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

20:29Pat McAfee:He comes flying. Whoa, whoa, whoa, boys, I got stripes on. Can you hear me? can't hit me can't hit me everybody relax get always gonna be hitting me always now this is like whenever you're exiting in an airplane you know do you go uh uh do you go front towards or do you go back towards you know and he made the decision here he's going front towards okay he's getting in there you know uh maybe make sure he can protect it i think if he would have turned that thing and did this one too i think we have the same outcome but i appreciate him going right into uh like kind of a nurturing uh situation this guy's got no helmet he's on the other team sideline holy shit this could escalate very quickly he's an ex-player shout out to him ex-player is a ref we appreciate the hell out of him getting in there and saving a good situation that's good reffing okay we got a spot like that because there is some ass reffing happening out there and him former player being a ref made us revisit this thought the nfl needs to just create an academy of some sort for ex-players to be able to become officials so in the nfl they have in the nflpa they have something called the broadcast boot camp okay where guys that are in the nfl are allowed to apply and then they go to this broadcast boot camp and then there's network executives from every single different network and you basically get to learn what a potential job could be you also get to showcase if you could be good in front of them now i got turned down to that thing three times i think i'm the only person on tv out of the nfl that did not go through the broadcast boot camp never never was allowed in thank you so much i appreciate you thank god i didn't get invited now on that note it has helped out a lot of ex-players it has given a lot of ex-players a lot of incredible opportunities.

21:56Pat McAfee:We need to do something similar for officiating. And I think the NFL could do, you know, a big baby face play here if they get ex-NFL players to find like a purpose now, and they're probably going to be good. But also we can get a full-time ref set up. And I'm not saying all refs have to be players, but I think we should try to get a little funnel of people that understand the game, that aren't soft, that aren't going to, you know, miss context of plays and stuff. And I think we can kind of set precedent for other leagues to do this with their players as well. You know, it just feels like it's an easy thing to do, but what do I know?

22:27Pat McAfee:You know, I don't know. You could probably get these guys to move to a place, go to the academy, do year-round training, have them go to spring practice, have them go to training camp, have them do all that shit. And then obviously once they get to the level in which you're comfortable with them, you put them in. Have them do some college games, have them do some preseason games, have them do practices, do this entire thing. I think you can set up like a feeding ground almost for ex-players to give back to the game and hopefully make our game better. But what the fuck do I know? Honestly, BA. I assume you've been talking about the refs for a long time.

22:56We brought this idea up a long time ago, and it comes back to the union. They've got to join the union to ever get on the field. The refs union? The refs union. And the refs union run the whole thing. Hopefully that contract comes up soon and we can break it. And hopefully we can get this in place so that we can play some with quality people rather than the scabs.

23:15Pat McAfee:Also, May 2026, I guess, is the NFL ref union deal is up. So if you have any ideas, let's certainly do that. we appreciate all the refs of the past that have certainly laid the groundwork to get us to where we are. Refs are a very important part of the game. Need to be full-time. And also, we need better access for players to get in there and get back together. Tough job. Tough job. Yeah. And so if a guy wants to do it, we should allow him to potentially want to do it. Not a lot of people want to be coaches. A lot of time, brother. Not a lot of people on earth want to be refs. But if people want to, there should be an easier way to kind of get them in there.

23:43Pat McAfee:And maybe we got another Nate Jones of the future that saves the situation happening after the game. Now, Let's talk about the NBA. Huge day for the NBA. Congrats to them. They're season stars. Tonight on NBC at 7.30, you've got Houston at Oklahoma City. And then at 10 o 'clock, you've got the Warriors at the Lakers. Now, the Lakers are without LeBron for a little bit because he's got a sciatica. Joining us now, co-host of the Mind the Game podcast, and also senior advisor, I believe, for the Phoenix Sun, an NBA Hall of Famer, multiple-time MVP, 18-year vet, ladies and gentlemen, Canadian Steve Nash.

24:20Pat McAfee:What's up, everybody? Hey, sorry you had to catch the tail end of me saying that we need full-time refs over here. Do you have any answers for the NFL? We need to figure it out. Well, I thought the front toward or back toward was an important topic this morning. Like, that's a tricky area of debate here. Like, I'm not, you know, I don't know, like, what I would choose. It's tough. So, have you ever on a sideline, maybe on a bench, because things are tight there? You know, on your guys' NBA benches, they're tight. Have you ever had to do the, oops, scusey, scusey, scusey? You ever have to do that?

24:48Pat McAfee:Did you do butt down? Did you do face down? What was your move, Steve? I don't know what's Canadian. I tried to go neutral, you know, neutral right between, not front or back. Just how can I, you know, weave my way through here? Definitely, yeah. Front, back, it's kind of awkward. Get thin, get thin, get thin. I understand what you're saying. Congrats on another season starting. You're also doing coverage for Amazon, I believe. Let's go. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, what does that entail? What does that mean? And what has been happening to lead up to this moment to launch off with Amazon? Yep. So Amazon Prime's NBA coverage starts Friday night.

25:20We have the Celtics and the Knicks. Lakers, T-Wolves will be in studio from L.A. The great Taylor Rooks, my buddy Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin, Adonis Haslam, and myself will be in studio for those two games, pregame, halftime, postgame. Great crew, super fun to work with. We've had rehearsals. We've had seminars. We've done a little bit of prep, and everyone's just excited. For me, it's fun because we get to hang. You know, like just watching games together, talking about the game, being together, great chemistry. I think we can really develop a fun show. And I'm excited to kind of get into your world a little bit, Pat.

25:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, you've been in our world. And we know that if you were to get into anything that we do, you will dominate it. We watch you do a lot of things in here. And you were great at all of them, including house and wine. I mean, that was an incredible feat as well. But speaking of our world, the media world, you know, for us, it feels like we're back in the locker room here. Like, I think if you were to ask D-Bud or AJ or any of the guys that come through this show, Coach McCarthy, BA even a little bit, we have like a sense of community. We all love ball. When they say retired players, you know, kind of transition in real life, they miss that feeling.

26:24Pat McAfee:We have that. I'm excited for you to have that. But do you also appreciate the fact that the NBA right now has so many of the ex-goats? I mean, yourself included now being a part of it, being a part of the coverage. That's good for the game ultimately. Do you agree with that? I think it's great. You know, I think people are going to be a little uncomfortable to start because now all of a sudden we have, you know, we have two new rights holders in Amazon and NBC. We got obviously ABC and ESPN. So there's going to be way more games than ever on national TV, which I think is positive. We're going to have way more talent, former players.

26:58I think it's going to be a really interesting landscape. But it's going to take a minute for people to kind of change their habits and know what nights are we on Prime, what nights are we on ESPN, what nights are we on NBC. but overall it's going to be a big win when everyone kind of figures it out and realizes we got a lot of great ex-players talking about the game sharing their experiences and highlighting what a great league it is right now a lot of games uh we had a full conversation

27:17Pat McAfee:with adam silver that will be airing in about an hour and a half or so earlier this morning and just talking about negotiating and kind of transitioning into this new media rights deal with streaming and social and obviously still having linear games i think it's great for the nba also great for the nba i think the style of play what have you seen by the style of play assuming the last year that's going to carry into this year that maybe is different than five years ago or 10 years ago if you had to get if you had to describe yeah for sure you know i think we we have this kind of debate i think um you know let's start of last year ratings were down people were complaining about too many threes um you know by the end of the year the ratings have never been higher the playoffs were exceptional you know we had as everyone complained no offense to your home team but there's two two you know smaller market teams it was unbelievable basketball unbelievable series uh the whole entire playoffs just had an incredible viewership i think the game's in an incredible place i think you do see some teams some of the poorer teams perhaps they take a lot of threes they take a lot of poor threes where they don't touch the paint they don't create good looks because the variance of shooting threes oh no poor that's what he's talking about the way they play the game the way they defend together the way they move the ball touch the paint get threes you know i think that's what's you know makes this game so beautiful because it's kind to become instead of like being super predictable dribble down throw it in the post run a set now it's kind of more jazz we're reading reacting we're trying to create knock the first domino down swing the ball someone attacks the closeout now so now we're playing basketball together and out of read and react rather than it's just going into the post of this guy and you know nine guys are standing and looking at him so i think the game's in a great pace great place with the pace the space the good teams are defending together on a string because you have to defend more space now right guys are shooting from farther out we're playing quicker in transition so you got to get back you got to cover guys in a lot more space makes rotations longer teams are making decisions should they get in the gaps make take away the paint then that opens up the back line rotation so i love the evolution of the game i love where it's going i think it's a lot of fun to see how coaches and teams and players continually adapt to try to get an advantage yeah i love listening to you talk about basketball brother i think you know it a little bit yeah you should maybe You should maybe stick to it.

29:30Pat McAfee:I think that's something. Soccer player, though, too, right? Good soccer player? Love me some soccer. Growing up, my mom and dad are from the UK. Grew up playing soccer. Still watch a ton of soccer. Still play once a week. I know you got some soccer skills, Pat. Yeah, you turned us down for TST. Remember, you're supposed to be on the run. Yeah, you're supposed to be on our team. You're supposed to be on Concae for Steve. You're supposed to be on Concae for Steve. Five kids, Pat. Five kids. I can't just fly across the country, you know, for a little soccer tourney. Not just good at soccer and basketball.

29:59Pat McAfee:Five kids. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Delivery man. Okay, D-Bud has a question for you. Hey, Steve, the NBA landscape has kind of changed now. Not as many super teams as we would call it. A couple with a couple stars like the Lakers, the Mavs. But what was it like for you? I know as a player you had to do it, especially those Suns Day with Stat and the Matrix, those superstars. But, like, you were head coach of the Brooklyn Nets when they had James Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving. What's the toughest challenge when it comes to managing, like, multiple, I guess, alphas on the same squad? Well, clearly, you know, when players are – they've built – you know, there's – ego is good and bad, right?

30:38And you need an ego to get to the top, but you need to always have it in balance. When you have three guys that have made it to the top, that demand a lot of it from themselves, yeah, at times it can be difficult. You expect that, though. But I think our biggest problem in Brooklyn, and it's why the game is changing a little bit, is that we were always injured. Of our three stars, they played 16 games together in over two years. So I think because of situations like that, we're seeing the league go away from three stars and go to more depth, like getting guys six, seven, eight, nine who can make threes, defend their position or multiple positions, can make a play.

31:12When they get a closeout, they can drive the ball and make the next pass. So for me, I think the three-star thing, if you don't grow it at home through the draft and build your team that way, I think teams are a lot more reluctant to try to go pick off three free agent superstars because you need depth. And if one gets injured, you know, everyone else in your roster is such a, you know, I don't want to be mean, but is way down in quality. So now you've got guys stepping up, having to play roles maybe they're not necessarily able to do. So it can put a lot of strain on the team. So I think we're seeing a lot of teams.

31:44You saw it in the playoffs. You saw how deep the Pacers went. Shout out to Rick Carlisle, Lloyd Pierce. I think they gave guys an opportunity to develop and play that maybe a lot of coaches wouldn't have given that much rope to. And in the end of the day, those guys took them to game seven and they had a chance to win, especially if Tyrese didn't get hurt. So growing your depth, developing players, getting a deeper bench has become really much more important nowadays than trying to pick off three stars. So it's a team sport?

32:13Pat McAfee:That's crazy. I didn't know that. I didn't know basketball was a team sport. We may have forgot for a moment, but it's back to being a team sport. Okay, okay. I'm happy we all did forget that for a moment because it felt like that whenever it was being talked about and maybe even watching it. But to your point, we went deep on the roster, and the New York Knicks just refused to do so for so long. So back-to-back years, we just kind of ran them out of the entire playoff. That's basically what we did. I mean, we ran you guys out of the gym. Got Tibbs fired. That's fired. Didn't play his bench. Now, Tibbs, great work over there.

32:43Pat McAfee:That's a tough place to coach. Yeah, helping out Boston now. Yeah, exactly. So, tough stuff over there. Eastern Conference Finals, right? Yeah. New York Knicks. And they fire them. Yeah, but Pacers. Go win the big one. Yeah, big bad Tyrese Halliburton's howling out there. He's doing some gardening at Madison Square Garden, brother. That makes sense. Yeah, and also it does make sense, especially for just sports in general. Like, okay, this guy's good, but not great. So, let's get out of here because we might be ass, but it's better than where we are now in the Eastern Conference Finals. You talked about Tyrese getting hurt in Game 7.

33:14Pat McAfee:Let's just make sure we understand whenever we're on a microphone talking about stuff, we talk about facts. If Tyrese wouldn't have got hurt, he had 45 points that night. It's going to be a triple-double, and the Pacers are going to win the title, and Tyrese goes down as one of the greatest players in the history of basketball because of the playoff run. Just so you know, Steve, we saw what was going to happen, okay? Just as you know. On that note, about talking about games and players. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Steve, loved how you said basketball is like jazz. as my goat Michael Scott views the game the same way.

33:45When you're commentating for these games, you know, during the pre-show, the one, you know, we all know is the TNT show. And I mean, we see it. Shaq and Chuck do not hold back. They will bury anybody and anybody to their face and also will admit when they're wrong. Have you thought about that? How you're going to approach talking about these superstars, most of whom, you know, you've worked with and you have been one in the NBA when you were playing. How do you kind of approach that aspect of it when Kevin Durant or James Harden or Kyrie Irving, who, you know, they gave great answers about the Brooklyn Nets debacle on starting five.

34:21But have you really thought about how you're going to talk about those types of players when things aren't going too well for them? I'm going to kill them.

34:32Honestly, you know, you brought up Chuck and Shaq. And I mean, I think the biggest thing, you guys would know this, you got to be yourself, I think, on TV. And the audience is only going to want to hear from you if they feel like you're authentic. So we're going to all have to find our voice, find that chemistry. You know, that show has been gold. It's been entertainment. You know, for us, you know, we're going to probably take a slightly different direction just because of the personalities. You know, I think, you know, maybe part of us would be more analytical, you know, breaking down the game a little more.

34:59But like UD, you don't have to have them. He is a straight shooter. You know, he's going to give it to you exactly how he sees it. you know BG obviously Blake Griffin a super smart player but also super funny so you know Dirk barely speaks English so I will figure it out you know we'll figure it out as we go just the whole time that would be incredible can you speak German I know a couple cuss words that's about it so

35:25Pat McAfee:okay we know that one one big beer please let's see of course That means thank you. Dark cancer. Anytime you get a non-English. Was ist das? Who? Was ist das? This man was born in Germany. What is this? Was ist das? Close enough. My dad speaks German. Ja? I think that's ja. Nailed it. Ja? What's no? I think ja. Nein? Ah. Nein is no, I think as we're getting through. Sorry, Steve. Do this on your show. They're going to love that. Now, we are very pumped for you to be on television because I think you're going to be fair. but also the way you talk about the game is different than just like branding and shit like that you actually talk about some substance which leads to this go ahead ty yeah steve as a guy who is from canada and then you know played in the united states in college and then obviously in the nba when you look at guys like wemby and i guess sga to some degree too and like much you know similar to you he played in kentucky so he kind of gets it but are you surprised that we're having as many of these international guys come in and kind of just take over the league right away it doesn't seem like I mean I feel like when I was watching a long time ago like there was a period of time there where it was kind of you and Dirk carrying that international torch yeah yeah exactly but I mean he was you know not sustained like Steve and and Dirk and it seems like several of these guys are you know I mean what we have five international players in the top 10 of the NBA right now like does that surprise you uh how good these guys are and how quickly they're this good in their careers give you your uh to further your point i think it's the last seven mvps have been uh international players so it's um it's a global game i think that's the bottom line as the game's grown around the world the leagues become more popular the league inspires the next generation and then we also got to take our hat off to places around the world that develop talent you know like the european country's doing an incredible job teaching guys the game of basketball um you know I think we do more of a volume job.

37:29We've got a lot of people playing. Obviously, there's some great coaches, but AAU basketball, take it or leave it, some of it. It's not all great, whereas they have a club system in Europe that really hones in on fundamentals. It's not all just roll the balls out and play. Now, I don't want to be unkind to all those great coaches there are across the country, but the system doesn't allow for as much coaching as it does playing and marketing players to get college scholarships or nil deals or whatever it may be or to or to fund an au program so the system is just set up different so i think that's one of the factors um a lot of talent in the united states a lot of people love the game a lot of great coaches but the system i don't think is as efficient as a small club in slovenia or croatia or spain that's really honing in on details teaching the game and giving guys an opportunity to really develop.

38:19Pat McAfee:They're all smacking the wood, huh? Is that what you're saying? They're smacking the wood, bopping the wood? Just getting down, smacking the wood, playing D. Yeah, they're bopping that wood there. Yeah, bopping wood. You guys love bopping wood in basketball, don't you? That's kind of a part of it, especially international. I'm going to stay out of that one, but that was good. I'm talking about fundamentally signed bopping the wood. You know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about. That's what you're saying these guys are doing, bopping wood all the time. Not just some of the time. You know, there's a different level of bopping at different places.

38:49Pat McAfee:And that type of fundamentally strong bop is better than just half-ass bopping all the time. Yeah, Celtics preach, you got to eat wood if you want to win games. Yeah, Missoula's all about not just bopping, but we're eating as well. We're getting out there. It's about the wood, bro. You know that, Steve. Basketball, all about the wood. I learn something new every day. You're the expert. You get on TV. We shouldn't be teaching you that this is a wood thing. I'm not. I stay out of that wood zone. It's a good play. Yeah, because you don't play anymore. Yeah, he used to bop the wood. Yeah, he used to be the king of the wood.

39:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, you used to be all over that wood, dancing on the wood. You know what I mean? He'd be dancing on the wood. Pat dancing on the wood. Yeah, he looked so smooth. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you remember every once in a while we get a cool little Steve Nash kick of balls on wood. Yeah, oh, yeah. Now we got balls on wood. Yeah. You know what I mean? That is – that's what we're here for. All right, Steve, Coach BA, our coach has a question for you. Yeah, Steve, I'm being a big Suns fan myself, being out in the desert for five years. What's it look like for our Suns this year? Good question. Well, it's a great question, Coach.

39:53You know, I think the first thing we would say is it's a cultural reset. You know, they swung for the fences the last few years, didn't really, you know, get far in the playoffs, decided to kind of reset the organization. So they have a rookie coach, they have a rookie GM, and trying to really just create an environment where players feel like they can get better. They can develop an identity. And also just, you know, without assets. You know, the Suns don't have their own draft pick for years right now. You've got to develop some players in-house, and you've got to develop a style of play and try to be better than the sum of your parts.

40:28So it's been really exciting to see Jordan Ott, our first-year coach here. He's created an environment where all the players are working hard. They're competing. They're combative. but they feel like they have an opportunity and a path to get better. So that's all you can do at this stage or arc of development. And I think for the Suns right now, they're controlling the controllables. And I think win, lose, or draw is going to be a team you're going to be proud of watching and they're going to surprise you a little bit because they're going to be super competitive. They're going to share the ball.

40:57They're going to play hard. And I think the Valley will really enjoy watching them play.

41:00Pat McAfee:I love that city over there. I love that city over there. So nice. That place is so beautiful. The arena? The arena is so beautiful. I mean, everything about that place is awesome. I hope both the football team and basketball team get very good before my wife and I and family move out there. That is what we are hoping for. Before we let you go, and we appreciate you stopping by, I'm going to put you on the spot here. Okay, I'm going to put you on the spot. TV, wow. We're doing it. Rushmore on X dropped this morning, our fourth episode. And this week was Dunkers and Shaquille O 'Neal, Reggie Miller, Ari Emanuel, and Ben Persky put together their Rushmore of Dunkers.

41:36Pat McAfee:each person individually put together their top four dunkers of all time to start the conversation then they have to come together to get a final four here's reggie miller's rushmore of dunkers first thoughts as you look at this any obvious omissions that you would put in there and uh how do you feel about the four that reggie brought into the convo i actually really like that um i would have had vince mj and dominique in there uh zach though Super worthy. I mean, crazy speed off the floor. Incredible dunker. I like Reggie's rush more. What do you think? I don't know. I'm not the person that should be given any.

42:18Pat McAfee:LeBron, okay, I'm going to say LeBron obviously has some of the biggest ones. He's very strong. Sean Kemp. I think Kenyon Martin's name was mentioned. Power dunker. I mean, Shaq. Shaq himself. Shaquille O 'Neal is on the show, and I'm not sure, you know, how that whole conversation went with him, especially Reggie going, you broke how many backboards? Don't care. Okay, you don't make my list here. We got the human highlight reel here, brother. If you want – so who would have been your fourth? You don't have to give a fourth, actually. You're not on the show. Don't feel obligated. Yeah, that's a good question.

42:50I didn't do my prep work on the Rushmore dunkers this morning, but, I mean, Zach's great. LeBron's a great call. LeBron, like, in transition was, you know, just a train. Like, there was no getting that back in the bottle. you're just getting dunked on so that's amazing it kind of dunking's different right like it's a mix of things like Shaq Shaq and dunk on the whole team but he's also bigger than the whole team so you have sometimes it's like less impressive even though he just did something that no one else can do whereas like Zach Levine yeah Spud Webb so I think it's like you know Nate Robinson like it depends you're talking to in-game dunkers you're talking guys that like surprise you talking to you know maybe we value bigs like Shaq who are unbelievable just getting offensive rebounds and punching on someone.

43:34So I also give a little shout in-game dunker to my guy Amari. Amari Stoudemire, my pick-and-roll partner. He definitely caught some bodies when we played together. Incredible hands, incredible feet, could take off. And what a pick-and-roll partner for me in transition. He just throw it anywhere. He's going to go get it and put it down. You guys were fun to watch out there.

43:54Pat McAfee:I remember the highlights were obviously epic. I don't know if I was watching the games live. Go ahead, B.A. Where's Dr. J? The king of the game. The man invented it. I mean, if anything, Steve's partner in crime going forward, Boston Celtics legend Blake Griffin would be one that should be on there. Yeah, because he jumped over a Kia. Yeah, we watched him jump over a Kia when he was doing it. That's why the show is wild, because everybody's making an argument for who they think, and they start telling stories. It's like a great history lesson of dunking this entire episode, available now on X.

44:30Pat McAfee:And Steve, I thought you did an incredible job with Mind the Game podcast and going to continue to do that. I think you're going to do incredible with Amazon, man. We're pumped you're in the sports media world. We're thankful for that. Thank you. I really appreciate it, Pat. That's nice of you to say. Good seeing you guys. Hey, by the way, just seeing the studio, I feel good. I had my best shooting performance in over a decade in there. Boom, Steve. I'm kind of sad you didn't roll the tape, though. Well, I don't think we had it on film. Thank you, Steve. We only had pictures. We only had pictures of this.

44:57Steve. It's a studio, Pat. Like the camera.

45:03Pat McAfee:You're right. You're right. You're a hundred percent right. You, even from the warmups, from the warmups, just three bottles of wine. Yes. Yeah. Probably two and a half, three bottles of wine. Yep. Do this. Ah, I don't know. I haven't shot splash from like three feet. Okay. Let's back up six feet. I don't know. Splash. Okay. Eight feet. Boom. One more. Yeah. I'm pretty good. I think go to the corner. Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash. splash splash splash splash let's go play defense okay now we're playing defense underneath no miss no miss none didn't hit the rim splash splash splash splash splash splash splash splash splash dude it was the quick lines in the dome and what's that great sight lines great sight lines in the dome you felt good in there huh felt short felt good the hoop looked very big to you i mean it was unbelievable him you and tyrese both tyrese i guess yeah sight lines is all that matters you You guys are pretty good at what you do.

45:58Pat McAfee:Two-time MVP. Yeah, all right. 18-year NBA vet. I remember when I learned that on camera. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Nash. Yeah. Unbelievable. So cool. That was pretty boozed up. Yeah. Did we have his warm-up on film? At least, I need to watch that. Dude, he's three feet away. Boom. Just. Swish. This the whole time. Oh. The whole time. Typical OG shit. I don't know. Swish. He still has yet to touch that rim. He still has yet to touch that rim in his entire time and being here. He was here for five hours. I was here for five hours. It was outrageous whenever I say that. And just how cool he was.

46:36Pat McAfee:We're thankful he came on. I learned he was an 18-year NBA vet when I was sitting down with him for something for DAZN up in Canada. DAZN was launching something in Canada and they asked me and Marshawn Lynch and Steve Nash to go up there and do some stuff. So I was about to interview Steve Nash. So I did some research quickly on my phone about Steve Nash. I knew of Steve Nash. Obviously, I didn't know all the intel. and I'm sitting right next to him. I go, 18 years in the NBA? And he goes, yeah. Holy fuck. And I just keep scrolling. Nothing else. And it's all caught on camera. And Steve just sits there, looks at me for like two seconds and he just looks back ahead and drinks his water as I'm continuing to scroll.

47:13Pat McAfee:He could have hated us immediately. And instead he went the opposite way. We're very thankful. He's good. He loves the game. Oh yeah. He loves the game. There it is. Yeah. Holy shit. That's the exact moment. This guy has no idea. No idea. Yeah, no idea. And then I learned quickly. And then what we've learned since then is a guy loves ball. I like what sports are doing right now. A lot of coaches, a lot of players. Not saying there isn't a spot for the people that go through a journalism machinery class and everything like that. I'm saying that's very important for sports. I'm never going to take that away from sports.

47:44Pat McAfee:It is vital to have people who did not play the sport talk about the sport, not only for the good of the sport, the growth of the sport, but to keep the sport in check, too, I think, from people that are kind of outside. More objective. Yeah, I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing, not a bad thing. But more players and coaches talking about sports, I think it's great for the fans. And the NBA is, I mean, they got everybody rolling in over there. That's good for the league, I think, B.A. I think it's fantastic. Yeah, the same thing with the NFL. The more real smart-talking heads that know what they're talking about, it's better for everybody.

48:12Yeah. And same with the Major League Baseball. You know, when you got A-Rod and Big Papi and those guys on there, that's a hell of a show.

48:19Pat McAfee:Yeah. Okay, so let's talk about baseball. Last night, huge night in the baseball world. Wow. So last night, we should have been talking about there was a doubleheader money on football. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know what we're supposed to do here. Honestly, I don't know what we're supposed to do here. Huge night in baseball last night. It was a game seven last night in baseball. Yeah, game seven. And, you know, for two teams that both, you know, Toronto hasn't been to a World Series in a really, really long time. Seattle hasn't ever been to a World Series. So, I mean, you know, just all the drama was already there.

48:48And boy, did the game deliver. Start in the top of the fifth inning in big dumper. A season of a lot of signature moments. This was definitely his most signature to this point. He hits a solo homer to take the Mariners' lead to 3-1. And if you're a Blue Jays fan, you're thinking, oh boy, here we go. The season's about to go down the pooper. But then in the bottom of the seventh with two guys on right after a pitching change, George Springer, pull. He gets a sinker right down the middle. And it was absolute bedlam in Toronto. The 1-0 pitch.

49:24Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. Oh, that's awesome. One more time, please. Can we get back to the beginning of that sound? You can imagine. The 1-0 pitch. High fly ball. Oh. No doubt it. A Rose Arena. What is it going?

49:46Pat McAfee:Who's on the photo? It was John Smoltz and then Joe Davis, I believe. What a call. What a moment. This guy went to UConn. UConn has a baseball team, or he started playing baseball after he went to UConn. Disrespectful. UConn legend. You know UConn baseball was just in the thing with Jig last year. That's respect. They were close to the thing with Jig. This is George Springer's thing on the postseason, right? Yeah. So that homer gives him 23 for his career. He is tied for third all time for the most postseason homers. So, yeah, he's a bit of a Mr. October. A lot of people will say, hey, this guy was on the Astros.

50:22He cheated. But he has since been remorseful about that. And, yeah, anytime they needed a guy to do something, he answered the bell. And then this is the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Hoffman, Julio Rodriguez at the plate with a full count. He strikes out on a slider low and away. And the Blue Jays are going to their first World Series since 1993. Just, I mean, incredible game. Like the drama in that. And as someone who, like, Blue Jays beat the Yankees. They're in the Yankees division. I definitely didn't want to see them win because the Mariners had never been there. You know, we talked to Cal Rowley a couple times this year and followed him throughout the season.

50:59But, man, that is just incredible because Toronto is – and maybe this is a better question for Gump. I don't know about Canada as a whole, but, like, Toronto is so invested in the Blue Jays. Like, they will – I mean, hearing that place, you could hear a pin drop in there when they went down 3-1. and it's kind of like, hey, we had the best record in the American League this year and it's all going to be for not – who knows if we'll ever get the opportunity to get back to this place. And then, boom, one swing of the bat and it's like Toronto's ready to riot.

51:28Pat McAfee:Gumpy, is that Canada's team up there, the Blue Jays? Absolutely. They all love them out there. Rogers owns the Blue Jays, the Maple Leafs, the Raptors. Wow. Oh, they need it. Yeah. They certainly need it. Oh, yeah. Lots of money. Yeah, lots of money and they need it. He also, there was a photo I think you showed me of Vladdy with an Expos jersey on, I think, whenever he was a boy. Yeah, when he was a kid, his dad played for the Expos. And there's a great picture of him with his helmet up in the air as a young baseball player. And then with his helmet up in the air as a Blue Jay champion. What a time.

51:59Pat McAfee:You're a big baseball guy, huh? I love it. I just wanted to see the best drama. The dumper was on deck. I know. Take that damn pitch and let the dumper come up. What happened? Yeah, the big dumper was on deck in that situation. but Julio Rodriguez was two for four in this game. He has been nails for them. But a lot of people are saying, man, if you could just find a way to kind of get on base, work a walk there, then you're going to bring up Big Dumper, who earlier in the game, after he hit his solo homer, they intentionally walked him with no one on base. And you're thinking in a situation like that.

52:32They got a pistol. Yeah, you kind of have to because if they put somebody on, then a single wins the game. So we potentially would have got Big Dumper for all the marbles. So, yeah, it's tough. Someone released, or not someone, it was on the internet of, like, the pitches in the last at-bat, and none of them were strikes. They were all balls. Yeah. And he just swung three times.

52:54Pat McAfee:That whole inning, the two batters before him, like, nobody was swinging at what they should have been swinging at. Oh, the dumper could have had a chance to save the city. He could have. In the bottom of the ninth. Man. He could have. Two, one person on. Yep. That's World Series kind of stuff. I mean, that is, that's what dumper dreams of. Yeah. That's what I dream of as a baseball fan. I almost fell asleep right before that all happened. I didn't get a chance to see the ending there. But, boy, baseball, huge night in a game seven. Would be great on a Tuesday. Well, you know, we'll get that for the World Series.

53:24Would be great on a Tuesday.

53:26Pat McAfee:Would be great if that was happening tonight, if we knew that was happening. Very true. In hindsight, though, like, boy, do I feel bad for you. If you were, like, a Seattle resident and you decided to watch the Seahawks game instead of that because that game fucking sucked and this game was awesome. So, like, you know, you'll have more Seahawks games. That could have been, you know, the end of it. But just for context, the Blue Jays, their preseason win total, 79 and a half. The Dodgers, 105 and a half. So, like, the Blue Jays were not expected to be here at all. So, if you really want, like, the underdog against, like, the, you know, the big bad superpower, that's exactly what we're going to get with the World Series.

54:03Pat McAfee:And David Roberts said, let's win four more games and make everybody hate us or something like that. And Shohei, you know, in their closeout game, had the greatest game in the history of baseball. So we'll see. You know, something's got to give. Is Shohei just going to do that four more straight times? Let's just put him in there four straight times. Just let Shohei have a Shohei night and just let's go ahead and win the World Series. At this point, I'm with it. You know, hey, four games left. If you burn three years off this guy's career because you let him throw four nights in a row and give him the opportunity to hit 12 homers and 12 at-bats, we need to see.

54:30Pat McAfee:Sounds like there's a little bit of mockery in that answer. Not at all. I love Shohei. Blue Jays also thought they were getting Shohei when he went to the Dodgers, too, so there is a little bit of beef. Well, I want to let you know, bad news for the Blue Jays because he is everything they thought he was going to be. Without a doubt, and he was never going to Toronto. I hate to break it to him. He is special. Yeah. This guy is unbelievable. They released that$750 million contract was made back in one year for merch and ticket sales and everything for the Dodgers, but you said best performance in baseball.

55:01Is that the greatest single game in just the history of sports? when it comes to 10 strikeouts, three for three.

55:06Pat McAfee:I think it's definitely on the Rushmore if there was to be a Rushmore. I don't know who else. I saw a guy scored 100-some points in a game. No, that's not real. What? Yeah, that was a lot. Leslie in high school at halftime, 100 and a half times. Oh, yeah, Reggie Miller's sister as well. What did you say? Will Chamberlain scored 100. You saw it? Well, it was in Hershey, Pennsylvania. That's what they said. You should have asked Steve. Were you there? No. Was anybody? There was a bunch of folks there. but yeah, we'll score it 100. Really? Are we 100 % sure? I'm pretty sure. I will put you as a vote for yes.

55:39Pat McAfee:Okay. Con man, you already said no. That didn't happen. Absolutely not. Ty? I'm going to say yes. D-butt? No. Okay. And Ty's yes also comes with the asterisk that he believes we went to the moon. Correct. So we dig him. We're all kind of consistent up here. How we feel about this? Yeah, a little open-minded versus, yeah, no, I believe it type conversation. On that note, I wish he did. I hope he did. Come on. People at Hershey wouldn't lie. But if we're talking about they are good people up there, you know, I think their park is far inferior to Kennywood, but that's neither a conversation we need to have.

56:14Pat McAfee:No. Is there any? Tell them, Bruce. Tell them, Bruce. I got my first kiss at Hershey Park. Boom. That was back when it was good. Kennywood has evolved. Kennywood is the best. Long time ago. Long time ago, brother. What is another one? What would be another one? Is there some Game 7 hockey for like four goals? Well, what was it? The guy would have to fucking score a hat trick and have 40 saves in the net. In football, you have to throw three touchdowns and then also have 20 tackles. Yeah, and a pig six. I don't know how you do it. That's Game 7, too. And then scoreless through seven, ten strikeouts, three dong shots, and everybody was hoping that what you would do, and you go out there and do it.

56:54Pat McAfee:That guy's a machine. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com or just stop by. Are all batteries the same?

57:32That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Goats only trust Goats because they're built different and Messi only trusts Duracell.

58:05Yes.

58:06Pat McAfee:See that I got a little laid off the ball that time because I was so excited to get to cadence ladies and gentlemen that's 47 year football coach multiple times Super Bowl champion Bruce Arians is joining us. Team VA. Team VA. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. Yes, sir. The Talks at Tables here at Boston Corner and Atai Schmidt. Joining us live from Manatic in Ohio is a man who's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hall. Yeah, Hawker. Hawker, let's talk about what you've seen from the Detroit Lions defense last night.

58:33Pat McAfee:Listen, we got four or five guys out. Okay, this is kind of becoming the thing for the Lions. Last year, they had like 14 of their starters somehow out on the defensive side. They still rallied to the number one overall seed in the NFC. They lose both their coordinators. Peter Schrager, who will be joining us in about 10 minutes or so before the season, said, there's a chance this Lions team doesn't even make the playoffs this year. Well, prime time against Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield, who's maybe on an MVP run. They show up and show out up there at Ford Field. What's your takeaway about this Detroit Lions team, AJ Hawk?

59:04Yeah, I mean, the defense and what Kelvin Sheppard was able to do. That's the thing. When you lose one DB in the back end, it's tough because you're working together so much throughout OTAs and camp and everything. But when you have multiple guys, younger guys or less experienced guys in there together, and to be able to match up like they were on third downs, you see them chasing guys all across the field here in all of these highlights you're playing. It's pretty impressive. See, that's a zone drop right there, obviously, as I'm talking. Mixing it up. But, yeah, I think it's just unbelievable that they were able to do it for four straight quarters.

59:38That's the thing. You can sometimes hold up for a while, but it's a collaborative effort. Obviously, the front four did a great job. If they weren't getting the quarterback down, they were pressuring them, making them feel uncomfortable.

59:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, the Detroit Lions have taken on the attitude of Dane Campbell. What's his record in primetime games, Con? 13-3 under MCDC with the Lions. Isn't that a completely vastly different world and reality for Detroit Lions fans, Foxy? This must be really nice. 100%. And it just changes everything about the Lions. People in Michigan now, kids, adults, everyone wears Lions gear. And I think it's because when you're watching them on national TV, people enjoy watching this brand of football. They love MCDC. They love the Jared Goff story. So it's changed everything. I was mentioning this to you earlier this morning.

1:00:20Pat McAfee:The Colts are so good right now, the nation needs to see them. The Colts need to get on national TV. That's a big deal, especially for a team like the Lions who have been so shitty for so long. It's changed everything. They talk about a national appeal that getting on primetime TV gets, but also fans that are maybe on the outskirts locally who have maybe checked out on the team for a little bit. It's like, oh, shit, we're on primetime. Then get a huge win. All of a sudden, you're re-back invested. Primetime games tell the story of your teams. They showcase your team. They're very important. The Colts, I'll tell you what, we've got a couple 4 o 'clock games this year, and that's awesome.

1:00:52Pat McAfee:I'm pretty excited about that. But last year was 1 o 'clock across the board, brother. Didn't even have a Thursday night. I thought everybody had a Thursday night. The Colts didn't even get a Thursday night. I thought you had to. I thought you had to have a Thursday night. No. No, first year they didn't. The Colts didn't have one. I'll tell you that. In Dan Campbell's first year, we had all 1 o 'clock games. Yeah, it is a different world whenever you're doing that. And then you're on primetime making magic happen, especially whenever you lose both your coordinators coming into the year. Tell me about MCDC, Bruce Arians.

1:01:17Pat McAfee:Tell me about his style and why you think it works up there, even though they have new coordinators and new pieces. Because he's real. He's real. He keeps it straight. He didn't pull any punches. And those guys know what he expects from them. and they deliver. He's got a great rapport. I really think he's a younger Bill Cowher and reminds me a lot of Bill. He's fiery. He's into it. He obviously loves it. And his players play that way. How about his neck, B.A.? You know, we talk about... His neck and Cowher's jaw. Yes. That's a combination. That would be quite a tag team there. I couldn't even imagine it.

1:01:52Pat McAfee:You'd be able to actually chop wood if you had Cowher's jaw on that neck right there. AJ, we always talk about Vrabes obviously being able to handle himself in a league-wide head coach battle. MCDC's only getting bigger. Is that what we're all seeing from him? Yeah, it sure feels like it. I mean, yeah, you're right. Look at his neck. His neck traps his shoulder, his back. I mean, this dude, he's a great representation of what the NFL could be, I guess. Or I guess what the NFL is. I guess, man, think about him and some other coaches around the league, other head coaches when they stand next to each other.

1:02:25Pat McAfee:Yeah, I couldn't even remember. You remember, it was Vrabes and Harbaugh, right, when the Titans and Ravens were about to fight? Yep. And Harbaugh and Vrabes were talking to each other, and then immediately the internet goes, John, John, you don't want any piece of that. Then the convo immediately goes to, would Vrabes have a problem with anybody, basically? And in Vrabes' mind, I assume he's always going to have to think no. He would not have any problem with anybody. MCDC feels very comfortable as well. BA, I think you would have been a great shit talker. If you had to put brackets of head coaches, Dan Campbell's definitely one seed.

1:02:57And if there were two sides of the bracket, Frey will be the one seed on the other side.

1:03:02Pat McAfee:Okay, but let's say there isn't two sides of the bracket. You're saying one seed is MCDC? One overall, yeah, I'd probably go MCDC. Hell yeah. Okay, I respect that. Because I've heard similar stories about MCDC, maybe two Sigs. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's a dude. We know that. D 'Amico. Back in the day, not now, obviously. Domingo Ryans is certainly in there. Gotta throw him in there. Mike McDonald is a fiery son of a bitch. Who would be a sneaky little guy that you think would just... McDaniel. Yeah, McDaniel would nod. Bite not ankles. He'd get your ass through. He'd get your ass real quick.

1:03:37Pat McAfee:McDaniel would come out and... And then some little right hand would come across. Not that little, but now that we've seen him in action, Gannon's got a hook on him now. Oh, yeah. And a chop. And a chop. He's got a backhand and a forehand now that we've seen it. Expensive, too. He's got a valuable chop. That's a six-figure chop and slap that guy's got. He doesn't even care about that. He actually chops that to the side. Exactly. I don't care. Yeah, whatever. I'm out of power. Sean McVay definitely fiery. Yeah. I think he's a survivor no matter what. If it's a brawl till death, I think McVay's around long.

1:04:13Yeah. Are he being careful? You better put Pete away early because Pete's never stopping. We know that.

1:04:18Pat McAfee:Yeah, but with the way the Raiders look right now, I don't know if Pete's even walking into that. You boys can have it. You know, you boys can have it. Have you heard the reports? Man, we haven't heard from him in a long time. Good to see you, actually. Trey Wingo reported that the Dallas Cowboys have inquired about trade for Max Crosby, potentially, which obviously Trey Wingo used to work at ESPN. I think he does have sources of some sort, might still have them. Good to see you, Trey. Good to see you, Trey. Out there doing it. the spot track immediately puts together a bunch of numbers for if he was to be traded what it would cost when it would cost it two years of guaranteed money out of the spot track folks first year and second year then everything else not guaranteed basically the offsetting money comes in march 2nd of next year is the guarantees yeah here's the here's the entire thing crosby's 29 million 2027 salary becomes guaranteed next march making it a two and a half year 80 million dollar contract for practical purposes 20.3 guaranteed 30 million guaranteed in 2026 so first three years potentially fully guaranteed there that price though for a max crosby makes you wonder well uh if you're gonna pay that to max could you have could you have paid something to michael but we're not even going to get into that road but now that everybody kind of knows what the numbers are exactly for max and trey wingo is reporting that people are interested in potentially trading for him?

1:05:41Pat McAfee:Does that mean more people also probably interested behind the scenes, B.A., if they understand that maybe Max is available at this point? Yeah, if he's out there, somebody's shopping. And when you hear that stuff, so there'll be a lot of folks that want to get in on Max Crosby. I promise you that. What makes Max different? Obviously, his motor. Is that everything? Yeah, I think when you think of Jared Allen and those, he's all those guys wrapped in one. I mean, he's relentless. And does he have the biggest, strongest looking body? No, but man, he's powerful. But his motor is unbelievable. He's also a menace.

1:06:09Pat McAfee:It feels like he would be a great cowboy. He has unbelievable hands. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I love watching Max. You could have three different defenders at different levels get to him, and he does such a good job. He's never looking at his blocker. He's always looking at the quarterback, wherever the ball is, and he's just so good flipping his hips, flipping his shoulders, his hands. He never lets guys get a good shot on him, and he can also, though, you have to be able to bull rush as well. So Max definitely has the power. But he's so fluid with his hands and just relentless. He just doesn't let anybody block him.

1:06:37It's really fun to watch.

1:06:38Pat McAfee:He actually fights in the offseason, right? He does a lot of handwork, obviously, mid-work, cardio work. He has a battery and energy that I don't think anybody else has in the entire league. Obviously, he works on his technique. His work ethic is tremendous. His tats look very cool. We got to see him live whenever the Raiders played against the Colts. He looks so cool. He would be a cool cowboy. He would be. He would be a very cool cowboy. Condor the cowboy. That would be a very cool cowboy. And Jerry Jones goes, is fucking guys available? Remember I said, hey, I got these picks now. You never know what's going to happen.

1:07:08Pat McAfee:People never think I'll bring in another pass rusher. Same way. A little bit older, maybe, actually. This guy. He's already been paid. This guy's a little bit older. Nobody would expect me. Cheaper, too. Nobody would expect me to give up a couple firsts for that. Boom! Then the Magic Man does it again. Look at the land man pulling this thing off. Max Crosby now is getting to the quarterback. And are the Dallas Cowboys all the way back? We got MVP Dak. Everybody's calling me a big dumb dipshit. MVP Dak Prescott. Now we got the Cone Door playing for the Cowboys. And don't look now. Is Iberflus excited?

1:07:33Pat McAfee:Jerry Jones has a chance to really do something sweet here. and then he has a chance to walk his ass right out to those cameras probably big tuck in had to bring him in, what'd I fucking say and then he gets a chance to flex which is why I think this is possible that's the only reason why I think it's possible is because Jerry Jones will take a victory lap if he's able to accomplish this and Max Crosby I think we know exactly who he is now he got hurt I believe yeah I think he had a groin he didn't finish the game versus the Chiefs so we don't know his health status but he's a guy that we know is going to be productive like all the time So that would be a home run type signing for anybody.

1:08:06Pat McAfee:But Jerry Jones definitely with everything that took place in the offseason. Yeah, and AJ talked about his hands, like his bend. He plays well against the run to pass. And usually guys who have that type of effort down in and down out, we kind of like to put them in that bucket of like, oh, he's just a lunch pail guy. He's going short to work. But he has high end like elite pass rushing traits as well. And he's going to elevate anybody on that defense. I don't care if you run his own coverage, if you run a man coverage. Having a guy like that, that doesn't come off the field. I mean, that's going to boost that entire roster.

1:08:36I mean, it's just got classic Jerry written all over it. If they do get him, he's going to say, well, that was the plan all along. What are you talking about? You think I thought the Raiders were going to be good?

1:08:44Pat McAfee:Yeah. Michael's a shit bird. That's why we got him out of here. Max Crosby, he's a cowboy. But ultimately, this just makes them look good, right? Because we had Chef Deion yesterday and asked him about that, and he was like, this has always been the answer from the Raiders is people reach out about him, and it's, no, we're not trading him. We're not doing that. So, like, they can put the – hey, sources tell me that the Cowboys are snooping around in Vegas. They want – like, that doesn't mean anything because if the – You're talking about Trey Wingo's report? That is exactly what I'm talking about.

1:09:15You know, I mean, it's a nice phrasing because it does –

1:09:18Pat McAfee:They're talking about Wingo's? I mean – What's it going to take to get them? That's the question. You're talking about Trey Wingo right now? Yes. Yes, I am. Really? You know what? Yeah, I just – Wow. I get it. Trey Wingo? It's out there. I get it. I mean, it means nothing. Trey Wingo gets a little chirpy, doesn't he? Yeah, I'm a big – yeah, Trey Wingo is full of shit guy. That's me. Is that you? Yeah, I'm a big – sorry, I should have done the full sentence. I'm a big Trey Wingo is full of shit guy, but I do know people like him. Yeah, and he did – do they? He did have a long sports media, so we assume he has inside information at different places.

1:09:59Pat McAfee:joining us now is a guy who has a lot of inside information ladies and gentlemen friend of the program a man who's an Emmy award winner and he's fresh off a red eye out of Seattle run on no sleep ladies and gentlemen Peter Schrager. Schrager how you doing buddy? I'm doing great it wasn't just a red eye fat red eye with a connection in Minneapolis. Yeah two red eyes we're like two red eyes yeah. If I can just tell you, last night was the latest an NFL game has ever ended. I think I did the latest post-game interview ever in the history of sports. I did this thing at 1.30 Eastern. Me and Sam Darnold.

1:10:37Basically, Darnold, I'm like, all right, up and down game. I'm like, I'm not even listening to what you're saying. I got to get to the airport. It was great, though. Darnold played well. The Seahawks, the elements, everything was awesome. And then I run, run. like I've never ran before and I'm not AJ Hawk. I'm not a runner. Okay. I run to the trucks and I'm like, where are we going? Let's go. And they're like, well, we got to wait for Orlovsky. Like, okay, well, I have a flight that takes off in about 30 minutes. Well, we got to wait for Orlovsky. Dan Orlovsky just called the game. Did a great job, by the way.

1:11:10Comes downstairs like, Triggs, we're good, bro. We're going to be fine. I'm like, no, no. If we miss this flight, I miss my kid's flag football game tomorrow. I don't get to go on McAfee. And Orlovsky's like, bro we're good coolest customer he just called the game he's feeling himself we get in the car our guy steel is driving we got jeff to find the producer in the back we got credence clearwater revival blasting okay ccr blasting we pull up to the the seattle airport run to the gate little line tsa who knows what's going on in that world right now we get through tsa we get through security. We are the last ones on the plane.

1:11:50Orlovsky didn't break a sweat. I was a complete drenched mess. It's just our lives. We made the fight. We made the fight.

1:11:56Pat McAfee:There we go. And that's Dano. That's quarterback. That's Dano being a quarterback. Everybody mocks him because of the 11-yard end zone thing, but he's got a lot of the qualities of a quarterback. You know, like, hey, let's not get, hey, whoa, whoa, this ain't helping us right now. Okay, what you're doing right now. That was it. Not helping any of us right now. We kind of got to go ahead and do this. Now, Dan Orlovsky, He didn't book that flight. He had no backup plan. And he also had no idea about what was happening probably in that moment. Ignorance is bliss. Let's talk about you making the flight and also doing our show.

1:12:25Pat McAfee:We appreciate that. That game, what were you talking with Sam Darnold about? Were you talking about how their team was able to turn over so quickly whenever they kick Pete Carroll out the door? They paint over the walls. McDonald's taken out of the Baltimore Ravens defense. They're basically turning the page. DK Metcalf, see you later. We don't want you on the team anymore. Lockett, see you later. We don't want you on the team anymore. Geno, see you later. we don't want you on the team anymore. Brand new Seattle Seahawks. And they've turned the page here pretty quickly into a great team. Is that your takeaway from last night?

1:12:52Pat McAfee:Or are the Houston Texans shite? And I love how explosive Jackson Smith and Jigba is able to one step and dunk that thing as if he's seven foot tall. Yeah, let's start with the former, the Seattle Seahawks, because, and there I am on the sideline in that beautiful blazer, if you see on the near sideline. I talked to John Schneider, who's the GM, for a long time before the game. And Schneider's really the one constant. He's been there since 2010 and has been through not only the Pete era, but the Russ era. And now we're changing guards. And now it's Mike McDonald and Sam Darnold. Pat, Sam Darnold's only 28 years old.

1:13:26He's only 28 years old. He started with the Jets at 21. And I thought it was fascinating talking to Sam for a while during the production meeting call. He's engaged. He just bought his first house of his life. He's always been a transient guy, renting in New York, renting in Carolina, renting in San Francisco, renting in Minnesota. And he's like, and I'm finally feeling the love that I'm wanted. And it's almost like sometimes it takes guys this long and Darnold is so in control is absolutely the leader of this team. And yesterday he and Jackson Smith and Jigba looked as good as he looked with Justin Jefferson last year.

1:14:01It's unbelievable. The connection they had eight catches, I think 153 yards, maybe something less than that. But every time that JSN was getting open, Sam had an eye on him and would hit him. And the two of them have this great connection. And he's like, this guy, not a diva, not a give me the ball, just does everything right. And the two of them are on the same exact wavelength. I loved watching these two connect. And I loved watching Mike McDonald, this, that's like very even keeled guy who is a defensive first coach, putting the ball in Sam's hands and saying, Sam Darnold, you lead us there.

1:14:35Our defense will do the rest. And oh boy, did they?

1:14:37Pat McAfee:Yeah. I think Sam Darnold with his little revenge tour here that I'm a good player. Buying his first house is crazy to think about at the age of 28. Feeling the love is crazy. The fact that Minnesota just let him out of the building, also crazy every single week that continues. Jackson Smith and Jigbo, one of those Ohio statewide receivers, you can't be a diva in there because there's another guy right behind you that's willing to take a spot. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Shrigs, what was the atmosphere like? On TV, I couldn't really, you know, the game was, you know, it was a slog at times. But what was the atmosphere like?

1:15:07And also, though, about that Seattle Seahawks defense. Can you talk about them a little bit? I think they obviously are under the radar for what they're doing. J.J. Watt and I were texting Humblebrag during the game. I'm over there on the sidelines, and he's like, I'm sorry, bro. I got to turn it off. I can't keep my eyelids open. I'm like, I felt like I was watching Bruce Springsteen in a small New Jersey bar on the Jersey Shore, like the Stone Pony in the 70s. If you're watching this game, you're one of the diehards. You're one of the early, and that's fine. What you missed was an atmosphere that was completely deflated at about the 10-minute mark of the second quarter because George Springer hits this home run.

1:15:49And it basically eliminates the Seattle Mariners from their first ever trip to the World Series. While that's happening, everyone's checking it on their phones in the crowd. They have it up on the big screen. It's a heartbreaker. And then the Seahawks defense is basically like, all right, not only do we have to carry our offense at times, we're going to carry this entire city sports fans on our back too. Because they start showing up and it's Leonard Williams, obviously, who's in his 11th year and is still as dominant as he was. Demarcus Lawrence is everywhere. Nwosu's everywhere. And you're looking around and you're like, oh my gosh, they play with their, you know, on fire.

1:16:26And here was the deal. It was interesting. This one should have been a safety. I don't want to say that. Mike McDonald lost his mind on this one. They called that forward progress. There was a third and short and a fourth and short. And the Texans decided, Nick Caley, the offensive coordinator, said let's run it both times. The Seattle defense just closed the door. You know, Seattle turned the ball over four times yesterday. They also had a field goal blocked. It didn't seem to hurt them. They were up the entire time. It's because that defense did not let the Texans do anything on offense.

1:16:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, and not doing anything on offense. The Texans, interesting story, brother. I mean, it's an interesting story just from a couple years back to what we were crowning them. You talk about J.J. Watt. J.J. Watt, a couple years ago, was like, we got the future. We got 10 years of greatness down here in Houston. They make some moves. They get rid of some people. They lose Bobby Slowick as the OC. They've looked like a very different team after talking to them and getting to learn about them. What is their thoughts on where they stand right now? Yeah, we met with C.J. Stroud. We met with D 'Amico Ryans, Nick Caley, and Will Anderson in person.

1:17:27and Matt Burke, the defensive coordinator, in person late Sunday night. So it's like you really get a feel for where they're at. And they're hopeful that these young wide receivers can step up. I know D-Butt mentioned earlier that they have the two wide receivers from Iowa State that they drafted, and the hope is that maybe they'll play a role. Well, they have to play a role now. You're out there, and it's Dalton Schultz and Nico Collins, basically the only guys that are established players at the wide receiver or tight end position. and the running back spot. Nick Chubb used to be one of the better running backs in the league.

1:17:59He hasn't really done that this year. And then Woody Marks is a nice complimentary player, but like without Joe Mixon's leadership out there with Nico Collins hurt, it just didn't feel like they had the weapons. And then you get to the offensive line and it's so young. It's a lot on CJ Stroud and he's not, you know, he doesn't get no blame in this thing. He, he had some passes that maybe that were, you know, on him, but for the most part, you're looking at this offense and you're like, wow, that was a really lopsided situation, that defense in Seattle, that offense in Houston. It might still be enough to win the AFC South and challenge the Colts.

1:18:32We'll see. Shut up. It's not too early to say that the Colts are winning. Yeah, two red eyes.

1:18:37Pat McAfee:You had two red eyes last night. I understand. Who's in the AFC South? Oh, yeah, the Colts are the best team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The best team in the AFC. Oh, shit, I forgot about that. I understand. I respect where you are, because they have been running the AFC South for a long time. They have. And then they get C.J. Stroud, and it's like they're only going to get better, and then it's kind of, it's kind of. Stroud's won playoff games the last two years, right? They've gone to the final four of the, of the conference the last few years. So you're like, we're going to take the next step. They move on from slow, which I thought was interesting.

1:19:03Nick Caley comes from the McVay tree also had eight years with Belichick. So it's like, he's going to mesh those two systems. I just didn't get a feel for them last night on offense that they have the, the firepower to compete with a Kansas city, uh, you know, an Indianapolis right now. And of course you go up and down the board of all these AFC teams that are

1:19:21Pat McAfee:airing it out all right you're saying right now you're saying a lot of things i don't have to go back to your lines take after what happened we'll just skip that thing okay and the dolphins and we won't talk about that okay so the dolphins was bad yeah you had a lot of good ones those rings we're out here live in real time it's going to happen to us all but you talk about the texans defense here's some hembo stats below is a non-comprehensive list of statistics in which the texans defense leads the nfl points per game points per drive drive score qbr allowed epa per play past EPA, which we know EPA matters when we're talking about that.

1:19:52Pat McAfee:Big deal. But the Texans' defense is real. Yes. And that is certainly something that D 'Amico Ryans probably has a lot of pride in. If the offense can get rolling, they get healthy, maybe get some more weapons. Maybe the Houston Texans are all the way back. But welcome to Danny Dimes, AFC South. Now, Danny Dimes obviously in the Colts on an incredible run right now and to continue for the rest of the season. D-Bud has a question for you, Shreves. Yeah, on that note, the Texans, that defense, that is a reason to be optimistic. It's not just a complete shit show. You do have one of the best defensive leagues, so hopefully they can figure it out.

1:20:24But, Shregs, at this point in the season, what team do you see that can maybe, aside from the teams that are already hot, that came out of the gate hot, that can kind of get hot and make a run down the stretch? Yeah, look, you look at the records right now, and it's like there's so many good teams. I think someone posted that in the NFC, there's nine teams that are half a game apart. You look at the 49ers right now, they're leading the NFC West. If the playoffs were today, they'd be the two seed and that's with everyone injured. So you pick it. Now the team that really intrigued me last week, and I could easily say the Patriots, they're five too.

1:20:56I thought the Bengals found some magic on Thursday night. And suddenly it's like if Flacco can throw the ball 23 times to Jamar Chase and completed 16 times and get six receptions to T Higgins and they have an offense, that was the plan all along. They were going to outscore you. That's what they did against Pittsburgh. Suddenly you look at the Bengals. They're just three and four. Do we know when Burrow's coming back? Do we know if Burrow's coming back? It might've been just a flash in the pan, but I will promise you this, that trade, they give up a fifth round pick and basically they're paying an extra million dollars here that the Browns don't have to pay to get Joe Flacco.

1:21:32That was not a white flag by any means. That trade for the Bengals was essentially them telling the rest of the league, no, no, no, we're not quitting. We see this isn't working and the season's going down the drains and we're swirling around. Like we've got some fight in us. I thought that might've been the most impressive win of the week. And it happened all the way back on Thursday night. But Flacco suddenly gave life to this team. And that's the strength of their team. Higgins and Chase, that's who they pay the money to. So if you're wondering, well, what about the offensive line or the defensive line?

1:21:59It's not a priority as far as getting those guys their balls. And guess what? That's what they did. They outscored the Steelers and they were able to make that very high price Steelers defense look very mediocre.

1:22:10Pat McAfee:You can hear a tone all the way in hammer. dying, dying, dying, saying, I know, I know. Yep, there it is. Yep, there he is. Absolutely feeling that as you're saying it. And also, think about T. Higgins doing that slide at the end of the game so they can go for the game-winning field goal. That's a testament to their culture, I think. You know, you talk about them saying this isn't a white flag. We understand it's not working. We want to keep going. T. Higgins getting paid all that money, having an opportunity to go ahead and maybe hit an incentive, maybe get another touchdown, especially fourth quarter, game-winning touchdown potentially against Pittsburgh Steelers in steady slides.

1:22:41Pat McAfee:I think that it says a lot about the culture they have inside that building. I'm a fan as well. Now, there was a game that happened on Sunday that has only happened one other time since the 1970s merger. And it obviously happened to the New York Giants team, but it happened for the Denver Broncos team. So, Denver Broncos, good on you. That's right. Good on you, Denver Broncos. That's an incredible display of resiliency and getting back into it. And I don't know if anybody's ever put 33 points up like that in a quarter after looking like such ass the first three quarters. And the answer is no, they haven't.

1:23:13Pat McAfee:Now, on the flip side of that, have we lost the Moxie? Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Shraggs, what is the temperature? What are the vibes around the Giants right now? Obviously, a couple weeks ago, hey, this team's going to the playoffs. We might have a Hall of Fame quarterback. And then they have arguably the worst collapse in the history of the NFL. Is everyone still very high on the Giants with Scadabo and Jackson Dart? and are we thinking, hey, Dable is going to be safe. He's going to be around. He showed enough the last couple weeks with Jackson Dart that everything's going to be okay and we're kind of just playing with house money for the rest of the year.

1:23:48No, Giants fans are depressed. They are completely in misery form. And knowing my Giants fan friends and knowing people in the New York City area, not only do you have this terrible Jets team right now, you have a Giants team that for 55 minutes looked like they were going to go win the Super Bowl on Sunday and then completely gave up everything in the final 10 minutes of this game. It was a historic loss. This is a team that was good enough to beat the 4-0 Chargers a couple weeks ago. They were good enough to be up with the Cowboys with 13 seconds left. They were good enough to beat the defending Super Bowl champions.

1:24:21So you think, oh, I got a shot. But then you lose to Spencer Rattler and the Saints, and then you lose in this fashion, and you wonder, well, what's missing here? They're young, but that's not an excuse. up and down the roster, you could say, well, this guy played well, but this guy didn't play well in the moments that mattered. Then the coaching questions, it's game management. And then at the end, the defense completely giving up 33 points in the fourth quarter of a game that you had them shut out the first three quarters is so inexplicable that I think a lot of Giants fans and even the journalists covering the team are still numb trying to piece it together.

1:25:00Now, I'm interested. The journalists are numb.

1:25:02Pat McAfee:You know that's deep. You know that is. Show some grit. No, they are. They're just shell-shocked by this entire thing. I understand. It's a quagmire. It's truly a quagmire. Yeah, it is a quagmire. They're flabbergasted, I believe, by the entirety of it. Are they not, Ty? What are some other predicaments that these journos feel? Gobsmacked. Oh, gobsmacked. They're certainly right at the top of the list there. Bamboozled, maybe. Oh, really? By the Broncos or by their own team there? Well, it's actually one of those very rare double bamboozles. You're bamboozled by the Broncos coming back. You're also bamboozled by your own team who just at the most important moment once again has failed you.

1:25:43Pat McAfee:Okay, so do you think they're going to be okay after all the bamboozling and the obviously quagmire and gobsmackingness that's been happening to all the local journalists around the Giants? Well, it's very interesting because you've got the Super Bowl champions coming in and they're going to be red-assed after getting beat by the Giants just a couple weeks ago. So, in my opinion, you know, Dable, the bamboozled needs to turn into the bamboozler. He needs to find a way to bamboozle that Philadelphia defense and stymie them once again. And I think that's what they're trying to do. Stymie's a good word, too.

1:26:15Pat McAfee:Stymie's a good word. We got journalism over here. Look, that was Ty Peete right there. That was an actual journalist, the authority in it all. But you're saying that everybody's kind of gobsmacked, if you will, by the loss to the Broncos, which is a good thing, not a bad thing, I think. Well, they also gobsmacked, whatever. Then there's questions. Well, Graham Gano got hurt in the second week of the season. You bring up, you sign Youngway Koo. You're thinking he's going to be the kicker. Then they had the Irish kid who's number 99. I can't get his name right now. And he missed Jude McAtomney.

1:26:48Jude McAtomney, lad. He's missed three extra points. And you're like, should he be kicking for an NFL team right now? I don't know. Maybe there should have been another option there. I would imagine a move will be made or that Gano is healthy to play Sunday. You can't trot out that same situation. But like there's these little things that like, yes, we love Dart and Scadaboo. And we love the fact that this team responded when Malik neighbors went down and still found a way to win games. But like, should they be four and two or five and one based on what I just rattled off? Like the Saints game, they had five turnovers and five straight possessions against the Cowboys.

1:27:22because they were in that same deep prevent defense when they're just head scratching stuff. Brian Burns really pumped up. Brian Burns not happy. Not happy at all.

1:27:32Pat McAfee:Yeah. It sounds like a lot of people are not happy. And Mac Atomney, this is life as a kicker, brother. You're going to be okay. I like that he owned it, took accountability for it. And I also appreciate the fact that the Irish lads now, you know, because the international pathway. I saw McQuaid. McQuaid said he's getting some terrible things said about him. It's like, yeah, this is the world of a kicker now. Sorry, guys. That is the, I don't like it. somebody should have been a little bit more transparent with the Irish lads saying hey you miss a couple of these they're gonna fucking kill you a lot real mean lads don't go out for dinner you should see these Irish NFL reporters talking about it they're like the things they are saying he's 7500 kilometers away from his family lads take it easy on him they are they're saying mean things it's like yeah my daughter will never be a kicker in the NFL or in college.

1:28:22Pat McAfee:Wow. You know? Won't let her. Okay. No chance. I think back, whenever we're at the game, I'll watch like a kicker jog out or even a punter jog out. I'm like, yeah, right, dude. Thank God I don't have to do that anymore. I have no idea how that was a chapter of my life because that McAtomney guy, such a good story for the NFL. Yeah. Incredible. Got an Irish guy. Holy hell. This is a big deal. On the Pathway program, which they've been promoting so hard everywhere. This is awesome. 33-yard extra point. It's no big deal. and then you just hit it a little bit thin and all of a sudden that thing goes to the right and then it's like get this Irish bastard out of our city.

1:28:58Pat McAfee:It's like that's the opposite side of the coin, mate. That's the other side, lad. They're tough enough for it, though. The Irish lads are tough enough for it. But that's not going to be the first. There's going to be a lot of, I think, the international influence in sport, our sport, is going to come through ball-kicking sports. It's been a lot of punters, obviously, because Australia and Jamie Scottish, which comes from rugby as well. But I think as the soccer players come over, I think there is going to be a little bit of an adjustment to like, hey, these people are expecting you to shut up and make these kicks.

1:29:30Pat McAfee:And if you don't, it is game, set, match. There's only 32 jobs, B.A. Yeah, my son had one of those. I know what you're talking about. Jake was a kicker, right? Yeah, and kicked for Buffalo in Atlanta. And you thought to yourself every time you went out there, please, God, make the kick. That's my nightmare as a parent. That's my worst nightmare as a parent is having my kids. It was hard in high school. It was hard in college. Dude, my mom. My mom in college, there's no way she enjoyed any of the games. Not a single one. I'd go onto the field, and it's like this. And I ended up being the all-time leading scorer, and I still get death threats because of the situation that happened.

1:30:04Pat McAfee:One bad night, obviously your entire everything is talked about. But every time I went on the field for everything, a punt, my mom, please hit a good one. Please hit a good one. Then every single field goal, please snap good, hold good, block good, ball goes through the uprights, please. and then she'll hear the reaction and it's, oh, thank God. And it's like she did that. Like when I went to punt her, I think she was like, thank God. This one is a lot easier. Tough. Because, I mean, sports is sports, but it's certain sports and certain moments were like, okay, all right, your turn. Everybody's looking at you like golf.

1:30:36Like, okay, your turn. Everybody, and it's just crazy. Pat, I'll never forget in Seattle, a wild card round game, Vikings versus Seahawks. I'm the reporter. It's zero degrees out there. Blair Walsh, who had an amazing season, misses that little chippy. I'm the one at the locker, and Blair Walsh has 10 of us slob journalists with a microphone in his face, and he's having to answer it. He's a world-class athlete, but it's like that's the job. It's a real burden. Even last night, Kayami Firebarn, who's one of the best kickers in football, at the end there, there's a situation where there's two minutes, four seconds left.

1:31:11If he kicks it straight out of bounds, the Texans get the ball with a timeout, or that is a timeout, and they can stop him before the two-minute warning, or if he blasts it through the end zone, they save a timeout also. Kicks it into the end zone. D 'Amico Ryan looks like he's ready to lose his mind. Like, what are you doing? There's so many thin lines, and there's little grace from the fans when it comes to kickers.

1:31:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, very little. Especially, we just saw a guy almost break his neck, hitting each other, and then you come trotting out here. That's cute. Make the kick, dude. These guys, and obviously, you've got to know these kickers feel terrible, because they've got to walk into the locker room. Like everything you guys are saying in support of the other players, those actual other players are in the locker room where he's headed. You know? So it is like, you got to look these people in the eye that are sacrificing their bodies for the betterment of everything. And you just trot it out there and just ruined it for everybody.

1:31:58Pat McAfee:And then you got to be like, so sorry. Sorry, lads. Sorry, lads. And it's tough. They need to start telling these international kids, like the actual reality of this entire thing, because Mac Atomney, I think he'll be strong enough to bounce back, but that's the real life of being a kicker. Now let's move forward. Let's talk about teams that could potentially go and win a Super Bowl. And then we've got bye weeks happening already. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Shrakes, the Bills were on a bye, so no one's really talking about them anymore. And it feels like everyone's low on them because of their loss to New England in prime time.

1:32:27But there's still another team that is very good. Even as a Patriots fan, I can foresee a massive Bills run in them winning the AFC East. But right now, times seem to be tough. What do you think about Buffalo's chances this year? Do you think it is one of those terrible situations? It's going to be a bad season, or do you think they'll figure it out and eventually go on and make a run at the Super Bowl? And with that being said, too, is there ever a chance that they don't win 10 games and they stay with McDermott forever? Yeah, I mean, I did their last game, their Monday night game against the Falcons, where they look like a shell of themselves because of all the injuries.

1:33:06And you get down there in big-time moments on third and one, and Joe Brady's calling an end around to Elijah Moore. And you're like, well, what is that called? And then you look on the field and it's Elijah Moore, Shavers, no Dalton Kincaid, no Josh Palmer. He was hurt. And you're like, wait a second. Is this the team that we thought was the class of the AFC or is this team going to have to fight and crawl for everything and just put it all on Josh's shoulders? I do think there's too much experience, there's too much history, and there's too much talent at that quarterback spot for this team to just fade away.

1:33:40So to me, I have the Bills winning the Super Bowl this year. I have not changed that pick. I still think the Bills win the Super Bowl this year, and I think it is Josh Allen's time. The bye could not have come at a more perfect time for Buffalo, and they're going to come back healthier, and I would not be surprised if they come back scorched earth.

1:33:57Pat McAfee:What were the records of the teams coming out of bye this week? 0-2 this week, 4-2 on the season now. Okay, so because they were 4-0 the first week of byes coming back, and then this week they were 0-2 Texans, one of those teams, and then now we got the Bills. is now we're in bye season here. It would suck to be that first week like the Steelers were. I mean, especially with how old that team is, and I don't want to call them old, but you've got a lot of old heads out there. So that being like week five and still having 13 more weeks, that sucks. That absolutely sucks for them. Right now is when you get into the time where if it's a bye, it's like, we'll deal with it.

1:34:28Pat McAfee:This is a reasonable. Too late's not good either. Because then you can work your ass out of contention and not be able to catch up. I'm curious. This Ravens out of the bye is what I'm fascinated by. Because that was – Well, everyone is. We're all like, oh, yeah, there come the Ravens. But they have been terrible, terrible football teams. So why is it – here comes the Ravens. Lamar missed yesterday, right? I think Lamar – they're saying Lamar's hamstring is still not good. Because, wait, I thought Lamar was going to play coming out of the bye, which is why Lamar still and AFC North still favorites, everything like that.

1:34:59Pat McAfee:We're all saying, wait, hold the phone. Early in the week, but, yeah, yesterday. Monday, though. Monday, not a lot happening. Yeah, let's do. No, we'll see. And I was on get up, I think, that Friday morning after the Steelers lost, and I think we all kind of agreed, like, well, here come the Ravens. And when everyone's saying something, it's like, here comes the Ravens. Why? Why? So they'll all get healthy, and we'll see. But they need to actually win these games. You got to watch your tone, Shregs. You got to watch your tone, okay, with your whys. Chuck will be coming for you. Chuck's coming for you.

1:35:30Pat McAfee:Chuck Pagano, Shay, hey, Shregs, you know why? Because we're fucking playing football. all right take a nap brother we appreciate your coverage and your commitment to the game you're the man you are the best and sean the rain man kent belongs on that thank gang rushmore the power dunker let's go he might be on the final rush rushmore on x available now you're the best ladies and gentlemen peter schrags from schrag's age to one of our favorite segs you know we got good sex on this show great sex yeah we have good sex it's all about that good sex yeah that good sex hey what's next that good ladies and gentlemen it's time for bs or no bs with ba we will make statements of fact that have been said around the nfl and ba will tell us if it's BS or if it's no BS.

1:36:28Pat McAfee:Let's start with the first one. Pittsburgh is a lock to win the AFC North. Obviously, this is fresh off a Thursday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. They are a lock to win the AFC North. Aaron Rodgers, our quarterback. They got T.J. Watt out there. D.K. Metcalf. Cam Hayward. Fryer Moose. Mount Washington. And Mike Tomlin, he always has a winning record, and they still have a winning record and have done some special things. Feel like they would say They're ahead of schedule on the offensive side with Artie Smith and Aaron kind of finding their groove. Pittsburgh is a lock to win the AFC North.

1:37:00Pat McAfee:Is that BS or no BS, B-A? I think that's total BS. Whoa! Yeah, because Mike T's worst nightmare, Joe Flacco went to Cincinnati. Okay. And he was absolutely right ripping Andrew Barry's ass for that one because Joe Flacco now has a winning record against Mike Tomlin. And that's all Jamar Chase and T Higgins needed was 33 targets. and a running game. All of a sudden, the offensive line can block for Cincinnati. They couldn't block two weeks ago. Isn't that interesting? It's crazy. All of a sudden, now they're blocking T.J. Watt, Highsmith. Those guys that got close to him. And Joe just lit them up.

1:37:36Lit them up. And he did... Joe did so many good veteran moves like for Jamar to get, what, 26 targets? A lot of those were running plays.

1:37:45Pat McAfee:Right here. And boom. He's just, hey, you're 101. We just call that whatever the run was, X-Hot. All right, run a slant. If they're off of you, I'm just going to throw it to you. And he's going to get 5, 6, 8, 10 every time. And Joe Flacco, veteran, knows when to do that, when not to do that. Every single time. Loaded box. He's one-on-one. They have a little hand say don't run a slant or just off cover, just throwing it to you. The little single bubble screen. And he's what, there for 10 days. That's only going to get better? He's what, crazy numbers. Connor, you've got the numbers. Yeah, he's got like a five.

1:38:19Pat McAfee:Here it is. 60 for 92 for 561 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and it has only been sacked three times in two games. Two games. That's crazy. Only been there 10 days. It's just going to get better. On that note, Joe Flacco going to the Cincinnati Bengals, is enough for them to win the AFC North? Are the Cincinnati Bengals now your favorite to win the AFC North? Because the statement was the Pittsburgh Steelers are locked to win the AFC North. And you said, that's bullshit. Then you went straight to a Joe Flacco highlight package. Are you saying the Cincinnati Bengals are your AFC North favorites?

1:38:50I'm not saying they're favorites, but they're a game back, and they have the tiebreaker now on the Steelers. So it's just a matter of Steelers better stay ahead of the Bengals because the Bengals ain't going nowhere. They're just going to get better.

1:39:00Pat McAfee:So you're saying it's not a lock, brother? There ain't no locks in this business. Let's go to Hammer. Don, Don. Don, how's it feel to hear the heads bullshit thinking that you guys are a lock to win the AFC North with how that season started? Yeah, it's tough because it would be stupid of me to argue with a Super Bowl winning head coach. You know, that would be tough. But, you know, Joe has always turned back into a pumpkin. He does always have these flashes. But since the 2015 season, which was 10 years ago, his record is horrendous. So I'm not worried about the Bengals. I think Steelers will be fine.

1:39:34Pat McAfee:Okay, that's Pittsburgh Steelers super fan, Tony Diggs. Now, Straggs, NBA on the Bengals. I know, it's getting live. Hey, Joe Flacco, you ain't sneaking in any games anymore. Flacco's ready for it. year 19 year 20 you're not sneaking in there joe flacco too just having this aura about him of confidence and moxie i think that helps everybody aj i told you he didn't sweat during the game i feel like he didn't sweat just catch just so i just make it look easy like he i don't know you got to show young kids that might have like happy feet in the pocket or you know or like just too amped up show him joe like i don't know how you get this demeanor obviously through reps but man just uh very impressive we will see though i guess if he can keep it up can't say this enough, on the post-game interview with Nightcap, which Thursday Night Football does a great job with all of that, Joe Flacco said he had no idea what the plays were.

1:40:21Pat McAfee:There were multiple plays where he had no idea what was going on, and they still did what they did. Obviously, Cincinnati Bengals have a chance. Let's go to the next BS or no BS with B.A., D. Butch. Yeah, talk about another team that ain't sneaking up on anybody. The Chiefs are the Super Bowl favorites, and they should be. BS or no BS, coach? I think that's total BS. Whoa! What are you talking about? We saw brand new Chiefs! The third place in their division. They're two games behind the Chargers and the Broncos. They're going to come back and beat a bunch of folks in their own division to get to where they want to go.

1:40:52Now, can they? Sure. But if they stay healthy, I just don't think there's any way that there's a lot. They're third place. They're going to fight a long way just to get to the top.

1:41:01Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's talk about whenever you see them start to be good again, though, like when they start putting it together. Rasheed Rice obviously comes back, added weapon for Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes looks like two years ago Patrick Mahomes, as opposed to whenever they turn to the conservative run game. Let's not turn the ball over. Let's let our defense do our thing, Kansas City Chiefs. They've been able to win in a variety of different ways throughout this dynasty. Now it looks like showtime. Patrick Mahomes is all the way back. Sportsbooks got excited as soon as they saw a glimpse of it.

1:41:26Pat McAfee:He's the favorite for the MVP. And as soon as they saw it, they go, yep, they're the favorites to win the Super Bowl. In your eyes, you're saying not so fast, Jack. This is going to be a tough road in that AFC West, which Bo Nix is in there and only getting better and better each week. Yeah, I mean, if the Chargers can get some guys back in a minute, but decimated with injuries. And, you know, they beat them pretty good. And Denver beat them. So it's going to be a dogfight in the AFC West, just like a couple of other divisions. But, I mean, beating the Raiders by 33 to nothing, that doesn't impress me at all.

1:41:56What? Beating the Lions, the way they beat the Lions, that's that impressive. Okay. That's different. Okay, now you beat a hell of a football team at your place. Now go on the road and do it.

1:42:07Pat McAfee:Okay, so you said not so fast, my friend. Okay. So they can't see a Chiefs, even though all of us, have fallen in love completely. Let's go to the next BS or no BS with B.A. Ty. Yeah, Coach, after last night, a lot of people are saying, hey, the Texans offense is in trouble. Is that BS or no BS, B.A.? That's no BS. This one felt like a layup. A little bit. This is a little bit of a layup. I mean, I don't know what happened to C.J. Stroud. I mean, he was the odds-on favorite to be the MVP for the next 10 years after his rookie year with Bobby Sloick and everything they were doing offensively. and all of a sudden now they obviously missed Larry McTunsel, they missed Joe Mixon guys that were leaders and great players they haven't replaced them with great players and with Nico getting hurt I don't know who the hell he's going to throw the ball to and they can't run it and that's the other thing Cincinnati Chase Brown had 120 yards rushing all of a sudden they couldn't get 50 two weeks ago, now they get a 100 yard rusher that changes everything for a quarterback it's crazy what a quarterback can do AJ, are you completely out on the Houston Texans?

1:43:09Pat McAfee:Because I tried to watch that game both last night and this morning. That's been my new thing. And it was just ugly. It was hard. And I want to say sorry to the Seattle Seahawks. I hope they forgive me because they put on a dominant performance, but nobody in the East Coast was up for it. So once again, Seattle Seahawks are kind of getting overlooked or slept on, actually, in this entire thing. But the Houston Texans have not looked great, AJ, to B.A.'s point. Yeah, with how B.A. lays it out, yeah, It makes it pretty easy, I guess, to be out on the Texans. The only thing that keeps me in, though, is that defense.

1:43:40I think that defense can play at a high level all year. And if your offense can find something, I don't know what that might be, you still have a chance as long as your defense is still playing at a high level.

1:43:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, start running a ball. Classic run the ball. All right, let's go to the last BS or no BS with B.A. Con, man. Yeah, B.A. Some people think the AFC West, the AFC South, maybe even the NFC West. but is the, excuse me, the NFC North is the best division in football. Is that BS or no BS, BA? That's no BS right now. Now, it would be the West if the Arizona Cardinals could figure out how to win a game at the end. They've lost five, one-score games, three on the last play of the game. Then everybody in that division would have a winning record like the North does. The Vikings are on a little shaky ground right now at 3-3, but everybody in that division right now got shot to go to playoffs.

1:44:27and if the Cardinals could get it going because they're so close, so close each week, then I'd say the West is the toughest division.

1:44:34Pat McAfee:We all love Phoenix, Arizona. We just talked Steve Nash. He's part of the thing. We compliment. Incredible place. We love Arizona as a whole. That Cardinals team, I don't know, man. Just feels like one of those things where, yep, I just don't think they're going to be good. And I don't like that, I think, that. But it's just kind of becoming synonymous. And you talk about the last play of the game and five games and they're not able to finish it. Look at the rest of that division. Five and two, five and two, five and two, two and five. I guess we shouldn't just rule out the Cardinals for being bad.

1:45:00Pat McAfee:Maybe they're in an incredible division. Maybe. Eight of their games are against three teams that could potentially go on and win the whole damn Super Bowl out there in the NFC West. A little cannibalism potentially in the NFC West. And then the fact that the NFC North now is what it is is obviously a spectacular testament to what the Lions have been able to do, Ben Johnson is doing with the Chicago Bears, and obviously KOC trying to figure it out whenever they got quarterback questions. Yeah, but to your point just about the Cardinals, you have that thought towards them, and maybe it's because the Patriots played the Saints.

1:45:35I feel better about the Saints than I do about the Arizona Cardinals. In the Saints, there's really not too much you can look at and be like, they're great, but Rattler is kind of electric. And like Kelly Moe, I personally had no faith in Kelly Moe, but then you watch them play and it's like, oh, shit, They're actually playing their fucking asses off. And I'm not saying the Cardinals aren't doing that. They are. They're in all these games. It's just they don't.

1:46:00Pat McAfee:The Saints really coming into the season, nobody had any high hopes for them. You're saying they're playing their balls off still for them, for Kelly Moe, which is good to establish the culture. I think they also have some salary cap stuff. So I think it was like a projected couple-year thing for the Saints. So them being 1-6, not a surprise. The Cardinals having Kyler paying Kyler and then having another year with Marvin Harrison Jr. and everything like that, it's like at what point are they going to, you know, At what point is all the plans going to be the – Well, that's the biggest thing because, like, it's pretty evident after the last two weeks.

1:46:29I mean, like, the Cardinals gave the Colts everything they could, like, everything on the road, damn near beat them. Jacoby. And then they look great against the Packers. So it's not – this is, like – I mean, if you've watched the games, Jacoby Brissett has made them look, like, ten times better of a team than when Kyler was playing. And, like, that's not good when he's supposed to be your franchise quarterback. So, like, if they do want to win these games, like, it's tough to – they probably will go back to Kyler, but clearly Jacoby has been the better guy for them this year.

1:46:56Pat McAfee:I'm a fan of Kyler Murray, okay? Anybody that's that athletic and that successful in sports, I am a fan of. The amount of time that he has had to commit to sports throughout his life to be a top-10 pick in baseball and a top-10 pick, obviously, in football is incredibly impressive. But at this point, I'm starting to want, like, what his baseball career has been a lot better than the football career has been. I'm not saying that it can't be still. He's still young, man. He's still got a lot of opportunity and everything like that. But it's crazy to think that always. Like, what if? I wonder if he does that ever, AJ.

1:47:26Pat McAfee:I wonder if he ever does that. Remember the whole hoopla when he was coming out, like when he was getting drafted, like the whole baseball situation? He wouldn't really answer it. But was he a top 10 pick? I know he was first round pick. He was a top 10 pick. Nice, right? Yeah. And baseball. And actually, if he wouldn't have got drafted by the A's, who are, you know, like parentally just like kind of a shitty franchise, it. If it would have been one of these teams who has a massive payroll, I wonder if that decision might have been muddied a little bit more. Yeah, because he's got a hose, right?

1:47:54Yes.

1:47:55Pat McAfee:This guy's got an absolute hose. He's a great hitter, too. Yeah, I heard he can hit the curveball. Yeah. He can see it in there. He can also hit the fastball. Yeah, only player ever drafted first round in both of them. We know all these great athletes that's come through and been able to be drafted. Obviously, it'll always be the what if. Even Deion Sanders, first ballot Hall of Fame, greatest cornerback ever, he always talks about What if I would have committed to baseball? I like baseball more. Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, retired and went and played baseball. So it'll definitely always be the what if.

1:48:23But I feel like it's always the what if or it's always something with Arizona. We talk about being in these games. And even if you just look at that division as a whole, like everybody in that division kind of could use – they have excuses. Like San Fran, they're injured. Most of their – a lot of their top-tier players, including their starting quarterback, hurt. New head coach, new quarterback, knew a bunch of things in Seattle. So L.A. coming into last year, nobody had them on the radar to go as far as they did. But every year, these coaches and these teams, they find a way to win. And we always say in the NFL, you are what your record is.

1:48:55You know, it's a one-possession league. We know that. It's a lot of games that come close to it. Will that quarterback and team marriage happen? We all remember the contract and the language that was in Kyler's contract that made a big stink about it. I think they changed it. But it's always going to be that what if. I'm very interested to see how it plays out. but I think we all can kind of see what's coming down the track. Yeah, because they took Seattle and San Francisco to the last play of the game and lose on a kick. And it's just really one bounce of the ball, and they could be four and three and in the hunt.

1:49:26And so they're not a bad football team. And I do agree. They're playing better with Jacoby. I mean, Jacoby, he knows where he's going. He's lighting it up. And I don't know where they go when Kyler gets healthy.

1:49:39Pat McAfee:Oh, that seemed like pretty deep. They paid him a lot of money. Jacoby's a great leader. And Jacoby was a backup quarterback here for the Indianapolis Colts. I think he was the one calling team meetings. I think he comes from the Parcells tuna tree of leadership and everything like that. We are big fans of Jacoby around here. I was trying to get him the MVP for the Indianapolis Colts. Now, I don't think he's necessarily winning one of B.A.'s game balls. Okay? We started this seg last week. Who are your two game ball award winners, B.A., from week seven of the NFL football season? Well, the first one for me is a no-brainer.

1:50:10That's Joe Flacco.

1:50:11Pat McAfee:I love it. Yeah. What he did in that game on Thursday night. And again, only being there 10 days, not knowing half the down plays. And just lighten up what is a great defense in the Steelers. And to have 33 targets to those two guys is amazing. I think what else is amazing, be a coach for the Steelers for a long time. You hear the way he's talking about them. Tomlin, obviously, Steelers a long time. You hear the way he's talking about them. Yeah, right. The only people that aren't talking about Joe Flacco like this are people that didn't have to play his ass two times a year. It was really important, right?

1:50:41Pat McAfee:Exactly right. Because he can still spin it, man. And NFC is Christian McCaffrey. I mean, boy, there's a hell of an argument right now who the best back in the NFL is. We talked about Bijan a lot last week, and we saw Jamar Gibbs last night. But, man, Christian McCaffrey, he never goes away. I mean, 63 % of their offense was him. Yes. That was a record for the year, actually, most by one player on a team for any of the teams this year. He's on pace to have, I think, like 1 ,200, both rushing and receiving. This is exactly what they were missing last year when Christian McCaffrey got hurt four days before the game started.

1:51:15Pat McAfee:What do you think, Christian? Can he continue this? Can this be a year-long thing for Christian McCaffrey? Yeah, as long as those guys up front stay healthy. Now they got Kittle back, who's one of the best blocking tight ends and receiving tight ends. All those guys, if they just stay healthy, they can start getting a couple wide receivers back. Mac Jones is carrying them right now, playing his ass off. But Brock Party will be back soon. Okay. Do you think that's a potential? no I think they're sold on Brock 200 million or something like that yeah that's a lot of cash that is a lot of cash good thing that Max Gagnon wins though and obviously when Brock Purdy comes back we'll be excited to see him but that is an interesting situation brewing which is a good one by the way not a bad one I gotta give John Lynch credit man he's had a hell of a backup quarterback for the last two or three years you know when we got Sam they've always got a guy that's either number one pick or first round pick as the backup he's franchise quarterback maker out there, John Lynch.

1:52:10Pat McAfee:Saban would have coaches come into his tree. They'd get a head coaching gig. Obviously, Baker Mayfield's turning offensive coordinators into head coaches might do that again this year. And then John Lynch, you come in as a backup quarterback. Kyle Shanahan coming in as a backup quarterback. You're going to go take over a franchise after this. You're welcome. Congratulations. That's a beautiful thing to be having over there. Yeah, incredible. And having CMC to kind of wrap the whole thing together is even better. Kittle said Shanahan told the entire team, like, hey, the game plan is Christian McCaffrey.

1:52:36This is going to be a Christian McCaffrey game. What does that mean when you're a head coach telling your team something like that? It's a five-star game, baby. Yep. And the five stars, he's getting a rock every way we can get it to him. And they are struggling at wide receiver, you know, and having Kittle back help. But, man, he put on a show in this game. It was fun to watch. They haven't been able to run the ball all year really until this game. Kittle makes a big – when you can block the edge, it just changes the whole running game whatsoever. If you're stuck between the tackles and they can condense you all day long, but when you can block the edge, stretch it, and hit the middle, that's hard to defend.

1:53:13Pat McAfee:The five-star game is one of BA speeches. There's five stars and there's the other guys. Sometimes the five stars kind of counter each other. This ain't about the five stars. They're all going to kind of counteract each other. You other guys are going to have to win this fucking game. That is the speech. And then whenever it's a five-star game, it's like, hey, our guys are better than their guys. Our guys got to go win the game. Pretty simple strategy. And the message gets through very clear to the team. It's like, all right, these are the guys. We'll continue digitally. We have an entire conversation with the state of the NBA with Commissioner Adam Silver and also more breakdown of the news.

1:53:48Pat McAfee:That's AJ. I'm Pat. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. I think it was off like half a second. And on that note, I feel like we really hit a home run there. We were covering something. Not just me. We were covering something there until about 17 seconds before the hard out. That was great work, buddy. B.A., you're a TV host. You are. Did you know that? You're a TV host out here, brother. You're killing it. Absolutely, Christian. We're giving out game balls to people. Love it. Bro, you. How about this Joe Flacco shit? It's the best thing ever. It really is. Yeah. We are fans of Joe Flacco. Yes. Oh, yeah.

1:54:19Pat McAfee:So, like, we obviously love everything that's happening. Let's go to Hammer. Don, Don. Tone, whenever Joe Flacco gets traded to Cincinnati Bengals, your immediate reaction was to tie to stop being so dramatic. It's not the Sunday game. that's the problem. It's the Thursday game that is going to be the problem. That was certainly the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But as Pittsburgh Steelers fans, you don't have the same fear that it sounds like Steelers coaches have of the big bad Joe Flacco coming in and doing his thing in the AFC North? No, because I mean I've watched him turn the ball over a million times to the Steelers in the playoffs.

1:54:53He never had Jamar and Tee though. He was never thrown at Jamar and Tee. I didn't know that. That's a good point. I just realized that. So yeah, I am worried then.

1:55:04Pat McAfee:Sounds like he's a little bitter about it. I think he might be. A lot of arrows headed up there at Andrew Barry, man. What the fuck are you doing? And Andrew Barry's like, that's why I did it. Pittsburgh's up in arms. Sorry about it. I'd rather screw the Browns than help the Bengals. Excuse me. Fuck the Steelers. The Browns are all about fucking the Steelers. It ain't got nothing to do. Bengals, they're our buddies. They're down the road down there. Let's help them fuck the Steelers. Okay. It does feel like that was kind of the move. Oh, yeah. And it started with paying Miles Garrett$40 million.

1:55:36Pat McAfee:It starts paying a quarterback$230 million. Then trading a starter in the division just to try to take down the – it does feel like there is a little bit of a – from ownership down to Andrew Barrett. Hey, if you want to – if it grinds the gears a little bit of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we're okay with that. That is okay. And once again, that's great for football. New cities are doing that to each other. We love everything. That's AFC North football, literally in a nutshell. Yeah, another great kind of in this conversation when it comes to quarterbacks like this. I mean, Andy Dalton going for the Panthers at home against Buffalo after he, Andy Dalton, got Buffalo into the playoffs all those years ago by beating the Ravens.

1:56:15And not to mention Brandon Bean and most of their front office comes from Carolina. Like the older quarterback, like Joe Flacco, Aaron Rodgers, and Andy Dalton are starting football games in 2025 next week.

1:56:28Pat McAfee:Like, that is insane to think about. It's a great time to be alive, man. Hell yeah.

1:56:36This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18 plus. So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack Stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like Rag & Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and Free People.

1:57:14Join the Nordic Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.

1:57:31Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this BA day, October 21st, 2025. Hour 3 of the program begins now. Football! That's 47-year football coach BA, obviously with a great cadence there. That's AJ Hawk. You know, we haven't talked about it, so I think now is a good time to talk about it. But AJ's hair looks cool. It does. AJ, your hair looks cool. Have you figured out what you're going to do? Is this what you're going to do with it going forward? Because you used to be scalp to straight back. Then you changed your face completely with a whole new, we're growing this thing out.

1:58:12Pat McAfee:Thought maybe you were going back to draft hawker, going back to all-time leading tackler for the Packers hawker, long hair. Then you started shaping it a little bit. We want to let you know, we think it looks very good. You should be incredibly confident with what's going on on your head right now. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I don't know. Who knows? I haven't put much thought until I just get a little low fade now, and we'll see what happens. Who knows? I like that age. You got a barber. You got a routine. You got a low fade. Shave the face up a little bit. I'll live your life. Yeah, of course. I mean, I know you've been shaving your face lately.

1:58:42That's a thing now, a new thing for you. Do you actually use like a razor like our dads used to do back in the day?

1:58:47Pat McAfee:No, I got that metal, the foil. Okay, yeah. Yeah, the zero foil. I just use hair clippers on mine. I used to use the hair clips just straight across. Yeah. Yeah, so I used to do that, but it was always like a little stabby. This one gets it down to like your baby's fresh, you know, smooth in there. You can do it in the shower too. Take that thing into the shower. It goes like that. Tough to get some spots. As a new shaver, not really. This is very difficult here. I don't know how you guys do it. I'm going to be honest. I still yet to accomplish it. Every once in a while, there will be like a 7 p.m.

1:59:21Pat McAfee:shatter, not even a 5 o 'clock shatter in both my jaws. Then I started thinking to myself, wait, does it actually give me a little bit more of a jawline in my shading myself? Add the shadows. Yeah, in my adding the shadows. So then I started telling myself, don't even worry about shaving it. And then I started looking like an asshole. So it's a whole new world for me doing the shaving, but I'm enjoying the process. I do like it. I mean, never doing it before it kind of gives. Once I become a fat ass again post-holidays, probably won't see it. You see the beard, be bad. But right now, it's been nice to have a little baby face.

1:59:51Pat McAfee:The Talks at Tables here at Boston Conner at Ty Schmidt. Con man basketball starts this season. Good luck to your Celtics, and good luck to all the boys trying to go ahead and get to the top of the Commissioner's Cup first and then to the NBA title at the end of the season. Yeah, it'll be cool for the other teams. I think for both of us, both the Pacers and the Celtics, it's a little bit of a we'll-see-what-happens type season. But, like, Kevin Durant on the Rockets, I am pumped to see what that's all about tonight. I think that'll be pretty sweet. And then, you know, the other one with Jimmy Butler.

2:00:18Jimmy Butler full season with Golden State tonight. It'll kind of be the start of their new era with those guys. It'll be a good season.

2:00:24Pat McAfee:There's the odds on favor to Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the reigning champions, are the favorites to do again. They paid everybody that was on their team. They're all back. And obviously Oklahoma City has proven to be an incredible home court advantage as well with the way they got it going. Plus 200 to win the championship. Cavs plus 650. Nugs, Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, and the Warriors round out the top 10. And the Celtics still sitting there pretty because they got Missoula and they just put on a clinic against the media, the coaches. Yeah, if you're going to bet on them, it's kind of a cash-out situation.

2:00:56You can get them at really good odds there. Missoula and Jalen Brown will help them win a bunch of games, then Tatum will come back and those odds will change drastically. So you should bet on it and then cash out of it.

2:01:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, they're talking about Tatum coming back. Crazy because the initial reports are like, he's done, he's done, he's done, he's done. And he's like, I never said that. Yeah, exactly. That is crazy. How many months would the playoffs be? Sorry. How many months would the playoffs be from post-surgery? From post-surgery, yeah. Yeah, 10, 11 months, I think. I think it was the number I saw was 10 months. Because I'm watching it, obviously, because Tyrese is like two months behind. So, like, what we – you know, like, daughter's two years old. When out and about you see a kid and the kid's like three years old, I've always asked them, hey, how old is your child here?

2:01:37Pat McAfee:Three, okay. So I'm watching. Okay, so that's where she's headed to, you know, because there's like little steps in that whole thing. Same thing with Tyrese and Tatum. I'll see something, a video come out of Tatum. I'm like, okay, immediately call Tyrese. hey, are we working on getting to standing dunking? Like Hayden is able to do right now. He's like, yeah, I'm moving, you know. So he's probably chasing that as well. I assume they're in constant contact. But it's crazy with the Achilles that it's still just assumed like, hey, you're going to be out for a long time. And I think the worst part of it is you can move a little bit.

2:02:07Pat McAfee:And that's like a part of the problem. Like, no, you really can't. And we're seeing Aaron kind of come back from now like two years later. Kevin Durant was able to bounce back quick, I think is what everybody kind of hopes for, especially as an older player, superstar player, and he continued at that level. The Achilles is difficult, though. I think it's a tough one, obviously. Absolutely, especially for these big guys who got to run on fucking hardwood for however many games a year. But with those odds, I'm surprised the Mavericks are so low. We know Kyrie, he won't be starting off the season healthy, but number one pick, you got Anthony Davis there.

2:02:40You got some depth. Are they behind the Boston Celtics? Am I saying that correct?

2:02:44Pat McAfee:Longer odds than the Celtics. Surprising to me. Once again, Missoula will take Cooper Flagg and, I mean, he'll break his back and choke him out if you understand. Yeah, Jalen Brown. He said if him and Jalen Brown were getting in the fight, who would win? He'd say, oh, I don't know because we both die because I'm not dying alone. Okay. He'd be one seed. NBA coaches, I think, Jalen would be one seed. Oh, yeah. Interesting. Carlisle has real killer vibes, though. Yes, he does. He would pick kind of the McDonald feel. Sure. Missoula's out there. J.J. Reddick. Yeah, a bit of a doubt. J.J. Reddick will fight till death, I think, if we had to put a – I'm guessing Coach Spoh is just very scrappy.

2:03:25Pat McAfee:Yeah. New team of USA, Coach. Yeah. So I would hope that he would be willing to go till – You know, I think we don't give enough credit to the toughness of basketball players. Let's not get crazy. Okay, let's not outdo ourselves here. But I think there is a little bit more to that league than just a bunch of divas that don't work hard. And I'm thankful for this season to get going. And maybe the Pacers are able to figure it out. Obviously, Coach B.A. is here. There's some news coming out of the NFL world because the owners are having their meetings right now, which I don't think we knew about.

2:03:51Pat McAfee:We should have been on top of that. We apologize. Woody Johnson was asked about the state of the Jets and the state of his head coach, Aaron Glenn, in his first year here. And obviously, as you recall, Aaron Rodgers, this past offseason, flew from Los Angeles to New Jersey to meet with the new head coach and GM. And the way he tells the story is that thing ended before it even started. Aaron Glenn said, we're going in a different direction, basically kicked him out of the building. And Aaron said, well, what the fuck can I fly out of here for? He could have told me this on the phone. Now Aaron Glenn, obviously, after a rough start with the New York Jets, is getting a lot of heat, a lot of conversation.

2:04:25Pat McAfee:Woody Johnson was tasked with asking some questions or answering some questions. Here's what he had to say from Tom Rock at Newsday Sports. What's your confidence level in Aaron to turn it around? It looks like he's turning around parts of it. And, you know, it's hard when you have a quarterback with, you know, with a rating that we've got, you know. I mean, he has stability, but something just is not jiving. But if you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you're going to see similar results if you go across the league. You have to play consistently at that position, and that's what we're going to try to do for the remainder of the season.

2:05:08So what gives you hope then? I just think defense special teams are doing better. Defense is pretty good.

2:05:18If we could just complete a pass, it would look good. You've got to complete some pass. You've got to convince them that you can do something. Otherwise, it's hard to have a game that you could win. What do you say to the fans who've lost hope? So, yeah, what do you want this guy to do?

2:05:39Pat McAfee:Our quarterbacks stinks. It's kind of what Woody Johnson... Real load of confidence there for the QB. Man, that's tough. You paid him$20 million a year. You've got to be able to just complete a pass. You know, like that is something you've got to be able to give confidence to the coaches in calling it. And we appreciate that in real time being reported from the owners' meetings. But, yeah, I appreciate the fact that Woody Johnson's like, you guys think Aaron Glenn's a problem? fucking look at the quarterback that I paid$20 million a year after we kicked Aaron Rodgers out of here. That's an interesting dilemma, but I think it is the truth that we're all kind of seeing with this Jets team, but it's tough coming from ownership is probably how Justin Fields is feeling.

2:06:14I guess what were expectations for the Jets coming into this year? Okay, somehow if they had won one or two games so far this year, would we be okay and people wouldn't be questioning his job or what?

2:06:24Pat McAfee:Paid Garrett Wilson. Paid Justin Fields$20 million. Paid Sauce Gardner. Have a good defense. Aaron Glenn's coming in, we assume, with a brand new mindset for the entire building. They were obviously very focused on turning that place around and trying to become a contender and a winner. And then it's just the same old Jets stuff, I think is what Jets fans would say. But I would like to say, even though Aaron Rodgers Tuesday was something that we were very lucky to be a part of, we didn't mind Aaron Glenn moving on from Aaron Rodgers. We didn't mind the decision to kind of go ahead and have your own team.

2:06:57Pat McAfee:So I think it's going to take a couple years, obviously, to have to change a culture at a place, but I think everybody was hoping that they'd be able to do it quicker. What are your thoughts on what Woody Johnson said there about the reality of the Jets here? It's going to be hard to go in that locker room right now as the owner and look at your quarterback, if he's still the quarterback. I would think they're going with Tyrod Taylor the rest of the year. Yeah. I mean. After that. After that, for sure. Tyrod just about beat the Bucs a couple weeks ago down in Tampa. Last second field goal when the Bucs win.

2:07:25The Jets are close. They're getting closer. and I like what he said. Defense, special teams, they're doing a better job but they gotta let Tyrod go the rest of the year.

2:07:35Pat McAfee:Rap Sheet reported another quote coming from Woody. I do believe in Aaron. If I were a player, I'd respond to him. There's no BS. There's no agendas. Aaron Glenn is trying to bring a whole new culture to the Jets. How do you feel about what just happened there, D? I mean, that was tough to hear that from everything B.A. said. It would be tough. I mean, he's still on the team so he's not going anywhere but speaking on your quarterback like that, the guy you just paid, that's rough But to you guys' point, the defense have given up, what, 13 points back-to-back weeks. So that's something to build on.

2:08:03And defense at some point, that's going to wear the bad offense is going to wear on your defense as well. So they got to figure it out offensively. And it's been a shit show in New York for a long, long time. I don't know who was recording this kid, but somebody caught this poor kid walking out of a Jets game. And he was like, man, I was born in this shit. I'll be a Jets fan for the rest of my life. But it's horrible. And that's been a state of the Jets for a long, long time. So it'll take some time to figure it out. But at this point, what's today's day? October 21st. I still believe in Aaron Glenn.

2:08:33I'll give him some time.

2:08:34Pat McAfee:Me too. Me too. AJ, you? Yeah, you got the guy. You got to have at least a season and an offseason. That was awesome. To figure things out. Yeah, that was. We need a little bit more of those. Yeah, that was sick. We need a little bit more of those. Yeah. You know? But we've seen this team, this organization, suck the soul out of somebody. Robert Sala didn't smile for five years. Yeah. And he was the guy that was all over the field for the San Francisco 49ers, and he's back. So I like seeing that from Aaron Glenn, but he knew what he was signing up for. He took the New York Jets coaching job. Yeah, exactly.

2:09:04Pat McAfee:He knew exactly what he was signing up for, you would assume. And Tyrod Taylor, much like Joe Flacco, he'll do it. And there's a reason why he's still in the league right now. Everybody talks about these older players. Why do they have these older? Because these fuckers are good at football, and they also know a lot about it. So if the Jets are able to somehow maintain on the offensive side and their defense and special teams are able to do some shit, Aaron Glenn steals some wins, goes into the offseason, everything's on the up and up, let's find our quarterback for the future, let's go ahead and do this.

2:09:33Pat McAfee:And the Jets fans will be all the way back. Michael Cole, yeah, we got our culture back. We're a tough team. You see Aaron Glenn? And then I fear that next year comes and then all of a sudden it'll be some new shit that they'll figure out. And that's what Jets fans fear as well. There's just always some new shit that's going to come down from the clouds and rain on the New York Jets' success. Is that how Jets fans feel? That's going to be a tough culture to change, brother. That's going to be a tough culture to change. It takes some time. I'm wondering, how's Greeny doing? Is Greeny all right?

2:10:05Have we checked on him lately with the Jets? He'd just completely just give up. I think he's packed it in. Yeah, this is normal. This is normal Jets.

2:10:12Pat McAfee:Could you imagine him listening to that Woody Johnson quote there for the first time? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. Do we have to say that? I don't know if we have to say that. You know, like there's some things we probably don't have to say publicly, but I guess that's one of them that we just need to let fly is the ownership of the New York Jets, which a lot of people have brought into question. A lot of people have said ownership is part of the problem, and we're not going to say that this particular answer is part of the problem, but we do know you're not hearing other owners throw the quarterback under the bus in most situations.

2:10:36Pat McAfee:Certainly not. So that's certainly an outlier. Yeah, and that's the thing about when they signed Fields. It wasn't like, oh, this is stupid. Like Fields won a bunch of games for the Steelers last year. So you kind of thought that they were going to go with the running offense, straighten the clock and then you know it turns out they're trying to throw it and they can and you know maybe this is an mcdc umbrella type thing they any really really poopy organization you go to it's going to take some time ben johnson would be the outlier because you know that setup was kind of perfect for him we also probably should have known when multiple people came on the show and they said that the jets formula for winning every game was like hey they got to win 13 10 every single week like they got to play from ahead they're if they're down by 10 points they're going going to be screwed because they can't, you know, throw the ball the way that they're going to want.

2:11:19It's like the NFL's not like that. We had teams scoring 30 to 40 points every week. So it wasn't exactly a stroke of confidence going into the season, but it's New York, so, you know, people get excited.

2:11:29Pat McAfee:How's Graney feeling? Well, we have some tweets from him during games. For the second consecutive week, Aaron Glenn chose to let the half end without attempting Hail Mary. With a team that didn't score a touchdown in either game, it's inexcusable. Hashtag Jets. Seems like Graney's already on his way out of this whole thing. And Woody Johnson's reading his tweets. I agree, man. But what do you want him to do? The guy can't complete a pass. You think we're going to get a Hail Mary? Every throw is a Hail Mary. We're running bubble screams and we're calling them Hail Marys over there with Justin Fields.

2:11:55Pat McAfee:Good luck to the Jets and Justin Fields. Don't worry about it. He's paying you. Check with cash. When's the last time Jets have been like good? I know Rex Ryan. September 11th, 2023. Yes. First four games. Or four plays. Do you remember that? I do. The entrance? That was sweet. They were good. Yeah, it was Fitzmagic 2015, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker. That was the last time I think they won 10 games or 9 games, and it was Todd Bowles, I think. How about you, Dorn? Your 47 years of coaching, 27 in the NFL. How many of those decades were the Jets, like, good? Two, at least. Do you remember, like, a...

2:12:36Parcells, and then... Curtis Martin. Little home. Curtis Martin, all those guys. And Vinny. Rex Ryan. Sanchez took him to the AFC championship. We played him in the championship game at Pittsburgh. Yeah, we played him as well. And Doug O 'Brien missed that field goal. Oh, yeah. Who? It was Herm Edwards. Yeah. Who missed the field goal? Doug O 'Brien. Doug Bryan. I remember him. He was kicking for the Saints and was up at Jets. And it was like 10 below zero. And we ended up winning that game.

2:13:06Pat McAfee:Rex Ryan had them rolling. Chris Ivory. I think that was Herm. I think Herb was the head coach that year. Herm Edwards. So you need somebody that's pretty, you know, feels like you have to take on that entire thing. You talk about Herm, obviously, very – what would that be? That's why you play the game, baby. Extrovert. I think he's a good extrovert. Rex Ryan, obviously, big time extrovert. Aaron Glenn has a lot of dog mentalities. Feels like that might be the style of coach that you need to be able to win at the Jets. That Rex Ryan run was fun. That was a fun time. That was ground and pound and defense.

2:13:39They had a great defense week in and week in. That was the year, actually, that was the second year? It was 14-2. Bork Scott and all them. They can't wait that moment. They came into New England, won, and then went to the AFC Championship. But, you know, that was a few years. And then you talked about Curtis Martin and that era back then. But, like, as far as, like, sustained, you know, the Giants, you know, they have a run now where it's been a shit show. But we all can remember when the Giants and won a couple of Super Bowls did their thing. So, like, the Jets, man, it's been a long, long time.

2:14:08Pat McAfee:On that note, Nick Mangold, pulling for you, brother. Yeah, Nick. I know we shouldn't like expect updates all the time. I think next update could come in like November, I think is what he said for the next month or so. He has to go through dialysis. I think we'll get a heads up in November. We're obviously, hey, Nick, we love you, dude. We absolutely love you. And I think from this all, there's going to be incredible awareness of like what organ donors or donor, being a donor can do for other people's lives. Obviously, Nick, but many others that are currently waiting for anything. in the hospital.

2:14:43Pat McAfee:So we love you, Nick. Nick was a great thing for the Jets. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Lovable. He was the leader of that. That was the only player for a while for New England. It's like, well, the Jets suck, but they do have Nick Mangold. And then when Sanchez and, you know, Chris Ivory and those boys started running and going to those AFC championships. Hadle Fenneca. Yeah, Fenneca. Oh, I forgot about Fenneca. DeBrick and Berkson. Yeah, DeBrick and DeBrick and Berkson together. Woody. Well, yeah, Damian Woody, right, was also on that team. Here's how you can help Nick Mangold. You can scan that QR code or go to columbiasurgery.org forward slash kidney dash transplant.

2:15:17Pat McAfee:Sign up at the link and then you'll get some tests to see what your blood type is. And then they'll let you know who you can help, whether it's Nick Mangold or many others that are looking for any type of help. And just kind of waiting literally for somebody to help them save their lives. Nick Mangold is one of those people with type O blood. There are many others as well. Hopefully that story will inspire people to give back. Now, before we run the Adam Silver conversation, which is great, we have to do some sort of giveaway, don't we? Do we have to do some sort of giveaway, AJ? Is B.A. going to putt again?

2:15:47Because, I mean, that was a flawless performance.

2:15:49Pat McAfee:I don't know if we should have B.A. do anything after the four putts ever again. You know, it's kind of difficult for this entire game. Yeah, first day of NBA, we could have DeBone maybe or one of DeBone and Butt to maybe shoot one of the U-ball shots. Yeah, Bone and Butt team, yeah, put them out. Yeah, Bown and Butt team. When was the last time you guys played with Bown and Butt? When did you guys last time you guys played? Last week, on Wednesday. Because we didn't play yesterday. You guys, you know, ducked the smoke yesterday. Yeah, had some things to figure out. Got a lot going on in life right now.

2:16:17Pat McAfee:Had a lot of business. D-Bown throwing a U-ball is the right way to do this. Hell yeah, Bone. Hey, D-Bown, will you please step out here to the U-ball court in the middle of the Thunderdome? Your presence is a necessity at this point for a giveaway. Now, D-Bowna is a champion of U-Ball in the past. He is not currently the champion. That championship basketball obviously resides right here on my desk down there. Down left right there. It is a bedazzled ball. Sweet. Certainly fantastic. Shout out to the NBA sending it. Boom. Right there. Boom. That is a bedazzled ball. That is perfect for the U-Ball title, actually.

2:16:53Pat McAfee:That would be a U-Ball if it wouldn't shatter if we were to shoot it. Correct. Somebody took a lot of time on that. We are very grateful for the NBA sending that to us. It's currently me and Foxy's. Hell yeah. Okay, so as it's won, it'll move? Yeah, it'll move. Yeah, it'll move. Nice. Probably not, though. Like, because me and Foxy got it figured out. Will D-Bone have it figured out? Will he be able to win 25 people,$500? Coach, will you please give D-Bone, a D3 national champion offensive lineman, little maybe words of encouragement before he attempts the impossible, which is make one U-ball shot from the opposite free throw line.

2:17:27Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Coach. Okay, now, brother, we had this opportunity not long ago. Never know you didn't get that opportunity. Make the best of it, my man. Boom. We only have right now, D-Bone, 25 people could win$500. Let it fly. Take a deep breath, says Coach B.A. Did you shoot any of them? What's that? Nope. No, he throws them. He only throws them? Okay. Foot's not on the line. Jesus Christ. Why don't you shoot? Oh! Oh! Holy shit! Oh! That's my partner. Count it. Count it. Count it. 25 winners of$500. All you got to do is repost that miracle. Wow. Go buy a lottery ticket right now, Debo. Yeah. Say something nice to somebody and put the easiest way to pay you.

2:18:13Pat McAfee:Debo, that was spectacular. Wow. If you were playing against me and Foxy, the champs, we would have batted that shit or dunked that shit so quick. But for the people, you stepped up and made it happen. Coach B.A., what an incredible speech. What a way to motivate that guy. Wow. What a shot. What a bounce. What a day. Congrats to D-Bone. Congrats to the 25 random winners. And also, shout out to the NBA launching in beautiful fashion. AJ, you're the man. We appreciate the hell out of you. Boys in the back, great work. Coach B.A., we love you. We'll see you next week. Thank you for joining us. And here is a State of the NBA conversation with the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver.

2:18:46Pat McAfee:Congratulations. Another NBA season tipping off today. Thank you. Thank you very much. How do you feel? Obviously, we've got some new media rights deals going on. We've got a younger generation of stars about to take over the league, potentially. What are your thoughts as you embark on another journey to an NBA championship here? I'm feeling great. I mean, as you said, it's an interesting blend of old and new, just beginning on the media side. NBC's back, of course. It's been 23 years since we were there on their air. For your viewers who saw the Today Show this morning, they had John Tesh on.

2:19:19They brought back round ball rock So that's that's wonderful and with round ball rock came Michael Jordan. So he's gonna be On tonight's NBC telecast being interviewed by Mike Tirico. So but on maybe more importantly on the basketball side You know as I said we got you know Oklahoma City thinks you know, they're gonna be right back there this year But of course we've had seven different champions over the last seven years So, you know people always ask me this question. Is that what you want a different champion every year? And I said, no, you know, we just want we want the best competition. We want a system where everybody has a fair shot.

2:19:54But if, you know, great GMs like Sam Presti can put together an organization that can win, you know, multiple championships, you know, great. You know, so but you got Wemby back in San Antonio. You got Cooper Flagg in Dallas. You got Jalen Brunson, who's I think going to be right up there competing for an MVP this year in New York. So, you know, and sorry about the Pacers.

2:20:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, OK. They're going to fight their way through it. But Tyrese, I mean, you know, it was heartbreaking, obviously, to see him go down in game seven. But, you know, he and I have been texting back and forth. He's going to be right back there. I think that's the thing about you that we respect, especially from the NFL world and understanding what the commissioner's job is and how it's not an easy one. Now, the NBA's relationship with the commissioner is clearly different than maybe the NFL, but it does feel like you really care about ball and the players. The fact that you're texting with Tyrese, obviously, we're thankful for.

2:20:45Pat McAfee:Jason Tatum, also another megastar that's going to be out, missing a lot. But whenever you talk about Cooper Flagg and Jalen Brunson and all these stars, Ant, let alone Ant, who's a megastar in Wemby, and then you got Kevin Durant, then you got the OG still kind of around Booker, and then LeBron James out for a little bit. How do you kind of view, you talk about a transition era, but as a commissioner, obviously you would like the next generation to kind of take the next big step. Is that kind of goals for this season as you lay them out from a league? It's like, all right, we'd like our young stars to kind of do their thing.

2:21:17Pat McAfee:It's in their hands potentially in the next couple years. Let's see what we have going forward. Is that something that the league thinks about or you think about? Absolutely. By the way, I should say, you know, I'm a Duke guy. So with Jason Tatum, you know, in his spare time now as he's recovering from his injury, he's been named, like, I forget the exact title, but he's got a Duke basketball title now. So he's helping recruit and run the program down there. So, I mean, these guys are keeping busy in college even when they're not on the floor. But but to answer your question in terms of old and new I mean look at Luca I mean, I you know, I don't know if you guys have seen sort of his transformed body You know he he completely Retrained himself, you know over the in the offseason, you know, I you know He was obviously upset with the trade But I think is using it as motivation now to show everybody that he's one of the greatest in the game and wants to be viewed as one of The greatest ever, you know at the same time like then having him play with LeBron who you know He's out just for maybe a few weeks now, but no doubt has one of the greatest work ethics ever I mean, I'm always saying to the younger players.

2:22:17It's a combination part of it is you know You're God-given talent part of it is you know that the training and coaching you get the mentorship to be put in that position that but once You're in the league they're really great ones And you know from the NFL have this these incredible work ethics I think people don't understand like how hard a player like LeBron works to be able to it's about to be 41 to play at that Level for that long so yeah, you know they're gonna get dinged up along the way He's got a little injury now, but I'm hoping for a much younger player like Luca He realizes that there's a lot more to it than just having that talent that in that experience that you see what a guy Like LeBron is actually doing and and and by the way, you know Over some of these Olympic teams I've been with around over the years when these stars come together I mean I can remember in in 2008 in China like when some of the younger players were getting an opportunity to see Kobe's work ethic, you know where they were meeting in the morning and Kobe was coming back from like a 530 a.m You know training session, you know And and he was coming in with towels wrapped around him and guys were like rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and like Where's he coming from?

2:23:26You know what I and like that matters and when guys see what it takes to be You know truly great, you know And I think we've all had that experience that you know, you sort of whether it's in sports or whether it's in business You know when you start meeting other mentors you say well, that's what they do You know and you realize that so much of it is you have to have good luck You have to have good health and certain talent But that it's it ultimately comes down to that work ethic and it's something that for you know, the NBA the WNBA It's what we try to teach all the younger players. I mean broadly, you know in all our programs that you know know a minuscule percentage of players are going to be fortunate as you were to play at the highest level you know whether in top college programs or or top program pro programs but like that rub off of those those values that come from sports it's truly remarkable yeah sports help people in

2:24:19Pat McAfee:everyday life I think you have to be a team sport person to do anything like my daughter obviously she's a dog and I can't wait to watch her but she's gonna play team sports because she's gonna learn a lot of things through that that she's gonna carry into her life I agree with that and And I think after watching the NBA more and also getting to know a lot of these NBA guys, there used to be, I think, kind of a narrative about the NBA players being soft. You know, these guys are soft because there was, you know, they're resting some games. They're not resting some games. And then you meet these guys that are at the top, and it's like these are dogs through and through.

2:24:48Pat McAfee:And you go back through the history of the game. I mean, you guys got them on NBC's coverage. Give me, give me the basketball. Give me the basketball. Because I'm going to dunk it. Yeah, we can't wait for that, obviously, with MJ being back. But that Mamba mentality you talk about, and then I can echo that sentiment about, like, I had Adam Vinatieri. I had Adam Vinatieri literally on the same team. It's like, hey, what does this guy do? And I'm just going to try to do that. The NBA does feel like a family whenever it comes to that type of thing, and I think you guys are in a great spot just from what I've witnessed and the people that I've gotten a chance to chat about.

2:25:22Pat McAfee:And your league's a fun league to be a fan of at this exact moment, especially with all the different media broadcast partners and also you leaning into the digital side of things, which I respect and appreciate because you guys are a digital league. You guys take over the internet. On that note, Rushmore on X, Dunkers is available now. Have you seen this? Shaq and Reggie Miller put up their Mount Rushmores of Dunkers throughout the history of the game. We'll send it over to you to get your opinion on it. It is a fantastic convo about the history of basketball, basically, and rim rocking. So I like where your league's at.

2:25:53Pat McAfee:I assume you do as well. Now, the world that we're in is a little bit different than maybe 15, 20 years ago, especially with all eyes on the money side of things during these games. Go ahead, D. Butch. Yeah, Adam, with the huge growth of the game and obviously growth of sports betting as well, I can't wait to put a 12-game team parlay together tonight. But how do you balance, I guess, protecting the integrity of the game? And how do you balance that with the growth and obviously the relationships that you have with these sports betting partners? You know interestingly enough, I think in the modern digital era the choice is between legalized sports betting or Illegal sports betting not do you want sports betting or not?

2:26:37And so ultimately our view has been that since we know there's gonna be enormous betting on sports out there There always has been lots of illegal betting when I was younger, but it was much more difficult Before the internet you'd have to meet someone on the corner. There were betting slips things like that Or you had an old-school bookie, of course now you can just bet on your phone. So on one hand with this regulated structure of legalized betting, we can monitor it in ways that were unimaginable years ago that if there's any aberrational behavior people betting large numbers who hadn't historically done so just opening an account to place bets or even the geo-targeting We know exactly from where the bets are being placed.

2:27:19I'm very specifically if you're in an arena and place a bet We know you're in the arena in many cases. We know where in the arena you are when you place that bet So sort of analogize to a stock market where there's you know, it's of course there's a legal framework But there's a lines that make activity illegal like insider trading for example And so you have potentially the equivalent in sports where somebody may have inside information It may it could be a player and though the worst case scenario is a player who's trying to impact their own performance for a bet, or it may be people around a player.

2:27:58And it may be unintentional on the part of a player, but somebody who's around the player knows that the player isn't feeling well or isn't going to play even though that hasn't been announced yet. So, you know, we have a framework, a structure in place to monitor, to prevent those kinds of things happening so that the information is available to potential bettors so that it's a level playing field in terms of placing those bets. But there's no question, it introduces a whole new set of issues. One of the issues you see in arenas, and I hear from players and coaches on this, are fans. I mean, who are yelling out about, you know, especially when it's a prop bet.

2:28:39Pat McAfee:My partner! Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you know, but it's often the case that, you know, your team wins and a player scores, you know, 25 points. But the fan better had bet that the player was going to score 28 points or 30 points or whatever else. So I would say one thing. We sent a memo out to our teams recently and we made it clear in conversations with them that we want to see strict enforcement of those rules. I mean, we have to protect the competitors. You know, we want to protect the environment in the arena, the people getting out of hand. I mean, but but as I said, we we accept betting is legal and roughly 35 states now in the United States It's unlikely to go away.

2:29:20I think probably there should be more regulation frankly, maybe surprising to hear from me I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state I think you got to monitor the amount of promotion the amount of advertising around it and also we've we've pulled back You know, it's not completely in our control But we've asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets Especially when they're on two-way players guys who don't have the same stake in the competition where you know It's too easy to manipulate something which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score Maybe you know that a couple rebounds that some player You know gets or whatever so, you know we're trying to put in place and learning as we go and working with the betting companies some additional control to prevent sort of some of that manipulation.

2:30:11Pat McAfee:I think that's really good defense. Getting rid of that kind of smaller, obscure bets. Like, hey, do we really need this to even be a potential distraction? One and a half rebound. Or a potential setup. Like, I respect that you're trying to figure out and navigate this as it's happening in real time. Do you feel the, and you said you wanted it to be strict on the fans in the environments, very intimate, very, very intimate, the NBA. I mean, there's been a couple times where I felt like I was sitting on a bench, you know, and it's like, now granted, I loved it. I enjoyed being there. Let's go, boys.

2:30:40Pat McAfee:Let's kind of do our thing. Give me a microphone. Maybe not. Let's not do that. Maybe I'll just sit here and talk to the group here. John Mellencamp's going to be pissed. But there is a very intimate relationship between the NBA and its fans, I think, in the arenas. That's a part of the allure, I think. Hey, come watch these 6 '8", 6 '9", tall guys run back and forth, dunk it, bring the kids out. You'll even maybe get a high five as they're jogging through the thing. And on the flip side of that, when it's not a family or a little kid and somebody that's pissed off about the amount of turnovers you had and then said, we got to win, but should be happy and mean, I can see how that could get a little loud.

2:31:13Pat McAfee:And there's been, you know, NBA and players and fans interactions before. I don't know how it doesn't happen more often. Just strictly because Bruce, I've seen Bruce at an NBA game. And he's a problem. He's a New York Knicks fan, and he's a good shit talker. And he is very okay doing it right to TJ McConnell's face. And they're like three feet away. In real life, TJ McConnell potentially knocked Bruce Brown out, especially with his punchable-looking face. But instead, TJ talks back, and they keep it moving. It's a beautiful part of your sport. I'm happy to see that you want to keep it a safe thing for everybody.

2:31:47Pat McAfee:And when it comes to the gambling, do you feel like you have to set a precedent now with this? because, like, to the players, obviously, do you feel like we got to kind of make sure we nip this in the butt before it gets big, or are you all just kind of riding the wave together to see what fits this situation best each time? Well, you know, we deal, obviously, case by case with anything that comes up, but I think we've made it clear to our players, and I think Andre Iguodala, who's head of the Players Association, you know, former All-Star champion himself, knows that there's nothing more important than the integrity of the competition.

2:32:21So if a player steps over the line, I mean, there have been players, I think, as you know, who've been banned from the game because of betting. We monitor really closely. There are signs in every locker room. We have continuing education throughout the year just so guys know that it's a really bright line. Because the problem with all those prop bets is that I always worry. I'm sure there are players who would never, ever think they would want to manipulate the ultimate outcome of the game. They wouldn't want to do that to their teammates. They wouldn't want to do it themselves But are thinking oh, what's the difference if you know, I've won fewer more rebound or whatever else So that's why you know, we've made it clear There's there's very strict enforcement that anything you do around betting You know just just the mere betting on a game even if it had nothing to do with your particular performance You know will result in a suspension, you know and and possibly the end of your career So, you know, again, we live in an environment of legalized sports betting.

2:33:21And by the way, not just in the United States, but the NBA is a global league. I mean, remember when sports betting was legalized in the United States, it was already for decades had been widely legal throughout Europe. You know, in the old days, it's all moved to the Internet now, but in the old days, you know, you could go to a soccer game in England and they had betting windows, you know, like at a horse track. And there were betting parlors throughout London again most of the action is now online But but that's actually a good thing that's online because when people aren't using cash You have to identify yourself to the betting company you're putting in a credit card and again.

2:33:57So if there's something Unusual that's happening or if somebody is it and there's a whole separate issue about problem gambling So so let's remove sort of your regular activity among participants in the game But then there's people clearly who get sucked in and are betting too much money and are betting over their means. And so there's also ways to monitor those things and to cut those people off if the betting company detects that there's an issue.

2:34:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, we had some friends that had that happen to them from Sportsbook. Looking at you again, Bruce. Looking at you again, Bruce. And we like that. You know, got him out of a potential spiral, though. And I agree that it has gotten to a much better place in the gambling world. But for you guys to have to navigate it, we're appreciative of the amount of thought that you put into it because the integrity of the game is everything. Because what are we betting? what are we watching if we don't think that's a big deal? And oddly enough, I mean, even the bettors want to be ensured that they can take these behind the data because if they think it's not a level playing field or somebody has information they don't, they won't bet your sport.

2:34:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, they're on the take. Listen, if they're going to be on the take, I would like to know that they're on the take so we can do that because then they feel like they're getting bamboozled. We appreciate the amount of work that you're putting into that to play defense and also make sure that the NBA will continue to be a sport that we can all, you know, definitely know what's going on wherever we place our wagers on. Now, you brought up Europe there in the gambling culture, but let's talk about the basketball world that's starting to brew over there in Europe. Love what you're doing with the All-Star Game format.

2:35:27Pat McAfee:USA versus the world, basically. Maybe this will entice people to care a little bit is the hope. Hopefully. Is that kind of the hope, Adam? Because we all know that it's not just the NBA. The NHL figured it out with the Four Nations. The NHL figured it out with Four Nations, but they were having problems too there for a few years. Baseball obviously has the home run derby. They were going back and forth. It was like home field advantage in the playoffs. They kind of got rid of that. The NFL had a problem for a while. It was bad football. It was bad, bad football. Now they try to make it a festival.

2:35:57Pat McAfee:So these all-star games and festivities aren't the easiest things to nail. You guys saw what the NHL did and thought maybe we'll take a hack at that. saw what the Olympics were for the entire world. We'll try to pull on that. Maybe find what guys care about. Is that how we got to this point? And what is your expectation for it? Yeah, Pat, exactly. I mean, we try to learn from everybody else. There's no question that what the NHL did in terms of the four nations was incredibly successful. And then in addition, the All-Star Game is moving to NBC this year, and our All-Star Game falls smack in the middle of the Winter Olympics.

2:36:30So we want to take advantage of the fact that you have this global international competition. You know where the country is focused on you know on USA USA and and taking on other countries So we're going to move to a Ryder Cup type format again like taking from golf as well as hockey and Because we have an imbalance in the league of international players to US players It's roughly 30 % of the players born outside the United States. We got to play with the format a little bit I think where we'll likely end up is, you know, a round robin where you have two USA teams and one international team. And then they'll play each other in a round robin.

2:37:10Oh, USA versus USA in the finals would be great. I would be celebrating. I think the guys will be motivated because of the Olympic atmosphere they'll be in the middle of because of wanting to play for their country. And in addition, I would just say on behalf of the players, I mean, last year we were hoping for more. I mean, I think the format didn't quite work, but the players care. And I don't know what, there's something about NBA All-Star game. And even as I was in Europe for a bunch of things this summer doing some other stuff for the NBA, and I was amazed how many fans came up to me and said, you know, great, Oklahoma City won, finals were incredible.

2:37:46You've got to fix the All-Star. And I think it seems to me to take on disproportionate interest. And I think when we've had bad All-Stars, I think maybe a little different from other leagues, It seems to linger longer in this league that, you know, sort of you referenced it, that it becomes a proxy for how much the players care or their investment in the game. And it seems very unfair to them in ways because sometimes there's just a larger conspiracy that includes all the teams who don't want their guys to go out and get injured in what seems to be an exhibition game to a lot of people. But I think that the younger generation of NBA players are understanding that All-Star is really meaningful.

2:38:27And it's not necessarily needs to be played at the level of the finals, but we also don't want to see guys going out there, not playing defense and sort of just sort of like bombing away three-point shots the whole game. I mean, and I think there's a happy medium there. And I'm encouraged this year, as I said, like Andre Iguodala, the player association has been great, terrific individual conversation with players. We're like, we get it. You know, we're going to be in LA this year. It's going to be a big stage. So again, I'm hoping we can bring back that tradition.

2:38:54Pat McAfee:I think there's going to be great tradition. and I'm an outsider looking into your world. Dream Team was so big for basketball because a lot of people watch basketball for the first time, saw the stars. They were like the Beatles, right, if that documentary is right, whenever they come to town. I think the All-Star Game provides similar opportunities. It's where all the stars are. Some people are maybe only watching that first time, really getting to see people. I think that is why it is such a big interest because you guys have such a limited amount of people that can be so good at your sport, and there's only a couple times that we see them all together.

2:39:21Pat McAfee:Olympics, certainly when we see them all together, we love it. We all love it. KD takes over a game. Steph takes over a game. LeBron takes over a game. It's like, here we go. These are all the greats doing their thing. Tyrese Halliburton's holding it down. Exactly. Holding it down over there in the entirety. And then whenever we get the All-Stars, same thing. We see everybody, and then it's just kind of like what it is. So I think that's potentially why your fans are a little bit more passionate about the All-Star game than maybe the NFL. Like, Pro Bowl, I mean, nobody cares about that. It stinks.

2:39:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, nobody cares about that. So it's good that people care, I think. But what you're saying is it's a tough thing to get right. Maybe this will be the right answer on the internet. To your point, it would be a worse problem if nobody cared. Bingo. Yeah, yeah. I think it's a good thing, but also figure it out, Adam. Fix it. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. This thing that can only hurt people for the future as they're trying to win an actual championship and there's a lot of money on the line. Other people are getting arrested. Best players don't get arrested. Go ahead. Nobody's dunking.

2:40:15Pat McAfee:Don't want to hurt themselves. Just, Adam, figure it out. Please. Make it great. Okay? We need that thing to be amazing. Now, you talk about the international team and how great they have gotten. I'll tell you. I wanted the USA versus USA final. I'm thinking that's probably not going to happen because what's going on overseas with this sport is obviously incredible. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Kermis, you just said it. 30 % of the players in the NBA are international. But, I mean, if you look at the MVPs, damn near 100 % of the MVPs are international now. I think our last seven. Yeah, the last seven of them.

2:40:46There it is. I thought there was a number there. But the NBA International is huge. NBA Europe is going to be massive. How did you kind of, you know, decide to launch it this year or next year, whenever it's launching? And then is there any worry that some of these international players are going to leave the NBA to go to NBA Europe, whether that be, you know, 10 years into their career or even just towards the end? Because you think of guys like Dirk Nowitzki, who, you know, might have gone back to Germany for a year or two. And then you think of all the international players and how much they love their home countries.

2:41:23Giannis with Greece, Jokic, Luka, there's a ton of them. SGA's Canadian. I don't know if he falls into that category. But still, you know what I'm saying. Is that ever a thought with the NBA Europe? And how excited are you for that launch as a whole? Yeah, well, so a few things there. I mean, I think if some of those international players decided to either end their career or prolong their career a bit by playing in Europe I think that would be fantastic. I think for the foreseeable future The NBA is so big is so global the pay is so high I think it's highly unlikely that any of these players would choose to forego the NBA to play in Europe And I think that's kind of the case right now.

2:42:05I mean the quality of European basketball is off the charts right now It's just not commercially successful And so to your question why now I think that you're seeing enormous interest maybe you know clearly unprecedented in Live premium sports right now. It's it's being reflected in all the sports I mean it's as if other than you know honestly shows like yours Around sports that people want to consume live or near live because you're talking about such topical issues or Or the live games themselves They've separated themselves from everything else certainly on traditional television and now people are watching more streaming and Then traditional broadcasting and cable and by the way you were mentioning before that Pat I mean you were a pioneer there I mean you to have a show that simulcast on ESPN and YouTube and then to then take portions of it and then make those available on social media It's not that different than what the NBA has become there's sort of the live aspect of it And then there's the sort of highlights and other aspects of it that people will watch after the fact But in terms of Europe, I think we're at the point now where there is just there's a huge opportunity Both in the quality of the game in Europe as we were all talking about You know 15 % of our league now is European and they represent some of the very best players There's enormous interest in the game there this you know our numbers something like over 250 million basketball fans in Europe It's the number two sport after soccer and and on top of that There's an opportunity to build an arena infrastructure in Europe like even when we were all in Paris for the Olympics The building there they did some upgrades for the Olympics But it doesn't have the sort of amenities that you know You see in Indianapolis or you see in our in our NBA cities where there's a lot of areas for Pre-game meals big halftime celebrations, you know fancy sweets the whole thing The great thing about arenas really different from stadiums is that the top arenas are used, you know 250 300 days a year, so it's sort of a separate economic engine for communities And again just like you see in Indianapolis, then you can build around it.

2:44:12You have commercial Space, you know, you know retail residential use we saw it in Milwaukee with the new development there You know you saw it in LA you're seeing it all all around the country They're talking about that in San Antonio right now moving their arena to downtown So a combination of all these factors are coming together. I think we're not all the way there yet We're working at the league office on you know, what what the right model is But there's certainly no lack of interest in potential owners I'm hearing from you know a lot of well-known wealthy European families who are interested American families institutions who would like to see this happen So if you look at the gap right now, I mean, soccer is, you know, head and shoulders more popular than any other sport in Europe right now.

2:44:57But basketball follows, like, let's say this far behind, but the economic gap is like this. I think I just went out of the picture. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we get the point. And so, you know, right now the teams and even some of those well-known soccer brands in Europe like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, they field basketball teams, very competitive basketball teams. In fact, you know, Luka Doncic started his career at Real Madrid. But it's just a yearly investment or loss. There's no chance they have of making money on those programs. And it's not just about making money at the end of the day. You know, it's the way market economies work.

2:45:33If you can generate money, you reinvest it. You reinvest it in your facilities, in your players, in your marketing, and making the enterprises that much bigger. So, you know, as I said, I mean, we're probably a couple years away from being able to launch something in Europe, but we're spending a lot of time on it.

2:45:47Pat McAfee:We're really lucky for the NBA here in Indiana. Obviously, we just explained it. Ty's about to ask a question about that here in a matter of moments, actually. Not just here, but many other places. The fact that you're investing in towns and cities over in Europe for the good of your sport, I respect that. I really do. I respect and appreciate that. And also, you talk about the arenas. We're talking about building stadiums in the NFL. You need a lot of space to do that. Arenas are a little bit different ballgame. I'm not saying you don't need a lot of space, but the footprint is obviously much smaller in these towns.

2:46:14Pat McAfee:And if you can get those things up, bring the city around. I don't like what's going on with American basketball's future. I don't like it. And, Pat, I'll just say the other issue with stadiums, it's hard to fill them for whatever the NFL represents with preseason. I don't know, 10 dates or whatever it is. Maybe you get a Super Bowl occasionally. You better watch what you talk about preseason. There's only so many acts these days. There's only so many Taylor Swifts and Beyonce's or whatever else who can truly fill a stadium. You know, and then some of the roof stadiums, you know, they can they can bring in some corporate, you know, you know, big sales, you know, organizations coming in and a few other things like that.

2:46:53But arena business is very different. As I said, like arenas, because of smaller, they're obviously roofed facilities. You can in many of these buildings, it's like 300 dates a year. They're active.

2:47:05Pat McAfee:That's good business, brother. And it's what, 16, 17 ,000, 13 ,000, 16 ,000, 17 ,000. Yeah, you know, 17 ,000, 18 ,000. That's a huge audience, though. Whenever you talk about a stadium, everybody's selling out stadiums. And you mentioned Taylor Swift. Obviously, she has records all around the world for how many stadium tickets she's been able to sell. Beyonce obviously does as well. Morgan Wallen filling up stadiums all over the place. Luke Combs, Zach Bryan. But you're right. This is just Chris Brown can fill up a stadium. You're only talking about a few people. I think Kevin Hart did two stadiums.

2:47:36Pat McAfee:I think he did a stadium as a comedian one time. I think Chappelle might have as well. But then you talk about arenas. It's like arenas is a stage that a lot of people can get to. And that's a great payday for these acts if you sell out an arena. And also it's a great setup. Like this Gainbridge Fieldhouse down here, the green rooms, great setup. Beautiful. You got food everywhere. Easy walk. Easy access for the crowd. Not a bad seat in there. The modern arenas are spectacular. I mean, I think it's a recognition as the entertainment business. So you go to a game and part of the whole ambiance of the event is, you know, what are the suites like?

2:48:15What are the concourses? You know, what kind of retail do they have? Like think, you know, when I was a kid, certainly it was a hot dog and a pretzel. Now the food selections off the charts, you know, local specialties, you know, everything you can imagine. And I think that, you know, in our league, as each new arena comes online, they keep upping the bar just in terms of, you know, wanting to be part of the festivities there. And the issue is in the NBA, it's a recognition that, you know, roughly half the teams are going to be under 500 in any given season. You know, not every game is going to, like, light it on fire.

2:48:55So, you know, part of you're going for the experience. And one thing we're seeing change in the arenas is that people want the communal experience I think more than historically where you'd go to a game You'd sit in a seat you sort of talk to the person you left talk the person on your right now If you look what's happening the arenas, they're creating more common spaces, you know more mini suites more Lounges sort of overseeing the court kind of in a way like a sports bar But instead of having screens up, you're in a sports bar and the big windows are opened up to the court. So you can, you know, singles can go.

2:49:31You can use it to meet people. You can use it to entertain. But, you know, rather than being locked in one spot for two and a half hours at a game, you can be talking to 20 different people. And, I mean, I enjoy doing that at games when I'm, you know, in sort of one of those areas or in a suite or something. Not just, you know, because there's food and stuff up there, but it's an opportunity to talk to a lot of people.

2:49:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, a lot of people come to your guys' games. I'll tell you what, I appreciate the fact that you're talking about streaming in the future of trailblazing for, you know, rights and deals and everything. Now you're talking about the live event experience, talking about the arena experience versus stadium experience. I'll tell you what, Adam Silver, under that bald head, you got a pretty good little brain in there, buddy. You got a pretty good little brain in there, playing defense against the gambling or the potential of that. Now, I just mentioned about how Indiana has obviously been very appreciative of what your league has done for us, more specifically over the last few months.

2:50:20Pat McAfee:That was amazing. Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Kamish, you mentioned, you know, Indiana and the Pacers and Milwaukee and obviously Oklahoma City winning it all last year. But when we got the finals matchup initially, the only conversation is, oh, this is going to be the lowest rated finals of all time. No one's going to watch this. Is it good for the league when small market teams around the league make deep runs into the playoffs, especially because it sounds like the linear number or like the television numbers really aren't the end-all, be-all anymore? Well, so first of all, in terms of those predictions, Oklahoma City, Indiana ended up having more viewers than Dallas Celtics before.

2:51:00And the reason was because the competition was better. And at the end of the day, we're largely, you know, if markets the size of Indianapolis and Oklahoma City are considered small markets, we're a league of small markets. On the other hand, as the mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, pointed out last year, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are larger than roughly 90 % of the cities in the United States. So by really any standard for most of your listeners or viewers, they live in smaller cities and towns than Indianapolis and Oklahoma City. So again from the league standpoint, you know, I've said this before, the goal is to be more NFL-like from that standpoint.

2:51:41If the, you know, the Steelers, You know are playing the Browns or whatever nobody is saying you know It's it's a matchup or Green Bay if Steelers are playing Green Bay in a Super Bowl like nobody's ever saying it's a small market in Super Bowl and When in our league, you know, we still carry that title go or that headline going in its small market The goal for me is to make it it's the two about the two best teams playing in the finals and And frankly in this world now digital media, I mean look from your standpoint like you're broadcasting from Indianapolis And I've been to your house so like right outside the city like it's irrelevant, right?

2:52:24Like nobody's gonna suggest that you would be more popular if you were in Chicago Instead of any I mean it's almost a ridiculous point and I think in a digital world, you know Giannis in Milwaukee, you know winning the MVP winning a championship talking to a global audience of billions, which the NBA has. As I've said before, if you went down the road to Chicago, I don't know, an hour and a half drive or whatever it was, and there's a million more people, in a world where we're reaching billions of people, it's immaterial. And I think, again, hats off to Oklahoma City. I'm not saying there are some advantages to being in certain markets over others, but I think just like the NFL, the players ultimately realize in a cap system, they're going to make their money.

2:53:08based on the quality of their play wherever they go. And even in terms of commercial endorsement deals, those are going to come not from the market they're in, but from winning. And so they want to put themselves in winning situations as well. So, you know, I think we've really evolved the league over the last decade or so or longer to where market size is less relevant. One more interesting statistic. So for the first 65 years of the NBA, three teams won 60 % of the championships. And as we've talked about, so now the last 15 years, it's been 11 different teams and seven different teams over the last seven years.

2:53:48So it's like, and it's not a close call when people say, well, don't you miss those dynasties? Again, you know, as I've said, if Oklahoma City goes on to win two more championships in a row, I'm not going to say, no, I wish there were other teams that were winning. I think that's great, but they're doing it with a level playing field. You know, they're not doing it because they're outspending every other team in the league. And I think that's the way it should be. And so, you know, whatever happens with the competition, but I don't think having a few teams dominate the competition year after year is good for the league long term because fans in those other cities don't think their teams have a legitimate shot.

2:54:26And we want, like, this is about hope. We want teams, you know, we want fans of every team, regardless of market size, to believe if I have a well-managed team and, you know, and the luck falls our way and the players are remaining good health, that we got a shot to be there. And you got to believe it. You can't, you know, it's not any given Sunday. It's a different sport. You know, a single player can have such an outsized impact. We have to be realistic about that. But we also want every city to think they got that same shot at getting that superstar.

2:54:56Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. I love everything you just said in the Packers Steelers reference is such a good metaphor because they're playing on Sunday Night Football. That's coming up this weekend. And nobody's like, you know, two small markets. Pittsburgh wants to watch this game. Nobody's saying that at all. And also, AFC, NFC there, and you said in the Super Bowl, pretty good. Pretty good. I don't even know if you knew that that was a home run there, but people that know ball would say, Silver, actually, not bad there. If you would have won with Steelers Brown, Super Bowl, everybody would say, Adam Silver's a dick.

2:55:26I checked myself.

2:55:29Pat McAfee:You moved a little bit. That was good. All right. Have an incredible season. Thank you so much for the time, and we'll see you again soon, man. Are you moving to Christmas Eve? When's that happening? Are you moving to Christmas Eve? We're on Christmas. Yeah, no. We've been on Christmas Eve for a while. Eve, we need you to move to Eve. Oh, no, no. Oh, I'm sorry. No, no. We're not on Christmas Eve. That's been a traditional day off in the NBA. I understand that. It's a tradeoff, right? Guys are home Christmas Eve. Don't play on Christmas. And they're not playing on Christmas. Don't you think? Maybe.

2:55:59Listen. And they are playing on Christmas. Wait, you're confusing me. Christmas Eve has been a traditional day off, and we do play on Christmas. I understand. And the NFL has joined us. To my point, Christmas Eve. I don't know. I'm not – no plan to do it at the moment.

2:56:16Pat McAfee:Okay, I respect that. I respect that. I appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, the commissioner of the NBA, friend of the program, you're the greatest, dude. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Silver. Yay!

2:56:28Pat McAfee:Turn it up. Storm has zero sugar and 200 milligrams of caffeine, so you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life. Uncovered windows can make your home feel up to 20 degrees hotter. Stay cool and save up to 50 % off custom window treatments during the 4th of July mega sale at blinds.com. From outdoor shades to room darkening blinds, finding the perfect fit is easy. Get free samples, expert design help, and professional measure and install services, or DIY with confidence and support every step of the way. Shop up to 50 % off site-wide, plus huge savings on doorbusters, right now during the 4th of July mega sale at blinds.com.