PMS 2.0 1302 - JJ Watt, Feel The Beat With David Lombardi, Art Stapleton, and Mark Kaboly, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our Humble Abode, the Thunderdome, on the Sports Thursday, March 6th, 2025. This program starts right now.
Sports! Are magnificent and today we'll be talking about all of them. Obviously football is going to be a topic of conversation because there's a lot of drama on what players are being released from where, what players are potentially going to get signed to what teams,

and who is going to end up making the move this offseason to propel them to a Lombardi conversation. Big cut came out of Los Angeles.
Obviously, trade talk out of Seattle is hot in the streets. Everywhere else, there is magic happening, and that's why in the second hour, we will feel the beat.
That's right. We'll take a visit to the New York Giants to see what they're thinking with Arch the beat that's right we'll take a visit to uh the new york giants to see what their thing with arch stapleton we'll take a visit to pittsburgh pennsylvania to see what's going on over there we'll take a visit to san francisco because obviously there's always a lot of chatter and then we'll obviously dive into all the storylines that are happening around the rest of the league in the first hour we have jj watt joining us wow that's great can't wait to catch up with jay he's no longer going no longer going to be playing for the Cincinnati Bengals because his goalie forgot how to play goalie and let up a goal for the first time in like 11 games, even though he had a fantastic shutout streak that was maybe going to force J.J.
Watt to play for the Bengals because that was the agreement he and the goalie lad came together for him to play his best soccer for the Burnley team, which is who J.J. owns over there in the second league in England.
Good investment. I think that team's only on its way up, especially if they got this goalie who has 10 straight shutouts or something like that.
Maybe need to barter another thing with this guy to motivate him further to get some big-time stops. We'll also have Mike Rupp joining us, Stanley Cup champion.
Yeah, Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is only 10 goals away from becoming the all-time leading scorer. Sorry, 11 goals away, I think, from becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history.
10. Okay, 9 ties, 10 breaks it.
The all-time leading scorer in the history of the NHL. He's chasing Wayne Ogretzky.
The great one, obviously, is historic for what he was able to accomplish on the ice and what Ovechkin has been able to do in his kitchen. I mean, he used to just sit at the blue line on the left side coming in just like this.
And they would feed him. And this Russian man would just blast pucks into the back.
He's been doing this since I've come to know him, what, 20 years ago, it feels like. Him and Sidney Crosby basically come in around the same exact time.
He and Sid had a great rivalry in the Eastern Conference. Obviously, he and Sid have gone on to live up to all the hype that was kind of made about them whenever they were young lads coming into the NHL.
And what Ovechkin has done from a goal-scoring standpoint, and also a tough guy, he'll fight you. He's Russian, so he'll do that.
He'll also drink a little bit. He'll eat some potato chips right before a game.
He'll have a piece of pizza in between the periods. I mean, he's an old-school throwback hockey player who just so happens to be maybe the greatest goal scorer when it's all said and done.
Ten goals away from getting it done. So we'll talk to Rupp, Stanley Cup champion, about all that and what else is going on around the NHL.
Now, the reason why Waino is considered the great one is because even if you took away all of his his goals he'd still be the all-time leader in points yeah with all of his assists that he has like it like he ovechkin known goal scorer that is it now he certainly is a playmaker because he's ovechkin he's sick and he's got dangles he's got vision he's got a great team around him but he's known as a goal scorer wayne gretzky might lose or probably lose the goal scoring title he'll still have a bunch of other ones uh unbelievable and hockey is having a moment we all know that especially fresh off the four nations we'll be excited to hear what Ruppers saying about the league and then in the NBA uh big one tonight Lakers are playing okay Lakers playing gotta talk about it gotta talk about it uh whenever you got Luka LeBron and I believe Austin Reeves is back tonight after missing a couple games it's gonna be a must watch this is great for the NBA that this team is doing well.uka, LeBron, and I believe Austin Reeves is back tonight after missing a couple games, it's going to be a must-watch. This is great for the NBA that this team is doing well.
Now, LeBron James obviously passes the 50,000 points mark, 50,002 or something he goes into in the second quarter, last game. Now he's up over 50,000, only player ever that has done it.
He's been famous for like 30 years. So obviously there's some people are a little bit sick of LeBron James.
And obviously the narrative around LeB literally since he got to the league is this guy gonna be better than Jordan is this guy gonna be better than Jordan and then it got to he's not better than Jordan then it got to is he no is he no pick apart everything he's ever done he's been famous since he's a teenager uh and obviously we've seen every decision he's ever made on a very public public scale uh scale he has said some things that i assume he regrets he's put himself into positions i assume he regrets but all in all this guy has been famous for 20 plus years no real you know like people still and he still committed fully to basketball now he's got this guy luca coming in young buck likes to have a beer smoke some hookah and score and uh they've become a tag team in the city of stars to bring the lakers all the way back to relevancy and now they're talking about them maybe making the damn finals that was not a convo two months ago that was not a convo at the beginning of the season the only convo was lebron nepotism stepping in they got brawny james on their team this team sucks now we're hearing from jeannie Buss, the owner, whenever she's talking, that Anthony Davis wasn't

happy there, wasn't happy with the position that he

was playing, the role that he had, the

team that he was on. So he gets out of

Los Angeles. He goes down to Dallas.
He gets

hurt in his first game. Now we're never going to see him again.

Kyrie Irving obviously tears his ACL.

We're going to miss him. And the Los Angeles

Lakers, Palenka and

squad, are playing the best ball they've

played in years. So,

good trade for the Lakers, getting Luka over

there. It's good for the NBA, I think, and they're not the only ones.
Eastern Conference, Boston Celtics won bananas last night. The talks table was here at Ty Schmidt, at Boston Connor.
The exciting whites of Boston are doing their thing. Yeah, no big deal.
Peyton Pritchard coming off the bench once again, scored 43, had 10 threes. Derek White had 41 points, had nine threes.
Surprisingly the first time ever. Two teammates from Boston both had 40 points in the game.
Insane. Ever.
Even when Kuzi was playing? Even when Kuzi. Well, that's the thing about Kuzi.
You know what I mean, man? He wouldn't drop 40. He'd get to 38 and he'd say, okay, time to let all my other boys feast.
And then he'd just start dishing. But no, incredible night.
No Tatum playing last night. No Drew Holiday playing last night.
So it was kind of one of those games. Hey, let's see what the other boys can do.
And we saw. We saw what the other boys can do.
And I think those Lakers, it's a good story. The Cavs, it's a good story.
But that's all it is because the Celtics are the cream of the crop. Joe Mazzulla is still the biggest sicko in the entire league, but just a hell of a performance.
Fade away. Fade away off the dribble.
Most threes by a pair of teammates in a game in NBA history. You think about the Splash Brothers.
That's what they were. Bingo.
Splash Brothers were a three-point shooting duo for Golden State to change basketball entirely.

The reason why the Celtics are playing like this is because Golden State had the three-point shooting artists of Steph and Klay together. And now you're saying that these two, the exciting Whites, both Peyton Pritchard, Caucasian, and Derek White, obviously last name White, have the most threes in NBA history for a duo? That doesn't make any sense in my eyes.
Nuts. You would also just think during that Splash Brothers run, like, okay, well when Steph would hit, you know, 11 threes or Klay would hit 12 threes, the other guy would just have like a slow night, which was eight or nine threes still.
Like, they would have 20 somehow. But no, this is the most in NBA history.
They beat the doors off the Portland Trail Blazers. Long flight home for those boys.
But the Celtics are still rolling. I think after Friday when they lost to Cleveland after being up 23-2 and all the memes came out after.
It was an embarrassing loss because of how... Look at that one.
That one's from the sideline damn near, but because of that game, coming back, beating the Nuggets on Sunday, and then like this kind of showing the depth that the celtics have which is the most important thing once we do get to the dance with the playoffs with the lakers and some of the calves some of those teams just to get to the finals it's a very exciting time for the nba and they needed this you know i know a lot of people are throwing their conspiracies around like hey the nba made the ma Mavs trade Luka to LA. Yeah, it's like Nico, an inside agent.
You know, and you think about it even more. He was with Nike before.
Is Nike the official sponsor of the NBA? I don't know what their deal is with them. I believe so.
Also, yeah, you can see them on the Celtics churches. I believe they are.
And also, you know, you think about one of the biggest brands. They are the second biggest brand in the NBA when it just comes to teams and logos.
That would be the Lakers, obviously, behind the So, you know, you think about one of the biggest brands there, the second biggest brand in the NBA when it just comes to teams and logos. That would be the Lakers, obviously, behind the Celtics, but still would be the Lakers.
And, you know, that's why the entire, hey, Luka to L.A., the best thing for the NBA would be a Lakers-Celtics final. Feels like a work, especially with how much I've paid attention to it, especially with how much they made Luka a baby face in this entire thing.
Like he likes to have a beer after after a win this guy's the worst yeah this guy smokes a little hookah he's in his early 20s what does he think this is he thinks this is a life no buddy you're a robot okay welcome to america you're in the nba you don't live your life and then also this guy uh he he's not he's not good at basketball he's not what we want to be he led your team to the finals last year he's a european player as well yeah think about that global reach all of this everything so they're like nah this is not what we want get him the hell out of town so like i wasn't a big like hey luca's my guy guy i enjoyed watching him play because he's playing in slow motion and somehow he's getting to a spot yeah every single time and making a shot i mean it's and he's a dog he talks shit while he's doing it so i've always thought that about but i was never like a pro luca guy then with the suits middle management people at the dallas maverick somehow getting into a meeting room and thinking they're more important than luca i come out of that thinking like fuck these people luca let's go and get it and he has oh yeah him playing alongside lebron he's a massive fan of, has talked about growing up being a fan of LeBron, has made them all – I don't remember scanning through and seeing a basketball game on in recent memory, except for the Pacers, obviously, which is hard to find now. They're on this other – Yeah, that's impossible, really.
They're in the city. Even local.
Hard to find where the – that is very difficult. They need to figure that out.
I don't know what this sports network is, FanDuel Sports Network is. It's not their fault because they just acquired this.
But wherever they were before is not on everything that I have. So if the Pacers game's on, I'm going to watch because Tyrese and TJ and Spicy P and Carlisle, the boys.
I feel like we know them and they're a good squad, so I'll watch them. Other than that, I'm not stopping for much.
Lakers now with Luka. Let's go see what LeBron and Luka are up to.
Normally, it's highlights. They're creating highlights on a regular basis.
Great for the NBA. Cavs good, obviously.
Celtics. Pacers good, actually, right? Yeah, Pacers are very legit.
They're also playing their best ball when it matters most, so they're kind of finding their stride. It's the perfect time for the Pacers.
Hey, shout out to NBA. Thought they were dead.
I thought the NBA was dead after that. We were off, so we didn't really get to talk about it.
It was just following the coverage from outside looking in. Thought they were in a terrible spot.
Thought it was going to be very impossible to recover from. Instead, massive trade, biggest trade in history, make a baby face in L.A.
with LeBron, who everybody knows, back being in relevancy. And he's doing interviews.
He's doing conversations. So, our other guy, it's like maybe the NBA's working a little bit to try to save the league.
It feels like it. Yeah, and once the playoffs start, or once the second round of the playoffs start usually is when it really starts to pick up.
But there are some good first-round matchups. And then OKC, too, another team, SGA, he had 40 again last night.
But then, you know, thinking of the NBA's dead, I saw some screenshots from the beginning of the Clippers game. Yeah, but L.A., that's early, right? Obviously, traffic in L.A.
is insane. Getting in and out of the Intuit Dome, just from personal experience, Gumby and I, very difficult.
Very, very difficult. I think, like, the security and the lines and everything, very but at the allegedly 15 minutes before tip into a dome which was uh an spectacle of an arena we got a chance to be in there for the netflix uh raw netflix kickoff beautiful arena pretty empty they're saying the clippers are in trouble they missed it though hard one for what 50 yeah it was 50 okay so basketball is in a good place shout out to basketball welcome back great to have you we'll you.
We'll enjoy the chit-chat about it. March Madness around the corner.
Seating's starting to get pretty interesting, so basketball is doing it. Excited about that.
The NFL is obviously cooking. Let's go to one half of the hammer.
Don Cowboys, ball cap Tone. Tone, I like the baseball cap.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
I like that. This one says the 19th hole.
I'll see you at the 19th hole. It's pretty classy.
Because I suck at the first 18. I'm pretty good at the 19th one.
Oh, yeah, because that's when you suck them down. Yeah.
You might suck on those 18 holes, but you suck them down at the 19th hole, don't you? Yeah, well said. Yeah.
Not like AJ, that old guy, but you know. He got him some corn.
He served it to him. It sucked his corn.
He did butter it up and everything like that. Certainly an interesting story to tell the way that he told that particular story over there in centerville ohio go elks uh we'll talk with aj in the second hour but tone nfl massive moves have been made joey bosa has been released from the los angeles chargers saving 25 and a half million dollars against their salary cap obviously bose has been there a long time longer than we thought, nine years.
Does it feel like nine years ago? No. Joey Bosa went to the Chargers.
Time has flown by. He has obviously been a leader, a game wrecker for the Chargers for a long time.
And now Mrs. Bosa, Mama Paisana, has put out a tweet saying, let's go ahead and get him up to San Francisco.
It would be a lot easier for the parents here if these boys were playing for one particular team. Obviously, older brother, younger brother.
Don't think they've ever actually been able to do that. So now, up in San Francisco would be a pipe dream for the parents and probably for both of the boys.
Maybe they'll see that happen. But for the Chargers, it's a massive move because of the money, AP Tone, with free agency starting on Monday.
Yeah, bingo. Joey's going to have to take a pay cut if he wants to join the Niners.
Talking about the salary cap. Well, talking about the salary cap that you talked about, that $25.5 million that releasing Joey Bosa creates.
The Chargers are now in the top three of salary cap space. And when you look at it, the other, like, let's look at the teams around them.
The Patriots, the Raiders, and then the Cardinals. Let's leave the commanders out of there those three teams those aren't what those are not winning teams right now so if if you're a guy and you're looking at a team that has cap space that can pay you and you also want to win it's almost like the Chargers become the cream of the crop right now and that clears a ton of space for them you know Ladd McConkie was their leading receiver last year as a rookie they have Quinton Johnson still too who they drafted two they drafted two years ago.
So now, like, that frees up some space. You know, Devontae talked about if he wants to come to the West Coast, that feels like a good fit there.
But there's a lot of wide receivers on the market now. And one of the things we talked about with the Chargers last year was, besides Ladd, as a rookie, like, they don't have a true number one.
So if they are able to do that with this cap space that they created and being one of the teams with the most cap space that also has a quarterback like a quarterback that can a proven quarterback destination city now high taxes obviously so sure you're gonna have to deal with that as a california team that's just reality of the situation but los angeles is certainly a desirable position they're in a good spot they're having 90 million dollars is a lot in brand new practice facility coach and entire building that is all I mean, it feels like the Chargers are a beautiful place. Could you imagine working at that facility every day? Yeah, I could.
We were there. We almost don't want to ever leave.
It is. And they got the outdoor gym, obviously, because of the Southern California weather that they have.
It's like, it is a beautiful. If they get a free agent in the door.
It'd be tough to turn that down. Especially if they get a good offer in there, yeah.
I think the Chargers are in a good spot. You go through a couple different teams here that are in the storylines.
How about the Commanders? $78.5 million still. They've already traded for Debo Samuel.
I assume that's going to have to get sorted and figured out. What do the Cardinals do? The Vikings, obviously, without a quarterback, $63.8 million available for them.
That's great money for the Vikings who obviously have some question marks. Same with the Steelers.
Rams have to figure it out. They've already got their quarterback signed.
What is that number? Have we found out what the number is yet for Matthew Stafford and the deal that he signed? Sean McVay only described it as a selfless deal that he agreed to to remain in Los Angeles and not move to the Giants or to the Raiders or to any other team that was interested. Has it been talked about yet, or do we know what that is? Not really.
It still just comes out that he took way more less than he would have gotten if he would have went to the Giants or the Raiders. Yeah, and Rappaport was prophesying that it was at least $10 million less.
Is that per year? Is that $10 million in total? And the way McVay was talking about it, it sounds like that's going to be a very team deal that matthew stafford is going to agree to to go back to the ramp so i don't know if that has accounted for this yet with spotrak because i don't know if anybody knows the numbers but then you go over a couple here you go to the seahawks uh dk metcalf has requested a trade tyler lockett gets released dk metcalf requested trade 38.6 million dollars in salary cap, to get what reports are saying for DK Metcalf, it's going to take a one, a three, and then DK is wanting $30 million a year. Now, this is from Diana Rossini from The Athletic.
Now, we're not saying that every source is right on all of these things and what will it actually take as opposed to what Seattle is potentially posturing, saying that it would take. This is all a negotiation.
But the $30 million per year is potentially a big part of Seattle's reasoning to maybe get him out of there, especially if he doesn't want to be there. And allegedly, going back through last season, there were some times where it felt like DK maybe was okay not being with the Seahawks anymore, looking for a new chapter as they enter a new chapter.
Debo just went for what? A fifth. A fifth round pick.
Yeah. So a first and a third for DK while also guaranteeing a $30 million per year contract.
I mean, I guess we'll see if any teams are involved, but that doesn't feel like that's going to be what the deal is whenever it's all said and done. No, it doesn't.
It's crazy because Debo did go for the fifth, but I was looking back at the iu trade from last year they were asking i believe for a first and a third and it felt like they were definitely going to get the first from a few teams so is is dk closer to debo or is he closer to what iu was potentially getting last year but it's so hard to tell when these trades happen because you know debo going for a fifth is so surprising when you do think like a guy like this should go for like in our in our minds we'd be like oh yeah dk for a first round no problem no problem but then it'll come out and it's like just a third somehow and it'll be because the 30 million dollar a year they don't want to pick up the money and they also like what it'll end up now granted maybe it'll be a first maybe it'll be a first and a third maybe everything that seattle is potentially saying that they were looking for in this trade ends up coming to fruition, but these trades rarely end up looking like that. And it's surprising to everybody, especially whenever, did we know Tooney was available for a fourth rounder? Did we know Debo was available for a fifth rounder is what all fan bases say whenever they hear the inevitable deals.
Well, that's why it's crazy. Cause if you go back to some of the previous trades that were for guys of like the DK stature, at least that we kind of hold them in like Devante and Tyreek Hill, they got traded for so much multiple picks.
I believe some firsts were involved in both of those trades. And then, you know, you go now and it's so much different with how the money's viewed because it's not as if, you know, Tyreek and Devante got traded and their contracts were hammered out like they got new deals in the places they went to.
And now Debo's 29 DK or Debo is a fifth DK is 27 like the the idea that 30 million dollars a year for DK Metcalf is you know a lot for some of these teams that doesn't make much sense the the fact that a first and a third from us is being viewed as a lot makes sense because of what the market is but you know it doesn't feel like a lot then you go back, Randy went for a fourth. It is always so fascinating, the deal that gets done.
DK seemingly on his way out of Seattle. I don't know if that deal gets done, but whenever the draft comes around, that expedites some conversations quickly in the entirety.
But I always think back to Randy getting traded for a fourth rounder. And then we hear a Bill Belichick story about Al Davis calling him and being like, you want Randy or not? Yeah, well, you gotta call him.
And then Bill tries to call him. He thinks it's fake.
And Randy was trying to make the whole thing happen. You never know what's going on behind the scenes.
Agents, players, teams, convos. However a deal gets done, a deal gets done.
But normally it's like, how is that what the deal was? Yeah, I just looked at it. Tyreek and Devontae both went for a first and a second.
Tyreek going to the Dolphins, just looked at it tyreek and davante both went for a first and a second tyreek going to the dolphins davante going to the raiders they both they went for a first and a second davante became the highest paid wide receiver whenever he went to las vegas and tyreek became the highest paid wide receiver when he went to miami so they were obviously willing to do it has it worked out for those teams is certainly a question will that's trend continue especially with the dk metcalf deep threat we shall see yeah for sure and you assume jamar will get that highest paid bill but uh just thinking about DK and the Seahawks I bet Seattle wants to get this done very quick because they go from 38 million in cap space to you know 60 plus in cap as soon as they trade and because of the money they'll save similar to you know the Bosa situation so maybe this does get done before Monday when free agency starts AJ Brown went for a and a fourth, I believe, but it was the beginning of the fourth round whenever he got traded from the Titans on draft day to the Philadelphia Eagles. So all the situations are situational.
Was that a swap? Did they swap first or no? Because I don't remember the Titans having back-to-back. I believe we're just Googling the information.
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who probably will have an opinion on all this. Future first ballot NFL Hall of Famer, currently in the bull ring of honor for the Houston Texans, ladies and gentlemen, J.J.
Wall. Hey! Hey, guys.
Great to be here. Dude, it's great to see you.
Hair looks great. You know, every once in a while you do like a change of your hair and everybody notices and you say hey people will notice and then you kind of get attacked this looks really good this is good hair right here i appreciate it's one of those where i had a haircut this morning so uh just had the guy do it always looks better when he does it gabe is the man and uh never be able to recreate it so figured might as well keep it for the show yeah it's day one obviously uh whenever they send you off the barber chair and they expect you to be able to recreate it.
So figured might as well keep it for the show. Yeah, it's day one, obviously.
Whenever they send you off the barber chair and they expect you to be able to make it look like how they're making it look with blow dryer and aerial view and brush and also talent when it comes to hair. And they say, this is what you want? It's like, yeah.
Is this possible tomorrow? Yeah, you just gotta do this entire artwork to it anyways it looks great gabe did a great job we got a chance to see you in that barbershop earlier that's down in houston maybe the nicest that might be the nicest barbershop i've ever seen they had a baby grand piano excuse me in the barbershop phenomenal like it's like you're walking through vaughn marr this place this barbershop there's a guy but is that right is that every time you go in there no this is crazy so i took me and my son koa we went to get our haircuts um and gabe does a great job with him but koa was sitting down waiting for his haircut while a guy before him got cut and i put on a little show for him you know put moana on and the guy said oh what are your favorite disney songs and koa was like you know you. He had a couple of them frozen.
And so the guy gets done with his cut. Koa sits in the chair to get his hair cut.
And all of a sudden, you just hear on the piano, you're welcome, playing. Like, unbelievably.
And Koa just literally goes, is the rock here? And this guy's just belting out. Let it go.
He's belting out. You're welcome.
Singing's belting out it's unbelievable he was tickling the keys and then he started singing afterwards it was i was like this is this is ridiculous my kid i got i got to get him out in a field working or something because this is not normal life that we're doing right now i'll tell you what i've never seen a baby grand piano in a barber shop i i will say that how how'd co his fade end up looking i know his first fade this morning it's Great. I'll tell you what, I've never seen a baby grand piano in a barber shop.
I will say that. How'd Coe's fade end up looking? I know his first fade this morning.
Great. I'll send you a period.
Looks great. He did well.
But yeah, apparently the guy, when he's done with his cut, just sits for a couple hours and plays piano every couple weeks. It's awesome.
This guy's name is Justin. We got Justin's piano over here.
I live it. It grew up next to Vince Wilfork.
Wild connections.

So, I just crush it on the piano. Yeah.
What a morning. Good for you and good for Co.
We're going to call you back. The connection is kind of shite.
We did hear you, but your face was freezing. And with that good of a haircut, we don't need that type of stuff happening, obviously, today.
Yeah, we FaceTimed with JJ this morning. I asked if you would come on.
And there is a piano playing. It's very loud i thought he was at the mall oh yeah i thought he was at the mall i'm like you're at the mall right now just that's interesting you just walk around the mall jj what with how tall you are you think that'd be difficult he's like no i'm actually at the barbershop turns around i see koa sitting up there he's got the thing on they're fading him up i'm like oh that has to be a cool moment is this first fade he's like yeah first fade and like what is that And he appears, there's a guy at a baby grand piano in the corner of the barbershop.
I'm like, geez, Louise, that's got to be the nicest place I've ever heard in my life. And the barber looked cool.
They were playing Frozen songs, I think, whenever we were on the call. What a life.
Good for Koa. Yeah.
Good for Koa doing it. And good for J.H.
And good for that barbershop, because there's not many ambiances that can pull off a baby grand piano and a barbershop is probably the last one you would think that can do that. And the fact that they can, that's a classy establishment.
It's just sitting in the corner too. That's Justin.
That's Justin's baby grand piano. You missed out.
He's not here getting his hair cut today. Normally every three weeks or so.
So who touches the piano when he's not here? Nobody. He just sits there waiting on Justin to come back, needing that fresh fade.
Houston's got good haircuts oh yeah if I recall Houston's got good barbers here's a place we went to San Francisco

I think I had a uh I got a fade in San Francisco one time barbershop was alive that was a cool

barbershop the one in the berg when uh Nick got married that's great the Pittsburgh barbershop

great vibes over there barbershop's always a good place to stop by uh joining us now ladies and

gentlemen a man who goes to a barbershop that has a baby grand piano in it, J.J. Watt.
Hey, J.J. Sorry.
Sorry. Hopefully we're better.
We better. We better.
We better. Oh, no, I can't hear you.
Are we better? Son of a bitch. Are we better? Oh, yeah.
Let's play the game. Let's play the game.
We can do it by the way. The new haircut.
New haircut. I got to say this because now I – I mean, it does sound crazy crazy this morning was crazy gabe has cut my hair since my rookie year in the nfl 2011 started out at a salon in the mall as just a guy cutting hair then eventually got his own little cubicle in a place then eventually opened up his own shop and now opened up a bigger and it's like literally he has risen from the very bottom

to the very top and now he has a baby grand piano so shout out to him shout out to gabe american

dream story with the clippers way to go gabe started out in the mall and now he created one

you know and that's uh that's that's a wonderful thing okay let's talk about go ahead i was gonna

say you guys have a guy come cut your hair every day which is pretty awesome in its own right once

a week jc stops by cuts the boys there obviously it's not easy to get into barbershops in indianapolis indiana i don't know how many there are but you we don't got time to wait an hour and a half ever nobody's schedule has the time to do that so jc making his way in here to cut some hair wonderful little bonus i think yeah i think it's a wonderful incredible yeah it's a good thing it. It's a cool thing.
He gets paid well, but it is a, what comes in return is convenience. It's awesome.
Proper grooming. Great cuts.
Great cuts. I mean, like, yeah, it's good.
I think if I was running. Is it a standard order? Like who goes first every week and you guys, everybody goes in the same order? Kind of.
Whoever's ready or? It's kind of like that. There's a couple of swaps maybe in the middle, but it's normally pretty similar routine on who goes when and how it goes.

You're first or last?

You're first or last?

Me?

So I go in middle.

I go in middle.

I don't want to be the first cut.

So you're a middle man.

So you're a middle man.

So you're a middle man.

I am a middle man.

I'm a glue.

You know, that is not what most middle managers do, though. Middle managers.
Sorry, middle managers. Yeah, middle managers.
So JC's not going to the draft. He's not going to Green Bay.
He might. I mean, JC might.
He likes ball. He likes ball.
He likes ball. Great golfer.
Colts fan. Great golfer.
He's a Colts fan as well. Great hair.
I mean, there's a chance he's traveling out there. I do not believe we will be, especially with how loud everything is certainly got.
Doesn't sound like it. Doesn't sound like it from what I'm hearing.
Yeah. I appreciate, I do appreciate that becoming a massive story, you know, on the internet.
Because I kind of, I was just telling our people like, hey, we're not going. And then I'm like being very transparent about the reason why.
And then the way it gets worded by these people in the announcement of it is like, insufficient respect at the combine has led to Pat deciding not to go to the draft. So then everybody basically says, this entitled little bitch who hates me about this, like, sorry, they're not showing you.
It's like, no, no, it's not just the insufficient respect, which i've never said in my life at the combat it's basically the overall relationship and people don't know like i have paid the nfl millions and millions of dollars for years so i can get rights and social media rights and digital rights uh for highlights and plays for our show because before we were on espn we were on on the internet. And if you look at ESPN's deal with the NFL, whenever they talk about the NFL on like talk shows or debate shows, whenever they would post those, they would have to put a picture over the highlight, over the video because in the deal, they don't have social rights, you can't share, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Now we've gotten to a point obviously with the internet where everybody who talks about the NFL rips plays and posts it and they bury the NFL and do that entire thing. I mean that is a rampant thing where I don't think they'll ever be able to whack a mole and catch everybody that's stealing their thing.
But I wanted to go about doing it the right way. So I've had a business partnership with the NFL both through the NFL films and the NFL for years and years and years.
but nobody has told these middle managers you know hey hey hey just because he's younger than you and you think he's a dipshit doesn't mean you know so these conversations go it's a one it's not just the combine was the most ridiculous but it's not just combine it is a totality of this thing so i don't appreciate it being reported as like insufficient respect at the combines or is it's like insufficient respect throughout all this shit is the reason well including the draft that would be the name of a show like that should be a spinoff show insufficient respect that's a great show we run into a lot of it so i i could write i could write if i needed to there's me obviously making sure there's enough space on this particular stage for us to put four chairs up there

with some cameras.

I was able to find an alternate location too,

which, wow, never would have guessed in an empty stadium

to be able to find alternate locations.

And how about this one?

It's about 130 feet or so.

I think we could potentially do this.

There's no way somebody told you there wasn't enough space.

There's no chance.

Yeah, Jayce, listen, Jayce. They they did we get invited to go to combine okay by actual people and then like four days five days before it all happens like we don't know if there's enough space our team has to pop up up up by these people show up at an email thread they've been around for four months and it's like who are you who are you no yes yeah so i go down there as a smart ass with the tape measure obviously i'll go do this today if i need to and i did you know and it's like here we go so it's not just about the combo the combine was certainly i'd say their best work thus far sure most amount of fake problems coming from people with fake power boom boom boom boom boom but it's been a there's been a lot of this with this particular crew and it's uh it turns out interesting turns out i'm not the only one that feels this way i found out this is normally the case whenever i decide to say something normally i'll get a bunch of go go go go more more more you know that is normally the uh the way it goes but i'm not doing that because i have i do have respect for nfl in the league in the actual people that are making decisions it's just like any bureaucracy that you find out about there's always people trying to hang on for dear life trying to make sure you know who they are and i got to be better at dealing with that i do got to be better to deal with that but i think if you look through my history i am maybe the worst in the history of dealing with those particular people.
We're going to work through it. We're going to work through it.
We're going to shake their hands at some point, just like I tried with Canada, even though they don't all. It's an international incident there.
They don't want to shake your hand. They don't want to shake your hand.
Yeah, I know. I know.
I've heard. I've heard, you know.
I've been getting death threats a long time you know the first one that i read towards my daughter that was that one dude that one pissed me off like that that was just some people like that there's just words that you'd like no matter how angry you get no matter how you just don't no matter even behind an honest account on the internet you just don't say and that really pissed me off personally yeah me too uh now granted Jj i appreciate you getting pissed off you weren't the only one i think aj wanted to go find guy i mean there's been a lot of people that are like i had some navy feel friends that are like uh we can find this guy like that and like multiple companies that i've done business with they're like we have surgical ip people that can find this guy's exact address if you want to and i'm, if we were to do that to people that said bad things or wanted to kill me, literally you guys, your servers will be working all day in this entire thing. But bringing up my daughter, I just want to showcase to people like the reality of the world that I'm not the only one that gets this.
I assume there's a lot of people that do. I get a lot of it.
But this is the world that we live in now. And the reason why I laughed about it is because I've been getting death threats a long time like I ain't scared you know and I I do believe in the second amendment too so you can faffo if you would like to any of you but with the entirety of it all let's just live you know and I think whenever things are taken out of context or misrepresented for what I say from these people the people that hate me or maybe are a borderline wanting to kill me,

they read these things that are taken out of context,

and it feeds them even more.

So that's why I get so pissed off about a lot of these things.

They're like, hey, that's not who I actually am.

You're misrepresenting me.

And do I answer all of them or do I not?

And it's like, fuck them all, I guess.

That's how I got to do it.

But it's great to be alive.

Will you be going to the next WWE event in Canada?

I was wishing that Monday Night Raw was in there. I have a United States of America sports coat that I would...
That would be great. Yeah, I'm not really scared.
But also, you guys booed our national anthem. And then Trudeau answers, we're not booing you.
We're booing the decisions that are being made. And I'm learning about decisions you've made.
And it and it's like so politically we're going to look into every country that is going to play their national anthem at these sporting events and then we're going to decide whether or not it's worthy of being quiet and paying respect for or if it's booing okay interesting precedent that we're setting up there just as we go forward that's an interesting precedent uh and i don't know if no matter how loud you say that, that's how a lot of Americans are going to take it.

Because I've had an American flag flying in our office since we started.

Numerous different regimes from different political parties have obviously had power and made decisions.

And it's like, I'm proud to be an American brother no matter who's running it.

So if you're going to boo my country, I'm probably not going to be as thrilled.

But I appreciate that you have passion for your country.

Bingo. I mean, that thing's flying overhead at all times.
It always has been. I mean, that is just the way this goes, let alone sitting right here.
I mean, this is America hat. I mean, just come on.
Whatever reasons were behind it, the animosity during the Canada-USA hockey game was the dude like i don't care what caused it that's what's like that's one of those things that i do feel like has started to go away from sports today is that true passion like hatred like i want to win this game no matter what like i feel like with fantasy football with everything where teams players are fans or fans are fans of teams from other places they don't live in. Like it used to be like, I mean, I grew up in Wisconsin.
Packers, Bears, that one is still holding on pretty damn tight. Steelers, Ravens, that one's still holding on very tight.
But like a lot of these old school rivalries are starting to diminish a little bit because of this globalization of the game. So it felt really good.
i think that's part of the reason fans loved it so much was the canada usa thing was just like hey us you let's go and then the guys just dropping i mean just glory and then we beat the fuck out of them you know three fights in nine seconds which is awesome i love that and then we win that game okay and then i get real excited about elimination chamber in canada okay especially after everything that happens i order a couple american flag sport coats okay that i'm wearing right into elimination chamber on the back end of this entire thing and then lo and behold they go into boston and they beat us and they win the whole thing and it's uh it's a little bit different story and win that one wanted to win that one back big time Yeah, I actually sent to the group. We were on vacation.
I was at Disney World. I was at Disney World, put baby girl down to bed.
We're just in the hotel. I'm watching that game on Thursday night, and I sent a text to the group.
That is, personally, the most devastating loss that I have suffered in sports in a long time. That one.
Just because of how loud it had got. It had gotten so loud.

We needed that one.

We needed that one.

Nonetheless, Canada.

Hey, Canadians.

Sorry.

Great job.

Touche.

Remember?

Shake our hands.

Touche.

Canadians.

That is touche.

Our source.

It is.

Are telling us that is touche.

Okay.

Let's talk a little ball here, shall we? Let's do it. DK Metcalf, first and a third, $30 million a year.
Deebo Samuel has just traded for a fifth rounder. Obviously, there has been trades for a first rounder and a third rounder, first rounder, second rounder.
Randy Moss got traded for a fourth rounder. We never know how – and Randy Moss, different time.
I get it. Same with all these.
It feels like the NFL changes literally every single offseason. The wide receiver isn't as expensive as it was whenever the running backs were worth zero, and now the running backs are worth a little bit more in the way offense is going to go.
What are your thoughts on a DK Metcalf potential market, and how do you feel about the situation that's brewing in Seattle with him? I think it's funny because I sit here and I watch these, and I see all the discussions about it, and you see fans saying, well, Deebo went for a fifth. How could you possibly ask for a first and a third for DK? And I think that it's very easy to sit back from a fan's perspective and think that there's like a big group chat of every NFL GM who they're just saying, hey, this guy's available.
This is what we want. And then everybody else.
Part of what makes a great GM, part of the beauty of this league, is that it's still the interpersonal relationships. It's still the little conversations on the side.
I mean, we just saw it in the NBA. Somehow that Luka Doncic trade was between two teams and nobody else had any idea he was available.
Nobody else knew that they could put in this type of offer and get him, et cetera, et cetera. So I don't think we give enough credit to gms who are either pulling off a heist or who are trying to get a heist in return uh which is crazy i agree i think it's wild that in 2025 there's still not like a bigger system where it's like guys how are you still getting fleeced like the everybody can see that these are you know? But that's what it is.
That's what these GMs are, and a great GM is worth his weight in gold because he can find the best deals or he can get the best deals for the guys he wants to go. So, I mean, a first and a third is clearly, that's coming from the Seahawks.
That's what they want for him. And you have to start high on a negotiating platform.
I don't know if he's going for that,

but like Connor says, he's 27 years old,

fast as shit, huge, great receiver.

There's a lot of teams that want him, and all it takes is one owner to become infatuated

with the visualization of him on their team

wearing that uniform, and that deal gets done.

Bingo.

That's why Deshaun Watson's deal happened in Cleveland,

we all assume. We all assume that that was ownership once he was told that they were out of the running.
Because remember, Deshaun was looking for a trade. It was Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans.
Then Cleveland was ruled out of it, allegedly, if we go with the tea leaves that are being kind of placed all over the place. Then it was Atlanta, New Orleans.
Who's going to do it? And then all of a sudden, the Cleveland Browns come back in. $230 million guaranteed.
We'll even move you up here. And the entire contract is swayed in your way.
We don't think Andrew Barry had the power to do that. We assume that came from over top of heat at the ownership level.
Same thing can happen at any of these positions, depending upon how hands-on all these owners are. DK Metcalf, motivated too? You know, motivated, fresh place, fresh space, fresh everything.
Seattle's an interesting team just overall. They're a team who very clearly can compete for the NFC West every single year.
Are they truly a Super Bowl competitor right now? I don't know if they're truly at this moment. But they're in this in-between spot where are they going to go all in? Are they going to try and do that, or are they going to retool?

Mike McDonald, clearly, great

football coach, very excited to see what he's going to do

in the future, but interesting spot up there

right now. Brother, the Seahawks fans let

other fans into their stadium

for primetime games this past year. Remember

we saw the Bills fans turn it out,

and then I think Eric, no, not Eric. Green Bay.

Green Bay was in there, because normally

that would be the place. Like, hey, what is the greatest environment in the nfl it's like seattle you go check out seattle so i think there's a lot of question marks around seattle about this new seahawks team they're just gonna have to win that's just what it is yeah their fans hate the gm schneider hate him because of the p carroll stuff or because everything i think because everything i think the p carroll stuff i think some of the uh linemen that have gone to free agency and i think now the dk metcalf from what i saw with locket yesterday with locket on the internet they they absolutely despise and they're calling him a booze bag what they despise the booze bag until they win again you know and if they don't win then they despise you forever yeah that is the game you always have to turn over a program and uh schneider thought now is the time and getting rid of pete brings in mcdonald good luck hey good luck over there go get him seattle good luck seattle we're pulling for it's fun when they're good i hope i hope they're great because it's fun when seattle's good i love it that's a great place to play man i agree i've never got to play there i only got uh i want to have you played you've played up there obviously yeah yeah great place to play love i love playing up there with cardinals how many times you play there once how was it loud loud yeah it's loud it's cool uh probably could use a little updating but i think that's also part of the charm but just the way it's built like it's a really cool stadium man like there's some stadiums that are just and that's i love it when a stadium is on top of you like when it's just it doesn't have the huge open vast sides um and their fans are great man they have that one guy who sits right by the visitor's locker room and he has a sign for every guy and um he loves the bullshit with you so i really enjoyed it up there yeah it's an echo chamber the way they build it straight up and down that's what i realized when i went over there for uh amazon had a game and i want to uh we we're doing game day washington well yeah in the so I flew out uh to hang with Herbie and Al Michaels in the booth or whatever it was my first time in the stadium and pre-game it wasn't as filled up but one person would yell and you would hear the yell like three times and it's like oh that's the game like they're it's like four it's just an echo chamber in there with how loud it gets what a weapon they need to get back to that the nfl needs that type of environment obviously it'd be good good luck and maybe dk moves on speaking of moving on chargers made a play at d line go ahead con man yeah jage bosa out uh from the chargers after nine years long ass time obviously immediately people are kind of just pinning him directly to the 49ers with his brother but what do you think about Joey Bosa being a free agent now and what do you think the Chargers are doing with their D-line because Khalil Mack also kind of up in the air yeah I mean you have both of those guys on the edge who are obviously getting up there in their careers and not playing quite as many snaps maybe as they used to but still both very effective on the snaps that they do play and can both pass rush at a high level so probably obviously a money move on their part but I believe he's still very effective as a situational pass rusher I think that he probably prefers some of those less snaps as well just as the body goes you want to still rush the passer at at a high level but not have to you know do some of those grinder things down there in a six technique um so still plenty left for him i think i mean it would be really cool trust me as a brother i would have loved the opportunity to play with my brother a couple different times you said no you're working out in the building remember we talked about it we talked about this before.
He was in a contract situation. I wasn't going to take away from that unless they got it done.
And they got it done later. I don't remember us talking about that.
It feels like a new piece of information. Yeah, it does.
I've discussed this before. When I was a free agent, TJ was up for a contract.
They were negotiating his contract. I wasn't going to come in and take any single

dollar away from my brother and his contract

negotiations. So I said

if you figure it out and we can find a way to make

it work, I will absolutely do it.

That was when he shoved the agent out of the way

and got the deal done. That was when that happened?

That whole time?

Because he wanted to work out.

It's enough money for me. I'm TJ Watt.

Get out of my way, suit. That's what he said I heard? Yeah.
Because he wanted to work out. Listen, it's enough money for me.
I'm TJ Watt. Get out of my way, suit.

That's what he said I heard?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's what he said.

What?

The agent was like...

Going through it right now again.

Okay.

So he is in the middle of active.

With that being said, Tone has a question for you.

Yeah, Jage.

Max Crosby gets three years, $106.5 million.

I believe $91.5 guaranteed.

$35, basically, a year. So what does that do for TJ, who is due for a contract? Miles is due for a contract.
Trey Hendrickson, Micah Parsons, Aiden Hutchinson is coming up. Are the teams like, do the Steelers want to get TJ's deal done today before all the rest of those guys get done so that it doesn't keep going up? You should want to.
I agree. Thank you.
So how does that work out for the rest of the guys? Yeah. You absolutely should want to.
First of all, congratulations to Max. Absolutely deserved it.
Heavy Max! Love the way he plays. Love that he plays every single snap of the game.
Love that he TFLs everything. Just run game, pass game.
Guy's awesome. Flies over the field.
But yeah. The earlier you get a deal done, the better deal get that's just a fact that's why i mean my personal belief they should have done last year because i think there was a hometown discount to be had last year but now now the longer you wait this year you've got michael coming up like you said you got aiden hutchinson you got miles you got these guys are getting new deals that number is going to inch closer to fours in front of it instead of threes so you're going to want to get that done earlier rather than later because the price isn't going down like you start comparing the stats you start comparing the awards you start comparing all this stuff and then it's like well if that guy got that number well then this guy gets that number and just i'm a big believer in the earlier you get it done the better it is for for everybody.
For the team, definitely. This is a, you know, this is.
But like a player also, like you want that security. You want that.
And if you're okay with that, and if you're like, you want the solidity. Because nobody wants to go until that last Sunday before the first week of the season.
Because all training camp long, you're trying to figure out, like, I don't, I want to practice. I want to be with my teammates.
I want to work hard. I want to show the fans the fans i care but i also don't want to get hurt i really like this is a literal hundreds of millions of dollars of life-changing money but at the same time i don't want to be that guy with the holdout but this is life-changing so the earlier you get it done the more relaxed and you just get to live uh you've broken a couple different pieces of news here today uh when you were a free agent you're maybe gonna go to the steelers but decided you didn't want to because you don't want to take the money from tj we just learned that i never heard that before and if i had my memory had forgotten it so thank you for that information you also said tj's going through it right now he's in the middle of it he's that's happening has that been reported that tj and uh omar khan and team are already talking i assume i mean yeah there's no he's going into the last year of his deal so So, yeah, there's no questions that that's...
How's it going? Have you talked to him? Is he happy? Is he happy, TJ? Is he... This sucks! Yeah, is he mad? When's he kicking the agent? He did break news, though.
He said, you know, if they would have done it last year, it might have been a hometown discount. Yeah, well, we're not there anymore, so...
Sorry. I'm just...
The earlier things get done, the better it turns out.

That's all I'm saying.

Tony, what has been reported about this, guys?

Hey, hold on.

We're just going to tell you what has been reported already

so you can feel like you can dance within the framework.

All right, perfect.

What I've seen is that they are working on a deal,

and the Steelers would like to get it done sooner rather than later,

is what I have seen.

Okay, so they are attempting to get a deal done.

Anytime that comes out, you would assume that they are working on it. TJ obviously involved do you know um when's the last time you talked tj i talked to him about a half hour ago how's he doing good spirits he asked about koa did he ask about the pianist or did he say let's talk ball he's doing great he's doing great we were talking food and naps and tij wants to move around a bunch What type of food? Super expensive food?

Not a ball

Like new contract food?

No, literally we were talking turkey sandwich

With nothing on it except for turkey and bread

That's literally what we're talking about

Mayonnaise at least? You gotta put mayonnaise on that at least

No extra cheese

It was a dire situation

There was nothing else available

It was literally just bread, turkey, that's it

This is TJ's eating at his house?

Get this deal done

This guy's got fucking turkey and bread in the house

Thank you. situation there was nothing else available it was literally just bread turkey that's it this is TJ's eating at his house get this deal done this guy's got fucking turkey and bread in the house and that's it listen I don't question what teach does it his house I mean he needs that did he hire a pool guy yet because obviously that and he needs to get a chef obviously somebody go shopping for this guy what the fuck turkey and bread that's it at that gives the guy some cabbage maybe at least he doesn't do it for taste he does it for fuel i understand no mayonnaise it didn't have any like uh what is this guy you'll have to ask him next time next time you talk to him you're asking about turkey and the turkey he doesn't really come on the show much but we'll talk about it's a good story he'll tell you double turkey did he triple turkey that thing i mean that is really the question because did you cook at least? Did you fry it a little bit? Maybe add a little flavor? Yeah, at least toast the bread.
No way did TJ toast the bread and fry the turkey. This is cold, bland-ass turkey.
Yeah, roll it up in a ball. With the butt, probably the butt of the bread, too, if I had to guess.
It's probably got the butt of the bread in there. This tastes bad.
No, shit. You're an adult, TJ.
Get some food at the house. Get back on my Peloton.
Jay, do you need to have some Isley's chip-chopped ham next time you're in time? Yeah, get that with your... I've heard of this.
I've heard of this. I've never had.
It's legit. Yeah, it's delightful.
And also, we're talking about frying it. If you were to get a pan and put some of the chip-chopped ham, Isley's chip-chopped ham on there, you feel like you're a real chef.
You can even drop a little food and then put some ketchup on that, maybe even some cheese, go on the toasted bread. You could really have a Pittsburgh evening.
And then have some service. Put it in an omelet? Huh? You could? Oh, yeah.
Omelet? Put it in an omelet? Chip-chopped ham? Oh, yeah. Like that.
Oh, yeah. You could have done that as a player there now that we're learning.
TJ in a good mood this morning but has no money, needs deal done. Steelers might be in a good place of leverage.
This guy only has turkey at his house. So he'll take anything.
This guy will take anything right now. What are you doing with his money? Inflatable furniture or something? There have been those moves in the past.
He might have invested in his soccer team. Speaking of, Ty has a question for you, J.J.
Yeah, J.J., I know what you're going to say. Yeah, of course, I was going to do it.
You're a man of your word. You're a high honor individual.
Integrity. integrity all that kind of stuff but there is absolutely no fucking way you were gonna play for the bangles right i mean that's not crazy to think that i'm telling you my wife and i had the conversation last week because she like she finally got to the point where she was like all right nuts and bolts are you serious about this and i said if he this, because there's still 12 matches left.
I said, if he does this, it will be one of the greatest athletic feats in history. And I will absolutely honor my end of it because that would be unbelievable.
So I would have done it. It's easy because, I mean, I'm talking about it after the fact now, but I told her.
I said, I'll play for vet minimum.'ll go do it because that's just it's that impressive and i said i would do it so we saw the house you were looking at i was literally gonna do it i promise you posted to zillow which i love zillowing so i appreciate the fact that it seems like you do the same this was the house you're gonna get beautiful spot yeah oh yeah beautiful it's a gorgeous house yeah you did not know cincinnati had it like that i think you were probably pretty surprised too by z by Zillow whenever this thing popped up. I think that might be the only one, I'm going to be honest with you.
Zillowed for about an hour, and I think that might be the only one like that. Oh, you got to the bottom, you beat the game in Zillow, got it.
Got to put in good tags in there, obviously good filters to get there. I'll Zillow anywhere I go, pretty much.
Never done it. Were you Zillowing where you were, wherever that beach was? Because that looked pretty nice.
You're talking about Puerto Rico? Is that what you're talking about? It looked real nice. It looked real nice.
Yeah. I Zillow-ed real hard there.
Even have a friend that's sending me houses at that place now, too. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a... Hold on.
And then the Puerto Rico business stuff. I know everybody thinks I'm a big, dumb dipshit and everything like that.
But business-wise, Puerto Rico. Pretty cool.
rico it might be the puerto rico mcafee show you know there might be prms in this entire thing um so far away you know it is it's only it's closer than hawaii obviously but that's down in the caribbean you know it's it's down in there so that's like four and a half hour flight from here i's a little bit of a trip. Beautiful place, though.
I could not recommend Puerto Rico more to people. Now, Tony Hinchcliffe needs to get down there.
Tony Hinchcliffe needs to get down there, kind of see what it's all about. It did feel like you being a bangle would have been a great feel-good story.
Would have been a great feel-good story. But then you dumped on him.
You said, hey, I don't like Sky so i don't think it would have worked they do it's not i felt bad because they tweeted and they were offering me chili for like to come play and i felt bad i like the people at skyline but that chili is not good it's not really chili it's it's more so like just like a sauce spaghetti it's a sauce gravy it's like pumpkin flavored. I'm not going to go too deep into it because they love it up there.
But Graters, big fan. Montgomery Inn, big fan.
Just not the chili, man. That casino, great place.
Great place. 48 lives there from what I've been told.
I mean, it is. Love that.
It is a wonderful city, Cincinnati.

You will not be a Bengal because the Burnley team finally gave up a goal.

Have you heard about the new soccer podcast?

It's about to sweep the globe.

I have.

I'm very excited about it.

I'm very excited about it.

Gumpy, has Burnley got a shot?

Are they going back up to the big Super Duper one? Yeah, I imagine they'll be back up.

But Leeds United is unbelievable.

I don't know if you've seen what's going on at Ellen Road, JJ.

It is scenes there every weekend.

Okay, Liverpool.

I have.

They're playing great.

We still control our own destiny at this exact moment for going up

for the automatic promotion.

So it's a lot of big games coming up.

I'm headed over there.

Check it out.

I have his boots on the ground.

So really looking forward to it.

Last time you were over there, they went undefeated, right?

Is that the last time you were over there?

That's correct.

I don't know i don't know if it's tied but i do think there will be a put tyler on the field put tyler on the field and if this goalie lets up another goal, pull him. Put Tyler in there.
You guys should do a 5v5. Dudes versus McAfee's.
What sports? On Robin. I love...
Our group's going to need some time. Let's go soccer, basketball, golf, football, weightlifting.
I need a year.

How do you feel?

You got your best five versus dude's best five.

We're going to need some time to get in shape.

Six months.

But when we do that, feel very good.

Feel very, very, very good.

Tyler is a wall card.

He could be a scratch golfer, 300 bowler, and everything like that.

The other lads, I got faith in their ability,

especially with the juice they bring.

I respect them.

But I think we got a little bit more power. I think we got a lot more power, and that'll benefit us in certain games.
Our cardio is shit. I feel like you guys have a hockey advantage.
Yeah, I think we could win hockey. I think hockey would be good for us.
Tyler, I saw Tyler's got a clapper. Tyler's got a slacker.
He's got a clapper. We could have never expected, but I got eyes and a good glove.
So, you know, there's a chance. Ooh, in net? Yeah, I can't skate.
So if we were to do it, I mean, that would be worth it. Oh, we're talking deck.
We're not playing. Yeah, we're playing ball hockey, deck hockey.
We're playing. Oh, talking deck.
East Hills of Pittsburgh, yeah. That's not East Hills.
Yeah, and by the way, we got a guy. Yeah, that might.
A couple gold medals. Might be stick, gloves, you know, shirt, too.
DP needs to understand that that's deck hockey in a nutshell. And I think they'd be ready for it.
I think they'd be ready for it. Jage, we appreciate you, man.
Thank you for filling the hour with us. Hey, it was a blast.
I miss you guys. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks for having me. Anytime.
Anytime. When are you going to come to Indiana? Never.
It's coming. It's coming.
It's coming. It is you.
Don't hold your breath. I one don't hold your breath i will be there yes i will be there how do you feel i'll do 225 how do you feel i so i mean for a couple weeks here like i i you don't believe me i was training harder just in case i'm dead serious like i was so thank you blown training and so i think so i think you know for the bengals i'm talking for the Bengals thing.
I started like, I was like, oh shit. So I started running.
I started just in case. And so like, I've been good, but now I've relaxed a little bit.
So I'm worried my 225 is going to go down a little bit. But I'm very confident in 30.
Very confident in 30. I think 35 is in play.
All right. We appreciate you, J.J.
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Smores! We're awesome. We're lucky to talk about them.
It's not just me obviously taking up your afternoon or morning, morning, wherever the hell you're watching, and we can't thank you enough for doing that. It's also the Toxic Table.
That Boston Connor and that Ty Schmidt. Sweet shirt.
Yeah, thank you very much. Boston Terror.
I believe that's what it is. That's not a Frenchie? It could be a Frenchie.
I can't really tell sometimes when it comes to this shirt from this angle. I wasn't really positive what shirt I was putting on.
It was dark this morning. D-Bone, you working with wrenches over there? It sounded like something metal just broke over in the vicinity of D-Bone.
And I think it could be a Frenchie there. It could be.
You know what I mean? It could be. Anyways, you're still a dog.
All right, man. Thank you.
And it's not the size of the dog in a fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog.
Usually. Now, sometimes the size of the dog certainly matters, which is why there's weight classes and such.
But if the big dog is a lazy bum and the little dog is a dog, there's a chance it can get him. I think that is kind of the sentiment of the saying.
Yeah, some big dogs are fat. You know, fat, fat dogs.
You have one. You know, not to throw any shade.
I hope Chuck's doing okay. But yeah, absolutely.
Is Chuck doing okay? Sometimes small dogs can't win. Chuck's gotten a little thicker.
Thicker? He's getting through the winter. How? He's getting through the winter.
It's cold. It's been cold.
How is he thicker? It's been cold where we live. Very windy, you know.
It's impossible for that dog. My dog is super fat, too.
I get it. That's one half of the hammer.
Dog. Cowboys AP tone.
Ty Schmidt, I see the Golden Knights hockey tarp on. What's that all about? You've been following the NHL pretty closely? Yeah, without a doubt.
Checking scores mostly because it's tough to keep your eye on all these games. There's a lot of games.
But the Golden Knights have been absolutely dominating have been absolutely dominating as of late. I believe they're, you know, top of the table, top class in the Western Conference.
Jackie Ace is having an absolute career year. So, yeah, I'm starting to get real geared up for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That is for sure. Yeah, me too.
Hockey's about to be buzzing. I believe the Vegas Golden Knights have the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow.
We'll talk about that in a matter of moments. Joining us now live from Anatic in Ohio is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, fresh off a $4.5 million Buckeye Cruz for child cancer research.
Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawker. Hey, Hawker! Hawker, you have some breaking news.
Go ahead and tell the world right now. You know, maybe I missed pre uh pre-show production meeting but i'm not exactly sure what news i have to break today you do when are we talking to old buddy oh yeah oh yeah so we we should be talking to aaron sometime soon aaron robert okay that's huge i don't know what that means exactly i don't know what the time frame but soon it's got to be somewhere in the next couple weeks, right? Hey, that's actual breaking news.
We thought this week was going to be the week, but I think there's a lot of things potentially happening right now. A lot of decisions have to be made.
So we will be talking soon from our source, Ciz, V.A.J. We appreciate you, A.J.
We'll get to the bottom of that. Yeah, what is soon for when time is a flat circle to the guy? Yeah, well, I don't think he's on that.
Maybe. Time is relative.
I don't know if he's investigated that whole avenue yet. I assume he has.
I don't know if he's in there. I think he believes probably in the standard 24-hour clock.
Sure. Yeah.
I don't know. I don't know, though.
I mean, there's a chance. There is a chance.
If Aaron doesn't come on, maybe AJ can call the guy who's corny shucked, and then we can have that guy on instead. He's a good man, that guy.
I heard he was a little bit overweight, and he inevitably would die. We don't know.
We don't know. I haven't seen any obituary for Terry Mussetter, but I don't know.
I hope he's still kicking. That was a long time ago.
You were really buttering that man's corn, weren't you? Yeah, he was shucking his corn. You guys had so many issues with how I how I presented that again.
I would serve him his buttered up corn. That's what you said when I was a boy.
It was respect. I meant like respect you know he I was working for the guy I was you know putting in hard days work and then uh we would share a meal sometimes at the end of it.
This all came up obviously because we wondered if uh the state of Ohio was a big corn state which is very standard conversation for most sports talk shows.

And AJ wanted to prove that not only is there corn in Ohio, he worked in the corn industry right across the street from Centerville, Ohio's high school, which is where he went.

Go Elks.

A lot of legends out of Centerville, Ohio.

He would actually pick the corn for Mr. Who?

Terry Musetter. And you would butter it up real good after you microwaved it, and you would serve that man on a platter his corn is what you said.
That is how you described it. I serve it on a platter, never said that, but I get it.
It's alright. You just said he ate corn a long way too.
I think that was your... Wait, what? Show me how.
You said he was the first guy you ever seen eat corn a long way. How would that even look? Can you demonstrate? I don't think I have to.
I had to call AJ later in the day because I needed to get answers. He was like, you ever seen my big Italian sausage pizza? I kind of served it like that.
Okay, so it was like in a popcorn. In the words of Chuck Pagano, he was one of the best corn shuckers in the world.
Yeah, well, how much corn could your corn shucker shuck if your corn was to get sucked by – what was his name?

He was not sucking anything.

He was eating corn the proper way.

Didn't even have the little spiky things to protect his fingers from all the butter.

Oh, the fingies.

You're talking about the little hand thing.

Oh, yeah.

We were just holding on to it.

You guys were done.

You double-handed.

Yeah, we understand.

You know what you guys should have done? And I learned this out here. What's that? And it's been sitting there this entire time.
You know the people that just cut off? I don't like people who do that. Why? The small? No, you like the bite-sized? You buy canned corn if you want to do that.
Exactly. The whole point of eating corn on a cob is fucking putting the things in there and just going at it like a goddamn savage animal.
That's the whole point. That's the i don't mind at all and i think this is the way he probably served them for mr muskmeyer if i guess you cut it off so i get it and they come off in little chunks you even get like little chips of are you no if you're eating if you're eating corn in the cob you eat corn in the cob you don't shave it off the cob yeah especially if you're eating it the long way yeah and i don't even know how that would work i honestly don't you do you're doing a dragging motion i do believe you understand entirely you're a part of it uh and we want to let you know we're proud of you for that thank you for serving your community thank you appreciate it joining us now ladies and gentlemen to talk about uh not corn but championships more specifically lordo ladies and gentlemen stanley cup champion hockey and uh analyst he'll be on the call for the Pittsburgh Penguins' Vegas Golden Knights game tomorrow in Las Vegas.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Rupp. Yeah, Rupp.
What's up? What's up, fellas? How are we? Rupp, you're from Ohio, so I think you probably understand what AJ's talking about. You guys eat corn and serve corn to others on a a regular basis is this kind of how it goes over there ripper yeah i i caught the tail end are we talking about the proper way of eating it i heard about putting the spikes on the side all that what are we talking about in particular yeah that and serving others your corn but we'll go with how you would eat your corn on the cob are you spikes on the end guy is that your move or do you cut off no no no no you ain't cutting you can't cut the corn off like just go get a bag of frozen corn if that's what you want to do right it seems like you guys all got issues with eating it even like a sword yeah well if you can't all right anyway stab one side let's get to hockey let's get to hockey shall we uh rupper what ovechkin's doing is obviously especially this far into his career.
It seems like every single night he's scoring at least a goal. This chase to get to Wayne Gretzky, the great chase was obviously something that was talked about coming into the year.
Did we expect him to be on this type of track to go get it? And what are your thoughts on what Ove's doing right now? I mean, when he broke his leg, I don't think anybody thought this was going to be doable this year, right? And he didn't miss that much time, but that just speaks to his durability his entire career. He just doesn't miss games, even when he does.
And this was probably his longest stretch of missing games. It's like he's going against what the doctors say it should be, and he comes back with a vengeance.
So I think a lot of people are probably surprised. We thought it thought it would bleed into probably next season.
But this is, you don't get to this type of number being like everybody else. And I think that's the biggest thing with this guy.
He's 39 years old. Man, he's just, he just doesn't stop.
He just scores goals. And this is exciting right now in Washington.
Are the Caps good? Are they good? Or they're good, yes? Yeah, I mean, I think that adds so much more to this. This isn't like a guy hanging on, just kind of keep adding to his grand total of goals scored.
I mean, this is a team who's tied number one in the National Hockey League. This is a team that could win the President's Trophy.
They could win the Stanley Cup. And here's my other part about it, too.
I know that we're going to focus on what he's going at right now, and that's Wayne Gretzky's record i think this guy if he wants to i think this guy can get a thousand goals and and if you look at it it's only like three more years of playing the game but i guess to the point the washington capitals like this is a good squad they got young guys on their team they've got this conor mcmichael dylan strome still age appropriate they've got alexi protis um they're loaded like they're not going any away anytime soon so i guess the big thing is it's not like the team relies on ob he doesn't carry that on his shoulders from a night-to-night basis he just goes there have fun go to his little office back scratcher bang pound some pox and next you know like they're winning hockey games regardless of obi scoring or not i think that just adds to it so i mean if wants it, man, I think a thousand's definitely doable for him. Nick just texted me a Novechkin stat for this season.
He had 15 goals in his first 18 games of the season. Then he sat out 16 games because of a fractured left fibula.
Then he returned on December 28th, and he has scored 17 goals in 28 games. So in those 16 games, he missed out on the record.
He would already have the record seemingly with the way he's gone 20 games left he'll be able to get there uh on the track that he's on right in the path that he's on i i think so i think so and the crazy part about it too through that stretch even when he came back from that leg injury you started looking at his goals per game average it was the highest of his entire career so he's 39 years old and he's going at a better clip than he has when he was a young buck, high-stepping, a lot less gray hairs at that time. He's been incredible.
And the big thing for me, too, when you look at this and you start going down the stretch, what I think would be perfect is you've got the last game of the regular season, April 17th, in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. And we've got Crosby and Ovechkin who have carried this league for 20 years.
How great would it be for us fans to watch that happen in Pittsburgh? I know Pittsburgh fans probably don't want it. Sidney Crosby doesn't want it, but it could be great for the game.
Yeah, I think what would be great is if the Pens decide to do that formation we've been talking about where four guys just stand across the net and they don't move. And they actually create a human wall and say, not today, Ovi, not today.
Especially that's the only way Pittsburgh would win. I know Pittsburgh sucks.
In the East, who else are we talking about other than Washington, Ruppert? So Washington, they're the big boys too, right? They play a heavy game, and I think that's going to be a big determining factor in the playoffs, especially in the Eastern Conference. The other big heavy team is the Florida Panthers.
They made a massive deal the other day with Chicago getting Seth Jones. There's rumors that they're in on some other big game hunting coming down the stretch here with the trade deadline coming up tomorrow.
And the Tampa Bay Lightning. I think people now are talking about them, but they're back.
I mean, for me, it's those three teams. It's Tampa, it's the Washington Capitals, and it's the Florida Panthers.
They're going to be slugging it out. I think it's going to be an arms race in the next 24 hours to see who these guys get to kind of put them over the hump.
Okay, so Eastern Conference is going to win it all or Western Conference heavy? Is this going to be a Western Conference title?

So I was pretty bullish

on the Edmonton Oilers.

That's kind of changed in the last

month or so. I don't know.

McDavid wins at Four

Nations. He stops caring about Lordo.

They look kind of like a shell

of themselves. They're not defending it at all.
I'll say

this. There's a lot of really good teams.
I

love the story of the Winnipeg Jets. They

haven't gotten it done in the playoffs, so it's hard to really

Thank you. They look kind of like a shell of themselves.
They're not defending it at all. I'll say this.
There's a lot of really good teams. I love the story of the Winnipeg Jets.
They haven't gotten it done in the playoffs, so it's hard to really put my bet on them, and it'll be interesting to see what they do at the trade deadline. Vegas, though, man.
I'm sitting here in Vegas right now. This team is loaded, loaded.
And I'm starting to hear all the insiders talking about some of the whispers out there. They've been big game hunters since they came into this league.
And their name is surrounded all these big names that are out there still. I'm sitting here.
I've heard whispers that potentially they can land in Eric Carlson out of Pittsburgh. I've heard that they're in on Miko Ranton in Carolina.
These are the biggest of the bigs. Yeah, so it's nuts.
They're the team in the West for me. Okay, Vegas is the island of misfit toys.
That's kind of how they view themselves too, cast-offs. Whenever you go into the expansion team and expansion draft, teams literally put players up and say, hey, these guys are available.
Vegas Golden Knights obviously brings in Jackie Aces, all the boys, and they kind of rally around that fact that they were kind of cast-offs. So if they're continuing to trade for big-name guys, it feels like the right culture.
It feels like the right time. Now, watching the Golden Knights go to Lordo again would be so great.
Especially for Stoner to get another run at this entire thing. But hey, Aces.
Aces is arguably having a career year. That's what I would say.
I don't know what Ruppert would say. And then you got guys like Noah Hannafin and Tomas Hurdle who, you know, same deal, misfit toys kind of just cast off.
But, Rupert, I do want to know. So what is the likelihood that they actually will get this done and get one of these guys? Because everyone bitches every single year around the trade deadline.
Yeah, which is tomorrow because Vegas always does do this. They go out and get someone and it's always, you know, hey, stoners going on, you know, long-term IR.
He's playing, you know, possum and he's not actually hurt. And then he comes back for the playoffs.
Oh, they do that for the salary cap thing. Exactly, exactly.
Panthers did it with a Kachuk. Bolts did it with a bunch of players.
I mean, this is a legal strategy. This is what good teams do and Vegas has kind of mastered it.
So if you had to put like a percentage on it, what chances would you give the Golden Knights for getting one of these kind of premium pieces before tomorrow? Yeah, I mean, if I had to put a percentage, I'd give it a 70% chance. Oh, we like 70%! We like 70%! I think they're going to do everything.
And they do the impossible. The things that people don't think is possible.
And those things, I want to touch on that side because you bring up a good point. Everybody was having a conniption when this was going on with Stoner, right? And he was out until the playoffs started.
It's happening all over the league, right? No one's saying boo about it. So this is the new way of doing it, kind of.
Listen, we're not making up these injuries. Some of these injuries that happen, just keep them out.
We want a fresh body come playoff time,

and it's opened up quite a bit of salary cap space where somebody seems to make those big moves.

Now, is it going to be Eric Carlson, which would be crazy?

Because I'm here with Pittsburgh.

Like we said, that game tomorrow night is after the deadline.

If that's a trade that they make,

Carlson could just walk from one side of the arena to the other

and play for the Golden Knights tomorrow.

I'm not saying that's going to happen.

But they're in on big guys. I think they're around the Mikko Rantan situation in Carolina.
All teams pretty much are. If they can land something like that, and Mikko Rantan, if they could do a sign and trade, that could be something massive for this organization.
Yeah, we've been talking about Mikko all week. He's a dog.
That's who we've been talking about this entire time uh chris come early aj we'll have the last question for you but i just need to quickly ask because you talk about tomorrow night and carlson going to the other end of the ice and then sydney crosby obviously fresh off of leading the canadian boys to another title and his record's like 46 and 3 uh playing for canada obviously takes a lot of pride now still playing incredible hockey right now but the pens Pens suck. The Pens are just absolute shite.
What happened here? What happened? Yeah, man, it's tough sledding. They're in this no man's land, but they've been in it, man.
Pat, we've seen it for a few years. They haven't been themselves.
And it's like we see some of these other teams. And this has been a change of management, right? So this has gone on for a couple regimes now where it's like, what are we going to i think is me if i take off the broadcasting hat i you want conviction in your decisions like right like let's let's either retool this thing and go aggressively at it or let's just keep it going and it seems like this it's kind of always been in the middle and that's where they find themselves they're a middling team that probably has fallen less than that this year so uh we'll see but uh I think they're going to make some moves to try to make themselves back into the playoff mix next year and with Sid on your team you certainly got an opportunity with that they were talking about getting traded this year right one day like actually being talked about I listen man I don't see it I just don't I don't see it maybe when some other uh maybe when some other dominoes potentially fall the the crew there with gino with letang with crosby with mike sullivan he's part of that um connection as well sid will never be the first one to go never so until some of those other guys i'm not even saying it's going to happen when those guys start going then if sid looks around and it's like all right those years are kind of gone we have to move on maybe it's a conversation but i don't see that happening he looks around goes where's gino where's tanger where's soli at oh i'm the last one staying in hard out lived all of them brought some uh championship grit to this town maybe i go play with a canadian friend of mine which is what they were saying he was going to go out to colorado in vegas all right last question here comes from AJ Hawk.
Obviously, massive, massive event happened in your guys' state of Ohio. Speaking of a team in playoff contention, the Columbus Blue Jackets took on the Detroit Red Wings and got a decisive victory in the shoe at Ohio Stadium.
What are your thoughts about that? It seems like overall it was a huge success. Beautiful pictures, everything coming out.
Seems like the NHL is great. You see this happening more and more.
These drone shots are unbelievable. What do you think of this whole situation? Here's the big thing, AJ.
When this came out, obviously being from Ohio, I was so pumped for this. To put Ohio hockey on the map, which has grown so much since I was a kid and when it came out like this i was like oh man is this are they gonna be able to sell tickets all all the way through made two teams these two teams were not playoff teams there's no projection that they're going to be this year but but but but they've proved everybody wrong and they're in the hunt here the columbus blue jackets man uh we know the story we we know the storyline with the johnny gaudreau uh it's that tragedy but it goes it goes even beyond that just with organizations gone through over the years and they're they're i got to see them up close and personal a little on that weekend it's a special group like they they they they bleed for each other man they're there for each other and and what happened that 48 hours, because remember, two days before that, they won a huge game in Detroit, and then they win this one.
They're exciting. They're high event hockey, man.
They're going to score six goals a game, or they're going to give up six. It's a lot of action.
You have to root for them. But as far as being at the stadium there, that place is legit's so cool i'll be honest with you wasn't the nicest in some regards i'm just saying that i'm just saying that like i'm just saying that the under the under guts i've never been to a college stadium it's old it's just like concrete i was like all right but when you filled it up with the fans and then the drone shots and somebody and we know about the history in that stadium it was it was an awesome event the nhl put on filled it up 94,730 people one dog uh was in attendance and peter herb street as well obviously we saw him but to your point whenever i heard about this i'm like red wings blue jackets horseshoe has a hundred thousand people this is not gonna be it and then aj said ohio state people show up brother you open up the horseshoe you give them an opportunity to go into this stadium and just take pictures Ohio State people will show up, brother.
You open up the horseshoe. You give them an opportunity to go into

this stadium and just take pictures

or walk around and they'll show up. But it felt like it was

a Blue Jackets heavy

crowd. And it's like,

it was a great moment for hockey, especially coming off of

Four Nations. And Ruppert, we

appreciate the hell out of you. Good luck tomorrow night on the call.

All right, boys.

We'll get talking to you guys

later after the trade deadline, maybe. Yeah.
Hopefully some moves happen. And is America going to beat Canada in the Olympics? TBD, man.
I don't know. Canada's a tough out, man.
I don't know. I thought you were from Ohio, bro.
I need to beat them. Hey, do I want them to? Yeah, I want them to.
I just don't. I don't think you can beat Canada twice in a tournament.
So maybe lose the first time. Maybe you can beat him in a gold medal.
Believe it, man. Let's beat him both times.
All right, I'm done with it. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Rubber.
Clapping for that. What the hell? Hawkeye's a great sport.
I don't like him. Tough to beat him twice.
He's true. Well, I mean, you piss off McJesus.
You turn him into McSatan on the ice. I mean, that is what's going to happen.
You want to do that, though, you know? The political implications felt very real in this particular game, didn't it? Didn't it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
There was a lot of tension. You could feel it.
Yeah. So then whenever they won, it kind of got quiet.
I'm like, all right, now we're kind of back to this entire thing. And did hockey actually, like when they tell this story, will it be this four nations final ended the convo and then it

turns out it hasn't you know it's gotten loud it is gotten it is and it's good to the conversation has continued greenland greenland wasn't in four nations either okay all right yeah there's a lot of convos happening around the world uh we try to have conversations about the beautiful nfl but But we can only do it at a level that you know is at a 30,000 foot view, as a zoomed

out view. conversations about the beautiful NFL, but we can only do it at a level that, you know,

uh,

is at a 30,000 foot view as a zoomed out view.

We,

we don't kind of get a chance to get into the weeds with every single team.

Cause how would we 32 of them,

obviously 30 different cities.

So we started a segment that,

you know,

got us a chance to chit chat with the people that are in the know,

the people that are on the ground,

the people that are on the beat, people that are on the ground the people that are on the beat ladies and gentlemen it's time to feel the beat

You couldn't feel shit over there, huh?

Did you go?

I felt it.

I felt it. I felt it.
I felt your guys' energy. I really did.
You don't only got to feel the energy. You got to feel the beat.
I can't wait until the bowling field to be Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Ladies and gentlemen, Lombardi himself, David Lombardi.
Yay, Lombardi! Long ball, I'm a little winded from feeling the beat. I don't know if you were able to feel the beat all the way over there in the Bay Area, but thank you for joining us, pal.
Yeah, thank you. It's been a little while.
Changed employers since the last time, so shout out to the San Francisco Standard. Hey, shout out to San Francisco Standard.
Shout standard take care of these things our guy lombardi uh moved him into a vest town yeah this vest was just for you guys yeah it looks professional looks good we appreciate you joining us let's talk about the niners debo out did we know that was going to happen and now iuk is being rumored to be traded as well what are you hearing over there on the ground in san franc? Well, the receiver movement goes back all the way to when they picked Ricky Pearsall at number 31 overall in 2024. We knew that they weren't going to be able to keep all three.
So Pearsall, Debo, Ayuk for the long term. But they tried to cram in a title last year.
They were desperate to keep the gang together and then have that as a learning year for Ricky. He had 18 targets over the last two games, 210 yards.
So it was obviously going to be time for somebody to move. And Debo didn't have a good year, hospitalized with a pneumonia, had the oblique injury before that.
So it made sense for the 49ers and Debo Samuel to part ways. We did see that coming.
I think it was relatively surprising that they were actually able to recoup the fifth round pick because they probably were going to release him if they couldn't find a trade partner. But they found Adam Peters, old friend in Washington, and it could be a fresh start for both sides.
The Brandon Ayuk situation is interesting because everybody tends to assume that you can't trade somebody the year after you sign them but the contract works in a way that his guaranteed money for this next year isn't dumping until april 1st and a big 20 million dollar option bonus so that they actually built it with a little bit of a window to be able to move on the wrench there is that he tore his acl and his mcl last year and i'm not sure who would want to to trade but if somebody did want to trade for Brandon Ayuk, they would basically inherit him at four years, 110 million, 27.5, which would be like a discount over the 30 million that he signed with the 49ers for. So I don't think that's likely, but it's something they're not saying a firm no to.
I'm wondering what the wide receiver market's about to look like. DK Metcalf will let us know.
So will Debo and how it all goes. Because is it the same as it was a few years ago? And is that why all the wide receivers were trying to jump into that market a few years ago? Because everything's cyclical, as we know.
But anomalies are only available every once in a while. AJ has a question for you, Lombardi himself.
Yeah, so Joey Bosa obviously released by the Chargers. We know the Bosa mom is trying to get the Bash brothers, the Bosa brothers on the edge there in San Francisco.
Is this a realistic expectation that they could possibly sign Joey Bosa? I think at the right price it'd be realistic. And you look at the fact that Joey has missed, what, 23 games over the past three years? That means that he's not going to command a huge amount of money in free agency.
I mean,gers they owed him what something a little over 20 million this year 25 no it's 25 yeah so they said no to that so it's obviously going to come in at less than that the 49ers are in this big cost efficiency push this off season because they have been going for it over the past couple years so they would have to get a deal that makes sense. But when you combine the injury situation with the potential family discount in this case, it's not completely out of the question that they could find a number that does make sense.
And the craziest thing about the Niners defense last year is that they dropped to number 29 against the run. Even if Joey is a little bit diminished as a pass rusher i think he's still a really good edge setter against the run and the 49ers just need more dudes up front they cannot you know they always say stop the run to have some fun they weren't having any fun as a pass rush well you know who wasn't having any fun for the last few years robert sala he's back hopefully having some fun as well as they stop the run.
Excited to watch that defense do their thing. Let's go to the offensive side.
Big decisions to be made. Ty has a question for you.
Yeah, David, we've been talking a lot the last week and a half or so about what Brock Purdy's contract might eventually look like and we've kind of been saying, hey, you think he'll maybe take a little bit less so that they can pay some more guys around him and he can continue to have the success that he's had thus far. Or is he going to, you know, maybe reset the market or come, you know, right below Dak or whatever the case may be.
What do you think that contract is going to end up looking like? Like, what do you think that number will be? Well, it's interesting because Dak had a ton of leverage heading into this past season when he signed that deal, which is the high watermark. And you've got the group of QBs underneath Dak Prescott.
I think that includes Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert. Jared Goff is even there.
That's like mid-50s, right? Joe Burrow's at $55 million. The salary cap, though, has grown 24.1% over the past two years.
So a lot of those deals were signed under a cap that was significantly lower. So when you talk about these negotiations, the number is often set as a percentage of the salary cap at the time.
And because the revenues of the league have skyrocketed, I think that something in the mid to high 50s, all the way up to 60 million, it does make sense for Brock Purdy, just given the way that all these quarterback contracts have gone. That being said, it might be posturing on the 49ers part right now.
They're talking about wanting to lower cash spend and financial efficiency. But I think all of that needs to be looked at through the context of this is a team that's about to move to a highly paid quarterback, right? So they're making sure that the fat is trimmed off of other parts of the roster.
They've made a whole lot of other moves. Javon Hargrave is going to be cut with a post-June 1st release.
Devo Samuel, Eric Armstead last year. And I think all of that is focused on, okay, now the nucleus of the cost structure of the finances is going to be Brock Purdy.
and I think they're going to be ready to find a deal that's probably going to be near that very top of the market. Yeah, that's the game.
You either have the rookie quarterback and you're able to build up, or you have the paid quarterback and you have to redo it. Excited to watch what Lynch does with this roster, with having to pay a quarterback, because you can pay others.
Howie has proven that over in Philadelphia. The salary cap gymnastics is real.
We assume Kyle and Lynch will be able to sort it. What have we not talked about that we should talk about? What's more prevalent in the Niners world than maybe us, the national people, or sorry, worldwide people here, International Wednesday yesterday? What are we not really talking about? You think that is a story maybe brewing in San Francisco? Well, I mean,fl draft is just gonna be so big for this team because the you you've heard i think adam shefter was on your show the other day he was talking about uh cash issues or cap issues i think he mentioned both of them i think the general premise here is that the 49ers who have been just all in going for it have realized that yeah they went six last year.
That's a wake-up call. They've seen other teams go to cost efficiency and still contend, like the Bills.
The Philadelphia Eagles have rebuilt their entire defense. The Rams in their own division have shuffled things around, and I think they had the lowest defensive spend in the whole league this past year, and they still made the playoffs and were within a couple plays of beating Philadelphia.
So I think the 49ers want to do the same thing this offseason, and that's why we should be looking at this draft. They had a good 2024 class, but they need to hit again in 2025.
How many picks? How many picks do they have? Well, they have 11 now because Depot brought them a fifth. They didn't have a fifth before then, so 11 picks.
The draft is so huge, right, huge right because those 11 pat are going to cost the 49ers 14 million total against the salary cap in 2025 chase young who left the 49ers assigned with the saints signed for 13 or 14 million just on his own this past year so you get 11 players at the cost of one chase young and that's how the 49ers can pay Brock Purdy, and that's how they can build a good roster moving forward. I assume they'll end up with five, six.
Yeah, that's reasonable. And it's kind of like, you know, you're throwing darts at a wall.
Some are going to hit, some aren't. Nobody wants to move, right, allegedly? And the lower you are in the draft order, the further you are are from the wall so with brock purdy they were 20 yards away from the wall but they still hit a bullseye right but you never know if you're going to miss the second round or the third round so you just try to accumulate as much as you can luke litla they hit triple 20 triple 20 that's what they did we appreciate the hell out of you man thank you for the for the information.
You're doing great with the San Francisco Standard. Yeah, thank you, guys.
Appreciate it. Have a great day.
You're on YouTube page, too, right? Hey, we're doing it? Yeah, David Lombardi on YouTube. Go check it out.
Oh, yeah. Keep going, Lombardi.
We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, David Lombardi.
Yay, Lombardi! All right, that was from one side of this here, beautiful country. Now to the other.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to feel the beat.

Hey, Jay, can you hear it?

You can't.

Can we make sure sound is going? I'm enjoying you guys. I'm enjoying feeling the beat from you guys.
Honestly, can someone just sit back and enjoy you guys entertaining them? No, no. Those are what our viewers, you are a part of the show.
You are on the camera. Come on.
I know. I'm participating for real.
Put your hands up. Wiz Khalifa asked.
I did. I did.
You did not.

You did not.

You disrespected that man.

Right in the middle. I'll find the evidence.

I'll find the evidence.

My hands were up.

He got juiced, too.

He saw it.

That Radio Row concert is something that will never be done again,

but I'll tell you what.

It was awesome.

It was awesome.

Is that not the most ridiculous?

All right.

We're not.

Yes, it is.

Let's get back.

No, it is.

Yes.

Yes.

I wonder why all these people hate us. All right.
Let's go. Let's go back and feel the beat, even though AJ doesn't want to do this, covering the New York Giants for NorthJersey.com and USA Today.
All in with Art Stapleton pod. Ladies and gentlemen, Art Stapleton.
Yay! This is it, Art. How's it going, Pat? What's up, AJ? Amazing amazing thank you for joining us uh we can't thank you enough giants obviously topic of conversation you're the man to talk to for us we appreciate you taking time out of your life to feel the beat a little bit here uh okay we're in on matt stafford at a massive number right and now we're in on aaron rogers are we in on all veteran quarterbacks what are you hearing over there for the Giants looking ahead at the most important position you know it's a week ago where the Matthew Stafford thing felt like it was pretty close to the finish line then he ends up going back to the Rams and at that point I was told it's a game of musical chairs Aaron Rodgers has a chair and there are a bunch other guys.
And then slowly but surely over the next 48, 72 hours, I kept hearing, you know what, this Aaron Rodgers thing is not going to go away for the Giants. And from my understanding right now, and you guys may know better than me, that they are pretty significantly down a road where they are negotiating to the point where

if Aaron Rodgers ends up as a Giant before the start of the league year next year,

it would not be a shock to people in this area and at the Meadowlands.

You're saying they're negotiating? Is that what you just said?

Well, from my understanding is that it has to be part of the negotiation,

and I don't know how much Aaron can be involved in speaking with uh Giants Brass, Brian Dable, Joe Shane but as far as Aaron's representatives once the Jets made it clear my understanding is that he he can have his representatives talk to other teams now I don't know where the numbers are but you can't get involved with a player of the caliber of Aaron Rodgers and his resume without at least having an understanding as to what ballpark you have to be in and what he is willing to do at age 41 after what he's gone through the last two years. So my understanding is, yes, they have talked about what it would take to get Aaron here with the Giants to not leave New Jersey.
And my understanding is that at every turn, the Giants have yet to be scared off by the idea of, you know, Aaron Rodgers coming on some show every Tuesday. Seems like everybody wants that to be the big issue.
But, yeah, I think from a football fit, this is something that they're seriously considering. Everybody in your area that has a blog or a journalism degree, for sure.
Now, whenever we talk about Aaron Rodgers in the Giants, potentially, it sounds like you think that we don't know. Legitimately, we do not know.
I have not. He was out of the country, I think, taking his break.
This is like a normal thing. I would not interrupt that.
AJ talked to him briefly. He said he'll be on the show soon.
What does soon mean? Who knows what that is? Sounds like from what you're hearing, though, they are at least in conversations. That's further than I thought or we had heard.
Thank you for giving us that information. We'll continue to talk about it in a proper fashion.
Is this Shane Dayball understanding we need a guy this year? We need to have a good season this year? We can't just roll the dice on a rookie drafted quarterback? Or what do you think the mentality is? You know, I think they went in saying, look, our quarterback room right now is Tommy DeVito. And technically, he's not even officially signed.
He's got to sign his exclusive rights free agent deal, which will happen over the weekend. The reality is they need to sign a veteran quarterback and they need to look in the draft and get their future quarterback.
And that's not easy to do. It's been a hell of a year in New York, as you guys know, for the Giants.
At every step, every decision they made backfired. And now, you know, I think that they need to find the best football player to play quarterback to start the season because you cannot wait until the draft.
You're not sitting at number one. You'd like to be at number one and say, you know what? Maybe things would be different if had they lost to the Colts, they'd be

sitting at number one saying, we know

for a fact we're going to get a

franchise quarterback of our choosing.

They can't do that. So I think right now they

need to get the best veteran in here

as quickly as possible. And I think

Aaron Rodgers right now represents

that. Last question for me before the boys

have some in art. We can't thank you enough

for taking the time here. How would Giants fans feel if this was reality right here? Boom! Wow! Haboo! How would that feel? How would Giants fans feel about that, you think? Because I've obviously read the internet and we're associated with Aaron.
Lucky to be, thankful to be, but we are associated with Aaron. So anything that gets brought up, obviously, my mentions get filled up as well.
Some places seemingly okay without Aaron, how would Giants fans you think feel if he was their quarterback next year and next season in a seemingly must win season for the Giants? You know, I think it'll be mixed, Pat. And you know, the reality is that, you know, my Tuesdays would be shot.
I'd have to listen to you guys, which you know what I'd enjoy anyway. Yeah, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, people keep talking about, you know, this circus that Aaron Rogers brings that idea, you know, I've covered the giants for too long at this point to think that, you know, dipping your toe in the water at this point and being afraid of the controlled chaos that maybe a player might bring, it's gotten them nowhere.

It really has gotten them nowhere. Like to me, yes, they need to win.
They need to be competitive this year. You know, I don't think anyone's picking them to all of a sudden beat the Eagles in not only the NFC, but in the division.
But I do think that if you look at the football and say Aaron will be two years removed from the Achilles and And what he did, guys, 3,800 yards passing for the Jets. You know the last time the Giants had a quarterback that threw for at least 3,800 yards? 2015.
He did that in like four games. Yeah.
He threw 28 touchdowns. The last time they did that was 2018.
And that was both Eli Manning. And he's off making shows and a colleague of yours at ESPN.
So the reality is that if it's from a football perspective, you deal with anything else that you think is coming with Aaron. Because if he can play, I think the match between Aaron Rodgers and Brian Dable, yes, it could be combustible.
But I think it would be pretty interesting for one year to see them try to get the most out of this season. And maybe they have a young guy behind them that they don't want necessarily to be a franchise immediately.
Connor has a question for you. Yeah.
How about the third pick, Art? It feels like even if they do get that vet, and you mentioned one year right there, that there's still a chance they might take a quarterback. Is there any reports about who they might be kind of in love with in this upcoming draft class and do you think that quarterback at three is very possible or will they take you know Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, one of the best available guys? You know I've heard all three quarterbacks that were presumably at the top of the draft or at least in that first round discussion.
Cam Ward, Shador Sanders, and Jackson Dart from Ole Miss, not in that spot necessarily. I think if they can pull off a deal with Tennessee to get to number one, I think they'll take Cam Ward.
I think they like his upside. I think they've liked meeting with him.
They want to meet with him more over the next month or so and see where they're at. They've had a lot of interaction with Shador Sanders, which we've seen on the internet.
Everybody has caught his exchanges with Dable and Malik Nabors going all the way back in Times Square and Heisman weekend and all that stuff. Is Shador a possibility? I know there are fans of his in the building.
But the other guy would be Jackson Dart. So if the Giants don't move up to one, I think they sit at three.
If a quarterback is there that they want, they'll take him. If not, they'll take the best player.
Could be Carter, could be Travis Hunter. And then maybe they trade back at the end of the first round if a guy is still there, like a Jackson Dart, maybe a Jalen Milrow.
And then if you believe the mock drafters, maybe even a Shador Sanders will be sliding there late teens early 20s maybe the Giants will say you know what we didn't use the picks that we could have gone up for one maybe we'll move back into the first from 34 and try to get that other quarterback to learn behind Aaron Rodgers all the mock drafters are interesting with where they're placing everybody Charles Davis just came out and said Shador's going number one then some people have him like going sixth to the raiders then they have people who have him in teens there's some people that have him in late first like it is very fascinating i don't know if anybody knows shit at this point day bowl jaylen milro would be an interesting dynamic coming back together in it all and uh all eyes are on those top couple picks. It is a fascinating year for the draft.

Can't wait to cover it with a draft spectacular live here at the Thunderdome.

AJ has the last question for you here, Art Stapleton.

Art, other than the quarterback position,

what are the most areas of glaring weakness you think that the Giants

will have to address in the draft?

And also, is there any chance that they're going to go after Devontae Adams

possibly to bring him in as receiver?

Is that from you, AJ, or is that from a possible quarterback at some point that you may... That's from me.
Strictly me. You were showing the highlights, and he was completing so many nice balls to Devontae.
Devontae was flying all over the ball. How good would Devontae Adams look as a pair with Malik Neighbors, with Aaron Rogers throwing the ball? Do we have I think, you know, I think their offensive line may be better this year than people thought.
They had a lot of injuries last year. I think they'll, they'll be in play for a corner, a number one corner, potentially in free agency.
Maybe a guy like DJ Reed, uh, who played with Aaron with the jets. So maybe it's collect your old jets, uh, season for the giants.
And I think, I think on offensive line, I think they're looking for a starter at right guard. That'll bring back their full compliment plus a right guard.
And I think they may look for up front. Who wouldn't want to put one of these great young defensive tackles against Dexter Lawrence? Then you have Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, the young guy, Kayvon Thibodeau back.
We'll see what they can do up front. What was the record in one-score games last year? Two and nine or something like that in one-score games? Is that what it was last year? Yeah, I think they had a bunch of one-score games.
And Dable's first year, they flipped that. And then you look what happened.
They ended up winning nine games, a tenth in the playoffs. So, you know, look, the league is built on one-score games.
And, you know, if there's a quarterback that you want to have a veteran leading a team that you think could kind of swing the pendulum from the worst in the league to maybe somebody who can compete for the playoffs it goes back to Aaron so if they can work something out I think it gives them their best chance as a football team to be competitive and those guys need that this year this This entire franchise needs that. You want to tell them, AJ,

you don't have to move.

Matthew Stafford just took a big discount not

to move and stay with the Los Angeles Rams.

Moving sucks.

Moving absolutely sucks. Everybody feels

the exact same way about it.

Tim McAfee, I always say a truck driver. He was a

long-haul truck driver mover.

Like his truck driving was to be a mover.

So, I mean, those are both just put them together. worse that's tim mackery football way to go tim way to go tim uh we have one last question from our resident giants fan bruce brown has one for you art he's a big fan of your work yeah what's going on art how are you um my question is uh bobby okarake there's some rumbling uh that the giants have soured on him and that he could be a surprise cut candidate.
Do you think there's any truth to that and they might let Bobby walk? I think there's always truth to those rumors you hear. It just depends on where they come from.
I'd be surprised. Two years ago, I called Bobby Okereke the best free agent signing they've had since Antro Roll.
And, you know, Bruce, you know what they did with Antrell Roll. They won a Super Bowl.
You know, I think it comes about fit. You know, Bobby's in another defense now with Shane Bowen last year.
I think he fit well with Wink Martindale. So that's a question.
I think there's some things that need to be cleared up with the way Bobby's season ended last year. He had a back issue.
It popped up all of a sudden, and then two weeks later, he was on IR and his season was over. I think, you know, as a captain, as somebody who's looked at as a leader in that locker room, I think they kind of have to work through some things.
I would not expect Bobby O'Karake to be, you know, a casualty per se, but if somehow they feel like they can get a draft asset and they can turn that draft

asset into one of their franchise

quarterbacks, I think maybe they'll think about it.

It's too soon to tell.

From Stanford,

future Hall of Famer.

Bobby.

Oh, Kerry K.

Not Okereke. No.

It was at the time. That was a phonetic.

At the time, it was that. He was obviously a member of the Colts.
He goes to the Giants. He becomes a superstar in Wink's defense.
We hope he figures it out, just like we hope the Giants figure out. What is realistic expectation for Giants fans looking at next season? Well, if you bring Aaron Rodgers in, I think it's eight, nine wins, and see if you can play meaningful football in December.
Getting to dance. That's fun.
Getting to dance. All right, we appreciate the hell out of you.
From NorthJersey.com and USA Today, Art Stapleton. Yeah, Art.
Clean shaved. Yeah.
Look like a fresh-faced Art Stapleton there. Getting ready for the offseason.
Rangers tarpon. What's that, Edge? Nothing.
I love Ralph. He said, Art, this is it.
This is it. I noticed that.
He's the best. I didn't expect the close-up.
I did not expect that. I mean, I don't see these people until they get on, obviously, so it's my first time alongside everybody else.
And that was the shot. Because he had that, it looked like a fresh shave.
The hair was, I mean, that was the shot because he had that it looked like a fresh fresh shave yeah the hair the hair was i mean that that was a surprise i'm like all right this is it uh speaking of it it is time to continue this train around the nfl to get boots on the ground and learn more about ball and the teams that we cover. It's time once again to...
I think we felt to be pretty good there.

Yeah.

We did.

This son of a bitch still has yet to feel a fucking beat in his life.

It's okay.

I feel it differently than you guys.

Yeah, like the corn.

Yeah, we've heard about it.

And old Mr. Muster was feeling it.
You guys are eating corn like it's hot dogs straight down the gullet.

Come on.

Okay, good one.

I never knew that was even an option until you brought it up today. That's how you were serving Mr.
Mustard. Shucking all his corn.
Give it to him vertical. Ladies and gentlemen, from the Pittsburgh Steelers, our reporter and also contributor to the WWE, ladies and gentlemen, Mark Caboli.
Yay, Mark!

This is good lighting.

Good hoodie.

Good 412 hoodie.

Perfect shave for that goatee looking in mid-season form.

Cabols, you're killing it today, Bob.

We appreciate it. Yeah, Mark.

Should I get real close like Art?

Yeah, Art was up in that thing, wasn't he?

You saw it.

Yeah, you noticed that as well.

Yeah, we all did.

Art did great.

As will you because that is all Caboli does pittsburgh steelers big conversation right now is quarterback that's it and is that what's happening through combine is that what's happening back at home what is being talked about the pittsburgh steelers right now is it just the quarterback situation yeah that's number one on the list they can't really move forward until they figure out their quarterback situation, whether it's going to be Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. They prefer Justin Fields, and they're going to move forward with the thought of trying to sign him up here right now.
But, you know, things can happen between now and Wednesday. I mean, Justin's in no hurry to get signed right now.
I mean, he has all the power in the relationship right now. I mean, considering how needy the NFL is in quarterback situation, those six games did him really well last year of making him a hot commodity out there.
So he's just going to play it out here. The Steelers want to bring him back.
We're going to make every effort to bring him back. And they're not going to mention this publicly, but he's 1 going to play it out here the Steelers want to bring him back we're going to make every effort to bring him back and they're not going to mention this publicly but he's 1A and if things go awry then the fallback plan is Russell Wilson but they don't really want to lay it out in those terms because you don't want to have Justin Fields go to a team like the Jets or the Giants and say oh by the way Russell way, Russell Wilson, you're our plan B.
Come on over. So it's all quarterback.
Once the quarterback's in place, which will be likely Tuesday-ish, Monday, Tuesday-ish at the latest, they can move forward in acquiring some other players what they need. You know more than Mika Bowles.
How come it just became Justin Fields is the one option over Russell Wilson? Is it strictly because of how much each would cost? Or is it because they feel like the future that they learned of Justin Fields in his first few games is what they're banking on instead of Russell Wilson coming in, what, playing the best football that anybody's really played at the quarterback position for the Pittsburgh Steelers in some time? I think that was... For a couple games.
Okay. Okay, so it turns out on both, think but nonetheless why is justin fields the guy over russell wilson and who reps justin fields well you know with justin he's just the smart choice i mean he's 20 what 26 i believe he's sort of like you're i liken it to a lottery ticket you know you scratch it.
It's not going to cost you that very much to become a franchise-type quarterback. You're probably not going to hit big on it, but at least you have a chance.
With Russell, he's 36. He's going to be 37 in November.
I mean, you've got a very short window with him. Moving forward here with Justin, he showed a lot in those six games last year not only that he he played throughout the preseason throughout the ota he's got leader too felt like yeah i mean he he did everything right i mean there is when people say that his teammates love him and nobody has ever has a bad word to That's true.
The guy is just class act of how he approaches everything.

Now he has to obviously improve his game. It was a difficult situation last year because you look at it,

you had two very different type of quarterbacks.

And Artie Smith thought he was going to have Russell Wilson.

Then he had Justin Fields.

You didn't want to switch things around to make everything crazy when you knew Russell was going to come back and be your guy if you start from the beginning start with Justin give him a legit opportunity to become your quarterback of the future not only now that's why he's so valuable to them let Artie Smith get in his bag as they say with a running quarterback like Justin Fields because it was also the first year of him trying to implement his system and code words and everything to the Pittsburgh Steelers so how much can you play around with oh we got a running guy we got a pocket guy that's an interesting stat there Cobolge and we got a couple minutes before the hardout and we'll continue on YouTube ESPN plus Disney plus and TikTok live but um whenever you think about the quarterback position, the next question is, who's he going to throw to? Who's already going to get? AP Tone has a question for you, Cabols. Yeah, Cabols, that is question number two.
Which fucking wide receiver are we going to miss out on this year? Big pop out of Cabols. Just kidding.
We're going to get one. I know we kicked the tires on Christian Kirk last year for a trade.
Then he broke his collar broke his collarbone darius slayton those guys are free agents now obviously dk's on the trade market cooper cups out there davante's out there any idea who we're gonna maybe get this year probably somebody that you don't want there probably here's the thing i mean you've been a stealer fan for your entire life right yep? Yep. How many times have you ever heard them having $63, $65 million worth of cap space with the potential of that going up to $80, $85 if they restructure a couple easily restructurable guys here? So they can pretty much go out there and dictate whoever they want.
The problem is you don't want to give up a high draft choice.

Just say DK Metcalf, for example.

You don't want to

give up a second and or

third round pick, then have to pay

him $120 million.

That seems like a little

steep. We'll see you tomorrow here on

ESPN. Nailed it.

You're being right, though. The trading

of the draft picks feels like an anti-Steelers

thing. Yeah, especially if

it's a first and a third, there's no chance.

And obviously, pairing him with George Pickens,

the rest of the NFL would find that

very funny when things aren't going

right and they're both taking themselves out of the game,

stuff like that.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Next year's a different year.

I'm just saying, there's a potential

chance. But no, so I don't see it being DK.
That's not the Steelers thing to do they normally would go get someone a little bit farther normally they would wait until Thursday Friday and get whoever's left second third round yeah I hope they'll be a little more of free agency Caboz what do you think ends up happening do you think they get a wide receiver that's kind of middle of the the market like tone is thinking like somebody maybe next week after the first wave of free agents who have probably already agreed to all these deals that are going to be announced on monday whenever free agency opens they agree to these deals probably at the combine at least happening right now as we speak do you think that ends up being what the case is do you think maybe they get an og guy on a lower cheaper price and hope they're able to bring some uh youthful juice out of them with gp on the other side knowing that you're not going to get made what do you think is the end of play for omar khan and tomlin with the steelers at wideout i think they're going to go look for a nice solid veteran guy i mean i'll just throw names out there like keenan allen obviously a guy like christian kirk those are guys that they would would be interested in I don't think there would be too interested in some of the higher price guys like Godwin even though he's coming off an injury that he I think he was healthy near the end of last year he would be a nice fit but I think they would be a little skeptical of anybody with injuries like that. Iuke, I mean, coming off an injury,

that's a difficult one to go down to as well.

But I'm sure there's going to be other receivers that are available.

Amari Cooper.

If you can add one or two of those type of guys,

solid veteran number two guys,

then supplement it with the guys you have with Calvin Austin,

who had a decent year last year.

Roman Wilson, who played five snaps last year, and they still got high hopes on him and then add in the draft then all of a sudden you got something roman wilson michigan i think that's yeah he was great player yeah michigan yeah yeah at michigan he was yet uh he got hurt in camp and then just could never get healthy and then the season ended i didn't think about getting two of those vets in there. You probably could go Thursday, Friday, might be able,

especially with $60-some million.

What were you going to say?

I was going to say there's one name on there that Cabol didn't say.

I need Tony Diggs in a Stephon Diggs jersey more than I need anything right now.

Coming off injury as well, and obviously Casario talked about

how thankful he was for his time in Houston.

That's certainly to be decided.

What's that, Cabol? That'd be an interesting locker room. Stephon Diggs and George Pickens.
What are you saying? The hell is that? I'm not suggesting great players. It seems like you're alluding to things here, Cabols.
You need to watch that. You said name.
I'm alluding. You are alluding.
You're alluding. You're alluding.
Go ahead. Assuming.
Oh, alluding and assuming.

Yeah, that's one thing goes with the other brother. AJ has a question for you, Caboli.
Yeah, Caboli, I've seen rumored on the internet that it's possible Naj could, you know, there might be a slight chance they could try to re-sign him and bring him back to the squad. Are there any chances that this could happen? I'm sure there's always a chance.
I'll say with Omar Khan

I'm never going to close the door on anybody but you know saquon barkley just got 20 million bucks a year all of a sudden that pushes nausea harris's money up just a tad uh you're looking anywhere eight nine ten a year for him if you're looking for three for 30 i don't know if that's something they would be willing to go down and be able to spend money on they already have to give jaylen warren three three and a half million dollars on his restricted free agent tender coming up and i know uh i believe uh your friend dan dan orlovsky tweeted recently about the lack of explosive run game. Not a friend.
Our friend.

Yours as well. Everybody's friend.

He always ignores me.

I think he's got his

mentions actually muted so he can't read anything.

It was the number 32

team in yards per carry over the

last six years.

Here's the thing about that. The reason

why that is because they just don't

have big runs. Najee Harris has played his 4,000-yard runs, 4,000-yard seasons.
He's never had a run longer than 37 yards. This team needs explosive plays in the running game.
Warren, right? They have not been able to do it. Isn't Warren like the guy? Anytime he gets the ball, it feels like there's real juice.
I don't know. Najee pounds him away, so it helps up it helps for warren but anytime he gets ball feels like there's a lot more juice whenever you're talking about those there is especially two years ago felt like there was more juice he was banged up last year but also like knowledge coming back doesn't make as much sense because the running back class is predicted to be one of the one of the best in the last 10 years so you can take someone very very cheap who can do what knowledge does and not have to pay him $10 million.
Whoa. I don't know if anybody can do it with Naj.
Naj is obviously getting better and better as he gets older. I think he had his best year this past season, right? Don't we all agree with that? Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
They were all like, every single season, he had like between 1,000 and 1,100 yards. Every single season.
It's crazy. Four years of him.
So he is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes, exactly.
He was perfect. Congratulations to you guys.
Seems like that time is over. Anything else we're not talking about with the Pittsburgh Steelers that we should be talking about on our program? Well, I mean, their defense really got gashed at the end of last season.
They need to improve the defensive line. Even though Cam Hayward had an absolute spectacular year at age 35, he probably could should have gotten some votes for defensive player a year that's how good he was that group is very light right now and they have to add either through the draft probably through the draft and free agency right there even though they have a ton of talent on the outside with TJ and Herbig and Highsmith,

and they got Queen, and they got Peyton Wilson and Minka Fitzpatrick and Sean Elliott,

Joey Porter Jr., they got all the guys on defense.

They just need depth, and they need to get younger on the defensive line.

Because you saw what Derrick Henry did to them late last year.

And even on the flip side of it, they've pretty much built out their offensive line. But Broderick Jones, the 14th overall pick, now two, three drafts ago, is moving from right to left side.
They got a first rounder on the left side, a first rounder on the right tackle, a stud West Virginia guy, Zach Frazier at center, a pretty good rookie last year,

Mason McCormick at Gardner, and an absolute brawler in, say, Amalu,

the other guard.

Their offensive line seems like it's in place.

They just need to get some more depth on the defensive line,

some, as you would say, dogs on the defensive line. Everybody needs dogs.

Everybody needs dogs. TJ Watt is obviously uh staple of the pittsburgh steelers team he is in the middle of negotiating with the pittsburgh steelers if you listen to anything that jj watt said what are you hearing from the pittsburgh steelers side because we're hearing from jage that tj and he talked this morning uh and it was about a turkey and bread sandwich nothing else because tj had nothing else in his house.
So we don't know if he's completely broke and can't afford groceries or if he's just not a forward thinker when it comes to anything other than football. But he was in good spirits, so maybe they're in a good spot negotiations-wise.
What are you hearing from the Pittsburgh Steelers' side with the TJ Watt deal? And Max Crosby's deal affects this mightily, I would assume. Well, if TJ needs, I could have went over and made him a sandwich, put some mayo on it, put it in the microwave.
That's what we're saying. We need some mayo on it.
Aldi? Aldi mayo. Aldi mayo, baby.
No, not Aldi mayo, please. It'll be Hellman's or it'll be Dick's.
Exactly. It'll be Hellman or it'll be Dick's.
As we say it in Pittsburgh, it's Aldi's. Just like Wal-marts.
Oh, yeah. All the ways.
You come all the ways over. Yeah, I get it.
I understand what you were saying. But, yeah, where is TJ other than a guy that has no food in his house? Relatively relatable, especially because just a year ago, he was cleaning his pool and he stepped off his steps and almost busted his face.
So, TJ Watts seems to be the most, like, like i don't know i'm incredibly wealthy or the guy that i am guy uh what does that mean for contract negotiations with the steelers right now yeah talking to omar he pretty much rubber stamped it's just a matter of time he didn't know if it was going to be two weeks from now or three months from now but he's one of those legacy guys that they have identified a while ago it's just a matter of putting together crossing the t's dot the i's and you talk about max crosby and who's going to get paid more i mean you got about five guys right there you know miles garrett michael parsons trey hendrickson crosby what they're all going to get paid very similarly it's just whoever signs the deal last is going to get paid that extra couple bucks you know so i think tj is going to be okay with his uh food bill here coming up i think he'll be able to afford it here okay very recently i think he's gonna

make a couple of bucks here i mean we're looking more whatever max crosby makes made and i'm not quite sure what that number was it's going to be probably that much more 102 and a half so probably

up to 103 102 106 and a half sorry so that'll be 107 with 92 million dollars guaranteed whoever

signs next that is kind of how it would go you said a few more bucks obviously it's half a million

Thank you. Yeah, Mark.
obviously, Elimination Chamber just happened. It was a cinema, as our resident Mark would say.
How did you feel about the scene of heel turn? Did you shit just like everybody else? Because I don't know if many people really saw this coming on saturday night uh it was just an absolute fabulous show i mean whoever put that together um creative needs a raise it was just absolutely unbelievable show and just the nuance of everything just how they're in the ring the facial reaction yeah the looks the timing everything was just absolutely flawless and you know what it would i found quite interesting with the cena turn here it not only affected us older gentlemen who grew up watching john cena being that 20 year star it now even affected those five six seven, 6, 7, 8, 9-year-old kids. They're sitting there crying as well.
It was just absolutely. I mean, that whole show was just absolutely spectacular.
The women's elimination chamber, unbelievable. Liv Morgan turning into an absolutely superstar right in front of our eyes.
Kevin Owens is just, I can't tell if he needs a pat on the back or needs to be committed.

That's a good way to look at it.

It was just an absolute wonderful show.

I just can't wait moving forward

here and see where it goes from now.

But man, Dwayne.

We're talking about

the final boss.

It depends on where it is. If it's the pre-game post-game presser he's Dwayne if it's in the ring he's the final boss but just look at the face man he's always the final boss yeah Mark you're sounding a lot like your first name right now hey Pat if you're not watching WWE right now, you got some problems, man.

Because they're putting together some of their best work right now, best programs.

I agree.

Very lucky to be a part of it.

We're on the road to WrestleMania.

And anytime you have a shoot like that at the end of a show, it's going to have the world abuzz.

It certainly did.

215 million views or something like that in like 24 hours.

I forget the number.

Travis Scott in there as well.

Cool challenge.

A-makers.

Yeah, he threw a big right there to Cody Rhodes.

And it's being reported.

You know, he busted his eardrum and gave him a black eye.

It's quite a shot.

I'm excited to see how that all comes back around.

And Travis has been training from what I've been told. He's been training.
So I'm excited. And then there's a video that's been released from backstage.
As soon as Travis got back there, talking about how awesome it was and how he wants to go back out there and how much more motivated he is to get in the ring. So I think we're going to see Travis Scott wrestling relatively soon.
Let's go. It's a good time to be around and watching WWE.
I'm proud to say I'm a Mark. Speaking of Mark, ladies and gentlemen, Mark, what are you eating today? What did we have for lunch today? You're going to do a double gun? I haven't looked yet.
You know, I ate a couple oranges. Had a couple oranges? You had orange? You know, if you want one day, I can show you the process of making a sandwich in the microwave.
I think we should do that. Yes.
Are you filming? No, I don't think I have any bread. Oh, Teej got the bread.
Teej got the bread. Yeah, Teej got the bread.
We can hang out. He got the bread, I got the mayo.
You're eating the butt of the bread there at the end, like yesterday, your last sandwich? Absolutely. Who throws that away?

Yeah, mostly, most people.

Mark.

I do.

Yeah.

I do appreciate you, Mark.

Just living your best life.

How's the boy?

How's the boy doing?

How's the boy?

Not well after the scene of turn, but.

Oh, no.

Broken heart.

Heartbreaker.

Yeah, because Cody was his other favorite, so.

Oh, shit. He says he's going to come back as thugonomics now so oh your boy you said he's going to be thugonomics or you think cena's going to come back you think cena's going to be thugonomics but uh um i had to buy a plunger the other day because he's blocking up the toilet but that other night it's pretty good the kid kid? The kid's clogging up the toilet? That's a big moment.
With his tears. That's a known thing.
Every time he goes, he blocks it. That's kind of like one of those moments where a boy becomes a man, right? At the Kaboli house? Not if it's 2 in the morning and you're like...
Yeah, you gotta get good at that for you. The Kaboli bar mitzvah.
Mark i see you're getting chickens i see you're getting chickens mark oh you know what i get an email from the kids teacher saying we got eggs hatching here would you like to have some chickens again let me pull out the coop out of the garage a lot of people do that now because the egg prices a lot of egg prices a lot of people getting a coop out of the garage just got an email from kids second grade teacher asking if i wanted a chicken after they hatched school yeah i'll take three if you do have your uh own chickens with your own eggs right now i think now is the time that you've been talking to your friends that say you got fucking chickens yeah i bake my own eggs i get my own eggs every morning i get a dozen of these things and i uh you can you can have you want some fresh you want some fresh eggs no i don't i'll just go get them from the store now everybody's like hey the weirdo they got the chick coops with their own eggs yeah kind of hitting a home run right now maybe you should get involved mark maybe that's your new thing the crazy thing is is she sent a google doc i think i needed references or something i'm like two kids and i didn't need reference to have a kid do i need a reference to get a chicken caboli's coop on here caboli's coop is not well caboli's killer coop uh yeah that could be i want to make sure you're going to raise the chickens mark not, not take them home and put them in your air fryer.

Get some wings all of a sudden.

We ain't looking for a thought.

The air fryer's right here.

They've seen it.

That's what they're saying.

That's the microwave and the air fryer's right here.

The air fryer.

Which could you imagine?

The air fryer is just an absolute imperative kitchen appliance.

How often do you use it? How often do you use it?

How often do you use it?

Like three times a day.

Chicken nuggets.

Oh, I shouldn't say chicken nuggets, right?

Not if you're trying to get these chickens.

Not if you're trying to get this coop.

What else are you making there?

Chicken nuggets?

Fries, I assume.

Anything else?

Chicken nuggets.

Fries.

You know, sometimes I'm lazy.

I just throw some pizza in there to heat up. Nice from like last night yeah pizza um what else do i throw in there salmon oh even though i'm not a salmon guy really you could you're saying you said you've seen on commercials i'm not a salmon guy i'm not eating salmon that's like the worst fish possible? What fish are you eating? Yeah, what's the best? The Chilean sea bass.
That's like eating the steak. Mahi, mahi.
From Long John's? You know what? Let me tell you a story about Long John's. Had some this morning.
Ty, I think, had some this morning. I wish.
It was Zaxby's, but the box was very similar. Okay, I thought you had Long John's this morning.
impressed it's it's long johns there's one not far from me and i found out it's it's a once a year type of thing because you crave it then you go and eat it and you freaking sit on the toilet for the entire day you're like i'll never eat this again then all of a sudden a year passes you're like boy i can really go for some long johns rinse and repeat man once a year yeah you can do it you forget about the post game you know because you you see the long johns you think to yourself i could go for some fried fish right now man i could really dive into that and then you get into it in the middle of it you start to feel it and you're like oh no i forgot and then one year passes and you remember again i could see how that could take place i'm kind of doing that with a couple different places now because I know how terrible it makes me feel on the other side. You guys got fish fries in Indy or is that a Pittsburgh thing? Right now, right? It's happening? You guys do that? I haven't seen it every Friday.
No, I'm just saying the fire hall. The fire hall.
Pittsburgh does a lot of fish fries. Everywhere.
We got them every Friday.

I don't know if there's...

I haven't seen one here.

I assume there is.

There are definitely fish fries here every Friday.

Pittsburgh, I assume where Caboli's from,

because obviously where we're from,

there's signs everywhere for either...

It could be at Renton.

We'll have a place.

Fire Hall will have a place.

I think Ski Slopes.

We went to Renton. There was so many places that had it.
It was a very common thing to do. Out here, I don't see it as much.
You'll hit those up on Friday, I assume? Oh, yeah. You can go to the church and get the old lady pierogies.
The homemade pierogies. Rosie's pierogies right down the roadie.
Boy, I'll tell you what. Old lady pierogies, old man.
Well, that's AJ's thing. All right.
We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. Mark Caboli.
Yay! Four. So Lent's happening right now.
Started yesterday. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday.
Okay, so that's when Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. And on Sunday was Palm Sunday? Yes.
And then Easter is a thing? No. Palm Sunday, sorry, is before Easter.
What was Sunday? Was there something that happened on Sunday or nothing? No, no. Tuesday is Fat Tuesday.
Wednesday is Lent. Okay, and then it ends at Easter? Yes.
Which is? I don't know what day it is this year. April.
It's Mania Sunday. April 20.
April 20. 420 is Easter? There you go.
Okay, so Easter is 420. So we're 40 days out from that right now.
Correct. Give or take.
Yeah, yesterday. Changes, yeah.
And what did you give up for Lent? Nothing. I'm just going to be more patient with my kids and at home and stuff like that, not fly off the handle, you know, if stuff's taking too long or whatever.
Is that something that is normal in Lent? I think giving up stuff is much more like when you're younger, and then as you get older, it's just like I don't need to. Make yourself a better person.
Yeah, exactly. For 40 days.
Well, no, hopefully that's just a long-term thing. No, but he's going to say enough of this.
I committed to 40 days for this. This is how it is.
But I'm hoping that it's going to go well and that I'm going to like it.

Catholic school, kid. It's 40 days because this is what Jesus

did. Jesus did a 40-day stint.

A run. Yeah, and then rose on Easter

Sunday. Okay, so this is when he died.

Yesterday is when he was put in a cave.

Is it? Shit, it's been a while.

I believe so, though.

Good Friday.

Yeah, you're right.

He dies on Good Friday, which is right before Easter,

and then rose again on Easter Sunday. What's the 40 days thing, then? Is there a reason for why it's 40 days, 40 nights? There is, but, you know.
Was it him crossing the desert? The desert traveling through. He didn't eat and drink for 40 days, 40 nights? Maybe.
I don't know. It's been so long.
That was Moses. Yeah, I was going to say Moses going through part in the Red Sea at the end of it.
Passover and whatnot. No, I haven't brushed up on it in a while, so I couldn't tell you the exact reason for the 40 days.
Yesterday was the Ash Day I saw. Correct.
Congrats to all the Catholics. When you do this, are you telling them to all the sins? So they give you a jade, jade, and a yada, yada.
Mm-hmm. Father, son, holy ghost.

When did it change from spirit to ghost?

It didn't, really.

Some people just say holy ghost, but holy spirit is still the predominant nomenclature. Do I sound a little bit more religious if I say holy ghost?

Does it sound like I know what I'm talking about?

I would say that's less religious if you say holy ghost, because I feel like that's been

kind of popular, culturized and whatnot. Do they still also with you yeah and with your spirit yeah that is the that is the new thing they they changed a bunch of stuff with mass so you really you know if you haven't been for a while you go and you're saying all the wrong stuff you'll be a huge asshole yeah you tried huh a while back and i was like all right

i can't i don't know i don't know the songs anymore legit i don't know the show routine makes you feel very uncomfortable it's like all right this ain't the fucking mass i went to growing up somebody sent me a new itinerary yeah exactly congrats to the catholics enjoy your time thank you for committing to be a better person during this era hopefully it will continue on past Easter, 420.

What a day.

Hope all right?

What do you mean? He's great. He's not doing good.
He's doing better. He's fixed his diet.
He was in critical care, I thought, for a while. Bingo, yeah.
He's 100 years old, isn't he? Yeah, there's a chance we're going to be seeing white smoke here at some point. Within the next few months, I guess.
So, does the Pope, Pope has another good night at the hospital continues treatment is out of the vatican news i'm reading here pope francis has another good night at rome's uh gemelli hospital where he is being treated for bilateral pneumonia and is resting oh no the holly c press office holy holy holy c press uh he's part of the team this is the uh this part of the cabinet of the pope the holy c press office stayed on thursday morning he has continued his treatment and physical therapy uh so does the pope go until death is that kind of the the thing pretty much unless he's you know asked to step down but i'm pretty sure it's it's almost always right when that white smoke comes out of vatic. That means he's passed.
No, that means they've got the new Pope.

Oh, that means they've got the new Pope.

Correct.

Black smoke.

Dead.

No.

Doesn't black smoke mean they just haven't come to a decision yet?

They're in sequestered trying to figure out the next one.

I thought black men who's dead, too.

And if the round goes.

Is your family Catholic?

We grew up Catholic. Yeah.
Okay, so you know. I mean, a lot of kids I should have known.
Ohio. Yeah, they have black means they have not reached a consensus.
There's a movie about it. I recently saw someone on an airplane.
Conclave. Conclave, yeah.
I won some awards, Conclave. I was up for some awards.
Yeah, I was. I saw him do a little talkity thing.
A lot of movies are up for awards. None that we've ever seen, mostly.
None that we've heard of. Yeah, just Dune.
Let's get to a break. On the other side, we'll cover all the news.
Shout out to the... We just did Lent News.
We did. That's right.
We even quoted the Holy Sea Press office. Topical.
Seems like they got a bad name. Holy Sea Press.
Yeah, I don't love that. I mean, there's so many.
So many puns you can use. They are their own country, though.
The Vatican. They are.
Agreed. Why don't they just say the Pope Press, though? The Holy Times.
Any of that. The Vatican News released from the Holy C Press.
It's like we get it. You guys are trying to run your own little thing here, but let's get some better names.
And God bless them. God bless.
bless god bless him the crown prince god bless him god bless him every time that was awesome picture surfaced of uh turkey el chic and canelo today so it feels like the conversation that was happening yesterday where I was told, ask him about Canelo, ask him about the date. Feels like this is probable for the first event that this new boxing promotion is going to piece together.
The best will fight the best. We will stack cards, and we will try to crown actual champions.
That is basically Dana's mission to boxing alongside the rest of tko and turkey al-sheik in saudi arabia and shout out to the crown prince god bless him for investing in boxing we let or we read too these invested maybe six they're investing maybe 600 million in track track and field right track and field really yeah and it's like as somebody who loves sports and is in the sports world it's like investing in athletes and stuff it's like let's keep it going especially track and field that if you were to make it electrifying people would watch you know if this became like what happens at the end of like practices and workouts where guys call people out and they start racing each other if they're somehow able to make track a a little bit quicker, a little bit more topical, a little bit more, I don't want to say characters driven, but you get it. It is.
It is. I think there is an opportunity, especially if you're going to get a $600 million investment.
Shout out to Front Office Sports with the way they worded this versus how they worded anything I'm a part of. Seems like there's intent behind it all.
But nonetheless, shout out to Turkey Stop It By and Dana and Nick Kahn poking us at it. They're going to do good things for boxing, I think.
Hell yeah. Let's get to a break.
On the other side, we'll cover all the news that we haven't chatted about. There's a lot of things happening in College Hoops.
College Hoops has some breaking news. Go green.
Go white. Okay, we got racist on controls.
Come on, Foxy. Go green.
Go white.

Okay.

Izzo does it again.

That can't be their saying.

That is their saying.

You know what?

I just thought about this.

My high school is also green and white, and that is our chant as well,

and I never connected the dots until now.

Pause.

Yeah.

Music.

I heard about your high school.

Yeah, that's what I just thought of.

So, you're Foxy's high school basketball team.

Yeah.

They might have lost the game, but they won the meme. Everybody's seen this on the internet? Cracker of the day? That's from Evan Fox's high school.
Williams, is that, what is that? That is the Williamston Hornets basketball team, the same team I played for in high school. That kid's name, can I say it? Tommy Pratt, legend.
I guess we were down by a lot in this game. He fouled out.
He's one of the better players on the team. So he's on the bench.
Very end of the game, there's a hard foul. He gets off the bench, goes out there like he's going to fight the other team, our rival.
They kick him out of the game, and that's how he left. That a kid.
Yeah. That a boy.
I love this guy. Tommy Pratt's got moxie.
I guess he's a very good football player as well.

I would assume.

I would assume.

And Tommy Pratt also, I like the fact that he looks at the other student section

and lets him know how he feels.

That's how high school basketball, you know, is when it's at its best,

when there's real emotion.

Obviously, it's not a home court or an away court, right?

This is a neutral court.

District final at Follerville.

I played on that court.

Yeah, okay.

I love the old guy at the top of the steps when he flicks everybody up. Whoa, whoa, we don't do that.
Easy, easy. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
All right, get out of here, geezer. Tommy Pratt.
Tommy Pratt's not scared to let the boys know how he feels. If you're willing to stare down an entire student section in a building and do that, I think there's some inner courage that is going to be talked about.
Congrats the other team get a big time win over tommy pratt's team shout out hazlett but i like that he's defending the boys you know absolutely what high school is it williamston high school very small town and i thought everybody grew up on country clubs up there no farm town you guys grow corn oh lots of corn corn beans corn beans vertical or horizontal horizontal of course you tell us h what are you doing mr mooster must terry must setter first of all put some respect on his name that guy's a legend what year was gourmet gardens for years what year was this um uh 2000 that's why he was a little boy. 2001? No, I wasn't a little boy.
I had to drive because I drove his truck around and made deliveries for him. I found an obituary in 05.
I hope it's not him. Oh, no.
People found a picture of you kind of going back into the glory days. Look at my fat wrist and fingers.
That's what happens when you're taking corn down like that. And you should see your gums were bleeding and uh nobody expected that we appreciate you aj contributing to society and mr mooster and i do believe he's potentially alive or dead okay i've gotten mixed reports from people okay one of the other some people have responded well it is one of the other it is one of the other but i'm saying we've gotten mixed reports because tone said he found something and I know people send reports like, guy's still doing it.
And it's like, all right, we don't know whatever it is. You've made a lasting impact on A.J.
Hawk, sir. You've done a great job if you're alive.
Thank you, Mr. Mustsetter.
Oh, yeah, Terry. Mustsetter.
Yeah, the Mustsetter that I found that died was born in 1935. Is that line up? It's possible.
Could have been. We didn't get past the corn, says AJ.
It was me driving, him not talking, and then me serving corn. Shucking his corn.
Him sucking them down. I'll tell you what.
Fresh corn on the cob is legit. You can't disagree with that.
Yeah, and that's why you want to eat that thing. You gobble that thing, Don.
Same thing. Same with Moss Saturday.
Let's get to a break. Let's get to a break.
Got some more stories to cover around the sports world, obviously. Have to have an opinion on it.
That's right. Everybody wants to hear it.
Oh, yeah. We've been back for one week and a day.
Do you know that? Yeah. Yeah.
Just think. Everything.
It's been a wild week. Truly.
Thought about that last night as I laid down. Like, holy shit.
It's only been a day. Do you know that? Just think.
Everything. It's been a wild week.

I thought about that last night as I laid down.

Holy shit. It's only been a week

back. It's a lot.

Broke some news.

A lot of news. A couple times.

Travis Kelsey.

We broke some relationships.

I feel like Art

saying that the Giants are

almost heavily negotiating. Did he say that correctly? Art knows.
I think what Art was trying to say was if they're having any conversation, it's a negotiation because they're learning about what it's probably going to take. I think it's what he was saying.
But whenever he said they're deep in negotiations, you would assume it's like, I didn't know that. AJ, did you know that? We did not know that that was happening.
Not that we would or that we would ask to know that, which I think is a little bit different between us and maybe some others that have microphones on a regular basis. You said, Art, this is it.
Let's get to a break. It was a good shot.
You did it. You nailed it.
And he did. We're going to give away some, we're going to announce some giveaways during during this break and then on the other side we're gonna cover everything happening around sports world we're incredibly thankful we get to do this every single day big night date announcement coming on monday uh in pittsburgh pennsylvania and then ticket sales will be shortly after that this is happening within the next couple months and uh it's coming together really nicely.
It's coming together. We almost have too much time and are too good of a spot at this point.
Last week, what's all going to happen? Everything kind of a mystery, question mark. What's all going to be able to take place? What's all going to be able to happen? Who's all going to be able to get there? And then all of a a sudden this week it's really become one great text after another from people and i think we got a big night coming to pittsburgh pennsylvania big laughs i think people are going to laugh a lot i think there's going to be some funny times on this particular evening big sing-alongs i think there's gonna be a lot of songs that are played people know.
I think people are going to be singing. I think people are going to be dancing.
And I think a couple people are going to walk out of there with their lives changed with the giveaways that are going to happen. So we're pumped about it.
I can't wait for it. And for people that have been asking about it, you're very awesome.
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Sports!

Are happening all around us.

Way to go. AJ felt the beat there.
That is

he. The toxic table's here at Boston Corner

and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the

hammer. Don! Cowboys

ball cap tone is here. Wow.

Still got an AP vote there. Are you signing back up for that?

Are they going to allow you to have another one next year? If they allow

me, I will be there. We did hear that there were

some people that weren't happy about it

Which goes to the insufficient respect that is

Happening around a lot of things. There's people that were not thrilled with you having a lot of people

But if we look at your MVP vote, you actually got it right. Yeah, you're maybe the most in touch out of everybody

Bingo you said it nobody ever says that about the guy that would prefer the 19th hole over the first 18. Boom! How are you, AJ? You stopping by the 19th hole with ball cap tone? Yeah, I guess I think I might with tone.
I don't know. What is the 19th hole tone? What exactly is it? It's a bar.
You know. You know it is.
Well, it's certainly not the way you serve your corn. That is not the right answer.
Let's go with some news around the NFL here. Cleveland Browns, obviously a topic of discussion this particular offseason because they are still locked into the worst contract, worst trade in the history of the NFL is how it's being viewed.
Obviously, with production and conversation, and the amount of drama that was brought and the amount of production that came from it was the juice worth the squeeze everybody says no 230 million dollars guaranteed but the cleveland browns have restructured deshaun watson's contract and they freed up 35.79 million dollars of cap space now that money is all still going to Deshaun Watson. They're just changing when they're doing it for a little salary cap gymnastics.
Opening up $36 million of cap space is obviously a beautiful thing. Are they inevitably just kicking the can down the road even further? Yes, does feel like that.
They're going to have to pay the piper at some point, including this upcoming season. But they're trying to make some moves and win some games, A.J.
Hawk, even though they have the worst contract in the history on the books with a player that's not going to play for them. Yeah, I would say they put themselves behind the eight ball, as the old saying goes.
But why does Spotrack say they reluctantly converted? Because they've got to give the money now, but they're doing it to try to find a way to move on from this guy eventually. So I believe they're reluctantly doing this.
At the bottom there, he says Cleveland is now cap-compliant because you have to be compliant by a certain time. So they probably had to make this move to become cap-compliant, even though they're kicking the can down the road yet again with a contract that they're trying to get rid of as fast as possible.
But now they're extending the time because they have to to become cap-compliant. I believe that is probably why they're reluctantly doing it.
I assume Andrew Barry, the general manager throughout the entirety of this, Stefanski, the head coach, are trying to get out of this thing as fast as possible. But then they're hearing from the league like, hey, you guys got to do a lot of stuff.
And then they got Miles Garrett on the other side, actual guy, actual guy, actual guy. He saw what you just did to a quarterback that didn't play here and has done nothing for the team, really.
Saw what you did for him. I've done everything for this team.
I show up. I am the face of this team.
And I don't like what's going on. So they got to figure out how to get him happy.
Is that with more money? Probably. Is that the only way to answer it? Probably.
Is he going to be gone? Maybe. Maybe.
If he leaves, there's other players saying, if he's gone, I'm gone. Yep.
Denzel Ward. Denzel Ward, who's another great player for them.
So they are in what we like to call a shite situation. And I think that's probably why it's reluctantly extending the shite situation, even though they feel like they probably have to do it, AJ.
Yeah, I mean, so who, all right, when it goes back to the whole Deshaun situation, is everyone just saying it was jimmy haslam like his call all the way and he's the one that pulled the trigger on this and made it happen that has been my take on it all not that i've been told that by anybody obviously i know andrew barry from the indianapolis colts but we don't talk like that i've not gotten that information from him or stefanski i haven't talked to him in long years maybe a decade i haven't talked to him in a long long time but my read my read on it is, with what Andrew Barry and Stefanski have done in the last couple of years, why wouldn't you get rid of him? And if they were the ones that decided the Deshaun Watson deal, why wouldn't you get rid of him? Like, feels like this is from the owner going, I know. You know, like, I was the one that decided.
Like, the complete opposite of the Joe Shane-Mara situation. Almost like that, which is why they, I don't want to say they have life there, but I think that is, in my eyes, that's the only way it makes sense.
In my eyes, that's the only way it makes sense. But I could be wrong.
Yeah, I would agree. I mean, if Andrew Barry and Stefanski can find a way to work their way through this whole situation over the next couple years and actually win football games and play meaningful football at the end of the season? You talk about GM of the year, coach of the year, if they can make it happen.
They did that with Flacco. Two years ago.
They did it with Flacco with no money, pulling Flacco literally off the couch in the middle of the season and they go on a run. I think Andrew Barry and Stefanski probably feel like we're pretty fucking good, I think.
But we are literally hamstrung by the worst decision in the history of the NFL, is what people were calling it. And I think the ownership knows that as well.
Go ahead, Con. That's right.
Like, Andrew Barry, if it was him, he would have got fired. In a heartbeat, he would have been gone already.
So the fact that, you know, I think that's why Kevin Stefanski does win so many awards, because maybe it's just a known thing around the NFL. Like, boy, Brown's ownership killed killed this team and they should not win a game for the next five years but somehow you know Stefanski still has the boys play we'll try to super on and get an answer though because that is what I assume I think a lot of people assume that that that has to be the only way that those two still have their job yeah has to I mean yeah when you make a a contract when you agree to a contract that changes the face of the NFL moving forward and how quarterbacks get paid and everybody else, it had to be the owner.
I can't imagine the GM's like, hey, sign off on this owner. He's like, oh, I don't really agree, but yeah, go ahead and do it.
Fully guaranteed. And whenever you fully guarantee something, whenever you guarantee, you have to put that cash up front.
Remember? That's a big part of the guarantees. Whenever we talk about Monday and we hear these deals that are announced or these extensions that get announced the guaranteed money is obviously fantastic for players but it's also an amount of money that the ownership has to put into a fund because back in the day i assume there's a chance that these teams wouldn't have the amount of money uh that they are guaranteeing so now they put it into a fund this has turned out to be a good thing for ownership you know because they can use that as leverage and everything like that on why they can't guarantee this, can't guarantee that.
Obviously, injuries not being able to play, exactly what happened with Deshaun Watson. It happens at a much rapporter rate in the NFL than other leagues that have fully guaranteed contracts.
So, like, there's a lot of excuses for ownership not to give fully guarantees. And then for them to give the biggest fully guarantee of all time with the biggest contract of all time for a player you would assume that's ownership uh making that call you would assume that would be the case because we would see this happen in a bunch of other places if it if it wasn't the case like there's a reason why a bunch of owners were like hey we're not doing fully guaranteed contracts if the gm and the head coach had the leeway to do that we'd see a lot more guys have fully guaranteed contracts so.
So it's like, oh, don't worry about it. You know, the owner's going to put the money up, and that's a way you'd get a guy into your building immediately.
Like, oh, my contract's fully guaranteed? Sounds good. I'm signing with you guys.
So there's no way it's not the owner just saying, nope, this is what we're going to do. Now, let's stay with the Browns.
Because of that massive amount of cash that they do not have available, everybody assumes they're going to go with young quarterback young quarterback especially at number two I think Schefter's reported they're going to take a quarterback because they need a young quarterback that is cheap to lead this team especially somebody that is good then there was reports hey Shador Sanders didn't come off good in some of these conversations at the combine you know we are in narrative building smokescreen building season right now especially at at the quarterback position. Remember what was said about C.J.
Stroud? That was inevitably complete bullshit a few years back through it all. But that has been corrected, the narrative already, by Mary Kay Cabot.
The Browns first met with Sanders one-on-one at the East-West Shrine Bowl game in January and came away impressed. They didn't find him to be arrogant or brash, but confident and engaging.
They liked all of the good things his Hall of Fame dad poured him into him, but he appreciated that he's his own man. He exhibited the excellent leadership qualities they're looking for in a quarterback, as did Ward, whom they also like a lot.
Talking about Cam Ward there from Miami. They also formally interviewed Sanders at the Combine, where neither he nor Ward worked out.
I don't think people are going to be working out going forward. And cemented what they already knew, that Sanders has what it takes to lead the franchise if they draft him.
Kevin Stefanski also received a glowing report on him from his former Vikings colleague, Pat Shermer, the former Browns head coach who is now the offensive coordinator at Colorado for the past two years with Shador and with Travis Hunter. The Browns will get to know Sanders a lot better this week during his visit to cross-country mortgage campus which happened earlier this week and were tennis pro day at Colorado but nothing happened at the combine to change their first impression which was good of Sanders.
In fact it only confirmed what they thought about him. Okay so whoever was reporting that they didn't like the way Sanders was operating,

Mary Kay Cabot, who is very close to the Cleveland Browns organization,

has been reporting on the Cleveland Browns for a long time,

says they like him.

They're big fans of Shador.

So maybe it is Shador Sanders getting drafted to the Cleveland Browns

if he's still available at two,

and maybe he's the QB that's going to be tasked with going into a place

that's maybe underfunded.

Okay?

Maybe. Maybe he's been counted out for a while and see what he can do.

Has been there, done that with those situations twice now,

with Jackson State and with Colorado.

Maybe he's the perfect guy to be a Cleveland Brown, AJ Hawk.

Yeah, what I do like about Shador and Cam Ward,

they both played a ton of football in college.

They got a ton of reps, they got a ton of film, we know like when you translate to playing playing well early as an NFL quarterback we've seen as of late like when you have a when you have a guy with a lot of experience they tend to step in and kind of figure it out quicker I think than guys that maybe didn't get as many reps in college yeah they uh snaps played became a stat over the last couple years that people are really looking at for the quarterback position and I don't want to bring it up but like Anthony Richardson played next to no football and then whenever he got here it was evident that he played next to no football and he didn't really even know how to be a professional football player or a football player as well so he's going gone through a learning process he's gone through you know a couple injuries he's gone through he's gotten callous through it all so they're'll develop. But these guys have played 15x the amount of snaps, and they're not even close to starting their NFL career yet because of Jackson State, Colorado, Cam Ward, Incarnate Ward, to Washington State, to Miami.
You think about Bo Nix. You think about C.J.
Stroud. You think about Jaden Daniels.
You think about these guys who have done well whenever they transition into the NFL. They've a lot of ball so for the Cleveland Browns whether it's Cam Ward I like his confidence whenever I see the videos he's a guy that can go into a tough situation and hopefully lead the boys to get some wins at least be somebody that they can look up to and when it comes to Shador Sanders cannot go understate obviously he can spin it and obviously he's a good player because he's being talked about who he is.
And obviously, he has generational traits that not everybody is going to be able to come close to. With Deion Sanders, one of the greatest athletes to ever exist, if not the best athlete to ever exist, as your father.
But he's tough. And in the AFC North, you're going to have to be at the quarterback position.
He's durable. He's tough.
He takes a lot of pride in getting up. Now, I know he has a watch, and I know he's been rich his whole life, and I know people think everything's been handed to him, but I think he's taken that and gone in a complete opposite direction, wanting to prove that he's just as tough, if not tougher, than everybody else.
Oh, you think this? I'm going the other way. He got hit more than anybody, both at Jackson State and at Colorado, and he would pop right back up and some of these shots he was taking were like full spears like brawn breaker spears in the middle of a game he's getting speared through the earth and then he would pop back up not even miss a play it's like that durability is something that is very much respected and appreciated around the nfl so especially in the browns organization you're gonna need somebody that's tough yeah i mean that's just how it's gonna go obviously i don't know as much about cam he played a lot of football so we'd assume he's very tough but like watching shader get his ass beat and then getting right back up and not changing i think that is a great trait that's not really you can't put a number on well and like the conversation like oh he grew up everything was handed to him like he was a rich kid like we didn't have those conversations with marvin harrison jr or pat sertain or jc horn or any of the other guys that asante samuel jr guys who were the kids of you know pro athletes before pat mahomes like that wasn't a conversation because like it wasn't anything people just hate shadir sanders well they also do a lot of content NCC.
They so you see him. They are flashy.
No, but they film a lot. They film a lot.
They do the entire series. They have the Amazon Prime thing.
They do the behind-the-scenes stuff. I believe they did something at Jackson State too, so it wasn't even just Colorado.
So it's one of those things where people don't like him, but he is so tough. Sure,, sure.
Well, you know, he, he hasn't really had anything handed to him. He's earned it.
But you know, when, when you think about being able to see and know what it takes to be great, like he does know that because he grew up, you know, as the, the son of prime, like he gets what he needs to do to be a successful pro. Yeah.
But he had his hat on backwards. True.
Did you see it? I saw Colin Coward. That is one of one of colin cowards thing oh yeah that is like really one of his things and i know when tom bready went down to tampa and started doing backwards hat colin coward had to be like don't tom shit this can't be how this goes this can't be how it goes i understand what colin's saying you know colin i think is saying if i was running a franchise what i would be looking for as opposed to maybe a franchise that needs a little moxie, you know? Maybe a city that needs, like, a little bit of, you know, not even an edge person that, like, you need to be unflappably confident to potentially go into Cleveland.
Like, that might be a trait that they're looking at as a good thing, as opposed to a potentially bad thing with where they've been and how they've been and what they have to go up against here the next few years by their own doing with that contract. I also think with him when you hear all the negative stuff come out in terms of the smokescreen, it's easier because people know that the opinion is already so divisive.
It's like, hey, it's really not going to take that much work to just put out some more negative stuff. If we're a team that's drafting 7 through 12 or something like that and we really him, like we can just leak a couple of these stories and just say his combine interviews were awful.
He was really, you know, turning folks off. And people will be like, yeah.
Exactly. Yeah, I heard that too.
And people will just buy into it because of all the stuff that we've seen at Colorado. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. It's like what happens with us.
For sure. You know, it's like what happens with us.
Like, because of what has already been said, I think people will probably believe this and then bang. And it's like maybe there is some truth to it.
And then people just continue to build a narrative. I think people are looking for that narrative too.
Because they want to solidify their opinion as being right. And there's not much to talk about right now.
It's all speculation with these guys. So it's like that's good fodder.
like that's going to drive a lot of conversation. So I think whereas in years past, maybe some of these guys, it's more of an unknown.
Like people know that there is no middle ground with him. It's either people love him or they hate him.
So it might be easier to kind of leak these stories and get more conversation out there. Shador, Gucci, see you just put a video of a workout.
I believe Baker Mayfield's there. Shador Sanders speaks on reports concerning his draft stock.
Everybody trying to make my stock drop right now, don't believe media. Don't believe in media.
Please. Please.
I love it. Love it.
I love everything about it. And also, he's been in the limelight forever.
So whenever you talk about becoming the face of a program. Bradley Martin? When he cut here, right? Oh, that's not Baker.
That was not Baker. Yeah, right when he cut to him.
Was that Bradley Martin, a big? Yeah. That kind of looks like Baker, doesn't it? Bradley Martin has a lot of Baker.
Sorry, I know Bradley is much more jacked. But whenever it's just a side profile there, that a lot of Baker, I do apologize for getting that particular thing wrong, but Shador is literally, he's been there, Tom Brady's been his mentor.
The Raiders obviously have a top 10 pick. There's so much.
I'm excited to see that. He's unflappable, though.
He does feel unflappable. He does seem to handle everything very well.
Let's stick with the Browns. Batonio's coming back.
Congrats. Oh, yeah, Joel.
Congrats, Joel Batonio. You know, if Joel Batonio

remains a Brown forever,

which is obvious, and they never

win, this will be Joe Thomas

at tackle,

Batonio in there at guard.

They're building a Hall of Fame offensive line

that has never really had a chance

to experience the high life.

And I think Batonio

is a guy that we've got a chance to chat with, and obviously

watch him do his thing. Excited he's

back, good for football. Way to go,

I'm a bit to experience the high life. And I think Batonio is a guy that we've got a chance to chat with and obviously watch him do his thing.

Excited he's back, good for football.

Way to go, Batonio.

Aren't we all happy, AJ, for Batonio?

I love you, Joel.

How could you not be happy?

I mean, this guy is Cleveland football.

Look at him.

Guy's awesome.

I agree.

Way to go, Batonio.

How about Vrabel came out and said I didn't have an actual job with the Browns

and it was never talked about for me to actually have a job. Oh, yeah, of course.
They couldn't afford it. I don't have any money.
Haslam's like, you know how much money I had to put into a fucking fund? You think I can get you as a DC? No way. All right.
It's been a hell of a day. Anything we didn't talk about that we didn't talk about? Less need.
Okay, Boston Conner. Less need chit-chatting about Cooper Cup.
This does feel like it is a good convo because the Patriots are allegedly a potential contender for Cooper Cup services. Obviously, any team that's looking for a wide receiver could potentially look into Cooper Cup.
But how good is the market for Cooper Cup? Les Snead spoke about it, Con, man. Yeah, it kind of sounds like the market isn't great, especially with some of these other teams.
DK coming out and some other guys being available. Christian Kirk getting cut, but basically Lesney just said, like, sure, yes, there is a chance that Cooper Cup comes back, but that is probably not going to happen.
He also said, you know, you see what we're trying to do here, okay? We're trying to get him to, you know, be on a different team. He clearly costs a good amount of money.
You see the writing on the wall when it comes to the cap that they have with Puka, you know, kind of being one of those guys they got to pay soon. The D-lineman from two years ago, not even Jared Verse, that they're also going to have to pay.
Very good players. So it feels as though Cooper Cubs getting moved.
And when we talk about like Debo going for a fifth and that being nothing, it feels like Cooper Cup is going to be another one of those guys who goes for the bare minimum. But no matter where he goes, it does feel like if he's playing, it's going to be a hell of a get.
And, you know, we've already mentioned how important it is for Devontae, you know, to play on the West Coast. Simple, you know, moving sucks.
Don't want to do it. Chargers makes a lot of sense, of course, especially with the, you know, the money they just saved by cutting bosa and that would be a sweet little uh package between lad mcconkey and cooper cup all exciting whites over there some people think that that should be illegal i would probably agree with that people um but even like a sam fran would be cool there's plenty of spots cooper cup will be perfect yeah cooper cup when he's healthy is a game changer that has certainly been the question.
What the hamstring was really the big thing. Body guru, some sort of like.
Had to go up to Minnesota to get it worked on. Yeah, the wide receiver, obviously, that's a very important part of the body.
If he gets that figured out, and he sent a message out basically like, hey, I'm ready. I want to go continue to play.
We can't wait to watch him. Good luck to Cooper Cup, buddy.
Hell yeah, Coop. And to the Rams who say, you see, come on.

We get it.

Everybody kind of gets what's happening.

We love Cooper.

We're thankful for Cooper.

Appreciative of Cooper.

Sean McVay said, I'm a better human because of Cooper Cup.

I'm a better coach because of Cooper Cup.

But it feels like that is over.

Excited to see who's the one that makes the decision.

And what's the end-up contract for Cooper Cup at the next team?

No more contracts. No more more teams a legend has retired mason crosby what a run oh yeah i put out a tweet whenever i learned of mason crosby retiring because i genuinely remember this guy kicking whenever he was at colorado i think he was a playboy all-american they wrote articles about him and uh he's a little bit older than me so somebody that I could kind of look up to and watch and follow along with massive leg but when he's at Colorado everybody said well he's at altitude so easy to have a massive leg there then he goes over to Lambeau Field like one of the hardest places to kick in the entire world swirling winds incredibly cold and all he did was just become the all-time

leading scorer break all these records consecutive kicks in the playoffs and he played for 17 years

so at the kicking position to be able to play for 17 years the amount of work commitment uh

technical strategizing you have to do with your body the just everything it takes to be able to

be at that high of a level to be one of the best 32 kickers in the world, and to perform is immense. So congratulations to Mason.
You did great things for the brand, and his surprise onside kick was lethal. And I watched that as well as I was trying to learn my own with the lead-up and set-up.
So watching this silver fox from afar helps me out immensely. And from all accounts he was beloved by his teammates aj obviously you were a teammate of his i think that's one of the biggest things that i respect when it comes to kickers and punters as well yeah and mason was a guy like he came in the year after me so i mean 23 consecutive postseason field goals that's unbelievable like when in the biggest moments he never shied away and was always great.
But he's one of those guys where, you know, people take kickers and punters for granted. They really do.
Like when you have a great one, people tend to take them for granted. I remember multiple times thinking how lucky we were to have Mason Crosby.
I mean, in college, Mike Nugent was our kicker. Like unbelievable.
I don't ever remember Nugent missing a field goal. I don't remember Mason really missing a field goal either.
That's what I realized how lucky I was to be a teammate of him when it's something you don't have to worry about. Like, you know when you don't have a kicker, you hear these coaches talking about, hey, you know, I just say a little prayer every time he runs on the field.
Like, we never had that worry when Mason was out there because the dude was ultra confident. What was cool, too, is he never complained about the elements or what was going on.
You know it's a tough place to kick in Lambeau. The winds were on its freezing cold.
He never said anything about that. He just went out there and made everything, I feel like.
Yeah, it was a shock when he missed. There's a few guys that it's like you're surprised when he missed.
And he had that one game that was terrible. Yeah, it was against the Lions.
And then he kind of got the yips the game after that. That was literally the only time in his career.
17 exactly where it didn't feel like he was absolutely automatic and then you talk about like having a guy like you know you say praying when the guy runs onto the field like that's a when when a guy like that leaves and you move on from him and all of a sudden it's not him anymore like it is it's jarring like it's just it's crazy i mean that's what the packers ran into two years ago in the playoffs like it was LaFleur got pissed and it was kind of tongue-in-cheek but he told Tom Rinaldi when Anders Carlson he was like hey when we set him out there you know we kind of hold our breath like you never had that with Mason Crosby like you always expected him to make those kicks he obviously always made him in the playoffs and then when you move on from a guy like that you't have it anymore, like it's drastic how much it changes your football team. And as a fan, like just how much more anxiety it gives you all the time.
I, I respected and appreciated the way Mason went about doing his work so much so that I heard he earned a bar and I only ate at that place for the entire weekend to support his business. That was a lie, I heard, right? He does not own any restaurants or bars

around Lambeau? Not that I know

of, no. Well, whatever

it was, that's a good gimmick. You got me.

Hook, line, and sinker. I had breakfast, lunch,

and dinner at that place for three straight days.

Hell yeah, I'll support Mason, everything he's done.

Congrats, Mason. Hell of a career,

buddy. I believe he also had 25

tackles and a forced fumble in his career.

Dog. He's a football guy.
Dog. Might be why I respected and appreciated him so, so much.
I forgot about those tactics. He put out a letter to Green Bay thanking them for all the love and how appreciative he was to be a member of the community and to be a Green Bay Packer.
Silver Fox looks incredibly professional. I believe he and his brother are also currently hosting a podcast.
Excited to see what he does in this post-NFL career. You're going to do great things, Mason.
You're a weapon, dude. Congratulations.
Hell yeah, Mason. You guys got it sorted over there with McManus now.
Yeah, yeah. That's why they paid him, I think.
For sure. We're not doing that whole shit again.
No, because it was. It's like that's the worst thing ever.
When it literally is 50-50 whether a guy's going to make a kick. And not like, you know, even like Mason, you sent him out there for 55-plus and you always felt like, okay, he's going to make this.
But when you get a guy when you sent him out there for a 40-yarder and you still don't know, there's a very good chance he's going to make this. Mason hit that little left-to-right ball, right? He hit a little left-to-right, if I recall.
Yeah, a little baby fade. Yeah, a little baby fade.
Nuge hit the draw, right? Nuge, I don't know. Dead straight down the middle.
I don't know if he was hooking it or fading it. I don't remember Nuge's balls.
I remember Coach Trestle, though. When we'd watch special teams as a team in college, and you know the one end zone at Ohio Stadium with the closed end, there's a huge flag pole right in the middle.
That's right in the middle of the goalpost. And Nuge, every extra point that he would kick, Coach Trestle would sit there and if the ball was like a half a centimeter off that flagpole, he's like, Nuge, we're going to need to tighten this up a little bit.
Like if he wasn't dead center, like because Nuge was that good, he could almost mess around and joke like, hey, that didn't split the uprights perfectly. That was almost a missed kick

for you. Aim small, miss small.
Nuge

was that guy.

Second round draft pick?

Yeah, or end of the

first. Yeah.

Yeah, maybe a first round draft pick. Dog.

Absolute dog. What a career

at Ohio State. Ohio.
There's that flagpole.

There it is. And there he is.
He hit it right

down the middle. Second round.
Second round pick.

Beginning of second, though, I think. 47.

Middle. Nonetheless.

Stay with us. at Ohio State.
There's that flagpole. And there he is.
Second round pick. Beginning of second, though, I think.
47. Middle.
Nonetheless. Still pretty high.
Second round draft pick. Centerville, Ohio.
It's crazy. What a dog, now.
Snuck that one in. Doesn't matter.
Count it against Kent State. All right.
Congrats to Mason Crosby. And shout out to Nugent, dude.
He's always been super cool to me, too, every time I see him, so I appreciate him. Mason Crosby and Nugent.
It's taken me back to when I was a college kid. Like, what guys should I need to...
Those are the guys. Mason Crosby done now.
Adam Vinatieri not going in first balance. Bullshit.
Crazy. That's bullshit.
I agree. I don't think anybody in there would have been upset.
No way. No.
And they do get upset about guys that go in, I think the hall of famers i think they are there's like people that don't get up if vinitary would have got in i think even the o-lineman or whatever whoever would be most pissed potentially like vinitary yeah yeah adam vinitary makes it and he might get screwed over next year because of how good the eligible you know first-time guys are yeah agreed and what you say say, AJ, he's a dude? He's a dude. That's another reason why he should absolutely be it.
Yeah, agreed. All right, let's get the hell out of here.
We're back tomorrow. Big time.
Feel good Friday tomorrow. Big time.
Excited to see what we did today. You know, that's going to.
Sure. I'm excited to see what we did today.
We played a pretty clean game today. I don't know.
There's been a couple of those days where I've been like, I don't think we started any incidents today. And then right before bed, I just go ahead and pop open the phone.
It's like, nope. Turns out we did.
All right, we'll try better tomorrow. You know? I think at some point it's going to get to the point where it's not like that.
We'll be better. Maybe people understand us a little bit more.
And if it's not, fuck them. We enjoy the thought of being able to talk about sports every single day.
Thank you so much for allowing us to do this for a living. You're the greatest people on earth.
Big night out date announcement coming on Monday. Monday.
Monday. And then ticket sale date announced shortly after that and then show

at some point

soon after that

it's all it seems all

too you know

like right now everything seems to be a little

bit too there's always a quiet before the storm

give it we got some time

you know seems like we got too much

maybe not that much

no such thing as too much time

Thank you. to be a little bit too.
There's always a quiet before the storm. We got some time.
It seems like we got too much. Maybe not that much.

No such thing as too much time.

Time

why you

punish me.

Hootie.

Well, he doesn't like being called Hootie. Don't call him that.

Come on. I mean, the band.

Well, Hootie and the Blowfish.

The Blowfish.

He posted on his Instagram. I like following along with him because

Thank you. Well, he doesn't like being called Hootie.
Don't call him that. Come on.
I mean, the band. The band.
Various. Well, Hootie and the Blowfish.
The Blowfish. The Blow.
Yeah. He posted on his Instagram.
I like following along with him because it's not the cocaine. They're the Blowfish.
Yeah. Or the movie Blow, obviously.
The Blowfish. George Young.
The Blowfishies. Yeah.
Yeah. I like following along with his golf.
He does a lot of golfing, so I'm singing in there. He's a good follow.
And I saw him post a video about how everybody thinks they're the funniest person on earth whenever they call him hootie and he's like mocking everybody calling him it's like oh he fucking hates does this guy hate being called hootie i don't because as soon as he came on our show i'm sure that's all right so darius we respect hey just want to let you know massive for both entities. But we found you when you were Hootie.
But you've certainly done great things with Darius. Still love you as Darius.
Love him as Darius. The artist formerly known as.
Hootie! That's what we need to do going forward. We'll get it right sometime.
All right. Be a friend.
Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life.

We're interesting together.

Let's never forget it.

Hey, new soccer podcast out right now.

Where do they get it?

How do they get it?

Where is it at, Gumpsh?

It's on Apple and Spotify

and on YouTube.

I recommend YouTube.

There's a lot of cool videos

and shots of everything.

Talk about TST a little bit.

Jeff Cameron tearing his MCL

to score a goal.

Yeah, there's good stories in there. Bailey McComas is on the ones and twos for the youtube videos right yes he is okay we appreciate bailey's commitment yeah he did a great job he did he did a great job on it and what is it youtube.com the oh good question oh no don't you need to wait like two weeks before they give you the no we uh we pulled a we pulled a little bit of a move.
We got rid of the hockey talk. Rest in peace.
It's the Concafa Soccer Show. The Concafa Soccer Show.
Yeah. Yeah, we did a little bit of a move.
We didn't want to create a whole new page. No, it makes sense.
Good use of resources. Makes sense.
Thanks a lot, AQ. Thank you.
Yeah, AQ Shipley. Blame him.
Thank you to AQ Shipley. But the Concafa Soccer Show is the YouTube?

Yes, sir.

Big game tonight as well.

Inter-Miami playing in the Concafa Champions Cup.

We're going to win a Concafa again.

Can't wait.

Jeff Cameron, Breck Shea, very good.

I can't express enough how great the stories that they have.

Like, playing all those years in England, it is awesome listening to them talk. So some of it I think is going to be for soccer people.
Like telling some of the Stokes stories and all these things. Like soccer people are going to respect a lot more, appreciate it a lot more.
But then there's like the update on what the hell is going on stuff. That is probably what I will listen to and understand what's going on.
You know, everything else I'll listen because it's Jeff and Breck and I appreciate them, but if you're just a

casual soccer person, which I assume

everybody that is watching this particular

program is,

there's roundup of everything happening

so we can act like we know. Yeah, we're hitting

every league. Champions League going on

right now. MLS, EPL, we hit on

every league in the episode that was released today.

Thank you, Conkay, for

Soccer Show. Hell yeah.
Thank you, Conkay, thank you concave for shot 18 000 subscribers already pretty good why'd you pay for those did you pay for those subscribers what a start oh no he said no i didn't do that it's just fresh off one video People saw that video and they're like, give me that. How many views on that video?

I think it was like 600.

It was pretty good.

Okay, so how did we get 18,000 subscribers?

600 views.

Math ain't math.

Crazy how it works.

Rest in peace.

That's Hockey Talk.

Great show.

Great show.

Well best.

Life happens.

And A.Q. Shipley quit.

Be your friend.

Tell a friend something nice.

It might change your life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me. Team on three.

Great, great week

thus far. Yeah.

Let's close out strong tomorrow. Hell yeah.

One, two, three, team.

Goodbye.

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