PMS 2.0 1498 - Steelers Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Roman Reigns, Adam Schefter, Dwight Howard, Patrick Kane, Mike Eruzione, & AJ Hawk

18:46Pat McAfee:Well, I mean, especially with the way Pittsburgh is constructed, it's like, well, where the hell is the snow going to go? Nowhere. Yeah, there's nowhere. Yeah, it's just all going to sit on top. Let's get warm. Let's get our, hey, let's get flamethrowers out there. I think that's really the only option you have at this point. But let's talk about you dealing with frozen tundra in the past. Ty Schmidt, obviously, is one of your biggest fans. I think he's pumped you went to the Steelers. Yeah, I'm absolutely pumped. And I let Coach know I texted him and said, hey, you know, Nothing wrong with having to root on the Steelers in the AFC.

19:17I'm happy with doing that. But, Coach, you kind of alluded to this a little bit in your opening press conference. Last time you had a year off, you basically said, yeah, it was a year off, but you were doing the McCarthy project in your barn with a couple of your buddies with the intention of, hey, I want to stay in the game and I want to get another head coaching opportunity as quick as possible. Last year, with actually having a year off and joining us, once a week. Did you learn anything about yourself in terms of like your philosophy or how you might change things this time around? Like how did actually taking a year off maybe make you a better or a different coach moving forward?

19:59I think this year was clearly, you know, the appreciation, you know, for the time with family, which obviously, you know, being grateful for an incredible career that I had to the point and was very comfortable with that time with my family. So I just think the biggest thing is the appreciation about being around the people you love. And I love coaching. I miss the locker room. I miss the staff meetings. I miss game plan days on Tuesdays. So all the little things that you're able to sit back and think about and then to get this opportunity with the Steelers. You know, I just, frankly, I felt like it was meant to be.

20:40But I would just say just appreciation for, you know, this great life the good Lord has blessed me with.

20:46Pat McAfee:A little perspective, huh? Give you a little perspective there whenever you step away for a little bit? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, it's the time that I've had with the kids has been remarkable. It's, you know, it's really the only time as a, you know, as a head coach that, you know, it's, you know, I feel like I'm a better father today than I definitely was a year ago. So, and that's a, and I thank you guys because you guys kept my head in the game, you know, so I was able to talk football once a week with you guys, you know, break down the Thursday night game. So, you know, I was able to stay in it enough, but I just had great quality family time to share.

21:21Pat McAfee:We'd love to hear that. Anytime somebody's perspective has changed in a positive way where you appreciate everything more, that seems like a good life event. And you didn't pick the games, obviously, because, you know, obviously, but if you were to. Yeah, still pretty sure. Guy pretty good. Guy was sticking with the game. Guy was sticking with the game for sure. Might know Ball a little bit. Okay, speaking of no-win Ball, you've coached a lot of legends. A lot of legends. I mean, there's a lot of names being thrown that have been in the same building as you that have basically built Ball in this entirety.

21:54Pat McAfee:So I think that's something that's exciting that people are learning about your history with quarterbacks. But there's certainly one that has a lot of conversation right now. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Coach, congrats again. It's cool to see you back in Pittsburgh and how much it means to you. one of the first questions you had at your press conference was about Aaron. Have you been able to talk to Aaron Rodgers at all? Has there been any dialogue with him just about next year? I saw a lot of people kind of linking Aaron with James Campen, the offensive line coach that you guys are bringing in with his time from Green Bay.

22:24But has there been any more dialogue with that? Has it strictly been kind of just about Will and Mason because they are definitely on the roster? or have you actually been able to reach out and kind of have an initial back and forth with Aaron? Yes, I've spoken to Aaron a number of times. But I think just like anybody that's played the game a long time, particularly at this point of their career, it's important to get away. So that's a normal process. I think it's important for all these players to decompress and step away from the season. And that's really the mindset that he's in. And that's really about as far as our conversations have gone as far as if he's coming back or not coming back.

23:06So I think it's important for him to do the things that he normally does just to step away and to make those decisions. But you're talking about every player on the roster. I mean, obviously it's a constant as far as the communication between Omar and I. And he always has the roster board open in his office. so we're talking about these players a number of times a day just make sure that I'm getting familiar with them and we're just continuing to have conversation about the direction we want to go

23:37Pat McAfee:How do you feel about the whole building? Obviously name game and everything is what it is and studying faces I believe we sent over at the beginning to you I think names, faces, the whole thing I think that is something that happens in some places. How is the building? Is there familiar faces in that building or are you learning everything as you go right here? I mean, I'm learning everything as I go, but it's, you know, this building hasn't had any change in 19 years. You know, it's funny because I was talking to Mike Tomlin on the phone the other day, and, you know, he operated out of a different office, and I think the furniture was, you know, it's still there from Bill Cowher.

24:16So us three had a laugh about the furniture, but so I'm getting new furniture, so that's a good gig.

24:24It's been there for decades. But, no, it's awesome. It's right on the river here. I look out my window right across the rivers is where I grew up, in the neighborhood of Greenfield. So it's super cool. But, yeah, learning the names. And, frankly, at night it takes me a while to get down the hall just looking at all the great teams from the past and so forth. And, you know, it's really you're reliving your childhood all over again with the six Super Bowl trophies right at the top of the steps and so forth. So super cool facility. You know, it's all football.

24:59Pat McAfee:That's awesome. I'm happy to hear that about a Yinzer walking into Pittsburgh Steelers building and just being like, holy hell, what a time. I remember where I was when this happened. Oh, my mom and dad are going to love to see this. Hey, you see this? You know, as they're walking around with you. I mean, it's like a museum you're working in. And I appreciate the fact that you changed over the couches and the furniture from Coward. There was something that I don't know if Coach Coward told us. He definitely told us, but I don't know how many other places he told us. I don't want to act like we broke the news or he told it to us specifically.

25:27Pat McAfee:But he said he left two beers for Mike Tomlin in the fridge whenever Coach Tomlin took over the job. He said, I think him and Coach Knoll, I don't know if they had a relationship or not. And Bill Cowher said he wasn't like him and Tomlin, he was not dropping in on him every day. Hey, this is your team now. But he left them two icy lights, I guess, in the fridge. Was there anything left for you in the building? Or have you found anything that has been left for you yet in the building? well Bill and Mike have been awesome you know through this experience but I think Mike must have drank but I'm sure Mike and I will catch up down the road here and have a couple ourselves so it's all good that's awesome well coach I appreciate you joining us congratulations on the gig I know there was obviously some loudness outside the building in Pittsburgh before your press conference immediately afterwards everybody learning who you were a little bit more people are like we love this guy we're happy he's back not everybody obviously it's pittsburgh you know that's gonna go but like it feels like everybody's excited and rallied man we hope you do amazing things oh thank you and hey anytime it's always great seeing the gang and we got some great swag over here and i know how much you guys like like black so we'll make sure we'll send you some so he gets it yeah hey where's aj today Second hour, Mike.

26:49Pat McAfee:Come on, coach. Sleeping still. Yeah, second hour, coach. He comes in second hour. Yeah, he probably is sleeping, right? You know how he is. Yeah, exactly. Snoozing all the time. Hyper bear chamber. Yeah, exactly. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike McCarthy. Yeah, coach! Good for him, man. Yeah, unreal. real because when we went and did game day back there and i was just walking through like the stadium and the suites you just see like pictures of your childhood it's like oh my god lloyd with the the big the greg lloyd yeah his uh face mask there was like a photo where his turn he had those big ass remember those obnoxious oh yeah that was bar duck face matt yeah it was just like the ridiculous times and then there's pictures like troy paul and molly whenever he was young you know because he played for a while you know and a lot of people saw him at the end where amazing it was but when he was young and Palomalu was coming into the city first and he was doing this absurd shit just like absolutely absurd shit it was like a young photo of him flying you like think to yourself like oh I remember and you got a little young Ben and Neil O'Donnell's spinning one it's like holy hell Cordell Stewart's in there it's like whoa I remember this entire thing they need a little bit more Fuamatuamu follow love okay Chris was a dog Chris was an absolute dog obviously Bussey does his entire thing Hines Ward it's like as you walk through they do a good job of reminding you like hey yeah ball here this is kind of what we do same furniture from cars there or something that's certainly something Tomlin he's gonna get some new furniture but it was cool to hear that he has been talking to coach Cowher and coach Tomlin um because we've talked about multiple times this year like those games where all the players come back big Mike's gonna keep that going like that's part of the pro of hiring someone who gets the organization and who was born and raised there he's not gonna change it where he's like oh yeah you pass players can't come back this that's not how we do it here, that's going to still be a staple, which is something that I think is pretty cool.

28:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think it's very cool. That's part of the coolness of the Pittsburgh Steelers building. What do you say about Aaron there? Hey, Aaron's doing his own thing. Is that what he's saying? He's doing his normal stuff? Yeah, just kind of a waiting game. He's doing his normal stuff. Who knows what that means? I think we can all think of something different when it comes to Aaron doing his normal stuff in the offseason. But I do think based on there not being kind of like a finite, hey, I'm done after this year, I kind of think that he's going to come back and play for Coach Mike. Yeah, I think I just assumed, especially when, you know, and again, none of us were in there, so we don't know how true the reports came out.

29:23But, like, he was gutted when, you know, Tomlin got, or didn't get fired, but when Tomlin, you know, said he was stepping down. And I think if it would have just stayed that way and it would have been a different head coach, I think it probably would have been pretty easy for him to just be like, you know what, I am done. But then when McCarthy gets hired as a head coach, I think he's probably like, you know what, But if there was one guy who I would maybe consider coming out of retirement to come play for, it'd be this guy.

29:50Pat McAfee:Delaying retirement. Yeah, exactly. Mike McCarthy and he obviously have had great success in the NFL whenever they were at the Green Bay Packers. Different time, different era, different NFL, I would say. 98-55-1 in the regular season. Eighth most wins by tandem. 9-7 in the playoffs, tied seventh most wins by a tandem. He would certainly understand what everybody would want to have happen. His offensive line coach that he loves from Green Bay. Campy. Campy had just got hired. He, in New York Jets, hard knocks against Carolina Panthers joint practice. Aaron Rodgers basically walks through the Carolina Panthers team, like right through their sideline.

30:25Pat McAfee:Wild move. He was the only Jets guy over there. On a B-line directly to this guy. And then he started talking shit to him immediately. It's like, oh, these two are very close, it appears. He is now the offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So it's like a lot of familiar faces, especially if Scotty Tolzien, who is the former backup quarterback of Aaron Rodgers, is potentially getting an offensive coordinator interview. He was down with Kelly Moe down at the Saints. It's like, yeah, there's Aaron finding him in the middle. Look, that's Carolina Panthers practice Aaron just walked his ass right into.

30:55Pat McAfee:It's like, I don't think that's normal. Now, granted, he's Aaron Rodgers, so everybody in the league is like, what up, dude? Yeah. We watch you, and you're wild. I assume a lot of people are like, you're wild, man. Because every player and coach has respect for Aaron Rodgers. like no matter what he says or how he does there's a lot of people that hold a lot of things that have happened or he has said or maybe things are narratives that have been said or built about Aaron that make them hate Aaron Rodgers you know like there is and Aaron Rodgers certainly is uh Mount Rushmore quarterback in the history of the NFL so he's going to draw a lot of attention to begin with so whenever he's not normal there's going to be people that think differently about him but everybody in ball respects him and appreciates him that's why I think anytime you hear anybody in ball talk about Aaron Rodgers they're like if Aaron Rodgers wants to come play I think we'll give him a shot.

31:40Pat McAfee:Like, I think we would get, just because everybody in the locker room, and maybe he's like, we got Aaron Rodgers as a quarterback. Like, that is, and I think that was a big part of the exit interviews, from my understanding with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a bunch of the OGs met with Khan, and met with Rooney, and everything like that on their way out, and they were asked, I guess, do you think Aaron Rodgers should still play winning football? And they were all like, yeah, we think Aaron could definitely do it. And that's just like how I think the Pittsburgh Steelers building feels about Aaron.

32:03Pat McAfee:Now, how do Pittsburgh Steelers fans feel about Aaron coming back? How does media, I heard Dan Orlovsky say, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers would be the worst decision of all time. All time. Of all time, I think. Something like that. It's like, that's a fascinating take. Because are you destined to potentially just finish in the same spot? Which is what everybody's saying. Aaron coming back to play for the Steelers with Mike McCarthy seems like the most likely outcome. Yes. It feels like the most likely outcome. but I don't know if everybody has kind of wrapped their minds around that being an actual thing or I don't know how everybody kind of views it.

32:41Yeah, I mean, like when things ended how they ended in Green Bay and there was a lot of conjecture and discussion about him and Big Mike's relationship when Big Mike got fired and Aaron was still there and all that kind of stuff. But like after that all happened and he let like he has nothing but good things to say about that entire staff, that entire regime. so I just think it's one of those things and who knows like you know the comfortability he has with that offense like again you know the last several years after he's left Green Bay really ever since LeFleur came in it's kind of been like marrying what he likes to do along with whoever the new person system and it's kind of trying to you know like does it take eight weeks or however long to kind of find that sweet spot like he doesn't have to do that anymore he knows exactly he knows exactly what Big Mike wants to do and Big Mike knows exactly what he likes to do well on that

33:33Pat McAfee:I know. Big Mike, when he was talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers season with us, I think on draft night and then maybe not draft night because he wasn't on the team yet, had to be maybe early weeks when Mike McCarthy was coming on or whatever. He goes, in this game, you look at his stats because he's a big stats-oriented guy too. A lot of people don't think that because he's Yinser or whatever. He goes, you look at the numbers, it's going to come down to a drive in the fourth quarter. And he said, there's nobody else in football that I would want to have the ball in the fourth quarter than Aaron Rodgers with a last-second drive or whatever.

34:00Pat McAfee:And I think he said that because he understands, Aaron. And Aaron has his ability, and I think it's why people can maybe throw a lot of rocks at his stats and shit. First couple quarters, like Aaron Rodgers is very okay if he throws it eight times, maybe six times. He's trying to figure out what you're doing. He is trying to understand everything that your defense is doing. That's kind of his thing. He's like a computer. So in third, fourth quarter, the reason why Big Mike McCarthy has so much faith in him is like, by fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers has got this defense figured out. He understands what we're doing.

34:32Pat McAfee:So anything I call, he knows what we're going to need. We're going to be able to have success. There's no way with how Aaron looked at the end of whenever they were running good there that Mike McCarthy is going to change that mindset. Who else is going to be better than Aaron Rodgers that we're going to be able to get in here? I assume Mike McCarthy, who's always been a fan of Aaron publicly, we don't know how it ended privately, but we know publicly both men have certainly said very positive things about each other on our show and to people we know. It's like, what if they do say, hey, let's do it one more run on this thing?

35:00Pat McAfee:We both get buried, kind of, you know? hey, we both need to win another one. Doing that together, that's a movie. That is a movie in the city of Pittsburgh, too, with Mike McCarthy doing it all. But I think Steelers fans are having a hard time buying in that the movie is going to end with a Super Bowl. Instead, it's going to end with the 13th overall pick again when it would be nice to maybe end up with the top three pick so we can get an organizational changer at the top of the draft, which is kind of how Steelers fans feel. Yeah, they're yearning for change. After the whole Tomlin run, they are yearning for change.

35:34And then Big Mike didn't help when he said that he loves Will Howard in the press conference. So now I think a lot of Steelers fans are yearning for Will Howard next season. And it goes two ways. He's either good and he's your future, or it's really, really bad and you're set up in a good spot for the next draft where, you know, things can change a lot, but it's supposed to be a really good quarterback draft.

35:59Pat McAfee:It would be a hilarious experience to do an NFL season with Yinsers. And I don't know if enough people know about Yinsers. I think we have brought some spotlight to Yinsers in a more national way. And I would like to say it's an incredible honor for that to happen. But Yinsers are an incredibly passionate bunch. And boy, if they lose faith, they're good at shit-talking them losing the faith in you. So an entire season of Yinsers having to ride the wave of understanding like, hey, we're trying to be bad right now. We're trying to be bad right now. Yeah, right. That would be the loudest, most miserable tried tank job in history.

36:34Pat McAfee:No matter what happens next year, if it's not a successful season, it's going to be loud for Big Mike's ass. And he understands that. All he wants to do is just win ballgames out of the show. You see what Liam did. You see what Vrabes did. You see what Ben Johnson did. You see these very quick success stories for these coaches. And it's like Pittsburgh is definitely going to be Will Hyde, Mason Rudolph. They got Diego Pavia playing quarterback. Steelers fans are going to say, it's your quarterback. Win. This is what you need to do. And if not, if they end up right in the middle of the pack again, it's going to be like, Rooney, you're the dumbest.

37:06Pat McAfee:Why would you even do that? That is possible. Yes, it is. McCarthy knows all of that because his family has told him all of these things already about potentially another coach they were going to hire that is similar to him. So he knows exactly how these people, the answers are. And I think the fact that he still signed up for it and be like, yeah, I'm supposed to be this guy. It feels like it's set up to be that. I'm happy for them. I hope it works out. They win a Super Bowl. That would be a fairytale movie. Oh, man. It would be a fairytale movie if they're able to do that. Well, and I think from a fan perspective, it's easy to say that.

37:36But when it is a city like Pittsburgh or New England or Green Bay or something like that, when you live and die with what the team does on Sunday, no one is okay with just punting a season. You want to watch your team get their ass beat or get beat every single week? No, because there's no guarantee that you're going to get the next guy. Like Conor got lucky. There's a chance the Patriots go through that. They have that terrible season. And then what happens if you don't get Drake May or Vrabel? Yeah. Or Vrabel. It's like, okay, well we just threw away this season and now what we have to throw away another one.

38:08And then you're looking at it and it's like, before you know it, you've thrown three years of your fandom away where you're watching every single game, every second of it. And it's like, you can only do that for so long where you're watching your team get their ass beat every week.

38:20Pat McAfee:And that's why some people just decide to win all the time. Exactly. That's good. And whenever you decide to win all the time, you stay committed to everything that needs to be done. You know, obviously you're in the best shape of all time. Obviously you're the best talker. Gotta be the best looker. Gotta be the toughest. You know, gotta be the smartest. Business-wise, gotta be savvy. But there's only some people in the history of mankind that are able to attain all of those things. Joining us now is a man who is somehow able to accomplish all of that and still has more to do. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe he is in tomorrow's Royal Rumble, 2 p.m.

39:00Pat McAfee:Eastern on ESPN Unlimited. Our tribal chief, the only tribal chief, Roman Reigns. Yeah! What an artist. What a transition. Only you, you know what I mean? That's why you're the man. That's why they pay it. I was going to say us, and it is true, it is us, but it's about you right now. That's why they pay you the big bucks. No, we, we, we. But yes, we did go from a team punting on a season to a man who's never punted on anything. You know, a man who takes everything serious. That is why you have climbed yourself to the top of an industry that only a few have been to the top of. You have obviously taken the top of a mountain and raised its altitude somehow to a whole other level.

39:47Pat McAfee:And now it appears as if we are on the hunt back to the top of said mountain. What does tomorrow look like for Roman Reigns? Obviously, I don't know this vision crew. You know, I don't like what they got going on. Okay, they're already talking about being a team in there and beating the hell out of everybody. What is the plan tomorrow? I know you're smarter than everybody. Are we winning this thing? And should we be confident in saying our tribal chief is back? I didn't come all the way out here for nothing. You know what I mean? This is a long, from Miami, this is a long travel day. So, yeah, I mean, I haven't been able to pull this off in what, over 10 years now.

40:30For the longest, I felt like I was like the gatekeeper, the runner up guy. um you know they would spam me and and try to get that big pot for the baby face or whatever but um i don't know this feels like me it feels like me and i and i think there's so many different you know fingers and different signs pointing to this i think we're at a place where our fans are demanding more you know what i mean i set us up i put us in position you know to to be fulfilled in the promised land to be in a position to break records and make ungodly amount of money um and we're at that point that our fans are craving that so and and they already know it's a proof of concept with me they know what they're getting with me man those were the good old days weren't

41:14Pat McAfee:they not too long ago roman those are good old days weren't they it was a good time man but we can't rest on the on the past i mean literally you know what i mean when you have a hell of a run like that, I could just sit and rest on my laurels and then just let the dump truck continue to let that money flow. But I want to push, man. I have four sons. My daughter, she's just entering adulthood. I want to continue to create a shadow, a mountain so big they'll never get out of my shadow. I want to make it tough for them because they're privileged children. Your children are going to be the same way.

41:48So we have to create obstacles. We have to create this adversity for and why not do it through my success you know what i mean yeah don't talk real quick yeah just

41:56Pat McAfee:hey this is what's happening in this family this is what's possible okay in this blood line that's right this is the opportunity you're gonna have to work your ass off for it speaking of we just showed some clips you walking out there hey hey hey how do we feel right now what's uh where are we at what weight was because we've seen a couple different we've seen powerhouse and then we've seeing like shredded, a little quicker, still powerhouse. But what Roman is entering the Rumble tomorrow? Well, that's good. We're always strong, no matter that. That's just genetics. And that's from a lot of work.

42:30That's compounded time in the gym. So we're always strong. But yeah, we can always come in a little tighter. It just depends. This is the Royal Rumble. You know, the objective of the game is to not get thrown out. So you want to have a good low center of gravity. You got to be able to squat down and then hold on to that rope if need be. um but it's the same for me wreck everybody and leave the jets gonna be fired up ready to get me up out of here uh but yeah i mean i've been working again we're coming off of uh winter break you know what i mean october fest right into holiday season so you know we we've been grinding it out but i'm a human you know what i mean football season stuff but we look all right we look all right but we're going into mania that's the beauty of this is we have so much time to mania so we're just going to cruise right in and be comfortable okay where are you right now

43:16Pat McAfee:is that room gym i assume you just live in the in the place where you're just only going to get greater all the time i assume hyperbaric chambers right over yonder i assume you know we got a couple you must have heard we got all that down here yeah they they got it set up the gym here is special they got cold sub they got infrared sauna they got normatex and red light you're missing it man yeah yeah yeah riyadh's not messing around this time um but yeah i've i've already been into the gym twice today. I'm going to go back later to try to grind it out before I go to bed to wear myself down. But yeah, that's what it is.

43:49We're on three days now. Full camp type mode, you know what I mean? Getting ready. So we'll bring in a solid package tomorrow night, you know, a winning package. But then at Maina, it's going to get ridiculous.

44:01Pat McAfee:What time is it over there right now? What is the time difference? It's tribal chief time. Come on now. No, it's almost nine. It's AP time, black ceramic. That's what time it is. Obviously, keep living, keep living. Okay, we found out via a random FaceTime the other day about an entrant in Royal Rumble. Go ahead, Con Man. Yeah, my tribal chief, I acknowledge as always. But yeah, Brock Lesnar being in the Rumble. That was news to us, news to you perhaps. Is there any plans with Brock that you have? Is there possibly a you and Brock together kind of take out the vision, take out the wise man's boys after he kind of threw you guys aside, you threw him aside?

44:46And, of course, the tribal thief. I hate this guy because of what he's doing and the word puns he's doing. Do you guys have specific plans, or do you have a specific plan with Lesnar in the Rumble tomorrow? I'm still caught up on the fact that Brock knows how to work FaceTime. I mean, you know what I mean? It's like a color. You know what I mean? Like, I'm just, that's tripping me. I didn't even know he had a phone. You know what I mean? Like, I thought it was like old school. You had to call the farm and then like the farm hand would come and then he would go to the like lead farm guy and then, you know what I mean?

45:25Like, so I'm surprised he even wears the phone. But no, there's no way I can, there's no way I can work with Brock. I mean, he's one of my greatest rivals i can't trust that guy he was literally just competing with uh all the vision boys and all them and i mean talk about a group who just say it talk about the name you they don't know what they're doing they don't know where they're going they they can't see clearly at all um vision's probably that's that's a seth rollins where they probably need to have a rebranding right now but there's a lot of young talent there um you know and they're physically impressive even Logan you know I mean for someone who wasn't a professional athlete or you know a D1 guy he he's a hell of an athlete he he was popping me though with he's just flexing on the show yeah unbelievable me too he would see himself flexing it up man I was like what this what's going on here yeah he was feeling it but um but he's a hell of a personality uh Bronson Reed he's confused he should already be acknowledging the trade should just bow down to caesar is what he should do and align properly he's confused but sometimes that happens um tsunami breaker yeah imagine if i had that at my disposal just you know what i mean right to the top he would go too he would go we'll find yeah we we will find every type of balcony we could drop him off and kill everybody it would be great yeah yeah braun breaker maybe one day maybe one day i will wield the sword of the tribal thief who knows maybe maybe he'll be taking direction one day but we we got a lot of uh we got a lot of uh footage to climb we we're not there yet i you mentioned bron breaker before

47:05Pat McAfee:i stopped you there and i apologize for that because you know the dogs are barking in riyadh we were watching this morning at the uh the pre-show michael cole uh hosted out there dogs are barking in riyadh bron breaker paul hayman has said uh gonna be wrestlemania i believe next year, year after that, year after that, year after that, year after that. This is, you know, I was lucky to be there at the beginning of the entire ride, and I saw he's explosive. I mean, his spear? Yeah. Oh, his spear. Cut people in half. Oh, my God, his spear. They're saying maybe best spear in the history of wrestling.

47:38Well, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who's saying that? I didn't say that. I was telling you what people were saying.

47:42Pat McAfee:I didn't say that. That's a lie. I didn't say this. If I was a young, insignificant performer, then I would take a little bit of a fence road. I feel some competitive nature about that. But a finisher move is a finisher move. I'm such a different type of performer. I'm on a whole different level. We're talking about finisher. We're talking about the spirit. Bro, come on now. You're talking to Mozart here. I create real art. It's not just about running down a ramp and flying through the air and hitting somebody. But he's a great athlete. I mean, but we all are, you know what I mean? And as you get older, you got to evolve.

48:19You got to learn all the different nuances to this game. You got to sharpen every blade in your set. So I think Breaker's got a hell of a future in front of him. As long as he kind of stays out of my, you know, my wheelhouse of what I'm trying to do, I think he'll be all right. But he's still got a lot, you know, a long ways to go. I'd love to see him not get nervous on ESPN and, you know, get quiet on you. because I think there's a lot of personality there. What's your problem? It takes time, bro. I can't. I got to jab back, you know? I got to fight back, you know? We can't just let these guys.

48:57These kids are calling us old and shit, you know what I mean? So I got to, you know what I mean? We got to come back. Don't get nervous on national television, son. You know what I mean? That was awesome. Yeah, such a compliment. Not even national. This is global. This is Pat McAfee. You can't, you know what I mean? You're in Saudi Arabia right now.

49:12Pat McAfee:This is pretty crazy to us. This is a pretty crazy situation that's taking place, and we're obviously very grateful for our tribal chief making time for us. Every time you're on our show, you're electrifying. You're awesome, and there's a reason why, you know, there's a Mount Rushmore, four, there's a Mount Rushmore, four, and then there's a mountain that's being built, you know, on the other side all by its damn self. And on that note, Ty has a question for you for tomorrow. Yeah, Roman, I would agree with Connor. I just real quick would like to acknowledge my tribal chief as well. if everyone here wants to do it.

49:44Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm just curious. Smart, man. You said, okay, so like there are, you know, there is some good talent in the WWE right now. Oh, yeah. But do you kind of just notice like, hey, you know what? I think it's time. I got to come back this weekend, make everyone kiss the ring and kind of acknowledge that like, yeah, you know, hey, the vision, that's the cool new thing. Seth Rollins is on. He's doing the car wash on every single channel on TV right now. I've seen him 50 ,000 times over the last three days. But is it nice everyone? Just grasping on the relevancy, right? Just please see me.

50:19And it's the same thing because we kind of had the same conversation when we were in Vegas last year for WrestleMania. But do you kind of just pick and choose and let people know, like, okay, hey, you guys can kind of do your thing. But when the big dog comes back into town, like, this is my show, and it will always be my show. I think, you know, I mean, there's always a mindset of that, you know, but to be completely honest and transparent here, you know, two years ago, it all changed around. And, you know, what I've been doing out there hasn't exactly been the same of what I've done before. And the way I look at it is I'm a generous tribal chief.

51:00I give the people plenty of time. These young talent, they say we hog all the TV time. You know what I mean? they'll complain about one thing and then i leave an opening i give them plenty of space to create you know whatever type of superstardom they want get over kids get over you know what i mean um and we're two years here now and we haven't advanced we haven't evolved you know i mean we have great leadership and nick con god bless him what a businessman he's a genius but we have to be able to keep up with that creatively and that's why people like me people are striving to be the very best the greatest the ghosts the mjs i just can't sit around and see mediocrity not when i set it up for everybody to just slam it home i mean we're on netflix for crying come on we gotta we you gotta capitalize we got people over here playing around trying to figure it out and i got the formula i know how to cook it up you know what i mean so it's been a a tough couple of years for me.

52:04But at the same time, when you come off such a hell of a run, you got to kind of just pump the brakes for a second. You know, I got five children at home. I wear, you know, we all wear those two important hats, being a husband and a father. You got to be able to, you know, click. And I've been on the road for a long time. So I needed to be able to pull back a little bit. But, you know, I'm fully capable. I'm only 40 years old. With all the tech and all the information we have now, I feel like I'm 25 years old. So I'm still good to go. You know what I mean?

52:33Pat McAfee:Well, I appreciate you doing your schedule to help the other talent, not yourself. Cause obviously if you wanted to help yourself, it's a, it's a help them help me. We're all helping each other. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's good for all parties. But like I said, you gotta, you gotta get the reps, gotta get the reps. And also go ahead. Come on. You know, that's the business. That's been the business. Anytime now. You know what I mean? That's been the business. That has been the business. you know people said it before you hit your entire thing you know cena hey who you know and then before that uh it was obviously uh rocker austin yeah right austin one of them you know and before that it was you know hauling that whatever and then before that it was you know so it feels like that has always been this business you know and uh i want to let you know the fact that you just dropped the whole i'm 40 and i still got a lot of time left that's good news for the business yes it is hey that's good news for the business roman and i like what i'm hearing out of you it sounds like we're about to maybe go on one of these types of runs again is that going to be talked about in documentaries 20 years from now is that what we're feeling is that how the body feels that how the mental uh kind of aligns right now always capable always capable you know what i mean like that that's just built in just staying ready you know um what else am i gonna do this is what I do.

53:55This is my livelihood. This is how I feed my children. This is how I create the abundance. So why not stay in shape? Why not stay mentally sharp and in tune with the game? This is my family's art form. That's why it's so important to me. That's why I'm not BSing when I'm talking about representing my legacy, furthering our story, taking our book to different levels and be able to create different chapters. And if I'm able to do it at the highest level, inspire my family members to follow my lead can't nobody stop us man you know i mean to me we're the first family wrestling nobody else can't touch us okay so young rock i think exposed that even more so

54:37Pat McAfee:you know when i watch young rock which they hinted out with uh you and duane potentially in future wrestlemania you guys are wrestling in a living room and about to get after it and they pause and the rocks character looks and goes that's for a wrestlemania kid basically said that It was like a tease. Oh, we're going to get it. We're going to go get it. But what I learned through that and then obviously every other documentary, and then when you guys were doing the bloodline angle and they put that tree up there, why do you think the Usas have been such a great professional wrestling kind of group of people?

55:07Pat McAfee:Like, why do you think it is kind of in your guys' blood, like actually? Because if you look at the history of the entire industry, Usas throughout all of it, you know, it feels like that is kind of a, why is that? Do we know the exact beginnings of it all or how we got there? I'm going to tell you right now. Yeah, I'm going to learn you right now. We're just great athletes, first of all. I mean, that's just, you know, there's got to be, you guys might know, there's got to be some kind of Polynesian percentage for the NFL and even other sports, but especially the NFL. I think there's got to be some crazy percentage of men that make it to the NFL that are Polynesian.

55:44So the athletic side is in, we're big. So you have to, you know, that all works. But within our culture, it's surrounded around storytelling. When you grow up on an island, you know what I mean? There's not that much to do. So you have to be able to entertain each other. You have to be able to tell stories. And that's how all like, you know, indigenous cultures, you know, people, ancient people. That's how you keep the information is these stories and these myths. and you can't be up there in front of the fire like bowing it with a boring story. You gotta be able to, you know what I mean? You gotta be able to spin it.

56:19You gotta be able to tell that story and be an orator. And we actually have them. You have high chiefs, you have matais and speaking chiefs within our culture. So it's built in. So I just think it's a perfect recipe of the genetics that God has given us, you know, as Islanders and Polynesians, Samoans. and then just our history and our culture and the customs of our people and being on the islands and just having that that communal you know gathering and just sharing these stories about our history and our ancestors and it's all the way here in modern day and we're just doing a weird

56:55Pat McAfee:wwe now no it's not weird at all it's beautiful actually that was awesome to hear you're actually born for it yeah isn't that a crazy thing actually born for it and the way you tell it it makes so much sense. Well, we'll see if tomorrow continues to add to that incredible family bloodline legacy, and we'll be watching 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Unlimited. Our tribal chief, fresh out of a three-a-day fight camp. Hell yeah. Right into the Royal Rumble. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Same, same, bro. Always. Thanks, man. Hey, Seahawks might be running that NFC West for like the next 10 years, bro.

57:31When you're When you're one of the dynasties, you know what I mean? We got to share the wealth. And what happened? We were down for like two years and we were back in five. I'm not worried about the Niners. The culture between Lynch and Shanahan, the culture, we're killers over there. What we had, like 50 injuries and still went as far as we did. We got to get that conspiracy stuff figured out, though. We need to get that power plant shut. Whatever it is, we need to shake and bake and move that stuff or get that stuff. I don't know. something's got to happen. We need to look into this.

58:03Pat McAfee:I'll tell you, and you know this. You know this as the always aware tribal chief that you are. The other side's going to have an argument. That electric company, they are going to have an argument in this entire thing. There's no way we're going to get a good study. This study's going to take 20 years to get done. You know how that goes. A bunch of power companies out there. A whole bunch of power companies out there. Only one-niners, baby. They got to remember that. Santa Clara. You know, we'll go back to San Francisco. We need to figure this out now. Support the team, the local team now. You know how it is.

58:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, let's win. Okay, Niner gang. All right, well, I appreciate the hell out of you, man. Good luck tomorrow. Thank you, brother. Safe travels back to America, our travel chief, ladies and gentlemen, Roman Reyes. Yeah, Roman Reyes. That was hilarious. Actually, our people are known storytellers, you know, because we're on an island. The only way that the history gets passed on is by telling the stories. And then you think of like Moana, I just watched Moana. And then you think of like every other cave and stuff that kind of has stories being wrote and told for future generations. And then like very lucky that I've been able to go to Hawaii and you talk about like the way they talk, the how they talk, the stories and the history.

59:14Pat McAfee:It's like, oh my God, there is actual, oh, there is a reason why the Polynesian people are the best at professional wrestling. Because they are, I mean, whenever they were doing that bloodline angle and they put that tree up. So cool. Here's the history of wrestling in this one family bloodline. Now, granted, cousins, uncles, you know, the whole, not everybody's just father. His dad, Sokka, oh, I believe one of the wild Samoans is Roman Reigns' father, passed away, Sika, I think. Yeah, Sika. Okay, yeah, and Sika is his father. So his dad was in the business, but then there, and the Uso brothers' dad in the business, they are cousins with each other, They grew up same street with each other.

1:00:01Pat McAfee:But then there's also other family members that are in there, like Nia Jax. These are all just the current people. And then you go back like every generation. It goes, yeah, it is. It's a big tree. Oh, yeah. It is absolutely insane. It's like thank you for your contributions to wrestling and to our entertainment in our childhood. Like legitimately. I think we saw that for the first time at the Super Bowl. You guys were doing your press conference, and we were sitting in the crowd, and then somebody slapped somebody, and that tree was up there looking so beautiful. Yeah, dude. Who got slapped? The Rock got slapped?

1:00:33Pat McAfee:Or The Rock did the slap? The Rock did the slap. Slapped Cody. Right in the mouth. Yeah. Yeah. That was a pretty tense day. It was. Got him a bitch, maybe. Yeah. Do you hear what Roman said there? Roman said that we've been waiting, you know? People are craving a little bit more. What a thing to say at this time of the business. Yeah, exactly. You know, that is a couple times. Hey, can't be getting nervous on ESPN. A little slight of a shit. He said a bunch of things in there that are like very – we appreciate our tribal chief. Always. I got a chance to be there for that. A lot of that. Oh, yeah.

1:01:07Pat McAfee:That tribal chief run. Oh, yeah. It's lonely at the top. It was awesome. What do you mean by that, brother? I mean, he's – I mean, he talked about – he's definitely not friends with Seth. He's not friends with The Vision. He's not friends with Brock. He's – when you get in there with 30 other men, maybe women, I don't know. We watched 2000. Yeah. China came out. Rest in peace. She was in there. Yeah, she got a couple. It's going to be lonely in there, potentially. Royal Rumble should be exciting tomorrow. I mean, Roman feels like he's trying to win this thing, you know? Oh, yeah. And also, the way he talked about the vision, you know, I don't know.

1:01:41Maybe they got something in their back pocket. What? He was complimentary, wasn't he? I don't know. Yeah, he didn't talk down as much as I thought. And maybe the tribal thief might get thieved. Stolen. Something to think about.

1:01:55Pat McAfee:Hour two will be on the other side of this break. Like, be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We'll see you on the other side.

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1:03:36Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this Super Bowl season, Feel Good Friday, January 30th, 2026, hour two of the program begins now. Football! It is magical. There's some breaking news out of the football world, and we need to discuss it. It's not just me, obviously. The Talks at Tables here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboys AP Tone is here. And a man joining us live from Manatic in Ohio is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Haul. A.J., good to see you, brother.

1:04:10Pat McAfee:How's life? Doing great. Big Mike was awesome on here, so I appreciate him doing that. Yeah, Big Mike was awesome. I'm thankful he took his time. And Roman Reigns, sorry. Travel Chief was unbelievable as well. Thank you for acknowledging, obviously, Big Royal Rumble tomorrow, 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Unlimited. Okay. Okay, news happened in the NFL while we were talking to our tribal chief who looked to win the Royal Rumble tomorrow on ESPN Unlimited. General manager for the Minnesota Vikings, Kwesi Adofa Mensah, has been fired. Joining us now, the man that broke the news, senior NFL insider for ESPN, Adam Schefter.

1:04:47Pat McAfee:Hey, hey. Schefter, good to see you. Hope the kitchen's doing well. Okay, tell me about the Kwesi Adofa Mensah firing. This feels late in the cycle. What do they do from here? How'd they get to this point? Well, it is late in the cycle. It's an unusual time to fire somebody when he had been in Mobile at the Senior Bowl all week long, working for the Vikings, and then you come back to Chile, Minnesota, and deliver the news just a short time ago, minutes ago, that you are firing Kwesi Adolfo Mensah. Now, let me say this, that I think one of the things that people talked about in the league all during the year was the tension that existed within the Vikings organization.

1:05:30And there were people who said, someone just texted me this morning. They go, I told you it was ugly in Minnesota. And there was all sorts of talk. People didn't like people. People didn't get along. Tension. I remember speaking to our Vikings reporter, Kevin Siefert, about it a few weeks ago. we had thought that there was a transfer of some power from the front office to the coaching staff that the coaching staff had been given more power the point is pat there's a lot to this there's a lot that's going to come out on this particular situation but the way it was set up was not working for people and the vikings made the decision to fire now they have inserted their longtime executive vice president rob brzezinski into the role the leadership role he will lead the team through the draft so that tells you that they're not in any rush to go hire some new general manager right now rob brzezinski will lead the team and then after the draft they will do a search

1:06:34Pat McAfee:for a new general manager okay it sounds like kevin o 'connell's doing the leading of the team feels like if that is what you are uh kind of talking about the power going and if you need to answer that certainly answer that if it's any more information or breaking news we appreciate you obviously joining us here with little to no warning. So it sounded like somebody wasn't happy that maybe J.J. McCarthy had to be the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. I don't want to just point to one thing, because there was reports that maybe Aaron Rodgers would go to the Minnesota Vikings. And then there was rumblings.

1:07:02Pat McAfee:Maybe Coach was like, yes, just like any player or coach in the NFL would naturally do normally. He's like, Aaron Rodgers can potentially be, especially if the coach is a quarterback. I could really make some magic. There was allegedly interest there. And then ultimately a decision was made to go with J.J. McCarthy, let alone Sam Darnold. Interest had to be there. Now we're going to go with J.J. McCarthy. Sam Darnold now obviously in the Super Bowl. Is that where it kind of begins and ends? I don't want to kind of... Look, here's the deal. When you have the quarterback situation that they did this past year, where Daniel Jones was in the building and Sam Darnold was in the building, and they leave, clearly there going to be questions that are asked and blame that's assigned.

1:07:46Now, I'm not telling you that this was a crazy, a doppelganger decision or a Kevin O 'Kahm. I don't know exactly how it came on. I do remember that they wanted and tried to keep Sam Darnold. They made an offer to him, and it just so happened that the market was such that there was more money out there and a team that wanted him even more than Minnesota, which he drafted J.J. McCarthy. Daniel Jones, they also attempted to re-sign. They tried to re-sign both those guys. And it wasn't happening at that moment. So they wanted to keep both, but they also had a commitment to J.J. McCarthy that he drafted in the first round.

1:08:30And that's an organizational decision. I don't know who drafted him over the other one, But they all signed off on it, I think, obviously. And I know that they definitely worked to keep Darnold and Jones and both wanted and were willing to leave.

1:08:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, and you and I know what that means when a team wants to keep somebody or they don't want to keep somebody or they're interested but not actually. You know, Sam Darnold's deal is not that huge of a deal whenever it comes to quarterback deals that he took to go to Seattle. Now, I did hear they took less money to go to Indianapolis. Now, granted, that was only like$10 million. so whenever you talk about what the deals could be with Minnesota offering not that I want to just continue to pick, was that, go ahead I think Minnesota offered, I think Minnesota was offering Sam Donald way less than Seattle Seattle was about$35 million a year and Minnesota came in way less exactly, which goes back to what I was asking you about like, yeah we want you right, well here's the deal, people teams offers always speak volume that's what you're saying yes yes yes yes it's not about the money but it's always about the money yes yes yes it is yeah it's to you how much we're prioritizing you the money says how much we want you so for the vikings yeah we want you we want you to the tune of 20 to 25 million dollars a year or whatever it is right yeah oh seattle they want you$35 million a year.

1:09:55So, Seattle wants you more than Minnesota.

1:09:58Pat McAfee:That's the deal. Yeah, that's how business works in professional sports at least. Now, granted, there are guys that make decisions to do stuff and allegedly Daniel Jones took less money here to come to Indianapolis because of the opportunity potentially. It worked out for us great. I didn't even think about Daniel Jones because of how long he's been injured. Having to see Sam Darnold in the Super Bowl after he won 14 games or whatever with you guys a year before that. Let alone Daniel Jones the number one in it. I forgot about that. Oh yeah. That's next year, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well. Yeah. Break that into the Schefter.

1:10:28Pat McAfee:Daniel Jones coming back, going to be the number one quarterback in the league, and the Vikings let him out. Maybe that's why Kwesi is currently not the Minnesota Vikings general manager, but I'm sure there was other decisions that we're making as well. Quickly, before we let you go, other conversation. Miles Garrett. I've been watching the Munkin introduction over there in Cleveland. There's people just getting coffee in the back as if they're shooting tires. Shane Gillis' show as he walks into the building. Everybody else has these massive shots of people walking in the building. The entire building.

1:10:56Pat McAfee:The whole thing. Oh, yeah. Doing the entire thing. Munkin walks in there, dressed casual. Love what he's doing there. Jeans with the loose dress shirt and the sport coat. I'm here to be a professional ball guy. Okay, obviously. Walks in front desk. Almost made him check in. They didn't. Hey, sorry I didn't bring the band. There's people just getting coffee in the back. People just walking around. Yep, no big deal. New head coaches here. Every other building we've seen, everybody there clapping for the person. And then obviously you've got Miles Garrett posting on his IG story. What's going on in Cleveland?

1:11:29Pat McAfee:And what do we expect the future to look like up there for the Browns? Because I like to think their fans are a good fan base in the NFL. But it just feels like there's always shit happening around Brownie the Elf. What are your thoughts on the Cleveland Browns and how it's kind of rolled out and what we should look for? Well, here's the deal. Todd Monken is a very good football coach. He really is. I got no problems at all with hiring Todd Monken. The phone's just going nuts. I got no issues with Todd Monken. The issue is that you plugged one dam or one leak and you created another. Like you wanted to build up the offense, and so you brought in somebody that knows offense in Todd Monken, a football coach, and now you're going to probably wind up losing Jim Schwartz.

1:12:15So now your defense suffers. And I think they felt like our defense is so good that if we can just get somebody to elevate the offense, then we'll be in good position and good shape. So they got Todd Mockett. He's going to do that. But now I know Jim Schwartz has got two years left on his contract, but we're talking about how money shows you certain appreciation in whatever business. And it's the same thing in any business. if you don't get the job that you applied for, the promotion that you wanted, and it went to somebody else, you're not going to feel great about staying with that particular company, right?

1:12:50So now it's up to those two sides to figure out how they're going to go on and probably break up. I know the Browns want Jim Schwartz back, but Jim Schwartz doesn't want to be back. So how's that going to end up?

1:13:06Pat McAfee:Haslam's done this before. Haslam's done this before. Hey, you don't like me? go talk to Andrew. I'm not even taking a meeting with you. Andrew, what's he need? Monty, give him the most. Make him the highest paid coordinator in the NFL. The guy in Houston does not want to come to Cleveland no matter what we offer him. Oh yeah? What's the offer? Yeah, make him the most of all time. And then he goes in there. Could easily do that with Schwartz right now. I'm sure there is somebody that knows what coordinators are worth. What is an average coordinator salary in the NFL right now? Pretty high, I would assume, or no?

1:13:33I'll say this, that the coaching salaries this season, this offseason have spiked. And They've gone up quite a bit. It speaks to, number one, how important the coaches are, and number two, how desperate the teams are to have them. Tennessee hires Robert Sala, and they're planning around having Brian D 'Abel, and then they might lose Brian D 'Abel, but they get him, so they're relieved. The Ravens are going to hire Jesse Minter, and they'd like to go get Joe Brady as their offensive coordinator, and then Joe Brady gets a head coaching job. The Giants hire John Harbaugh, and they love that. He's a great coach.

1:14:10And he's going to bring Todd Monken, but Todd Monken gets the Browns head coaching job. So it's great to hire a defensive or special teams coach, a great leader. Look, look in the Super Bowl this year, Mike McDonald and Mike Vrabel, two defensive minded coaches. But if you don't have a plan and you lose your guy on the offensive side or you're an offensive guy, you lose your defensive guy.

1:14:30Pat McAfee:Oh, no. It's some issues. See, Vrabel had it perfect because Josh McDaniels had been a head coach and nobody was going to hire a coach. and he lived in Foxborough. It was teed up. With Mike McDonald, he fired last year, his offensive coordinator, and hired Clint Kubiak, who now is going to be a head coach in the league after this Super Bowl. So, if you have the right guy, it looks great. But if you don't and you lose your guy, now you're scrambling. Sounds like you're saying, hey, Harbaugh, who are you going to go? Who's behind door number two? I'm excited to find out who it is as well. No, no, no.

1:15:08No, they'll find somebody, but it wasn't who they planned because that guy's the head coach in Cleveland now. Who's Kubiak getting? Which job? Well, he's going to get the Raiders or he's going to get the Cardinals job.

1:15:20Pat McAfee:Okay, so he's definitely getting one of those jobs. He's definitely getting one of those jobs. Okay. All right. That's awesome. Thank you, Schefter. We appreciate you, man. You're the best. Thank you, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Schefter. All right. That's breaking news. The first pick or the third pick. It's up to you, bud. No team, no coach. Phoenix, Vegas, what do you want to do? How do you want to live? That was, I mean, huge news there out of Minnesota. And it sounded like as he was talking, he was like, there was a power transfer to the coaches. There was disagreements in the building.

1:15:49Pat McAfee:It's like, so that normally is a case of, we don't think you did the right stuff with the players. Whose job is that? It's that job. Or that. That's why alignment is such a big deal. But boy, if it gets out of line, I think cutting is the right move. Because if two guys or a girl and a guy, whatever the case is in the future, if they are not on the same page, they're working against each other, trying to prove that they are the right one so they can stick around. So cutting it off, if that is the case, is the right play, I think, personally. And it feels like they're empowering Kevin O 'Connell here.

1:16:21Pat McAfee:That's what it feels like. I mean, the timing, just the timing seems very weird to get rid of your GM right now, January 30th when he's, what, at the Senior Bowl. That makes you think, like, okay, this has been an ongoing thing for a long time, and then they just finally pulled the trigger now, which is kind of just a weird time, I think. Well, the narrative kind of started going from, because we talked about Kevin O 'Connell, like, hey, this guy can win with any quarterback. It doesn't matter who he gets in there. And then the Darnold stuff happens, and we see what happens with J.J. this year, and it started to become kind of like, well, are we sure KOC knows what he's doing too?

1:16:51So I wonder if that was part of like a, hey, no, I wanted Darnold. And this guy said he'd get it done, and he low-balled him, and then Darnold decided to go to Seattle.

1:17:00Pat McAfee:So many different thoughts. And Schefter said, we're going to hear a lot about this. You know, because Kwesi's team is certainly going to want people to understand where he's coming from. You know, that is certainly a part of this entire gig. Just like that electric company over there in Santa Clara, they're going to have their side. Yeah, they will. They're going to have their things arguing. You think they're going to want to move that entire power plant? You think they're going to shut that down? No. No way. I'm worried about that over there. They're not shutting that down. They got a great argument.

1:17:27Who? Tell you that much, the electrical company. Yeah, we started to see their game plan.

1:17:31Pat McAfee:We started to see their game plan, and I'm telling you what, but it's going to be a dogfight. It's going to be an absolute dogfight, but we understand what they're saying. I just don't think that's necessarily great for any of it. Niners are an older team, too. Oh, yeah. They see them. They're still training. They're getting back after it right now. Which is part of the conversation the electrical company has. We'll talk to a few of them next week. Can't wait to hear their thoughts on it all. Joining us now, speaking in next week, is a man who's going to be a captain of a team in the Celebrity Sweat Flag football game.

1:18:03Pat McAfee:He'll be taking on Quavo at Cal Memorial Field on Cal Berkeley's campus. His team, we assume, going to win. Because this guy, you look at his resume, people have forgot. I don't think people have put enough respect on this man's name. To read off all his accolades, it would literally take 10 minutes at this point. I think all of us kind of forgot because we don't talk about it nearly enough. This man, they called him Superman. man obviously this man dh12 this man is a taiwan beer leopard legend an nba icon and hall of famer ladies and gentlemen dwight howard how are you dude taiwan beer leopards is crazy thank you for the team taiwan shout out oh man is that the team we tried to do some journalism that's the actual team right the beer leopards when i played they were just the taiwan leopards and then the next sure they combined with two teams and became the taiwan beer leopards which was cool that's when boogie played with them okay so you're just a leopards legend we will have to strike that from the record it's a taiwan leopard legend that's 100 on me but before we talk to you about what you have going on next week which is sweet raising money for local food bank and other stuff and also providing tickets for military and first responders what you guys are doing is awesome i think it's a 26th annual flag football game we're doing with celebrity sweat this is the graphic we made with all your accolades i don't think it gets talked about nearly enough do i and i'm only saying that because i sports stooge on a regular basis forgot about a lot of this shit you had a run in the nba that was obviously phenomenal so we appreciate the fact that not only are you back you know with your podcast back doing shit but also like uh potentially getting some flowers we appreciate your time man thank you for joining us thank you so much i really appreciate you and um that's amazing man thank you i'm really uh honored you know just to receive flowers a lot of times you know people get flowers when they're not here and they can't actually yeah be present yeah take it take it in take it in right man just i am thank you man it really means a lot man just to to be on the show to actually hear you, which you were just reading off about, you know, my resume as a basketball player.

1:20:28You know, it's just crazy that, you know, I spent my whole life wanting to become one of the greatest players ever. And you know, as a kid, I had the dream and actually to fulfill it, you know, it's just amazing and just so, so humbled and thankful for you. and just this awesome opportunity to play against Quavo in the Super Bowl I know it's not basketball but you know this is going to be a lot of fun you know help be out there with the first responders and the people who serve our country who we triple salute and um just always giving back

1:21:02Pat McAfee:is something that I enjoy doing hell yeah Dwight well we appreciate you doing that good for society and uh yeah man all the things that you dreamt about only came to fruition because you had to worked your ass off okay so that's what i was saying that's what we respect here we know how hard it is to make it and everything a lot of people want to do it obviously you're six foot ten had a little bit of an advantage maybe over me i i was working my ass off on throwing it up and then hitting it off the backboard and then dunking it you know i'm trying my best i don't think i ever got it dwight i don't think i ever got it but it's okay what you're doing now is what your real purpose is for this season in life hell yeah dwight hell yeah thank you man okay let's talk about next week a little bit what is this is a flag football game are you quarterback coaching how's it kind of go i know we got some names already in the in the game it's the 26th annual what do you have going on and what is your plans here to get a dub well i just really want to get out there and have a great time and enjoy the moment you know if i'm the quarterback if i'm the wide receiver if i'm coaching whatever it may be i just want to go out there and have a great time you know to celebrate the 60th uh super bowl uh so this is a big year i just turned 40 my dad just turned 70 and we get to go see the 60th super bowl and i'll also be a part of the whole uh weekend festivity so i'm just so grateful had a wonderful career and i can't wait to go out there and um put on a good show is diplo on your team or the other team do you know who's on the Diplo is on my team.

1:22:32Pat McAfee:Okay, yeah, we need Diplo in the squad. Doug Flutie is on your team or the other team? Doug Flutie is on the other team. Oh, no! Quiet! Cueva, that's a good draft pick, by the way. I know. I love Doug Flutie. Oh, my God. He left me, too. Man, yeah. But I think we're going to have Jesus. I think Jesus is coming. Jesus? Nazareth? Yeah, Jesus is coming to play on the team. Well, that's crazy. Holy shit. On that note, Cal Memorial Stadium, Thursday, February 5th, 7 to 9 p.m. You have no idea who's going to be on these rosters. There's a chance anybody's there. Anybody will be there. Quavo versus Dwight Howard.

1:23:16Pat McAfee:Okay, let's talk a little bit about basketball. How do you feel about the current state of the way the game is being played? Obviously, in basketball, you hear a lot of old heads talking. It feels like you guys view it much more like a fraternity because there's not as many people that make it to the NBA than maybe some other sports. It feels like there's a lot of distaste for maybe the modern stage of basketball. What are your kind of thoughts on where we land right now with NBA hoops? I can understand both sides, you know. As a member of the Hall of Fame and playing basketball my whole life and being this fraternity of basketball, You know, it's a certain standard and level of play that we would love to see.

1:23:56But we also understand that times are changing. We have to adapt and be able to change with the times as well. But the best thing we could do as a retired player, as the players that are no longer, you know, playing at a high level, is give back, you know, go back into the communities, go back and teach and, you know, really get the fundamentals of the game and also help the parents. You know, I think every parent wants to see their kid be that next superstar in the NBA or whatever sport it is. But they might not understand how hard it really takes to get there. The amount of work that the parents have to put in, the kid have to put in.

1:24:34And it takes a lot. And it's so much harder for these kids, I think, now to be able to, you know, get into a sport or, you know, get into the working field because of technology. So it's a lot that us as players can really do to give back. But, you know, with basketball, I love it. I think the game is entertaining. These young kids are getting better and better. And I only want to see the best in these kids. Cooper Flagg, you know, 40 points. 49. 49 points as a 19-year-old. You know, that's amazing to see. I know how hard it is to play at this level. And I'm so proud of the young kid for just – and Jason Kidd for taking a chance and putting him at the point guard position at a young age and just letting him learn the game.

1:25:19And he's doing such a great job, and I'm really proud of his growth and his effort that he's playing with. Keep it up, young fella. Keep it up.

1:25:26Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. I love to hear that. Thank you for doing it. Any other players that you just want to shout out randomly, definitely do that throughout the rest of this whole conversation. Anytime. Oh, man. Tyrese Maxey, he is killing it. So fast. Wimby is my favorite player now. Okay. Okay, so what would you do there? Because what? He's a foot taller than you, right? Man, he's a foot taller than me. I'm going to just have to get him three hard fouls. Hey, go sit your big ass on the bench somewhere, man. But I love what he's doing, man. The fact that he's using his height and his – he's just going to be, I think, he has the ability to be one of the best players all the time.

1:26:04Once he learned how to really dominate the paint, and then when they try to stop that and put a smaller guard on him, just shoot over the top like KD does. And I think he has the right mentality. He's locked in. He's focused on being one of the greatest. His summer, I think last summer, training with Monks, you know, going with KG, all the stuff he's doing, you can tell, like, he's in it to be one of the greatest. You know, so I think the game is in good hands. When you got players, oh, my God, like Wimby, man, they really love what they do. You know, him, Jokic, all these guys, man, what they're doing.

1:26:42SGA, this guy's unguardable.

1:26:44Pat McAfee:I mean, he's unbelievable. He seemingly never misses. Joel, Halle. They're so smart now, you know. And not saying that we weren't smart, but they figured out like it's like they seen what we did and they've added on to it with this new age. Evolution, brother. That's just evolution of sport. That's why, like, judging one era to the next is kind of impossible. You can't do that. I hate doing that, and I tell people comparison is a thief of joy. You know, when you're trying to compare this area to the next, you're taking out the joy in the life of basketball by doing that. These kids grew up watching a lot of us play.

1:27:18It's their time. Let's give them their props and help them when we can. But let's not put them down, man. We need more positivity, especially from the old heads. Hell yeah, Dwight.

1:27:30Pat McAfee:Hall of Famer talking right there. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Dwight, you mentioned Jason Kidd, obviously a great player and a great coach. Now we've got J.J. Redick in L.A. Are we going to see more players, you think, transition from playing to coaching like we want to become head coaches? I know in the NFL we see Mike Brable, we see all these guys that were great players becoming great coaches. Is that going to be a trend, you think, that's going to be an uptick as we look forward? I would love to see that because we want to keep the name of basketball going. You know, it's such a the game and what is done for me and a lot of players around the world, the inspiration, the gratitude that we have for what we want to have in the best hands.

1:28:12And, you know, I think a guy like Rondo would be an amazing coach because he was an amazing point guard. You know, these guys would be amazing coaches. So, you know, I really do believe it's time for, you know, these players to come back and give back to the game, because I believe the era that, you know, I played in the Kobe era, KG, that Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Dirt and Whiskey, that's like the best era of basketball. It was really like the golden age. It was everybody. And it was an interesting matchup every night, even though it wasn't like no, they would say name brand centers back when I was playing.

1:28:51But I'm fighting against four or five centers every single night. And you got Dirk Nowitzki. You got KG out there. You know, you got Dwayne Wade. You got some of the greatest guards ever. Kobe Bryant, you know, LeBron James in his prime. I'm like, it was an amazing time for basketball.

1:29:10Pat McAfee:It certainly was. And if you guys are going to continue to get back and give back, I mean, we just saw Rondo's eighth grade son. Yeah. Dominating. Unbelievable. He's in eighth grade. Yes. That was outrageous. Is that, that's not, that's very, I don't know the basketball community well enough. I know like you got drafted out of high school. I assume whenever you were in seventh, eighth grade, they probably said like, hey, this guy probably going to the NBA. I think that happens in basketball more. He's dominating varsity in eighth grade. Is that normal? That feels abnormal. Is that still. I feel like it's because it's Rondo and the knowledge that he has for the game.

1:29:44He's putting it right in his son like every single day. His son was there when we won the championship. You go back and you look at the footage of Rondo on the floor with his son. His son is taking in all that wisdom and knowledge and understanding from one of the greatest point guards ever now. And he's dominating high school basketball with calm, with ease. and he's only going to get better. So just imagine in four years what he's going to be like. He might be able to get drafted out of 11th grade. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The greatest he's going to be.

1:30:17Pat McAfee:Speaking of getting drafted out of 11th grade, there's a chance you could still – go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Dwight, I'm just curious. I doubt you have many regrets about your basketball career because you've fared very well. But we hear a lot about NIL now and how guys maybe stay a year longer or whatever the case may be because they're making millions and millions of dollars. Do you think if that would have been in place when you came out of high school, that would have been something you considered? Or do you remember what the thought process was behind when you decided to go straight from high school to the NBA?

1:30:51I wanted to go number one. I didn't think about nothing else but going number one in the draft, being the number one player and trying to become one of the greatest basketball players ever. that was my only mindset, my only goal. I truthfully never even looked at the money aspect of it until once I got to the NBA, it was about the business and basketball. I just solely looked at it as, man, I want to be one of those greats. I want to be like the Shacks, the Will Chamberlains, the Kareems. I want to be like those guys when I'm done playing. So that was just my mindset. I didn't think about college because I felt like college was this place for me to really understand or figure out what to do with my life.

1:31:32And at this point right here, I already knew what I wanted, already knew where I wanted to be. It was only going to be me, the gym, and hard work, you know, how much I was going to put in to get there.

1:31:43Pat McAfee:The high school to the NBA days created so many legends. Oh, God. Just absolutely. Man. Oh, yeah. One of them. It was so hard. Goats, obviously, in that conversation. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Dwight, just to kind of emphasize what Pat said, as a Celtics fan, I will never forget the Dwight Howard, Hito Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Michael Petras. Those teams were legendary, and those teams also went on to play Kobe Bryant in the finals. How grateful are you for that time to go up against Kobe while also being a teammate of him with Team USA? What do you think of when you think of that time with the Magic?

1:32:18Just because you will always be a legend, especially for the Magic, let alone the Team USA run as well. That was such an amazing time with the Magic. I truly hate how everything ended, you know, but my time with the Magic was just what it was, magical. Going to the finals at 22, playing against one of your favorite players all the time in Kobe Bryant, you know, having a chance to win a championship, going against LeBron, you know, playing against the Boston Celtics, the Big Three, you know, all those great memories to have in, in that city, beautiful Orlando. It was such an amazing time there.

1:33:00And I'm just grateful that, you know, I was able to see what I saw at a young age, you know, uh, going to the finals, you know, bringing the city together, you know, seeing how, how powerful and strong basketball is is it was, it's unforgettable time in Orlando.

1:33:16Pat McAfee:Anybody, um, that you played against, like obviously Kobe and all those greats you talk about, are you just trying to pick brains? How did you kind of operate whenever you were playing a watch? Because I think J. Will Duke J. Will he told a story about how when Kobe came and played the Chicago Bulls he thought he got to the gym early and Kobe was already there. Was there a lot of those moments? How many of those types of situations happened for you? Straight out of high school right into the NBA is a crazy thing but I assume there can be development whenever you see because that's like a formidable year Yeah, it was just so much going on.

1:33:53Like, imagine 18, you're just finishing high school. You just graduated, going to the prom, you know. You get your, you know, all that stuff is just happening. Then you're drafted, number one, to an NBA team. Your whole life changes. Like, everything happens so fast. Like, it's hard to even remember a lot of these moments. Like, man, 18 year old Dwight, like, what was I doing? What was I thinking? Like, things were happening so fast. Like, in one mind, I'm like, man, I just want to play basketball. Like, I want to be like Kobe or, you know, Shaq and how they're just their names are in the rafters, you know, and people like I'm at 18 thinking like, wow, like, this is this is crazy.

1:34:40I'm actually living this dream. and you know I wasn't really thinking of the magnitude of what all this stuff meant until I got a lot older and in my career and you know now I'm not playing it's like man like that was a time I'm looking at pictures in my house of my teammates in Orlando uh I was looking at a picture last night of our um Olympic team and just the team that we had like man that was a the redeemed team was incredible.

1:35:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, you've had a great run, brother. And you can continue that if you want to go back to Orlando and have good times with the new rules. You could actually, I think, go play for UCF still. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah, you could go play for UCF. I missed college for a reason. I don't think you got to do class either. No, you don't. I think you just kind of go. No, okay. I think you're just underneath, brother. That's it? I think that's all you're doing. No. They got Paolo. They got Suggs. Orlando got a pretty good team. So I can come and watch and help in any way I can. But as far as playing, it's the young fella's time.

1:35:46Pat McAfee:All right. Well, listen, that's kind of the issue, though. He's like the – sports got an interesting thing going on in college right now. We got an interesting thing going on with, like, how the whole business is working. I just want to let you know, if you start feeling froggy, you could, I think, go back to college right now. No, sir. No, if you do. I'm just telling you. Just college. If you do. If you do, you can make – I go back and coach. Maybe a March Madness run, Dwight. Maybe a March Madness run. No class? They're paying. They'll give you a... I don't know if they're going to keep up. Hey, can we talk about what's going on here?

1:36:20Pat McAfee:What is this? That looks like a deck. Oh, this is one of my favorite crystals. I just like to wear crystals. It's just some nice little artwork to wear. It's also good for the soul, right? Is it not? How long have you been into the crystals? Forever. You know, as a kid, I used to always go find rocks and to keep and look at and stuff like that. And as I got older, it became into nice crystals and stuff like that. I have them all around my house. Rose quartz, crystal quartz. Yes, a whole bunch of different ones. So, yeah, I'm big into it. Yeah. All right. It looks awesome. Oh, yeah. It looks really cool.

1:36:58Thank you so much.

1:36:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, because on top of the hoodie with the big ass chain. Yeah. He's also seven feet. So that crystal is about, what, 10? ask me a fool yeah that's a huge crystal yeah that's a sword yeah bingo they got a crystal sword on his chest yeah alright alright sick alright I'm happy you wore that thank you for doing that hey you're the man good luck in your flag football game thank you so much you guys I would love to come in and actually get on the show you know live you know and in person you know so you know let me know when I can come on so let me tell you can we show you what we do to the rims here you know he can put that right off the wall he'll take those right off the wall So the one on the right side there, eight feet.

1:37:37Pat McAfee:We're having a good time on that one. We're Dwight Howard on that one. Okay, we are Dwight Howard on that one. And then the one on the left there, ten feet. Do you still anything with basketball? Do we shoot? Do we do anything? Yeah, I do. I do. I train with my son. I work out. I'm still jumping and dunking. So, you know, I just did a couple 360s the other day. Damn. Windmills. Don't run, March Madness. What are we talking about? out i didn't know no no i'm good oh man that was 19 year old dwight howard okay so as we're running these clips tone has a question for you actually about it yeah it's what i do as we're watching you do it there in and then like blake and zach levine it felt like after you guys were done doing the dunk contest and i say this with a heavy heart that the dunk contest may have died is there any way to save the dunk contest do you think well i think people just got to stop comparing what happened in the old dunk contest and just allow people to try new things.

1:38:37It's so hard to be creative with dunks because you don't get that much time. And it's very different, you know, actually doing the dunk contest and being in the gym, dunking the basketball. You know, you don't have, you don't have no like juice. You got to bring your own energy. You got to entertain the crowd. And I think the era of people that, you know, I've dunked with, we were good entertainers. And that's what made the dunk contest so fun. We was willing to get out there and not worry about embarrassing ourselves, but have a great time and enjoy the fans and enjoy the moment. This is something that we all grew up watching is the dunk contest and wanting to have moments like this.

1:39:16So when I got an opportunity to get out there, I'm like, man, yeah, I'm going to put on a cape. I'll put on the jersey, the tight jersey. I jump over, I get a bigger rim, whatever, because I want people to see how much of, you know, for me, basketball is how I express my art, you know, how I express who I am. So, you know, this is a part of my art, you know, is dunking the basketball in different ways, jumping as high as I can. So, you know, I enjoyed it, man. I had so much fun doing it. And I remember doing the last dunks and tribute to Kobe and stuff like that for the last dunk contest. But that was so much fun, man.

1:39:52Pat McAfee:yeah yeah it was so much fun and once again all glory day type stuff here i appreciate you saying like obviously let's not be comparing them to everything that has happened in the past incredible moment there obviously but you saying so crazy yeah crazy let's not uh compare to the past dunks but it's also i i appreciate you acknowledging like uh we had like personalities you know like we uh we wanted it to be awesome you know like there is there's a little bit of that too that is potentially needed and maybe a generation will show up and it's like hey let's make this i think it will content i think it'll show up content i think i think it will you know and i think also like more people are like seeing the tricks of learning how to dunk and be able to jump higher so now these athletes that are coming up they're going to want to get into the dunk contest because they're like man nobody's doing it so when i get a chance to get up into the nba or become a content creator, I'm going to jump into the dunk contest and see what I can do.

1:40:49So hopefully they should add in some content creators this year because I know a couple that could really jump that would actually make the dunk contest go crazy, like NBA versus the world dunk contest. No, they don't want that.

1:41:02Pat McAfee:Hey, they got that little white. There's that little white guy. Yeah. He does triple axles. Jordan Kilgannon. This guy. Jordan Kilgannon. He's unbelievable. Jordan Kilgannon. Then they got a guy named T. Curry. He's a young guy. He got a 51-inch vert. They were trying to say MJ had a 51-inch vert, but he actually does have a 51-inch. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not to mention like Shams. I believe Shams. He does. I've seen him jump up, but before he dunked the ball, he tied his shoe, then put the ball between his legs and dunked it. That's Shams. Shams Sharania did that? No, no, no. No, I've seen Shams.

1:41:39I've seen a video of Shams doing that too. Yeah, me too.

1:41:42Pat McAfee:We don't know. We have no idea. He's in the All-Star game. If he can do that, he need to stop reporting and go play basketball. Do something. That's crazy. Hey, we appreciate you. We don't know if you're already out there, but safe travels to California. We're going to try to make it to this. Thank you so much. We don't do anything Super Bowl week. We kind of find where we hang, and we just kind of hang there and do our thing. But Thursday, February 5th, 7 to 9, I mean, it sounds like it's going to be a great time. Yeah, everybody, come on. All right, we will. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Dwight Howard.

1:42:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, Dordie!

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1:43:56Pat McAfee:We had personalities too, so... Yeah, good point. What's the problem though? They are comparing to those old dunk contests, which is like, okay, how do we top this? That was a great time for the dunk contest. Well, comparing is the thief of joy. He didn't say that. Words are spells. Well, they're spelled. We're in spells. Who said that? Another lover of crystals. Yeah, it was fascinating. And it felt like he had a real meta, you know, flow state vibe in that whole thing. Him playing for the Taiwan Leopards and us thinking they were already the Beer Leopards was missed by us. Didn't realize they merged teams because the beer team is one of our favorites as well.

1:44:39Yeah, the beers. Yeah, yeah, the beers. The Milwaukee beers? Yeah. Well, also a great team. Great team.

1:44:44Pat McAfee:I think it was the Taipei Bears, beers, excuse me, I forget. We'll be joined by the all-time leading point haver in U.S. hockey history here in a matter of moments, I would assume. We ran a little bit behind there with our first conversation with Schefter as a general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, was fired in the middle of our program as we're talking to our tribal chief, Royal Rumble, tomorrow, 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Unlimited. Is that the name? Yes. Yeah. It's ESPN Plus Unlimited. Okay, so ESPN. So it's. You have to have ESPN Plus, and then there are two kind of subcategories. There's whatever the basic one is, and then unlimited is the all-encompassing, all-you-can-eat.

1:45:28And then there's another one. And then there's another one, which is like super unlimited.

1:45:31Pat McAfee:Hold on, hold on. Let's not get super duper, okay? Let's stay. So tomorrow for a Royal Rumble, I need to be looking for ESPN Plus Unlimited. Okay, and then there's super duper unlimited right underneath it. Yeah, and that's where I think you're allowed to check into the Rumble. Do yourselves a favor. Okay. Do it tonight. Yes, that's a smart idea. Yeah, I did one time. Sunday ticket, didn't sign up until about two minutes before kickoff. What a terrible decision that was. This will feel like that tomorrow 2 p.m. on ESPN Plus. Unlimited. Joining us now is a man who has unlimited powers on the ice.

1:46:10Pat McAfee:Okay? Unlimited. Whenever you talk about hockey, normally in the old days, you'd have to immediately mention Canada. It's hockey time. Now the NHL, where is most of the teams? Where is best of success? Where is the Stanley Cups at? Okay. Thank you. We'll have that conversation later. And oh yeah, we got curling from you a couple years back too. Don't let us do that again. Matt Hamilton might go ahead and do that. But Canada obviously created an incredible sport in this hockey. And U.S. has become a dominant force. It is not easy to become a great hockey player. It's a lot of early hours on the ice.

1:46:44Pat McAfee:Ice time is obviously incredibly expensive. It's incredibly hard. The cardiovascular plus the physical toll that it takes on your body is impossible. So for anybody to remain committed to that, They would have to be super disciplined and X out a lot of things that could potentially distract them, especially in the modern United States of America. Well, we have the guy, ladies and gentlemen, fresh off of breaking the record for the most points ever scored in the NHL by an American player. Absolute living legend, three-time Stanley Cup champion, Patrick Kane. Yeah, Tato! Tato! What's going on, Bob?

1:47:17Pat McAfee:How's the midst, pal? How the midst, pal? Talking Canadian now. Just trying to do a little hockey. That's more of a Canadian accent than hockey accent, I think. Yeah, well, I just kind of tie it all together, you know, with hockey. I apologize. Congratulations, dude. That's a huge deal. Yeah. Huge deal, obviously. Thanks, boys. Appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to have me. No problem. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Madonna, Mike, obviously stud, living legend, he sent a message to you, and then we got the information that obviously you looked up to him as a kid coming up in USA hockey.

1:47:48Pat McAfee:What does last night mean to you? Obviously, it was on the horizon, and I assume you understood that at some point you were going to get this. But then when the moment actually happens, how do you kind of feel on the ice there? I think the biggest feeling is almost relief, right? Just to kind of get it done and over with and move on a little bit. I feel like there's a lot of attention on it, especially coming into the season. and just kind of doing it and being able to get it out of the way and move on is a good feeling. So, listen, it's a special night. I mean, I had Amanda, my son, and my parents there to kind of cheer me on and be there for the moment.

1:48:32So it was special to obviously share the moment with my teammates, but also with them.

1:48:37Pat McAfee:Great for hockey as well, brother, especially in the United States of America with this rivalry know rivalry with canada obviously always existing but now it feels like at a fever's pitch how do we feel about the state of usa hockey right now as you become lead usa hockey man of all time you know what i think it's in a it's it's really in a great spot um i think you look at the four nations last year what that team did brought a lot of excitement to the game especially uh in the united states and um you know now going into the olympics um pretty much a similar team going back there and uh have a chance to to win the best on best so i'll be cheering him on um there's some some great young american hockey players that are doing some special things in the game um and uh definitely be cheering him on obviously we have a great one here in detroit and dylan larkin who's um lives and breathes uh usa hockey and uh he's been uh hold on hold on kato hold on Kano I should have known this I just assumed the guy who has the most fucking points in the history of American hockey players that he would be on the fucking team somebody just told me that that was you said you'd be looking what happened what are we doing here what is going on okay I don't like that at all Kano I don't like that at all Kano I'm sorry they do have a good team going over So I'll be cheering him on.

1:50:07Listen, I didn't have the greatest start to the year and would have been great to be there, but definitely be cheering him on this year.

1:50:14Pat McAfee:The future of America is in good hands, you say. Legend American hockey player. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, you mentioned all these young players that are in the league right now. I guess when you first came up in the league, did you ever find yourself, like, who were some of those older guys that maybe you grew up watching where you look around and you find yourself on the ice with some of these legends that you grew up watching? Are there any guys like that you can remember? Yeah, for sure. Mike Madonno was a big one. He's a guy that I watched a lot when I was younger, kind of had a great flair for the game.

1:50:45His speed and skill was something I always admired, especially at his size. You know, he's around 6 '3 or 6 '4. Chris Chelios, I think he's probably the greatest American of all time when you add it all up, playing until he's 46, 47 years old. He's really become a great friend and obviously have really gotten to know him, you know, just from my Chicago days and being in Chicago. Jeremy Roenick had a great career. I grew up in Buffalo. Pat LaFontaine was a great player. So those are some of the Americans that I really looked up to.

1:51:22Pat McAfee:Oh, Chelly. Great to hear his name. Great to hear old Chelly. Yeah, that's what we call him, right? Kano?

1:51:30He's the best, man. He's such a great guy. Honestly, he's one of the best humans in the world. And anytime I do something or anything like that, he's the first to reach out. So I've really developed a good friendship with him and one of the best guys in the world.

1:51:49Pat McAfee:The hockey culture is an incredible one. Every time we learn about a new hockey player, we love him and we respect him, mostly because it's not easy at all. The sport is damn near impossible. Let alone you're on ice moving at like 20, 30 miles an hour. but the amount of work to build your body up to get to the point to make it is impossible and it starts at a young age go ahead Ty yeah Kanera it seems like in this day and age every time there is a draft whoever gets picked first overall it's all this guy's the he's the next one he's the next great hope or you know whatever the case may be you were kind of in that same model being the first overall pick what like when it comes to this record was there a point in your career maybe I mean probably not when you were younger but when it kind of all clicked into place you're like holy shit this actually is something that is attainable and i could potentially be the you know the greatest point getter in american history yeah i mean it's hard to say right when when that moment comes um i don't know i feel like for me like as a young player you're just trying to uh become the best player you can you know uh obviously as an offensive guy you're always trying to put up numbers and score goals, score points, create chances, things like that.

1:53:02But, uh, um, I don't think it was ever really like a thought until, you know, maybe the past year or two where there was some more attention on it and people started mentioning to me that, you know, maybe this is something that could be, you know, attainable. Then you start thinking about it a little bit and, um, how cool it would be to, to actually accomplish, especially, you know, you look at all the amazing American hockey players that have played the game and all of a sudden, you know, here you are at the top of the list it's uh it's a little bit surreal and um humbling in a lot of

1:53:31Pat McAfee:ways too uh speaking of humbling feels like your culture is that way and i i mentioned it there before he asked about the point in your professional career when you thought this was possible but was i accurate in describing like your your childhood as hockey player you guys are like all in we're talking moving we're doing this right from a very young age is that an accurate depiction of how you kind of came about it as well yeah for sure i mean um you know for me when i was younger, I just, I loved playing hockey, right? That was, that was my childhood. That's what I loved to do. So, you know, I was on the ice all the time.

1:54:04You know, maybe 350 days a year. I loved playing summer hockey. I loved going up to, I grew up in Buffalo. So tournaments in Toronto and Canada were some of the best tournaments you could play against competition. That maybe was a little bit better than, you know, what you were playing against in the States. So it was always fun to do that and then you know I moved away my uh my freshman year high school to try and um you know become a better hockey player I actually moved to Detroit when I was uh when I was a freshman in high school and to decide to play here for a year then a couple years with the U.S.

1:54:38program in Ann Arbor and then you know another year in London Ontario so my four years of high school were um you know all the way from home so definitely some sacrifices had to be made but um you look look back um it was definitely you know all worth it you hockey people are awesome

1:54:54Pat McAfee:legitimately you hockey people are awesome yeah i moved away from home freshman year high school going off the fucking camp are you ever coming back hopefully not actually i'm gonna go to canada before i come back home i'll see you a couple different times that's every hockey story it feels like it's so much commitment literally but i i think they they know who's gonna be somebody right early then is that not in hockey as well it's you know what it's i feel like it's it's hard to say right i mean some of the some of the best players i played against uh you know 14 15 years old you know never made it or made it and never really had a great career um i think it's about opportunity too you have to make the right decisions you have to make the most of you know kind of your opportunity in certain situations um you know i didn't think i was i I was the best player at my age level growing up, especially at that age.

1:55:46But you get some opportunity, you play in good situations, you continue to develop. And, you know, all of a sudden you're, you know, looking at yourself being drafted as a first round pick or first overall. And then you get even more opportunity because you're going to a team that needs some help. Right. So, you know, I look back on it. I'm definitely grateful for a lot of the situations I was in that I was able to, you know, excel in.

1:56:13Pat McAfee:Yeah. I think you did great. We'll head to the weekend. We'll see you Wednesday here on ESPN. We're still live though. No, still live. Okay. Okay. No Zamboni yet. Okay. We are still live action here. All right. We're on YouTube, TikTok live X, I believe ESPN plus Disney plus, and even ESPN plus unlimited. Hey, so when'd you get the dangles? When do we get the sticky mitts? You know, When did we start saucing? I got pretty good. When did that start happening? As a child, that thing was glued to the stick? Yeah, as a kid, actually a funny story. I used to always carry around a stick in one of those little orange hockey balls.

1:56:57Going into hotels, I'd stick handle going up the stairs. I'd stick handle going into the rink. We were playing in London. And my dad would actually carry the bag, my hockey bag, into the rink so I could stick handle and just like work on my hands or whatever. And we were playing in London, had a bunch of people come down, the bus was leaving. And I was saying, you know, my highs and goodbyes to, you know, family and friends that were there. So my dad took my bag out to the bus and someone shouted out, look, the old man still still carrying the bag for him. So we kind of looked back to see who it was, but I really put a face to the situation.

1:57:36But that's just kind of what I was what I was doing as a kid. Just always stick handling, always had a sticking ball. And not just because I was like trying to work on my hands or anything, but just because that's what I love to do.

1:57:49Pat McAfee:You know, so it's crazy how you can be obsessed with something that you just enjoy doing. You know, yeah, like there is. Yeah. What's that book? Outliers. The Outliers. Have you ever heard of the book The Outliers? I haven't. It basically goes through the stories of all these people who are at the top of their fields and how a happenstance in their life certainly led them to that. I think Bill Gates or something like that. Yeah, he grew up next to the first supercomputer ever in the United States and Washington, so he obviously was privy to that information before anybody. For Patrick Kane, it would be growing up in Buffalo.

1:58:22Pat McAfee:And having an obsession with hockey. Yes. That could certainly help. Oh, yeah, and you can just go across the bridge here and go play against some Canadians. And when you come back, your dad's going to be known for carrying your bag. Everybody else has to carry it. Because the little Kano is obsessed with his dangles. This guy's triple deking everything he sees whenever he's walking in the buildings. That's awesome. That's a beautiful thing. We used to go to Sabres games, and on the way in, we'd buy one of those little mini sticks, and we'd see some garbage or napkins on the ground, and we'd make a ball out of it.

1:58:55and I go running up and down the hallway at six, seven years old, stick handling in and out of people, putting it through their legs. They're probably like, what's this kid doing?

1:59:04Pat McAfee:No, they say that's Kano. That's fucking Kano. There goes Kano again. There goes fucking Kano. Put it home, Kano. That little goddamn Kano never stops. Jeez, Luis. That's what they say. And they said that man would go on to be Lord Stanley's friend multiple times. The all-time leading United States scorer in the history of hockey. We talk about you hoisting Lordo. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, KNO, obviously three Stanley Cups. Is there one that stands out as a Boston Bruins fan, the one where you snatch the soul out of New England and Bruins fans everywhere does for me, but also you score an overtime game winner to win the Stanley Cup.

1:59:42That's basically what you dream of when you're as a kid in those arenas. But is there one you look back on just thinking of the team or the moment that kind of seems more special than maybe the others? yeah i mean i don't know if one is uh more special than the others they're all special in their own way um like you said 2010 was an overtime goal 2013 was you know the bruins were up uh 2-1 and we scored two in 17 seconds to uh to take game six and win that one and then you know 2015 was our it was our first one at home so that was special just kind of spending it in uh in in the locker room after your home locker room and just kind of having a never-ending party there was uh i think uh memories will never forget but um yeah i definitely

2:00:32Pat McAfee:think they're all special in their own way all right hey last question for you and i would like you to get this one right and i know you're going to feel obligated to say the wrong answer okay because what's on your head right now. Taron Diggs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a question for you. Yeah, Patty, obviously you're playing in Detroit now. You've played in Chicago. You grew up in Buffalo. You've obviously played in the barn in Boston. You've played Pittsburgh a lot. Pittsburgh a lot. Where is Hockey Town USA? We have this debate around here quite a bit. Where, in your opinion, Pittsburgh is Hockey Town USA?

2:01:10Is that what you would say? no there's only one hockey town it's detroit that's i mean that's the name that's the name that's given here in detroit is the hockey town that's the logo on the center ice right

2:01:22Pat McAfee:the fuck there's only one that's what i'm talking about cater i need you to say that to these boys because everyone's forgetting around here i will say this i will say this the person that set up this conversation they're in their email it's there is a reference to it in name of email for opportunity. It is it's like everything. I didn't know that. That came through and I saw it and I'm like oh shit, I have to be incredibly disrespectful. What I'm saying Pittsburgh is Hockey Town. That is wildly disrespectful every time I say it. If you Google where is Hockey Town, Detroit Michigan shows up. Okay, yeah, AI certainly get everything right.

2:02:01Pat McAfee:We won't dive into that. That is a Red Wings fan there, Foxy. He has a question for you actually, Canter. Yeah, Canter. First and foremost, thank you for your service to Hockey Town. Growing up in Michigan in the 90s, 2000s, Detroit Red Wing hockey was absolutely everything. Everyone in the state of Michigan was playing hockey at a young age. And now, as you can see, some people are forgetting what Hockey Town really means to the NHL. And it's been, I think, 10 years since we've made the playoffs, which is this year you guys are having an awesome season. So hopefully that drought ends. But can you just talk about Hockey Town and why it's such a special place to play hockey?

2:02:45Yeah, you know, obviously I came from Chicago, being in Chicago a lot of years and big rivalry between the Red Wings and the Blackhawks. And I guess for me, I never really knew how I was going to be accepted at first. And honestly, the fans and the organization has been incredible, really is just welcome me with open arms. and it's been an amazing place to play. I mean, playing at Little Caesars Arena and the support we get every night from the fans and how loud the building is, it's just, it feels like you're playing in the playoffs every night here. So, listen, I think it's hockey town for a reason and like you said, we haven't been in the playoffs for a while, so in a good spot right now and excited to get back there and do some damage.

2:03:32Pat McAfee:Is it It's a Pizza or Pizza Pizza? pizza pizza I just checked that checked that way to go hey we appreciate you man congrats on the accolade another of many throughout your entire career thanks for what you're doing for USA hockey and good luck to hockey town good luck to hockey town thanks for having me boys appreciate it hey next time I'll show off my mitts you know with the top mitts through the whole thing hey Kano sound good I'd love to see him. Patrick Kane, we appreciate you. Yeah, Kane-Ole! You sure sound Canadian there, pal. I mean, only people would call him Kane-Ole, I think, in his life, probably.

2:04:17Pat McAfee:That is interesting. No way! Hockey, you're right! Every time you hear it, they all say Kane-Ole, but you go, hey, Kane-Ole! Kane-Ole! Yeah, yeah, I just, you know, anytime you throw an Ole on there, because you can showcase the Canadian Ole. That's hockey, baby. Yeah, that is hockey. That is old hockey. That's old hockey. Huckle doesn't know. Huckle. I don't. Hogger. Yeah. We do both. I was going to say. Just like Kane. I try to throw in a hoggle every time. Yeah, you do. Hockey has the best inside their community shit. No doubt. Their lingo is top tier. Top tier, yeah. And I don't know if it's just Canadians.

2:04:55Pat McAfee:I think Canadians potentially just have top tier lingo. And it's because I think they're all locked in their houses. because it's so cold for so long. So got to be funny. Got to be entertaining. Got to come up with ways to say things. Yeah, the Canadians bring the lingo. The United States brings the moxie. And then the Russians bring the party. That's kind of how the culture gets formed. I think that is probably a pretty accurate depiction of how it all goes. Swedes bring the skill. You could argue the Finns bring the goalies. And you know what America brings? What's that? Gold. Gold medals. And the beers.

2:05:30Pat McAfee:Do you believe in miracles? Yes. How could you not? Especially whenever Team USA Hockey did what it did. Whenever you hear somebody so perfectly phrase something, it's a moment etched in sports history. And then there's documentaries about the behind the scenes. And it's clear that a Paisan was certainly one of the most pivotal pieces and one of the greatest runs in the history of sports. Ladies and gentlemen, there's a documentary that is out today on Netflix called Miracle, The Boys of 80. the gold medalist captain for the miracle on ice out of Winthrop, Massachusetts. Mike Arruzzi on. Yeah!

2:06:11Pat McAfee:How you doing? Hi, guys. How's it going? Hey, Paisan, how's it going? Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you. No better person to join us on this Feel Good Friday as we head into a massive weekend kicking off Super Bowl week. So we appreciate you taking time out of your life. How has it been reliving the glory, if you will, with this new documentary? I assume it's a nice trip of nostalgia, a little trip down memory lane. How was it and how has it been?

2:06:37Mike Eruzione:Well, I'm looking forward to seeing it. I haven't seen the final version, so we're going to see it tonight. I got 60 family, friends, and relatives going to go to the golf club down the street from where I live. And we're going to sit at the bar and we're going to watch the video. and everybody's going to remember what it was like 47 years ago. I'm excited about it.

2:06:58Pat McAfee:Okay, so you haven't seen it yet, but the process of the making of it, a lot of reliving, a lot of storytelling. What kind of was it for you?

2:07:06Mike Eruzione:It was great. A bunch of us went back to Lake Placid, although many of us have been there off and on over the years, but to go back with your teammates, to sit in the locker room and just kind of reminisce what it was like in this quaint little place in Lake Placid. I mean, it's hard for people to believe that if you ever go to Lake Placid, if you go to that arena, it's hard to think that they had an Olympic Games there. But whenever we go back, I call it Pleasantville. It's like going back in time. It's a special place. And we're excited about, you know, seeing how they put this whole documentary together.

2:07:40I have seen bits and pieces, but have not seen the final version.

2:07:43Mike Eruzione:So I'm excited about that. And I think people are going to enjoy it. I think the way this country's going now, we could use in 1980, so maybe it'd be nice for everybody to look back on a great moment.

2:07:53Pat McAfee:Hell yes. Also, with the Olympics around the corner, I think sports do have an incredible way of bringing people together. Couldn't be a more perfect time for the Winter Olympics just a few weeks out. You said it feels like you're going back in time. Let's go back in time. In that locker room, after the huge win, obviously you guys can't hear what Al Michaels is saying with the miracle call, and it's much more, what, like, unless you have a phone in the kitchen, I don't know how you contacted people. did you guys know the gravity of the situation there because that wasn't even in the finals but did you know the gravity of what your team was going to be in in the moment no clue whatsoever

2:08:27Mike Eruzione:um we knew people in lake placard were excited i knew my family and friends at home were excited but no clue that the world and the country was watching the way they were and i mean and remember now there were only three tv stations then there was no twitter or facebook or instagram and all this crazy stuff that everybody deals with today we were in a little place in lake placid playing a hockey game and it wasn't until after we beat finland which people forget about because if we don't beat finland you and i aren't having this conversation right now um and uh we beat finland and we go to the white house on monday and the streets were lined with people four or five rows deep waving american flags people singing the star spangled banner it was like oh my god you people watched.

2:09:10Mike Eruzione:It was just incredible. And people will come up to me today, depending on how old they are. They remember where they were when Kennedy got assassinated. They remember where they were when the challenger blew up. They remember where they were on 9-11. And they'll always say, I remember where I was when we won. And I always go, I didn't know you were on the team. But that's what that moment was. It wasn't Boston. It wasn't Chicago. And I've said this, and I'll say this the day I die other than being a police officer or a firefighter someone in the military who protects our country there's no greater feeling than putting on a usa jersey because you're not playing for a super bowl you're not playing for stanley cup you're playing for an olympic gold medal and you put the usa jersey on it's pretty special and pretty amazing and when we accomplished what we did and saw how much joy it brought to a nation makes it even that much more special who do you

2:10:01Pat McAfee:play for man you know that's the uh it's a it's very few people get to be olympic athletes and

2:10:08Mike Eruzione:when you are it's something you should cherish and honor yeah hell yeah and you guys certainly

2:10:12Pat McAfee:did that and we're still obviously talking about it and we'll talk about it for the rest of time and documentaries obviously are a nice reminder to people that maybe haven't heard the story that there is great inspiration and optimism right around the corner and sports certainly can provide that go ahead aj yeah your head coach herb brooks i know a lot of people are aware of a lot of the your whole story through the movie Miracle that came out. I don't know what year it did come out, but can you talk about your head coach, like what he was like back then? I know there's always a big thing of you guys bonding together to go against him almost like the whole, how he was a hard driving coach.

2:10:44What was he like? Did the movie do a good job representing him? I'm sure we'll get to see in the documentary tonight.

2:10:49Mike Eruzione:You know, even he's, he's a lot friendlier in the movie. Yeah. They softened him up in the movie. But you know, you know, and preaching to you guys, you know sports as well as I do. That's how coaches coached in the 70s. My high school football coach, my college hockey coach, they demanded a lot out of you. They challenged you all the time. Herb was maybe a little more demanding and a little more challenging, but there's a way he was going to coach this particular team, and this is the way it's going to be. And he stayed true to form right until the end. When we won the gold medal, he didn't come out on the ice and celebrate with us.

2:11:24Mike Eruzione:If he did, it would have been, oh, now you want to be our friend. Now you want to be close to us. he he let us enjoy the moment and he made a decision to coach that team the way he did partly because there were 12 guys on the team from minnesota nine that played under him at the university of minnesota and as a player trying out for the team wondering hey are they going to pick any eastern guys because normally eastern coach eastern players western coach western players and clearly the best team was put together and all the minnesota kids on that team were not only good people great players so he made a decision that it was going to be us against him and as he said throughout the year, there's a method to my madness and we understood that's the way it was going to be.

2:12:04Mike Eruzione:I mean, two-hour practice, you can yell and scream at me all you want. After practice, I'm going to go have a few beers with the guys and come back to practice the next day. But two of the qualities that Herb had, and I say this all the time about coaches, if you don't trust your coach, you're in trouble and if you don't respect your coach, you're in trouble. We trusted Herb, we respected Herb And if this is the way he was going to coach our team, then we're going to deal with it and we're going to play. And, and look again at the success of our team, you know, doing something that nobody, nobody in the world thought we can win a medal, let alone win the whole thing.

2:12:38Mike Eruzione:But he believed in us and we understood what he was doing. That's the way it was going to be. The power of team.

2:12:44Pat McAfee:Beautiful thing. And obviously you talk about Eastern guys and Western guys, Midwest guys. You are Eastern guy, Incredible Eastern Italian, by the way. We love that around here. Grazie. And I don't know if you know this, but the NFL is back to being an Eastern league, I guess. Connor, Boston Connor has a question for you. Yeah, Rizzo, absolute honor. Thank you. But Pat just mentioned it, the Patriots. You can see the helmet. I know you are a diehard Pats fan as well. How do you feel about Mike Vrabel, Drake May, nine days to the Super Bowl? and do you feel good about the team? And also, you know, I assume you also needed some T's and P's for Bill Belichick not being a first ballot Hall of Famer.

2:13:29That affected us all individually.

2:13:31Mike Eruzione:That to me is probably one of the most embarrassing sporting moments I've ever been around, and I follow sports quite a bit. Obviously, being in Boston and the Patriots and the Celtics, and when I was a kid, the Celtics were winning championships after championships, and back in the 70s, 80s rather, I used to travel with the team when Raymond Berry was the coach. Steve Grogan, Steve Nelson, Tim Fox, all those guys. I was at the Super Bowl when they got beat up by the Bears, but I was on the sidelines during a lot of NFL games when those guys were playing. So I've got a great love for the New England Patriots, obviously, in sports.

2:14:06Mike Eruzione:And I think you can't get a better collection right now with Mike Vrabel and May. I think they're a perfect marriage together. I love the way Vrabel coaches. He seems like the guy I'd want to play for him. And Drake May at 22 years old or whatever, and he looks like he's 12. You know, what he's doing is pretty exciting. So obviously in New England, we're happy again that the Patriots are back in the limelight. But I think it's going to be a hard game. I think Seattle's awfully good. But the Patriots all year, nobody's giving them credit. They say they have the easiest schedule with all this and all that.

2:14:40Mike Eruzione:But, hey, they're still professional football players. I don't care how easy the schedule is. They're still pretty talented players that they're playing against. And they're playing extremely well right now. And I'm excited about the opportunity for them. And hopefully good things can happen.

2:14:54Pat McAfee:You're speaking literally from Connors. I mean, I just knew Rizzo knew ball. There's never a question about it, but even hearing it. And, I mean, you talk about it all the time, too. Like, people in New England and Massachusetts, they just know football better than the layman. Granted, gold medalist, superstar, legendary Michael Rizzioni. Of course, he knows football. But, I mean, that was, yeah, that was music to my ears, Rizzo. Thank you. All right, Riz, Paisan, obviously. We're going to have to gas up your fucking city for the next 20 years, it sounds like. Okay, Riz, yeah. We're all pumped about it, but it does feel like Vrabel and Drake are the perfect combo, and they could do this for another 20 years if they really wanted to.

2:15:31Pat McAfee:So good for you guys up there and your fans. Now let's talk about hockey becoming very, very relevant to the entire world very soon with this Olympics. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mike, with this Olympics, obviously your team was all amateurs for that Olympics, and now professionals are playing in the Olympics. Do you like that the NHL players are playing in the Olympics, or did you prefer like it was back in the day when it was all amateurs with you?

2:15:52Mike Eruzione:No, well, it was never all amateurs because the Soviets and the Swedes and the Finns and the Czechs were professional players playing professional hockey over in their country. That's why it's a miracle, you see. Amateurs were usually just the United States and Canada. I was at the beginning curious how they would play against each other. You know, if I'm playing for the Penguins and I'm on the U.S. Olympic team and I'm playing against one of my Penguin teammates who's playing for Canada Am I going to hit them? Am I going to go after them? And when I talked to the players, they said, absolutely.

2:16:21Mike Eruzione:You know, you separate your differences after the games are over and you go back to being on the team that you're playing on. So when I knew that and I saw that, it was like, yeah, let the best players in the world play. And they are so good. They are so talented. At that Four Nations tournament, if you saw any of it, you saw the Kachuk brothers drop the gloves at the beginning. They're playing for their country. And Sidney Crosby said the same things. I heard Sidney say when you put the crest on, it's a whole different ballgame. And when you see that and you're going to see it in the Olympic Games, they're going to go after each other.

2:16:52Mike Eruzione:They're going to compete. I wish the Soviets were playing in it because I still like to see the best teams in the world play. The Soviets aren't there. And that's because their country's all messed up. But unfortunately, the athletes are suffering because of that. But having said that, this is the best U.S. team we've ever put on the ice. This is the most talented, the deepest. I thought they were going to win in the Four Nations tournament, but you see how important a goaltender can be. Binnington was spectacular. And Canada's loaded. You've got Makar. You've got maybe the best player I've seen ever, close to it.

2:17:26Mike Eruzione:I can't take Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Gretzky out of the equation, but Connor McDavid's pretty damn good. So I think Canada's loaded. I think our goaltending might be a little better, but clearly I think this is the best team that we've put on the ice for the Olympic Games. And when I was at the Four Nations, I had the pleasure of being the honorary captain. And I told the players, he says, do me a favor and win a gold medal so people will leave us alone. And it's over. They can carry the torch. My grandkids need their heroes. And hopefully it'll be this team. And I'll be in Milan and I'm excited about this team and what they can do.

2:18:01Mike Eruzione:Happy you'll be there.

2:18:02Pat McAfee:You should be at everything going forward for everybody at all times. But Ty had a question about that last statement you made there, actually. Yeah, Mike, I did want to ask you about that because I think it was kind of tongue-in-cheek about, hey, stop bothering us. We need the new blood to kind of create some new heroes. Do you think in this day and age when these guys, and granted, they're not making the kind of money that NBA players, NFL, MLB players are, But do you think that that is still like if we were to win a gold medal, do you think that that that that kind of does? I don't want to say it's not going to diminish what you guys did, but do you think that will kind of put you guys in your place in history?

2:18:44And then people will kind of start to talk about this new iteration of U.S. hockey and it won't be so much. Hey, it's unbelievable. We're never going to see another miracle on ice, but we'll kind of have our new regime, I guess, of hockey in the United States.

2:18:58Mike Eruzione:Well, I think it'll be a testament to how far the game has gone, how far it's come, how good our players are today. And I'm just going to add a little side note, too. You should see how good our women are and how talented the ladies are and how much better women's hockey is today than it was. But the men's hockey program and where they go, if they win a gold medal, it'll be a showcase of how far U.S. hockey has come. I think in 1980, we might have opened the door. Today's players have knocked it down. And if they win a gold medal, it's not going to change one damn thing that we did. What we did is what we did.

2:19:28Mike Eruzione:what we did will never be it'll never happen again because you'll never see a bunch of college kids play against nhl players or pros and win so let's take that out of the equation right there and the state of the country at the time maybe maybe a little similar now but but you know at that time in 1980 you remember who's going to be the president there were gas lines inflation the the the hostages had been taken the threat of a cold war soviets invaded afghanistan there There were so many things around politically, and we were playing the Soviets. We're not playing the Soviets in this Olympic Games.

2:20:01Mike Eruzione:So I think that whole side of the end of what we did in 80, you'll never, ever see again. And this is their moment. This is their team to do what they need to do. It's not going to change our team and our history and our story, because what we did, you'll never see again. But for hockey, it would be a great tribute to the American players that are playing the game. and they're, you know, my grandkids are going to look up to these players. They'll have their heroes and, you know, want to play in the NHL because of what they're seeing out there and what this country is doing. So we're going to rally around it and hopefully they can win.

2:20:35Mike Eruzione:But if it does happen and they do win, good for them. Let them have their day. We've had ours.

2:20:42Pat McAfee:Hell yeah, Riz. I love that speech you just gave for the boys. You know, it's like, hey, a lot of things happen in the world. You know, sports have the ability and you know america winning would be great right now especially with what we have in kachuk ka-ching last night you know he's all the way back it feels like the boys are ready to go i did not know kano patrick kano was not on the team that is a surprise yeah immediate learning that in real time while i'm talking to him that was obviously a uh a mistake by me but i like our team i like what we're doing and i like the idea of you potentially giving us a speech as we send into the greatest weekend of all time can you do that with us can we always end the show with a team on me team on three type thing would you mind being a part of that with us cap i'm ready okay so we will be off monday and tuesday we will be back on wednesday live from radio row in san francisco with guests through the roof a hilarious situation will occur uh probably two three times an hour a ridiculous situation will occur probably four or five times an hour radio row is insane we'll be celebrating the year that was for ball and we hope you have the greatest weekend of all time because next week and you know the future is an amazing thing be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change your life we're in this thing together team on me anything to say to the uh to the team here is thanks for having me on team and if you believe

2:22:06Mike Eruzione:in something and you're willing to work hard you will accomplish it and that's what our hockey team's going to do in Milan. Hell yeah, Rhys.

2:22:15Pat McAfee:Yeah.

2:22:15Mike Eruzione:Hell yeah.

2:22:17Pat McAfee:Team on three. Have an incredible weekend. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here. First, Atlanta drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles golf club. Then Rory's Boston common golf and tigers, Jupiter links face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6 30 PM and 9 PM. Only on ESPN and the ESPN app. From 30 for 30 podcasts.

2:22:53Mike Eruzione:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he scrapped it. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. we had a killer amongst us murder at the U listen now