like it picks up speed.

Oh, yeah, it's swirling.

That thing, we're here in a train.

I'm a hole in fire.

I don't know if this lake life's for me, but I can get down to Puerto Rico.

Sure.

And if I was good at Puerto Rico and I wanted to go to a live event down there, I use a

kick.

Amen.

Ain't that right, AJ?

Oh, yeah.

Can we get the sun, though?

No kidding.

Can we get the sun?

No kidding. with the warm

which i still don't understand how that works okay never will what i'm not getting into it

which part i could be so fucking sunny and it's you know like what's well the atmosphere okay

all right can we fucking change it you know well we are actually it's like okay all right

i would just like nicer weather grew up in pittsburgh went to morgantown live in indiana sure i think indiana's the windiest place you know i think it is one of the windiest place at least obviously there's tornado alley and everything over there which sucks that is tornadoes come through here too it is crazy thing it's always windy here all every day is windy every day it never stops the wind never quits the greatest maybe durability and conditioning out of anything is the wind in indianapolis indiana it never wavers it is always windy and then whenever it's cold as shit it's just like we get arctic storms and it's just blowing through town and i thought it was done I thought it was done. But it turns out that little prick groundhog might have been right.
Yeah, he was. I don't like it.
We're not even at that time yet. What do you mean? It feels like two more weeks.
It's so gray. It's always gray in Indiana.
That's the worst part for me. Yeah, you should see Pittsburgh, brother.
I mean, that's even way more gray way more gray i don't know how that's possible we were born in the dark yeah exactly more rain days i don't remember what year it was one of the years when i was living there yeah maybe maybe all of them but it was definitely one of the years where i was like jesus christ it feels like it rains every day you know more rain days in seattle everybody talks about seattle how it rains so much it's like good check it's real yeah i don't know if it's still that way i haven't been haven't lived there in a while but there was a time that i assume it's the same rained all the time now granted there's a toughness that comes from that you know whenever you're going to go outside and get smacked in the mouth with cold wet the worst the worst combination in what? Cold-wet. Right in the face.

There's a toughness that comes with that.

But yeah, rain and then Morgantown fucking, I mean, it's, you know, you're doing this one here.

And then out here.

So I almost quit.

I'm going to Puerto Rico.

I didn't though.

I still need all four seasons.

Need that in my life.

But I'm getting close.

I think I'm getting close.

I'm getting soft.

I'm getting close.

I mean, at this point, you know, when you have a set, we had a 75, 77 degree day on Friday. And you can't turn that in.
There were tornado warnings on Friday night. Yeah, it's going to happen again here this week.
But then on Saturday, I mean, you got to turn the goddamn heat on in your house. It's ridiculous.
Yeah. Yeah, because you don't.
It's 50 degrees in there. I wake up in the morning, and it's, yeah, 52 degrees in my living room.
It's like, well, that's not good. Hey, listen, we know it can be worse.
We understand that. We're just saying we're done with it.
Yeah. We're done with it.
So the sun needs to act accordingly. Now, we did look up, obviously.
Pittsburgh receives slightly more rainfall annually than Seattle. Yeah.
So, you know, it rains all the time in Seattle. Not all the time.
I'll'll tell you why because it can rain more of the time and it does in pittsburgh pennsylvania so this is a stage of my life i never thought i'd get to where i'm almost done with it i'm almost done with it yeah i've been done with it i used to talk shit on the you know the super good weather i assume you did too aj i assume you guy. Yeah, as I get older, I do understand why people spend like three or four

months down in Florida in the winter.

I do understand that. Well, here, you'd have to spend seven

months, baby, because you never know

when it's coming back. Easy come, easy go.

Each day, something new. You know what, though?

It's about to get warmer. Let's go.
Let's go.

Let's go.

But it doesn't matter

how warm it is outside.

Or how cold it is outside.

It's all about what's the temperature at the show.

And it's going to be perfect.

and it's going to be a good one. But it doesn't matter how warm it is outside.
Or how cold it is outside.

It's all about what's the temperature at the show.

And it's going to be perfect.

And it's going to be electrifying.

Especially whenever you buy your tickets from our friends at SeatGeek.

Now, SeatGeek is offering right now a $30 off with the code PAT2025.

PAT2025.

$30 off to new or repeat purchasers. There are some restrictions apply.
I do believe if it's more than $30, you can't. They're not going to owe you money.
You know how that's going to be. They'll actually rate the tickets for you.
If it's green, it's a good ticket. It's red, bad ticket, shit ticket.
Hey, you can get a better ticket somewhere else. But if it's green, it's like, hey, good ticket, good price.
We scan the entire internet for you. You're welcome.
Shout out to Seeky. You can also scan a QR code.
That's for ESPN Bet, which, by the way, going to be very active over the next three weeks or so. Might be gettable.
Might be gettable. It's where they are.
You might be right. They might be gettable.
They might have some crazy promos coming up. Maybe some zany promos.
Redefine print. But definitely do that.
Sure. But then maybe some late movement.
Yeah. You know, maybe some late movement.
I haven't kept up with it with college basketball, but some of the sports books a little later than the others. Some sports books much more comfortable with their shit in making decisions.
Other following decisions that are being made in places so let's remember that as we attack this march madness if you're gambling that maybe we got an opportunity we have not done an espn bet march madness yet so we do not know and you only find out in real time you only find out when the bullets are flying so let's keep an eye on that you know because some people are creating the lines and some people are watching others and it's like uh people can get got gumpy who you like in this tourney who is your your team at destiny so i was on alabama but grant nelson their big man he's getting uh imaging done on his leg today if he's out that changes things i actually like tennessee okay tennessee played florida well, obviously, in the SEC championship, but that SEC tournament was a grind. Yeah, it was a tough one.
All season, they got them calloused up. Did you hear Sankey? AJ, as he spoke about the SEC team, he said there's currently 14 sports being played.
At one point in the last couple weeks, there's 14 sports being played. 12 of them had an SEC team at number one.
So, yeah, people are mad about 14 teams in the tournament well we can do that in every sport if we want and it's uh he didn't say that exactly but kind of they got a lot of pride down there in their sports and it's paying off especially if you look at the current dance no i love how sankey came on and instantly he talks about hey i can go through each one I'll go through each team and tell you exactly all their quad wins or whatever.

When did we start using the whole quad situation? That feels like this year.

That feels like this year.

Yeah.

They didn't use it, though, by the way.

They talked about it.

They didn't use it because West Virginia, a lot of quads.

We had ATVs out of the fucking barn.

Yep.

And UNC.

What is a quad one victory?

That's good teams.

I think it's like.

But, like, who decides a good team? Like, ranked? WVU beat Gonzaga when they were ranked third in the goddamn country. Ken Pollard, right? That's the rankings? I don't know what that is.
They don't use him anymore. I would assume there's 300-some D1 basketball schools.
You divide that by four and you figure out the quads. Yeah, and Chris Anderson,aneer journalist this guy was on it last night this guy was on it he's the one that found 104 000 bonus i do believe chris anderson was like fuck this shit basically all night is what i was reading from chris chris anderson had me fired up i just want to let chris anderson know i appreciate his work his due diligence this is what he Listen, his very first team left out of the NCAA tournament team.

Obviously, WVU had six quad one victories this season.

The last three teams in, UNC, Xavier, remember them, and San Diego State,

they have five quad wins combined.

What?

Quad one wins combined.

So what happened?

You tell us, AJ.

That's why the governor of West Virginia is currently doing a press conference

with an actual National Corrupt Athletic Association banner in front of him at the press conference he said I want information I want the notes from the meeting I want to know who was where when what happened that is why I'm doing this today well and I think that's why so many people are as pissed as they are because like you said, if you want to eliminate this whole thing, then you just

got to be a little bit better and you'll get in.

Agreed. But Joe Lunardi

who's the godfather of

bracketology. Tough to book.
Yeah.

Very tough to book. Tough to get a hold of.

Although we did look at his rates and

maybe there is something that could be done

there. Oh yeah, his booking fee is good.

Yeah, exactly. Might get him next year for

two weeks after.

Exactly.

He typically gets

Thank you. there.
Oh yeah, his booking fee is good. Yeah, exactly.
Might get him next year for two weeks after. Exactly.
He typically gets 98 or 99% of the teams correctly in the field in their seed. He had West Virginia as an 8th seed.
It wasn't one of the last four in, one of the 11s in the play-in game. Everyone assumed that they were comfortably and not even anywhere near really on the bubble.
When it comes out that they're the first team out of the 11s in the play-in game so everyone assumed that they were like comfortably and not not even anywhere near like really on the bubble so when it comes that comes out that they're the first team out of the tournament it's kind of like well how do you go from being you know like in like that 52 51 spot at large to completely missing the tournament it just doesn't make sense and then there's other teams that are pissed that are in the tourney like there's a lot of of people about the seating. They're like, well, how is this the seating?

Like we're in the tourney.

So I guess there's always going to be something that you can begrudge or whatever.

But it feels like this year there's a lot of people just being like,

this is bullshit.

Because it's not just West Virginia people.

You know, a lot of West Virginia people are saying this is bullshit for West Virginia. Now, UNC being one of those schools that's always on top in the basketball world or has been historically.
And then also Bubba Cunningham, the athletic director, is being the head of the selection committee, being a part of it. People don't love whenever they feel like they're being bamboozled, especially if it's a big name, especially if West Virginia, a school that I don't want to say gets little to no respect, but gets little to no respect, is getting the butt end of it.
Easy to create babyface heel here in this particular story, but it's not just this situation. There's a lot of other situations in the seating where people are like, what was the thought? Michigan.
They're five seed, and they just won the Big Ten. What are we even talking about? So I think what the governor of West Virginia is saying is we just want a little transparency.
Some explanation here. I like that he's doing it for him i'm glad he's doing that he was the same dude we had him on the show remember he was the attorney general we had him on the show oh yes yeah he was um he was pushing for what's that called uh employment no yeah i think it was in the employment world anyways they weren't letting people transfer and then he was like well if they're able to make a million dollars over here and they're not able to here aren't you kind of like breaking labor laws or yeah like some labor laws aren't you kind of withholding whatever it is he took on the court and won and then that's kind of kind of started the train i mean kind of started the yeah the whole the whole damn thing in that whole thing so he's not scared to go after and suit, like actually go about it.
He's been in there before and he is a former attorney general, so he's a suit. That is kind of his M.O.
Especially when he feels like his state has been bamboozled. Wronged.
Robbed. What's the banner say on the podium?

National Corrupt Athletic Association.

I mean, that's a great touch.

That's a great touch.

To let people know exactly where you stand.

Bro, fucking governor.

Walking right up to me.

In case you guys are confused.

Huge fly.

This is what this is about.

Right here.

If you don't hear me today, see me today.

Okay?

We're in this fucking country.

And we're sick of this. We're right here.
Guy here feels the same way. We're together.
Don't need to say anything else. West Virginia needs to be in a tournament.
If they're able to turn this around this quick, it'll be unbelievable. It might happen.
I talked to Jimmy Seafood, John. He's a big UNC fan.
Iopoulos. That's not his name.
That's the name of the team that Patino coached. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Mix that up. Grease.
Minodocus. I believe it is Minodocus.
What's that? Great shows, by the way. What's Minodocus? I guess his last name.
His last name. Okay.
Wait, look this up, please. John Minodocus, I believe.
It is. Mine was funny.
Okay. You don't think his name is Minadakis? That's not real.
M-I-N-A-D-A-K-I-S. Boom.
John Minadakis. Okay.
Okay. Greek lad who owns Jimmy's Famous Seafood over there in Baltimore.
Fantastic crab cakes. They did start a few things, though.
You know, like those cicadas that came out of the ground for the first time in 40 years. You remember them? Oh, yeah.
Humming and buzzing. They had a cicada parade over there.
They're the ones that started the entire thing. What else? People were talking.
Well, now we got a little bit more information. What was the thing that you heard from them? Well, there was a little bit of convo about, you know, COVID-18.

No, no, the New York Times said they came from a lab leak in China.

That was COVID-19. Oh, okay.

Sorry. We're talking about COVID-18.
Nonetheless,

Jimmy's Famous Seafood is a great place

with great people,

with great food. Gonna have to get past

some of the things that they've done.

Every time I go there, I have a blast.

Super nice. Redid it.

Really nice.

A whole new bar deck area.

Used to be a shithole.

Kind of.

I think people did kind of say that.

Old school. Not a shithole.
Old school.

And they've updated everything. Good business.

These two kids, Menadakis and his brother,

they got it when they were in high school.

Good kids.

Good men.

Good dads. Great chefs.
The moms are in the bakery. Yeah.
Bakeries. Delicious.
So good. Chefs kiss.
It's downstairs. Yeah.
Go to the bakery. Chefs do kiss their mother.
Yeah. Okay.
That's good news. Because they're good chefs, you just said.
Yeah. The men of Dacuses.
Yeah, talking about the men of... This could be a men of Dacai situation.
Yeah. Yeah, the Minidakis.
No, it's Dacus, I believe. These are the brothers right here, okay? The one on the left, John.
Huge UNC fan, okay? Diehard UNC fan. So, he put out a smart-ass tweet to me, you know? Oh, sorry you guys didn't get in, you know? And I told him, they need to acknowledge the fuckery and forfeit their spot

to the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Do what's right for college basketball.

Do what's right for the future.

UNC says they love college ball. They're one of the staples

and pillars of college ball. Do what's right.

Forfeit your spot and call

West Virginia and say, guess what? You're in.

And then also, give us all your

jump warm-ups,

shoes. We want all theups.
Clips, shoes.

We want all the fits.

Exactly.

We want all the Jordan stuff. All your Jordan stuff.

Send it all to me.

All your Jordan stuff.

I'm sure they'll do that, right?

They'll do that.

Minidakis, I don't think he responded.

I don't know if he's thinking about it, but it is.

It's one of those things where this might motivate this team, too, you know?

Like, immensely.

They're playing against San Diego State.

They slopped the floor. San Diego State.
They slopped a floor.

San Diego State.

The CBS people are like, got UNC beaten San Diego State.

Just did a 20-minute thing about they do not deserve.

That being said, they're going to make it to the Sweet 16.

That was an interesting little dilemma I think everybody was having,

but that's Madness March.

All right, we're going to get the hell out of here.

Monday Night Raw starts in like 20 minutes, I think, was having, but that's Madness March. Alright, we're going to get the hell out of here.
Monday Night Raw starts in like 20 minutes I think. On Netflix.
Can't wait to watch. Can't wait to watch.
Bombed, I'm not there. But this day, on this day Where's the day again? They're in Brussels.
Jean-Claude Van Damme. Is he going to show up? That's where he's from.
Who knows? Who knows? You never know what's going to happen with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Is he going to show up? Who knows? You never know what's going to happen with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
But on this day, after a selection with the thing, with the day, with the poem, with the halva, that was going to be very, very difficult. Very, very appreciative of everybody at the WWE.
Basically saying like, hey, you know, and I'm going to hate watching it, to be honest with you. Because I'm going to, you know, I need to wear a headset in here while we watch it.
I need to put a headset on and fucking get in there. Call it.
For sure. Yeah, practice.
Call it. Get in Cole's ear to throw him some gems.
Can you get wired up so you can at least drop a few things that you want him to say? I never know what he's wired to because you know he's deaf, so he's got the he's got his hearing aid things inside of his head like his implants then he's got another headphone on top of that which is what i'm hearing and everybody's hearing but his ear things can bluetooth to other stuff so like you could be talking to him one time and he there no way he because his actual ears are just on a video that's on his phone. And he's just completely checked out.
The biggest noise-canceling operation of all time, because he needs those things to hear. But then every once in a while, it'll be like, one ear, and then he'll take you off his ear, and then he'll put you on a speaker.
But then he has the headphones on the outside there. So I think I could maybe hack into one of those ears if I really wanted to but i'm just going to take in the entertainment entertainment that is michael cole hell yeah it's gonna be hard not to be there though we're on the road to wrestlemania okay yeah close a month away real close real close never again never again okay uh we're gonna get out of here let's go enjoy that and then we'll be back tomorrow.
We'll be off Thursday, Friday for the tourney, you know, March Madness. And yeah, it's a wonderful time to be alive.
We can't thank you enough. Big night out's going to be cool.
Big night out's going to be really cool. Big night out's going to be really cool.
Sold out in what? Hour and 10 minutes? 92 minutes. 92 minutes.
Hour 32. Secondary market available, I do believe.
Which I don't love, but I mean it was kind of expected. Don't love.
There's no way to stop that, is there? Nah, I don't know. A lot of artists have tried, you know.
A lot of artists have tried to figure it out. Tether Swift has a good angle.
I think there's a couple comedians that have a good business playing around it. It's not easy.
I don't know how you do it. Especially with how good these, you know, ticket scalpers are.
Yeah, the best in the biz. Good news is, you get a ticket, I promise it'll be worth it.
You know, some of those ticket prices are absurd, and I would not spend that for anything. But I promise it would be worth the price of admission.
I'm gonna try my best. And I think the show is packed.
The show is packed. Oh, yeah.
And people are now brainstorming, even more so, because they saw the reaction so now i think people are understanding oh this is actually a thing you know because it wasn't really real until okay now this is an actual thing that's gonna have to happen so then now everybody that said yeah i'm in started like saying oh i could also and it's like oh all of a sudden the show getting a little bit better all of a sudden everything's starting to like even what I'm saying is the people that are gonna be part of the show are giving like I think they were very excited about the reaction and what the possibilities are here so I think it's like uh brainstorming starting to happen even more so it's coming together really really well really really all the technical aspects have been completed which is a big deal yeah those have to get tested, though. Those all have to get tested.
The stage, hilarious. It's part of the show, though.
Stage is part of the show. It has to be.
Yeah. There's some big things that are part of the show, but those have to be built.
So whenever I'm pitching what I would like it to be built like, hilarious convos. And I appreciate these people for taking me serious whenever I'm saying the things that I'm saying.
Need it to be able to smoke one side. Okay, need to be able to have smoke come out of one side.
Because we don't know if we're going to need. We can definitely do smoke on one side.
Should we do smoke maybe on both sides though and then alternate? Yes. Good idea.
Yes, good idea. See, I would.
Yes needed to be able to be specific we need the lighting to be able to be specific okay just need it to be you know what i mean i need it to be able to be need to be able to like okay so we can set it up so we can boom boom boom boom boom boom anytime right i'm like yes that is exactly what I'm talking about. And that's like the WWE people, you know? Like, whenever you're working with, like, the greatest on earth of things, it's like, I think it's going to come together quite well.
I think it's going to come together quite well. I do believe it's going to be streamed.
Where at, though? Where at, though? Yeah. How will that go? What will the setup be? Will it be free? Of course.
Nobody should have to pay to watch our but if you're in that building you're going to get a chance to experience a show of a lifetime and potentially walk out of there with a much bigger bank account over a million bucks being given away in the arena now granted that should move some tickets just to begin with because you could potentially walk in there and holy shit but i think a lot of people are wondering what that means it's like it's going to be sweet i think it's going to be a pretty electric environment and uh shout out to the vitamins that have gotten me to this place where it's like we could do all this yeah and hopefully you know it's a show that people talk about for a long time. And can't thank you all enough for the love on it.

Now, let's get the fuck out of here.

March Madness cooking.

NFL offseason cooking.

The road to WrestleMania on fire.

And tomorrow we'll be back.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

We're in this thing together.

Happy St. Paddy's, everybody.

Happy St. Paddy's Day.

Enjoy the hell out of it.

Shout out to the Irish.

Tone?

And the Romans.

St. Paddy's Day.

St. Patrick was Roman.

Okay, of course.

Did you hear that?

Yeah, I heard it.

That's why we had two Italian coaches on, because we wanted to.

An Italian lion?

Who would have thought?

I told him to send a name.

Substitute an A for an O.

You can't spell lion without Italian. You think you ruined NASA? You should Google that story, brother.
Have a great St. Patrick's Day.
Unified. You killed Jesus.
They would say, we were hired. All right.
We appreciate you. Happy St.
Patrick's Day. Unified.
We're in this thing together. Let's have a good time.
Team on me. Team on three.
Actually, team on me. Sloncha on three.
One, two, three. Sloncha.
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