PMS 2.0 1308 - NCAA Conference Tournaments in Full Swing, Ian Rapoport, Shams Charania, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Feel Good Friday, March 14th, 2025, this program starts now.
Sports are fantastic, and obviously we're incredibly lucky that we get to talk about them every single day. On this Feel Good Friday, our job is to do one thing.
That is to thrust you into a weekend of March madness magic that is going to be stupendous. And one weekend that's going to be better than the others.
You know why?

Because it's the next weekend The term Friday is one that is supposed to be celebrated. It's the end of a long work week now to the service industry I know it's just getting started for you guys.
We appreciate everything you're about to do But for all of us, let's understand that today is supposed to be a great day, especially with the weather being like 71 degrees here in middle of America. With two days ahead of us of great sports, including golf that's about to show up, hockey's going to be out there, basketball, college, and in the NBA.
And if you look on ESPN News during the day, during the weekend, you might see something like tire wrestling or dodgeball. You might be able to go out and get some fresh air, touch some grass.
Let's go and have the greatest weekend of all time. And today, we're going to try to make sure that is an easier thing to do.
We have Ian Rappaport joining us in about nine minutes for the weekly wrap-up with Rappsheet and Friends. Us being the friends, he being Rappsheet.
We cannot wait to chit-chat with him. The numbers have been out on how much money has been spent on this first five days of the free agency period.

Spoiler, it's over $4.5 billion in contracts.

Whoa.

That is so much money.

Now, a lot of these contracts, the big number is all fugues.

You know, because potentially in there is you've got to solve a world's mystery.

And what is it?

You have to do all those things.

You have to get to the bottom of it to get any of those money.

But the guaranteed money, too, bigger this year than it's ever been,

and it's only going up.

Congrats to the league.

Congrats to all of the guys that signed these deals

and changed their entire lives.

And then in the next hour, we'll have Sham Sharania join us.

We have a couple requests out to some legendary college ball folks.

We'll see if they respond in time before the show ends,

and it's going to be a good one.

The Talks at Tables here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. Con man, looking a lot of pizzazz today.
Yeah, thank you. This is a pizzazz, Jackie.
You know, the color's a little off. It's more so the Grinch, but, you know, I had such an amazing morning.
You know, my DoorDash got here. It was the wrong DoorDash.
Hold on, boys. It was the right DoorDash.
It was Zonas. I don't know if there's a Zona out there.
Zona C, to beonas c to be specific your order from first watch is delightful let me just say that the the salad i'm not a salad guy but with this salad and the chicken and bacon in the sauce that you have in there delicious and then the potatoes with cheese and and bacon on top of the potatoes i've never even had that mixture of something in a meal and it was delightful i could not be more happy with the wrong DoorDash order. I don't even had that mixture of something in a meal, and it was delightful.

I could not be more happy with the wrong DoorDash order. I don't know if that ever happens.
And also, I know Zona is probably, you know, kicking rocks because my DoorDash order, I've learned, sucks. Yeah, I learned today my DoorDash order from that place blows.
But hers or his was fantastic. And then, of course, you know, just as you kind of get into college basketball, especially these last couple days, it is getting me pretty pumped up for next week with the March Madness.
A little zaniness. A little zaniness.
We actually all, I believe, maybe not all, me and you, however, did place a pretty large wager on the Johnnies, the godfather of New York, Rick Pitino,

kind of making his way all the way to the final play.

I heard they're a tough team.

I heard they cheat.

I heard they says Greenberg said they foul on every possession,

but they actually change what the definition of a foul is

whenever you're playing them because that's how they play.

That's what Pitino balling.

He said he got the boys rolling.

I said, you know what?

I believe you, Seth, especially for Pitino.

What a good story.

Yeah, come on. Everything that happened at Louisville,ville okay we learned sure we experienced we read about and we all said wow i don't know how that even is possible in a modern day but hey patino's doing patino's living his life so then there's iona then he goes to st john's and all of a sudden now they're all the way back in it and uh yeah we put a pretty large little hefty wager on them to go first bet long time for me uh and I couldn't be more proud of who what pies on I'm betting on yeah yeah let's go Johnny's you know the Red Storm they got six dudes I've been kind of ingratiated in the Rick Pitino St.
John's system since about 2016 okay so it's not like I'm just showing up at the front door you know as they're getting good you A roommate of mine in college, he has season tickets to the Johnnies. We've been following him since then.
I don't think Patino was there though. No, but Patino was the head coach of the Boston Celtics.
Let me tell you about that time. It was tough.
Very tough, but some people stuck by him. I was one of those people.
Louisville, a lot of things did happen. You know what else happened? He won a national championship.
Nobody talks about that. It's not like it was all bad.
It was terrible, but it wasn't all bad. He brought a lot of happiness to that town as well over there in Kentucky.
I think with New York, the way the basketball is going in New York, the Knicks players kind of hate their coach asking, hey, can you stop playing us a little bit? Isn't that kind of the problem every single year? Every single year. I'm not really a basketball person, but I remember when they played the Pacers, everybody thought, well, they're not going to be able to just continue to go because they're all either dinged up, hurt, or tired.
Physically exhausted because they were only running like, I think they had one man, six man was basically all it was. And I think the people in the basketball world were like, they're not going to be able, at some point, this is going to end for them, and it did.
I think it was because they were exhausted. So going into this year, I think the convo was, maybe the Tibbs won't do that.
They're going to change the way they play. I guess they're doing it even worse this year than they did it last year.
Yeah, doing the exact same thing, and funny enough. Which we like people playing.
Yeah. We like people playing, but this is a marathon here now.
There's a lot of games. There's a sweet spot.
And it's, yeah, like opting out, people don't love. Running people to death, love it, if you're not a fan of the team.
But if you're a fan of the team, you have to think, these guys aren't going to be able to survive the length of this season, especially whenever the only thing that matters is at the very end of 82 games, whenever you go forward. When he's got a plan, he knows his boys better than anybody else.
Yeah, I don't think he does because the guy that actually said, hey, can you stop playing us so much, is the guy who's played the most consecutive basketball games in the history of the NBA, Mikael Bridges. He is basically the journeyman of all journeymen.
He's the Cal Ripken of the NBA. He's the Cal Ripken of the NBA.
Sure, I'm not a baseball guy. I don't know what Cal Ripken did, but it was probably something like play a bunch of games straight.
Almost like 3,000 straight. Boom, 3,000 straight.
That is basically the pace that Bridges is on. And unfortunately, Tibbs.
Pretty durable. Yeah, he was.
He's a hell of a player. Unfortunately, Tibbs, though, is running them into the ground.
But that's why Patino, he's going to swoop in. Hey, New York City, this is a basketball city.
Hop on the Johnny's train. The Red Storm's coming, baby.
This is what March is all about. Us finding some school that certainly we paid no attention to all basketball season.
But now, because there's magic in the air, we're going to watch and we're going to root for them. And I'll tell you what, if they lose, I'll go right to another team.
That's March Madness, baby. And West Virginia's in.
Look out, from what I've been told. West Virginia is in the tournament, from what I've been told.
Yeah, according to Joe Lunardi, they are an 11th seed right now. They're trending down, but they're still in.
Trending down. I don't know.
We don't have any more games, so we're not going to be able to stop that train. Well, no, that's what I think.
They were probably at maybe like a 9 or a 10 seed, and since they lost in the first round, they've slid down. So now if you look next to their name, they have a little red arrow down indicating, yeah, they have bumped down a couple spots on the seed line.
That's right where West Street basketball was. Right where the hoops want to be.
It's been up and down. We had some injuries.
Obviously, some very key players got injured. But once we get into the tournament, it's going to be hell.
Everybody knows that it's going to be hell. With that being said, if it's on West Virginia, like on your forehead right there, I am pulling for the Johnny.
Let's go Johnny. Let's go Johnny.
Come on. And maybe the Bonneys, too.
Because Woj is over there, GM. Are they going to be in the tournament? They're down by eight right now to VCU.
I don't think so. They've got to win the conference tournament.
They've got to win the A-10, yeah. Woj ain't making a tournament? No, I don't think so.
He's worried a little bit too much about selling those phones and trying to bring in more NIL money than making sure that they've got a spot in the big dance. I did see that.
We never got a chance to chat about that. That was very interesting.
Can you certify any of that thing, or is it just? I don't know, and I think didn't they come in right away and they're like yeah you can't do that we're not letting you do that i don't think so so that was kind of just the end of that but he was trying to sell them but how would they do he would have to take a photo with said phone at the same exact time that the news is broken so then people know just from watching pawn stars this is just for me watching pawn stars having to legitimize it is always the problem that's why they get all these buddies down the road. You know, they got an expert on this, got an expert on Civil War, got an expert on World War II, got an expert on maybe cars.
Literally, that is kind of the thing. Can you legitimize that this is whatever they say it is? And then sometimes, yeah, it's 100% real.
You got a $400,000 item right here. It's going to sit on a shelf, obviously.
Got some dings in it. Small demographic, niche group of people will buy this.
I can give you, guess what, $22,000. That was Pawn Stars.
That was Pawn Stars football right there. That was literally what it was.
But if it wasn't legitimized, then it was basically like, I'll give you $4 for this. This thing's junk.
This thing is absolutely nothing. Might as well take this to a scrapyard and try to get a few pennies from this thing for being metal.
So I don't know. When I saw this one up for sale, I was always wondering, like, how can he legitimize that those are the moments? And maybe it just takes him to a museum of sports.
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, maybe it takes him to a museum, maybe a Hall of Fame of some sort.
Basketball Hall of Fame. That's right.
They're a mess. And granted, now, maybe Sean should think about retiring the the lucophone yeah you know and we'll talk to him in the next hour and maybe he should take a uh he should try to figure out how we can make sure that's the case basketball is awesome uh whenever we're forced to watch it sure you know the nba is doing it oh yeah i think the nba is doing it right now college will obviously do it over the next few uh weeks here with everything that's about to pop off.
Conference tournaments happening now. March Madness happening here in a matter of weeks.
And I think it's going to get going. I think we're going to become big fans of that.
At least act like we are. So we hope you all will enjoy the ride with us.
We have some money on the St. John Johnnies, but they won't be the last team we bet on in this particular tournament.
One half of the hammer. Cowboys AP tone there.
Great sweatshirt. The players also this weekend.
Cannot wait to watch some real golf on Sunday and Saturday. Yeah, the top 10's looking pretty good right now.
Minwoo Lee is your leader. I saw him grind out a par.
People love Minwoo. He hit one under a tree.
We shanked the drive. Then he hit one under a tree that rolled onto the green like a beautiful shot.
And then he rolls his putt in. And it's like, obviously, these golfers are so much better than us.
But you've got to have the golf gods on your side a little bit. Yeah, you do.
But the top ten right now looks pretty good. I mean, Rory's in second.
Our guy Akshay sitting there in fourth. What's up? Colin Morikawa's at T5.
Ricky Fowler, Billy Horschel, Scotty Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood. Those can't lay.
That's your top ten. It's looking pretty good right now.
So, yeah, hopefully Saturday and Sunday you get to that 17th Island Green and there's a lot on the line because, like, this is basically the start of the golf season for a lot of people is once we get here. Yeah.
That's what I was about to say. This is the first big one, right? Yes.
This is the first one where everybody's at it. Yeah.
Well, like the Arnie Palmer Invitational was last week. Not everyone is obviously there because it's an Invitational, but this one, what were they calling them, Signature Events? I believe this is the first one where everybody's at it.
Yeah. Like, the Arnie Palmer Invitational was last week.
Not everyone is obviously

there because it's an Invitational, but this one,

what were they calling them? Signature events? I mean, this is the first

signature event, you know, of the season.

Okay, and Scotty

still Scotty? Scotty's still Scotty.

Okay, so Scotty wins. Well, that's the thing.

I just looked at those odds and I was like, plus

650 for Scoot Scheffler. What the

hell is going on? I was a little confused by that

as well. Minwoo Lee currently in the lead, so I guess that's why they have him above him.
Rory at plus 160. Okay.
Is this Rory's year? Is it about to be Rory's year? What? That's awesome. I thought he was freaking out in the practice round.
Doesn't matter. Rory's going to...
Kid brought up the Masters drive. I looked into what AJ was talking about.
You remember Masters, I think, on 10. He had the lead as a young lad.
Yep as a young lad and he worst shank in the history and obviously ended up ruining some college golfer was on the tee box at 11 at the players and said hey don't do what you did at the master like right next to him and there wasn't a lot of people so that was the person he won up i think he grabbed his phone and just walked away with it yeah and then that guy got removed from the promise i don't know if he got his phone. I don't know what all happened with the phone.
But, yeah, Rory was in it a little bit. And it feels like, okay, is this going to be Rory's year again? Good.
Congrats, Rory. That's what the oddsmakers are saying.
Right now, I mean, he's up five strokes on Scotty in second, one behind Minwoo. So, like, if you are normally one of the best golfers in the world at that time and you are in the lead or close to the lead, you're going to be the favorite.
Okay. Good luck to Rory.
What if you have a history of choking away that lead every single time? That's what that college golfer was saying. But he can always change that.
Remember, he was guy. Yeah.
Then he kind of rattled a little bit. He can come back to being a guy for sure.
Yeah, 100%. He will give us a big number, though, at some point.
It'll probably be tomorrow, and then sunday he'll be right back in it yeah and then scotty is going to be lurking the entire time and then obviously he's going to do what he does uh let's pivot away from golf and from basketball let's get back to the nfl ladies and gentlemen it's time for the weekly wrap up with rap sheet and friends us being the friends he being rap sheet ladies and gentlemen it's ian rapapoi wow man that felt good to say that's first time saying that in a few years let's wrap up the week that was with our friend yeah it did uh we just saw a post from adam schefter and i believe we did the math with spotrack as well over 4.8 billion or something in contracts this last week uh did you expect it to be this active and what's the big takeaway in your mind from free agency this week? All right, well, first of all, the money is staggering. I didn't do the calculations.
Lazy! I would imagine some, well... Lazy! That is not, like, exactly my thing.
Like, when, like, Max has to have me help him with his math homework, I say, ask mama.

It's not exactly my deal. I have someone else do that.

An Ivy League.

I don't know if that's right.

Where'd you go? You went to that...

Columbia.

I did take math, but it was like

surfaces and knots or something, I think,

was my math class.

How old's Max?

Max's 11.

You can't do 11-year-old? What is that, 5th grade? grade? Six times seven. Sixth grade.
It's algebra. You think I can do algebra? What is algebra? Multiplification? I don't know.
Division? I don't know. Three numbers.
Three X minus four equals 18. Yeah.
And X equals six or whatever. Oh my God.
You... That's basic shit.
This is basic shit, R basic shit, Raph. That's very confusing.
I'm not even kidding. Don't they have the key right there? What is X equal? There's parentheses and there's different letters.
Yeah, you hit the parentheses first. What are we even talking about? You hit the parentheses first.
I haven't done this since, what, 6th grade? This is my first time hearing this. Are you kidding me? I'm going to set.
Cool. Columbia just lets anybody in.
I didn't know Columbia just. Was it pass-fail operation there at Columbia as well? I did have to pass-fail math class, yes, but not that one.
Or is that what you meant? That may not be what you meant. No, are all classes pass-fail Columbia? Because I know, like, at Brown, I had a teammate that was at Brown, and everything was pass-fail, and I'm like, what? So you just got to pass in the class? They do let anybody in.
My first football letter was from Columbia. I don't think they would have accepted you.
Hey, let's go. That was them just snooping around.
Hey, say that. How many people from Plum High School are getting accepted to Columbia? Tony Diggs.
I don't think so. I don't think so.
I do wonder if... You know what? Congrats to you, Tony.
We need more. We need more out of Plum.
Not just Tony Diggs getting accepted to Columbia. I expect that is right around the corner.
$4.8 billion plus is what we're being told even though you're too lazy to figure it out. You would have to act with those numbers.
Someone did. I mean, someone did.
But here's the thing to me. It's like I started this, you know, really started digging in on free agency probably three weeks ago, and everyone kind of said the same thing.
Ah, quality of players isn't great. It's the worst quality we've seen in a while.
And I'm sort of like, one, I feel like we hear that every year because if you're, you know, there are some very good players who get to free agency, but usually great, great, great players who have zero questions, usually they get locked up by their teams, right? So I feel like that's just something teams say. It's like, ah, the quality is a great, like in the end, free agent prices are still free agent prices.
And once you get there, like you really can cash in. Like the money has been astounding.
Everyone has overpaid. I think that's the way it is every year.
It's great for business. Great for business because it drives up the prices for everyone else.
And it's also very fun for us. And if you're the guys who get the bag and there's been an unbelievable amount of them not just like the Milton Williams of the world.
I mean like mid players are getting huge numbers and I I'm like, that is great for everyone because everyone gets paid. Yeah, it's life changing shit for a lot of people.
And it's been fun to watch even DK who got that massive deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, him talking about, you know, his fiance and like how happy he was. It's like you could do it.
You work your entire life for these moments and you're dreaming of getting this type of paycheck, and obviously a lot of people did. Now, there's a couple people that are still outstanding in the conversation.
Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Rapsh, where do we stand with Cooper Cup? It was reported overnight the Cowboys have kind of made a push, and then there are multiple teams still involved.
Is it still at that 12-plus team marker? Has it been whitt you know, five-plus teams that are now kind of in a bidding war for Cooper Cup? And what's the number going to be at? Yeah, I mean, I would say there were a lot of teams interested. The market was, I thought it'd be pretty hot.
It was pretty hot. A lot of teams interested.
You know, sort of the problem now, not that it's a problem, because he's going to do really fine. But the problem is a lot of teams have spent a lot of their money.
So, like, this is the reason why people like to get free before free agency is because, like, let's say he was free a week ago. Let's say he was free like Devonta Adams a week ago.
Might have he been able to get that 20-plus contract? Maybe. But that's just not the way it worked, and he was cut when he was cut just because of some contractual things and whatever.
He's going to do fine. I believe the list is getting narrowed down.
I believe we'll have a decision today, and I think there's some really good teams interested. The Seahawks have been a team that's been interested.
The Saints have been in the mix. You mentioned the Cowboys.
I don't get the sense they're in it now, but I believe they checked in at some point. There's been several teams.
And I think, you know, Cooper Cup, like, he's 31, right? Obviously, the numbers over the last couple years are the numbers, but he is still a very, very good receiver. Seems to be to me more like the final piece for a championship caliber team now as opposed to like the key cog that he was like eight years ago but i think he's going to do very well okay so very well is that like 12 13 14 15 10 what is very um it sounds like probably more than 12 um and i mean maybe up to 15 yeah i mean i i don't actually know the firm numbers but you say to me what teams have been discussing, I think that's probably in the ballpark.
Interesting, because you did say in your answer that he could have got more than 20 if he was released earlier. Obviously, that was during the trade stuff that was allegedly happening behind the scenes for Cooper Cup.
Now he's a free agent. I'm excited to see who signs him, and if it is a team for cheaper than that that has a super bowl quality run like if the chiefs sign cooper cup everybody will go of course you know i don't even know how the chiefs would be able to do it but everybody would say of course the kansas city chiefs do this or the buffalo beals or somebody like if one of these teams that are at the very top sign him and get a deal done you're going to see so many other people go like well why couldn why couldn't we do it? And then the question would be, can Cooper Cupp stay healthy?

And if he can, he's a dog.

Pull for you, Cupp.

Pull for you, Coop.

Let's go, Coop.

All right, let's talk about some other outstanding stories happening,

especially one that has you insiders a little bit perturbed, we'll say.

This is AP Tone's question for you.

Yeah, he's referencing Aaron Rodgers.

He does feel like he has you guys a little perturbed because you're just sitting there and you have to wait to see what Aaron's going to do. There are reports that Aaron's team said that a decision is coming soon.
I guess it's potentially his team told the Steelers and Giants that or whatever it is. What do you guys think you know or think you're hearing? What's the latest you know on Aaron Rodgers? All right, so I'm not perturbed.
I never, you know, I don't mind talking about Aaron Rodgers. I've done it for the last, like, five years forever.
Just like if someone's like, would you talk about the Cowboys? I'm like, of course I would talk about the Cowboys. Like, these people keep us in business.
Like, I'm good with Aaron Rodgers. I also, like, you know, would I like everything wrapped up in a nice little bow? Someone sends me the scoop, I tweet it, and that's the end? Like, that would be the ideal situation for me.
Like, let's try to make that happen. Otherwise, though, like...
Let's try to make that happen. Okay.
That's just still campaigning. If we could get that to happen, that would be really cool.
No, I'm just saying, like, Aaron Rodgers is a friend of the program. If he's watching this now, he might be now he might be like you know what i'm gonna send it to him and then that would really be great for me okay so you're openly campaigning for the story so you're not perturbed but you certainly are eager you know and that's the yeah you're not the only one though all of pittsburgh is seemingly getting eager as well and it's like aaron has never played for the steelers there's no clue if a wants to play like granted we all assume Aaron's gonna play again I think everybody's assuming our us

included but that's not I don't think that's been officialized nope I don't think anything's been

talked about like you know I wanted to say something about that because you said that to me

a couple days ago you're like well are you saying he's playing and I was kind of like yeah yeah but

like I am also kind of not 100 sure right like if he I think these are some decent pretty good options um I could make a case for the Giants I can make a case for the Steelers um you know I know we've talked about that he likes Minnesota if that I don't know about that one but if he if that ends up being the one I could certainly make that case um but if he doesn't like them, if he's not 100% committed, then he should definitely not do it. And so, like, to me, retirement should still be a consideration.
I just – I don't know that anything has been ruled out now. And so, to me, you asked me, like, what's the latest? Those are great – why did you pick those expressions for each of those teams? That was D-Bone.
I mean, this is a

D-Bone picture here.

You can kind of tell. You can kind of tell that D-Bone's

a part of it. It gets the story done,

but it has its shit in it.

That's what you do when you deal with an artist.

That's kind of what you're going to do.

It's very good. I like it.

D-Bone's a real deal over there. He's got ideas.

A lot of them.

We appreciate that. We do like that.
We like that he hops right in that batter's box. You can tell him the exact pitch that's coming, and he goes, no, I don't think so, and then he'll take a big hack at it, and it's like, okay.
He'll get right back in here, and that's D-Bone. Hey, D-Bone.
Love you, D-Bone. Love you, D-Bone.
Love you, D-Bone. Love you, D-Bone.
The entire graphics department is really pshh. I mean, it's gone up late.
But you're right. Interesting photos.
But with that being said, I think he's doing that because everybody in here that is belonging to the Pittsburgh Steelers are like, let's go. Let's just get you to the Steelers and let's get this thing rolling.
I think that's what Pittsburgh's feeling too. You know, Pittsburgh's like, hey, you have an opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh.
This isn't like begging Aaron Rodgers to come play for the Steelers. Steelers fans are like, you get to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers as opposed to it.
And it's interesting how all of a sudden a probably, I mean, massive decision that Aaron Rodgers has either been putting off for a few years or has been waiting to make. He's a free agent for the first time ever.
So, like, there's so much that he's potentially contemplating. And if he wants to retire, Mount Rushmore player, Hall of Famer, richest guy to ever play in the NFL.
So it's like there's a lot of shit that's probably bouncing around. And a guy who is a deep thinker's brain.
Are those wires? I thought it was AirPods. Are those not AirPods? He would never use AirPods, bro.
You think he's going to let these Bluetooth waves get to his brain? You're out of your fucking mind, dude. Come on, Ian.
What do you know? You know nothing. You haven't covered him at all.
You know nothing. I know that he was not an AirPod guy.
People knew this? Oh, yeah. Dude.
Oh, yeah, dude. Come on, man.
No one has told me this. You should just let your eyes.
I should have told you this. That's terrible.
Your eyes should have told you this. Anytime you guys are talking about whatever he's doing or however he's walking, you just look at it.
Yeah, that's fair. That's on me.
That's on me. Plugged in.
That's the issue with you journalists. Okay, you guys think you have it all figured out.
Just look. You know, just look.
It's right there there but he has openly talked about on this show how yeah i'm not letting those bluetooth waves kind of 5g waves yeah don't worry you guys just calling for this to go there and also all reliable i know it's gonna work you know and he's right it does work a little bit annoying you know sure no doubt certainly a lot the airpods have evolved the convenience of it all they get caught caught. Lose them a lot, though.
Noise-canceling, though. Noise-canceling AirPods are pretty great.
I agree. Very good.
Especially on planes. I lose them a lot, though.
Do you lose them? That little thing's tough to keep. No.
I have a ridiculous blue case. That's cool, man.
Oh, nice, dude. Is that Prime? Is that a Prime one? That's cute.
They pay you for that? They did not. They did send it to me in the mail along with a Halloween costume one year or so, which I was.
You dressed up like a Prime bottle? Yeah, it was awful because I was all blown up. I looked like the Kool-Aid guy and then you can't actually walk because there's air on your feet so you're wobbling around.
It was ridiculous. I think it was Speed and Speed was in a bottle, right? In a prime bottle.
I don't think it was that bottle though. So annoying.
He can move. Yeah, by so clean Speed, yeah.
Yeah. But he got RKO'd I think.
Yes. On the table.
Yeah. That's cool.
Great pull right there. Good work, Z.
When did you guys go trick or treating? Like noon? Yeah. No, you go at like 4.30 or 5.
That's booze in your left hand? What? Okay. All right, Raph.
All right, Raph. Next question, booze bag.
Ty has a question for you. Raph Sheet, I know you said that the Giants are still potentially an option for Rodgers, but it seems like that's kind of been eliminated, although they are one of the teams that's basically begging him to come there.
We heard Kirk Cousins said he does want to be a starter next year, but Atlanta might not get rid of him. With the Giants situation and Dable and Shane absolutely needing to win next year, what are the odds that they go after a guy like Cousins if they don't get Rodgers, or are they just going to roll the dice with a rookie quarterback and hope that they win nine games to save their jobs next year? Well, first of all, I don't believe the Giants have been ruled out.
I've heard different rumors over the course of the week, but I haven't heard enough to say the Giants are not getting them. To me, at least to me, it feels like they're in the mix.
They had Joe Flacco visit yesterday, recently. So my sense is, if it's not Rodgers, Flacco would be a strong possibility, and then maybe they do draft one.
They have number two if the... or they have number three I should say.
So the Browns visited with Russell Wilson yesterday. If the Browns decide to sign Russell Wilson, that would give them two veterans that would make me think that maybe they don't draft a quarterback.
They could, but make me think maybe they don't. And maybe the next quarterback goes to the Giants, so maybe it's a veteran like Flacco, and then they draft.
So there are still options. I mean, the Giants draft three.
They can get a top quarterback. I just think Aaron Rodgers would make it easier for them.
Okay, so let's move to the draft here. Titans are going to take quarterback.s going to take quarterback.
Giants going to take quarterback. What are your, like, Browns with Russell Wilson, how real is that? If they, even if they sign Russell Wilson, are they going to draft a QB? Because it's been, like, reported that the Browns are definitely taking a quarterback.
Giants, if they end up without Aaron Rodgers, maybe they sign Flacco. Does it matter? Are they still drafting a quarterback there? What are your kind of leans on what the draft will be for these quarterbacks? And does it matter what the veteran signings are? Well, I think let's start with the Titans.
I think it does matter because the Titans have not signed a – Or even looked. Or even looked.
Right. So to me, that at least means the Titans are, you can always trade for someone,

but at least means the Titans are pretty firmly considering maybe it's Cam Ward at number one.

I think if the Browns do sign another veteran quarterback,

that would make me think that they may not draft him,

which would then mean maybe they're the team that trades out.

Because if you're not taking one, maybe you trade out. Maybe you go to three.
Maybe you go to seven. Maybe you go to nine.
These are all possibilities now if the Browns are not taking a rookie quarterback and are open for business. I do think the Giants will probably take one.
What I don't know is

it does seem that Cam Ward

as of right now is

probably the most

likely number one, but I don't know where

that number two slots in. I know teams are

sort of all over the map,

but I don't know where he slots in.

We appreciate your wrap. We know you've got

to do some TV here in about 30 seconds.

Thank you for taking time to do the weekly wrap-up with Rap Sheet and Friends. Us being the friends, he being Rap Sheet, you're the man.
You're the man. Thank you, guys.
Stop boozing while you're walking around with the kids. Be a father once.
I was very tired from a long day of... Texting with people.
Yeah, got it. Coffee is the only thing that goes in here.
Where is it? See? It was a solo coffee. Yeah, okay.
Your coffee is the Irish coffee, though. We understand that.
Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rappin. Yeah, Rappin.
Oh, he's got a good buzz go here. My coffee.
Just go a little Bailey's. Stay loose.
Stay loose. You put cream in your coffee, of course.
You got Bailey's? Sir, it's 6 a.m. I know.
Right? That's what I'm saying. Raps a dog, dude.

He's an absolute maniac.

Cam Ward, number one, seemingly the thing.

To the Titans. Remember, that was

the big conversation whenever GM

down there named

Borgonzi?

Mike Borgonzi.

He is the GM.

President of Chad Spiker?

Brinker. Brinker.
There it is. Chad Brinker.
Sorry, Mr. Brinker and Mr.
Spiker back at West Virginia. That is 100% on me.
You don't pass on a generational player or a once-in-generation player is what he said, basically. And that led off for everybody going, oh, Abdul Carter is a once-in-generation player.
Travis Hunter, actually once-in-generation type player, especially in college, being able to play the amount of plays in both sides of the ball that he had. And then everybody was like, well, this quarterback class, it doesn't really have a once-in-a-generation guy.
And then you listen to Orlovsky talk after watching the film Cam Ward, and he's like, Cam Ward's a guy. And then you start hearing everybody talk, and they're like, Cam Ward, Cam Ward's a guy.
The more people talk to Cam Ward, he's a leader. Obviously, Cristobal ball said that coming out of miami dan rolovsky broke down the fact that over the middle he's confident throwing the ball so a lot of these young quarterbacks scared to death going here you know a lot of traffic in here going outside you know there's only one person hopefully i can throw it out there if i miss it's not a pick and i can just kind of throw it up and let my wide receiver do their thing the timing routes across the middle where if you miss by a foot that thing's getting taken cribbed either by safety or a linebacker have to have enough touch to get it over somebody and then get it in between the linebacker and the safety so that's a very difficult throw the ones in the middle let alone with your eyes not being able to see because you got six foot six offensive linemen standing in front of you so the middle of the field is sometimes people's biggest weakness now there's some quarterbacks that are great middle of the field brock purdy has been eating in the middle of the field since he got in there which is why their offense and debo was able to do the slant god type of shit but there's some quarterbacks that do not do well in the middle dan said the cam ward over the middle is very good and the ball comes out very strong it's.
It's in the right spot. He obviously has enough arm for the deep ball on the outside, the touch and the finesse.
It's like Cam Ward might be the guy. And maybe it's because of the entire class not being great that he isn't being talked about as much.
And maybe it's because Miami didn't go on a run. They lose to Syracuse last year, last week of the season, kind of derail everything after the Magic was behind them.
But every time you hear anybody talk about this draft, it's like Cam Ward's going number one. So congrats to him.
You know, earned it, buddy. Incarnate Ward to Washington State, to Miami, and now number one, probably overall.
Good for him. I think a lot of it has to do with when you get these big hype guys, it's guys that have been not known for years but have been high draft picks for years.
Cam went to Miami because I believe he put his name into the draft last year, but he didn't get the grade that he liked coming back. So he's like, screw it, I'll go to Miami, make some NIL.
And then he has this unbelievable year down in Miami. So now I think it's like scouts, coaches, GMs, they're getting into this Miami tape and now they they're talking to people, and now they're like, oh, like he should have probably been up our boards a lot earlier than just this year.
Yeah, and I love, and I mention it a lot, I love the way him and Shador bicker. Like I really, I enjoy that.
The shit talk. Yeah, I enjoy it a lot.
Now Miami has a new quarterback. He's going through a lot right now.
Alleged. We're not getting into it.
We are not getting into this. We are not getting into this.
Because people that are not on the internet are going to automatically get mad at us for talking about this, but this is a massive story. He got a couple cars stolen, too.
It's not just that. Bingo, overnight.
That's what we were talking about. Hers were found.
His were not. Exactly.
a whole other story. There's a lot going on since Carson has got to Miami.
A lot has happened. He's gotten paid a lot of money too.
Hopefully, Crystal Ball and the boys are able to bring it back. Pivoting away from football, college football at least.
Let's talk about college basketball. Let's talk about the time of the year that we are in right now.
Let's talk about the special stuff that happens during these couple weeks that we don't really appreciate or see all year it's time for some march madness magic oh jammy was insane fuck it jammy was awesome yeah holy shit yeah i think we kind of forget. That was scenes, bro.
Yeah, it was.

This particular video is not in March, but it was madness and it was magic.

And we have some March madness magic.

Let's start in high school, shall we?

Norris High School, to be exact.

Barrett Bosiger.

After just getting the ball thrown to him, pretty much.

Boom.

Let me have that.

Thank you. 49-49.
Semif. Let me have that.
Thank you.

49-49.

Semifinal.

Nebraska State tourney.

Bucket from the other side of the court.

Obviously, the boys are excited.

Being on the bottom of that pile has to suck.

But it is March Madness magic in the high school.

Now let's go to some college stuff, shall we?

Louisville.

Stanford.

ACC. 73-73.
Buzzer beater by Chucky Hepburn. Drop the elbow.
That's the quarterfinal of the ACC tournament. The cards advance on a last-second mid-range jumper from old Chucky Hepburn.
Get it? Find it? Drop it. Let's move along.
Let's have a night down in Louisville at 4th Street Live, I believe is what they call it. Now, let's go to the Mid-Eastern Conference Tournament.
NC Central gets a massive win over Delaware State. Isaac Parson.
Buzzer. Beater.
The boys are moving moving on What a win For NC Central North Carolina Central Get the baseline Swoop-dee-woo Whoop-dee-woo Get the bucket That's what we're talking about Isaac Parson Let's go to the SEC Shall we? Ole Miss With a coach that just wins ball games Wins with a Sean Padula bucket. What a shot by Sean Padula.
They didn't even think that that guy was going to make that shot from Arkansas. Now Ole Miss and Coach Beard moves along down there in the great state of Mississippi.
SEC tournament in Nashville. Hopefully everybody can handle Broadway.
There's been a lot of celebrating down there for good reason. Let's stay in the SEC tournament.
Kentucky, Oklahoma. Ortega Owe, who was at Oklahoma last year, gets the baseline and the layup to get a massive win in the second round of the SEC tournament.
That's just in the last two days. Yeah.
High school thing two days ago. That shit yesterday.
This is all just from yesterday. Buzzer beaters, magical basketball taking place, and huge wins and storylines already developing.
Congrats to College Hoops. Incredible.
Yeah. It's only going to get better, too.
Some of the games yesterday, obviously Iowa, they did go down, but they put up 94 points. The entire thing is just incredible.
I think college ball is about to be magical this March Madness. Well, we talked about Duke and Auburn, and Seth Greenberg said yesterday, Florida too, but in terms of parity, it really does feel like we could see, this could be one of those years where you never know, we could get a lot of chalk in the first round, or it could be one of those things where if you're going to bet all the underdogs like you might stand to actually make a lot of money i don't think outside of maybe two to three teams there's anyone who's really like head and shoulders better than everyone else like we could see a lot of upsets well just like what happened in um football you know nil can make some teams right especially in basketball yeah if you invest some pieces you know some money you can change your entire program change your entire franchise and greg sankey put out a tweet uh yesterday about some graphs about how many sec teams have made the tournament it was like two four i think six was the most that they've ever had and then once covet hits it like kind of changes now they're going to have eight probably in this year and then they're probably only going to grow up and then all the responses to him are like you guys are putting money into it he's like yeah that's what everybody's doing right sec's investing in basketball i think a lot of schools are though especially in the nil you get two three pieces they get hot during march madness you can go on a real run here it should be electrified yeah last year we did the uh bet every underdog money line just blindly and i believe after the first entire weekend you were up.
But wasn't it also last year where the Big Ten had a bunch of teams and then they all shit the bed? You talk about how the Big Ten is the best conference. No, but that's the SEC this year.
We're talking about how the SEC is the best conference, but then when it gets to March, they might all shit the bed. We'll see.
Because it's madness, baby. This is March.
It's magic, too. Yeah, it is.
It's incredible. It is.
March Madness magic. How did Iowa do last night in the Big Ten tourney? Well, they're out one of their best players, probably their second best player.
He got hurt for the season, had to have season-ending surgery a couple weeks ago. So, you know, hey, they gave him everything they got.
You know, Peyton Sanford, who was one of the greatest Hawks of all time, homegrown kid, you know, scored 30 last night. They's the thing with Iowa is they scored the second most points in Big Ten play this year, unbelievable offense.
They can't guard anybody. They don't play any defense, so they scored 94 points, but they gave up 106.
And you're not going to win a whole lot of basketball games, especially college basketball games, giving up 106 points. That's a lot.
Illinois gets a massive win. Yeah.
I mean, that team that Greenberg told us. At the beginning of the season, had a bunch of dudes.
Dudes got hurt. Dudes got sick.
Now they're all getting healthy. Still got the dudes.
Big, physical. They out rebounded Iowa by about 30.
So, you know, again, tough when you're getting just chewed up on the glass to be competitive. I guess Zito just told me Iowa's coach got ejected.

You guys got a little fired up last night?

He did.

Franz Fiery.

He's a fiery son of a bitch.

He always has been.

And then there's a lot of discourse going around that he's been at Iowa for like 15 years.

They think that might have been his last game.

Has he ever won?

Well, a national championship?

He's won a couple Big Ten tournaments, yeah.

Has he?

Yeah.

MacArthur.

How are they doing the March Madness thing?

Pretty good?

No, they typically choke in March just because that's the way it goes.

Iowa football and basketball, do they mirror each other?

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I mean, I think a lot of places would kill to have Iowa success for being as small of a state it is. In basketball and in football.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, like, yeah, are they going to compete for national championships? Probably not, but every once in a while, you know, every 10 years, like, you'll have a team that, you know, I mean, they were a two seed a couple years ago, and again, they got beat by Oregon in the second round, but like, consistently good, but it is what it is.
I mean, there's no pro team, so that's why people live and die with them. I didn't really watch much of them this year because they weren't great, but I was hanging on for every second last night.
I would have loved to see them win. Fran and Kirk just kind of running the sports over there, and then Lisa Bluter, she moves along.
Her assistant becomes the head coach. How's the Iowa women's team? Pretty solid again.
I think after you lose Caitlin Clark, it's like a... Different game? Yeah, for sure.
She's like the best player in the WNBA. Yeah, exactly.
I know Vegas, Asia. Aja Wilson.
Aja Wilson. Asia or Aja? Asia.
I don't know. I think it's Asia.
Asia. She's a great player.
I'm not saying she's not a great player. She has a completely different skill set than Kaitlin.
Obviously, she's taller and everything like that. But in, what, four years, five years, Kaitlin's going to be considered the best in the WNBA as well.
And people are already talking about what she did this offseason, like putting on muscle and stuff so that she can actually handle how it's a little more physical. So it might be harder to win whenever you lose that particular player.
For sure, but they're going to make the tournament. They got a transfer from Villanova who's a great scorer.
Her effect already though, they're getting girls, top five girls in the nation from California who are wanting to come play at Iowa, which would have never happened before her. We'll obviously follow along with all the basketball.
Especially the especially the Johnnies and also, I mean, if we're talking about Iowa in March, Matt Madness, you know, coming up here in a little bit for the wrestling. They need to do that when March Madness isn't happening.
They need to figure out how to slide that thing right before March Madness. And maybe it is already and I just missed a couple of the days and they probably have to do it.
But Matt Mad college wrestling thing worth a watch should lead into mania yeah yeah maybe maybe it should lead into man i mean it is electrifying they packed that fucker out it is elect we're talking full entrances we're talking about real i mean it was i think it was last year was the last year two years ago last year i think is when you first saw like the last year i'm watching one of these march madness games one of these basketball games or an entire window of march madness games all blowouts which is the worst case scenario for sure because it's the only thing on tv and you know nothing about any of these teams and then they're all blowouts it's like okay this is kind of a tough then i saw matt madness on and i went over there and clicked it was shit, Penn State's better than everybody. But also, this is awesome.
More people need to watch this. Go ahead.
It does run basically lateral to the basketball tournament I just looked. But the Midwest Regional, which I believe is what, the final four, lead eight, is here at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Okay. But if it's right in the middle of March Madness, it's going to be tough for anybody else to really pay attention to.
The 28th, 29th, and 30th of March, which I believe is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I know they run concurrently to basketball, too.
It's a winter sport, yada, yada, yada. Yeah.
They've got to find a way to. Even if they just did it early in the week.
Yeah, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah, that would be perfect because there's no March Madness then.
And that would be so awesome just to be able to focus on that because it really is like a spectacle. And so few people know how great it is.
And then once you are like, you were just mentioning, once you turn it on, it's like, holy shit, this is an incredible sport. It's, it's similar to, you know, West Virginia's rifle team going at it today.
Come on national championship today, down there in Kentucky, West Virginia's in it. They put a tweet out and said, yeah, you know, the stage is shit.
And just like Tone said whenever we saw the photo, West Virginia wouldn't mind a 30-40 mile hour win. But the fact they're doing it inside, I guess we just gotta make it easier for everybody else.
And West Virginia will certainly abide by the rules. And yeah, we're talking snipers out here.
We're talking snipers out here. Good luck to everybody.
Let's go to the NHL now, shall we? The NHL is magical for a lot of reasons. The sport is mesmerizing.
They're flying around on blades on ice, like, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 miles, whatever it is, you know? With the way we're tracking humans running now, obviously you would just assume that it's quite an advancement of speed whenever they're on ice especially with how these they're like uh figure skate they have the ability of figure skaters while also wearing full pads dangling a puck with a wooden stick and uh then there's a chance at any given moment they could just get absolutely annihilated just demolished and then they just pick themselves up and do it again never any bitching never any complaining the skills uh skill set required is obviously absurd that not a lot of people have and we're about to get to playoff time and it's the fastest most electrifying thing that you could watch the NHL playoffs but the best thing about it is it's culture they still fight people over there they still fight people over there they still handle business with oh is that right you think you our guy like that? Well, why don't you go ahead and drop the gloves, bud? Why don't you go ahead and do it? And they do it, and it's encouraged by everybody. Coaches, players, fans, even refs.
One of the biggest dogs in the history of the NHL's name is Tom Wilson. He has been a menace in the NHL for a long, long time.
Listen and stromer who's not a uh fighter or a tough guy have a moment and then listen to the ref chirp in the middle of this entire thing in the middle of an actual nhl game hi guys i think that i'm speeding up ice i think it's a toe pick but i'm hot this year most most goal scorers get those calls from oh come on tommy if you want to go center ice i've been waiting my whole career for one oh yeah i'd like to see it right now hey you gotta put one hand behind your back not that stupid that's a hilarious that is just a hilarious give and take and then how about the ref going oh I'd fucking love it boys I'd love to watch it hockey's culture is second to none I believe and the toughness is real and the characters in the sport we don't get to learn about them much because they very rarely do any media like I think what Spitting Chicklets is doing is great for the sport and for the league and for everything but the more clips that come out that just showcase what they are and who they are as a sport, I think the better for the sport as a whole. Yeah, no doubt about it.
And the amount of games, it's one of those sports where it's like, oh, well, there's so many games, kind of like the NBA, where it starts to matter right now. But some of the things they've done to make the game better, like the Winter Classic, I feel like, has been one of those things.
And the outdoor games, like at the Hors at the horseshoe things like that are obviously grow the game but it would be great if we could get more like players just talking because it is such a team you know culture you know take care of your own business don't say anything uh type of environment but then when you do get the mic'd ups and when you get the you know clips of behind the scenes about how much these guys care like mcdavid last year when you know the oilers lost game seven there's that highlight of you know him in the in the locker room like super emotional and everything and seeing stuff like that behind the scenes is awesome even though they hate to actually show everything about it yeah we're great people hockey hates everything about it yeah hockey is just such a did it for the lads you know for the team the team. And, yeah, we're trying really hard.
We've got to execute.

And then, like, the most boring interview.

A head down.

Every time.

Yeah.

Especially the in-between period stuff.

Like, I appreciate the commentators and the analysts trying to get stuff.

There's nothing ever coming.

No.

Not one time.

You know, it's just like the right before kickoff interviews that the NFL was trying to do.

But, like, you know, I think Jameis gave something good. There's been a few personalities that have delivered a little bit in that moment.
In hockey, there's nothing coming out of any of those because they feel like they're a distraction to their team or they're like a me guy. And since they're like little tiny kids, literally waking up at 4 a.m., just skating the ice or being told, this ain't about you.
This is about everybody else. So I think that's a detriment to hockey,

but also I think people just need to know

that the people in hockey are fucking awesome.

They are awesome dudes.

Yeah, every hockey player,

the best comparison would be

every hockey player is an offensive lineman

and none of them want to say anything.

And when they do get asked questions,

it's almost like an insult

that they're getting asked a question

about themselves and not the entire unit.

Yeah, Stromer they're going, I've been waiting on my whole career for one. And I believe, you know, Stromer's brother plays with Tom Wilson and obviously I believe they played together in the past and nobody that isn't a fighter is signing up to fight Tom Wilson.
Just for you that don't know. Tom Wilson, you know, I'm a Penguins fan.
I have been a Penguins fan for a long time. I am.
I am. I am.
I hope they do hope they do good. But at the time, I definitely was.
He was a problem. But it's not just us.
He's a problem with fucking everybody he plays against, which is why I think the boys love him on the team. But I assume he is a hilarious human being.
After watching that give and take right there, I assume when Tom Wilson is done, he's going to have a podcast or he's going to do shows, and the stories are going to be hilariously absurd. Nick, is that accurate with Tom Wilson? Yeah, he's a guy who's built for it, and like, you know, you say this, he's got the face to match it.
He's got that rugged handsomeness if you see pictures of him. He's definitely built for an after-playing media career, and he's a guy who, you know, not to throw this back to the Canada-USA thing, but he didn't make that Team Canada.
He probably will next year for the Olympics. And you might see a situation where you've got the Kachucks going against Tom Wilson on international ice.
Well, we'll see how the national anthems are handled at said event. All of them.
Yeah, exactly. That's because we've got a new standard, right? Yeah.
Is Russia playing? Well, the Olympic athletes from Russia? Yeah, the OAR. We say O, you say I, we say revolution OAR in the Olympics in the past.
But I think we need to look into every single competitor's country's political stuff. Because that is now how national anthems are being judged at sporting events.
Remember? I hope Iraq doesn't have a team. I don't think they're playing hockey.
I don't know if Iraq has a – I don't know if they have a Winter Olympic team. But if they do, I hope we support the athletes doing their thing, living their dreams.
But I guess – I'm not getting into it. I'm not getting into it.
Not on a on a friday i like to have a good weekend it's a reason we need to do a couple segments today because it's friday i would like to just have a good weekend it's beautiful outside i would just like to be able to sleep and uh not have to feel like i need to uh respond with some context you know which has become a very normal thing in the sports talk world for us. Not everybody else.
It seems like a lot of other people say a lot of things that are... Yeah.
Just kind of... Much worry.
Very bad words. Yeah, very.
Yeah. Very.
Holy shit. And it just keeps on moving.
It's like, okay, all right, yeah, we get it. Feels targeted.
Nonetheless, Evan Ingram, former tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, he came out and said uh i appreciated my time in jacksonville but they just let a dog off the leash he was excited to get to somewhere new and sean payton of the denver broncos was excited to get a player in his camp that is a joker position that he can do everything with he saw that with evan ingram and the only reason why we know that is because evangram announced his signing to the Denver Broncos as the Joker, you know, hanging out of a police car from a dark night.

So, whenever you think about this Sean Payton-led Denver Broncos, they were much better than anybody could have imagined.

Okay, much better than anybody could have imagined with the amount of dead cap that they had.

Not just Russell Wilson, everything else they had going on.

With what the Denver Broncos had been over the past few years, just a mess. They got quarterback in Bo Nix he was good at the beginning of the year got great at the end of the year Sean Payton's culture seemingly settling in and now he's got a dog in somebody that he's viewing as a joker just like he was with Taysom Hill whenever he was down there in New Orleans and the way he operated his offense it's like what are the Broncos are the going to be real? They're in a tough division.
But I think the Broncos are on a green arrow up, and Sean Payton only wins. I think that's all I've ever really known him to do.
Yeah, so obviously everything was a down year last year in Jacksville, but two years ago, two seasons ago, he had 114 catches for the Jaguars, which is just absurd. He is a dynamic tight end.
But, like, you pair him with Cortland Sutton, and then in Mims and Vela, they have two really good young wide receivers. They need to probably get a running back.
But with Sean Payton and Bo Nix, like, they're only going to go up. They're only going to get better.
So, yeah, the Broncos are going to be a problem potentially. Let's stay in the AFC West.
The Chiefs have signed Gardner Minshew. Oh, wow.

Congratulations to Gardner Minshew getting a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.

We watched Gardner two years ago here in Indianapolis just do it, okay?

Went to the Pro Bowl inevitably.

Now he was like fourth alternate or something like that, fifth alternate, whatever the case.

He was one play away from leading the Indianapolis Colts to an AFC South championship.

That is real.

That is not a makeup at all. Gardner Minshew, Shane Steichen's leadership in offense was great for us.
He then signs like a $30 million deal with the Raiders. It does not work out.
They are still looking for a quarterback. Andy Reid says, let's get you over here.
We know you got a big brain. We know you're a good moxie guy.
We know you're a good energy guy. Come on over.
He's not the only one. Zip on the ball.
Zappy also signed a one-year deal with the kansas city chiefs there's competition brewing for that qb2 spot in kansas city behind patrick mahomes uh dk metcalf will be wearing number four for the pittsburgh steelers he addressed that in the press conference you know hey gp's been here longer than i have been obviously he has created a legacy with the number 14 i will wear four he looked giddy to be a pittsburgh steer tone it was awesome he was smiling the whole time he was talking positively the whole time obviously he just got engaged two days ago uh so he's in a good mood you gotta pay 30 million dollars in a good mood got number four looks great in a good mood vibes are high yeah i didn't that looked like a different dk than i have ever seen you know and maybe we don't pay attention enough he was happy jovial super pumped to be Steeler. Yeah, it was awesome.
And I think Pittsburgh people were excited for it as well. Sam Darnold spoke to the media.
He chit-chatted about the last two games now that he's joined the Seattle Seahawks. Said he's going to treat it as a learning lesson.
John Schneider, general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, came out and said, we made an offer, very good offer to Geno, and it felt like that was going to be over. So a lot of people talking right now about the decisions being made.
And Sean McVay and Andrew Whitworth are moving weight at 6 a.m. at the village that we just learned about from Andrew Whitworth.
Have this safety squat bar, squat rack. This is at 6 a.m.
they're doing this. This is Whitworth.
Obviously, he's got probably a cardio late belt on if I had to guess. So many plates.
Obviously, he said he's staying in shape as if it was still football season, working out every morning at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m.
And the guy's dumper is still a real deal. You know, whenever you're judging offensive linemen, defensive linemen, you're looking for some explosion.
How do you do it? A lot of people say, like, well, what's the – they got a – How big's his ass? You got a big ass? A caboose. Whitworth's ass is obviously gigantic.
I literally sent him a text immediately. Actually, I called him immediately after seeing this video, and I'm like, yo, I need to be doing whatever you're doing because you still got all the explosion.
It is very evident with how you're doing it. He's not the only one.
McVay's moving weight in here as well. McVay's getting under the bar, squatting.
Not as many weights as Andrew Whitworth, but still a shit ton for a coach in the NFL at 6 a.m. at the Village.

The boys are getting after it.

Ryan Sorensen, I do believe, is the trainer in there.

So I love seeing it.

Lane Johnson also did, posted some massive squatting video yesterday with him using a safety rack as well.

It feels like this is the thing.

And I have not gotten under a squat bar since I've been forced to do it back when I was playing because I didn't want to put the bar on my spine. I know it's – sorry, I'm not as tough as everybody else.
This thing seems like the thing. Yeah.
So we got one of those on the way. Don't you worry about that.
Okay. Yeah, I see everybody doing it.
It's like you guys are more jacked than I am. You got to be doing it for a reason.
Let's go ahead and check it out. Love the guys guys getting after it love the team mindset and uh i love guys sticking with it what's that say you're gonna get some no bull lifting shoes too i do love the no bulls that's no bull baby i'll get that card deal weight belt all right hour one wrapping up here on this feel good friday march 14th 2025 hour two will be on the other side once again thank you all so much whoever bought tickets.
It's going to be a blast on April 9th. Can't wait to see you in Pittsburgh.
Who would the quarterback be for the Steelers by then? Maybe we find out. Maybe we don't.
Tax Act knows filing your taxes can be complicated and that's why we have live experts to help you with any questions. They can hold your hand through the process beginning to end.
Metaphorically, of course. I mean, they can't actually hold your hand in person.
I suppose you could hold your computer mouse while you chat with the expert about capital gains or whatever, which is sort of like holding hands. Sorry, point is, our tax experts can make filing easier.
Tax Act. Let's get them over with.
This episode is brought to you by Indeed. When your computer breaks, you don't wait for it to magically start working again.
You fix the problem. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed's sponsored jobs to hire top talent fast.
And even better, you only pay for results. There's no need to wait.
Speed up your hiring with a $75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
Sports are fantastic. We're incredibly lucky that we get to talk about them every single day.
We is not just I, obviously. It's also the toxic table at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt.
Sweet glasses. Thank you very much.
Yeah, I got a new pair of glasses, a new prescription. I'm sick and fucking tired of squinting at that TV every single day and then just having the worst headache ever going home.
So I said, you know what? I got my glasses. I'm going to wear it.
I think they look good. Thank you.
I like them. I appreciate them.
I you i glass on the other day i don't believe you were here uh it was on monday i wore glasses because i had a little thing going on in my eye sure and uh i'm like well i don't want that to be obviously a distraction for what i'm talking so put these glasses on the blue light glasses you know and i feel like i was really taking care of myself and also covering up some of those happening then i woke up the next day just stopped doing it so i was like all right yeah we're not wearing glasses anymore and i'm just gonna act like it didn't happen you know why was my doing that for that long don't know but also not even gonna care about it i think you look good i think glasses are a good look i think i think it's a good i think it's i think it's a good thing yeah i mean i've worn them quite a bit in the past and then i kind of just my prescription was so old i was like well i'm not gonna wear these because they're basically blue light glasses, but then they just give me a really bad headache. So I said, you know

what, I'm going to go to the optometrist. And sure enough,

you know, if you have bad eyes, you

can't wait 15 years to go get your eyes

checked again, you know, because they will get worse

on you. So your eyes got worse.

They did. They did.
But no, got

a new prescription. Can we see

the screen? Oh, yeah.

You kidding me? What a day.

You can actually read what's going on up there. Don't have to's a good day yeah let's put up uh let's put up a graphic um let's put up the uh can we put up the uh i think it was the big 12 basketball tournament graphic oh that one i deleted that unfortunately oh okay that was terrible graph big 12 really that was good whoever in there was like you know what this is a good idea we'll put out a white graphic with white boxes on top of it with maybe even white font i mean that was here it is oh this is not the same one this is a random it's just an excel spreadsheet that uh was created to probably make fun of the big 12 one you can read that though right uh for the most part i mean that's still very small you know very small but you can't see the bottom row at the eye doctor's test right now oh no i i mean i can but it's still you know i mean you got texas tech up there i can i can i can make it out playing texas tech is playing arizona oh what is the rank of arizona oh man that i can't i couldn't tell you but if you had to guess if you had to guess what would it be uh well i near the top.
I'd say Arizona is maybe like a 7 seed. Okay, Arizona is a 3 seed.
Texas Tech is a 7. No, sorry, Texas Tech is a 2.
So 2s look like 7s, and 3s look like 8s, especially if you're from far away. Sure, but let me just do like that.
I can't see anything. That's just a white screen yeah pretty much just with like a little little bit of like smears on there when i go like this i can at least i mean like the the bottom line right now the bottom bar like that you know you can i mean i can see it you know because it's bold but when i mean i can read i can read everything god welcome to a whole new world driving driving is really is where it really you know nice Being able to see? Yeah, you and Foxy are a liability, brother.
I don't think my eyes are as bad as Foxy's, but it's when you get a new prescription and you put them on, it's like, Jesus Christ, I probably should have been driving with glasses for a while. Not great.
So this is a message to everybody. If you can't see shit, they make things that make you to be able to see things.
Crazy. And it's much better when you can see stuff.
I have some friends that are like, I'm not wearing glasses. I'm like, glasses aren't that bad of a look.
And also, speaking of looking, you're going to be able to see stuff. That's probably a good life you could have.
I'm not going to become a glasses guy. I'm like, well, then do contacts.
I'm not dealing with those every single day. It's like, you can't see anything.
You can easily get this fixed. As somebody that was fucking blind for a long time and had contacts that I didn't want to change and I just left in my eyes for years and years and years, once you can see things actually, because even those contacts, to your point, they were way behind.
So I couldn't really see much. And I used to walk into physicals where they would have the eye test.
The Colts would have an eye test every year obviously i'm walking by the thing and i'm reading that bottom line and i'm memorizing the letters and then i'm sitting down and just battling off all right good this guy's awesome great and then you're just rolling along don't have to do that you can actually see the world and it's a beautiful one uh if you're able to get it so foxy i go to the

eye doctor every single year and they say what you should not be in public with how bad your eyes are they gave me contacts they give me glasses and send me on my way it makes no sense that's why i'm gonna get the lasik done i would have absolutely no chance to reading that screen i think about you every single day when i pop stuff up and i'm like how is he reading this so So I got the LASIK. You know, LASIK is...
You felt like... I felt like I became a superhero overnight.
I felt like I have two good eyes now. I can, like, actually see everything.
They say that I'm going to have to redo it at some point because I got it done rather young. But yeah, it is cool to be able to see stuff.
That's what I'm saying, though. It's on the way.
It's on the way. I just learned that you do get contacts and glasses though, so you still can't

see with your contacts and glasses at night?

Contacts are tough because lights. It's the rays.

The rays of the light are brutal.

It has a name for it. I always forget what it is.

Stigmatism, right? Say like this was a light.

Say this was a light. What's it called?

Stigmatism. Maybe.
I don't know.

That doesn't sound like...

I believe that is.

Your eyes are shaped like footballs instead of round. Okay.
Shout out to football, by the way. I'm happy we did that.
But say this is the light, okay? This is what you see. When you have context, that light is, it is like this big.
I can do that if I squint my eyes and make it happen. Yeah, so that's what it is all the time.
So, like, if there's lights next to each other, what's that? That's just a big fucking blob. That's why like the indoor facility that went to the Colts, they have lights all over the ceiling.
I had never been able to see the ceiling because it was just all lights over on top of each other. And then whenever I got the LASIK done, I'm like, wow, this is really, wow.
It's like taking a jump from like the box televisions to like 1080, not even like 8 8k or 4k or whatever the case is so i'm happy you're doing that i think it's good look ty i appreciate it and it's a message everybody you're not too cool for glasses like no life is much better whenever you can see shit yeah i mean i couldn't give two shits what people think i think you look cool right now well and i think like i think i kind of am a glasses guy i mean i I was in like seventh grade. So, you know, if you don't care then, you sure as shit shouldn't care when you're 34 years old.
So, I mean, it's, you know, hey, like you said, it's better off to be able to see things and kind of be able to experience the world around you. Yeah, then be worried about how other people think you look with glasses on.
Here's Zito found a picture. This is kind of what lights do yes that is that is kind of what lights do whenever you have contacts that is like what a contacts are i don't know about whenever you're just blind because i just always had contacts in my face whenever uh from what i remember but that is literally what it is and that can carry too that can drag too yeah and so when it's rainy and it's wet out it's reflecting on everything so yeah that's what contacts are if you have bad eyes i don't know about like average eyes with contacts they're good but like bad eyes with contacts it's wet out.
It's reflecting on everything. It's a tough life.
Yeah, that's what contacts are. If you have bad eyes, I don't know about, like,

average eyes with contacts.

They're good.

But, like, bad eyes with contacts,

it's fucking,

that is life right there.

Yeah, that's what I have.

I have average eyes with contacts,

and it's not that bad.

I mean, it sucks.

Like, it becomes like that

if you wear them.

Like, say I sleep in them,

and I don't wake up and change them.

I'm just like, screw it.

Let's just roll.

We'll see how the day goes.

By the time the night comes,

then it's just, like, terrible. Yeah, And typically those, typically those day goes by pretty terribly.
I don't know. If we're being honest.
You really forced that one. Yeah.
Well, the first one I stuck by and I need to get another, but it is. You got great either.
I did, but it's a green jacket. You know, that's just going to happen when you're wearing a jacket like this.
And, you know, maybe you look but it's nice having having uh contacts it's much better life joining us now ladies and gentlemen is a guy who is uh had hawkeye since he was a child that's right been able to see everything what a gifted man this man is he's a college football national champion a super bowl champion rider cup winner father of 10 ladies and gentlemen aj hawk mazel aj mazel um shalom how are you uh yeah if you you've always had 20 10 eyes perfect vision uh yeah i've been lucky my eyes have been good my left eye is my you know my non-dominant eye that one it's always been like pretty apparent my right eye is better but my left eye is still still legit so i don't have any issues i was walking around seventh eighth grade i think maybe even ninth grade just like this everywhere yep Teachers are like, you should get glasses or contacts. I don't have any issues.
I was walking around 7th, 8th grade, I think. Maybe even 9th grade, just like this.

Everywhere.

Teachers were like, you should get glasses of contacts.

I don't have time.

I buy it. I'll make it okay.

And then you get contacts.

Then you get contacts and you see stuff and you're like,

yeah, it's nice that I don't have to have my face

scrunched up like this to see everything.

That is a nice little thing, though.

Scrunch your eyes a little bit. A little zoom in.
Shout out to the human body being able to do that. AJ, what's Aaron doing, bro? I'm sick of it.
Come on, man. What's going on? I don't know.
What's the deadline? Is he going to wait until the big night out and he's going to be a big surprise and say, hey, I'm coming home, guys. Here I am.
He comes out in a jersey. In Pittsburgh? Oh, my God Could you imagine that? April 9th.
How many days? How many days is that until April 9th? Steelers would be okay with that, right? Just wait until April 9th, maybe? Shockingly, the fan base would. What's that? I saw a pool.
Now, listen. If you, obviously, NFL fans are going to think this is wild.
Okay. Pittsburgh fans are super, super happy to have Mason back and potentially to have Mason as a starting quarterback.
I saw a pull this morning. Who do you want as your starting quarterback? It had Mason and Aaron and Russ and someone else.
Mason was like 60%. Raj was like 25%, something like that.
So so uh yeah it's wild uh isn't it amazing like how you can shape like how people feel about something like legitimately now granted it has been reported that the steelers are waiting on aaron rogers then it was reported he's looking for 90 million dollars then it was reported like yeah basically he's just holding people hostage right now like whenever you know those things in there at some fan base it's like i don't want to deal with this guy and it's like easy to think like that because it's kind of true you know kind of is happening if you look at it that way but like not even a thought of like hey this guy maybe has a lot like this is a pretty big decision in this thing. This is, he has to weigh a lot of different options at this moment, including retirement.
Have we ruled out? AJ, has there been a ruling out of retirement yet in your conversations with him? No, I guess there has not. Like, we've never officially ruled it out, but that would, that would definitely surprise me.
But yeah, nothing would shock me. You know, nothing, nothing would be shocking.
But that is something that we don't talk about, right? Is right is anyone saying like do we know if he's going to come back and play no the only conversation is this son of a bitch it won't answer which team he wants to play for it's like i have not talked to him i don't know how much aj has talked to him but the last time we talked to him he's like there's a lot of things that have to be decided here because he is in the last two years have not been fun a lot of people think like he just you know enjoyed seeing the jets fail like that is not an accurate depiction of how he views that at all he wanted to go back because how shitty it was no matter what the situation was and there's gonna be some people that'll never believe that because of how they feel about aaron rogers because you know he was immunized for a little bit and everything of that nature but it's like i think he's got a lot of shit that he's weighing on him right now and you can tell that in the picture whenever he's waltzing around the beach i saw some guy in my comments whenever we posted this reel and he said uh this is a staged photo it's like okay you think this is what aaron would stage a photo but he actually believes that that that guy actually believes that that is the case and it's like it's amazing how you can shape your opinion about somebody if enough shit is said and you read it and don't even look into it and it's like some of it's true based in truth but the way it has been kind of like this guy's an asshole kind of angle on it has set up for all these things that are happening around the league right now. To be honest, I think the one team that Aaron is not, he's not holding any team hostage, but the least hostage would be the Pittsburgh Steelers because, you know, they signed Mason Rudolph.
Russell Wilson is not coming back, okay? You cannot walk back into the locker room after they are waiting for Aaron's answer. They signed Mason Rudolph.
Like, Russ can't walk into that locker room, I don't think, personally. I think he's either going to the Browns or Giants or whatever.
They're not going to sign Joe Flacco to play over Mason or whatever. I think the Steelers organization is fine waiting on Aaron at this point, to be honest.
Our source says have told us that Aaron walks the beach at sunset every night. It's part of the reason why he has that house.
California, the sun rises in the east. It sets in the west.

That is the last place that the sun

is seen in the United States

of America over there.

Also, our source

says every

night is a thinking session about

what life is supposed to be.

That's all the source said? Yeah, that's all the source

said. Son of a bitch.
Tony. Come on, Tony.
Tony, I thought you just said it was okay. You said you're going to be patient, Tony.
No worries. No rush.
Real quick, let him know. I've been sending a lot of messages, okay? This has been a one-way street here.
I've been sending a lot of messages because a lot of things are being said that I don't think he knows. I don't think he has any i don't think he cares that much agreed that's kind of how he is but i don't think he has any idea about some of the things that are being said you know i i don't think he knows that like pittsburgh people now are at the point where like we don't fucking want them like if you don't want to be there like that's not what they're saying if aaron's watching that's not what they're saying they want them definitely not watching because he would have known this uh through the entirety so i like send a message like yo this is what's being said this is what's being reported just so you know like what's going on never get a response but i'm just hopefully that cracked into his world so he understands that this is kind of happening and then i sent him the reel of the you know the the beach walk thing and then that was the response that was response i do that I do that every single night, you know.
So this is kind of part of it. There's going to be a lot more people taking pictures than tonight, I guess.
Yeah. Aaron, I think you should probably take a week off.
Stay on the patio, bro. Different route, maybe.
Walk the shores of the Mon or the Allegheny tonight. And with where he lives, the, I mean, the lens seemingly.
Got to be such a big lens. Has to.
Yeah, but somebody yeah but somebody i mean this guy i don't know who he was i should look into i should find his name he has like 60 000 followers seems to be legit seems to be legit oh the guy who posted this yeah no picture no who put the comment that he did this on purpose like this was a staged photo i've never been like for what reason what would the stage what would it do i have no idea like i don't know why Aaron would want that to be the stage photo. If he's out there and he has a bench press out there and he's benching and throwing a football and squatting, then I would say, yeah, this is fake.
But I think people just think that about Aaron immediately. And if you're told enough things about a guy, I assume inevitably it is easy to fall into that conversation.
Yeah, that's what he has to do now, to AJ's point. He needs to put out a bench.
He needs to bring a football. He needs to get a tire and hang it from a tree.
And he needs to just start throwing footballs through it all night tonight until the sun sets. Could you imagine the photos of him in the dark doing this type of stuff? I want a helmet on, too.
Yeah, shoulder pads. I want a helmet on.
I mean, shit, put the pants on. Just no shoes.
Barefoot. Bingo.
Full pads. Doing that on the beach.
He puts one of his old Packers helmets on. The whole world will be like, wait a minute.
He's going back. Is he going to be a backup? Is he going to be a backup? He throws it into the ocean, swims out there in his pads, gets the ball, comes back.
He should maybe tape like Steelers logo on one side. Yeah.
Vikings logo on the other side. Giants logo on the back.

Something right off.

Retirement right on the forehead.

And then, like, throw the ball up, see which way it bounces each time.

Oh, my gosh.

Or four different helmets.

And he sees if he makes it in any of the helmets.

Oh, this one matters.

Garbage cans.

Garbage cans.

Logos on garbage can.

Throwing, trying to put it in garbage can.

Oh, difficult on the Steelers one. Well, good.
Knock that one out. He walks down with his wired and knocks over the bucket.
Walks all the way back. Universe is trying to eyes close while he's throwing it.
So it's just Universe balls over and over and over again. Blood moon balls.
Even better. Bloody balls.
Throwing that type of thing. That's what he needs to do.
All right. I'll send that.
Send that. What if he jumped in there? It the ocean He's swimming full pads Next thing you know he's holding two fins He's riding dolphins throughout the wild ocean Not even the trained dolphins That's what happens if he doesn't make any of them You need to go out there in full pads And start spinning it Into Trash cans Into.
Maybe some flaming loops, some big old circles that are on fire. Make it sweet.
Oh, yeah, you're right. We want smoke.
And team logos. And pyro.
Okay. That's actually not a bad idea.
Do it like the Pope. He could just do black smoke every day from his house.
Purple smoke. Exactly.
When he makes the decision. Boom.
Yellow smoke for the Steelers. What if he does, and this will be the last time we hypothesize about what he should be doing at sunset on the beach that he lives at.
I'm sure this will be the last time we talk about it. He should come out in a full Pittsburgh Steelers uniform.
Do a throwing session. See how he does.
Sure. Next night, come out full Giants uniform.
Throwing session. See how he does.
Then put the Vikings one on. See how.
And then let that be the judge. Are you your best you in those colors? He can find out on the beach.
Yeah. Tonight at sunset.
And then the retirement one, he can just come out butt naked with a paintbrush and something and draw something. And if it's a great painting, it's okay.
He'll wear one of those geese. The geese thing.
Oh, he can wear his jersey swap Jordan Poyer ayahuasca jersey. The t-shirt thing.
Yeah, he can wear that one out. And we need the necklace.
You got the necklace over there. The vibes necklace? I think it might be for the brand helmet in the corner, but yeah.
Yes, it is actually, good eye. Now, that would be something that would play.
Connor wears it on the weekends and puts it back. Yeah, that's the reason I knew it was over there.
There are the tassels. Yeah, he comes out like this with a headband on here, maybe an acoustic.
Sure. That entire thing.
Yeah, maybe that's the play. Sage burning.
Alright, just let us know what you're doing

at sunset tonight, bub. Or tomorrow night.

We'll see it on the photos. Yeah, we'll see it from the

creepy paparazzi that you're setting up, bub.

That's what people are believing. Weirdo.

Hey, I'm Brad Milkey.

You may know me as the host of ABC Audio's

daily news podcast, Start Here,

but I'd like to add aspiring true crime expert to my resume. And here's how I'm going to make it happen.
Every week, I'm going to unpack the biggest true crime story that everyone is talking about. ABC's got some unique access here.
So I'll talk to the reporters and producers who have followed these cases for months, sometimes years. We're bringing the latest developments and the larger context on the true crime stories you've been hearing about.
Follow the crime scene for special access to the people who know these stories best. Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a kingmaker.
He had wealth, fame, and power. What's up? Welcome to New York! Until it all came crashing down.
Federal investigators raiding two homes owned by hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs. I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor.
As Diddy heads to trial, we trace his remarkable rise and fall and what could be next. Listen to Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, a new series from abc audio listen now wherever you get your podcasts joining us now ladies and gentlemen is a senior insider for espn for the nba friend of the program gonna break to break it all down for us.
Ladies and gentlemen, Sham Sharanya. Yeah, Shamit! Sham! Pat, the boys, congrats on the sell-out, by the way.
Is that how you say it? Sell-out? Yeah, you're close. You're close.
I mean, you forced it a little bit, but I appreciate your attempt at that. I really do.
You sent me a photo the other day of a five-year anniversary. Was that the first time you were on a program? That was March 12th.
I think that was the day after the Rudy Gobert positive test for COVID and his whole incident and the world shutting down, the leagues shutting down at that point, suspending. So that started a good so far five-year run, great relationship here.
So I appreciate you guys. Now, we lucky and thankful for you buddy you've been our nba guy and then obviously you getting the senior insider gig at espn we've been nothing short of proud of you now with that being said let's start talking a little bit of ball from me i got one question one question alone zion williamson triple double the other night he has 22 assists guy had 22 playing, he's a triple-double machine.
The conversation has always been, will the Pelicans let him play tonight? Is he in better shape now? Is he more healthy now? Why is he on the court? And when can we get him to another team to do this whenever it matters in the playoffs? He's had two triple had two triple doubles in the last couple weeks.

We know when Zion Williamson's on the floor and when he's healthy,

all you get from him is elite play.

And, you know, the last few weeks, he's averaged 24 points, Pat, in 28 minutes.

So you're talking about a point a minute.

And so for him, I think you're going into this offseason, it's going to be a big one.

I think him, the Pelicans, they have to sit down.

They have to figure out what is the path forward here. What is this franchise looking into? What's the level of commitment? And and pat that I agree like there have been points where they have to like let him go and let him play But it goes both ways, right? He got suspended a little while ago for being late to a team plane It was a pattern of of tardiness that that he had you know for Zion Williamson the next step for him is is showing that commitment showing that devotion continuing to grow as a professional uh and that's a part of that is is being on time all of the time because listen one thing we know oh really everyone in the NBA knows this a devoted committed healthy Zion Williamson is a problem for the NBA, for every team in the league

and he has And the NBA knows this. A devoted, committed, healthy Zion Williamson is a problem for the NBA, for every team in the league.
And he hasn't gotten to that point, clearly, from a health perspective. He's been hurt at different points in the year, and that's unfortunate for basketball fans and everyone.
Yeah, I agree. And hopefully, you know, Zion will lock in.
You talk about being on time. Okay, so now we're hearing some more stuff.
You know, these are, like, more pieces of information that we didn't necessarily have for a long time because all we had known is that the Pelicans just don't want to play him because they think he's going to get hurt. So they're trying to conserve him.
They're trying to conserve him. It's like, well, how long are we just going to conserve a guy that says he can play and inevitably is a career just going to be wasted conserving a guy because he has been playing like this since we've seen him on the internet.
Unreal. And look look at him i haven't seen him look this good since his rookie year slash his duke year like i'm watching these like he hasn't been doing this since his rookie season in the nba the way he looks to and uh i mean he's definitely hovering around like sub 280 he's listed at 284 pounds i can't say he's he's lower than that now let's go he is physically i think the pelicans are as thrilled with him as they've ever been but again pat you guys know it from a professional athlete perspective greatness and and that superstardom level that elite all nba all world level of play that comes with commitment that comes with devotion yes and clearly from a from a health perspective he's had some bad luck the hamstring over and over again but part of that is preparation too and if he can put all of that together and yeah he was suspended this is public information he was suspended i broke it he was suspended he was late to a team flight uh i want to say a month and a half, two months ago-ish.
And he was suspended a game. And that was the first time the Pelicans reprimanded him for tardiness.
And that goes on throughout the NBA. But it was eye-opening to see.
And he needs to be on time. He has to be committed.
He has to be devoted. All that comes into play.
Because if he can get there, Pat, we're looking at a player that has the chance to be a top three to five player in the NBA. Come to Indiana Pacers, too.
We're ready and excited for you here. You'll love it.
He'll be on time in Indy. He might end up being on time to everything in Indy.
Indy's a good city, too. A lot of good people, a lot of good times.
Naruto, I think is the name of the tattoo he got around his belly. He could do this out here in Indiana, no problem at all.

AJ has a question for you, Shams.

Shams, what's going on with tanking in the NBA right now?

I know Utah got fined 100K or something because Markin,

they're trying to hide him and say he's not healthy.

I know some other teams, they're sniffing around like they may be doing similar things.

Is this a problem, and how are they going to fix all this?

Yeah, the NBA is keeping a very close eye on this. Larry Markham was being sat a few games.
The league determined as a star player. There's a player participation policy.
And when there's a star player that's healthy enough to play that their doctors deem and the team withholds them, you get fined $100,000. It goes up in escalation as far as a fine with every game and every potential situation so if the jazz get hit again with a fine you're looking at 250 000 and it keeps going up and up and up you know the mavericks were fined uh a couple years ago for i think it was 500 700 thousand dollars almost a million dollars for essentially openly uh i don't know taking is the right word i don't know if people would be happy if I used that.
Are they going to get that today? Are they going to get that this year? Draft pick. The Mavericks? No, I don't think the Mavericks.
Everybody would just say, listen, shitty moves doesn't mean you're trying to lose. This guy thought he was making a team better.
Everyone is legitimately so hurt in Dallas. I have Anthony Davis, Derek Lively II second Daniel Gafford they've had PJ Washington on the Kyrie Irving torn ACL God he's gonna be out pointing You know points into next year.
So yeah, I don't know about the basketball the basketball guys They might be looking at Dallas in a few different ways, but I will say going back to a question though AJ The NBA is looking at a couple other teams. I'm told the Philadelphia 76ers are another team the NBA has started an investigation on and looked into just based on you've had Tyrese Maxey this time.
You know, we know Paul George has missed time. But I think with Philadelphia, it looks a little bit more legitimate, maybe, because you think about Tyrese Maxey.
He's been banged up all. And Paul George, he's been playing the five games before the All-Star break in February, guys.
I'm told Paul George was playing with painkilling injections. He had to get injected essentially for painkilling for five straight games just to play.
He's been dealing with groin injuries, knee injury, a finger tendon injury. And so Paul George, I'm told he's going to visit with doctors in the coming days and potentially need a procedure which obviously would then sideline him you know likely for the rest of the season so and joel mb's already shut down we know how that went so you know they've looked into philadelphia a little bit and and seen you know are they they're also in a position they've got a top six protected pick that could go to Oklahoma City if they don't keep it.

So this is something that the NBA is definitely keeping an eye on.

I appreciate the NBA looking into this stuff

because that became a lot of the conversation at the end of every NBA season

is like this team is openly trying to lose

so that they can gain maybe, what, 4% chance in the lottery to get a better pick.

It was like not a guarantee.

That 4% could go a long way, though.

That 4% could go a long way.

I agree. I say that the blackjack table every time and the craps table and all that but that was like literally what teams were doing and then we get to the draft lottery and the team wouldn't they get like the fourth overall pick or something like that instead of the first overall pick and it's like okay so you just pissed off all your fans and put out shit product for the last half of the season pretty much and it didn't work out for you it felt like that was kind of becoming an nba routine conversation that we were having when did they decide to start cracking down on this you might have said it in your answer and i might have missed it there but did adam silver say we're not this can't be what our league's known for and how did it kind of come about yeah adam silver the nba the board of governors nba teams gms like, they all came up with a strategy.
The player participation policy in particular for star players, for players resting, things of that sort, it's a wide range of things that fall into that policy. And that has allowed, for the Sixers in particular, their season started with an investigation, Pat.
They had an investigation at the start of the year around the health and the player participation policy of joel and beat and what the league found is there was no violation he had a legitimate knee injury what the violation was is the team saying publicly that he's fine that there's nothing going on with him and so if you are saying that publicly but if the player the league their doctors determine this player is dealing with an injury so it goes a bunch of different ways and it gives the league a lot of latitude to look into these teams and players and who's openly sitting a guy that could be healthy or not. I'm going to need two doctors saying this guy's hurt.
I'm busting it. This guy's the highest paid guy, the best guy, and he's not playing? Who's making that decision? We all talked.
I'm going to need two doctors. Get him in an x-ray.
Get him in an x-ray. Get him out.
And then they show it back. Pow! Guy's got a hairline fracture in his knee.
All right, we were wrong. Okay.
No, no, no penalty in there. Just keep it moving.
That's how it's going. Shout out to the NBA trying to crack down on that.
Couldn't need to see the x-rays. Couldn't need to see the scans.
Right now. We aren't doing that.
I appreciate that they're trying to, you know, fix or correct maybe some narratives that are about their league. But if you talk to Tyrese, Tyrese played through a strained groin for a while.
Paul George playing five games while getting shot up with vitamin T. Is that Toradol that they were using there? Did you know? I can't confirm what it was, but Paul George needed five consecutive games of painkilling injections just to play and that's what goes to the sixers a little bit stronger from an injury perspective they have been so beat up from joel to tyrese maxi to paul george these guys are just i mean for him that need painkilling injections for five straight games that goes to show paul george obviously was trying to make himself as available as possible uh he signed a massive max contract last offseason and uh that's an extreme length to go and try to be available for your team agree painkiller is not normally how you would describe toradol although toradol does do that so maybe it was something even stronger than that and obviously that's not what we're looking for you know in professional sports but hopefully they're able to get healthy and shout to the nba saying you ain't gonna suck on purpose anymore.
League sucks enough. We don't need you trying to suck anymore.
We got some good momentum going right now. There's a lot of stuff going on right now, Pat.
You have the Cavaliers. Hold on, hold on.
Hold on, Shams. We'll ask you about it.
We will dive into it because the boys have these questions for you. But there is a lot of momentum for the NBA right now.
And I want to say, finding a team for trying trying to suck i think that adds to the momentum of the league as a whole i like this i don't hate this now let's talk about some of those stories connor has a question for you yeah sad state of affairs just because you know going into the season i don't know if you guys remember choms was on here like hey connor you worried about the sixers like no this is what happens with philly it's sad but you know this is just the reality of it choms you kind of look like an idiot but I don't like it I don't like Philly. It's sad, but, you know, this is just the reality of it, Shams.
You kind of look like an idiot, and I don't like it. I don't like it for you, Shams, not one bit, because, you know, it is what it is.
It sells the show the best. You know, in that way, BC, your bias definitely helped you a lot in that projection of the Sixers season.
So I'm just crediting your bias. I'm not crediting you.
Yeah, typically it does. It is what it is, Shams'm sorry.
This trophy's here for a reason. Looking at the West, though, the Warriors now are unbelievable.
I think they've won nine of the last ten. Not sure if it's now ten of the last eleven after Steph goes.
Are you scared of the Warriors, BC? They're in the West. I don't worry about them.
I just worry about getting to the finals. But with Steph hitting his 4,003, obviously a hell of a year for him going all the way back to the olympics he's you know now being considered in the goat conversation that's being brought up it feels like every day which is definitely rightfully so uh how do you feel about the warriors now and has jimmy butler's camp been able to reach out to you and apologize because obviously you were getting killed during all those you know trade rumors and then of course per usual you were a thousand percent right uh these celebration videos are awesome it's cool to see you know steph with another sweet achievement but how are the uh warriors as a whole and do you see them making a massive run now yeah i'll start with uh we need to get at community notes you know i'm a big x fan community notes we got to go back to that tweet i had about jimmy butler and the trade saga so uh community notes really needs to go and fix that asap we need to get that handled uh when there was some denial uh we should call it um yeah speaking of the war i mean they're 13 and 1 with jimmy butler in the lineup this team is totally different with him there.
And last night, BC, Jonathan Kamingo got back in the lineup, and he had a great game. His ability to slash and play in the dunker spot, he came in, and he averaged 21 points a game in his last 10, 12 games before his ankle injury in January.
And I think he has the ability to make this team an X factor, make them even more dangerous. But I think the Jimmy Butler entrance to this organization has changed everything.
The question that I kept getting around the league was like, him and Draymond Green are going to get into fights. That relationship, you're talking about two alphas.
How are they going to get along? How are they going to coexist? And everything I hear, they're as tight as ever. They've bonded so much, and that's as tight of a relationship, and that's what's really going to drive that engine in Golden State.
And here's a good story for you guys. So Stephen Curry, he had a birthday party.
Oh, I like good stories. The entire team was there from what I'm told.
And, you know, the party went pretty late into the night, you know, 2, 3 a.m. The last three people there, can you guys guess who those people were? Steph Curry.
Jeff Draymond and Jimmy Butler. Draymond and Jimmy Butler.
Good guess. Spending time.
They're vibing. They're talking.
They're getting their camaraderie. They're playing cards to end the night.
And I think you're seeing how that looks right on the floor. You're seeing these guys smiling.
You're seeing them laughing. You're seeing them really come together as a group.
And it's translated onto the court. And what word did Jimmy Butler use when he was trying to get out of Miami? He's using the word joy.
I think his joy is back now in Golden State. And I think the Warriors are playing like they thoroughly love each other.
So when i look at the west oklahoma city definite contender for a championship uh the denver nuggets definite contender for a championship you look at that standing i think memphis you have to you have to put them in there what can they do look uh what do they look like with a fully healthy ja moran going into the this playoff run the lakers before their recent injury run they were up there there as well. Now you have to put Golden State into that mix.
I think this team is serious. I think they're legit.
I think they have a real chance to make a deep run in this playoffs. Obviously, the Luka trade to LA was talked about.
Jimmy Butler trade to Golden State, huge. Huge for all the storylines, especially because they've been healthy.
Let's talk about the Los Angeles Lakers and what you just chatted about there. I got some Hembo stats here.
The Lakers are 8-3 in games in which LeBron and Luka both play. They combined average 51-18-14 in those games.
So obviously that's great news whenever they're on the court together. LeBron, we had Rich Paul on the show earlier this week, he said like, you know, LeBron knows his body better than everybody, better than anybody.
So, you know, we're kind of taking it at his pace. I don't know exactly what that meant, but I think it means like LeBron is a very durable person and he has obviously transformed his body a couple different times.
He pays attention to it a lot. He invests a lot of money into his body.
He'll know when he's available to come back what is the story with this Lakers team you think and when does you know the magical duo come back yeah so let's start with the team itself anytime you're without LeBron James Jackson Hayes Rui Hachimura those are three starters in the NBA if you have three of your starters out like that it's very very very hard to win games when you're talking about LeBron James, who has been dominant on both ends of the floor. He was on pace to make an All-NBA.
If he gets back in time to qualify for All-NBA, he has to play seven more games, he's going to be on an All-NBA team. He might even make an All-Defensive team.
At 40 years old in year 22, that's impressive. They need him back bad, but they also can't rush it.
So you hope you're going to get jackson hayes ruey hachimura back in the coming days those guys are more day to day than i think lebron james is i still expect you know i reported last weekend on sunday that he's going to miss one to two weeks at least uh so this sunday or this saturday sunday makes it one week he he's not expected to play Sunday on ABC against the Phoenix Suns,

from what I'm told.

I would expect him to still miss another week.

So that would put him at about two weeks.

And yeah, I mean, LeBron James knows his body better than anyone else in the NBA might know theirs.

I would hope everybody knows.

I would hope everybody knows his body more than anybody.

I don't know if anyone can probably diagnose themselves as much as LeBron can,

but he also had this injury already. He had a bad strained groin.
He had a torn groin muscle in 2018 that he missed about a month and a half for and then came back and struggled a little bit, if you want to call it, and then he had to get shut down for that season. And so I think LeBron James knows exactly how to handle this.
This is not as severe. This is not as bad.
I would expect to take another week, which would put him at two weeks and we'll see how much longer than that i know not everybody loves this that's deep in the nba world and i'm not just talking about uh charles who we love we love chuck we love the tnt team uh shack was on yesterday that beatbox was pretty alcoholic yeah yeah i'd say there's a lot of alcohol in that thing tastes great chugged one them. Shaq's in Vegas doing shows every now and then.
130 shows a year, brother. 130 shows a year is what he does.
He's the man. Yeah, DJ Diesel's doing his thing.
He's a hard worker. Spinning.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think he watched the OKC Celtics game. Yeah, no, we know.
He actually said he wasn't going to watch it. He did not watch.
Which was wild, which is the entire thing. But, like, Barkley was trying to stick up for the whole league and trying to stick up for like the storylines that are already awesome in the NBA that don't involve like the big markets or the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron so I respect where he was coming from but like us as football people with the Lakers resurgence there with that massive trade that you broke where you said your palms were sweaty knees weak arms were heavy whenever you put that tweet out I heard out, I heard, I think, in an interview.
But nonetheless, as soon as that happens, a lot of the casuals like us were like, ooh, let's see how this goes. And then the way it was going was awesome.
So if the NBA obviously can continue to have that with the SGA-led OKC, I watched them get to Celtics the other night. They are so good.
They're great. They are so, so good.
Hey, hey hey what do you say sga all the way potentially mvp uh maybe oh could it be oh we'll see okay bars from sham sharon i love everything about it uh but this guy fun to watch and his braids are always twisted real tight i mean it is some of the best hair that we've seen in professional sport in a long long time i don't know if he's getting that twisted every single day but it does feel he must be he must be getting it right because that that does not impact his game it doesn't come in it doesn't come it's tight i mean it is doesn't impact anything doesn anywhere? Like, he's locked. It never looks loose.
He has great hair. He's seemingly very charming.
I mean, affable. Everybody likes it.
I mean, seemingly, in all of the aspects, SGA is a superstar. He's not the only one on that OKC team.
Ty, I have a question for you. That's right, Choms.
OKC got back there. 7'1", 105-pound phenom.
Mr. Skeletor himself, Chet Holmgren, he's back.
How much does this change everyone's perception of Oklahoma City moving forward, save one of his skinny little legs snaps in half like a toothpick? I mean, him and Jalen Williams, a.k.a. Jacob, those guys are stars as well.
Jalen Williams got named to the all-star team in general if Chip Holmgren was healthy this season he would have been an all-star in all likelihood as well so they would have had three all-stars in the all-star game and this is a perennial team this is a team that's potentially set to be together for years and years and years to come and that starts with SGA though right like the way they developed him they traded for him after one year with the clippers i think sga learned a lot from lou williams in the clippers but he learned even more and he really developed with the oklahoma city thunder in that regime they gave him max contract when no one really knew is he a max player but they believed in him and they got him and i really look back when i think about this from a business perspective all of this with oklahoma city though started last season when they when they were home growing uh josh giddy and they were able to trade him for alex caruso uh you know like that's a young player that you have built in your system and you're able to have the value and go get caruso and then they made a trade at the deadline they got gordon hayward last year at the deadline, $30 million that they sent out in future salary. And they got Gordon Hayward.
And I think there was a lot of criticism. Why did they make this trade? And there was some back and forth.
Gordon Hayward didn't really understand why he was there. And Sam Preston was like, I don't know.
But why, though? They made that because they were able to open up a $30 million slot that they gave to Isaiah Hartenstein, who was a big part of this team, too. This is a team.
And I think it starts with SGA. It starts with Chet Holmgren as well as Jalen Williams, a.k.a.
J-Dub. But they're 8'9 deep.
And I think this is a team in the playoffs where if some of those guys can step up to the challenges, I mean, they're one of the favorites as well, along with Cleveland. Hartenstein's got a mask on too, I believe, right? He has a nose.
I think I saw him in the Batmobile the other day. He's got a nice nasal fracture, I believe, or some nasal injury.
But he's been balling. He's been doing his thing.
Obviously, missed in New York. But he's going to have a big role on this team.
Having him finish games with Chet Holmgren, who is much more than 105 but as i don't know guy ty is referring to he's you know he's he's on the he's on the slender side he's still growing into his body he's got a young guy he had a little beard the other night i think when i was watching hair he was sick hair i mean he was yeah stroking from he's he's a monster think about it. If they had him healthy all season,

could this team have won 65, 68, 70 games?

I think it's going to be, you know,

and I know Kevin Durant, who's 6'11",

doesn't want to say he's a 7-footer.

But in Wemby, same as I think,

if you're able to keep somebody that's built like that,

obviously a weapon in basketball.

Healthy for the entire season.

That seems to be a modern marvel as well. I think at OK okc they're assuming that chet's gonna miss some games because of just i mean how can you be that tall yeah in your joints like there has to be something that's gonna that's just my natural thoughts you know and that goes for anybody i think that's ever been overly i don't want to say overly sized but overgrown uh tall like andre that's always your yeah anytime you're dealing with foot injuries you're always dealing with something and that's always the worry and thankfully victor woman yama hasn't had anything severe obviously has the blood clot in his shoulder now you know we wish him the speedy recovery chet holmgren had a freak fall on his hip, fractured his hip.
Like, those are things, thankfully, like, these are freak situations. It's not like he's had a foot injury that's, you know, that continues to linger year after year after his, you know, rookie year.
Yeah, but you talk about Wemby there. His family, like, knew about all the foot and the ankle stuff.
Allegedly, through high school, they were, like, training his feet and his ankles and, like, trying to make the things that are going to take a much bigger beating than they would with most other humans be as healthy as possible it's a real thing you got to think about that's why kevin durant with how much he's been able to just move now granted he has had injuries obviously injuries are going to happen but with how long he's been playing with how he's been able to move in his build it's like what an absolute well how about the how about like the the return from achilles i don't think we're ever going to see a return from achilles to that level of kevin durant he had the achilles injury at 30 years old usually after you have an achilles tear your career goes on the decline or you're steady at best he's been playing his best basketball and he's now with 36 years old no one has played at this level after an achilles tear that's for for sure. Hopefully Wemby's able to just do it.
Hopefully Wemby's the – because he's fun to watch. It's like you're watching a movie.
Yeah, and he's the guy on San Antonio. Holmgren's awesome, but SGA's obviously scoring 30, 40 points a night.
Yeah, SGA's the guy. Yeah, exactly.
And OKC could be the team to turn the tide on the Celtics as far as the Celtics being kind of babyfaces all of a sudden because a lot of people feel the way Ty feels about Holmgren and then SGA, the style play SGA plays, that if there's more eyes on it, people might start. Ooh, BC's scared of OKC.
I want OKC. I want to play OKC.
They're so young. You played them the other night.

It did not end up well for Boston,

but obviously regular season having to win in a series

is vastly different, especially if it was in the finals.

But let's stay in the East.

Big storyline coming once again

that kind of ended last year's season

as the storyline in the garden in New York.

AP Tone has a question for you, Shams.

Yeah, Shams, you talked about Hartenstein and the Knicks missing them. It feels like they're missing anyone who can play 40, 45 minutes a night.
You know, the Knicks, they were worn down in the playoffs. They had a lot of injuries in the playoffs last season.
It's coming up again. Mikkel Bridges and Tom Thibodeau potentially are not agreeing on playing time and minutes and stuff like that.
Thibodeau's been like this everywhere he's been. How do you see that going in New York? I think these are healthy conversations.
If I'm looking at Mikhail Bridges, he has clearly felt this way for a while, and for him to say it publicly, I'm sure this is stuff that he's tried to get across privately as well. And I think for him, this is more of a resort of like listen i've probably tried to say things privately and now like if we're going to try to get this right and turn this season and try to be at that level and get that trust in our bench like we have to challenge and we need to have these conversations i think it is healthy i think it's productive and it sounds like from my, him and Tom Thibodeau have had productive conversations in the aftermath of all this.
So now you move forward. And we won't know how this stuff is all going to get impacted until we see the return of Jalen Brunson.
How does Mitchell Robinson get utilized come playoff time? And at the end of the day, will the starters get worn down? Will those players not be able to finish the season at a high level? One thing about Tom Thibodeau, he always has his team play at elite levels, especially in the regular season. And they've always been there in the playoffs too.
I mean, just from the Bulls teams to the Minnesota team, he always gets his teams to overachieve in the regular season. And then in the playoffs, things have to break right.
And unfortunately, some of his teams have had a lot of bad luck. Like the year Derrick Rose tore his ACL, they were a favorite to win the championship.
You can't really, you know, it's hard when you have a torn ACL. That could be a freak thing, could be a wear and tear, whatever.
So I think it is healthy to have those conversations. I mean, from a professional athlete perspective like you guys, you have to have these moments and challenging each other.
And that's what I was going to bring up is like when Chip Kelly came to the NFL, everybody was like, this guy's going to change the NFL. Cause he's going to bring this up pace, high speed offense from Oregon to the Philadelphia Eagles.
They got LaShawn McCoy who can play running back. They got all the pieces and the boys.
Once we started, I think everybody around the NFL NFL and I don't want to speak for AJ in the Packers locker room but everybody in our locker room whenever we were watching them like the first five six weeks with how many plays they were running and how up it was like they're not going to be able to survive like these dudes are not going to be able to survive how long the NFL season is let alone at the end of the season that's when the most important football is and that was the same exact convo that was happening with NBA guys that we were talking to, retired NBA guys and guys that were currently in the league. They're like, this Knicks team has to break at some point.
Like there's no way a human body can go as hard as they have gone. And then it happened against the Pacers.
Like you saw it happen. I think Jalen got hurt in that series.
OG, yeah, Anobi. And it was like things like, ACLs I think can happen to anybody.
Achilles can happen to anybody. But it'd be like a muscle strain or something happened that is like wear and tear, exhaustion kind of thing.
And it was almost like the convo about the Knicks end of their year. And then going into the season, and I'm a doofus obviously, but I do remember that happening because it was like the Pacers benefited from that conversation.
I was like, is Tibbs going to gonna change the way are they gonna not play as much disappear that was at the beginning of the season and then now it's like a talk again it's like no yeah they're running that shit back literally they are they are well the seasons the season was like i remember at the first month of the season what i was hearing from other team execs or like other scouts and people at these games like have you seen the knicks rotations lately and i'm like yeah i've seen the boxers like have you noticed like their starters are literally playing like 38 to 40 minutes it's like a seven man rotation the first month of the season and i'm like yeah that's pretty crazy to think about you know early start early part of the season like you know you have eight nine ten man rotations but i will say that's kind of shifted a little bit ever since that first month of the year. And I think for the Knicks, it's all going to, we're going to see answers in the playoffs.
And I do think these conversations are healthy and it sounds like they've, they've handled it the right way in the aftermath. To keeping people healthy.
Like we want people to play. I think that's why everybody wants the NBA to play, but it's like, if you literally literally what just happened last year was the re felt like that was literally the only reason that was being talked about why the pacers beat the knicks right wasn't that the story that you guys knicks fans were saying bruce wasn't that kind of thing yeah i mean julius randall fell and dislocated his shoulder jalen brunson broke his hand og and an ob with the hamstring strain was probably the only injury that you could point to and say, that was too many minutes.

This season, Precious Achua was injured to start the year, so we didn't have much depth.

But we do need to play Deuce McBride more.

Like, he's a great backup guard.

And Tibbs just, he's one of those coaches, it's not so much like he just wants to play the starters 48 minutes a night.

He just won't watch bad basketball.

So if you come in, turn the ball over, and don't play good defense,

he's putting Brunson and the boys back

out there as soon as he can.

I love that. I hope they end up winning.

I do. I hope they end up winning, and I hope

there is a marathon ability

from these guys, but everybody that's

in the basketball world says that that's potentially

an issue.

We'll find out. They can be built different.

I also love that Tibbs is like, I ain't watching it. This sucks.
Get these fuckers off the court. They're not representing my team.
I can't take it anymore. I respect that.
I appreciate that. Shams, what have we not brought up that we should whenever it comes to NBA storylines? Yeah, Cavs going for their 16th in a row tonight against Memphis.
You you think about in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs, the Celtics, I mean, you have to throw the Bucs in there. Pacers, could they make a run? New York, can they make a run? You know, so I think the Eastern Conference, if you're looking at the Cavs and the Celtics, if you're looking at the standings right here, and we end up with the Cavs-Celtics conference finals, that's going to be a bloodbath.
That's going to be an amazing series. Another guy we haven't given much love to, obviously, Donald Mitchell gets a lot of love everywhere.
Darius Garland, all-star guard. Evan Mobley.
You think about those types of bigs. You think about Trent Holmgren, Victor Lomanyama, Evan Mobley's in that category as well.

He's a guy that can defensively, on offense, he's dynamic.

Playmaking, he's dynamic.

He's had a few almost triple-doubles this year as well.

He's played at an elite level from a big-man perspective.

He's 6'11", 7'1".

So he's also a beast inside.

All right, we appreciate it all.

I know you have ESPN, NBA,

full court press Saturday.

Whoa!

Yeah!

NBA countdown with Shams, Kendrick, Malika,

Stephen A., and Bob Myers.

That starts at 8 p.m. on ABC.

And then obviously Nixon Warriors

with Mike Bring, Doris Burke, Richard Jefferson,

and Lisa Salters on the call at 8.30. We can't wait to watch, Shams.
Are you at the desk now? We got you at the desk? You know, here and there, I play the role. Who's at me? Let's keep working, Shams.
When we're ready to deliver information, I'm ready, baby. Maybe you'll get another Luka biggest trade tweet of all time out there and maybe you'll get an opportunity to speak let's fucking head down keep grinding like you were five years ago whenever we first saw you on March of July I was in like a spaceship five years ago so you know I think we've come a long way we've come a long way look at that simple mobile hotline that is Think about whoever was selling those.
That's a young Pat, though. That's a young Pat.
I don't know if you've got some. You've got a little bit more hair.
I was probably 285. More refined.
I was probably 285 in this. 275, 285.
Right after the 2019 season. That was a tough one for us.
Is that the same watch, too? different watch that's that was probably you and zion both both both at the lowest weight of your careers um interesting i'm probably 255 right now i know i played at like 230. so well in a soccer photo yeah i was not well i'm sure i played at less at duke but i'm your career, this career.
Yeah, this career, this is probably the lightest I've been in it. No, no, no.
I got real light for NXT with Adam Cole. Definitely.
I got real light with WrestleMania of Rawson Theory. But those are reasons.
You got light for that. We're talking light for real.
Life for living. Yeah, we're living here, Shams.
Just like you. We'll watch you this weekend, and we appreciate you.
Ladies and gentlemen, Shams, Ronnie. Thank you.
Yeah, Shams. Hey, big weekend of basketball, AJ.
Obviously, we got the NBA Full Court Press Saturday on ESPN. Should be great.
College ball conference championships happening all weekend. Golf happening.
Hockey happening. Have a great weekend.
We'll see you Monday. I hope it's the best weekend ever.
Ooh. I think I snuck it in there.
Oh, yeah. Snuck it in there.
Should be. I'm so pumped for the golf.
Yeah, it's real golf. Yeah, this is like the first home where it's like, okay.
You can get behind. Speaking of Tiger Woods, heard he's in a potential happy place.
Personally, that's what the internet's saying. We're not going to talk about it because who knows? Somebody will try to sue us out of the entirety of it.
Heard Tiger's got a new lady. But also, Achilles.
That is a, I don't think we've talked about it because who knows somebody will try to sue us out of the entirety of it heard tiger's got a new lady uh but also love it achilles that is a i don't think we've talked about on this particular program uh tiger woods towards achilles yes that is a that is brutal that's a great way to describe that especially after all the injuries and all the things that have happened for him to have to fight back the amount of times that he has that car crash was crazy we thought he's potentially dead right that was being talked about there instead it was just massively damaged to his body his lower body his back and everything and then now an achilles tear and we know tiger woods will do the tiger woods thing you know he'll do the achilles he'll commit fully to the recovery he'll come back and be super jacked you know try to golf and get through it all again that's like tiger woods's mentality i think it always has been but that. But that sucks.
That sucks for him, especially with, you know, TGL having him. Yes, so much.
That dude has so – like, I just think of him as a human trying to walk around and live, like, a normal life. Like, he already is very, like – we know he almost snapped his leg in half.
And he has those crazy back injuries, too. When you have – like, we know, like, if your back hurts, everything sucks in life.
It's impossible to do anything. That dude has a – then't he have his back fused? He's had multiple surgeries now with the Achilles.
Leg snapped in half. Like, he has just absolute massive amount of things to his body.
Like, I feel bad for the dude when it comes to that. Me too.
We appreciate it. And obviously, he's been paid very, very well for everything he's done.
So, we're not saying that he, you know, is living a tough life compared to other folks. But he has given us so many years of years of entertainment and obviously his body has taken a beating through it all the achilles is the most recent but you think about that like so when he comes back back issues anytime you see somebody with a back issue the way they walk is very obvious but he can't walk certain ways because how fucked up his legs are so now his back is potentially going to get fucked up because now he's going to have to walk with the Achilles, let alone the leg.
I mean, it's just everything kind of feeds into the other. You know, why will he walk fucking 18 holes? It's like, all right.
The fact that this guy's still walking, I think we should all be pretty pumped for. And then on the other side of his Achilles, I can't wait to see him win his next major.
Yeah. Why are you guys? This might be.
I hope he goes to the Champions Tour, because I think he's just, think he's just – he's too jacked for one. I think he needs to lose.
He can't be that jacked with how old he is. It's just his body just breaks down.
So when he does come back, is he going to have to change how he plays? I don't want to see Tiger going out there getting outdriven by three-fourths of the field. These guys are just getting too good.
Really good. Yeah, exactly.
It's just not the same. Akshay Bhatia right now, who dropped out of high school until you try to become a professional golfer, is now top five at the players.
He's a stud. It's a next generation.
I like Akshay, but I don't want to watch Akshay beating Tiger. Because then for that's like, you know what I mean? If Scottie beats Tiger, if Rory beats Tiger, sure.
It's not ruining the gimmick, brother. Exactly, but if he's going out there and it's kind of like what it is right now, it's not fun watching Tiger at the Masters when you hope he goes out and shoots like a 68 the first day, and then you see him kind of start to break down the second day and either makes a cut and then has to withdraw on the third day because he just can't do it, or he shoots like an 83 on the second day and misses the cut.
That's just not the Tiger I want to remember when we all saw him with how dominant he was. So I hope he goes to the Champions Tour where he can get it in the cart, and then he's playing Freddie Boom Boom Couples, and he's kind of that guy again.
Yeah, or he goes to, you know, he joins Turkey, the crown prince. God bless him.
He starts Bob. God bless him.
You know, and then, yeah, it kind of just goes that route. Maybe unites Liv and PGA, being the final guy to be like, hey, it's time.
It's time to just screw all this bullshit, like thinking about the players. It's awesome watching the players, so happy about it.
It would with bryson and brooks and those guys who are over there dj cup uh it would be awesome if all those guys are playing the players and if tiger were to be that final piece to be like hey my final kind of contribution contribution to the game of golf exactly is i'm going to be the one that just says enough of this you guys are now the same league we're doing this the live tournaments that are you know in the united states those are just going to be the one that just says, enough of this. You guys are now the same league.
We're doing this. The live tournaments that are in the United States, those are just going to be a part of the PGA now.
And if there's one in London, that's just a normal PGA event, not a major or anything like that, we're going to do that as well. Yeah, and you can turn some of these tournaments into a live style of golf.
Exactly, yeah. You know, some of these PGA off weekend ones, you know.
And those PGA guys, if they don't like that. What's that? What happened? What do you mean? Like a year ago, two years ago, they said they came to an agreement.
Where did that go? Three, four different times now, remember? There was a coffee meeting in Italy. That was the first one.
Whenever the president of the PGA, who was it? Monaghan? Yeah, Jay Monaghan. Remember, he came out early and was just high horsing to hell on all the golfers that were getting multi-generational wealth laid in their lap for the first time ever in the golfer and we learned a lot about the life of a pga golfer about what's guaranteed what's not guaranteed oh everything is not guaranteed uh we will certainly make money off of you this week, and you not necessarily will make any money,

no matter how great you are or how big your name is.

So there were some holes in the professional golf world

that were certainly taken advantage of by a big money partner.

But said big money partner was obviously cast aside and said,

we're never doing business with this person.

If you do business with a person, you are the devil.

Actually, you are the worst person on earth.

You shouldn't be able to sleep at night,

let alone hit a golf ball if you do this. And what like a year later maybe 13 months later there was a secret meeting between the crown prince and the director of sports for saudi and jay monahan he comes back he goes and takes a leave he leaves because they like kick him out basically because there was a lot of pga golfers that were offered 80 90 100 million dollars to go join live and they said no because they were riding with the pga and then the pga all of a sudden is going like well wait how much money do you have we will potentially take that so that was like a big that was a big thing and then there was the government trying to get involved with a monopoly there was a lot of a lot of stuff that was kind of happening but yeah two to three different times it has been, in our world, what we have seen and talked about.
They've had an agreement where they've come together, and we're all pumped. We're like, okay, so now the PGA is getting access to, like, everything is going to get better, and all the best golfers are going to be there.
And, yeah, I don't know if anything's ever really come of it and what it means, you know? these Liv deals? I know Brooks recently said he still has to fulfill his obligation for his contract with Liv and then after that he doesn't know what's going to happen. But are we going to see some of these guys not renew with Liv and come back to the PGA? I think allegedly I read something that DeChambeau's contract is up to soon with Liv.
Maybe this is last season or something. I read that as well.
I don't know the details though. I guess there was an amount of money that he asked for.
He said that was not true. Okay, so he said it's not true.
Okay, so yeah, these contracts, I guess, are coming up. They just come right back to the PGA and get their card like they never left? Will that work? No, because remember, at one point, it was said, if you do this, you're never welcome back.
Yeah, you're banned. And then the Masters were like, uh...
All the Majors were like, we're to let them. Yeah.
Yeah, we're going to let them play. We don't care.
Yeah. PGA is your guys.
You want to see the stuff that we're doing behind the scenes? We don't. You want to dive into the history of Augusta real quick? You want to do that? No, what a beautiful place, obviously.
Beautiful place. New trees every day somehow.
The whole golf world has obviously been shaken up a bit over the last couple years. TGL was the most recent attempt to kind of make golf a different form and enjoyable.
Playoffs coming up. I'm sure those guys really care.
Golfers are getting testy. What did you say, H? Sorry, Tyler.
The golfer's getting testy with the media. I see Colin Morikawa said he doesn't owe anything to these people.

Rocco didn't like that.

It's getting weird, man.

Yeah, Rocco came right back.

Rocco, Western Pennsylvania guy.

He's the man.

The photo that I saw of his quote had him with a stogie.

Yeah, me too.

A gray beard, backwards hat.

He looked like a G.

Shades.

Like an absolute G.

Yeah, I saw that.

Arnold would have ran his ass down.

Speaking of what, Tiger won that one with a torn ACL or whatever. We have some breaking news out of the college basketball world.
Pete Dan was reporting that Iowa is dismissing basketball coach Fran McCaffrey after 15 seasons. We literally just talked about this.
Wow. We literally just talked about this about an hour ago.
He reached ncaa attorneys in his 15 years and is the school's all-time leader in wins with 297 iowa finished 17 and 16 this year obviously they lose to illinois last night and he got ejected during the game in his last game as head coach of the iowa hawkeyes he got kicked out pretty gangster way to go out fran hell yeah frank way to go coach i asked the question I was like okay so does the basketball team like me or the football team like good but never really gonna go because Fran's been there a long time Kirk's been there a long time is that just kind of what it is Ty you actually said like this is kind of uh what the Iowa basketball team is you've said they've choked a couple times they've had a couple good teams what are your thoughts immediately here upon hearing that Fran's on his way out of the men's basketball program? Yeah, I mean, I think I definitely knew it was coming, so I'm not really surprised. I love Fran McCaffrey.
A lot of people don't like him because he is like that. I guess people within Iowa, I think, like him.
A lot of people outside don't like him because he is. He's fiery.
He's a psycho, but he's always got his guys back. But when you meet him like he's the most like he's one of the most level-headed you know like just good to people you know he's not from Iowa yeah like shit like this is awesome like and he used to do stuff like this all the time so he's just a great guy and then like off the court like good good just a good dude to everybody and like Steve Alford who people in Indiana like a lot people, like Iowa fans, like he was a prick to everybody off the court as well.
You know, like Iowa was winning at the time and people liked him, but like he was a very well noted, like this guy's an asshole. This guy sucks.
Fran wasn't that way, but it's one of those things with like Iowa football. Like they have the, they have the NFL success.
Like they get guys into the NFL. So like the recruiting footprint is much different.
It's a lot different with Iowa basketball because they get, you know, they'll get good dudes, but Iowa State is kind of like that. Tyrese, guys like that, they get transfers in, so they don't really send a bunch of guys to the pros, so they kind of have to, like, their whole model is, hey, yeah, we might get, you know, a good dude from St.
Louis or a dude from Illinois, but most of the people who are playing basketball for Iowa are kids from Iowa, white kids from Iowa. I mean, that's, you know, a lot of people make that joke, too.
Like, you watch a Big Ten game, you're not seeing a whole lot of Big Ten teams trotting five white dudes out there who, you know, but Iowa has just, well, I mean, it's just the truth. Well, they got the Iowa exciting got the Iowa exciting whites every single year.
It is what it is. And it's like, so they, they do what they can.
Like if they're, they've always been one of those teams where if they shoot really well, they can beat anybody because they shoot a shitload of threes, but that's what happens in the tournament. You, you go cold and you end up getting beat by 20 because you can't shoot at all.
So it kind of, it didn't run its course. Like he coached two of his kids all the way through there.
He had another kid who's a senior in high school right now, and he didn't commit to Iowa. So I think a lot of people saw that and were like, the end's probably near.
I mean, it's just, it's a little bit different than football. I think they'll stay with Kirk forever because he's won a couple BCS Bowls.
Like he's kind of entitled to that, I think. Basketball, it's just...
And I don't know if NIL and stuff like that, the football team is always going to be... I don't know how much...
The facilities are nice and everything, but I don't know how much boosters around the state of Iowa, they care, but if it's a pecking order, money and resources and funds are always going to go to the football team. And women's wrestling now now for sure wrestling yeah wrestling just got a new deal so it's like it's one of those things where that's crazy to think about yeah like if and if they won that would probably change a little bit but i think it is one of those things like they've they've had a couple of these teams and they just haven't had success in the postseason so him staring at that ref not saying a thing you proud of proud of yourself? His player comes to tap him to try to pull him away.
Nah, don't even think about it. No, no, thanks.
I've got to let this fucker know with my look that I do not appreciate the way he's doing whatever the fuck. So awesome.
You feel good? That looks like Shefty. The ref kind of looks like Shefty.
Yeah, and the ref steps forward too. I appreciate it.
Because the ref will move up, too. Yep.
What? Yep. What? Frank, don't you say you step into me, motherfucker? Yeah.
Get off the court. I'm just kind of waltzing over.
I can't believe you. That's what he's saying with his whole body right there.
Can't eject me. I'm not going to say anything.
But I just want you to know I'm not happy with what you're doing. I love this part.
Come on. Here we go, coach.
Come on. Here we go.
Yeah, I'll be here. Hold on one second.
What? What if you were to hit the ball out of the ball? That would have been a little ball out of the hands. Hell of a run, Frank.

Yeah, to his credit, too.

He got hired my freshman year of college in Iowa.

Or after the basketball season, my freshman year,

Iowa fucking sucked before he got there.

Todd Licklider, who used to be the coach at Butler, small school,

took him on a couple runs.

He came in.

He went like... fucking sucked before he got there.
Todd Licklider, who used to be the coach at Butler, small school, took him on a couple runs. He came in.
I think he won nine games his first year and eight games his second year. Iowa basketball was in a really bad spot.
And Fran, leaving the all-time wins leader, took him to seven NCAA tournaments. I think a lot of people will look very fondly on his time in Iowa City.
That's a good thing

to end the program all.

Got a great weekend ahead. Conference basketball

games are on right now. Pumped.

A lot of things are happening. Diane Rossini

is reporting some scoopage

from Scoop Town.

Now granted,

news changes every day, I think, with teams

and everything like that.

What information is being said today is maybe not the

Thank you. scoopage from scoop town scooped on she now granted news changes every day i think with teams and everything like that so what information is being said today is maybe not the same as it was two days ago or maybe even this morning you know as things continue to evolve allegedly what she is now reporting is that the minnesota vikings are trying to figure out what they want to do with aaron rogers or jj mccarthy or what they want to do with their team so aaron's giving them time to make their decision and now the vikings have yet to make a decision so we all wait okay so uh a bunch of nothing it seems to be what's going on right now is that real possibly maybe i mean diane russini has a lot of inside sources is that real right now maybe will that change tomorrow good and yesterday was it maybe Who knows? Who knows what's happening behind closed doors in all these buildings? Who knows what text messages are being sent? Who knows what emails are being kind of passed back and forth? Who knows what agents are saying to different teams? I mean, it's pretty chaotic business, the NFL and free agency as a whole.
Let alone whenever you've got a guy who's a Mount Rushmore player, first ballot Hall of Famer, potentially making a decision for the last time of his football life on what jersey he's going to wear, which is obviously a big moment for him, and if he will play football again. That's right.
But what we do know is there's a chance there's going to be a sunset walk because Source says have told us that that's the MO. Get a blanket, it's a little chilly out here.
He's got to set it up. He's got to make it a good one.
He's got to really do something for them. Yeah, because Aaron's like, When the sun goes down, I'll be moving down the beach sometime.
That's what he's doing. Just contemplating.
Bet you it's beautiful. I mean, we saw this, though.
That's pretty beautiful. That's a part of it, though.
That whole. Exactly.
Staged it. Staged the photo.
Walking on his beach with his wired headphones with that blanket wrapped around him. That's what he wanted.
Backwards hat. Once people think he's cool.
It's crazy. All right, let's get to a break.
We'll see you on Monday. Thank you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living.
Remember, big night on April 9th will be a great time. Are we streaming that show? Ooh, we shall see.
Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice.
It might change their life. On that note, boys in the back, great their life on that note boys in the back great work great work graphic boys great work great boys mitt you fucked up a podcast upload but everything else you did great that's on that's on everybody else for having you do that just want to let you know i did not know that was the case until maybe uh 12 hours later so that's not on you that's more so on me but say see also group decision there you're doing great mitt doing great let's drink some more water mitt aj great work this week thank you does mitt not drink water or what uh this morning he was just sitting there he's 26 years old and just said about a coughing that thought it was going to done he just sat there took it and then just kept working didn't even look for a water eyes running at that point obviously because he was choked didn't even think about like getting a water or drinking just kept on working foxy actually had to get up get him a water dry you yeah this helps probably hearing him cough yeah there sick of hearing him cough.
Yeah. He gives no shit.
Thanks, man. Drinks it.
Obviously stopped. It's like, all right.
What would Mitt be doing if he didn't work here? Probably be dead. Yeah, exactly.
I hope not. Come on.
I hope not. I hope not.
Just keep him out of the car. Out cars Keeping him A lot of things Just keep him out of

Uploading podcasts

Okay let's make sure

That's the case

We learn that

Maybe next year

Maybe next year

We'll get into that

Stage of life

And you know

It's been a great week

This week

We appreciate you all

For allowing us

To do it for a living

Thank you to all of our guests

That stopped by

And thank you to everybody

That bought tickets

For a big night out

Alright

We're in this thing together

Team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.