PMS 2.0 1520 - Big Sports Tuesday With Dan Orlovsky, Brewers Starter Jacob Misiorowski, Arkansas Head Coach John Calipari, Executive Director of NFLPA JC Tretter, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

16:45Darius Butler:No. Mid-March Madness.

16:47Pat McAfee:Too soon.

16:47Darius Butler:Retire from basketball or gambling in general? Just basketball, right?

16:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, because I was betting on baseball. I retired from gambling on baseball. Remember when that happened? Maybe you're listening. Five guys in bucks. Yeah.

16:58Darius Butler:I just did the golf. Are you listening to the right people is the question. TGL's got a whole lot of money. Yeah.

17:03Pat McAfee:Plus 5 ,800 tonight for TGL hole-in-one. Tigers playing. Championship round. We need ratings. How many par threes we got? All right, we're not saying that. We're not saying that. We understand that there's real competition tonight, and we understand that we play in the sim on a regular basis, and it will tease you too. The sim will actually give you a little bit more of a, hey, actually, here's a close-up view of this potentially, and then have it go away. So it's certainly a lot more heartbreak. But they're fresh off of a hole-in-one, I believe. And now the excitement level for another is great.

17:37Pat McAfee:Plus 5 ,800. Maybe Todd does his thing for the TGL, which is hits a hole-in-one in the final. Maybe two of them. Maybe. Is there a two hole-in-one bet? Prop on that. It should be. But let's get back to basketball. We're betting on the Jupiter team, even though they're the underdogs there to probably go. That's right. They're playing the Los Angeles team. The LA team is so good. They're powerhouses. They're good. We were on them last night. Good match last night. Yeah, it was a great match last night. Gamed on to the last hole. 6-5, yeah. Kaysnir kind of choked it away, to be honest. No, they hammered Don, though.

18:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, he had to win the hammer hole. All he had to do was tie the hammer hole. He couldn't do it. Swing, and LA wins. Man, see, the problem is TGO is now at its second finals, and people have no idea what we're talking about when he just said to hammer Don. I know. Okay? That's a very crucial part of the whole thing. It's a huge. Yeah. If you watch TGO, that's a swing. Yeah. A hammer is a full swing. Oh, yeah. Too old. You're throwing a hammer, yeah. That's a huge swing. More people need to understand it. Just know tonight, Tiger's got his son. Day ran on as he tries to hunt for another championship.

18:38Pat McAfee:But as we look for some sort of crown from DraftKings, March Madness, what are the lines telling us?

18:45Darius Butler:The crown can be yours if you know what's going on. I don't think so. Yeah, yeah. So for the Sweet 16, good news. There is not a spread more than 10 points. All the spreads are single digits, which is awesome. Sometimes when you have these Cinderella sneak in, there could be 13, 14, 15 point spreads in this round. But we all have single digit spread. So that's awesome. They are predicting good games. 16 teams, eight games. Seven of those games have had line movement of at least a point. Five of those have been towards the dogs. So people are liking the dogs so far in this round, even though the tournament so far has been to the favorites.

19:22Darius Butler:The biggest line movement so far is the Arkansas and Arizona game. The public is on Arkansas more than 60 % of the bet. So that has gone from nine and a half to seven and a half. The last time I checked it, Arizona is still the favorite, but it's dropping because people think Arkansas is going to cover. And then one of the games where the movement has gone from the, from a pick them to the favorite Yukon and Michigan state was a pick them. It went to minus two and a half for Yukon. It's currently sitting at minus one and a half, I believe for Yukon, but the money is on Yukon. So the money is on UConn, but the line is getting worse for UConn.

19:58Darius Butler:We call that reverse line movement. A lot of people think sometimes that maybe you should go with Michigan State in that situation. Okay.

20:04Pat McAfee:All right. See, but now that's right where they want you.

20:07Darius Butler:Who is they?

20:08Pat McAfee:The crown. The crown is our friend.

20:11Darius Butler:The crown wants us to win.

20:13Pat McAfee:I know they say that, but it just feels like they're always the ones doing the crown.

20:18Darius Butler:Well, that's because people are laying$5 ,000,$10 ,000 on minus$5 ,000 money lines. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

20:24Pat McAfee:Oh, please. Okay, have a little respect. Just want to see one go through. Yeah. To my point, the crown had been in their side for too long. I wanted the crown. And I thought it was a guarantee. And then the Italians said, no, they didn't say that. They said, grazie. Yeah, they did. And they drank their Nespresso, which sold for$16 ,000. We should have got it. Cheap. Did we know that was for sale? Yes. We knew that was for sale. That got sent in? It was in the group.

20:48Darius Butler:Yeah, yeah.

20:48Pat McAfee:I missed it. I didn't know that. Boys, we need to immediately hop on things like this. If I miss it, that's on me. Who knows where I could have been because if I would have seen that, that needs to be over here. We'd like to offer whoever this is$16 ,522. Boom. Immediate response. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who made quite a statement yesterday. With 29 days until the draft, which is being held in beautiful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The night before the draft in Pittsburgh at the Cayman Science Center, we will be hosting a viewing of the Football Ton, which is the NFL Films feature film, right?

21:27Pat McAfee:Is that the proper description? Sure. Feature film that I was very lucky to voice over. It's basically the history of Pittsburgh and football and how football helped create the City of Steel and how the people, the Yenzers, basically are everything that is football. It is a, from my understanding, it is very well done. I cried after watching the first five minutes that I got a chance to see, which is basically the Open. let alone what it's going to be like in the Cayman Science Center, which is like a little baby sphere that we've had there. You're kind of immersed in it as you're in there. And it's just like the fact that I was asked to voice was crazy.

22:02Pat McAfee:There's so many people out of Pittsburgh that should have been voicing that over. And all of them, I think, are in the film too. So that's like a really cool thing, just like being a part. So I'm very humbled, but it'll be my first time watching it. So we're going to put something together, try to raise some money, probably sell some tickets. I don't know how many they will be. We'll be inviting some friends. Hopefully they'll come. But when we're at the draft on the Thursday, the night after this one here in Pittsburgh, when will Ty Simpson's name be said? Well, one guy went on TV yesterday and said he needs to be said first overall.

22:28Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, Dan Orlovsky. Yeah, Dan O. Dan O. What's up? Hello, people of Pittsburgh. My name's Roger Goodell. I'm the commissioner of the NFL. and here is 250 Pittsburgh firefighters standing right behind. Yeah! That's what I thought. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Look over there to your right. Here's Bill Cowher. Woo! Deebo James Harrison's right over here. Make some noise for Ben Roethlisberger. Once again, my name's Roger Goodell. Thank you so much for having us here in Pittsburgh. The draft starts now with the first pick of the 2026 NFL draft. The Las Vegas Raiders select Ty Simpson, quarterback out of Alabama.

23:25Pat McAfee:What? Whoa! And Dan's going to, Dan's going to, Dan's going to. Just like I fucking said it would. Is that what's happening right now? Just so I understand. just so i can kind of understand everything that's going on are you trying to predict what's going to happen on draft night by what you're actually hearing around nfl buildings are you going off the film that you watched and how you think that ty simpson's going to be a better nfl quarterback and is are you saying he's a better nfl quarterback right now or is going to end up being a better nfl quarterback just so i can get a better understanding because i am ty simpson fan i'd like this to be known i think ty simpson is a good football player i hope ty simpson is a great NFL player that's good for the league good for Ty and also Saban loves him and we love Saban so like I'm not saying that Ty is not a good quarterback but it seems like everybody on earth except for you is pretty much in the department of like this six foot five 240 pound guy who won a national championship for IU is is the number one guy go ahead though pal go ahead pal I'm sorry I'll let you go now I I feel like I set the table for who you are what you are what you've said now we are 29 days away from either you being right or the rest of the world being right.

24:36Pat McAfee:That's kind of how I feel. Your thoughts on it all? We're a lot longer away from figuring out right or wrong because when the draft happens doesn't mean one was right or one was wrong. I'll remember that. To the comment of it seems like everybody on earth thinks that Fernando Mendoza is the first quarterback or quarterback one, that's not true. I can factually tell you that that's not a real thing. Mike Tannenbaum, yeah. No.

25:04Darius Butler:And everyone at CAA.

25:05Pat McAfee:CAA, certainly, yeah. CAA, yeah, CAA. I don't like that they're saying that about you. I don't like that they're saying that about you. I don't think that's fair. Genuinely, I don't think that's fair. I would just like for everybody, again, so I pay attention to, not pay attention. I see a lot of the things that get said. Don't address them all type of thing, but the agents work for us, not the other way around. just so everybody knows. They're employed by us, respectfully. That's how the business model is. CAA is a very big agency. They have a lot of people. That's all I'll say on that. Okay, good.

25:48Pat McAfee:I do think it's pretty unfair just to naturally piece you together because CAA does have people that have Fernando as the number one guy as well, and it's like, well, you don't think they're telling them. So it is fascinating that you take that. But on that note, I think it's because it does feel like you have to be getting paid by somebody to come as strong as you're coming right now with Ty Simpson, with how Fernando potentially finished the year last year and played his football kind of life at Indiana. I would just say I'm not nearly important enough to CAA financially for them to pay me to say something about a guy who might be the 20th pick in the draft.

26:23Okay, so I'm just, it's not worth them. I don't make enough money for them to pay me money to say that. But people can think what they want. There is no motive. We will. I am trying to make more money.

26:36Pat McAfee:If that is, no, I'm sorry, I get it. That was a great take. There is no motive behind this. There is no ulterior motive behind this. I would go back to a couple years ago, I was higher on Jaden Daniels than people were. I would go back to last year. I was higher on Jackson Dart than people were. I thought Jackson Dart should have been a top 10 pick. He wasn't. I still felt that way. In relation to the Ty Simpson and Fernando Mendoza thing, it just comes from me, I guess it's the battle of traits versus tape. I am confident that, in my opinion, Ty Simpson's tapes are more impressive. His tape is more impressive to me.

27:22I can understand where people sit there and say, well, traits. Because we have this history of the NFL and traits matter for quarterbacks like they do every player. It doesn't mean that that's the only thing that matters. I would argue that the traits are secondary for quarterback play unless they're going to be a top five pick. And so, yeah, I just think his tape is better, Pat. I believe that he dominated more games. I believe that he was asked to do more things that look like common NFL things. I believe that he played on a team that he had to elevate more.

28:05And that's just kind of how I watch the tape.

28:08Pat McAfee:All right. I love to hear that from you. You know, I do. And certainly time will tell whether or not both of these guys are good NFL quarterbacks. One of them is a good NFL quarterback. And if you were right or if you were wrong, and I'm sure that if you were right, people will certainly tell you. And I'm sure if you were wrong, they won't tell you, Dan. I'm sure that's not how this... If I'm wrong, I'll hear it basically on a daily basis. Oh, you're saying the complete opposite happens. Yeah, if you're right, nobody will tell you four or five years from now because that's basically what you're saying is how long this is going to take.

28:41Pat McAfee:On that note, if Ty Simpson goes number two overall, all i don't think we would be surprised strictly because we've covered the nfl for a longer time and uh we've been lucky enough to be in locker rooms and listen to these people talk if a team likes a quarterback and they need a quarterback they will do whatever the hell they need to do to get that quarterback that is literally just uh happens damn near yearly in the nfl draft so if ty simpson ends up going number two we basically just heard why he won number two because some general manager is thinking the exact same thing that dan orlovsky's thinking like hey well This guy's traits are incredible.

29:15Pat McAfee:His film's unbelievable. He's a good leader. Saban's saying he's great. Obviously, he didn't play as many games. He only started, like, what, 15 games or something like that? I forget what it was. But he played against Alabama's defense in practice, like, every single day. Like, there's – I certainly, from – just from listening to you. Now, I didn't have this deep of an analysis on Ty Simpson. I guess I probably should have. I feel like that's more like you're a good – No, it's not your job. Like, this is my – this is part of my job. That's not your job. Like, this is my job. So we're hearing, though, from you what people could potentially buy in on Ty.

29:51Pat McAfee:So it sounds like is what we are hearing from you, Dan. Is that what you're thinking, too? I mean, I would tell you this. I go every year. I just watch games like I have. I did this year. I finally got done with Ty just so about a week ago. I felt strongly about feeling that he was the number one quarterback in the class. I can tell you, and I'm not going to tell you who, but I probably texted 12 to 15 general manager decision-making coaches in the NFL. The very simple text of Ty Simpson is QB1 in this class or the best quarterback in this class. And two people got back to me with a disagreement.

30:35Okay. And the rest didn't respond?

30:38Pat McAfee:And the rest had quarterbacks? Yeah. So was it a thumbs up from the people? Or was it, like, what was the response? Atta baby Dan-o! Like, was it a positive? Yeah, it was some form of, like, agree. Some form of agree. Yeah, it wasn't necessarily I agree. Sometimes it was a thumbs up. Sometimes it was a gif of, like, yes. You nailed it. Yeah. Yeah, but is that certain? Was it like, what's up, big dog? With a tiger? Anybody saying that? Was there any of the white guy Oh yeah

31:12Darius Butler:Was there any of that one

31:13Pat McAfee:What different

31:15Darius Butler:Was it Tom Brady holding hands with Mendoza Looking back at Ty Simpson Oh yeah could have been that one Was it okay Dan or like okay Dan Yeah I don't know Voice memo maybe

31:27Pat McAfee:Did they say just so you understand this This is okay Dan Did they send that We need a little bit more context on what the 11 to 12 responses were that you got. I feel like I gave you the guys the context and you just went, no, most of the context was in some form of agreement. Sometimes it was words, sometimes it was an emoji, sometimes it was a GIF or a meme or whatever they are. Anybody send you just back the eyes and then you automatically took that as a yes, even though that might have been a what the fuck? Yeah, plum emoji. You know, because, you know, like cigarette smoke from Lamar on his tweet.

31:59I don't think it's that outrageous of a thought. I really, really, really don't. I don't think everyone is saying this. Oh, my gosh. You're going to tell me that you think it's not raised your thoughts.

32:10Pat McAfee:Nobody's saying that. Nobody's saying that. Nobody's saying that. Okay. Everyone's got to tell me, like, you don't like Ty Simpson because he's an inch shorter than you want him to be. I'll ask you this, because it seems like you know him decently. Mario Cristobal, do you think decently about him as a football thought person of mind? Yeah, he's also great MMA. I mean, he's a fire. Yeah, I like him as a football guy. Offensive lineman, yes, I think he comes from the right football mindset. All right. I mean, he was offering Ty Simpson six and a half bucks. Okay, so Mario Cristobal can't be an idiot.

32:49Darius Butler:Everyone else is taken.

32:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, well. Everyone else is taken or they offered him six and a half bucks, dude? Come on. So they're offering him six and a half bucks at the current situation or all football players that are currently playing football. You know, like I think I respect. Yeah, but how much are these guys making now that we think about? Like if they would have paid Fernando Mendoza$15 million to play this year for IU, he would have been underpaid. Yeah. I think he would have been underpaid. Worth it, yeah. But on that note, there's no way they are paying him that because that wasn't the deal. That starts getting into like the professional conversation of it all.

33:24Pat McAfee:Like LeBron's contracts are this. Like what is his actual value? Do you know the whole thing? I don't know if Indiana would have paid Mendoza$15 million. No, I'm saying if they would have, though. Like, I'm just saying, like, let's say he got paid$15, as you say it. As you say, he got paid$15. With what happened, everybody would be like, yes, definitely do that. Of course. So six and a half for Miami, I'm saying, like, that's also in comparison to what Miami could potentially be if it does work out with him. And there's also no market in college. college, it's just some numbers that are getting thrown out everywhere.

34:02Pat McAfee:But I think he would have earned it. I think Ty Simpson would have been great on that team. Carson Beck went down there and did his thing. Ty Simpson rapping 50 Cent in Oklahoma. That's still ingrained in my brain. We like the guy. It's just... We like Mendoza. We're big... We boots on the ground saw Fernando through the biggest games and it's just like everything about him just screams. What biggest games, Pat? Huh? What biggest games? The college football playoffs. Now you're playing possum, Dan. Now you're right. Those SEC games are bigger than the fucking playoff games, Dan. Am I allowed to ask questions and have an opinion as well?

34:36Darius Butler:They played each other head-to-head.

34:37Pat McAfee:Okay, Dan, do you just have – so the college football playoffs, a big mockery, a scam, doesn't mean anything. These games just don't matter. Like, what do you mean? What are the biggest games? They have a full fucking committee. They have billions of dollars in TV rights for what the biggest games are. Okay, and so – no, no, no. I'm aware of that, dude. Like, you guys – okay, so in the biggest games, so the college football playoff started and they played opening... You started a Big Ten championship I guess you could say Big Ten championship. Big Ten championship. Okay, Big Ten championship. In that game, they're down 13-6 going into the fourth quarter, Indiana.

35:11And then what?

35:13Pat McAfee:And then what? And then what, brother? We're talking about all the moments. You're talking about traits. It's like, okay, how about second and 17... Six points through the first three quarters. Ohio State's defense is a historic defense What are we even talking about? People crucified Arch Manning for doing that On the road Well if you go by that too Indiana beat Alabama 38-0 So we're just picking and choosing No no no This is why people say you're getting paid To do this No no no because I'm giving you Factual information Not opinion They had six points through the first three quarters in the Big Ten title game.

35:56That's Ohio State.

35:57Pat McAfee:Look up who their defense is. Look up what that defense is. That's one of the greatest defenses in the history of football. And then what did he do? Then what did he do, Dan? The biggest moment. And what did he do, Dan? The biggest court, Charlie Becker. He threw up. I think he threw the post to start the second half, which is a great throw and a great recognition. And a huge moment after getting beat. So mental toughness is there. And then obviously being able to take a shot, he cracked his rib on the first play. I mean, there's just like, you know, Because then you're going to hold injuries on the other side.

36:23Pat McAfee:It's like, well, how about first play a Big Ten championship guy gets this and then takes two plays off. Wow, I just got cracked. No pause, he said, on our show. And then he jogs back out there. It's like, is that not a trait? I don't know. You tell me. Of course it's a trait. No one's questioning if he's a tough guy or a good player. What I'm saying to you is you guys go, we watched them boots on the ground versus the biggest games. They had six points in the Big Ten title game through the first three quarters. Six, okay? Yes, he makes two throws. One of them is another back shoulder throw, and they win the game, I think, 17-13 or 13-10, something like that.

36:59Then they play, I believe, Alabama. Ty Simpson gets hurt. Alabama can't do anything on offense without Ty Simpson. And they put up, I think, 38 or something on a defense that they played literally all-out, zero coverage almost every snap. And he lit them up. There's no question about it. But D-Butt knows this. they played zero on almost every snap. Then you go to the semifinal.

37:24Pat McAfee:14-16 for 192 yards is what Fernando Mendoza was against Alabama's defense. Alabama defense probably okay. Then they go to Oregon, play Oregon, I believe in the semis. It's 35-7 at halftime. They had three possessions that started inside the 10-yard line, and I would argue up 35-7 through half, there wasn't one throw that you're like, oh my gosh, what a ridiculous throw. they go to the national title game Oregon 17-25 touchdowns is what Fernando Mendoza was just go ahead keep going though just as we're going through this thing we're just going to go ahead and 17-25 touchdowns they had three possessions that started inside the 10 yard line best in the red zone number one in the country in red zone one at Oregon too go ahead please though RPO stuff back shoulder third and seven Omar Cooper Jr.

38:16Pat McAfee:whenever it mattered first third down of the game Go ahead, please. We're just saying all these things you're saying. I don't know. You know, it's hard. Just hard. It's hard, you know? What is hard? They had three possessions that started inside the 10-yard line. It's not his fault. Yeah, the defense must tighten down. It's Fugles. In fact, you're not.

38:32Darius Butler:No, Mendoza made Bama run zero the entire game.

38:35Pat McAfee:Yeah, and zero. Let's go to Penn State. Let's go back to Penn State, you know? That Penn State team, you're right, completely done by then. Shouldn't have any close games or any of this stuff. but weren't they weren't they losing and to start the fourth quarter like 24 20 okay and then what exactly that's a trait too isn't it don't we think that maybe is a trait i'm not saying it's not a trait but everyone continues to go dan you're such an idiot he was so clutching games the comeback against iowa they had 10 points through three quarters that's a great comeback

39:07Darius Butler:i was through a scene where he just absolutely ate it yeah what do we i mean unbelievable stuff

39:14Pat McAfee:I understand what you're saying, and we just want to say we got a chance to live what he did for the state of Indiana. So when he goes 17-20 for a team, we're watching all 17 of those on a regular basis out here. When he's going 14-16 or whatever it is, we're seeing all of it. Yeah, he's a good player. I'm not saying he's not a good player. I've never once said, oh, Fernando Mendoza isn't good. That's why I hate these conversations because it's like Orlovsky doesn't like Mendoza. I'm not saying that. Back shoulder. How you doing? Keep him moving. Give me that. So you think that's a better throw or a better catch?

39:43Pat McAfee:I mean, definitely had playmakers out there, but yeah. Every ball he threw was because the wide receivers were so good. Yeah, that right there, great catch right there. That was a great catch. No, I didn't say that. It's kind of like a handoff 30 yards down the field. But hey, listen, Dan. I got plenty of clips of that too. What we're just saying is we are fans of Ty Simpson. We are just Fernando. I think we think he's earned the right in the biggest games playing the way that he's played just for the good of ball. He's definitely QB1. He's a pretty good player. That's fourth and five to win a national championship in Miami a mile and a half away from his high school.

40:14Pat McAfee:Okay? Give me the ball. Give me the ball. It's the best play of the game. It's an awesome run. I agree. Pretty good trade there. Wants the ball. He's like Belzier from St. John's. Exactly. But instead, he did have buckets before then. Right. Numerous. A lot of buckets. No, he didn't. Alright. You're the best. Let's move along here. A couple other NFL questions from the boys. We think Ty Simpson will be a good NFL player. We are pumped for Ty Simpson. We are pumped. Fernando Mendoza has earned the right to just be approved as the number one guy. We think. You do not think that? We understand? I think he's a good player.

40:53Pat McAfee:Got 29 days. Got 29 days to sway. Maybe send some highlights of Fernando up to Dano. Maybe some warm-up shots where he's hitting those intermediate shots. You know, turn signal might be on right now. Not 100 % sure what you've got going on. But we appreciate you coming in here and battling for your take. Because your take is one that is certainly going to make people happy, especially down there in Alabama. And if Kalen DeBoer has his number one overall pick, number one quarterback, that'd be good for him down there. We'd be happy for him down there. What's that, Ty? I don't know if that'd be good for him.

41:25What do you mean? Jesus Christ, you had the number one pick in the draft and you got starched 38-0 in the Rose Bowl. Get this guy the fuck out of here.

41:32Darius Butler:To Ty's credit, they couldn't run the ball for shit. And their own line was actually pretty bad. You know how many rushing yards they averaged from their running backs per game? Two? You know. Oh, you mean yards per carry or just overall? No, per game, out of their running backs, 78. You know how much Indiana averaged from their running backs per game? Yeah, 200, 180. 184. That's Big Ten football, baby. That's right.

41:56Pat McAfee:Sheesh. That's right. How many cold games does Ty Simpson play? Tell me that. How much money was spent on the Bama roster versus the Indiana roster? Yeah, that would be a good question, actually. Because everybody just says Mark Cuban's given hundreds of it. He's not. yet. Yeah, exactly. It'll be a second team. Just keep going. Dano, we love you, man. We appreciate you. Draft season's fun. It's always fun. Any other Dan wagons happening that we need to know about? Any other ones? I don't think so. Cole Payton? Who? Jeremiah Love. Stop calling him a damn wrong bet. I love Jeremiah Love, man. I think he's an awesome player.

42:33I think we're overthinking him. We'll see. I agree. Dan's got the pattern. He's got the pattern. Dan's bummed out. This is how you know it's real, though. Because he pats this much. That's when it's like, I got to respect what he says. I told you it was real.

42:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, Dan, we appreciate it. We do appreciate your true, genuine respect for the profession in which you have. You know? Because you're watching every film, and you're telling your brain, man, if I say that, everybody's going to... And your brain's like, you got to do it. You're right. You got to do it. It's on your film. So we appreciate it. Well, I firmly believe if you are scared to be wrong, you will never strain to be right. And I like being right. I'm not always right. I've been wrong before. No. But I don't think you could be good in this business or great in this business if you're scared to be wrong.

43:21Pat McAfee:All right. Well, this business will certainly decide for all of us, won't it? You're our first pick, Dan. Hell yeah. You're our QB1, Dan. That's right. Hell yeah. Okay. Thanks. Stop crying. I don't know if you are, though. Hold on. I just went through the whole thing. Like, if we're playing a game, we're fucking having Aaron as quarterback. Yeah. Yeah, it's probably fair. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, that is certainly happening. If he would play, which I guess is kind of the whole thing. Yeah.

43:46Darius Butler:He is my quarterback. You mean, like, friends of the show? You know what?

43:50Pat McAfee:Wow. When's the game? Like, tomorrow? We need to know the answer right now? That's my quarterback. You're probably taking – I'd still take Aaron. I would take Aaron. What if we didn't know, though, if he was – You know? Because we might have no quarterback.

44:02Darius Butler:We don't know if he's going to show up. You'll show up. Lombo at center. I'm reliable.

44:07Pat McAfee:Lombo definitely at center. We think he will definitely show up. You're right. AQ's a swing guard. We know he can play both. AQ's playing tackle, though. Congrats. He's out there. Dano, we know you're in shape. This guy was running interval sprints of 800 meters this morning. He was doing burpees and up-downs. We appreciate your commitment. I work out hurt. I work out hurt. What's wrong? You okay? All right. That's it. Thank you, Dano. We love you, man. Thank you for taking time out of your life. You're the man. I love you guys, too. All right, Dano. That's Dan Orlovsky. He got pretty bummed out.

44:43Pat McAfee:He did. He got real hot there. He used traits versus tape early. Thought he had something. It's like, well, we can find some traits stuff, can't we? Fernando Mendoza.

44:51Darius Butler:He was criticizing Mendoza for the Ohio State. Yeah, the points in the Big Ten. That is a weird hill to die. He must have not looked at Ty's last few games if he's going to play those.

45:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, but he was hurt is what they're going to say, which is what we're kind of saying about Ty, too. Which we love him. The best version of Ty. He's got great tape. Yeah, exactly. We like Ty a lot. But it's like the dude cracked. I mean, first play. And then he comes out. That's Ohio State. It's like, I don't know.

45:19Darius Butler:I saw a tweet, yeah, about this conversation. It's like, yeah, whatever. The tape may be similar, but if Miles Garrett comes off the edge and hits Mendoza, he's not going to turn into a pink goo like Ty Simpson would. Well, we don't know. That's true. Ty's a tough guy.

45:35Pat McAfee:We like Ty. We like Ty. So if Ty's picked number two, that'd be great for the drafts. It'd be sweet. We'd be pumped up for it. And that means some team really loved him as much as Dan Orlovsky loves him. We hope that happens. We just think that if you meet Fernando, talk to Fernando, listen to Fernando, and watch Fernando, it's like this is a certified guy. I just think he deserves the respect of being like, hey, this is a certified number one in this class. But with that being said, is anybody certified A?

46:03Darius Butler:No. Nobody is guaranteed anything. Tom Brady will decide. We got a scoreboard, so we'll see in a few years.

46:11Pat McAfee:I mean, who knows how long, you know, anybody lasts on a microphone. But we will be able to find out what this Ty Simpson run hope for. And we hope it's good once again. Dan Orlovsky's praying for it to be good. Yeah. Yeah, that is what he's certainly looking for. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man from baseball. This man, 6 '7". Big sumbitch. How tall was Randy? The big one? Big unit? 6 '11". What? How tall is Paul? 6 '4", 6 '5". So it feels like whenever they're up there on that mound, because the mound is elevated, you're just looking at what? A monster's up there. And when that ball is coming out of the hand, especially with 6 '7", especially Hembo sent us a stat, the guy that's about to join us, his forward step thing is so far, Like the ball's still in his hand closer to home plate than like anybody since the tracking era or whatever.

47:04Pat McAfee:So that means we're still, we're almost Canadian. Yeah, touching the hog line. Touching the hog. Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's kind of what he's doing, the curling. You know, whenever they were fingering that thing light there, which was legal, I guess, Canadians. Do we have a final judgment on that?

47:19Darius Butler:It was legal. The full rock never crossed the hog line. That's why we won the gold medal in that one, boys.

47:25Pat McAfee:Oh, did you really? So the people that were being accused of cheating ended up winning the gold medal?

47:28Darius Butler:Won legally. the goal.

47:30Pat McAfee:Okay. Because the rock did not cross the hog line. Okay. Okay. So you're allowed to do that is what you're saying. Maybe the Americans need to learn before the hog line touch because that's what this man does with baseball. I mean, he is that thing. All the way down there. Off the dirt almost. Ladies and gentlemen, the ace, the opening day starter for the Brewers, which is Thursday at 205 Eastern against the White Sox. Ladies and gentlemen, all-star Mike Miseroski. Yeah, man. How you doing, dude? Jacob, sorry, Mike the Miz. Jesus. You're good. You're good. That's on me. You got the business. Yeah, you got the business.

48:07Pat McAfee:Mike the Miz. Mike the Miz. I'm sorry. I assume you know him. You should know him. You're very similar individuals. World-class talent. I'm so sorry about that, Miz. Now, let's move along here. We met you last year at the All-Star Game, and everybody was talking about how, you know, you're only five starts in, shouldn't be there. You didn't care at all. It felt like you were a baseball player. I'll do whatever. We learned your story a little bit more. You leave Crowder, which is a JUCO. You were going to transfer to LSU. You get drafted pick 63. You get paid a couple million. You decide to go through the baseball ranks instead.

48:39Pat McAfee:Now you're opening day starter for the Brewers. Can you just tell me about the last couple years of your life in a nutshell? And do you feel like a 90-year-old because of everything you've gone through to get to this point in your short baseball career thus far?

48:51Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, it's been crazy. It's been a lot of fun, you know, going through it with my family and friends back home. But no, it definitely makes you feel, take some years off your life. But no, it's been good.

49:04Pat McAfee:You had this joyful innocence last year whenever we talked to you. McGill also told us that's kind of how you are and you throw absolute heat. What are the final thoughts going through brain while you're pitching or right before pitch? Do you have final pitch thoughts or are you completely locked in, blacked out whenever you're up there?

49:25Darius Butler:Oh, it's blacked out. So, yeah, we're just listening to our catcher back there, Bill, and going after it every pitch.

49:31Pat McAfee:So when do you blackout? Is it during the pitch, during the entire inning? When you go on the field, you don't know what happens until you come back? You still don't know what happened out there? Or just during pitch to pitch?

49:42Darius Butler:No, it's when you cross that line. You kind of flip that switch, and you kind of blackout and do what needs to happen, and you make it work.

49:49Pat McAfee:I love everything about that. I love everything about that. So that happened to me my first couple years in the NFL when I was punting. and the snapper would get pissed off because he was like, where's the snap? Where was the snap? I'm like, I have no idea, dude. I have no idea. It was in there somewhere. He's like, yeah, but where was it? I'm like, can we watch the replay? They're not going to show the replay of the punt. So I wasn't able to assist him. For you, do you get coached up much whenever you're in the dugout in between innings? Are you talking about what just happened or are you just trying to pass time until the next time you go blackout on the mound and throw absolute heat, I guess?

50:22Pat McAfee:102, 103, whatever the case is for every single pitch?

50:26Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, yeah, our guys in the dugout are awesome. Hook and Jim, they're, you know, they're always helping with little things. You know, maybe I'm not putting enough pressure on the backside. You know, little things like that. But, no, it's definitely waiting to blackout again and keep going. Hell, yeah. I love that.

50:42Pat McAfee:Yeah. Just waiting for the next blackout. That's right. Just waiting. I mean. Aren't we all? That is a wildlife. But for sports, I believe that's called being in the zone. I believe that is what that is called. How many pitches do you have going in? Does everybody know how many pitches you have going in? And did you pick up any pitches this offseason?

51:01Darius Butler:I mean, like, are you saying, like, arsenal-wise? Or are you saying, like, in the outing? Arsenal, arsenal. Yeah, I got a fastball, curveball, slider, changeup is new. Just started working on that again this offseason. So that's probably the one I'm bringing in. But, you know, I got the four-pitch mix.

51:19Pat McAfee:Pitching Ninja, I believe, gave you slider of the year is what we learned during our week. Congratulations. Hey, congratulations on that. He said change up is new. Tell me about that because that's what different. That's like different technique of holding the ball because I don't know baseball well enough. Your big thing is your velo coming out because you're doing the hosel nozzle on the curling thing with how long. The hog line. Yeah, the hog line. So whenever you know what I'm talking about. So is what that you just change the way you have to hold it because it has to look the exact same as a fastball.

51:48Pat McAfee:Like, how do you do you improve on it? You've always had it was just kind of ass. Like, how do you kind of just pick up new pitches? What is it?

51:55Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, it's kind of one of those things that you've got to keep working on it. And, you know, it's like all the pitches are like the same. You know, you're just changing how you're holding the ball in your hand. It's not really how you're releasing it. It's the same release point and same distance out. But, no, it's how you're like grips on the ball. So different things like that.

52:15Pat McAfee:Okay, so there was a punt that the Australians did where they hold the ball sideways. It's called the banana punt. And they were able to punt it up in the air. And when it came down, it would turn like this. almost a guaranteed fumble for a returner if you're able to do it. But if you mishit it by just a little bit, I mean, it's a four-yard punt potentially. So I didn't have enough courage to ever do it in a game. These guys are now doing it in games. It's unbelievable that they're doing it. They're dancing with certain average destroyer and also in there. Is there any pitches that you try in the offseason that you're, like, not ready for the big game, not ready for the show yet?

52:48Pat McAfee:Is there shit that you think you will continue to add as your career continues to go that you're kind of still like tinkering with whenever you have time?

52:55Darius Butler:Yeah, of course. I mean, there's always something you want to improve on. You know, like the changeup was that for years. That was the pitch that I couldn't throw. And, you know, all of a sudden it takes one bullpen, you figure it out, and you're like, holy cow, this is back. Like, let's roll with it and keep going.

53:10Pat McAfee:How about just one knuckleball out there? Yeah. Could you imagine? That'd be sick. You holding on to that thing and then actually letting that thing go. I have no idea. That'd be incredible. Yeah. All right, just something to think about. I don't know what that would do to your arm. Probably ruin it. Ty has a question for you, Miz. Yeah, Miz, what is your ramp-up process like getting ready for opening day? Because I saw, I think it was like an interview maybe, and someone was like, you know, asking you about your velocity being down a little bit, and if you were worried about it, and you basically said like, opening day, pack stands, like, I'm going to be ready to go.

53:41It's going to be there. But when you are, like, you throw so hard, how difficult is that getting ready, knowing that you're going to be throwing 100 plus 101 plus for a lot of your outings and like where are you at right now where do you expect to be at uh on thursday when you take the bump

53:57Darius Butler:yeah i mean coming thursday it's going to be full go i mean i'm going to be you know back to where i was in the postseason and chucking the rock like uh you know i want to but uh you know the ramp up process is uh it's long you know the off season's grueling and uh there's a lot to it you know you You can't go out and start throwing 105 from the get-go. So, you know, there's a lot of bullpens that you're throwing mid-80s, mid-90s.

54:26Pat McAfee:I couldn't throw a strike, miss. Okay, I tried against Clayton Kershaw. I just couldn't do it. I threw one, I think. I think I threw one legit strike out of maybe seven, eight pitches. Your miss was arm side high. Way high over this way. Way high. So when I punted, my miss was inside. Do you have a miss? that you know about, you have a miss. Arm side high.

54:47Darius Butler:Arm side high. Yeah. Same miss.

54:50Pat McAfee:Is that because a grip, what have you learned is the reason why

54:54Darius Butler:that is? There's a lot to go into that. It could be the landing spot. You're landing a little closed. It could be you're not getting out far enough. Could be the grip. Could be holding it a little bit different. There's a lot to it.

55:07Pat McAfee:I was trying to figure it all out too. I'm happy I wasn't the only one. You know, that was trying to figure it out. That's all us big ballplayers. Tone has a question for you, Miz.

55:17Darius Butler:Yeah, Miz, obviously a big thing coming into the season is the automatic balls and strikes, being able to review those. Are you going – do you guys as the Brewers have a rule or do you have a rule as a pitcher? Are you going to be the one that reviews it? Are you going to let William Contreras, the catcher, do the reviewing? How's that going to work for you guys? I believe for us it is off of Bill and William Contreras. but for me, there's not a chance in the world I could ever see the zone and take a guess. I mean, I'm falling off the mound. I'm throwing a full go, so my head's moving all over.

55:50Darius Butler:Hold on.

55:51Pat McAfee:Okay, this is interesting. So you don't know if the shit's a strike either, those ones that are kind of close?

55:56Darius Butler:No, not even close. Bill catches it well, and he frames it, and I'm like, oh, that's there. And then I'm going to find out I'm two inches off, and it's like, oh, I really thought that was in zone.

56:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, that little box thing has certainly been a nice toy. I think umps hate it, certainly. Yeah. Especially, you know, when the entire world is watching. I got a chance to watch Contreras. I don't know which one. Two Contreras's on the back. I think they were both talking shit to me. The way that the Venezuelans talk shit, though, so cool. I would just like to let it be known. I really enjoyed the Venezuelan culture. Oh, yeah. I assume there are many other cultures that are similar. I enjoyed the way they were competitive with me. He was nuking baseballs. I mean, it was, they were hitting the back wall like somebody was literally just, like that Forrest Gump scene where he's playing ping pong and the wall was up like this.

56:48Pat McAfee:That's what these Contreras's were doing during BP off the back of that thing. Killing. Does everybody smoke baseballs in that stadium? Because I was watching this thing, and the Contreras's, I'm being benched tonight, they said too. I'm like, thank God. Get that guy the hell out of there. But with that being said, We became massive fans of baseball through WBC. Conman has a question for you. Yeah, Miz, I think we all wish you were on Team USA for that little run. But what did you think while you were watching? It felt as though it was fantastic for baseball as a whole. But what were your kind of thoughts as Major League All-Star watching from home?

57:24Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, I thought it was electric. I think if that opportunity would have came my way, I definitely would have not hesitated to join the team. But, you know, the guys fell a little bit short, and, you know, it is what it is. It's baseball.

57:39Pat McAfee:Miz, I don't like hearing what you just said there. You should have been out there, Miz. Son of a bitch. I didn't know you could have been out there. I don't know. I didn't know you could have been out there. I assumed that there was something you're young. We got a couple hundred billion dollars we got to make at some point. New ace of the staff. Can't be. Yeah, first day, got to be with the boys. Come on. I thought there was some sort of something. Well, next WBC, Miz, we need you dropping 110 out there. We need you to, because we are going to be very loud. And I'll tell you, we haven't won it in a long time, it turns out.

58:09Pat McAfee:And I believe the Venezuelans are the right group to have it, I would like to say, the right country to have it. They have seemingly really loved it, and baseball was fantastic with them. But USA needs to win that. And to do that, it feels like we should probably get the guy. What are you going to top out at, you think, in life? Has that been projected?

58:25Darius Butler:I mean, what, the top pitch that scientists say a baseball can go is like 106 or something like that? I think I'm good where I'm at, 104 points, two or three.

58:36Pat McAfee:Okay, so what did Matt Miller – Mason Miller. Mason Miller, yeah, from Pittsburgh. He goes, what, 100? 101, 102. He's had Hernandez just went 102. He's hit 104. There's a kid for the Angels, Matt Joyce, who I think has hit 105 a couple times. Most of you guys going to hundo now, huh? A bunch of hundo boys, the younger guys?

58:54Darius Butler:Yeah, it's actually crazy the amount of college guys that are throwing 100 right now. It's insane. I mean, I remember when I was in junior college and, you know, me hitting high nines was crazy. And now there's kids out there that are, there's like four teams that are throwing 100. So it's wild.

59:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, it is crazy. Love it. It is a crazy thing that's happening. It's good for baseball. I assume it's because techniques are getting tightened up and obviously workouts and everything like that, let alone six foot seven monsters stepping up onto the mound and throwing it all they got. You obviously already ace, opening day ace, and all-star in your short career. We sure there are some moments that you'd like back. Yeah, you hit the ground running. A lot of times we talk about what was our welcome to the league moment. Did you have one of those kind of welcome to the show moments where like, oh, shit, kind of caught you off guard?

59:41If you did, what was that?

59:44Darius Butler:Yeah, we were – it's New York. We were playing the Mets, and, you know, the game sped up on me. Kind of, you know, started feeling it a little bit, and then all of a sudden Soto comes up and rocks a homer, and, you know, the rest is history. but it definitely sped up from there.

1:00:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, I can imagine.

1:00:02Darius Butler:He does that to people.

1:00:03Pat McAfee:I mean, that is a heartbreaking feeling. I mean, that Bryce Harper dinger, just the way the place exploded. I love the bat. How are you with the bat tosses?

1:00:14Darius Butler:Do it. I'm going to celebrate too when I get out of an inning, so go for it. You hit one off me, be my guest. Pimp that thing.

1:00:21Pat McAfee:Heck yeah. I like that because back in the day, what, somebody like you would say, is that night? I'm going to hit this guy in the head and try to kill him. So we appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining us, man. Good luck on Thursday. And then also throughout the rest of the year, hopefully you'll come back soon.

1:00:37Darius Butler:Yes, of course. Anytime.

1:00:38Pat McAfee:104.6, you said?

1:00:41Darius Butler:Two or three. I can't remember. Yeah.

1:00:43Pat McAfee:Okay. When would you start hitting 104 again? Like midseason now? Like when would you start hitting that again? Actually.

1:00:50Darius Butler:I mean, I'm hoping it's their opening day, but you know, probably middle season, end of season, but we'll see.

1:00:57Pat McAfee:You go 104. I don't want to. I'm not doing that. No way. No, he's got it in the bag.

1:01:01Darius Butler:You can do it.

1:01:01Pat McAfee:Okay. I'm not going to be a part of this. Actually, I'm not going to do that. We'll gun in$100 ,000 if you had 104 miles an hour on Thursday. The legend, Jacob Mizorowski. Yeah, Miz. I almost called him Mike the Miz again. I apologize, Jacob. I mean, we saw the graphic pop up. It says the Miz. The Miz. I don't know. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I'm supposed to do there. But Jacob Mizorowski, ace for the Brewers. Brewers are a good team. Yes. They are. They have that coach, too, right? Really good coach. Yeah, Pat Murphy. That we like. Friend of the program. Yes. Okay, yeah. Bryce Terang, too, who is one of our best players in the World Baseball Classic, is their second baseman.

1:01:38Contreras. They're a catcher. We know Trevor McGill. We know a lot of guys. Okay, Brewers, let's go.

1:01:44Pat McAfee:Like the Royals do. They are in the Pirates division, though. That's the thing.

1:01:48Darius Butler:They're projected, them and the Cubs are projected to win it with Buccas right behind them.

1:01:53Pat McAfee:Well.

1:01:53Darius Butler:Seriously.

1:01:54Pat McAfee:All right, let's go, boys. All right, we'll be back on the other side. We have Coach Calipari joining us and, obviously, A.J. Hawk. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. He might change your life. Goodbye.

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1:03:32Sports! I mean, he's throwing that 94 miles an hour. Boy, it drops off the table.

1:03:38Pat McAfee:$100 ,000 donation we'll make to a charity of his choosing if he hits 104 miles an hour on Thursday. If he doesn't, we will still be a fan and we will talk to him. If he throws his arm out, it's not our fault. No, yeah, definitely not our fault. We would like to be on the record that it is not our fault if he tries to throw it too hard too early in the season. I don't think you have to worry about that. He's a professional. This is on him. On that note, it's on us to give$100 ,000 to a charity of his choosing if he hits 104 miles an hour. What an electrifying start would that be? 2 of 5 in the afternoon, guys throwing 104 on opening day?

1:04:07Darius Butler:Yeah, second game of the day.

1:04:08Pat McAfee:That's baseball, baby? That's right. Hey, we're doing the baseball, baby. How about him saying he has no idea what the strike zone is? Yeah. Listen, when I'm throwing, I'm all over the – yeah, it's a strike. I don't know. Bill's back there. Nailed that. Beast. To hell with this umpire. And then all of a sudden, he watches it back. Jeez, that was nowhere near. So when that thing's coming out, it could be here, could be here. I mean, that's probably literally within centimeters the entire time. Paul Schenzo, we were lucky to watch whenever he played here for the Indianapolis. They're the Indians.

1:04:35Darius Butler:That's what they are.

1:04:36Pat McAfee:That's their choice. They're right down down, the Indianapolis Indians. He was filling this place up. Obviously, we got a chance to watch him whenever he was at LSU. That kind of captivated the entire College World Series. This big monster former Air Force guy throwing gas. The Pittsburgh Pirates are about to draft him. He comes here to the Indianapolis Indians, which are the AAA affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, fills it up. We get a chance to meet him. This dude's awesome. And he's seemingly locked in for baseball. Miz, the same exact way. They have young stars that are embracing their sport.

1:05:01Pat McAfee:Hopefully baseball is able to continue to run. Okay? 162 games is a long time. I don't know how – I don't know if my gas is going to remain full for baseball for 162 games. That's what I was going to say, the caveat, because you guys were talking about how awesome the World Baseball Classic is, and it was. But, like, I wouldn't be expecting that type of atmosphere, that type of pageantry day one. Well, Jameis Winston is going to be there. We know he will hype it. We are happy that Jameis is there. College baseball player, too. Yeah. One half of the hammer. Damn. Cowboys AP. Tone is here. Tone, March Madness lines obviously are what they are.

1:05:33Pat McAfee:Baseball, what should we be betting on? Quick. I believe the answer is first five is what I've learned from the Hammered Down episodes.

1:05:38Darius Butler:Joppy and I like to do first five because you know who the starting pitcher is going to be, and you're basically betting on the starting pitcher. You never know what the bullpen availability is going to be to an exact science. So it's easier as a gambler to handicap the starting pitching versus the starting lineup, and that's normally how we go. and on tomorrow night it's Max Fried versus Logie Webb. Very, very good pitching matchup. The over-under is only seven in that one, which is not surprising. The bats, pitching normally has the advantage early in the season, especially if it is chilly outside.

1:06:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, not only if it's chilly outside, but if you're hitting a hundo. So I had a chance, obviously, to speak to some baseball people throughout the world baseball class. And I guess the thing about hitters is those fastballs are tough to see early. Like the season goes how it goes for how long it goes for these hitters. because I guess sometimes 99-100 is a little bit different than what you were doing in the offseason. So early, if he's throwing 104, okay, from my understanding, from the World Baseball Classic, the way people are talking, nobody's going to have a clue unless they just get lucky and swing and hit that thing.

1:06:39Pat McAfee:I think hitting early is tough, especially against the gas, and it feels like more boys have the gas right now than anybody else.

1:06:45Darius Butler:Yeah, and we saw it during the WBC in the final and in the semifinals. I think USA on their own or whatever against Dominican, I think, struck out 15 times and then obviously in the final against Venezuela they did as well. Yes, there were some bombs, but there was a lot of strikeouts too. I think you can expect a lot of strikeouts early in the season. And then home runs probably smart to bet on the WBC guys because they have seen Yeah, they might be a head start. Exactly, because they've been seeing those types of pitches. Oh, they might

1:07:12Pat McAfee:be ahead of the schedule. Yeah, Judge Small perhaps. Yeah, Judge against Logan Webb, who was just his teammate. Is Don Roman Anthony hitting or no? He will be Thursday against the Redlegs, and yeah, he's going to hit a dinger. Because I don't like the way WBC ended for him. That's a story arc that's coming. Him being the last one, you know, youngest guy on the team, and then into the next WBC, he's going to be more of a leader probably on that team, let alone the next one after that. You know, like the Roman Anthony story is going to be a beautiful arc. Yeah, it's going to be incredible. And I'm certainly betting on Tony Tony's boy to hit a dinger.

1:07:45Pat McAfee:Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler is here at D-Butch. D-Butch March Madness is cooking, obviously. The NBA is making its way towards the playoffs. There's a lot of chatter and conjecture about everything that's happening there. Did you see what happened with the salary cap, D-Buck? I did see what happened with the salary cap. Yeah, it's interesting. It's mixed reporting, it feels like. Yeah, but from what I saw, the final number, they'll be jumping up about 10%, which is like the max that the NBA salary cap can jump up. And I think there were a million off of projections, which whatever. What does that mean?

1:08:15So it sounds like the business is doing well. Me watching it now, obviously more since football is over, I think it's going to be a great playoffs, which is when I really tune in. But they got stars. The NBA got stars. We always talk about leagues and the star power, and they definitely have the star power, especially with the old guard kind of moving on, the Stephs, the KDs, the LeBrons kind of been in different areas of their career. Now you have Wimby's, K, Ant-Man, Joker's still in his prime. So Luka, obviously unbelievable. So, yes, a lot of big stars still on the big stage, so I can't wait for these playoffs to start.

1:08:45Pat McAfee:The million under projected salary cap was an interesting way to see the news about it. Because I was like, man, not good to be going under salary cap. That's not good to be doing that. Then you see it jumped up like$11 million from this past year. It's like, that seems like a pretty healthy jump. I don't know. The NFL had a$20 million jump and everybody's acting like it's the biggest in the history. So they go up$11 or$10 million. I forget what the exact number was. Good for the NBA continuing to cash in. And that Adam Silver NBA licensing deal that he got done with NBC and Amazon and obviously ESPN still has some, that number was gigantic.

1:09:20Pat McAfee:So I assume that that's only going to continue to go up for the players in the salary cap. They do have to figure out just everybody just buries the NBA all the time. It feels like the NBA just gets buried all the time.

1:09:31Darius Butler:An issue, like last night there was, because we did it on Hammered Down, there was either nine or ten games last night. Seven of them, the spread was 12 points or more. So like there's just so many teams that are so bad. There's a lot of uncompetitive games every single night.

1:09:48Pat McAfee:But there's so many games. There's probably a good one in there somewhere. Yeah. But that's not really the wrong one. It's a great year to be bad too. Yeah. It's a great year to be shitty. Why is that? With the prospects coming up in the draft, this freshman class. Coach was on here a few weeks ago saying it was best freshman class that he's seen in a while. Best draft class overall. People are saying since like 03. We'll see how they pan out in the next level. but this is a good year to be shitty. Yeah, the NBA, every time I turn on a game, I'm so – it's almost like I'm watching a spectacle because you've got guys that are 6 '8".

1:10:22Pat McAfee:Wemby, what, 7 '12", whatever he is doing the entire thing. And then whenever there's maximum effort happening, you can find some magic in there. Now the team's tanking, that being a narrative not good for the league, if teams in your league are actively trying to lose. That was almost happening with the Miami Dolphins that came out, and that was a narrative that they were trying to play. No, our teams are never trying to lose. In the NBA, it has worked for teams. So it's like an interesting strategy that is probably tough night-to-night, Con, man. Usually with the NBA, this is the story. Like there's eight teams maybe that can go on and win the title at the beginning of most years.

1:10:54There's great stories like the Pistons that come on and become the one seed, and that's awesome too. But it's all about the playoffs. You mentioned the MLB not being able to have that juice. Don't worry because May and June, that's when NHL and NBA playoffs happen. Those are those months. Like, that's when those seasons go. And even for the playoffs, like, the first round of the NBA playoffs sometimes is so lopsided because the top-tier talent is so much better.

1:11:15Pat McAfee:Now, you just mentioned the NHL. I don't know if you've heard. I don't know if you've heard. Oh, I've heard. Pittsburgh Penguins are winning the Lord's Stanley Cup. They're rolling right now. Have you heard about that? Mm-hmm. Okay, good. I didn't know. I was just saying that to see if – I mean, Crosby's back. I saw Gino Malkin score a goal like he was 24 years old. That's what I'm talking about.

1:11:32Darius Butler:The standings, the East playoff race is the most absurd thing that I – There's eight teams, I think, within one point in the East. It's so... And now's the really cool part. We're like college kids. Are you saying NBA or NHL? NHL. Okay, all right. NBA, there's no close race.

1:11:49Pat McAfee:I didn't know where you were. Yeah, okay. The NBA, there's no close race. No, no. NHL East in hockey. Everything's weird. Okay, good. Yeah, and that's what we're talking about. The Pens are about to win it all. Joining us now is a man who won a college football national champion, Super Bowl championship, and a Ryder Cup challenge against a European celebrity. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawker. Hawker, I don't know if you knew that about Puck, but Sidney Crosby and the boys playing like it's 0-5 again. You know, 0-9 again. I see him pop up. Hey, good for the Pens. Good for Sidney. It's good for the NHL if he's playing well.

1:12:19But honestly, you know, earlier in the show, you said you're all in on baseball. You can't wait for the season to start. And then three minutes ago, as I'm connected, I hear you say, I don't know if I got the gas. We haven't had opening day yet, man.

1:12:30Pat McAfee:I know. I know. I was just – I believed you. I believed you earlier in the show, and I saw you say, you know, I think I'm in. This is it. Well, Ty just gave me the brutal reality is I don't think the Brewers are playing Venezuela on Friday. Yeah, correct. Or Thursday. Playing the White Sox. They're playing the Chicago White Sox. And they stink. So I'm a little bit worried that I'm not going to get the Ponche experience, which is what I fell in love with. I fell in love with what baseball was. I fell in love with how I felt when Bryce Harper, that boy who was ice cold through all of WBC, found his moment in the sun for the United States of America.

1:13:07Pat McAfee:Tuned up the band. That's right. Boom. And then he, the backflip was just so awesome. Every other country had been able to do that because they had that moment. We hadn't had that moment yet. I just felt, holy shit, Ponche, no more. You know, I'm doing the whole thing. We're high-fiving. Standing on seats. I'm standing on seats. That moment was like, I've never fucking felt that as a fan, I don't think I remember ever feeling that. I'm like, baseball's awesome. And then Ty was like, you're not going to be seeing the same environments as that. It's like, oh yeah, I'm going to see fucking empty stadium.

1:13:43Pat McAfee:I'm going to see shadows coming because the sun's going down at a weird time. This isn't a primetime game. It's not a matinee game. It's like a mid-afternoon game, asking nobody to come to the game because everybody's got to work. So then I'm going to watch it and I'm going to fall out of love with it. And then I'm going to watch these pictures. I'm not going to see a single triple digit. And I'm going to say, what am I even watching here. Then I'm going to see the strike zone not move. I'm worried that is going to happen. But on that note, we'll worry about that another day. We got the Miz 205 on Thursday and we got Logan Webb tomorrow night on Netflix.

1:14:13Darius Butler:That's right.

1:14:13Pat McAfee:And Aaron Judge is playing.

1:14:14Darius Butler:That's right. And Paul Skeen starts off Thursday.

1:14:17Pat McAfee:And the Usos. Thank you. Nobody's talking about that.

1:14:21Darius Butler:No one should be talking about that.

1:14:23Pat McAfee:Blazer. I didn't say that. That was Tony. That's your problem, Tony. Day one-ish, dude. Okay, it's just them. We get it. Day one.

1:14:34Darius Butler:Raw's on Netflix. A baseball game's on Netflix. They don't have to be together. Burt does comedy on Netflix. He doesn't have to be at the baseball game.

1:14:41Pat McAfee:Burt will make it a lively affair, though. Burt loves ball, okay? Yes, he does. So why not have him there? Just spread the love of the game.

1:14:48Darius Butler:I will say this from doing highlights. Netflix does have the best cameras.

1:14:51Pat McAfee:Okay, see? Maybe we just wait, and maybe we let them see what they're going to do.

1:14:56Darius Butler:The Christmas Day games always have the best.

1:14:58Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the man. Pogues to show up. We need Alec Arnold climbing. Yeah, there you go. What about Seth freaking wrong? The foul pole.

1:15:07Darius Butler:The foul pole.

1:15:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, McCovey Cove. Yeah, just hanging the whole time. No hands, actually. There you go. Seth freaking got locked up. They got the bay back there, so there's an idea. Maybe Seth freaking jumps off McCovey Cove. Or does a stomp. I'm going to get caught. Wait, is this tomorrow night? Yeah. Okay, everybody write these down. Let's send them in. Okay. You got ideas. Go listen. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who pies on. Yinzer pies on great. Yeah. He's been listening in the last five minutes. I'm excited to hear his thoughts on all the things that we've been talking about as we're potentially distracting his mind from focusing in on something that he's done his entire career.

1:15:43Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, coaching the Arkansas men's basketball team who just a couple years ago had nobody on the roster. Now, back-to-back Sweet 16s and a chance to upset a team that everybody thinks can go on a run. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Wu-Pig Silly Basketball Boys, John Calpari. Yeah, coach! All right, coach. Good, Pat. How are you? We had to talk about baseball there for a second. Sorry we got into a little bit off topic. We didn't talk about the Pens, though. You got to talk about the Pens. Come on now. Huh? Sidney Crossey's back. Come on, my Pittsburgh brother. Yeah, come on.

1:16:19Pat McAfee:The Pens might win it this year, coach. You can start talking that shit. I know you're focused on basketball right now, but know that the Pens can win it. So whenever you get into conversations about hockey, you can immediately go, we're back, you suck, everything like that. So just know that you're comfortable doing that. Let's talk about your team, though. I mentioned it there. We had a chance to talk to you, obviously, when you took the job at Arkansas, and everybody was kind of surprised that you went to Arkansas for basketball. Obviously, the SEC, good for hoops, but nobody expected to see legend you there.

1:16:45Pat McAfee:You joined us. You got nobody on the roster. You said, we have actually no players. From that point until now, you said you wanted to help 30 families, I think is what you're thinking. How do you feel about the program that you've obviously got up and running in a big way? And how do you feel about being an Arkansas basketball hero kind of at this stage so quickly in it all? Well, I'm not a basketball hero there. But, you know, Musk did a pretty good job now before he left. And you had Coach Richardson, Coach Sutton. This place has had Hall of Famers coached there. And so you kind of stand on their shoulders.

1:17:18But we reworked the team. And now I've got some guys, you know, for me, the best compliment that I get and what I'm looking to do is when they say I knew Darius Acuff was good, but I didn't realize he was this good. I didn't realize Malik Thomas. I knew he was good, not this good. I knew TB could play, but not like this. Billy Goat. Wow. I knew he was good. DJ, he impacts your winning as much as anybody, Coach. Coach, I love hearing it. Those are the things. Here we go with leak. Okay, leak now. Are you calling highlights?

1:17:59Pat McAfee:I like this, Coach. I like you calling highlights. I don't know. I'm not even looking. I don't know what day it is. But let me just say this. I've had a ball. We've had a heck of a year. But look, the greatest thing doesn't matter what I've done in the past, what the team has done this season. you're not going to have the next game to make adjustments so we can win the next one. It's this game. And they are, Arizona's really good. They deserve their ranking. They got all those wins. They're huge. They bully ball. They score it. We kind of foul the same. They shoot 1.5 more shots than we do from the line.

1:18:45So we're kind of the same. They're fouls. That should be kind of even. but they go and rebound and they're physical but you know the things that we do we shoot the three better the assist to turnovers we get more assists less turnovers those things this will be someone's will against someone else's will arizona's good and they're strong hard hard game to

1:19:10Pat McAfee:play okay so let's talk about you talking about what you think your team is better than the other is that what you're reminding your team is that why you think you're a good tournament coach because we have Coach K on now throughout March Madness here. And it always goes back to seemingly the way he talks about the coaches, the coaches, the coaches. And it feels like during March Madness, we do see the better coaches kind of rise to the top every single year. Your record in the Sweet 16, outrageous. Pitino's record in the Sweet 16, outrageous. All the coaches that are like the legendary coaches, this is why they are so legendary is these moments right here.

1:19:42Pat McAfee:What is it you think about the way you coach your teams that have them prep for the biggest stages in college hoops? I've got really good players and all I've got to do is convince them that they deserve it. I had individual meetings yesterday to hug them and say, I just want you to know how proud I am and how much I appreciate. This is going to go so fast. All these the rest of these games that I may not get a chance to give you a hug and tell you I appreciate you. And just in this stage, be who you are. Go for it. and so, you know, I mean, we're all trying to build up our teams. If I have to be anything other than a cheerleader in this game, we ain't winning.

1:20:28I got to be a cheerleader. I got to just tell them, you're fine, keep playing, and then, oh. Right along. Just keep going. You're good. But you got to have plan A and B. You know football is no different. All right, we planned on this, but that ain't working. We got to change something here to do it. um they're really big high low basketball creating highways offensive rebound where they shove you under the basket um and and but let's they're their way we we play how we play let's be our best and hope it's good enough we don't we don't need to try to be somebody else last question

1:21:09Pat McAfee:for me before all the boys have questions for you you're a legend for joining us especially we know how busy you are at this exact time and how big it all is for you tell me about acuff this guy's awesome just signed with Reebok just signed with AI we're pumped to see that we love the fact that AI is going to be mentoring him probably for the rest of this let alone you in his life forever I've obviously known about him a long time I remember coming out of high school this guy had one of the greatest crossover mid-range jumpers of all time and then at the beginning of this season I remember seeing him play a lot of basketball and it had it wasn't until just very recently maybe I had my eyes on the most and it's like wow this guy I had no idea this guy existed why did i not know that this guy was playing college hoops he's special he's fun he looks like a throwback it feels like coach can you tell us a little bit more about acuff and how big of a dipshit i am for not knowing that this guy's been playing hoops all college basketball season yeah pretty big but here's what i would tell you he is a gym rat he loves the game Nothing else matters to him.

1:22:13When he got hurt, you guys will love this. He got hurt and he had to play 50 minutes against Alabama in a two overtime game. And he had like 50 points. We got back and I said, I'm not going to play you next game. You need to rest that ankle. He looked at me and said, we just lost. I'm playing. And he walked out of my office. So at the end of the year, I did the NBA load management before we played Missouri. He could have played, but I said, take it off. It's not mattering. Just let get healed because we need you in our tournament and then the next one. And he's played outstanding. I didn't know if it was the right thing to do, but I felt it was.

1:22:57And he's responded. Here's what he's learning, how to lead, how to create for his teammates. It's he's understanding like he can he can defend all this stuff. He's not a good defender. Look, when he he'll tell you what the guy he guarded scored. He'll say, you know, hey, he was one for eight. What are you talking about? So but he's got a lot of courage. You got Malik Thomas, another freshman, both of them. I don't know if this happens in football or other sports, that otherworldly confidence. oh yeah like you can't tell them those neither one of them if I say something what the heck you can't you know they're like I'm good it does not faze them because they both know how good they are because they're both gym rats and they live in there and so now we you know we're down in numbers no one's right and we're kind of beat up we're playing five and six guys so in the warm-up line we only have one ball but that's okay I mean you know here we go let's see what we do

1:23:59Pat McAfee:It's a long season. Obviously, this is the most important part. But we just mentioned Acuff and being special. Here's a Hembo stat. I don't know if you know this. Hembo, obviously, ESPN stats. I'm going to say God, but kind of. Guru. Guru. Acuff has scored 60 points. Second most by an underclassman in his first two career NCAA tournament games. Other than who? Steph Curry. That's pretty good. I think that's worked out pretty good, I think. I think that has worked out. and having a signature shoe with ai who i coached uh when we were in philadelphia and i love him he and i have stayed in touch um i got about 10 guys that have signature shoes and you know i have them all in my office yeah you know we have 13 all-stars two mbps um six billion in salaries i mean and and And the guys I have on this team, Billy, they're going to be NBA players because they deserve to be.

1:24:55Now they got the challenge of their lives with Arizona. Tommy's done an unbelievable job with his team. And so we're going in like, let's go. Let's see who we are. Probably have to make adjustments as the game unfolds because how they're going to play and, you know, seeing what they'll do defensively to us because we're a good offensive team. We score 90 a game. And so they'll probably do some different things. We'll have to see.

1:25:25Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's talk about you having to manage different things. Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, so obviously this is March Madness in Arizona. It's all about that. But this is a little bit away from that. You just mentioned some of these great players that you've coached. How do you manage like a player chasing history? Because one of your former players, Bam, he just scored 83 in the NBA. And I heard you say, I've got 12 guys in the NBA who have scored 50 points. And all of them will say I held them back. So when the player is in that mode, like how do you balance if the game's in hand? Do I let them chase this history?

1:25:54Or is it all about the win or resting or whatever it is? How do you balance that as a coach? You know what's crazy? That these kids will know they will do whatever it takes to win a game so we can survive. Last game, High Point was really good. But Pat didn't watch the game because he was watching hockey. I watched it. It was really a good game. And at the end, Billy, I know Darius made his shots, but the reason he could make those shots is Billy had two steals and two ridiculous rebounds, one block. And I said, where did it come from? He said, I just didn't want it to end that way. I mean, so I did whatever I had to do.

1:26:37And that's why if you have a bunch of really good guys, they're not worried about themselves. It's my job. What do I have to do? What's my job? And then they're going to have to make plays. I mean, we've had it all year where guys have done, and it's always somebody different. Trevin Brazil. Some guys that I'm offered this, and I said, well, you should go there. If you want to come with us, we've had 80 players drafted. We had 50 first-round draft picks. Should I keep going fast? Yes. We've had 12 guys that scored 50 in the NBA. We've had another 15 that scored 40 or more. We've had 13 All-Stars, 45 All-Star games.

1:27:21We've had, ready, seven in one All-Star game. There are only 24. Seven of them played for us. And last year we had six. So if it's all about money, you've got to go. we're going to be fair you're going to be well taken care of but someone else may be more desperate and offer you more then go there if you think i just keep coming back don't trip over nickels trying to get the 200 million does that make sense absolutely people are making penny

1:27:52Pat McAfee:decisions whenever we're talking about you know benjamin's taking place in here yeah i understand it happens in everywhere brother yeah it happens everywhere and you should see the people that i The guys made$6 billion. Yeah. You said that earlier. I was trying to lead you back into it, but your fucking ass just kept going to 45 All-Stars. 27 in this. Yeah, I tried to get you to the real one. $6 billion, brother. That's where we want to head this train towards of self. Hey, yeah, this is what I do stuff. Yeah. You're a legend, dude, in the game. That's what we learned whenever we got a chance to chat with you whenever you took the Arkansas job.

1:28:26Pat McAfee:It was like, I want to change 30 more families is how you described it. and that was like a crazy way to look at like i didn't expect like how many how many championships championships will come if i take care of 30 more families and it does feel like that is uh what your players say about you as well and a lot of your players doing very well on tv right now feels like we got a good basketball iq kind of happening everywhere on that note they are smart yes they are smart it feels like let me tell you we brought in three five-star players for next year but right now you're like if a bunch of these guys get drafted now i gotta figure out is any coming back how many what are we doing in the portal you know what how do we it's like normally when the season ends my toes are uh on the jersey shore i can't do that anymore the season ends okay let's we got to rebuild our team you head into the italian bahamas the jersey shore is my favorite thing that I've ever heard in my life.

1:29:26Pat McAfee:But on that whole note there, Tone has a question for you.

1:29:30Darius Butler:Yeah, Coach, this is the second straight year, the second time ever that it's all major conference teams in the Sweet 16. And we've talked a lot about how, you know, these mid-major guys, they perform really, really well. And then because of NIL, they go up to these major conference teams. Does that make the competition harder because all of the talent keeps rising to these teams? So I don't want to say there's like no cupcake games or whatever, but all of the major talent is now on all these major conference teams. Does that make it harder to win? It does, but here's the issue. We're letting 27 and 28 year olds playing college basketball.

1:30:04If you want to be a pro, go pro. There should be an age limit, 25. We're letting kids transfer every year, every day. Well, they can transfer four to five times. Can't have that. and who it hurts the most are the – I couldn't have done what I did at UMass and probably not at Memphis in this environment. Probably couldn't have because there are – when you're hard on kids and you make it uncomfortable and you challenge them and you're truthful, they want to leave. I'm leaving. I'm out. So now you've got to know – we've got to do – you want to transfer once without penalty. If the coach leaves, leave.

1:30:47That's fine. but after those transfers, you've got to sit out a year. One, it helps them academically. They can't go to four different schools in four years and get a college degree. They can't. And if they're still in college, it means they're not pros. Or you'd be in the NBA. And so what I'm trying to say is let's get some guardrail. I don't care what they make. Figure it out. Figure out what we're paying them. That's not a coach. but transferring how about this one these collectives I'm throwing this out for your 10 million people or 20 million however many you have

1:31:25Pat McAfee:I like the way you talk about our shit like you talk about your own shit I don't know if ours isn't real but yours might be yours is real but how about these collectives that are on campus they can only be involved with current players who have been on campus a year then you can do whatever I don't care how much you're paying because that's like the bird rules. The home team gets to pay more. So now the kid would stay. You can't be involved in recruiting. You can't be involved in the portal. You can't make, but the kid on campus who has established himself for a year and wants to stay, let those collectives pay them.

1:32:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, you could qualify for it. You can even put like a B or a C, need a C or better, or a B or, like you can make it a qualify for that entire thing. Now, I don't know how that would go for basketball practice, you know, or what the majors are over there in Arkansas. And I don't know if that would have been great for me as a student athlete. But I like the fact that you're saying, let's go ahead and allow these collectives that want to give money to athletes to make our athletic teams better. Let's let them do it. But let's have them qualify for it, not just before you even step foot on campus, collect this thing.

1:32:33Pat McAfee:And then who knows what's real on either side there. It is it's pretty chaotic. And we're learning through Coach K and you now that all the football shit's happening in basketball. we're all having the same shit i think right isn't that kind of feeling the same way every every coach in every sport is challenged by this everyone and we're all going through the same thing and let me say this it falls on the coaches it's not on the presidents it's not on the ad's because if it was this would be fixed already all right it's not been fixed um and they they say about, well, they'll take us to court.

1:33:08Let them. There's sometimes it's good to be sued. It's, you know, you're like, okay, sue us. We're worried about, would you really want your son to go to four different schools in four years? How do you even get to know the coach? How do you establish who you are? How do you get it? And it's all based on money. So let's take care of the kids when they're there and they do well. And I like what you're saying. Maybe there's certain things they got to do that they are eligible for this um and then let that part of it go because you're not in recruiting and you're not doing transfers you're only doing your own players and those kids deserve if they want to stay take care of them all right in all the sport i appreciate baseball football softball all of them you need to be in that room next time when they do the

1:33:56Pat McAfee:round table when they do the round table yeah they're at the white house because i believe i I was invited. I was invited. I had a game. Sorry. I had a game. They said, well, why don't you miss the game? I said, are you nuts? You wouldn't want me in the room if I would miss a game to go to that room. You wouldn't want me to be a person with an opinion if I was willing as a head coach to skip a game to go to a meeting. That's not the type of person you would want in there. You made it right to say, hey, grazie. Grazie in that entire thing. It sounds like, though, you're saying, hey, we're in a position where we're able to pay.

1:34:29Pat McAfee:It sounds like you have a salary for your guys. Like, hey, this is what you make whenever you're on our team. You try to figure out what you have. And if you're only paying eight guys, you can do it. If you're trying to pay 12 guys, 15 guys, you better have double the money. So the only issue becomes if someone gets hurt. Now, all of a sudden, like right now, we're down to six guys. That becomes a little bit of an issue. Hey, why don't you get your old ass in there? I think you're allowed to play now with these college rules. You go, Bob. I'm working out. I know that. I don't have the T-shirts like you where you can see the – Yeah, there you go.

1:35:08That's what he's doing. I just show watches. Yeah. Hold on. Hold on. What do you have?

1:35:12Pat McAfee:What do you have? What do you have? Let's see it. Let's see what it is. Go ahead. You got to get it on the screen there. Oh! Look at that. Look at the red. Yeah. Yeah. Pittsburgh people, man. So obvious. So obvious. AJ has a question for you about the guys you're trying to find in your culture. go ahead man yeah coach you mentioned how some of your younger guys have that otherworldly confidence that you mentioned i guess is there can you think of any players in the past that you've had that kind of came in with that and is it something you could coach into somebody is it possible to to give a player and kind of cultivate that if they have to build that themselves if i it takes me to build them up the minute i get on them it tears them down if they build their own confidence there is nothing I can say that affects it other than maybe try to make them mad so they play harder or sit them down because they're not listening.

1:36:04Other than that, I mean, those guys, the biggest thing I can tell you, the guys that came with us and were gym rats, the Tyler Heroes, the Shays, I mean, Bams, I can go on and on. Brandon Knights back in the day, Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd. I don't want to see. I shouldn't have started that. But those guys live, live. I walked in one morning and Tyler Hero was sleeping in the locker room on a chair because he didn't want to walk across the street to the lodge. He just said, I just stayed and I just decided to stay. He called me about Darius and he said, does he live in the gym? They all want to know because they understand if that's not who you are, you're never going to be an all-star.

1:36:53You're never going to be able to score 40 or 50 in that league.

1:36:57Pat McAfee:Was Tyler like that in high school? Yeah, he was wired a little different because he thought, you know, he had a chip on his shoulder, lack of respect and all that stuff. You know what I'm saying? So he was going to prove himself. Yeah, we do. And he has. And Bam wasn't known that way. and Bam did some things for us that I'm like, man, I didn't even know he could do some of this stuff. And when he scored 83, come on. I don't care if you're in the gym by yourself. Try to score 83 points. It takes you out. Put a clock on. Run the clock. See if you can get it. Yeah, I appreciate that. Bam, I love that it happened for him.

1:37:36Yeah.

1:37:36Pat McAfee:That came out of nowhere. As a guy who watches every basketball game, me, me, every basketball game that happens, I am watching it. Coach, you know that. Preparing for this type of thing. When Bam's name popped up as I was watching the game, it was not a headline. I was watching the game live, obviously. But when the headline popped up and reminded me that that had happened, I did not think Bam Adebayo's name would be the one with 83 points. And then it's like, well, he's the second guy ever scored 10 ,000 for the Miami Heat. I'm like, Bam's just been getting buckets down there in Miami forever.

1:38:09Pat McAfee:I guess that is what has been happening. because it's not, what, Celtics or because it's not LeBron, it's not really like storyline. Is that kind of how Bam's been down there? Yeah, he's been a very, very good player for Miami. He's represented Team USA multiple times. And if you ever hear stories about Heat players, they always mention Bam being a gym rat, kicking ass in one-on-one. So it was great for him to happen. And then if you know his story and his background, how he came up, you'll be even happier for him. So it was crazy to hear all the hate that came from it. Like you have a game like that.

1:38:40where he was doing that first quarter, the first half, the third quarter, before the other shit at the end of the game. Like, yeah, if you're going to go get 83, go get it.

1:38:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, who's his coach in college? How about this one? I got to tell you. Do you know the picture he has on his wall in his house? The trailer that he and his mother lived in. And it's big. He walks in. He is reminded. Everybody tells me he's not changed. He's the first in the gym. He's into it. That's their culture. If you're not that guy, you cannot be with the Heat. You don't fit. What a stud. Good for Bam. Hey, Bam, good for you, man. That's history. That's a real history. That's forever history there in that entirety. Good for him earning that. Okay, so let's talk. Last question here about your current team.

1:39:29Pat McAfee:Con Man has it for you. Yeah, Coach. When you look around the Sweet 16, and granted, you're locked in. You got Arizona, and I don't want to call you old because you look great and your hair is phenomenal. but there's a lot, you're Italian of course, so it's going to last, but there's a lot of veteran coaches left, you know, Patino, Samson, yourself, Izzo, Barry. Is it kind of cool seeing, you know, as much as we've just talked about how college sports and college basketball has changed, that kind of the old firm is still holding strong and, you know, carrying the torch. And when you look around at the other guys too, do you see a new era of greatness?

1:40:03You know, Shire, Hurley's kind of a in-betweener, the guy at Arizona, like there's kind of another era of great coaches coming up? Yeah, there are. And those guys, I always say, you know, I'm giving my opinions, but you've got to have some 40-year-olds giving their opinions of where they want this game to go. The guys that you mentioned all have respect for each other. Tommy Izzo and I have talked throughout the tournament. Mark Fewer and I have talked throughout the tournament. I mean, when you're talking that group of guys, you know, we all been through the same kind of stuff. We've all been fired.

1:40:38You know, we've all made it through. And we also are not afraid to hold kids accountable. We're not afraid to make kids uncomfortable. And, you know, just seeing what's going on, you know, we got Sean Miller here. I mean, what he's done in Texas, and now they're here in the Sweet 16. How about they win two here and he's in the final four. I mean, the greatest thing about this tournament, there's not best of three. It is one game. Nothing else matters what you did or what's ahead. It only matters what goes on. And like I said, we're playing a team in Arizona. Everybody knows. They may be the best team in the country, but it's one game.

1:41:25Let's go play and see what happens.

1:41:28Pat McAfee:You're the best. We'll talk to you soon. Good luck the rest of the way. Thank you for taking time. You're the best, man. You are the man. I can't wait until you have a chance to put those toes in that Jersey beach over there. You know, and just really have yourself a day. I don't know what type of gabagool is coming through. I don't know what type of fazole is coming out. What?

1:41:48Darius Butler:No fazole is.

1:41:50Pat McAfee:That's not true. They're lining the boardwalk. Fazole is in Bouganabepo, baby.

1:41:54Darius Butler:I guarantee he doesn't even know what that is.

1:41:55Pat McAfee:He lives in Kentucky and Arkansas. He knows what fazole is for sure. For sure. Yeah, he does. Yeah, exactly. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go Jean-Claude Bar and Grazi. Grazi, Grazi, Grazi. He knows Fazoles. No, he doesn't. He's just laughing. He knows fast food Italian for sure. Fast food Italian. Guy had a corner table at Bucca. What do you mean? Fazoles has a drive-thru and it's Italian. Fazoles has a Michelin star last I checked. I don't think so. It's unbelievable. A Michelini star. Yeah, well, I didn't know what Fazoles was.

1:42:27Darius Butler:You're right. I didn't know what facilities was until I moved to this dumpster of Italian food of a town. Whoa.

1:42:32Pat McAfee:Whoa.

1:42:33Darius Butler:Jeez, Luis.

1:42:34Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, those breadsticks. Oh, my God. Piping hot every time. I don't know how they do it. I don't. No, I don't. Oh, OGs will hold it down, too, for you. I'm talking about it.

1:42:45Darius Butler:OGs a step above, yeah.

1:42:46Pat McAfee:Yeah, OGs is a place that will certainly. How's OGs doing? Is OGs all right? Remember, we weren't allowed to do OGs there for like a month and a half. That's right. What happened? I think OG's got canceled there for about maybe a week.

1:42:57Darius Butler:You guys are watching the wrong television channels.

1:42:59Pat McAfee:I was on the internet. More than all of us in that garden. Yeah, but I was excited to get back in there and get the bottomless. Yeah, bottomless breadsticks and soup. Yeah, I was excited to get back in there. We're going to do some journalism here, AJ. How do you feel about it? I feel great about it. You know, I think if not us, then who? Yeah, I'd agree. A massive thing happened. Like a massive thing happened. the NFLPA is the Players Association, the Players Union. For a long time, the Players Association, if you ask the Players Association, they'll show you a video of how important they are.

1:43:33Pat McAfee:Obviously, at one point, don't laugh, H. Please. You've watched the same video I've watched. Anyone showing a video to show you how important they are, that's a tough watch. Okay, so on that note, AJ, myself, many other like-minded people like us have had questions about said union for a long time. You know, there's just interesting decisions. You're never going to get everything right. Obviously, the NFL has billionaire lawyers that are negotiating on their end. The union's never going to be able to really keep up from a law talent perspective. But if they did have the talent for the lawyers, they would actually get picked up in the middle of the negotiation and taken to the NFL side for the negotiation.

1:44:14Pat McAfee:So the NFLPA and most players' unions are fighting an uphill battle for sure, regardless in every single business. But they're a very important bunch. They're a very important crew. And the NFLPA has elected a former player to be the executive super-duper guy. That's right. Okay? This guy sat as the super-duper player guy, but there was never a player that was the super-duper-duper-duper top. Okay? Always ex-lawyer, always ex-CFO, something like that. And there's certainly been stories. I don't think anybody's been perfect in any players' union across any sport, which leads to a lot of like-minded people like us going like i'm about sick of these people making decisions for me so i don't think it's an easy job i don't think it's a fun one but i do know we have somebody that's very passionate about it who's about to be leading the nflpa at least into its next cba negotiations which are going to be worth billions and billions of dollars.

1:45:11Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, former NFLPA president, now executive director of the NFLPA, a man who was a fourth-round draft pick in 2013, played nine years in the NFL, and wow, he looks incredibly skinny now. He's ready for all the suits he's going to have to wear. Ladies and gentlemen, J.C. Tretter. Yeah, J.C. J.C., super suit, super suit. Super suit. Super suit, super suit. Jack, how do you go live and do it? Super suit. You on a Peloton? Are you a big Peloton guy? Yeah. Good to see you, JC. Okay, didn't go shake your guys' hands. That's fine. No, no, no, no, not in the politics. Hey, listen, you're in politics world now, bro.

1:45:53Pat McAfee:Shake my fist. Politics world, got to do that. There's no babies to kiss, so I've thrown off a little bit. I understand. I respect that. I appreciate that. Okay, JC, thank you for joining us. Obviously, there has been massive conversation about you taking the role in which you are currently sitting in. So did I describe that accurately where we've always had a player that's like president of NFLPA, but normally it was somebody who has some sort of legal skill set or other skill set that is actually head of NFLPA. They're the ones kind of guiding everything. You now former player as super head of entire thing.

1:46:27Pat McAfee:How do you feel? Is that an honor that you obviously weigh pretty heavy? and why did you decide to do this? Because I read that you didn't want to do this, I believe, like a year ago. So if you could kind of just start from there and then we'll kind of roll off of that. Yeah, starts, the first executive director was Gene Upshaw, which was a former player. Started there and then we've had non-players be executive directors since. Why I wanted to do it, I've loved the work of the NFLPA. It's not easy work. It's been a passion of mine. I went to school for industrial labor relations, which is the study of unions and labor organizing.

1:47:00So it's something I've been passionate about in college.

1:47:03Pat McAfee:Okay, okay. Where'd you go to school? Cornell. All right. So you would probably, if you weren't a former player, fall in line with a human that would get an interview for said job. Yeah. I say that my mom is probably the only mom of a football player that was disappointed I was drafted. She wanted me to go to law school. So it was a disappointment when I decided to play football instead of go to law school. Okay. So you are a suit in a football body. You can say that. I do like the super duper head guy. I might change the title to that. Okay, now we're brainstorming. Now we're kind of brainstorming.

1:47:35But when it comes to, you know, I did say I didn't want the job at one point. And I did step away from the union last summer. And when I stepped away, it gave me time to reevaluate what I wanted. And as I took time away, it realized how much I really do love the job and love the mission and love the guys. And very few times you get to work for the good guys. And I think that's one thing we get to do. We get to work with the players that don't get everything they truly deserve, and that's something we want to fight for. And having the opportunity to come back and fight for that is something that's important to me.

1:48:05How many years did you work with the NFLPA before you stepped away? I was four years as president and then nine months as chief strategy officer.

1:48:12Pat McAfee:So it was like five years-ish. And then you stepped away for how many months? Nine months. Okay, then you missed the game, said you want to get back into it. While that happens, we're also trying to figure out who the next super-duper head guy is. Yeah. Okay, I assume players. How do you end up getting the role that you get? The executive committee does the vote. How do you end up getting the role over maybe somebody else who went to Cornell in labor relations that likes Ball was potentially wanting to get the gig or any of the other candidates that were potentially qualified? Yeah, executive committee was the search committee.

1:48:41So they run the search. So it was a nine month or eight month search process. They hired Turnkey, which is an outside search firm that helps cultivate candidates and look through what's available out there. And obviously, I wasn't part of the search other than my one 100th of it of being a candidate. But I applied, sent in my information. They went through rounds of interviews, ended up bringing three finalists to the board. And that's every locker room votes in their board of player rep that is in charge of making decisions on behalf of their locker room. So we were in San Diego. We interviewed in front of them, asked tough questions, got to know all three finalists, and then they made their decision.

1:49:16Pat McAfee:I saw Mr. Jones, who had worked with the NFLPA for 18 years, I think. I did not know who he was, but it seems like a lot of people respect him. He talked to Pablo Torre, and it felt like there was a little bit of a negative reaction to you becoming the role that you have. I didn't listen to the entire thing, and we – Pablo Torre is going, by the way. We – he has courage to go. I mean, I think that's good for society is what people say. We – God bless him for that. But I did hear that there was and read some of the headlines about the backlash, you know, that was kind of happening with you getting in there.

1:49:50Pat McAfee:What do you think is the main mission on why people maybe don't like that you're in there? And has the history of the NFLPA been something that is changeable for future NFLPA? Yeah, you said Pablo's got the courage to go. I challenge him to have the courage to be right, which he hasn't been for a very long time. Okay, got it. So he's said a lot of things that factually just aren't true. Kind of created this narrative. It was very difficult to go through. Jalen Reeves-Maben, our president, just released an article yesterday, kind of highlighted a lot of those fact and fiction issues. So I think there's been a lot of misinformation out there.

1:50:25And in the end, I wouldn't be in this job if what was said about me was true. It would be disqualifying. So being able to stand in front of those guys and talk about the issues and talk about what didn't happen and then move forward, right? Like it's been a tough time for the union the last eight months. Hasn't been great for anybody. Been a difficult time. The guys are tired. They put in a ton of work to find the next ED. And now it's about moving forward. We've got a huge issue coming up. We've got a CBA we're going to be fighting in the next four to five years. We have a ton of work to do to prepare for that.

1:50:52And now I think we're focused on moving forward and not looking back to the past.

1:50:55Pat McAfee:Congratulations on the mindset of moving forward. I'm excited to see what that looks like. Whenever you think about reasons that the NFLPA has maybe failed in the past, and then because you've been a part of four years, nine months, you said you've been part of in there in boots on the ground. and obviously have felt the effects of other negotiations before as a player for nine years in the NFL. When you've seen what the mistakes are of the previous NFL PAs, and obviously I think a lot of player unions have had downfalls or shortcomings. I think that's kind of a part of it all. You're battling against billionaire lawyers.

1:51:27Pat McAfee:What are the mistakes that have been made in the past, you think? And what does the future look like without those? And how can those happen? Is it a re-hole? Do you have to change the entire operation? Is that what you think you have to do? Like, how do you go about maybe having a different future than it was for however long it's been, whatever it's been? Yeah, I won't talk to it as, like, mistakes. I'll talk about it as opportunities. Oh, I like that. That's that shit. That's that Gary V. Yep, exactly. Immediate positive reaction. I like that a lot. And I'll say one of them is the times we've been at our best is when we've been aligned and engaged and had players involved.

1:52:02And that's all players in our ecosystem. There's a reason I got on a plane and flew out here to come here on your show. Thank you. You were a topic of conversation in the meeting last week of how do we get people with big platforms who feel some type of way about the NFLPA back engaged with the NFLPA. You guys know I hate the NFLPA. We do know that. There is a reason why we made it a point and talked about how do we get more people back involved and understand it. And I would love to understand the issues you have with the NFLPA. We're never going to be perfect. I'm never going to be perfect. But the only way we get together and move forward is if we all come back together.

1:52:35because to your point, we're always going to be underfunded and understaffed compared to the NFL. Always going to be true. Never going to be bigger than they are. But what we do have is solidarity and connection and bringing people together. That's the only time we ever succeed. And we are the only body that can stand up to the NFL. So if you, which I think you do care about players, if you do care about them and want them to succeed and be better, we need you involved too. We need your voice at the table. All right, unbelievable.

1:52:59Pat McAfee:Hey, Jay, what is happening? This is outrageous. We need you. We need you. I would love to be a part of obviously helping players. I am a huge supporter of former players having success and players having success across the board. It's just like there was just a lot of decisions being made. It felt like they were just like, I think these are bad. I think these are just bad decisions that are taking place. So I'd love to assist however possible. Now on that note, is that the mantra going forward? What is kind of the mantra under your leadership of what the NFLPA is? Like let's just set this up the best for players, ex-players, because that's a big talking point, ex-players.

1:53:32Pat McAfee:It's like previous regimes at the NFLPA almost, from what I heard directly being said, and then also other things, it was very much like, hey, this is our league now. They had their league at their time. But every player in there is going to be a retired player at some point. Nobody's going to play forever. I think Tom Brady tried it. He might go back. Blanda, I think. George. Played until he was like 49 or something. So every player is going to be an ex-player at some point. and it felt like there was never any representation for X players through the NFL PA, then I would go to the NFL and I'd say, hey, why don't you take care of the X players?

1:54:07Pat McAfee:Let's get an insurance commercial. Let's get X players some more insurance because obviously football with the physicality, insurance would be a good thing. NFL, you guys could do this easily. This would be a good thing and you'd look like good people because you're doing it especially with everything you got going on. They said, oh, the NFL PA is normally the ones that take care of the X players. So I think there's just like fundamentally so many things that I've just disagreed with with what the NFL PA has done. and it feels like you potentially have a chance to kind of restart at all? Is that how you feel?

1:54:31Pat McAfee:And what are the first couple steps to kind of doing a different NFLPA or a better NFLPA? Yeah, I hope the fact that I'm a former player helps with some of these issues, understanding what they've gone through. I'm a former player now. I've gone through that transition. I know what the body feels like after you step away. And then it's about making sure players lead the decisions and doing that through data. I'm a big data guy, big fan of data, and making sure that we follow where our players are. I think one of my things I've seen over the course of my five years involved is I don't think we always land exactly where the players are because we don't know exactly where the players are.

1:55:03So what we've started doing is surveying all of our players. We get 1 ,700, 1 ,800 players, active players, responding to what they care about, and that way we can actually target the issues. I think some of the problems with the 2020 CBA was every gain that we fight for is hard. Like, it's hard in negotiations to get improvements. And what we can't do is get an improvement and players look at it and be like, I didn't really care about that. And then you really wasted a lot of effort to not get something they care about. So we really need to know exactly what players care about make sure we hear from them directly.

1:55:29And the same thing with former players. We have a former player convention at the back end of our rep meeting in San Diego where I was elected, met with the leaders of those chapters that organize players throughout, or former players throughout the country, and talked about their issues and talked about what they care about and talked what would make their lives better. So we're trying to get that information so we can fight for them better.

1:55:46Pat McAfee:Who are you negotiating with? The NFL? Are you getting the government? NFL partners, sponsors, like who all on a day-to-day basis is the NFL negotiating with? Like Fanatics, are we negotiating with Ruben? NFL is the main one for the CBA. And then obviously we have a licensing deal with different companies. So we have a business side NFL. When are those deals up? Do you know? Madden, I think, comes up in February, 2027 is the next big deal. Okay. So, hey, video games. Here we go. Creators. Madden's up in 2027. Need the players. and you guys need a check to show up with at these meetings to make people interested.

1:56:22Pat McAfee:Don't we all understand that? Madden checks, Madden checks coming on the other side of that. Okay, so there are deals that you can potentially negotiate to bring money instantly into the pockets of players, which ultimately is what they're going to look at the most and feel most interested about. I think it's one of the things. I think health and safety matters too, but I think money always matters as well. Yeah, all right. Well, good luck out there. I think you've got a chance. I think you've got a chance. That mad one could be a big one for the players. Oh, yeah. That could be a big one for the players.

1:56:44Pat McAfee:AJ has a question for you, JC. Yeah, JC, how do you get the players on the same page? Like, I know, like, the rep meetings back in the day, obviously, they're at the end of the day. You've got to hang out to get your check and all that stuff. But with players on such different, like, levels of their career, you know, you've got the superstars making the crazy money everyone sees, but then everybody else. I guess, how do you get all of them on the same page? I just think it's such a difficult task. How do you start that? Yeah, first off, we do direct deposit now. So, I know we talk about the Madden checks, physical checks.

1:57:12So, no one's showing up to that meeting. Cash that way. Okay.

1:57:17Pat McAfee:I needed a fungible. I needed something in my hand walking out of that place. But I actually didn't sign up for the Madden checks the last three years of my career because I didn't join your guys' PA. We're going to get you back. We're going to get you back involved. We'll see. There's a lot of damage done. But to get guys involved, one is to make them feel like it matters, to show up. You don't want to have a meeting where people show up and feel like we sat here for 30 minutes. I could go home to my kids. I could go to some rehab and I wasted 30 minutes of my day. I think the fact that we're heading into a CBA discussion in the near future, I think there's reasons to fight.

1:57:50And you talk about there are people that make a ton of money. There are quarterbacks. There are practice-wide guys. They all have different issues. Making sure you speak to all those issues. You can't just speak to one niche group and think everybody's going to care about that group. We've got 2 ,500 players all with their individual struggles, and you need to be talking about their individual solutions to those struggles.

1:58:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, so you've got to represent everybody. That's always kind of the move the NFL kind of relies upon is because the majority of people aren't the high-end people. So the majority of people in the NFL are going to want to vote something through whenever maybe the superstars don't want to vote something through. That divide has been an issue since the quarterback club, whenever Jim Kelly, Troy, Dan, Favre, they all kind of separated from the union and kind of did that. Do you see a time where maybe quarterbacks, especially with the way their kind of money is going, where they become in their own little bracket of negotiations with teams?

1:58:39Pat McAfee:where as opposed to the salary cap taking a hit because a quarterback, quarterback potentially just becomes its own little entity or little world, if that makes any sense. And have you guys done any full strategy on what you're pitching in the next CBA whenever it comes to salary cap allocation? What's the salary cap going to do? And obviously how we go about getting it. I assume yes, but would love to hear some of your thoughts on that. I officially start in eight days, so I haven't done any of that yet. So I've got a little bit while. Okay, good delay, good delay, good delay. Don't need an answer right now, good idea.

1:59:07But when it comes to the quarterbacks, I think the quarterbacks are critical to the overall union and getting people involved and getting players to have a voice and a say. Having them show up to the bargaining table is important too. These all impact them. Yes, they make a ton of money. Yes, they are the stars of the league. But I think they do also care about all the other things that impact their teammates and themselves well after they're done playing.

1:59:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, the NBA had all their big – that's great for negotiation whenever your stars are kind of in there. But normally the deals end up being made by the people that aren't the stars and the stars end up not liking normally or loving everything that's happening. That's a tough balance. I'm excited to see how you go about doing that. D-Butt has a question for you. Yeah, JC, what do you feel like is the most common misconception when it comes to NFLPA, not only from the people within the ecosystem, which is, I feel like, more important, but outside of the ecosystem, like the players and former players?

1:59:56I would say that it should be their unions. The misconception would be that it's not the players' union or it's not player-led. this is this is player led and I think my election adds to that as a former player and what I've always been about is bringing players to the table and getting them involved and making sure they have a voice in a say and making sure everybody uses their voice to to lead us forward we've had some successes during my time as president I think our COVID negotiations were extremely successful I would I would hold those up as an example of how it works and how our players use their voice we had the issue hashtag we want to play we're over 400 of our players a lot of the stars use their platform and their voice to fight for health and safety issues inside the COVID negotiations.

2:00:35And we did really well in those COVID negotiations. And that push by our star players helped us also succeed in the financial aspect of those negotiations too. So getting guys involved, making sure they understand the issues and the power of their voice. You're not always talking about work stoppages and lost game checks. There are ways to gain leverage and get people involved to make a difference well below losing money.

2:00:55Pat McAfee:Do you plan on showing up with ways or avenues to generate more capital for the business for both of you guys? For instance, has the NFLPA thought about maybe getting a game sold to a platform or agree to a game happening on a platform so that the NFL can profit off of it more? Like, is there, when you go in and negotiate with the NFL, is there a, hey, this is what you guys are making, we're a part of it? Or how do you view kind of the partnership with the NFL through these next negotiations? because the NFL could pick up a Wednesday afternoon game on Apple and get, I don't know, hundreds of millions.

2:01:31Pat McAfee:Not Apple. Any other platform. Apple hasn't gotten into the game yet. No. Kind of weird. Yes. Doesn't it feel kind of weird that they have not gotten into the game? Yeah. I guess they don't have to because they are in everybody's pocket. It's a steep price, too. But it feels like every platform that wants to get in will pay whatever to get in. Amazon, the number was like triple they paid. Netflix for just Christmas and whatever. the NFL can kind of sell off these little showcase games, let alone the 18th game that's going to happen. Is there a way to negotiate and understand that that is great for the salary cap for players while also trying not to get completely shafted?

2:02:05Pat McAfee:Like how do you think you're going to go about doing business with the NFL? Have you thought about that yet? And in your eyes through the COVID negotiations, how much did you learn about how business with them actually works? Because I might be very naive to the entire process. these are billionaire lawyers trying to get every penny, I assume. Yeah, one, the league is very good at making money. I think that's one thing we all know they are really, really good at increasing revenue. And luckily, we're in a revenue-sharing business. So as they increase revenue, we get our percentage of the pie. I think when you talk about new time slots or game slots or more games, I think our focus is on the health and safety of that, of how do we make sure we keep our players safe.

2:02:40And being a former player, I played when I was 16. I played when I was 17. I had a question yesterday where it was like, do we know the impact of that extra game? It's like, I knew how it felt playing 16 games. It's not like I was rosy playing 16 and now the 17th is a question. It is very hard to get through the season. I think everybody that's played the game understands the physical toll it takes. And our job is to make sure that we don't set our guys up for more physical pain and anguish late in their careers and after they retire. So I think that's always our job is to protect our players.

2:03:06That's the job of the union is to protect their members. And that's our focus.

2:03:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, they're saying something about like maybe only 17 games for that. There's so many different ideas on how the negotiation happens because, man, there's so much more money available now than ever for football, especially with primetime games or specialty games. So the NFL trying to get as international as they're trying to get, that 18th game, as soon as the 17th game was agreed to, that 18th game was certainly coming. And then they're like, another bye week? Sure, yeah, okay, we'll add another week of primetime games. It's like I think the amount of money is going to be absurd. I'm excited to see how you balance it all, genuinely, because we know, offensive linemen especially, I mean, Wednesdays, maybe they're back from a Sunday game.

2:03:44Pat McAfee:Maybe. And by back, I mean just walking around doing life, especially late in season. Thursday, some guys was their first day getting up, and then now everybody has a Thursday night football game, and it's like you've got to shoehorn that in there. But now it's like one of the most valuable assets of the NFL. You're going to have to balance a lot of shit, Cornell brain. I'm excited to see how that whole thing goes. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, so just for you personally, and maybe this doesn't apply to you because you did major in this at Cornell, and you obviously have an interest in it, and you want to do it, but how do you not potentially look at getting burned out?

2:04:15Because it feels like every single negotiation you're going to go through is going to be very contentious. The NFL is not just going to give anything up. How do you make sure you don't go into these and it's like an adversarial tone where you're almost like, hey, fuck these guys. We got to beat these guys. When you know, in reality, they're your partners and you kind of need them to succeed. What is that like? because I imagine this is an incredibly stressful and hard job to do. Yeah, I think first off, you're right. You got two partners and you're locked together, right? They can't go get another union to deal with and we can't go get different management.

2:04:48So we're locked in as partners going forward. One, this isn't for my personal burnout. This isn't the J.C. Treader show. This isn't the J.C. Treader union. This is the players union. So yes, my job is to lead this organization and get us organized, but we have players leading and making the decisions. And then second, I love this work. This is something that is an absolute passion of mine. I am someone who says I don't really want a work-life balance, where if I love my work so much, it's not really work, and I enjoy doing it all hours of the day, and that's how I feel about this work. It's why I wanted to come back.

2:05:19And then it comes to those negotiations. Each negotiation is different. Sometimes things are collaborative, and you work forward through the issues, and you don't need to fight about it, and you come to a good conclusion. Other times they test you, and you test them, and it gets to more of a fight, and in the end you come back together like any relationship is, and you realize how to move forward. So that will always change through each negotiation, each issue between the two sides.

2:05:41Pat McAfee:What's your tactic? What's your tactic? You do the bread, you come in nice, and let's get to the meat of this thing, and then we end out a little bit nice. What is your style, you think? What's it going to be like? Are you waiting to come over? Hey, how we doing? How we doing? Today's a good day. Today's a good day. Or are you, hey, I hate your guts, and this is what's going to happen? No, I don't think it's one. you can't just be one thing right you can't just be a like i'm gonna be a hard ass all the time and make everything difficult because i don't i think you lose a lot of low-hanging fruit when everything's difficult uh yeah um so if you instead uh i think working collaboratively as far as you can and then eventually you have to make a decision of what's best for your players if things start coming up that are bad for your players like the covet negotiations when we couldn't get health and safety protocols then you have to elevate it to more of a fight and then you see where things shake out from there so you want to go as far as you can without going nuclear but you have to be willing to and capable of going nuclear yeah you have to they have to know you could potentially go nuclear there has to be a constant fear of that i just from my experiences has to be a constant fear of this could end whether you if that's how you would like this to dance i think we can certainly do that let them have it bud but also you need them and they are fucking very good the thing that i didn't like about the last nfl pas representatives it was my rookie symposium down there in Florida.

2:06:59Pat McAfee:And I think it was DeMari Smith's first time speaking, maybe. I don't know. I think it was his first time. And I just, you know, I've always been a fan of business. Like, I enjoy the act of making money through business, you know. And the way he spoke about we're going to war with the NFL. You know, we got a war chest. This is going to be a long fight or whatever. My immediate thought is like, well, they're billionaires. We're not. So long fight, not good for us. I think they potentially asses out. And aren't they our partners, you know? like shouldn't we just like maybe not just want to kill them maybe like hey you guys are really good at making money you also need us can there ever be simpatico is that ever possible is that do you think that is a possible thing or am i way too naive in thinking that like roger goodell i feel like is one of the best speakers in the history of speaking you put him up against like politicians you put him up against fuck anybody he is one of the best speakers of all time but i think he's also a very good business i think he's a very talented business person obviously you've talking about revenue sharing how we both profit but is there a chance that you guys do like that type of business with the nfl or am i should i stop thinking that that's anywhere near reality that's absolutely possible um now now again okay okay let's do that let's get let's let's take advantage of their super genius because those fuckers are really smart over there and they got a lot of money and if we can get lifetime insurance out of these fuckers that'd be great what aj wouldn't that be great news yeah that should be first on the docket isn't it jc yeah jc it's gotta And then on that note, there's also something that is potentially causing long-term problems.

2:08:28Pat McAfee:That was a big fight on the social media. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, JC, he's talking about the whole field turf situation that we were – players are up in arms like the last couple years. I feel like it's died down lately. Where are we with that as far as trying to make all these places have natural grass as a surface? Yeah, I think all players know what they like and know what it feels like to play on turf versus grass. I think measuring that's important, but I think the player experience is important. We surveyed the members. 92 % of the members say they want to play on natural grass. So pretty clear, not much doubt in those numbers.

2:09:00But I think what we've seen and what the league talks about is that the injury rates have come together and they're comparable between grass and turf. The issue behind those numbers is that grass has actually ticked up in injuries, which means we have to make sure we're having good surfaces. So it's not just having grass and going out on a Muni golf course and say, well, this is Augusta. No, it's not. It's different. We need Kentucky bluegrass. That's right. We need top-tier grass services in making sure we have performance to keep guys healthy and safe and be able to perform out there. Yeah, we need super grass.

2:09:32Pat McAfee:Don't you think we need super grass? I'd take super grass. Von Miller's got it. JC, why'd you sign up for this job, dude? Seriously. I'm very thankful you did. And you said you love it. Yeah, it's your passion and everything like that, man. As soon as you were named the super-duper guy, I was like, man, ex-player's up there. Hell yeah, congratulations. And then I opened it up. I'm like, oh, there's going to be so many people that are mad about this. And then not only that, you're going to be judged completely on how your group of people negotiate against 32 billionaires. I think they're going to be moving one of the non-billionaires who's an owner, probably not going to be an owner for longer.

2:10:07Pat McAfee:So we're going to assume these are the richest people on earth getting into the NFL. And you're going to have to negotiate against them. And you're going to be judged on how that negotiation goes for the rest of your life. Good luck, dude. Good luck, dude. Appreciate it. Appreciate the pump up. That is, I'm thankful you're the guy for it. I didn't know we had a Cornell law, union, labor, major guy. I didn't know we had that. I knew you were the NFLPA president. I thought you just really liked it. And you're like super pro players. I didn't know you actually went to school for this shit. That's like the type of person you want running the thing.

2:10:40Pat McAfee:So certainly qualified. I should have known that, even though my trust in the NFLPA making right decisions is pretty low at this stage. I should have known that you probably weren't qualified for the role. Okay, that's pretty fucked up. by me to even question that in its entirety. But after talking to you and knowing you're here for a couple years, we do believe you're going to try your absolute best for the players, and we're grateful for that. So good luck out there, and obviously your shins are going to get banged really hard through this entire process. But you know that. And that's a good core zip there, isn't it?

2:11:07Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. Clean. D-Bo, look at that core. It is very clean. Things have changed. Look at that. PA looking up. It is looking up. Great clothes. You sending that to the boys? You sending that? We'll get you a bunch. No, not me. Whoa, the guys got them, but you're getting one, too. Oh, the boys already got them. Oh, they already got them. Big Lululemon guys. Yeah, we like Lululemon, right? Sure. Yeah, we'll take a few, I guess. I'll send them over. Yeah. I mean, me putting an NFLPA thing right on my chest would certainly be quite a move in my history, you know, in my life. I campaigned on it. I said I'm going to get him in an NFLPA quarters.

2:11:37We've got my luck.

2:11:38Pat McAfee:There we go. Good politics. He didn't shake the hand earlier. Yeah, sure. Yeah, but he just dropped a campaign thing. He was ready for business. We appreciate you, JC. Good luck out there, man. And hopefully you and Pablo, you know, can maybe get together because it feels like, and it sounded like maybe not, but maybe at some point, you know, so that we can all get the betterment for our players, you know, which would be good in the end. And I think that's all we're all hoping for. So good luck out there. I appreciate you. Appreciate it. All right, we're going to take a break. On the other side, we'll wrap up today's sporting events.

2:12:07Pat McAfee:Tone, anything you say from live from Hammer? Don, Don.

2:12:11Darius Butler:I'm all in on the PA. Hell yeah.

2:12:14Pat McAfee:All right. You selling merch, you got a mark over here.

2:12:18Darius Butler:Yep, that's all, Tone.

2:12:19Pat McAfee:Maybe you should start thinking about selling merch. Talk about making money. Talk about driving revenue. Foxy just said, hey, what about the report cards? Obviously, you can't just... Once, as a person who has gone through a few negotiations, and I'm not going to act like I want to Cornell or I'm a super genius, but once I heard the NFL come out and say, report cards, yeah, you're disparaging our entire... Yeah, right, that's breach. You cannot just be putting out how terrible our businesses are. As soon as I heard them say that, it felt like they were going to take it very seriously, especially if they start saying like hey this is in the contract this is breached there's some shit that we could potentially follow up with this when they start putting that phrasing out i thought the report cards had some were in some trouble and then lo and behold those report cards slithered their way to a reporter and they got out how do you think that whole thing is going to go honestly because i think public announcement is the only way to pressure some people into changing anything i do think that is a factual thing but i assume they feel very strong about the disparagement argument that those can potentially be for the shitty ass buildings in shitty ass facilities that we don't want in the league, by the way, nobody wants them.

2:13:21Pat McAfee:How do you kind of navigate that while actually applying a bit of pressure? So there's actual change, but also they're going to hold that shit over your head pretty heavily. I think from what it sounded like. Yeah. We had to make sure our guys know what's going on. I think that's been one of the important things about report cards is making sure that guys know where they're going. I talked to one guy who signed with a team and I asked, did you know it was going to be like it was? And he was like, I had no idea until I showed up. I regret it. I signed that contract before. So making sure our guys have the decisions and then, again, we're not allowed to release it publicly.

2:13:47That's been decided. But we're going to make sure our guys have the information. Yeah, you're right.

2:13:52Pat McAfee:Hey, journalists do journalist stuff. That's why they're journalists. You'll be right. Let's get to a break. He's pretty pumped up. Just be right. Good luck out there. We're pulling for you, man. Appreciate it. I mean, the owners of these NFL teams are only getting richer. You know? Mm-hmm. So that means who's coming alongside those people are just richer lawyers. Right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Come on, dude. Do it.

2:14:26Pat McAfee:Maybe bring some beers in there. Maybe lighten, you know? Yeah. Maybe get some beers. Play some music. You know, let's get some of the guys to tell some stories out there. Let's get some laughs. Let's get some big pops in there. Let's let them get comfortable with us. Understand we need to do business together. We need each other here. I'm sure those lawyers are beer with the boys type of guys. Yeah, definitely. Put that beer in front of them. The first thing they'll do, snag that thing up and just put a little alcohol in their body. That'll clarify some things. We need to get in a room with those people.

2:14:53Pat McAfee:Good luck, dude. Appreciate it. I don't know if you can just booze them up. I don't know if that'll work. I don't know. You try it. Could you imagine they walk into the first negotiation with him? There's a fucking keg in the back corner. Who's thirsty? He's got Garth Brooks in the corner playing the guitar. Welcome to me. We want to lighten you a little bit. That'd be great. Set the tone. Precedent. Lawyers can move. This is unprofessional. But they have to work with you. Have to. We're all we got. Yeah. Oh, actually, Khan has a quick question on that note. Yeah, the biggest thing, too, with the fields is the refs.

2:15:27Right now, the referee kind of standoff. I don't know where the NFL PA with the referee PA is, but the referee PA deal, we found out, is, like, the greatest deal ever. They don't have to answer to anybody. and if someone says you guys stink, they basically tell you to fuck off. Like, where does that stand? Because if replacing refs happen, that's going to be a nightmare. And then what's the deal with the microchip? We're about to start baseball, and they're bringing in AI, ABS. Like, why aren't we working with that in the NFL? Yeah, what's going on? Yeah, deep question there. Save that one for the last one of the day.

2:15:57One, refs union, I'm going to talk to the refs union. I'm going to talk to Roger, too. I've got to understand what's going on, so I don't have any background information on what's going on. There are negotiations, so that'll take time. And then the technology, I think they did some of the microchip for the first down, right? It's not, hasn't moved. Preseason, yeah. Yeah, so we'll see how that shakes out and how it works. But I have no updates on that. Again, day negative eight in the job. How about the ref stuff?

2:16:22Pat McAfee:Will the players be involved in that or is that strictly NFL ref stuff? That's their own union. They have their own union, their own representation. Now again, we support unions getting what they deserve. Like we want to make sure the refs get taken care of and treated fairly. I think we stand with all the other unions that are fighting and collective bargaining. So we would love to help them in any way possible. What about the Longshore Union? Do you remember them? Oh, yeah. Jimmy Hoffa. No. No, it was a long... That was a truck, I believe. I know. I'm saying union figures. Okay. They got it done.

2:16:52That's in the go... You need to study that guy. Study the past. You need to dress the same way, too.

2:16:57Pat McAfee:Yep. You shut it all down. Whole East Coast. Whole country. It's ready to go nuclear. Nothing's going to happen. He was. He was at that moment. We don't need that. Ball's in a good spot. We need to keep it going. We need ball to continue to thrive. But we need players to also benefit greatly from their hard work and their talent. You're the man for it, JC. We appreciate you. That's JC Treader. We'll take a break. We'll be back on the other side wrapping up all today's sports events. Thank you, JC. Go Big Red. Good luck, dude. Good luck. AJ, could you imagine? No, never. I cannot, actually. I just try to deal with NFL players, let alone having to go back and talk to the owner's lawyers.

2:17:39Like, yeah, it's good luck. Good luck, Jason. You are the guy, though. You do care, which is great.

2:17:46Pat McAfee:One locker room trying to figure out. Just one locker room. On what's happening on Thursday night. Where are we going? Who's going where? How's the whole? Who's setting it up? That's why you read all those books at Cornell. That's right. You didn't cheat at all. That was before ChatGPT. That's right. Right near the old-fashioned way. Books. and that's what you're going to do at the negotiation table. Hell, yeah. The old-fashioned way. Get the job done right. Bang. Let's have a beer. See you in 10 years. Respect. Good luck to you. We'll be back on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice.

2:18:17Pat McAfee:It might change your life. Hey, you know what, JC? Yep. Hell, yeah. Team on me. Anything to say to the group here? Quarter zip's on me. Yes. I'm bringing them. Everybody. Pat's wearing it. He's guaranteed it. I heard that as a locked-in thing. Nope. We're going to get sent out right away. I want to hear it. NFLPA on three. Let's get it on record, right? One, two, three. NFLPA! See you on the other side. Let's get that clip. I need to post that out.

2:18:53From 30 for 30 podcasts.

2:19:02Darius Butler:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped him. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. Biggest one of convictions being placed into arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. 911, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows.

2:19:42Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies wherever you get your podcasts.

2:20:31Pat McAfee:Sports! all over the sports world, but the NFL is cooking. And we are still very much in the middle of draft season. We are still very much in the middle of who's going to make it in the NFL, who's not going to make it in the NFL. Combine, big deal? A lot of guys sit out of the combine. What do they want to work out at? Well, they want to work out at their pro days. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in pro day season. Yesterday, officially kicked off pro day season. And D-Butt has a pro day showcase. Hey, D-Bone. D-Bone, what happened at these Pro Days yesterday as a few schools were showcasing their talents to the NFL?

2:21:07Yeah, you mentioned Pro Day, and it is a huge box to check. Like you said, the combine. The combine is one thing, but with these seasons, a lot of times being longer, sometimes players are recovering from injuries or whatever issues they may have. They just want to perform at the confines of their home facilities. They're going to do this. The two biggest Pro Days yesterday were LSU and Miami. We're going to start at LSU, starting with their quarterback, Nussmeier, who coming into this season was projected to be one of the highest quarterbacks drafted. Didn't perform that well this season. Got banged up, but he threw it around well.

2:21:38He showed some zip. I think only three balls hit the ground. This was big for him just to show that he was fully healthy. So he threw the ball well. A lot of talent, obviously, up there at LSU, so it doesn't end with him at the quarterback position. Also, Harold Perkins Jr. Oh, yeah, he's been around a long time. Yeah, he has been around a long time. Tone gave me a little more background on him as far as his freshman year. I think he popped up on the scene. Last couple years, it's been kind of tough for him to find. He's been injured, kind of an undersized backer. But he ran a 4-3-8, so flew at a 10-4 broad jump, 35-inch vertical.

2:22:10So that's good for him. Once again, he dealt with some injuries, so this was great for him being healthy. They also didn't know where to put him, right, Tom?

2:22:16Pat McAfee:It was like, should he rush the passer? Is he going to be an X? Because he could run a 4-3, but he could rush the passer. So I think LSU, when he was a freshman, just kind of let him do that. Then he wanted to move him. It didn't work. It felt like he was always trying to find a home.

2:22:28Darius Butler:Yeah, as a freshman, he was first-team all-SEC. His breakout game was against Bama. He basically spied Bryce Young the entire game, if I remember that correctly, and had a great game against them. But then they had defense coordinator changes, but they could never figure out where to put him, whether it's going to be an edge rusher, whether it's going to be middle, whether it's going to be at Sam or Will. But at 6 '1", 222, D-Butt said he is kind of tweener. So if an NFL team can figure out where they want to put him, he's an athletic freak. But no one has been able to figure out what they want to do with him.

2:22:57Pat McAfee:Where are you putting him at there, D-Butt? But 4-3-8 is outrageous. We had a teammate who was potentially thinking about safety, defensive, and hybrid. I'm not saying 6-1 is doing that, but where would you put this type of athlete on the field? Somebody will figure it out is what we're guessing? You hope a good coach will figure it out. And we're in kind of the age of the tweener. You know, you want a guy who can cover, who can rush, who can do all the different things. And I would assume where he's probably going to get drafted, he's going to have to make a name for himself on special teams first and foremost.

2:23:25I would assume when you have those type of dims, you can probably be a core teamer. 4-3-8 on kickoff right now. Flying down the field, obviously you're a great athlete. And if he can find a way, obviously I always start with if you have any ability to put pressure on a passer, that's going to help you. And then obviously covering Nick Imanwarri was a guy who completely changed that Seattle defense. He's not at that level, I don't think, but who knows what he can be on the next level. Speaking of the next level, Mansoor Delane, who's their corner, who will be CB1 in this draft. He had to check a box, which was his speed.

2:23:59You know, he didn't play slow, but if he ran anything in the 4-4s, he was going to be CB1. And he ran 4-3s, mid to high 4-3s, which is a great, great time for him. His film is great. He's fluid, about 6 '1", 190. He can press. He can play off. Great in man-to-man coverage, which is extremely important in the NFL, but also very good in zone. Rarely do you see a prospect that can come out and have the field and the aggressiveness and the speed and the twitchiness to play man-to-man coverage. And then also have it between the ears to be great in zone as well. So he checks all those boxes. I think he will be the first cornerback off the board, probably somewhere in that top 10 range.

2:24:37A lot of people are putting him right now with New Orleans Saints. I think the Saints actually tweeted out his 40 yesterday, but he's a big-time talent out there. I actually caught some balls lining up at receiver yesterday, too. Caught some deep ones from Nuss. So he has the ball skills. He has the speed. He has the size. And he also has the aggressiveness to play the position at a high level. So he'll be CB1. Delane is the name? Delane, yep.

2:24:58Pat McAfee:Delane is the name of 4-3-8. And then is everybody fast, A.J.? Is 4-3-8, 4-3-8 for Perkins? I remember Perkins freshman year. And then I remember riding the wave of what positions he's supposed to play. 4-3-8 all across the board everywhere. It's insane how fast football has become, A.J. Hawk, while being huge still. Yeah, while being huge, that's the thing. The size of these guys that can run 4-4-4-3 is what's crazy. And then when you couple that with the fluidity and being able to turn your hips and go and put your foot in the ground and change direction, that's, I think, what separates a lot of these people.

2:25:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, and he actually hits that thing. He stole a couple times in the second. Because that could have been a 4-3-9. It could have been. Maybe a 4-4, but instead he hit the, how you doing? Got to. Yeah, you got to do that. I mean, these dudes, special talent, man. And Delane, this is the first time I'm hearing that he's CB1. I know Jeremiah Smith had him on his. Mel Kuyper's got him on the big board. Him going top 10 would be insane. Now we know that the guy can float at 4-3-8 for his pro day. There was another massive pro day that happened yesterday. Iowa. I was going to say, you mentioned LSU.

2:26:02You mentioned Miami. I believe Iowa had the most pro bowlers in the NFL last year, so it's crazy. Really? Really? Yeah. Maybe a couple future pro bowlers were working out over there now? Maybe, but I get it. Although there could be a couple D-backs. I might have to get that taped to you. I don't think they really posted anything. A couple of just pictures. That's kind of Iowa, just gritty. Don't have a social. We don't need the video bullshit you got. Every team had front office personnel there. But yeah, mostly linemen type stuff. So I could see why D-Bub maybe wasn't as lucky.

2:26:33Pat McAfee:Okay, well shout out to Iowa. Because we saw some linemen shit happening down in South Florida yesterday. We got some problems in Miami. Absolutely. The runner-ups obviously made it to the national championship. Down there, University of Miami, a lot of people put on the show, but it starts up front with the talent. Ruben Bain Jr., Akeem Mesidor, and play as well. But Bain Jr. and Mesidor will probably both be first-round picks. I think Bain will go first. He has all the twitchiness. He has the explosiveness. A lot of talks were about how his arms measure at the combine, which we saw him play.

2:27:05A lot of us saw him warm up as well with Jason Taylor coaching him up pregame. the way he bends around edges, the way he uses his hands, how violent he is on contact, which you saw on those sled drills. Those are the things that will make him be a top tier talent, I believe, on the next level. So I think he'll be somewhere in that top 15, top half of the first round. Then Mesidor maybe in that second half of the first round. Those are two guys that were expected to perform well and expected to be first rounders coming into that pro day. I think the The biggest winner out of Miami was Keontae Scott, their slot defender.

2:27:39Now, he's projected to safety. He could be a slot corner. That's where I see him playing. I didn't expect this time. I didn't expect this time. The first time we saw were like in the four twos. I believe it came out like the four in the mid, four threes, which is still a great, great time. He had a good vertical as well. But watching him play, he can move. He's great in space. He's great overfield tackling. He's a great blitzer. and the best part, the best play, I think, that from our whole running as college football players that we had a chance to call was against Ohio State. Actually, just take a look.

2:28:11Pat McAfee:He's been able to do whatever he wanted all year. Oh!

2:28:18I'll holler at you. I'll holler. Keontae Scott should have been a Thorpe Award winner. Boom, hits the Thorpe Award.

2:28:27Pat McAfee:What about me? Stop it. Big time play. Deontay Scott was the stadium. Woo-hoo! The Miami Hurricanes. Up 13-0 in the Cotton Bowl. Jim Thorpe Award should be winner. Jumps the route and cribs that thing. What about it, dude? That was so much fun to watch that Miami team. Yeah. He was sick. Hitting the Thorpe Award. We should have known in real time. But it was on the other side of the game. Yeah, it was tough. Hard to tell. He doesn't see it at the time. But he obviously is showcasing. Is everybody fast? Did anybody have a bad combine or a bad pro day? One guy, but mostly interviews. Makai Lemon, I believe a lot of people said, didn't have a great day.

2:29:17Pat McAfee:But, hey, I would love him at 31 in New England. Of course. Of course. He could be there. But it does feel like when it comes to on-field stuff, everything we've seen from everybody, like the combine, everybody was faster than expected. Yeah. these pro days yesterday they just started and my algo became i mean bane mesador and uh them hitting that sled yeah the guy who went last fillet went last it was like that's a tough spot to be in after what the that's a demolishing of the sled right okay like obviously you've seen the sled drill before this is very standard operating procedure but there's levels to this shit the amount of violence that was happening in those first two blaze sorry the amount of violence in his first two for him to have to follow that i was like not this sucks for this guy and then he follows suit fucking wrecks that aj i mean they were that was a violent operation yeah this is awesome watching these guys do this but watching reuben bain dip and rip around those bags i mean i think that that's truly special what he can do like when you can couple the violence with this like look how tight he is in the bag it's just how do you block him for real like how if you're a six foot seven tackle how do you block this guy no i don't to aj's point they're coming

2:30:24Darius Butler:out with, I've seen graphs with the Pythagorean Theorem on his shin angle, like his bend, and they say his shin angle is by far the best that they've ever seen. The way that he can bend and move, and you talk about his arms, that doesn't ever show up on the field. There's guys with short arms where they get eaten up by tackles. That doesn't happen. Yeah, we saw him. Not only Bane, but Messador as well, but Bane, his explosiveness, how he uses his hands, and AJ talked about the bend We played with two, I think, should be Hall of Fame pass rushers. Freni's already in. Robert Mathis should be in soon.

2:31:00But their get-off and their been, I feel like, are the most important things when you talk about pass rushers on the next level because we know the bookend tackles, usually they're big guys, so it's tough for them to get low. And you see how they cheat the get-off sometimes is to protect them. So if you have guys that can get off and get to the quarterback, that's a game changer for any program. And we talk about practice all the time. Like, they're going up against the number one rated tackle this year, right? And Moe Iago, who might play guard, who knows, but still. And then the biggest guy I think I've ever seen on a football field, Markel Bell.

2:31:32Oh, yeah. Was it their other tackle? He was like 6 '9", 380 pounds. And that's what they're going up against, you know, in practice every single day. So they were both ridiculous.

2:31:41Pat McAfee:Great names, too. Mesidor and Bain, you know, and then Blaze coming through. That Miami team was fun to watch. They were thumping, folks. Yeah. Like, that was – they enjoyed – A &M on. They enjoyed hitting people. I mean, that was very evident. I think that's going to be a hurricane staple. And they're going to have a lot of guys in the NFL going forward out of Cristobal's operation. They were fun to watch. Yeah, and we were talking with Dano about, you know, like showing up in the biggest moments. Like, we watched every single one of their games. Like, they didn't win the national championship, but he was a game wrecker in every single one of those playoff games.

2:32:12Pat McAfee:And going into Texas A &M, remember, their left tackle. Yeah. Talking shit. And then we obviously made it a thing. How could you not? Because we have this whole thing. And then we're watching that Texas A &M game, and it's like, hey, Bain's name starting to show up a lot around here. And then his ass is full on, excuse me. And it's like, well, that's one game. Is he going to be able to continue? Then the next one, we got the arm cross fucking Bain's here. I was born. Yeah, yeah. Took over. Just absolutely took over. And then Mesidor on the other side, it was like, geez, this is exactly how you want to build a team, especially if you're Mario Cristobal.

2:32:49Pat McAfee:Good luck to them. Their Pro Day showcase was certainly one I enjoyed. Great work, D. Happy birthday, bud. You going to have any offensive line stuff, Ty? I'll be honest. I went through and I scoured everything. I don't know if there was one video posted. I think everyone kind of, like, yeah, Pro Day is important. We know we're going to get some guys, you know, drafted this year, probably several. Kind of all eyes are on Thursday right now when it comes to Iowa. What's going on Thursday? The fucking boys are playing in the Sweet 16 against a hated rival. You know, unbelievable that they're playing Nebraska.

2:33:19So everyone's focus is kind of.

2:33:22Pat McAfee:I know Nebraska has a very, very, very passionate fan in Will Compton. Sure. And we obviously are tight with the Nebraska community because we had Coach Rule on the program this past year. Did they like that or hate that? Who? The Nebraska community. Did they like that he was on our show? Yeah. Probably for like the first four weeks when it was like, hey, they're going to the college football playoff. And then like week 10 when it was kind of like what I said and what everyone said was going to happen. It'll be six and six. And then they'll be like, why the fuck is this guy going on this show every single week when we're routinely losing games we shouldn't be losing?

2:33:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, but he was really good on the show. We appreciate Coach Rule. I love Coach Rule's house. He made a commitment. I love Coach Rule. Rule's house. Riola will wear number eight at Oregon. He's been given permission from Marcus Mariota, who has an entire haul of success. and also Dylan Gabriel. He can certainly wear the eight in his entirety. How do they do that? I know. I agree. What the fuck are we doing? Leinart just gave you the game plan, the book. He's not even starting, coach. Oh, no. He's a backup. Don't do that. Fuck. I just saw him get into a burger debate. Let's go back to the pro days.

2:34:35Pat McAfee:We got a lot of them this week. We'll certainly cover them. D-Butt will have his showcase as they go through. Yesterday, Toledo also. Missed that one. Oh, yeah. Okay. They got the quarterback.

2:34:45Darius Butler:They got one of the best safeties in the draft as well. Yeah, they did the combine big. They took it easy yesterday.

2:34:49Pat McAfee:Okay, sounds good. Today, Auburn, Notre Dame, and Texas. That'll be gigantic. What would Jeremiah Love do? What would Jeremiah Love do? UConns today? Yep. I don't know what Jordan Reed said. That's fucked up, Jordan. Is there anybody at it? Schuyler Bell, Belinda call finalist. Well, there's a chance Joey Fadano is going to go in the first round, too, as well, right? Nobody's talking about it. He was spinning it at the combine. That's how you say his name. Wednesday, Alabama, Arizona, Ohio State, Texas A &M. AJ, I know the Ohio State Pro Day is always a big to-do, and I'm being serious with that.

2:35:22Pat McAfee:It is always a big deal. Every NFL team has been at Ohio State's Pro Day for the last 100 years, basically. Are you guys excited? Who should be stealing the show there? Is there any conversations coming out of what Buckeye Pro Day will look like? I mean, yeah, we will see. I don't know how much the linebackers will do the tandem with Arbel Reese and Sonny Stiles, but I mean, I'm sure General Bob will be boots on the ground. He could give us a recap of whatever is happening. We'll certainly give a call to the General Bob Carpenter and have him give us a little bit of a... He might run. He might honestly show up in tights and run.

2:35:52White, all white. He should.

2:35:54Pat McAfee:Which he should think about. And also, yeah, all white Spanx. We want the entirety, and we hope the hair is as fantastic as it used to be at this time. Sonny Stiles, a lot of conversation about him, man. A lot of conversation and intrigue about where he's going to go. Ohio State feels like it's back to linebacker U again like it was when A.J.

2:36:12Darius Butler:Hawk was back there. That's right. Yeah, it's funny because off-ball linebackers are normally not a position that gets drafted super high, also running back. So him and Jeremiah Love, interesting to see where they go. But the one guy for the Ohio State Pro Day who did not go at the Combine was Caleb Downs. So everyone's going to be very, very interested to see what he does at the Pro Day because he was the only Ohio State guy not to do anything at the Combine.

2:36:36Pat McAfee:Now, Marvin Harrison Jr. didn't run at the Combine or at Pro Day. So it has been Ohio State precedent before that just not running. Okay, watch the film. You think I'm a football player or not, you can figure that out. We assume Caleb will run. Do we know, AJ, if Caleb's running or what he's doing? I don't know. I have not checked with anybody if he is going to run. I would think he's going to run, but either way, I don't know. can he affect if he goes out there and runs a 4-6, it can affect his draft stock, but why would he run if he's going to be a top 10 pick already? Yeah, what I'm thinking is why would I if I'm Caleb?

2:37:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think I'm letting people watch film, man. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm not training for track. Sorry. Now, I'll do the little other stuff. You want me to back, but I'll do the track. Yeah, a couple of those. I can do a couple of those. I'll go high point of balls so I can get some photos at Ohio State Pro Day in the building. That's at least pretty cool. It's a good little history. I don't know if we need to see. Unless he comes out, what does he run a 4-2? Yeah. That'd be sweet. What if Caleb comes out and runs a 4-2? What does brother run? 4-3 something, probably, I assume, right? Yeah.

2:37:40Pat McAfee:That's so fast, dude. I mean, the Styles brothers just fly. You did everything? What did you do? Oh, yeah. I've got the same update. Yeah. Bruce just told me that multiple updates have been sent to the Thunderdome. There's a big break of news coming at 3 o 'clock. Really? Out of the Buffalo Bills social media. Really? Huge. Not when it comes to the team. Not that huge. You're talking about the Buffaloes. I don't know. An unveiling of the Buffaloes. I don't know, but we've gotten multiple. And we're going to be disappointed. No. I don't know. That's up to you. Are they real? Are they renderings or the real deal?

2:38:16Pat McAfee:Did they get sent into the group? Yeah, they did. You've seen the photos? Yep. I'm hoping you guys hadn't seen it. I got to get on it. I don't want to see it. Yeah, don't see it. Three o 'clock. Three o 'clock. The Buffalo Bills social media will be debuting. I don't know how much we're supposed to say. It's three minutes. Let's just pop them up right now. We got a fan. No, we like the Buffalo Bills social media team. I'm a fan. We like the Buffalo Bills social media team. I will say it feels like this is good news for the people that were potentially attacking what those bison would look like.

2:38:44Pat McAfee:Okay. Seems like they understood the assignment whenever they were piecing these fuckers together from what I just saw here. Now, we shall wait three minutes until they break the news on their social media, AJ. I don't know if you've seen in the group text or not yet. I did just pop it up. Yeah, I don't know. Can we get something a little more realistic possibly? AJ looks like a young Chris Collinsworth in this. I don't like it. I mean. I didn't see that. Were there photos of us in this thing? Oh, wait. I'm in there? I think that was. Whoever did this in here, go back to the fucking drawing board.

2:39:17Connor looks fat. His chin and neck is huge. I don't know what I look like. Connor's having a little bit of an Irish Tuesday. D-butt, do yourself a favor. I think we know who the culprit is. It's the same guy. It's the same face. Who sits on making D-butt look like. That racist fatso we got.

2:39:38Pat McAfee:That's not fair. That is not the case. He tries his best over there. What about teammate?

2:39:43Darius Butler:Uh-oh. He had a... The phone said the Bills made that one.

2:39:46Pat McAfee:No way. Uh-oh.

2:39:48Darius Butler:No.

2:39:50Pat McAfee:All right. We got a lot of inside jokes going on right now. We apologize for anybody that is currently watching. Just know that the Bills have reached out to us to make sure that we know that there is an update coming to the Bison. What has happened to the photos since they've got into this Thunderdome two minutes ago, okay? All this fuckery that is happening currently has happened within the last 120 seconds. That is the problem with this place, okay? That is the problem with this place. You hear me? My bad.

2:40:17Darius Butler:everybody. That can't be happening in here. AJ. What do you call him, Cotton Man? You know what? I take it back. I take it back. I said some things a couple moments ago. I regret it and I rescind those statements. So this was... We look good. Yeah, I think you guys do look good. Zoom in. Pop it up. Just pop it up. No, we can't. We got a minute and ten seconds. That's not you, D-Bot.

2:40:46Pat McAfee:Ty, you look awesome.

2:40:48Darius Butler:So maybe Bone was telling the truth all those months ago and where he got that face from.

2:40:52Pat McAfee:AJ looks good. Zoom in on. No, that looks different than the one that D. Are the bison fully intact? Do we know? What do you mean? Yeah, I see them. I don't think anybody's taking off any pieces of them. I don't know. One minute out here since the big reveal from. What a huge reveal it's going to be. People are on the edge of their seats. I am actually kind of. I have not seen these photos that are popping up right now that you all have seen in our group. I only saw the text message with, like, it was in a bundle. So then I just saw the big. The first one. Yeah, I just saw the big one. So, hey, I was kind of.

2:41:26Pat McAfee:Oh, at night. Yeah, that's it. The night. Yeah, I think they're nice. 27 seconds. All eyes on a Buffalo Bill social media. Will you please pull up a Buffalo Bill social media account, please, so we can watch the tweet at all, 20 seconds, 25 seconds. That is sweet. I think so, right? Yeah, the one at night that's lit up is very cool. I think it's non-ass. It's a happy birthday. What are the real ones going to look like, though? Come on. What do you mean? Like that? This is what it's going to be. They're rendering. Come on. They're going to have the stadium burning down, and they're rendering. I've been waiting all day.

2:42:00Pat McAfee:I've been waiting all day for a bison update. Is that a pin tweet there? Yeah. Yeah, you got to get down there. They better not be fucking lying to us about that. It's not at.

2:42:15Darius Butler:Oh, Buffalo is one minute behind the rest of the U.S. Oh, that's right. That's why their wings are so good. Buffalo time. Just on South.

2:42:25Pat McAfee:Capage?

2:42:25Darius Butler:Capage.

2:42:26Pat McAfee:I had a dessert the other day. They're at. Took 20 minutes. They tweeted it? Yep. It's at. All right. Let's find it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have some breaking news out of Western New York. there will be massive bison outside the brand new high mark stadium and they will be so big that it will not embarrass the entire franchise with little baby ass bison these bison are big these bison are strong these bison are ready to go on a run maybe to the super bowl for buffalo Wow. I'll be honest. I like the size of the bison. I like the, I was kind of shocked by like the mirror idea. Sure, sure. But then you take it to the night one if they've posted that.

2:43:11Pat McAfee:Have they posted the night one? So here's breaking news of what it looks like at night from what we have received here. Yeah. Uh-huh. Woo! Yeah. That's cool.

2:43:21Darius Butler:Zee just sending their dims. They're big.

2:43:24Pat McAfee:Yeah. I'm thinking that's the right size bison if I'm a Buffalo Bill. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. We were worried they were going to get some Mickey Mouse bison, weren't we, AJ? Thought they were going to mail it in. Cute little photo for the little children of Bill's Mafia to come walking over to this bison. And these things are, bison are strong, powerful, fucking historic piece of the United States of America. And the Buffalo Bills, they did it, AJ. I'm happy with what we're seeing here from AI before we're actually seeing what it actually looks like. Yeah, I hope that they can, you know, the real thing looks as good as this looks right now.

2:43:58It looks like we're going to have to implant smoke machines in their noses to have their breath show. There's a lot of moving parts here, huh? You don't think that's a part of it? You don't think the lights that are shooting? Does your head lift up and down? Do you know if they move at all? That platform right there. Do they really? They spin it?

2:44:14Pat McAfee:They run in a circle? Yeah. Sometimes that would change positions. They better race. Nobody circles the wagons. That's what it's saying the whole time. Chris Berman saying it as that big fucker's lumbering. And the little baby one there is good for a photo. You know, Adrian, I think you'll probably be able to hop up on a little baby. No, he won't. I got the dims right here.

2:44:32Darius Butler:The bull is 27 feet tall and 23 ,000 pounds. Okay. Yeah. I like it. The cow is 22 feet tall and 23 feet long. And then the calf, representing the next generation of Bill's Mafia, is 12 feet tall and 13 feet tall.

2:44:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, we like that. Okay. Those are big bison. We're worried about the chest being too close to the ground. We were worried about, you know, what would it look like in the daytime as well? Is there going to be a time where we maybe will get on top of that thing? Will we be able to dare look at being on top of that thing? Wow. Whoa. Is that the size? Because I look pretty big, actually, up there. They better raise that fence.

2:45:15Darius Butler:You got to do a show from up there. Oh, I missed the part. At night, the statues will come to life with five programmable lighting systems. The bull and cow have been uniquely designed to emit smoke through their nostrils, evoking the image of breath in Western New York winter.

2:45:29Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. They fucking nailed it, I'd say. Yeah. Okay. Was it not worth the wait, boys? Color me impressed. I've been there to win the Super Bowl. That's all I need to say. Fantastic work. They need to raise the fence. Whoever's putting these together, please make it look like this. It's going to be tough to take that rendering and make it look similar to this, right? Well, they're just going to 3D print. What are you, a sculptor? The fuck do you know about this? I'm not. You better find a good one, though. You think they're going to Cristiano Ronaldo this thing? Okay, we got a sculptor. Don't you worry about a sculptor.

2:46:00I've seen some of those. Yeah, with his drumsticks.

2:46:03Pat McAfee:Didn't even think about Sal on top of that metal. Yeah, exactly. For sure.

2:46:10Pat McAfee:Smoke comes out.

2:46:19Pat McAfee:Today's time's in. How are you? Yeah, exactly. So many opportunities. It was worth the wait. I'm happy we did that. I agree. That was awesome. Congrats to the Buffalo Bills getting it right. Good job, Buffalo. You did it. I'll tell you what, Pagool.

2:46:32Darius Butler:Pagool is up there doing it. Swinging a hot bat. Big time. How's Penn State hockey? They made it to the tournament, but I think they might have lost. I don't know. The tourney hasn't started yet. Sorry, the women's team lost a heartbreaker is what I saw. But, yes, I believe the first time they made the Frozen whatever.

2:46:49Pat McAfee:Pagool is going to be happy about that. and the wrestling win the fifth straight national championship. The hockey team has made it to the Frozen Four, obviously the super-duper hockey tournament for college hockey. NCAA tournament, yep, 16 teams. Actually, Michigan State and UConn play on Friday, and then their hockey teams play on Thursday. Okay, let's go. Let's go. Kind of sweet. Let's go, boys. Who's going to win this? Penn State? Michigan, Michigan State, Western Michigan, All one seeds there, if you notice that. And then North Dakota also a one seed. Western Michigan put a million in, right?

2:47:25Pat McAfee:Didn't they? Sorry, 20 million or something? They put a bunch of money in, and they were the ones that won it last year, if you remember. This is in Vegas? That's stupid. They got good ice out there. They do. First time in a while Minnesota's not in it, by the way. Wow. Rowing the boat on the fuck out of there, huh? BC, BU, kind of a weird different year for the journeyman schools. I appreciate and respect the Western Michigan commitment to hockey. It's awesome. It's a massive amount of money directly to hockey, right? Like$50 million or something? Yeah, all directly to hockey. And then a lot of people were saying that a team like Minnesota should poach their coach, but they're paying him so much money he's not going to leave Western Michigan.

2:48:02Pat McAfee:Western Michigan just becomes an immediate powerhouse, while Michigan is also the home to U.S. hockey and everything like that. It feels like whoever did the investment is like, hey, we're going to own this shit. And you actually can, it seems like, in sports, in college sports these days. It's great to have a good alumni. Yeah. It's great. Pagula with Penn State, obviously. McKenna. Buffalo Bills. Gets McKenna, yeah, number one overall pick. He's at Penn State. He was supposed to go somewhere else. He's able to do it. Some of these sports, you know, basketball, I guess, it's kind of happening as well.

2:48:31Pat McAfee:You can get some money and get some funds. You can get a team. You can get a program. You can get inspiration. That's right. To change everything for the future. There's not a whole lot of places currently where, as a hockey player, you can go somewhere and be the big swinging dick on campus. Well Western Michigan for sure That's what I mean Those guys are the toast of the town there Penn State maybe right Not with wrestling I forgot about the wrestlers Think about the cauliflower here walking around Happy Valley Oh my god Jesus

2:49:07Pat McAfee:Why is it in Vegas Come on man good to see you dude We're having fun here please We're all in this together, right? Hockey time. Vegas is a hockey time. It's a hockey time. It should be in Pittsburgh. It's a great barn. It is a tough barn to play in. Especially whenever you're on the stick. Exactly. You think that Knights will do it? They win that game? I don't remember either. You won that game. They played an Oilers thing? Yeah, they won. They won?

2:49:32Darius Butler:Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm undefeated. Oh, yeah, you win the locker room to celebrate the boys. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Good point.

2:49:38Pat McAfee:Shout out to the Golden Knights. Are they in it this year? Yeah. Yeah, they go to overtime damn near every game. So late. Yeah. I mean, we're talking pucks being picked up at 2 a.m. I just can't do it. I'll fucking tune back in when the playoffs get here. But, boy. Every game, my overtime? They go to a lot of overtime games. A lot.

2:49:56Darius Butler:They're on a good side of the playoffs, though, to go on a run in the Western Conference. Exactly.

2:50:00Pat McAfee:Stoner coming off IR. Huge congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey team. They won the national championship. and they have four members of their team that won Olympic gold and now an NCAA championship in 31 days. Congratulations. Good run. They beat Ohio State in the national championship. Wow. Yeah. The Buckeyes gave it a go. Gave it a go, but the Badgers said, I don't think so. You know, and that's kind of how it goes whenever you're playing Wisconsin women's hockey. They're going to beat you. And not only are they going to beat you, they're going to celebrate their Olympic gold in your face as well.

2:50:33Pat McAfee:Hey, we just did this for America. Now we're doing it for the Badgers. Have a good one. They might be.

2:50:41Pat McAfee:They run campus. Toasted times? Yeah, I mean. Oh. They're on a dynasty. So, Foxy just said Wisconsin women's hockey dynasty. Yeah, I believe they are on a dynasty right now. They've won a lot of championships in the last couple years. How's their football team? Ass? Yes. How's the basketball team? They're good. Yeah, they got beat this year, but they're consistently good. Okay, so the women's hockey in Wisconsin is kind of the dynastic run for nine-time national champs.

2:51:05Darius Butler:They're coached by Mark Johnson of the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic gold medal team. Wow. That helps.

2:51:10Pat McAfee:There he is. There he is. He looks better than ever. That guy, do you believe in miracles? He's like, yeah. That's what we're doing here in Wisconsin every single day. And I respect that. If Mackenzie's on skates and she's got dangles, which I assume she does. I assume she'll have some dangles. Maybe she's playing for Wisconsin someday winning their 20th national championship. Yeah. I love that. More women's sports better. If you want her in the dynasty, put a basketball in the hand, and you send her up to Storrs, Connecticut to play for Geno. Nope. All right. He's rude. That's the dynasty. No.

2:51:41Pat McAfee:What he is doing to people's careers is uncalled for. What are you supposed to do? That Syracuse coach cutting that promo about what the fuck am I supposed to do around here? Got to run into this team every year? Incredible. Unbelievable. I love the promo from her. I appreciated it. And if I'm Geno up there, you know, I'm saying this is exactly why you come here. to UConn. Did you guys, you gave it up for a little bit, right, though? Wasn't there like UConn? LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina. South Carolina. Yeah, they've had their runs. South Carolina. Yeah, but they're on a, I think on a 51-game win streak right now, which will probably be like their fifth or sixth longest win streak.

2:52:18He's already won 12, I think he's 12-1 in national championships. Lost one to Don Staley in the South Carolina Gamecocks, but Azzy Fudd, one of the best UConn Huskies when it's all said and done. She was hot last night. Obviously, it was a blowout. It was her last game on campus, Gampel Pavilion. She was, I think she had 34, 26 at the half, which outscored Syracuse by herself. Eight for 11 from behind a three-point line. The people's princess. She was an absolute dog. But I don't know. The odds were minus 250 yesterday. I'm not sure what it is now.

2:52:51Pat McAfee:I think it was 32-8 at one point early in that game against Syracuse yesterday. And head coach Felicia Legette-Jack came out and said, For us to continue to come to Connecticut year after year after year to me is like a personal attack. After being in this business for 37 years and have to come and be in this bracket every year is unacceptable. It is wrong. So I guess four times she's been eliminated here now, three straight NCAA tournaments by this UConn team. And to your point, D, but at this round, got to travel to UConn to kind of do it as well. I think 31 straight Sweet 16s, like 20-something straight Final Fours.

2:53:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, so, I mean, UConn's been good since I've been in school. Rebecca Lobo, though? Yeah. Diana? Yeah. Lobo? Two. My boy, three. So, Diana Taurasi's just like an absolute dog, right? That's what we have learned. She will shit talk you. Oh, yeah. She will. Yeah. Yeah, big time. I think she knows our program. We're trying to stay on her good side. Always. Shout out UConn legend, Diana Taurasi. What a fucking legend. She is, though, actual. Yeah. I watched that documentary about her playing. Overseas? Yeah, and then coming back and doing the whole thing. She feels like a real legend in the whole game.

2:54:06Pat McAfee:And I don't think she acts like it either. I think she just kind of is still like a dog in the entire world. Yeah, she'll let you know. Yeah, I respect that. Ultimate competitor. I think, what, is she playing like four or five Olympics? Yeah, she remember Cailin Clark. Do you think your guys' coach should be forced to retire? Do you know? Yeah, what he's doing, everybody. She's fucking bummed up. I mean, that was sad. It sucks, you know. You do got to go to their house every year. It's tough. Get the fun. You think J.O. should for a good ball maybe let some other people experience happiness in this entire thing?

2:54:40Pat McAfee:51 straight wins? It's a fair plan. What happened? What'd you say, Tone? You said something about maybe the seedings and rankings aren't always as accurate or something?

2:54:48Darius Butler:Yeah, normally, women's tournament, you can lock those favorites in, but Iowa lost yesterday as a two seed. We were watching it after the show. Had a lot of alternatives. Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce away. Well, you know what happened? Nick took them as a minus 5 ,000 Moneyline favorite, and if you do that in this office, when you keep preaching, they're going to lose. I took all the favorites Moneyline, and they were putting this par-to-parlay, and at that point they were up nine, and they just pissed that right away.

2:55:15Pat McAfee:I would like to let you know that I like the Iowa Hawkeye women's basketball team, especially their new coach. She's been very kind to us. Oh, yeah, she's the GOAT. Jan. Yep. Jan Jansen. Jan Jansen. She was very kind. I saw she was very animated. I appreciated her passion on the court. But watching the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team lose was just, it was strange to me. I FaceTimed you immediately. Yeah, I know. When did Virginia get good? You know what? It's funny you mention that. That's a good question. They've always been good. Alex Ohanian, I believe is his name, the guy who founded Reddit, who was married to Serena Williams.

2:55:44He basically said in the offseason, hey, what do I need to do to make sure that we're a contender next year? So he just donated a bunch of money. Peace. For Virginia. And it was a double OT. She, you know, heartbreaker, big country, fouled out with about Ava Hyden. She fouled out with about four minutes left in the game. She's just a perennial bucket getter. So after she went that, Chit Chat Wright had a little bit of a tough game down the stretch. Missed a lot of free throws. Missed a couple shots. A couple big ones. A couple turnovers. But, hey, guess what? That's going to happen. You're going to get got sometimes.

2:56:13Pat McAfee:The Virginia women's basketball team is getting what UVA calls a multi-year transformational gift from alum Alex Ohanian, who is married to Serena Williams and has a history of support and investment in women's athletics. He also is one of the investors of TGL. Oh, that's right. He's getting his sports. He has a lot of investments in the sports world. I think he is very, very grateful for sports. And if you're a university that has somebody like that who's a billionaire, you know, found something, that's a good place to be. Yes, it is. So you're telling me I should just expect Virginia to beat Iowa Hawkeye women in basketball every single year now?

2:56:48When Big Country's fouling out with four minutes left in OT, yeah. You should expect that. Our offense runs through her. I don't know what you want me to do. That's Big Country. Exactly. We'll be back. We'll be back. But again, rinse, repeat. That's tough. I'm sorry. We got a fucking game on Thursday. The fucking biggest game of my life. Again, I'm very proud of what they did this year. Two seed, post-Kaitlin Clark, everyone thought they were just going to kind of dissipate into dust. They did not. Did they choke on their home court at Carver? Sure, they did. But once again, Thursday. We're looking at all eyes are on Thursday.

2:57:25In Nebraska. Exactly. Coach McCollum's boys will be ready to go.

2:57:29Pat McAfee:How's Nebraska's team? Heard they're tough to beat, huh? They're good. We split this year with them. So, you know, it's one of those things where, hey, we're going to roll the ball out there. We're going to play for 40 minutes, and we're going to let the chips fall where they may. The Huskers are doing it right now, okay? Men's basketball advances to Sweet 16. Got a big one. Wrestling plays third at the NCAA Championships. How you doing? Wow. Softball, 13-game winning streak right now. In baseball, top 25 after winning a series against Michigan. Huskers are doing it. That's impressive. Let alone what Matt Rule's about to do with football.

2:58:00Pat McAfee:Figure it out, coach.

2:58:01Darius Butler:Big year. Huge year. Did volleyball did well?

2:58:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, because they're selling all the stadium. Probably. Rule's house. Uh-oh. It's moving up? Yeah. More sponsors this year. HBO picked it up. You start to think to yourself, does i will even have a chance on thursday you know that's what you know no one's thinking that no one's thinking i mean they got one of their best players from last year on nebraska now i have a corn stat from foxey's pool uh the good news for iowa getting ahead of this now for the national media ahead of next week's sweet 16 game says scott nelson 2025 corn iowa has 2.77 billion bushels all-time record uh for them 210 bushels per acre which is second all-time great year Nebraska, 1.97 billion bushels, 198.3 bushels per acre.

2:58:48Pat McAfee:So less acreage, less bushels, and less efficiency per acreage for Nebraska whenever it comes to the corn game. And Nebraska's name is the... Corn Huskers. But, you know, in Iowa, we have the best sweet corn in the country. We're feeding a lot of people with that. I'm guessing most of Nebraska corns just feed corn. They're giving that to fucking pigs who are rolling around and shit. you know, cows and stuff like that. No one's eaten that corn. Nebraska corn? That's correct. I've heard good things about Nebraska corn. I bet you have. Omaha steak with some Nebraska sweet corn? I will not disparage Omaha steaks.

2:59:26Everyone knows how we feel about the caramel apple tartlets and, you know, the fucking beef as a whole. But if we're talking fucking sweet corn, Iowa's king, brother. Always has been, always will be. Fucking 2.77 billion bushels. prosperous year. Very good. All things pointing up.

2:59:45Darius Butler:Do you see Illinois is going down to that same location in Houston? The internet is very worried about the amount of bushlights Houston has on hand. What's going on? Legit. This is a story that's not being talked about enough. If every bar in the Houston area near the stadium doesn't have I'm talking kegs and kegs and kegs and kegs and kegs and kegs of bushlight there's going to be a massacre down there.

3:00:09Pat McAfee:So bushlight drinkers are infiltrating Houston is what you're saying? Big time. Okay, so Iowa is a bush light drinking town. So is Nebraska. And so is... Illinois. And how about Houston at home? I assume they're going to be drinking a lot of Lone Star. Yeah. Oh, I remember Matthew McConaughey did a little fun little origami game. Oh, yeah. With the can of Lone Star. Time is a flat circle. I don't think I've ever had Lone Star. I assume it's pretty bush light-y.

3:00:36Darius Butler:I had a Halloween party once and someone brought Lone Star. That was me, yeah. because I was planning on going as Russ Cole, but I didn't, and I was just like, you know what, fucking I want to drink some of those. It was good. I don't think I've had it since then.

3:00:49Pat McAfee:Is it Bush Lighty? Is it all kind of the same there? What's your favorite beer? My favorite beer would probably be Corona. Premier or just original? I don't like the Premier. Corona, Dos Equis. What's that thing, the Corona, you can put in there that tastes like Fruity Pebbles shot or something? Bacardi Limon, maybe? Maybe. You put a shot in there, it all tastes like Fruity Pebbles. It's a good tropical. I mean, obviously, you live tropical life. You're from South Florida. But if I am in a warm climate and I remember that that exists, my day, infinitely better. It becomes like a really good day.

3:01:24Pat McAfee:So I just got to remember it, though. Yeah, I started drinking beers late. And once I saw fucking Tony Romo with that Corona, it was over. Yeah.

3:01:31Darius Butler:You're right. Game set. Snoop. You ever have a Coronita? Oh, man. Is that a small one or is that a margarita? It's a margarita and then you just put the Corona in it. In Pittsburgh, we have Yenzuritas. We do it with Icy Light Mangos.

3:01:46Pat McAfee:Yeah, and it's really good. Among those natural flavors. It should go to beer. Pittsburgh. Me? You know, I don't really do the beer much anymore. I used to do too much beer.

3:01:58Darius Butler:Natty was the go-to.

3:02:01Pat McAfee:Then Bud Light was the go-to. It was way too much beer. Way too much beer. So I've moved on from beer. I think if you were, so what's happened? I'm walking in and they're forcing me to get a beer. We only serve beers here, sir. All the beers are available on draft. All of them are available.

3:02:17Darius Butler:They can't serve liquor, though. What time is it? Have I had dinner? 6 p.m. No, you've not done it yet. No, no dinner yet. I'm sorry, not eating it.

3:02:24Pat McAfee:Not eating yet. 6 p.m. Sun hasn't set yet either. It's still nice out. Are we heading to dinner? No, it's 65 degrees. You're there. You're sitting outside. No, we're drinking. Oh, I've done the day already. I'm doing a day. Yeah, your day's over. I'm having one right now. Yeah, at 6 o 'clock, let's have 15 beers for a minute.

3:02:40Darius Butler:You worked hard all weekend. Friday, happy hour.

3:02:44Pat McAfee:At this stage right now that I'm in, it's one of them fucking tall ones? Or is it a yard?

3:02:47Darius Butler:Sure, it can be a yard long. They have a pint. They have 24 ounces. You can do whatever you want. It's ice cold. Ice cold. Frosted glass. Frosted mug, yeah. You know what it is. Yeah, you do. If it's ice cold, you know what it is.

3:03:03Pat McAfee:I think right now I'm probably taking one of them Ultras

3:03:06Darius Butler:I think I'm probably taking a Michelob Ultra

3:03:08Pat McAfee:and I'm probably I'm probably making it disappear it is a light beer of some sort I had my Bud Light run and I stopped drinking it for a while because I got your taste buds changed yeah for sure I got filled up too much I think I got allergic to it that's a big thing with the first beer No, they discovered. You're supposed to pour it out and let it foam up a bunch. You know, before it's like, oh, you don't know how to pour a beer?

3:03:37Darius Butler:So it doesn't happen in your stomach. But if you pour it out and let the foam build in the cup, and then it doesn't happen in your stomach, you're not burping the whole entire time. Just for your first beer.

3:03:45Pat McAfee:I'll tell you, that has happened to me as I've gotten older is I just get, like, super full. Yes. Back in the day, I used to be able to just roll through beers, like 20, 30 of them potentially, if the night called for it. You had to do that. Burp for 10 seconds and you're cool. But now. Now it's like I get full, I get sick. I'm fucking tired. I can't do it. I feel old. I feel soft most whenever it comes to the beer consumption. It's all about that first beer. It's actually changed my life as far as beer drinking goes. You pour out. Not perfectly and be like, oh, look at my pour. You pour it out.

3:04:15You get all that foam out in the glass and then from there on out, you'll be fine. A lot of head. A lot of head, sure, yeah.

3:04:24Pat McAfee:What's everybody want? Head. You're saying what everybody needs is... Head. Hell yeah. You're saying when I'm drinking a beer, I need to make sure I get out the... Hey! All right.

3:04:38Darius Butler:I just want to know why the bush light tastes so different and so much better out of a camo can. An ice-cold hunting camo can. Yeah, but you know why.

3:04:47Pat McAfee:Just like the PBR, baby. You know why.

3:04:50Darius Butler:Because of the camo?

3:04:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, because your eyes and fucking nose are all together.

3:04:54Darius Butler:You're right. It is a full senses experience.

3:04:57Pat McAfee:Yeah, and your soul. Your soul is in there fucking feeling it through your eyeballs. and then it's kind of coming back in here and then it's going down to your mouth and into your tongue and your nose. Because when you smell it, this one smells like it's going to have a lot of flavor.

3:05:10Darius Butler:Yeah.

3:05:10Pat McAfee:So that kind of is tied directly to it. But the camouflage shuts it all down.

3:05:16Darius Butler:Kind of cornered the market on camo cans. Tell that to Keystone, baby. Keylight? Yeah. I forgot about Keystone. Oh, yeah. That's just bottom of the barrel Coors Light, is my dad said.

3:05:26Pat McAfee:Rest in peace. High Life. Wendell. My dude. I got to drink some beers with one. Yeah. When did he pass?

3:05:34Darius Butler:A while ago.

3:05:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, a couple years. It was a while. He was a beer truck, man? Yeah. Yeah. He was fucking electric.

3:05:40Darius Butler:He was living the hot life.

3:05:41Pat McAfee:First time I met him, we're at an event. There was a car at the event. Just somebody brought a really nice car. There were some photos happening. He just fucking hopped on the car, like, just hopped on the car for the photo. Was laying on it and then just gets up. I'm like, whose car is that? He goes, I don't know. And just keeps going. Yeah, that's Wendell, baby. I fucking love this guy. It's a high life. This guy is the greatest. He was electrified. I was only around him, I think, like four, maybe three, four times. Every time he was the most electric. It was the only time I would drink high life, just to show my respects to him at the time.

3:06:13Pat McAfee:That's great. I didn't really like the taste of it. Yeah, it was not great. Yeah, I didn't really like that taste. Diesel, you drink that over in Ohio, right, AJ? Didn't know what you guys are drinking, just diesel only? Heavy? No. Coors Light's big here, obviously. Coors Light, Silver Bullets, Ohio State, Silver Bullets defense. Oh, yes. I forgot about that. As long as the mountains are blue. Ladies and gentlemen, a huge day tomorrow. Huge day tomorrow. What do we got? Cody Rhodes will be live in studio. Oh, wow. What? First time speaking since Randy Orton snapped at the contract signing and then took a chair and brutalized Cody Rhodes' head in between the chair and the stairs.

3:06:52Pat McAfee:You know, subject to change, obviously. We have no idea what's going to happen in the next 24 hours. we are excited and thankful that he is allowing us to be the ones to hear his thoughts if he hasn't him

3:07:04Darius Butler:I'm sure he does guys always got thoughts

3:07:08Pat McAfee:we do have some things we want to talk about he might not even remember his name we don't know we'll find out tomorrow are we on the road? I believe they are on the road to WrestleMania they're on the road to WrestleMania and I'll tell you what

3:07:20Darius Butler:that's the next premium live event

3:07:22Pat McAfee:yeah Vegas baby They got the Frozen Four happening out in Vegas. Second year in a row.

3:07:29Darius Butler:I couldn't find a new location.

3:07:30Pat McAfee:Well, I think they might have nailed it, actually. Vegas was a pretty good home. Yeah. Vegas was a pretty good home.

3:07:35Darius Butler:Your tournament. Kind of mailed it in on that one. What's that? The college basketball gimmick tournament. It's the college basketball crown debauch. Boom. There we go. May 12th, I think it starts.

3:07:47Pat McAfee:Yeah. Oh, okay. So that would be after. That's not my tournament. That's sports' tournament. The tournament. Okay. That's where we find out who's the best. Is it West Virginia or is it the Toronto Blue Jays? Whoever wins plays the Natty champion. Wait, are they getting the crown?

3:08:03Darius Butler:Yeah. The crown is ours. Boy, they better beat Stanford.

3:08:09Pat McAfee:Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Life is good. Let's remember. Kelly Rhodes coming here is a pretty big deal, it feels like. Yeah. Hope he's all right. Me too. Last time I saw him, he was in between some chairs and a stair. Bleeding. Bleeding. And then now, I think Randy's wearing a shirt that just says blood. RKO everybody with blood. Is that the worst beatdown since the final boss got him outside his bus? I don't know. Bronson Reed's legs. Get him jumping off of that. That's a good point. Sin City Street Fight at Mania, we were there.

3:08:42That was fucking brutal blood and guts. Didn't that one guy get hurt too? Yep. Are you talking about Adam Copeland?

3:08:49Darius Butler:He's not in the WWE. No, Breaker. Kevin something.

3:08:52Pat McAfee:Steam? Yeah. You're talking about Kevin Owens. There it is. He got very good. KO. He's on Red Wrestling. Maybe he's on Red Wrestling too. Good to see him back. He's electrifying. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. AJ, anything to say to the team here? No, I think I'm good today. You guys did great. So do you. How'd you feel about the NFLPA convo with JC Treder? Do we feel good about the guy that's in the super duper chair now? Yeah, I mean, JC is a smart guy. He was a rookie. I was with him his rookie year in Green Bay he used to be much bigger obviously his head I feel like was a lot bigger as well he was a strong dude but yeah he was we knew coming in he was a Cornell guy like he was one of those like super smart guys so yeah he's an impressive guy I do appreciate that we learned in real time that he went to Cornell to study labor relations yeah should have done that probably going in but hey journalism be a friend tell a friend something I do hope him and Pablo get along and move forward throw the gauntlet down.

3:09:50Pat McAfee:I did not expect that reaction. I should have done a little bit more research, it feels like. I'm like, hey, Pablo's got courage. He'll go out there and do it. Yeah, he does. I'd like him to maybe get it right. Oh, there's real heat right there. That was a bar I loved. Yeah, just released the article. I didn't know that either. He just basically laid out everything Pablo said and then everything that was wrong. Yeah, so hopefully they'll come together. You know, for good players. That's right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me.

3:10:14Pat McAfee:Team on three. We'll be back tomorrow with another show. We hope you watch. And we hope you enjoy a nice cold beer night if you want to. Not too many, obviously, but maybe. Three, four beer. Drink responsibly. Five, six beer. Definitely do that. And remember, the crown is about to be ours. We're on top of it, aren't we, Tony?

3:10:34Darius Butler:We are always on top of it.

3:10:36Pat McAfee:No, I've been losing a lot, actually. It kind of been, you know.

3:10:39Darius Butler:Yeah, but you're staying on top of it. You're trying.

3:10:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, but I've been away from it mostly. I need a crown.

3:10:45Darius Butler:I'm doing whatever Hammer Don tells me to do.

3:10:47Pat McAfee:Me too. We're going to hammer Don to the crown. We're going to hammer Don to the crown. Yeah. I like that. That's what we're going to do. All right. I'm pumped we're doing that. Hell yeah. Team on me. Fuck yeah. Hammer Don to the crown.

3:11:06Darius Butler:Undefeated last night. So yeah.

3:11:08Pat McAfee:Where the fuck was that? Why don't you tell us? We're going forward now.

3:11:11Darius Butler:You guys have your own thoughts on everything. You just yell them out and people just take them. That's what happens. Sonny Styles, number four overall pick, plus$700. Plus$5 ,800, hole-in-one TGL.

3:11:22Pat McAfee:Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.