PMS 2.0 1521 - MLB Opening Night Preview, Lavonte David, UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley, David Ross, NASCAR Superstar Tyler Reddick, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

20:18Pat McAfee:We are incredibly thankful that he's joining us. Yesterday, gave a couple emotional speeches. Obviously, the game has been great to him, but he has been great to the game as well. We're excited to intro. Future first ballot Hall of Famer, maybe. Hopefully. The first ballot thing. Yeah, you just don't know anymore. It's crazy to think about. Deserve it. Former linebacker of the Bucs, Levante David. Yeah, Levante! Congratulations, man. Appreciate you guys, man. Thank you for having me as always, Pat. Okay, so I know it's a very difficult decision to retire. And I know most players have these thoughts throughout their career, different years, like I'm not signing up to do this again if something doesn't go well.

20:56Pat McAfee:And then inevitably you're a football player. Let me get back into my offseason. Let me get into training camp. Let me get into this and I'm back in for another season. And then there are some guys who are just like, wake up every single day, can't wait for the next day of ball. For you, how did you end up on this decision? and how long or hard were the thoughts of hanging up a game that has been so damn good to you for your entire life? Oh, man, just the ultimate decision just came down to, you know, what I want to do. You know, I spent most of my life just, you know, trying to, you know, do everything that make everybody else around me happy.

21:29And this time, you know, I just sat down and just decided that, you know, what will make me happy? What do I want to do with the rest of my life? Do I want to play another season? Do I want to move on from the game? And ultimately the decision, man, it was talking to a friend and family. And, you know, the organization gave me a little time to think. I just decided it was time to hang it up. Ultimately, I just thought about, you know, what was my motivation? What would keep me going? And it just came down to just, you know, I've done enough for the game. You know, I pleased myself with what I did while I played the game.

22:01You know, I impacted my peers when I played and I made a name for myself. And now it's just time to move on from the game, man. and just, you know, next generation take over.

22:10Pat McAfee:We appreciate your contribution to the game. And whenever you said, I did a lot for the game, yeah, dude, you did a lot for the game. And I don't know if you've looked at all the stats, either before your retirement or since your retirement, they're sending them in. It's you and everybody we've ever remembered in the history of football at linebackers. So congratulations on all the success and for being a durable dog through it all. I assume that was a big deal for you. I know you're a South Florida boy down there, but 12 games in 14 seasons at least 12 there's always some injury that comes to somebody it takes them out feels like your durability was something that was uh very special how do you feel about what your old ass body's gonna do now you get on a pelican we walk in we got hokas yet like what yeah golfing maybe a little bit what what are we doing are you going to continue to be in ridiculous shape and uh how much pride do you have in your durability that you had throughout your entire career yeah i mean first of all the durability question man i'm extremely proud of you know uh always you know told myself man when i'm playing this game i'm gonna be very disciplined i'm gonna have to do what i gotta do to take care of myself to be able to play as long as i want to play and i was a guy who never wanted to miss the game you know i had to like really not be able to walk or run for me to not be able to play the next week and you know i did what i had to do to take care of myself throughout the seasons um had a great training staff you know kept me healthy throughout those times.

23:32You know, obviously you play with little nicks and bumps here, but if it's something that's not going to, you know, affect my play, you know, I'm going to go out there and play no matter what. But as far as, like, you know, what I'm going to do now, I don't know, man, I may, you know, partake in a little bit of golf. You know, I have people been trying to get me to golf for a very, very long time. I told one of my trainers that I'm going to take a whole month of golf lessons and I'm going to come back and shut them up and challenge and stuff like that. And then at the same time, man, I earned myself a little rest, a couple of more vacations and stuff like that.

24:07I earned myself a little chance to get a little fat, get fat, gain some weight. But I'm probably not going to do that, man. I said I'm going to still kind of work out, but not as crazy. I used to work out in the summers and stuff like that. I may go on a little diet here and there, but I'm going to go ahead and indulge myself in my treats that I used to love when I was growing up and go to those little restaurants. You know, might go on a restaurant tour. So you never know what I'm going to get into.

24:33Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, you show up at 350 pounds in like a month from now. We'll be so pumped for you. I'll be so pumped. Look at this fat ass. He's had the time of his life. Golf down there in Tampa, I assume you'll remain down there, is spectacular. I mean, that city is obviously special, and you have been special for that city for a long time. Connor, I have a question for you. Yeah, Levante, it feels like now, especially in today's NFL, you don't see a lot of one helmet guys. I mean, legendary Buck Mike Evans, he even just left. Was there ever a time, you know, that you were considering it just because you were kind of in it with the Bucs way before they were, you know, in the playoffs every single year?

25:10There were some tough years there. Or, you know, was being a one helmet guy very important to you, you know, throughout your career and always thought of that? I never imagined, you know, thought about actually, you know, playing for one team my whole career. You know, wherever team I was on, I was going to just, you know, do my best. And then they wanted to kick me off and move on. And that was so big. But it was a point in my career after 2018, you know, when we fired Dirk Cutter. Then before B.A. came in, you know, I talked to Jason. I talked to my agent. I said, man, I think it's time for me to move on.

25:42You guys bring in new staff. You guys bring in new guys. You guys, you know, changing the guard on, you know, the defensive side. Because I played in a 4-3 defense my whole career. And you guys are moving on to a 3-4. And I don't know how I work into that. And, you know, I told them that I want to get traded or you guys can release me. But they was like, nah, you know, they want me to be a part, you know, of the change. And we feel like this is going to change. And B.A. was the first phone call I took. He was like, man, trust me, I want you to be a part of this turnaround that we're going to have.

26:11We're going to build guys around you and you're going to get this thing going. And I was like, all right. You know, and then I talked to Coach Bowles about the defensive stuff. And they was able to convince me to stay. And I'm glad I stayed. I got me a Super Bowl championship out of it and got me some playoffs, got me some bragging rights, so I'm cool with it.

26:29Pat McAfee:Yeah, and when you go up into that Ring of Honor or the Pirate Ship of Honor, whatever the fuck it is down there. What is the... Walk the Plank of Honor. I don't know what it's called. You know what we're talking about. It's in a stadium forever. You're going to be up there. It's like the names on the one down in Tampa special. I'm happy that you will be remembered as a Buccaneer forever. What a love to see you as a cult. I do like that they go in there hey you guys are changing everything up new defense I think it's only right you guys kind of cut me or trade me and yeah the fuck right yeah yeah yeah all right we'll talk to you in a bit okay we think you're gonna like what we got going on here and we are not moving on from a Levante David if we do not have to move on from a Levante David that's respect for you that they all had around the league which I think you're only going to continue to hear as you continue in this retirement run here because man i knew you were a great player and i knew you were great for our show every time you've come on but they're starting now they're starting to compile your shit dude and it's like up there with urlacher and ray lewis it's like yeah dude i don't i don't think jason light or ba were moving on from david you know uh and even if you come back at 320 after or your little restaurateur, I think there's going to be teams that are like, you still want to – that'll be forever.

27:50Pat McAfee:So congrats to you on that. Now, let's talk about the position of linebacker as a whole. Go ahead, D-Butt. Yeah, you up there with those greats, as you should be. Who were kind of those linebackers that you looked up to, tried to model your game after? And now that you're – I feel like you carried that torch, and now you're passing it on. Who do you kind of see that next generation of linebackers that's going to carry the torch forward? Yeah, man. You know, growing up in the Miami area, you know, obviously, you know, you got to, you know, they stick Dolphins, Dolphin games on you when you're growing up.

28:18So, you know, I used to watch Zach Thomas a lot. Hurricane games. I used to watch Jonathan Vilma. I know when you get a chance to, obviously, you get a chance to watch Ray Lewis. You watched him. You watched him. I watched Derrick Brooks. I watched Brian Nurlacher, you know, as I got a little older and started to really, like, hone in on the position. Guys who I kind of, like, really, like, you know, admired, you know, playing a position was one of my favorites. is uh patrick willis and you know my counterparts man i i got big respect for uh luke and bobby and demario and those guys i love the way they play the game and the upcoming guys you know i already know fred has uh cemented himself as one of the best uh roquan uh i really like the uh the guy in green bay uh elgin cooper young guy balling um alex anzalone i'm a fan of him uh uh zaire franklin He's a solid guy.

29:12Shoot, I can keep on going, man. I'm a fan of the position. I'm a fan of the position. If you're playing the position the right way, man, you're being physical. You're attacking. You're not shying away. You're doing what you're supposed to do. You're making plays. Always, you know, break down the hole saying, like, we playmakers. You know, as a linebacker, I see ourselves as playmakers. And obviously, you know, my guy, Devin White, you know, he had a resurgence, you know, down in Las Vegas getting all of them tackled. That's just something that he do. And, you know, it's just a fun position to play, man.

29:43I think the position, you know, a lot of people kind of like losing the respect for the position. I, for some reason, I don't know why. But, you know, I think we are the leaders of the defense, and I think we deserve our respect for it.

29:56Pat McAfee:Yeah. And, I mean, you guys have to run your faces into things forever, no matter what the style of football is, which leads to this question from Tone, Levante. Yeah, Levante, obviously coming in 2012, it's a different game than it was in, let's say, 2019 when – 2018 when everything was just open and wide open and passing and heavy. And now it seems like it's kind of come back to what it was when in 2012 when you came into the league. Do you think the NFL is in a good spot now? And are you happy that it's coming back to kind of more of a ground and pound game? Yeah, I think so. And I really like that, you know, the offenses are, you know, making us work, you know, defensive-wise.

30:33You know, me, I'm a competitor, and I love to be challenged. You know, when the offense is bringing those motions and sending a guy left and right and then running the ball off of it, it's pretty good to see. And then you got some teams who really just going to sit there and run, you know, run dual, run the counters, you know, run the powers and stuff like that. That's what we love, man, as a linebacker. So, you know, they got all these little DBs, you know, these rover-type guys coming in, playing in the box and stuff like that. Now you're going to have to get the real backers back in the game.

31:01So I'd love to see that.

31:02Pat McAfee:Yeah, these DBs, you know, trying to get down in the box. He can have all the duos and powers he wants. Cover quarter route, good. I appreciated listening to you there. And you don't play 14 years in the NFL, especially at the position of linebacker without having a high football IQ. We know you plan on becoming a fat ass, but let's talk about the future a little bit. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Levante, over the last couple years, we've seen more and more teams have a bunch of ex-players on their coaching staffs. Now, I know I'm guessing like a couple days after you retire, the first thing you're probably thinking isn't, you know, I'd love to go spend 17 hours in a facility and start coaching again.

31:39But considering you played so long, I mean, Pat mentioned it, you know, your name is up there with the greatest of all time. Is coaching something that you've considered or are you just is that way, you know, out of your mind right now? Because you just want to kind of relax and enjoy, you know, the the fruits of your labor. Yeah, I mean, for the most part, I thought about coaching, but I didn't think about it. I mean, I didn't really consider actually getting into it. I just thought about what might be. But I actually like coaching. I don't know. I ain't go that far. I ain't go that far. I'm thinking of actually being a coach and having my own room and coaching guys and stuff like that.

32:13But I'm definitely going to enjoy the feuds of my labor. You know what I'm saying? I put a lot of work in to be able to enjoy this time off. I've been playing football since I was six years old, man. I never missed a year. So 30 years straight of playing football, I think I deserve some time to myself. Sit back and chill and be a fan of the game. Actually just sit back, be a fan, and maybe just catch me in the stands sometimes and just go to some tailgates and stuff like that. I've never had a chance to get that stuff. So I'm going to kind of chill a little bit, hang back, and then whenever I do decide to kind of like dabble and get back into football, I might want to do some scouting or something like that.

32:51But coaching, I don't think, may not really get into coaching as much.

32:57Pat McAfee:Yeah. You know if you're going to coach or not, I think. You know, the time. We all know. We all know the time. We've had a couple friends who thought they were in it, and then as soon as they do it, we go, AQ, you're never. Stop fixing that. You're never. AQ is changing. Exactly. AQ, you're never going to sign up for that. Coaches are living their own life, obviously. And you getting in scouting would be special, too. I like any time ex-players get into the front office type stuff, but that time is a different time. Why don't you go ahead and levante a little bit, David, because you have certainly earned it.

33:30Pat McAfee:And I want to let you know, if you do go and eat everything in South Florida, okay, like whenever you were a kid, there's a lot of good science now that you're retired that can kind of take care of all of that. If you let me know, brother, you just let me know. Gotcha, gotcha. I already know what's out there. I'm going to take care of myself, though. All right, if you want a little assistance. Now that you're retired, you're allowed to do whatever you want. You're the man. Thank you for joining us. Congrats on the huge decision, and enjoy your life, man. Appreciate you guys, man. God bless you.

34:03Always a pleasure seeing you guys.

34:05Pat McAfee:Thank you for what you did for sport, brother. Legit. Yes, sir. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen. Hey, God bless you, too. I hope he listens to me when I say that to you. Yeah, he will. Levante David. Yeah, Levante. Just so kind. Yeah. Legend. It's crazy. Like, Luke Kuechly, just so kind. You know, like these maniacs are just able to just flip a switch whenever they go out there and go crazy. Erlacher. Brian Dawkins. Erlacher, I think, is always like Erlacher. Yeah. Exactly. And then I was thinking of, like, A.J. Hawk is just always toxic, so it did tie into him wanting to run his face. How about the story of A.J.

34:40Pat McAfee:and Kuhn for, what, six straight years of practice? Neither one of them saying, hey, we don't have to go helmet to helmet every single record. No brother-in-law. Both of them hating it, too. Yeah. And friends. Miserable. Neither one would say, hey, maybe not today, because then they know the other one would say, beta. Bitch. Yeah. I just beat you. Yeah. That linebacker position is a crazy one. Yeah. Got to take on fullbacks. Got to take on offensive linemen. Got to be as fast as wide receivers, slots at least, and running backs. And then, obviously, you have to play chess normally with the quarterback alongside the safety.

35:14Pat McAfee:Linebacker's a crazy position. And to his point, it was becoming just bigger safeties. Bigger safeties were becoming linebackers because you had to be able to run fast. But it does feel as if now just the bigger guys have just gotten faster somehow. It feels like, I mean, yesterday, what, Harold run 4.38, Harold Perkins ran or whatever. We saw a guy at the combine who was like 230, 240 pounds running 4.41 or something. It's like everybody's just bigger, faster, stronger now. But the linebacker position always has to thump and know what's going on everywhere. You got to be able to thump. You got to be able to meet blocks.

35:46And Levante David, he wasn't like that big of a guy. He was a little over six feet, around 230-ish pounds, but he would bring the hat. Usually those guys would be the guys you put in the space, the guys that's covering or blitzing off the edge. But he was in the box. He would show up for 14 years straight, not really missing games every season. He says since six years old, never missed a season, 30 years straight playing football. Like that's unbelievable. You obviously have to have the physical traits, but you got to be a good communicator as well. You got to be locked in on the run game, getting guys in line in front of you.

36:17And then as far as safeties and nickels go, you got to be on the same page with them as well. So, yeah, it's an incredibly difficult position.

36:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, and communication comes from prep and confidence. So, the amount of work that goes into all this is obviously absurd. And you talk about communicating. He never really did media either. There wasn't a lot of – the only time he's ever come on our show is when somebody else has said, hey, can we get Levant, this guy? Yeah, he had 25 tackles. Can we get this guy? Like, it's like one of the most, like, super I don't want to be talked about positions as a whole. but definitely Levante. So whenever he announces his retirement, I think a lot of people were learning about who Levante was while he was announcing his retirement.

36:50Pat McAfee:He was like, this guy's been in the league. Yeah, this guy's been in here a long time doing a lot of shit to teams. And we talked about the never playing less than 12 games. I just did it. I just did the math. It looks like he missed 13 games in 14 seasons. So insane. And just think one injury can take you out for 17 games. Yeah, you know, like that is an absurd thing. Congrats to him. And I also like the fact he's like, yeah, I'm going to go live life a little bit. Have to. You want to coach me? Yeah, I got some vacations lined up here. I got burned a little bit. You can tell he's already thought about where he wants to eat.

37:21Pat McAfee:There's some places I was eating as a kid that I haven't been in a while. It's like, oh, I can't wait to hear what that is. Restaurant tour. Yeah, it sounds like. And down there in South Florida, I mean. Great. Good place to do it. A lot of options. If he comes back 350. That would be awesome. I would be so pumped for him. Hey, fat ass, you got to lose weight at some point. But this is awesome, what you have just done to yourself. I hope you enjoyed it all. He'll never get it over 300 pounds because I think his energy levels, his aura, and his stress might just fight off the fat for him at all times.

37:50Pat McAfee:This guy might have to eat 4 ,000 calories just to maintain what he is right now, which is maybe when it's all said and done, a goat in college basketball. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the most entertaining humans in sports while also being one of the most successful and respected men in sports as well. the UConn Huskies head basketball coach Dan Hurley. Yay! What's up, dude?

38:20Dan Hurley:I'm on the Michael Phelps Olympic coaching diet, you know?

38:25Pat McAfee:Have you ever been fat? I doubt it with how you operate. It seems like your body is always fighting off fat at all times anyways, right?

38:32Dan Hurley:No, I was fat. I was fat when I was coaching high school. I was fat when I was at St. Benedict's. I was fat. I was going to, I was at Branchbrook Park in Newark getting the dirty water dogs every day. You know, I was eating the, you know, the onions, the kraut, you know, and when I wasn't doing that, I was, you know, there was a lot of good pizza. Oh, the pizza's a problem.

38:57Pat McAfee:Yeah, I agree. I've been up to 285, 290 before, almost got to 300 because of the pizza. I'm telling you, I've gotten super fat as well. It's not, you know, if you carry it, it's problematic too when you look in the mirror, but the food is so good. Let's get to the healthy, super fit Dan Hurley that we see here at UConn. I think the only time we as national folks, internet folks, saw you this season, you were getting in a little bit of shit, obviously. You were getting in a little bit of shit, okay? And then when you took on UCLA, they're like, hold on now. This is the super shit game as a whole.

39:33Pat McAfee:I don't think I know your team well enough at this point. How do we feel about the team? How do you feel about where your squad is right now? And what has this season been like leading up to this point for you?

39:44Dan Hurley:Yeah, I think I've been, for the most part, I've been a pretty good boy this year. You know, I think my behavior has been pretty good. Even in that situation, I didn't touch him. You know, I never made contact with the official. You know, there was actually never contact made. The official said that. And again, that was a that was a quite a long time ago.

40:10Pat McAfee:Certainly we're past that. Certainly we're past that. But I do appreciate you saying. I never touched him.

40:15Dan Hurley:To be clear. He could feel my breath and the spit probably on the back of his neck. The passion. And John's a tough guy. John is not a John is a strong official. John gives as much as he gets. But since then, listen, the squad this year, it's been a fun group to coach. This year, just being back in contention has felt just enjoyable, just knowing that you have a team that can compete for championships, compete to make a run in March. Last year felt like being like a little kid that didn't get invited to a birthday party with one of the kids in school. Just, you know, not being in contention this time of year after going back-to-back, you know, it was a bad feeling.

41:05Dan Hurley:So I like this team. This team, you know, we haven't always come through in the championship moments. Big East championship game at the Garden, regrettable evening. You know, we didn't close out the regular season Big East the way we wanted. But we've shown a high ceiling. You know, we've beaten some great teams. and we quietly won our first two rounds by double-figure points. So excited to get to D.C., man.

41:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, we talked about the loss in the Big East Championship with D.Butt, obviously, here. Maybe a good thing, actually, heading into the tournament. Maybe a good thing for a coaching perspective. Not that you want to lose any game ever. I understand that. We don't want to do that. And these refs, listen, sometimes they need to feel a little breath and soul. They need to feel that. But heading into a tournament fresh off a perspective putter and something you could probably coach off of might have been a weapon for you, I assume, behind the scenes? Or do you – the boys responded well? No, no, we didn't like it.

42:00Dan Hurley:No, no, no. It was all bad from that. There was no good weapons. I got all types of weapons already that I utilize, psychological, motivational tactics and such. You know, when you get to the conference championship game on Saturday, you know, you've got to win it. And, you know, credit St. John's. I mean, they're hard to beat at home at MSG. They're hard to beat in Big East games. They've got one of the best coaches of all time coaching them. But for us, I think we're very confident when we get to this time of year. I think when we get to the NCAA tournament, if you look at our record, what we've been able to accomplish the last couple of years, even last year when we don't have our best team, we really positioned well to win that second-round game against Florida.

42:48Dan Hurley:So, you know, we just, we're confident because we feel like we play our best ball when we play non-conference opponents, people that aren't as familiar with us. And then once you kind of get out of the first round of the NCAA tournament, once we get through that first weekend, you know, a lot of times it feels like, you know, watch out Huskies.

43:06Pat McAfee:It does feel like watch out Huskies, doesn't it? It does feel a little watch out Huskies right now.

43:12Dan Hurley:A little bit. Yeah. A little bit.

43:14Pat McAfee:It does feel a little watch out Huskies right now. A little bit. In the women's team, as the other team's coach saying, this is bullshit. So it is kind of a watch out Huskies time right now. Now, on that note, somebody that did watch out for the Huskies, and you mentioned him earlier, there's legendary coaches right now, seemingly everywhere in hoops. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Coach, just in you guys as part of the bracket, there's you guys, obviously Michigan State, Patino and St. John's, and then Duke. and I think Coach Izzo said this feels a hell of a lot more like a Final Four than it does a Sweet 16, but do you think that's potentially an indicator of kind of where the NCAA tournament is going?

43:56Do you think it's harder now to win an NCAA title than it ever has been before because you're kind of positioned where you have to beat blue blood after blue blood after blue blood after blue blood and that's kind of just the way things are going?

44:09Dan Hurley:Yeah, I think so. I think NIL, obviously the portal, you can erase mistakes in recruiting quickly with a grown man, bringing them onto your roster. You could load your team up in a mercenary way with grizzled veterans that are talented and ready to win. Obviously, player development is less important. Culture is less important. Things are so different that way. And I would say it's not in every region. Is it the same? I think this East region is special. It feels like definitely feels like a final four in terms of the marquee and what that looks like on Friday night in D.C. I got a glimpse of what the ticket prices look like for that.

44:56Dan Hurley:That that tells the story of the quality of, you know, of that sporting event on Friday night. It should be a ratings monster. And and the scalpers are going to do real well.

45:07Pat McAfee:And good for the scalpers. eat yeah yeah shout to the scalpers they're obviously looking forward to these types of days and they've been grinding for this type of stuff but i think the coaches are the stars of college hoops right because obviously players become the story of the teams and everything like that we all think back during march madness runs where players would go absolutely bananas but the coaches are really you guys are the stars of college hoops so the fact that there's so many staples seemingly still around still talking still doing it i think is good for hoops as a whole you obviously now old guard in college hoops how is the relationship amongst you guys how is the relationship amongst all you old heads basically in the college basketball world yeah you know i

45:52Dan Hurley:think uh you find yourself communicating a lot during the course of the year with uh you know the coaches that you either looked up to or modeled yourself after, you know, as a young coach, whether it's, you know, coach Izzo you know, or coach Patino or Calvin Sampson or bill self. You know, those are the ones that you, you know, find a lot more in common with you know, in terms of the way you run your program, the, the levels of accountability, how hard you coach your players. You know, that's where for, you know, for me, the matchup with, with coach Izzo, Michigan state, um, you know, trust me, like it's, it's, it for me, it's like, it's respect and it's admiration, uh, you know, for, for the type of coach he is in a lot of ways.

46:38Dan Hurley:I've tried to model my program after how hard they play, uh, how much he loves his players, but how he holds them to account and, and develop strong men. We do a lot of things, I think in society today to make men weaker, um, make young men weaker in particular uh by not setting high standards and you know them vegging out on video games and social i mean there's a lot of things that are insidious to the development of young men so uh you know for me i feel like i got a responsibility to those old school coaches to uh you know continue to uh you know have those values with the way i put together strong teams and

47:16Pat McAfee:develop uh strong men okay so let's talk about the insidious things that are happening in society potentially weaken an entire generation. Sounds like you've thought about it quite a bit. That feels cyclical too, doesn't it? Don't you think that is potentially cyclical as well? Because we're running into some young dogs quickly where I'm like, wait, I didn't know that there was some of that. And you would know this better because I guess you're in these recruiting worlds and in their actual world with the cycle changing. Feels like we are getting back to some dogs though, right? Am I wrong in that or no?

47:47Dan Hurley:Yeah, I mean, we got some incredibly talented. that this freshman class is a joke in terms of the level. That's what I'm saying. It feels like they're a level. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, the level of talent is great. Now, when these guys, obviously, you know, how far do you drag your team in the NCAA tournament? You know, when you get to the NBA, are you going to be about it? Are you going to be about, you know, championships, you know, when you get there? Or are you going to be about extensions and always about longevity? So for me, you know, that's how I kind of judge, you know, what these players do in the NBA.

48:23Dan Hurley:It's like, how are you going to pursue championships? How are you going to pursue getting to the Western Conference finals or the NBA finals or getting rings? I mean, to me, that's what sports is all about. Not just, you know, accumulating numbers and longevity.

48:40Pat McAfee:I love you, Coach. How old are you?

48:44Dan Hurley:53, man.

48:45Pat McAfee:Jeez. You look good, man. You look good, I think, for a Hawaii. Don't you think so?

48:49Dan Hurley:Yeah, he does.

48:50Pat McAfee:I just got out of the sauna.

48:52Dan Hurley:Oh, nice. So I've got some water weight. My face is kind of... Where are you at?

48:56Pat McAfee:197, 198?

48:59Dan Hurley:Yeah, I'm somewhere, depending on how the season's going, between 190 and 200. When it's going bad, 190. How long are you in there for?

49:08Pat McAfee:How long are you in there for?

49:10Dan Hurley:20 minutes, five, six days a week. Then I'm going to follow that up with the cold. I'm going to get in a cold plunge I'm going to do I'm going to do the hot and cold treatment first thing in the morning

49:22Pat McAfee:How long is the cold for?

49:25Dan Hurley:Cold is just three minutes like three minutes either an ice cold shower or jump in that cold plunge right after I get out of that sauna

49:32Pat McAfee:Head under in the cold?

49:35Dan Hurley:No, just up to the

49:36Pat McAfee:I think you got to start going head under I think you got to start going head under if we really want to you know what I mean

49:45Dan Hurley:I'm going to dunk myself.

49:47Pat McAfee:Hey, you tell me.

49:50Dan Hurley:A lot of people would like to see me go under and maybe not come back up. No! Don't think like that. I'm the bad guy.

50:01Pat McAfee:A lot of people say that about me. We can't be thinking like that, though. We got to survive in spite of those fuckers. You know what I mean? That's what we got to do. That's what we got to do.

50:10Dan Hurley:I don't give a shit. I mean, listen, it's fuel. I could give a shit.

50:13Pat McAfee:All right. Well, they're saying you're too soft. You won't go under. So on that note, let's talk about some of the guys that you've obviously had through your program, especially now. Go ahead, D-Bud. Let's go. First of all, good luck, Coach. Go and get another one, especially you got to beat the shit out of Michigan State. I got a Michigan State alum in here who loves it. But I got to ask you about our AK, Caravan, man. He's been a legend, two-time champ there, a senior on the roster right now. What kind of leader has he evolved into throughout his career, and especially right now coming off a career high against UCLA?

50:45Dan Hurley:yeah man go Huskies oh yeah you're going to love your new coach here we got a great one here leading the football Huskies what happened to the last coach football coach what happened to him he went to Colorado State he went to a big time program I got a number of great things no I agree good football

51:05Pat McAfee:that's a good football team coach this is about watch out Huskies right now please I apologize

51:14Dan Hurley:No, Coach Moore was a beast here. And, you know, it's going to be lit with Coach Candle. Oh, that was bad. Nice. That's good. Yeah, I was going to be great, smooth, dude, 52. I did on this show. I had to. That's true. On the – Caravan, it's like cliche. Like, hey, he's like a coach on the floor or whatever. But, like, he's like a coach on the floor. He's a coach in the locker room. He's a coach, you know, in a dining facility. He's a coach in the apartments where the players live. I mean, he's just it's like having an associate head coach that's with his teammates every second of the day. I mean, you know, his mind for the game is is head coach level in terms of the way he could break it down, the way he could process it.

51:58Dan Hurley:You know, his habits rubs off on everyone in the program in terms of his teammates. He peers pressure into film study. He peers pressure into extra work on the court. He peer pressures his teammates into going hard every single rep of every single practice. I'll never coach another player like him. Wow. I'll never have another run of success at a place where it's hard to make history. This guy has had the greatest career of any player that's ever played at UConn in men's basketball. So I think that that sums it up. And he's going to go into the NBA immediately and be a rotation piece straight away.

52:35Dan Hurley:So he's like a son, man. He's like a son.

52:42Pat McAfee:Hey, hell of a career. Yeah. He's a damn good Husky right there. Hey, that was a great. You just cut one of the best promos I've ever heard somebody cut for another human being. I assume that whenever he hears that, he's going to be incredibly pumped and thankful that you're saying that. But I think that means a lot coming from you because I don't think that's just like easily earned to be able to say that in your world because you are old school. Now, on that note, I don't know how the old school folks deal with, like, sleep schedules and such. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Coach, I forget how much you love to make excuses, so I'll give you a chance to.

53:14You guys are playing at 945 against Michigan State. Is there any thought about the late tip? I know a lot of people who are watching, myself included, are wondering why these games don't start one or two hours earlier. But anything change with the 945 tip-off? Probably 1015?

53:31Dan Hurley:Well, who? I mean, what? Who isn't sprinkling in some level of excuses? That's not sprinkling it. You know what? Last night it was funny around, you know, like I talked to his coaches, a fair amount during the year. Right. So we text. I'm a big voice memo guy. I don't like to text. I like to talk or voice memo. So it was like 1145 last night. And I, I, I read, I, I voice memo coach Izzo and I, I left him a voice memo. I just said, yo, my man, you know, it's going to be like halftime right now. Get up and run around your house or something. So, yeah, I mean, we just played. We played the last game of the first round.

54:17Dan Hurley:And I don't think we started until 1030 in Philly. And then we didn't play that. And I was still coaching at like 1 a.m. in the first round. And then the second round we played at 9. So our body clocks are absolutely adjusted and ready to go. We've already played these late games. We played a late game in the semis at the Big East tournament. So that will not be an issue for us. We'll be ready to go.

54:41Pat McAfee:All right. There's no excuses right there. None. I don't want to hear it. None. Look at that. Nothing sprinkled in either. Last game was 1 a.m.-ish. No excuses here. No excuses here at all. Okay, I'm saying, but the last one, no excuses. No excuses. No excuses. But, yeah, we're acclimated to this already playing at these whore shit times. Yeah. That was his answer. Okay, quick. We only have two minutes here, but this is going to be maybe the most important one. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Coach, if people aren't aware, you are a Bengals fan. Sorry, Bengals fan. I'm not sure if you saw this weekend because you were very, very busy.

55:16Joe Burrow just running around on the flag field getting tackled to the ground and stuff. I just wanted to see how you felt about that after another awesome season the Bengals had.

55:25Dan Hurley:I mean, the part you just showed me. I mean, I don't know if I loved seeing his left butt cheek like that.

55:30Pat McAfee:A lot of that. A lot of cheeks out for Joe this weekend.

55:34Dan Hurley:A lot of cheeks. I mean, that's why we love him. I mean, obviously, you hold your gasping that the man doesn't get hurt there, but that's why you love him. I mean, that's why he's got the bungles, as you said, to a Super Bowl, and a hair away from winning the Super Bowl. and I'm confident that this is our year, that this is going to be the year.

56:03Pat McAfee:It sounds like you're telling yourself right there, you know what, I believe you. I believe you that you believe you too. That's why I appreciate most.

56:09Dan Hurley:Well, I communicate with Joe's dad, who again is like a coach's coach, former coach. So we got that kind of family business bond in sports thing. So, like, I'm, you know, we're so far ahead of the Steelers. You know, we're just so far ahead of where the Steelers currently are. Yeah. We won the division, Coach. We won the division, Coach.

56:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, it was like eight and nine. That was a tough division over there. All right, we got to let you go.

56:39Dan Hurley:You guys do a good job in the playoffs.

56:41Pat McAfee:Okay. All right, Coach, you do as well. Hopefully that will continue for you. Good luck through March Madness. We thank you for the time. All right, guys, later. Go ahead. Watch out for the house. Yeah, Coach. Hour two on the other side. Man, that guy's awesome. The man is his best. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. It might change your life. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.

57:04Get in the game with the college-branded Venmo Debit Card. Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo Debit Card at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max$100 cash back per month.

57:36Pat McAfee:In a classroom of sodas, most stay quiet. Then there's Mr. Pibb, sweet cherry, bold outbursts, the kind of flavor that gets attention. Bold kick of cherry. Hey, yo, Mr. Pibb.

57:52Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this Hello Baseball Wednesday. March 25th, 2026. Our tour of the program begins now. Sports. Let's play ball. It's game day. Yeah. Baseball starts their regular season tonight. It'll be the Giants hosting the New York Baseball Yankees. Netflix will be debuting their entire cast of characters that'll be covering this MLB season for them. NBC also doing MLB this year alongside ESPN. And I think Amazon has some baseball games. 162 games is the season in total. And I'll tell you what, after what we saw at the WBC, if any of these games look like that, I'll be hooked for all 162 of them.

58:52Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. Yes. There's been one man who's been driving baseball in this particular office harder than everybody else. He sits at the toxic table next to at Boston Connor. It's at Ty Schmidt. Hey, Ty, let's play ball. It's game day. It really is, though. This is a big deal. It feels like now, even in Pittsburgh, opening day when it's huge, Pirates stink, but opening day is always exciting. How long do we know that everybody cares about baseball? These first three games, four games? No, no, no, no. So, I mean, it depends. So, like, if you're a Pirates fan, you're very excited at this time because we just saw it in the World Baseball Classic.

59:31We shouldn't have lost to Italy, but things happen. Anyone can kind of catch fire and get hot. There are so many guys that you don't know that might come up, and it's like, I've never heard of this guy, and all of a sudden he could be like an all-star caliber player. The problem you could potentially run in like you guys did last year is you have all this excitement because of Skeens and the young pitching staff and everything, and then by like mid-May they've lost so many games and they're already like 20 games out of first place.

59:57Pat McAfee:162 games, they're saying we're already out of playoff contention 23 games in. Exactly. I don't know how that even happened. Don't listen. So you're saying. They don't know. Anything can happen in baseball. That's baseball. Yeah. So you're saying if your team isn't asked, we should be able to pay attention to this. Yeah. Okay, so I'm pulling for Pirates, Yankees, Brewers, Royals. There you go. And I like Logan Webb. Exactly. Tony, Tony. You kind of like the Cubs, too. And I like Tony, Tony, and I like the Chicago Cubs. You like the Dodgers, too. You like the Dodgers. Love the Dodgers. They're the ones paying all the money.

1:00:29Pat McAfee:You're just a bad ball. Move for a three-peat. Phillies? Me too. Phillies, you like your ball. You got to stick with it. No, that's nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler, who is a Rod Connie High School Hall of Famer, South Florida legend. He's allowed to say whatever he wants about anything. If you want to pick up another team, go ahead and do it because I think that team's ass down. Now, that song, they bring back some great memories. Exactly. Seeing the old unis, I watched the video as well. And actually, the Sundays, we'll be wearing those old unis. Bingo. So hopefully that does turn the ties around.

1:00:57What's the song? From Stop? Yeah, yeah. From, yeah. Stop. Big stop. What is it? What do you mean? What song are you talking about? You guys got it started again. Let's play football. It's game day. He knows. He knows. Just make us proud. Just make us proud, Marlon. But I am rooting for three people. The first one since. Since the Yankees did from 98 to 2000. Okay.

1:01:21Pat McAfee:And, you know, I think if we want to cheer for a winner, we'll cheer for the team that is paying so much money in contracts that they're literally going to change the entirety of the league because of it. And let's go Dodgers. They're not the only ones. I remember the Mets who are hosting the Pirates in opening day. They also spent a bunch of money, didn't make the playoffs. So what's right, what's wrong? All we know, players getting paid a bunch of money. We love that. We also like the crack of a bat. We like that Shohei Otani is doing stuff that Babe Ruth, I don't even think was. No, definitely not.

1:01:53Pat McAfee:Shohei, he's coming out as like an ace this year as well as being a guy who has the most stolen bases in baseball over the last whatever many years and also one of the best hitters. So Shohei is going to do all the Shohei stuff this year from beginning to end, it sounds like. You would think it's kind of weird with the Dodgers because they are so good. It's one of those things where it's like, do we really want to exert him so much to the point where he might not be at his best going into the playoffs? Because, yeah, if they wanted to, I mean, he had 11 strikeouts through four innings last night.

1:02:19It's like just absurd shit, you know, and that's not even counting. How many odds are? 12. There's 12, yeah. And now the Angels aren't great, but that's neither here nor there. It's a big league ball club. But we'll see. You know, the Dodgers are so deep that he doesn't have to do the typical I'm going to start once every five days. It might be the type of thing where he'll have certain runs at the point of the season where he is pitching every five days, but he's such a threat at the plate too that I don't think you want to wear him down because every year they have a chance to win a World Series.

1:02:48Pat McAfee:That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP tone. A man live from Manatic in Ohio is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner. A.J. Hawk is here. A.J. Hawk. Happy baseball day, buddy. Yeah, happy baseball day. That song you guys continue to sing, is everybody aware of that? Like that's a national thing we all know. Let's play ball this game day. I was going to see if you knew it. Please tell me where I was supposed to see it. Where do I? Oh, you've never heard of Scott Stapp? I know Scott Stapp, yes, very much. Okay, then you know the song. It's basically all I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey.

1:03:22Pat McAfee:Marlins will soar. Scott Stapp. Just watching the video does kind of get me a little bit of, you know what I'm saying, a little excited. Rocked up. Yeah, a little bit. There's some zippers. There he is. Look how into it he is. He is. A little Stappi. And he's playing ball. It's game day. That's what today is. And, A.J., we're excited to know that you're excited. What teams are you rooting for this year so you can stay interested? Yeah. The Cincinnati Reds are my squad. They take on the Boston Red Sox tomorrow. And who else? Who else should I be fans of? Dodgers. We like the Dodgers. Guardians in Ohio.

1:03:56I like certain players around. Obviously the Guardians. People love the Guardians where I'm at here in Ohio. Do they call them the Guardians still? Depends who you talk to. I think it's kind of a generational thing.

1:04:07Pat McAfee:I understand what you're saying. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who will have much better intel on everything that we just talked about. He's also launching a podcast that I think not only Cubs fans will be pumped about, but anybody that's a fan of sport in general. Going back to the glory days when the Chicago Cubs won 10 years ago. They're reliving it all through a podcast called Lovable Reunion and they put out a minute-long teaser for what it is. Wow, this looks good. Ready? Lock it in, I'm ready. I'm nervous, Tony.

1:04:43Here we are at the Lovable Reunion podcast. Our coach. Joe Maddon. 2016 MVP Chris Bryant. Kyle Schwarber. John Lackey and Jake Arrieta. Johnny fucking Lester. Addison Russell, our shortstop. I can't wait to get into these stories. That guy is like, put it all on the line. When you caught the ball, I thought 108. That was my first thought. I looked over and you see Eddie Vedder poppin' bottles. It didn't matter that it was a World Series to me. 108 years, but for me, it's like, I'm ready for this moment. I cared about what I did, and I cared about you guys, and I cared about fucking winning, dude.

1:05:21You want to talk about a rock star is when Bill Murray rocked him this Saturday night. And he was like, they got y 'all walking out in this, and it was Jay-Z. All these stories we're going to tell throughout this series, it takes a group of special men to come together. We're brothers for life.

1:05:37Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, two-time World Series champion, one of the hosts of Lovable Reunion, which we will all follow along with and fall in love with again. Ladies and gentlemen, some call him Grandpa. We call him Davey Roll. Yay!

1:05:53Coach. Thanks for having me, boys. That was a nice little plug there. Thanks, boys. Hey, no problem. We can't see you, Coach. I mean, Coach, are you in? We can't. We're in the dark office. I need better light. I'm sorry. I'll have to prep for next time.

1:06:07Pat McAfee:No, it just looks like we're interviewing somebody that doesn't want to give away who's talking. Locked up abroad. You know what I mean? like an informant, you know? I think we should have. Vice, Stevie. There we go. That's good. There we go. But if you would have started talking, it would have been like, sounded exactly like, yeah. You can't hide this. Yeah, you're right. You can't hide the moneymaker. Hey, that is the moneymaker. And we're also very thankful that you're joining us. We are very appreciative of the fact that we've gotten to know you a little bit away from the sport as a whole.

1:06:38Pat McAfee:The night I met you on Ernest Buss at the Ryman, you allow me in on a recruiting pitch to Logan Webb to join Team USA. And obviously you're one of the managers of Team USA. We didn't win it all. We lose to Venezuela and that thing. But I love the amount of passion you had for that team. And it was very apparent on that bus that night. And I think it goes back even long before that. What was that run like with the WBC? And we as Americans would like to let you know, thank you for the amount of effort that you put into that team. I appreciate it. Well, it was so much fun. It was nice to, you know, I had to bring in the closer when on the bus and you closed the deal for us.

1:07:14That was an epic night. But it was a lot of fun, man. One of probably the top five baseball experiences I've had. The guys in that room really cared about each other. Guys hung out a lot, a lot of dinners, a lot of laughs. You know, pissed off, obviously, we didn't close the deal. But, again, you guys saw the excitement. You were there. That Venezuelan game was one of the best games I've ever been a part of. The Harper home run, coming back, no offense early on, and then just weren't able to seal the deal. But what a great environment. What a great thing, way to kick off our sport. Such a such a epic kind of thing for all their countries.

1:07:51You know, the Dominican game the two days before, that's one of the loudest stadiums I've ever been in as well. It's just it's fun. It's fun to watch those fans get into every pitch. Like you said, Venezuela, Chen, Ponche, Ponche. Every time they got two strikes. I mean, it was it was I was in the bullpen, had to sit next to the bullpen phone. and it was so loud I couldn't even hear the bullpen phone ring.

1:08:14Pat McAfee:So maybe, we don't know if any situation has popped up in that. Maybe D-Row needs a little less heat. You know, maybe a little less heat on D-Row back on his show, by the way. Okay, here we go. Congrats, D-Row. Good night, boy, D-Row. Hey, there was some heat coming after D-Row. We love D-Row. You love D-Row. And obviously there's no team managers that are coaching these teams because they're all in their own training camps or whatever. So it's a lot of ex-players. It's a lot of people still involved with the sport. there were some big decisions. How did you, obviously you've managed before, but how did you feel about the entire process of Team USA?

1:08:47Pat McAfee:And can you tell us a little bit about D-Row? Because I want to let you know, this toxic table over here were not too kind to D-Row, Grandpa. They were not. That's part of sitting in the manager's seat. You know, you catch the heat, anything goes wrong. I've been there and it is heat, but there's a lot of things that I don't think behind the scenes people know. You're trying to protect a lot of these guys. There's a lot of guardrails that go along with the position players and the pitching. There's moves that have to be made. Guys got to get in. Guys got to get some of their numbers. Because, again, they're in spring training, and you're going to send these guys.

1:09:23A lot of these guys left with five, six days left in spring training, and they've got to be ready for opening day. And that starting pitcher is expected to go 100-plus pitches like Logan. And obviously he did great and was part of the all-world baseball classic team. And so that was a big pickup for us. You know, I was one of the stars. We get a lot of credit for that. But D-Ro is the absolute best, man. That coaching staff was so involved. There's a lot of experience on that coaching staff. D-Ro had done it before. Been there and finished second two years ago. Again, three to two. So you hate that we couldn't pull it out.

1:10:01And, again, it's just baseball. You know, we lost to Italy. That's the great thing about our sport is anybody can win on any certain day. And we just didn't get the big hit we needed. Yeah.

1:10:11Pat McAfee:It would have been so cool. It would have been so cool. It would have been awesome. I hate losing. We all do. I think that moment would have been awesome, obviously, for me personally. Just if I wanted to go strictly, you're a manager, you're in dugout, you've put in time and obviously all the recruiting, pitching, and everything you've done for the team. But for me personally, I had never felt that way at a sport event before. I had never felt that before. Certainly, I was a little boozed up. Certainly, I was a little boozed up in there. And it was nice to kind of feel as if I was just a part of something because a lot of Venezuelans had no idea who I was.

1:10:49Pat McAfee:It was a lot of Venezuelans. So it was like I was in a crowd. It was awesome. I had the time of my life at that game there. And when Bryce hit this two-run homer, after we hadn't got a hit, I mean, you're talking maybe most boring baseball of all time. If you were to judge it off of just like stats and things actually happening, not a single hit. When that thing left the building and he does that bat flip, the jubilation that went through my soul, I had never felt as a fan at a game before. I had never felt. I was standing up on the chair. I was screaming. Usually I'd be like very, I don't want to get anybody's way because then I'm the biggest asshole of all time.

1:11:27Pat McAfee:I lost complete control. We went crazy. He about turned 40 the next – I mean, we were – Ernest and Dylan were – I mean, we had a ball in there. It made me fall in love with baseball. Like, it actually did. It was the first time I've ever had that experience at a sporting event, but also it was the first time it made me understand about baseball a little bit. Like, oh, like the lack of action is just building for when the action comes. Now, if a game happens and no – like if Bryce wouldn't have done that, boy, me walking out of that building probably like – never in my life am I doing that ever again.

1:11:59Pat McAfee:but that one moment was just like that was like the the tension was building almost throughout the entirety and then it finally burst it was like i've never felt this before so i want to let you know world baseball classic i felt i i fell in love with your guys's sports i think it was a success for me personally but god it would have been nice if we would have won but venezuela felt like the right country to win grandpa felt like they were the right country to win they were very happy with the dub they they they have been through a lot as a country and those guys i mean you saw the tears. I know a lot of those, the Contreras brothers, you know, there's guys on that team that, you know, and, and they're fighting for their country, but I'm glad that we made a baseball fan of you.

1:12:38I know you've been heavy on this and covering it. You guys have been covering it so great. And it was fun to watch you guys kind of dive in and your audience and put us on the map with all the, all the football you get to, we get to watch on your show and the college football, which is a big love here in the South for me, but it's it was fun. It was fun to watch you guys cover it and kind of dive in. And for you guys to be there was special.

1:12:59Pat McAfee:We appreciate the hospitality. We didn't do shit. You guys did it all. But thank you for welcoming us, and thank you for it all. Now let's talk a little bit more about the baseball. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, David, obviously you spent some time as the manager for the Cubs. You took over for Joe Maddon, your great manager, I guess. What was it like? Was it what you expected? And I guess who did you kind of lean on throughout your career when you got to that point to where you said, hey, how do I handle certain situations? Were there certain coaches you'd reach out to? Yeah, Brian Snicker was one, the former Braves.

1:13:29He just retired. The Braves manager, Walt Weiss, has taken over for him this year in Atlanta. Joe Madden, I called a lot. Some of my guys, A.J. Hinch, Dave Roberts, and I played together with the Dodgers coming up. Alex Cora was a teammate of mine. I had a lot of good guys to lean on. My bench coach, Andy Green, who's now in the front office with the Mets, had managed in San Diego and is a really smart guy, one of the smartest baseball guys I've been around. I had a lot of guys in my corner and the guys I could reach out to. I think the main thing about managing that you don't get is the behind-the-scenes conversation, a lot of hard conversations in the office, a lot of truthful, just raw emotions that you have to tell guys.

1:14:14And be honest, I'm kind of ripped the band-aid off type of guy that wants to just tell the guys the truth, whether they like it or not. I hate sugarcoat. I don't think you guys, as former athletes, especially you, AJ, I just want to be told the truth so I can handle it like a man and not be lied to or kind of beat around the bush. That's the way I kind of try to manage. It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of off-the-field stuff, and you're always kind of carrying that manager tag with you, even in the offseason and the work you do behind the scenes. It's fun, man, being in that dugout, competing with the guys, being in their corner, having conversations, seeing guys get better, seeing young guys get better.

1:14:55Winning is just, it's infectious. And you're, especially when you've been able to win, like I was as a player and be on championship teams, you're striving for that. And, you know, there is no, there is no, it's nice to make the playoffs. It's, it's, it's win a world series or, or it's not good enough. And so that's the way I operated, always trying to keep that goal in mind. and hopefully I get another shot, but it's nice to be back in baseball doing some ESPN stuff, being on TV, being able to commentate, being on the World Baseball Classic. It gave me such a fuel of being back with the guys.

1:15:28What a great group of guys we had.

1:15:29Pat McAfee:Well, we love the fact that ESPN signed you, because then hopefully we'll just be able to pluck off a couple of those. The person that runs ESPN MLB, big fan of ours. Oh, nice. Yeah, huge fan of ours. So I'm sure that'll be easy. I'm sure that'll be something that'll be simple, but I do know that you joining ESPN is good for ESPN. It's good for baseball. I appreciate the hell out of you. And when I was in that bus at Ernest's show at the Ryman, you were sitting a little bit down for me at the bus at the very beginning, and I texted the group. I was like, Legend, Cubs, I think they called him Grandpa.

1:16:04Pat McAfee:I was trying to get the name. I was trying to get the name. And the boys all texted me immediately. They were like, Rossi, dog, dog, dog. Everybody in there was like, this dude's awesome. You're beloved, man. So I think it's good for Ball that you're getting back out there. And that lovable reunion I think is going to be a great piece of content as well. So we're pumped for it all, and we're thankful you're joining us today. Now, let's talk a little bit about the season that is about to start. 162 games of mental toughness and dedication. Go ahead, Ty. Goddamn right. Can't wait. Rossi, just curious.

1:16:34When you look at the season as a whole, do you think guys who played in the World Baseball Classic are going to be more ready than they would have been had they just went through a kind of typical spring training just because it is good on good every game. We were talking about relief pitching especially. I was wondering if the way Bednar and Mason Miller both performed in those high-pressure intensity games, that could propel them to have career years. But for position players, because it is full go and it's win-or-go-home games pretty much, Do you think those guys will kind of be more ready to hit the ground running than they would have been had they just went through an ordinary spring training?

1:17:15I think it's going to be individualized. I think the guys that got regular at-bats will probably hit the ground running, being in that environment, being in the intensity that that was, the focus that you have to turn on for such a big event. But there's also guys in there that didn't pitch as much. There's guys in there that didn't get to play. Ernie Clement only got a handful of at-bats. Certain guys, Byron Buxton got one start. You know, some of these guys are going to go back to their spring training. You know, Kyle Raleigh mentioned to me, he's like, I'm ready to get back to spring training afterwards just to get some at-bats.

1:17:47And I think they headed to Seattle or their kind of exhibition.

1:17:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, and he hit a double the next night. Thanks. First at-bat. There you go. So he was trying to get some at-bats on backfields. They can go to the minor league fields and get consistent at-bats and just try to ratchet up, get back to their normal kind of routine and get as many at-bats, as many looks as you possibly can. So it'll be a little bit individualized, but I definitely think that's good for all of baseball and the players to be in that intense environment so fast. And I do want to say one thing. I definitely thought that my hitting advice to you, Pat, on that bus showed in your at-bat against Kershaw because you probably took my advice, and I'm a career 220 hitter, and I've been on some good teams, but it did not look pretty that day off Kersh.

1:18:30I know you've got that swinging. That's my nose line. I got on base. That's right. You got on base, but you definitely were swinging like Grandpa Rossi, that's for sure.

1:18:39Pat McAfee:Well, hey, man, you know what I learned is it's going to be hard for me to kind of time up the bat and my hips and my legs. You know, I kind of – that's a disadvantage that I have from not playing your guys' sport growing up or playing golf growing up. Like, it's hard for me to – I can kick, which is hips. I can punt, which is hips. I can dance, which is hips. pretty good but the timing of the hands and the bat and the the whole thing i ain't got it like i i just ain't got it i i try my best arms and i even had a who's super agent boris yeah boris like you need to go ahead and turn that hip already we kind of get that thing started so you can kind of get that thing through and then you just kind of throw your hands i used to be a punter and i was three i could do that entire thing so i i did that too if you even watch me i like plant my here i'm like all right i'm gonna get my hips around on this thing and then when push comes to shove i'm just yeah right yeah i'm just throwing my back foot's going flying yeah A little bit of strike zone recognition is all it was.

1:19:31The swing wasn't that bad. It just chased a little bit out of the zone. I thought this was one of the best things to watch. I was laughing so hard in the way Kersh was so great to do this, and you all dressed up, and you're locked in on everything you do. I can tell your competitiveness goes to another level you do not like. And we did that breaking ball right there. You're like, what was that? That was nasty.

1:19:51Pat McAfee:And then it called a strike. I think the guy who was catching was potentially working against me quite a bit. And I don't think I love you saying you – yeah. I mean, you and Pettit are certainly a good time. Okay? Pettit was working against me too. Oh, yeah. Big time. Big time. Yeah, he's 6 '100", too, whatever he is. This giant of a human, and he's just talking shit. Hey, let's hurry this – let's get this over with. How many outs? The guy gets three outs? Yeah, right. We need to get a pitch in two days. Can we get a – it was a blast. Kershaw is the man. Your entire group of people were so nice to us.

1:20:21Pat McAfee:Like, we are forever indebted to MLB. Honestly, how genuinely kind baseball has been to us has been very weird. It's been very strange with our normal relationship with your type of entity. I don't know how better to explain it, but it's like MLB for us has just been like, yo, come on, man. Let's go. We'd love to have you. Learn about the game however you want. You want to go live from – I think they were going to put us at second base at your guys' first practice. And I talked to D-Road. D-Road was like, we got one day together. Can we not? Can we not have the entire thing? You got it. We'll be on the side.

1:20:55Pat McAfee:But, like, we are very grateful for baseball. You have been huge for the entirety. And we're going to cover it for 162 games. That's right. 162 games. Every single one of them, we're going to be pumped up about it. World Baseball Classic obviously took us by surprises. I think there's some other things that potentially came from it. Go ahead, D-Butt. Yeah, behind the scenes, spending time. I'm sure you know these guys on some level. but spending all this time with the guys that were on that World Baseball Classic team. Was there any one that kind of stands out that something surprised you about him, whether it be off the field where it's personality-wise or something, work ethic-wise or something like that?

1:21:31Anything, one of these guys that jumped out to you to surprise you? Yeah, well, a number of guys. I knew about Paul Skeen's routine. I know you guys know him well, but this guy's a machine, and he's going to pitch for a really long time. And why he stayed healthy and why his stuff is so electric. He's got great talent, but his work ethic. I almost quick story. We were in he came out of a game and had to throw a bullpen a couple more innings to get his pitch count up and to get ready in spring in our little spring exhibitions. And he went down there and warmed up and I was down there standing next to him and he let me call.

1:22:06He's like, hey, call two hitters, Rossi. And I'm like, oh, man, I get to call pitches for Paul Skeens. This is ridiculous. So I was calling like backdoor cutters and the splinker change thing. he throws and front hip and like I was in, I was, I was in a dream world at that moment. He was, he was, let me kind of partake in calling a game for him and how, why I did stuff and was asking questions. He's just so in tune. He's so passionate about USA one, about his craft. That was really fun. Early early Clement, I got to hang out with golf with him and Schwarber and Brad Keller. Those guys off the field, really good golfers.

1:22:43And just like his personality, you see why he had so much success in the world series. last year and the biggest moment of his probably career and went off set a record for hits in the World Series just he's so even keel and nothing bothers him uh Bryce Terrain's an absolute stud guy didn't I I managed against him but I mean he's hitting his ball Schwarber's hitting balls far Harper uh Judge and then you see Ernie Clement he's passing he's launching balls in batting practice deeper than anybody there was there was just a lot of fun and a lot of these guys but I I think those guys stood out the most to me watching their work and their batting practice and how they went about their business and how they carried themselves was really impressive to me.

1:23:23Pat McAfee:Love to hear that about Paul Skeens, you know, because he's a great Pittsburgh Pirate. On that note, Tone has a question. What's that? He's a Pittsburgh. They spent over$100 million this year. He is for now. We got control for him for now. Their lineup is stacked this year, D-Butch. Thank you, Gumby. And we got the best deal in time. We're not paying anybody. We got the best lineup. That's Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. We're doing that. Hold on. On that note, because they do have decent odds, they are currently the most bet on team to win their division and also make the playoffs. Rossi, I'm a Buccos fan.

1:23:57Obviously, you know them from the NL Central, but they bring in Ryan O 'Hearn. They bring in Brandon Lau. They bring in Marcelo Zuna. They couldn't hit for shit last year. And obviously, the pitching staff is really, really good. There's some concerns about the defense. But what is your thought on the Buccos and maybe when Connor Griffin comes up, who is the number one prospect in baseball?

1:24:14Pat McAfee:And say it with me, Tone. Hey, D-Buck, you don't know baseball. You don't know baseball. Casual. Where's your glove? Hey, the Buccos are coming. Ben Charrington was my GM when we won in Boston. He knows baseball. And I think it kind of disappointed last year with them not adding offense when you knew they were going to have the type of pitching staff they did. So pretty impressive some of the moves. I think Ozuna is going to be a game changer. The guy makes everybody better being around him. He's got the kind of personality that you need, and they're going to be in the mix. I think they're going to be much better than last year, obviously.

1:24:54That pitching staff's legit.

1:24:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, pitching staff's legit. Everybody's throwing over a hundo. I mean, that's just kind of how we do it over there in Pittsburgh, and I think you'll be able to tell early possibly. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Rossi, speaking of personalities, I have to say thank you as a Boston Red Sox fan. You know, you brought one home for us, would maybe love a lovable reunion with that Sox 2013 team. Would love to check in on Koji Iwohara. But how often do you know when you step into a clubhouse, like, oh, there are World Series vibes in here. Like this group has something special about it. With the Cubs and the Sox, the two you won, was that early on?

1:25:29Was it something that you kind of developed throughout the season? Or was it even something you just kind of found during the postseason like you did in Boston? Yeah, well, in Boston, I thought, like, you walked in, and I hadn't won a World Series before, but being around Pedroia, Ortiz, some of the guys on that team, Mike Napoli, Johnny Gomes was a big part of that group in bringing guys together, Ryan Dempster, Lackey, I mean, Lester, obviously. Excuse me. They've got a ton of guys, and you walked into spring training, and they had come off a season in 12 where there was a lot of talk about the clubhouse wasn't this and wasn't that.

1:26:07I didn't feel that at all. When I walked in, there was, I remember, you know, walking around and we noticed one guy was like, Oh, there's the asshole. There's the guy that doesn't belong, you know, like, and they got him out of there pretty quick. And we went off to do special things from a group that wasn't expected to do anything. So in Chicago is a little different. We had some young guys that we were bringing along, but we had the veteran mix guys who had won and guys who had been competing at a high level a lot in their careers and when those guys get in the room they talk about it jake peavy tells a story uh in boston when he got traded over to us he said we were already planning the duck boat tours when he we were having those conversations when he got traded over at the deadline and we had been having craig breslow that now the gm of the red socks was who had already had duck boat shirts printed up about the parade and just said just press press play because we knew it was already written so those are the type of conversations that the good teams have and they're they're talking about not just get into the playoffs or their individual stats.

1:27:06They're talking about winning the whole thing and it's normal conversation and nobody's even balking at that possibility.

1:27:12Pat McAfee:Last baseball question for you, talking about all those things. That's amazing to hear, by the way, calling your shot that early. That's phenomenal to know that you got the squad that nobody's going to be able to beat in seven. That's a pretty cool little feeling. Hey, if we get seven chances at this, I don't think anybody's beating us. That's going to be the Pittsburgh Pirates and maybe it's going to be a team that dawns the pinstripes. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Rossi, looking ahead tonight, do you think that this year is potentially a make or break year for the Yankees with everything that happened last year.

1:27:39And then everyone was wondering what kind of moves they were going to make. They kind of just ran it back. There's obviously been quite a bit of heat on Booney and Cashman, just given what Judge has been the last, I mean, his whole career, but the last five years or so. Everyone thinks the Dodgers are kind of just runaway favorites and that no one can beat them. But what do you think? Do you think there will be massive changes in New York if they can't get it done this year? or they kind of disappoint and peter out in the playoffs like they did last year yeah i think you know going into that environment the yankees always got make or break expectations it feels like and you know i said to somebody the other day the dodgers are the yankees of my generation coming up it was the you know the the jeters and and uh the group that won five in a row pettit all those guys passada you know those guys were on a run there and it felt like nobody could keep up with them.

1:28:31And I feel like the Dodgers are in that same boat. So it's a talented group, man. You look up and down that lineup, I think it's really, really talented. I don't know how many holes they had that they felt like they could fill. The pitching staff, if they can stay healthy, I think that's the key for them, obviously for everybody. But having that depth in the staff, and I think that offense is going to be better than I think it was last year. You need Giancarlo to be healthy the full year. I think Belly was a good addition to sign back and keep those guys. Obviously, Garrett Cole and those guys coming back for a full season.

1:29:07Hill, they're going to be pretty good. Rendon, sorry. They've got a stacked lineup. So, yeah, they're going to have to go out and prove it.

1:29:15Pat McAfee:Garrett Cole shaved. What's wrong with his face? Didn't something happen with his face? Well, he shaved when he got to the Yankees because, you know, that used to be what we do, no facial hair. And then Devin Williams, maybe like one of the worst acquisitions the Yankees have ever had, came over and basically made sure that they changed the rules. So they did, and then they got rid of his ass the year later. And then they changed the rules back? Well, now it's kind of just like optional. But, you know, real Yankees, they know, hey, you're either rocking a mustache or you don't have some fucking five o 'clock shadow.

1:29:40You don't have some half-ass beard. He does. He looks a little bit different, but he's a Yankee. He always wanted to be a Yankee, and he respects the tradition of the franchise, unlike some guys like Devin Williams. okay i said i did like the stash when they when they had to walk the stash because the guys that wanted facial hair um you know we we actually had a we had this arty baylor our first base coach mike napoli nicknamed he just had this thick stash they nick they nicknamed him dick broom so that was not bad but so his nickname now when he texts us he just says broom yeah he hits with broom so yeah yeah there's nothing wrong with that i'll tell you what as somebody that is not a good

1:30:19Pat McAfee:mustache grower, you know, and for a long time never had shaved face. I mean, granted, the Yankees paid everybody more than everybody else in Europe. If you're a superstar, it's what you want anyways. I think that is a determiner though, especially if you've got some of these turkey faces that some people have. That would have to be something that your agent would say, listen, you're going to have to look in the mirror at yourself every day and see that call it. But guess what? You're a New York Yankee. Good opportunity to check in, guys, too. You know, when they first get there, they've been with a different team.

1:30:49You just gave them a bunch of money. You make them shave. It's like, you got eight chins, pal. We just paid you$300 million. Go lose some fucking weight. Let's go. That's what the boss would have done. Hopefully you'd realize that before that, before he shaved. Who changed the rules? Who was the guy? Devin Williams. He was a closer for the Brewers who was really good, and he came over, and he's basically just like, I'm not comfortable if I don't have a beard. So they're like, all right, go ahead, have a beard. And then everyone had a beard. And then he wasn't very good. and then they got rid of him and now he plays for the Mets.

1:31:18And how's he doing for the Mets? Is he good? I haven't really checked in too much. I did see like the one spring training pitch I saw from him. He gave up a homer. That's a hater. No, no, no. Good luck to him this year.

1:31:31Pat McAfee:This guy's a hater. Jeez Louise. Alright, last question here from AJ for you, Grandpa? Yeah, David, so tell us about your Dancing with the Stars experience. I believe you were a runner-up on that situation. Pat mentioned he's a good dancer earlier obviously you're a proven good dancer on national television what was that experience like i hear it's actually a pretty grueling situation yeah yeah well you know one of those things you never think you're gonna have on the resume and the internet's undefeated uh since being on that show man it was hard like it was not i mean my idea of dancing was like grinding up on my wife after a couple beers you know what i mean like that was that was uh i didn't know ballroom dancing obviously lindsey arnold my my partner there she was absolutely amazing uh one of the best people I've ever been around.

1:32:15And she walked me through the whole thing. It was hard. That's my championship pose. I see that. Thank God I didn't fall. Thank God I didn't embarrass myself. A bedazzled Cubs uniform right there, Pat. That's what we got rocking. It was hard, man. It was a lot. It was a lot of being uncomfortable, nervous. But I got through it and finished second, which was, I don't know how the heck that happened. Thank God for all the people that voted for me. great experience in my life glad I did it I get recognized in airports either for Cubs World Series or Dance with the Stars I think Dance with the Stars takes it takes the cake usually when I'm walking through the airport Dance with the Stars is still gigantic right?

1:32:58Pat McAfee:Humongous as big as it's ever been right now 12 to 15 people 12 to 15 million people they say tune into that thing every Monday night nuts I've only watched the last two seasons so I'm a new fan so I miss your season and seeing that photo, I wish so bad that I could have watched you. And getting second place is incredibly impressive. Yeah, congratulations. Was it the foxtrot that brought you down, or what was it? What really was the – why didn't you get the super-duper dance title? Well, Rashad Jennings, former running back for the – Oh, good feat. No chance. He had abs for days. You know what I mean?

1:33:35I'm rocking love handles down here. He's ripped off his shirt. He's got abs for days. The guy was absolute stud. I had a blast. Simone Biles was on there. There was Mr. T. I got to hang out with Mr. T on there. Grow back to the A team. I mean, we had a good time. That's a great season. It was fun. It was fun. Lindsay's sister now is on the season. Briley, she's on it and is doing phenomenal. So it's a great show. It's great people there, real family atmosphere, but it definitely was the nervous I've ever been in my life every single week stepping foot on that dance floor.

1:34:10Pat McAfee:I like that you got a chance to kind of battle the nerves there. That's always good. You don't normally get a chance to kind of fight against your fears. Having to go out and be completely exposed in a – it was a bedazzled Cubs. What was it? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, I was on it for 10 weeks. We had a bunch of different – 10 weeks. Hold on. Can you – because you talk about grueling. AJ and I have both heard from people who have potentially been asked to be on it what they're being told it's like. We have been told, AJ and I – and, AJ, I don't want to speak for you. if I'm wrong, you can certainly correct me, but I think we both see it.

1:34:42Pat McAfee:We've heard this is hours and hours of training, like every single day. And people are like losing a lot of weight. Like this is a full body commit 10 weeks. You're on this thing. It wasn't a start. You start three weeks earlier to train for your first one. And then it's every week you're learning. I literally drop my kids at school, go and practice for seven, eight hours a day. And it's every day. And then I was flying back and forth from from florida here to the west coast and then taking the red eye back after the show um and then you have a cameraman and your partner flies with you it's it's it's a commitment it's i've learned more about myself you you fail you get nervous about not knowing the dance and by probably like you start on tuesday and by thursday or friday you might have half the dance and you're like wait a minute this thing's coming up and uh you just it's it's every day.

1:35:34If you don't get it, you just keep going, man. And then the nerves get when it's live, so you fall on your face, the world's going to see it. So luckily, I didn't embarrass myself too much.

1:35:45Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. I love that that exists, and I love that you did it. Congratulations on getting runner-up for that. Yeah. He did it in Spikes, too, which no one else has done. His last song was Let's Play Bald's Game Day. Hey, speaking of that, Let's Play Bald's Game... It's Game Day. You know the song? I don't know it. I don't know it. I got to brush up. Hey, AJ, I'm locked in with you, bro. I hadn't heard that one. I've heard a lot of baseball tunes. You have not heard that? Text it to him. For the people watching and listening, not everybody knows what this song is. I don't understand how that's possible.

1:36:22Let's play ball. It's game day. Crack. It's got staff. Music. You like music? Creed back on tour, by the way.

1:36:35Pat McAfee:I cannot believe you don't know this song. We know D-Bot loves it. Yeah. I mean, look at those unis, man. Yeah, the unis. It's a song. It's not about the unis. It's a song. It's about the unis. Was this the Marlins hype video? Yes, it was. Okay. Circa 2005, maybe. This is there someday. We'll go all the way for the Cubs, basically. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Little Go Cubs Go. Oh, it's Scott Stapp. No, it's not Go Cubs Go. Come on. This isn't a gimmick. This is a real deal. It's like the Eddie Vedder version. There you go. Okay. All right. Let's get out of here before we, you know, burn this down.

1:37:09Pat McAfee:Scott freaking stats. Yeah. I don't want to piss. I don't want him on the bad side of what Rossi's got going on. No. Especially with the lovable reunion happening right now. We will tune into that just like we will tune into anything that you do, brother. We'd love to support you any way we can. You're the man. We appreciate you. I appreciate the love. Good to talk to you guys. Keep it rolling. Ladies and gentlemen, that's two-time World Series champion, Grandpa Rossi. Yay! Are we the only ones that know this song? Shocking. No. Clubhouse is probably the winner. Don't even know what you guys are saying.

1:37:40We're probably not supposed to, but I feel like we should almost just play it. I think. I don't know if we have a choice, to be quite honest.

1:37:47Pat McAfee:How does he not know that song, though, David? He's in Clubhouse. I thought everybody knew it. Exactly. I'm shocked. He's in Clubhouse. Of course he doesn't know that song. Do you think players are playing that? Yeah, dude. You would assume that some. How'd it come back into your life? Let's play ball. It's game day. It's in the song there. It's game day, dude. Tonight. Yeah. Every time tonight happens. Exactly. Opening day. And tomorrow, yeah. Normally it's opening day. But now we have opening night, you know, because of Netflix. The hand is probably singing. Yeah, maybe Scott. Yeah, maybe. Scott should be there.

1:38:25Scott should be with Netflix tonight. He's a Marlins fan, dickhead. Why would he be in San Francisco? 370 million views on YouTube. I should have known even more. How many? 370 million. Thank you. Wait, what? 50? So everyone's seen it at least once in America. Well, I've probably watched that 200 million times, so I don't know. I don't know how. That's still 170 million. You're right. That's still a lot of people. All right.

1:38:49Pat McAfee:Let's move along here. We got a huge convo coming up in four minutes. Oh, hell yeah. It's time. I'm sure he knows about it. I'm sure he does. Because this guy's a fucking champion. Okay, that's what he is. Actually, hey, where do you want me to find this guy? Well, you'll find him right there at Victory Fucking Lane. Yep. All the time. He's won four of the first six out of 26 regular season NASCAR races. That's right. Dayton. Ever heard of it? Yep. Yep, I've won. Just had. You heard of it? Hell yeah. The 500? Hell yeah. Because they wrap up at Dayton, too. But the 500 won the one at the beginning where they celebrate.

1:39:28Pat McAfee:He won that one. Then he also won that. Auto Trader 400. Boom. He won. Is that in Atlanta? Is that the one? I believe that's Coca-Cola 400. He won that one. Darlington. Boom. Jeff. Jeff. Just won Jeff. The Goodyear 400 at Darlington. Okay. This dude is a wheel man. Let's show what he did in Daytona real quick. You think to yourself, oh, he might have got lucky or whatever. No. We're fucking wheeling to dubs around here. Okay. This man rocking the Jordan car. Yes. Michael. Bam. Slingshot, engage. Get out of my way. Get out of here. You all are going to crash because you are trying to keep up with me.

1:40:05Pat McAfee:That's Daytona. That's the first one. That's the granddad of them all. Since then, he's won. I think there's other ones. They say that there's 10 playoff races. Yeah, but Daytona's the granddaddy of them all. Ladies and gentlemen, a man that is getting comfortable with the confetti. And it seems like it's only going to continue. Ladies and gentlemen, Tyler Reddick. Yeah, Tyler! Hell yeah, Tyler. what an intro thanks guys Tyler we're just trying to let people know that who we're talking to right now is maybe the best to ever do it now there has been two others that have accomplished the feats that you are currently accomplishing there was obviously the legendary million dollar Billy Elliot oh we loved him that was in 1992 I do believe and then in 1997 a man who's won four out of the first six races is the greatest of all time who's that Ty Schoenberg has Dale Senior ever heard of him Yeah, so whenever you talk about old Bill and you talk about three and then you drop your name in there, we got to be living pretty good right now.

1:41:03Pat McAfee:How is life right now, Tyler? Is this what we always expected? Is this a crazy ride? How do you kind of live in the current moment, sir? I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm I'm I'm on a I'm on a graphic sharing, you know, history with with two of the legends of NASCAR racing. And yeah, I you dream of being able to win races and one day maybe be a cup driver. But for us to do it in the way that we have, it's just it's truly mind blowing, honestly. But the things that have come our way in the first couple of in these races that we've we've gone on to win, they haven't been clean races. uh you know at daytona the strategy went sideways we clawed back our way to the front to win that one um echo park speedway i literally wrecked with like 30 laps to go no right front fender on my car we get it fixed up drive back to the front uh coda we think we have a loose wheel we risk it we stay out we keep the lead we win the race um and then this past weekend at darlington our alternator fails lap one so i'm having to cut fans off no cooling to me we had to swap the battery at the end of stage one we drove back from the back to the front and got the dub so adversity is no problem for tyler we got no front uh fender here we got no fender no sleeves i think you look good though i think you look pretty good especially with the jump man logo on there obviously jump man's wheel man you have brought him happiness in something that he has been committed to for a very long time watching his pure jubilation after a win is special because we'll see him do basketball stuff and it's like just kind of status quo it is what it is we see him do interviews he's very calm cool collected he wins you win you all win he's losing his mind actually what is it like not only the relationship but having him as an owner and obviously being as all in as he is on nascar i mean being able to share these moments with with michael are are truly amazing.

1:42:59You know, as a kid growing up, you, you dream of being a cup series driver. You dream of having an opportunity to race in the 500, but I never in my life would have imagined that I would be able to do this with, with owners like Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, Curtis Polk, Gene. I mean, yeah, this moment right here, right? Like you dream of being able to hold up this trophy, but never in my wildest dreams that I think that I'd be doing with Michael Jordan. So yeah, just being able to have these moments with him is truly incredible, but, but you know, you, you hit on it. I mean, he, he invests himself so heavily into what we do.

1:43:32And, uh, you know, in this off season, we were trying to figure out what do we got to do to turn the 45 around? What do we got to do to get back to victory lane? And, um, the way he opens himself up to us, to be able to ask questions to him, for him to share his stories with us. Um, just again, he is, he is all in and, um, you see that in his excitement in victory lane. You can tell how much this means to him.

1:43:51Pat McAfee:AJ has a question for you, Tyler. That's very cool to hear about that. Yeah. I guess as far as meeting Michael Jordan, when was the first time you actually met him face to face? Were you, I don't know, were you a little anxious going in? Was it intimidating? Like, have you ever gotten to play golf with him? Do you go on his, that sweet fishing yacht he has and goes and wins fishing competitions? Like we know the guy likes to compete. Have you got to spend any time off the track with him? Yeah, I have off the track, but I'll be honest with you guys. I spend so much time racing that I'm absolutely terrible at golf.

1:44:21I'm terrible at fishing. There's a reason I'm a race car driver. I couldn't sing, I couldn't dance and I wasn't good at any other sport. So I, uh, I stick to what I'm good at, but I haven't able to spend some time away from, uh, you know, away from the racetrack and, you know, you see it, you got, everyone got to see it in basketball. We're all getting to see it now in NASCAR, but he's just such a competitive person in every aspect of life. It's, it's truly inspiring, honestly. And, um, I just, I hope as I get older and who knows, maybe when I get done with racing, I can continue to be as competitive as he is, as he's been his whole life.

1:44:54Pat McAfee:I don't know. Tyler, maybe, I mean, he won four out of six you're on a graphic with dale you might be one of the you might be one of them forever i think the mental capacity for uh competition is just a tick at a psychotic level for some of these people you know and they're the ones that end up hell you might be one of these we don't know we honestly have no idea whenever it's all said and done if you are not but those guys michael jordan obviously is in that kobe i mean we could go through it all serena uh peyton Tom, like you get it. Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods. Like the, there's like something.

1:45:29Jordan kind of started that, that kind of crazy competitive fire.

1:45:32Pat McAfee:Yeah. It feels like, and that's what he's talked about. Like, that's why coach K said he's by, that guy could anything. So you might be there. I could see how that could rub off though. Anything he's around, especially anything he is committed to. I love that. What size shoe are you? What size shoe do you wear? I am a, I'm not, I'm not wearing the same size shoe as Michael. I'm a size nine, but I've made it work my whole life so far I was hoping you were 12 I was going to say this is my size my wife you know has not been a fan of how much things have changed around the house or in the closet the last 4 or 5 years I went from having just a couple pairs of shoes to I take up the entire closet with all the Jordans so she's not in love with that but we actually have the same shoes so I'll catch her sneaking out of the house with a pair on every now and again That's what I'm going to talk about, because I got a friend who has a size eight.

1:46:22Pat McAfee:What are you going to be eight, nine? Yeah, nine will do. Okay. So we got eight and a half in the office. A pair of socks. Come on. Keys. Guys. AJ. What? Come on. He doesn't know baseball. He doesn't know the Marlins song. He's just upset. It's okay. Yeah, you're right. He'll get over it. Sorry, Tyler. We're going through some stuff in here right now. We're going through some chemistry building stuff right now. Those shoes. Is that all the same? you just wear you're like steve jobs you were saying saying i'm actually i'm in um one of uh one of the offices we have here at airspeed um this is the uh the 23 office space so which yeah those might be 12s back there but you need to go those are all 13s those are all michaels they're all the same uh when we first set up this room denny came in here and kind of put up all of his favorite shoes in his size denny hamlin uh one of the you know the race car driver and michael came in here he said got to get all these kids shoes off the wall and he he came in here and had um all these 11s brought in yeah what are my favorite these ones put them up there please every time i would like to see you know i'm gonna this whole company's being paid for by these okay just want to let you know that so let's go ahead and run this i appreciate the collab with nascar and michael jordan i assume nascar had no like michael jordan wants to work with you kidding me how much does he want to work with us and then there was obviously what happened between them and NASCAR.

1:47:47Pat McAfee:And now still the love and commitment and everything that is there. Good for NASCAR. Hey, maybe they're making a big... Hey, how do you feel about F1? You can race one of them if you had to get in there. Obviously, you can fit in. I think I've gotten a little old. I mean, I'm still 30, but I think if I was going to go that route, I would have had to branch off and go that way much earlier in life. How about IndyCar? How about IndyCar? Because there has been NASCAR drivers. Who did it last? Larson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the driver I replaced here, Kurt Busch, he was very successful in doing it, too.

1:48:19Funny enough, a couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to hop in the simulator and go around Road America, the Indy Road course. Those were the two. And yeah, actually, the adjustment period wasn't that bad. It got me really excited to maybe do it one day, but it hasn't happened yet. I've I've found in this NASCAR racing world with all the data and engineering that's kind of exploded over the last 10, 15 years. There's so much work to be done during the week. And so I've just had trouble keeping up, especially with how this year's been. I've just had trouble keeping up. So I hope it'll happen one day.

1:48:51But no plans for this year as of right now.

1:48:55Pat McAfee:Continue to master your craft. We respect and appreciate that. Winning four out of the first six races, I think NASCAR is probably going to want to see you do more stuff. And I'll tell you what, if you come here to the Indy 500, obviously you will be treated like a king, like drivers are here in Indianapolis. but that would be legendary if you were ever able to turn, turn up and have a successful run at either of those. Kurt. I'm glad you mentioned that. I mean, we're going to be there for the Brickyard 400. It'd be great to have you out there. Actually, when we ran the road course at Indy, I think it was 2022.

1:49:26I got my second career cup series win on the road course at Indianapolis. So I've been able to kiss the bricks. It'd be great if you're able to come out there with us. So when is it,

1:49:35Pat McAfee:when is it, when we can get bricks? When is it? Kelly, when is it? geez louise yeah i don't know what day it is a week i'm saying get you in the car yeah i understand just get you in the car uh july 26th thank you july 26th that's actually great timing yeah i don't know that's actually my marriage so you guys can't you guys will have to be there yeah but we should go though because we might want to kiss the bricks you're gonna have to pick one all right so you're gonna unfortunately you're not gonna be able to make the break why don't you postpone your wedding Move your wedding. We're kissing the bricks.

1:50:07We're having it on the bricks. Why not do the ceremony on the bricks after we're in the race? Hold on. Make some calls. We might be able to talk, Tyler.

1:50:15Pat McAfee:Do it up there on that stage. He'll lift you up. You could be on a stage. That'd be cool. All right, now we're talking. See, I like the brainstorms going on. I like what's happening here. This is how we make things happen. When's the next race for you? Do you know that? Yeah, I do know that, thankfully. We are racing Sunday in Martinsville, Virginia. one of my worst racetracks but until now who knows i might win i don't know you're definitely gonna win and uh shooey you big bush light drinker i did see you uh shooey i like i like i like a good cold beverage after a long hard day's work so yeah you know funny enough um i've always wanted to do this but for some reason just in the heat of the moment we're celebrating we're doing all this stuff and i've always forgotten to do it and on this day in particular it finally came back to I mean, we had like one beer left.

1:51:04I'm like, all right, I'm taking my shoe off, and I'm going to finally do this. So, yeah, I never practiced it at home. You know what I mean? So that was my first attempt, and I got pretty much all the beer out of there.

1:51:14Pat McAfee:And how do you feel? Last time, ever going to drink out of your sweaty shoe? They love it in Australia. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was honest. Everyone asked me, did it taste bad? Was there anything like, no. It was probably one of the best tasting beers I've ever had. Wow. I like that. Put a little foot salt in there. You know what I mean? It makes it up very good. All right, well, good luck. in where? Martinsville. You're going to win because that's what you do this year. And we're pumped for you. Congratulations. Enjoy the hell out of this ride and we can't wait to watch it continue for you.

1:51:44Hey, thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me.

1:51:47Pat McAfee:Hell yeah, Tyler. Hey, I heard your grandpappy had a golden ear. Is that actual? I'm not following along. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the driver for the 45 car, Tyler Reddick. Yay. Tyler. What? Beast. Golden ear. Did you do your research? Apparently not. I would love to know. What does that mean, has a golden ear? He just knows how it sounds. His brother coaches the Lakers, right? Yeah, JJ's his brother. I don't think you're asking. They're not related. He's a double D. This gentleman's grandpa, right, is broken bow records. Yeah, that's right. Hitmaker. Hitmaker. Golden ear. Are you sure?

1:52:27Wasn't aware of the term. Did he not know about it? Is that real? Is that real? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. I didn't exactly follow what you meant by that. But, yeah, he had the golden ear. I understand what you're saying now. Yeah. Okay. Now you're going to win in Martinsville.

1:52:40Pat McAfee:Okay, that's good news. We appreciate the hell out of you, ladies and gentlemen. Tyler. Yeah, Tyler.

1:52:48Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.

1:53:03Your little one grew three inches overnight. Adorable. Also, expensive. Sell their pint-sized pieces on Depop and list them in minutes with no selling fees. Because somewhere, a dad refuses to pay full price for the clothes his kids will outgrow tomorrow. And he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now. Consider your future growth spurt budget secured. Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste. Payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details.

1:53:59Pat McAfee:performer yeah his grandpappy's ear should oh my god give me that there it is did he sign scott step did he find him well we don't know if he heard the song now that we're understanding that maybe not everybody has heard that song which is crazy yeah it's bull shocking 370 million views aj if you had the net but we remember aj if you had to kind of sing it one time on the way out what would it sound like i wish i could i don't even know i would never disrespect the great scott staff like that you kind of have already oh no so many times oh i know his whole catalog i wish i could go through it all but i see the countdown box is already there i know you got to take us to your heart break the out before we go digital so sorry about that love you scott you don't at all and it's been obvious and i'm disgusted by it we'll be back tomorrow goodbye that was good that was the best sign off that we've ever had this show is ridiculous you don't know when's First time you heard that.

1:54:54Scott song. AJ.

1:54:56Pat McAfee:Let's play ball. It's game day. I don't know. Fucking 10 years ago, maybe. Legit. First time when it was in the ballpark. Yeah. I don't know. First time I heard the fucking crack of a bat, maybe. How old was I? Eight, maybe. Down there. Down there at Three Rivers. They weren't even playing at PNC Park yet. They were splitting it with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Barry's winning MVPs for the Buccos. That's right. He was on the left side. And on the right side of the plate, Jason fucking Kendall. Kendall's coming back. He might. He was down there. Did you see him? He was with the legends. Did you see that?

1:55:27Pat McAfee:It's always good to see him. I was so pumped he was with the legends. I had no idea that they treat Jason Kendall like that. I'm happy that they do. Because, boy, what he did to me as a child brought me to my only baseball happiness. I already used to have those calluses just Ray. Oh, yeah. And he's just all battable. Mm-hmm. Legend. Oh! Oh! Quick turn. Here you go. Dang. Still breaking it in. That went right off the top of that game. It was actually pretty sweet. Yeah, I mean, that got a good angle. Does it still work? That was on a transfer, too. Yes, it does. You still got the out. Yeah. Well, I batted it up, too.

1:56:08Pat McAfee:That was shortstop. Double play ball. I hit that over to the second base. Slung it to first. Double play. Oh, the transfer. Safe. It's by the footballs. Let's play ball. It's game day. I saw a meme that told me that I need to do this thing every morning. Yeah, butterflies. For three minutes. For the hip, slow back. Yeah, deep squat. Shit, or? Three minutes, they said. That's good. How do you do that? I mean, you better have some good knee and hip health to do it. I mean, I guess that's what does it. Yeah, it's supposed to help. I don't know, man. It's been tough for me to do it. I've tried to stay committed for the last three minutes.

1:56:42Pat McAfee:Catcher stance or sumo? I think it's straight. Sumo. Do it in the swimming. As low as you can. Just as low as you probably can. I don't know. Oh, do it while you brush your teeth. What? That's a good idea. Do it while you watch TV. Right there. Eat breakfast. Just live down there. Maybe. Knees over toes guy's been dropping into my algo pretty heavily. I got a reverse treadmill, one of his little deals, yeah. I heard it's really difficult. It seems like it's very hard, especially because you can put it to maximum, super not be able to move it stuff, right? Yeah, it's as hard as you'll make it. How healthy are we, you think, as humans?

1:57:21Pat McAfee:I watch a meme, and then I decide that I, oh, no, that's not good. Oh, like us in general? Yeah. I'd say in the office it varies. We have a gym in here. Good spectrum of people, I'd say. I mean, what is health, really? What do you mean? Wealth is what your health is. Bingo. Let's get to a break. I felt pretty good about that. Yeah, you should. Health is wealth, AJ. That's what a meme told me. And then a guy did, like, you should do this workout every day. It was, like, 700 push-ups. Sure. Yeah, they got nothing else to do. Who the fuck's doing this every day? If you're healthy, you can do this.

1:57:54I really like the morning routine, so that's cool. We need to see more people post and put their morning routine up. You mean you're 5 to 9 before you're 9 to 5?

1:58:01Pat McAfee:Remember, I almost started doing that. Yeah. That was Lane Kiffin talking to me into that. Mm-hmm. That lasted three days. That's fine to do it, but to film it every day and then cut it together and edit it and clip it, that's kind of... Oh, respect the grind, Hawk. That's because you just don't do it. You're right. Why don't you do it? I need to journal. I'm going to journal after this. I'm going to get into my journaling and then all of my meditations and everything. Thank you. I'm not saying any of it's bad. It's all great. It's all great stuff, whatever works. Well, especially today because today's the day that we play Ball.

1:58:32Pat McAfee:It's game day.

1:58:36Was there a re-release of this, like a new highlight? Yeah. Opening night. Every year. Beyonce is singing it tonight, I think. Really? No one can sing it. And Netflix. No one can sing it. Kreischer is actually. The Usos are. Yeah. Oh, yeah. singing back up. Oh, they should come out to it.

1:58:50Pat McAfee:Everybody's been kind of hanging on to this all game. Did you hear that? Oh, sure. Boom. Bang. Pow. Who else? The hand came out of it. Good news, yeah. It's thrown out first pitch. It's not it. It's Thin from the show. I actually really like this good show. I would say this, AJ. You don't get a chance to really feel it in the morning when you're not here. Yeah. They do not have faith that Netflix is going to do good tonight. A lot of the boys do not have faith that Netflix is going to do good tonight. There's been calls for are we even going to be able to watch the fucking game without all the shit?

1:59:22Is Mickey Hall or Umpin?

1:59:23Pat McAfee:What does this mean? Can we just let them do their thing here? Yeah. I'm in on it. I love this. We know the cameras will be good. Yes. Bingo. The thing is also the best part of Wednesday. Well, okay. What does it mean? What do you tell me? They're going to have an animatronic hand out there floating in space through the first pitch? Maybe we just find that. If that happens, I'll be happy. It's going to be attached to Kreischer's dong, probably. No. I could see that being what they go with. It's not going to be like a claw in one of those games. It's going to be like when Sully was running routes for the Chargers scoring touchdowns against the Eagles.

2:00:00They should just be out of just robbing random home runs.

2:00:03Pat McAfee:Oh, the hand? Yeah. Oh, my God. Maybe actually one of the guys, Aaron Judge probably, because he's the biggest star, instead of the glove. He holds the hand. See, fuck this thing. But like what you said yesterday about Alex Honnold, like if he went to the very top of the foul pole and just held on all game, like that's cool. That actually is cool. A lot of this stuff. We don't know. No, I get they got to promote everything on Netflix. You know, Burt Kreischer just got his comedy show picked up for another season, so he's going to act like a jackass, you know, before the game. It's going to be good.

2:00:37His series is good. Yeah, that is what I've heard. He'll probably streak across the field during like the seventh inning or something. That would be my guess. But the Alex Honnold thing, like, huge missed opportunity. They should have done that.

2:00:48Pat McAfee:I'm happy for Christchurch for that to get picked up for a second season. It did, yes. Good for him because I know he put a lot into that. On that note, I also am a big fan of the Usos, the humans, and also the professional wrestlers. I have no idea what gimmicks everybody's going to be doing tonight. But maybe they may. What are they going to do? What are they going to do for real? Baseball is kind of hard to work people in. I mean, Jameis, you can bring him in the booth. He can commentate for three innings. Yeah, because he played baseball. I think he'll be pre-show, and I bet he'll be very good and very entertaining.

2:01:17Pat McAfee:CeCe Sabathia's on a microphone tonight, right? Yeah, he's calling the game. Dahmer was one of the biggest shows on Netflix. Maybe they'll have him kill everybody tonight. That's too much. That was a big show, you're right. Albert Pujols is going to be there. He just managed the Dominican team. Probably going to have some good stories from that. Yeah, the baseball stuff will be cool. I'm talking about all the other bullshit that they're trying to shoehorn. That's what I'm worried about. I think we as a society should just think about letting them go and see what happens. 161 other games. Open mind.

2:01:48Let's open mind it tonight. But why can't we do that in the middle of the season?

2:01:51Pat McAfee:Because we're... It's opening day. We're trying to get better. Let's play ball. It's game day, man. I know. And you know what? You'll never hear me say a negative thing about Netflix's baseball package ever again if fucking Scott Stapp shows up tonight and sings that at some point. He's not coming. Yeah, I don't think so. Still time. We don't know. You don't know that. If the Marlins were playing. What is Stap up to these days? They're on tour. Yeah, they're touring. They're on tour. They're on tour. They're on tour. He's rocking knees right here, brother. He's touring. Creed's back. Boom. Bitch.

2:02:22Pat McAfee:I didn't think it needed to be that negative. I said, boom. He said something different. That's a problem. Yeah, Scott. No, it wasn't tour juice. No, it was tour. Creed's back. Society, yeah. You're popping a bit there. I hear. Yeah. Hey, did you guys see TGL? Did TGL have to fill two hours last night? They had to fill two hours, I believe. because they got beat so bad, 8-2, that they still weren't scheduled to time, and I feel like everybody was bringing in. It was wild. Did I see that right? I don't love how that went last night. Tiger hit a stinger? He neither. He did hit a good stinger. It was sweet.

2:02:55I mean, one team caught fire. That was the problem.

2:02:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, they're making putts and chipping good and driving good. You know, Tiger plays for the first time all year. You know, he hits a great stinger. There's some other good stuff. That's not what anybody's talking about. He spent all day warming his body up to play for three, what, 30 minutes? Great season, TGL. Great season. He's supposed to play for three hours. Are they expanding? I heard league expansion. They are expanding because I know Detroit's getting a team, and also they're doing the LPGA version as well. Okay. Let's go. So TGL is going to continue to thrive and survive. Yes, as of now.

2:03:33Pat McAfee:And they're going to drive, probably, to survive. Bingo. I like the gimmick hole. The stinger hole. Oh, yeah. Let's go on. A couple of those. That's on Netflix, too. They should have an IndyCar running the bases, or F1 car running the bases tonight. That'd be cool. How long it would take for an IndyCar to get from first to home would be sick, actually. Definitely. I see the graphic right now, don't you? Yeah. It's already. It's already. You change out the tires at second base. Oh. Now we're talking. The normal pit stop is usually buh, buh, buh. That is the actual length of time that it takes from me.

2:04:10Pat McAfee:High five the gas man around third. That'd be awesome. Let's take a break. Is Burt going to race that guy on the warning track? That's Braves guy. Definitely. Do they do pierogi races? Freeze lost, right? Freeze lost. He's in Atlanta. But he did lose. He did lose. They do do the pierogi race, though. Maybe he's doing that. The pierogi race is definitely worth it. And I'll never forget when Sour Kraut Saul overtook. Jalepeno, hey, yeah? I think it was Olive Onion. Yeah, I think it was him and Sour Kraut. What the fuck are you talking about? Olive Onion. Sour Kraut Saul? Come on, you know. When they dress up as like the.

2:04:48Jalepeno, who? It was a progie. I got to see that. They race on the warning track, brother.

2:04:52Pat McAfee:You ever see the president's race over there in Washington? Yeah. I saw a couple of them in Miami, too. Very similar. Sour Kraut Saul is up there in the front, I do believe. and jalapeno hands in the green. Yeah, cheap shot a guy from behind and knock him down. Yeah, I think that's already happened. There's normally four or five racers, so two of them have already been taken out, which is classic hijinks of these types of things. Hopefully Netflix has a lot of that tonight. I hope so. Yeah, in between innings, that's fine. I would like to say to these streaming platforms that are forcing us to go to them to watch sports that we love.

2:05:24Pat McAfee:I love baseball now, so I can say that, but I'm mostly talking about football. When it normally would go to a commercial, I need an alternate option. Okay? Unless you're getting and charging more for these commercials because we're forced to watch them, I need you guys to be running something live that I can just kind of hop over and jump in the middle of. If it's Love is Blind, is that on Netflix? Yes, it is. Okay, if they're just running Love is Blind as a live thing right next to the option of the baseball game, I think that would help me And I'd watch it just because I don't want to watch these commercials.

2:06:04Pat McAfee:And natural reaction is when a commercial comes on, go to phone and potentially go somewhere else. When we're on these streaming platforms, there's nowhere else to go. So we're stuck there. I think a good idea for streaming platforms is to provide alternate options that are just running at the time as if it was live TV. And maybe that is. What they're going to do is all the Netflix-based stuff is what they will fill in between innings with. Hopefully. That would make sense. that'd be a lot better than us having to watch that commercial for the 14th straight time and i'm being held hostage because i have to leave the platform go into something else reload that then come back then come back at some point they're all going to have multiple live happen yeah so they need tabs we're like five to ten years away from that tabs on these streaming services oh so i can head to another platform bingo and you don't have to do the reload shit.

2:06:52If your TV itself had like tabs in it, then it would just be much more easier to...

2:06:58Pat McAfee:And sports are the ones that are introducing us to this because this is where we're going to platforms that are being streamed as if it's linear television, but it's not linear television. It's currently on a streaming platform. Hopefully, maybe Netflix figures that out. Huh? Give them a chance. Now that you mentioned that, that is where they could actually take because no other... You have commercials everywhere else. This will be the first time I've watched it. Do you have commercials in it or no? Well, no, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, they will. Definitely doing commercials. They're doing what Amazon did with the NFL.

2:07:26Pat McAfee:There's commercials on wrestling. It's what they do on Christmas. Oh, yeah, I guess. There's normal commercials on Raw. AJ, marking it out, huh? Yeah, I'm marked out. Yeah, like for real. It was news to me when I'm sitting there watching Raw, SmackDown, and all of a sudden there's commercials on a streaming service. I'm like, oh, this is new to me. I didn't really. I couldn't get it right away. I guess that's just coming down the pipe. It's kind of a missed opportunity. yeah we need to put they're saying it's actually we're taking advantage like the Christmas games on Netflix they just promoted all the other games let's get to a break we're figuring it all out people definitely want to hear our ideas too always so many good things always and guess what we're doing we're playing but it's game day

2:08:19Pat McAfee:Pop of the mitt. Boom. Turn two. Hey. Yeah, nailed it. Well done, boys. Caught it. That's very abnormal for you. Oh, yeah? Coming from the guy who just threw a baseball off the camera. No, I was popping it to second baseman. Okay. Well, he dropped it. Yeah, well, no, he. Boom. That's what he did. Pop of the mitt. There it is. Boom. I took your glove. I got it. No glove needed. Clyde Pershaw signed this three-time World Series champion. Fire that fucking thing over here. How many WBCs you... Oh, yeah, fuck. Try to hit a home run. Back-to-back second. Yep. Didn't like hearing that. Take these fuckers off.

2:09:01Yes. Fuck. Let's play ball. It's game day.

2:09:09Pat McAfee:Remember here, boys, they just want to be high. Strike. This is what's out here. Yeah. It feels like if I swing right here. we are in a good spot. Everywhere else potentially problematic. Hold on. Let me. Yeah, let me. Big skin out of there. Yeah, that's a good idea. That's a good ball. That's a good football. Yeah. Oh, no. I feel like we're pretty close. I feel like we're pretty close. I feel. It's a good spot, Bill. Yeah, I got. Oh. Yeah. Five, two. Five, two. Oh, one. Oh, one. Oh, one. What if he came out here? Oh, one. Okay. Yeah, why don't you come out there and take a good cut? This is a desk at bat, please.

2:09:45We understand. Okay. All right, 0-1. Here we go. Get a TV over there. Don't swing if it's not there. Aim for Bill. Where's Bill? Yep. That's not how I play. He aims for Bill. You know where I'm at. Team Shatter, bitch.

2:09:59Pat McAfee:Hit Cena. Are you a practice swing here? It's 0-1 right now, right? Yep. Yep. I don't look at pitches either. Look for your pitch and drive. No, everybody knows I don't do that. Oh! Ah! Oh, two! Camber three. Here we go. Camber's working, so. Hitters count. Punch it! Punch it! Punch it! Punch it! I just need to point it. I think back here. Punch it! Get kind of spent. Get mad on the ball. Punch it! Punch it! Punch it! Punch it! Punch it! Oh, these motherfuckers. Punch it! They are alive. Punch it! Oh!

2:10:48Punching! That's good at bat. That's all that happened. You didn't go down looking. No. Punching some motherfuckers. Yeah. It's more to focus or everybody's yelling at me.

2:10:59Pat McAfee:Once you hear it. I still got two more outs. We'll see those on the other side. What have we not talked about? Oh, NBA's expanded. We'll talk about that in some of a little. Boom. Oh, and Ohio State Pro Day. Okay, we got shit actually happening on the other side here. Okay, we got boots on the ground at Pro Day at Ohio State. Oh, shit. Okay, maybe. Has anybody told him? I got some pictures and videos that came through I haven't looked at yet that General just sent me. Okay, but he's there. Will he be able to answer a call? Yeah, I told him, yeah, be alert. And he always is. Yes, he is. At 2 o 'clock, yeah, he should still be there.

2:11:37Okay, great news.

2:11:38Pat McAfee:All right, we got boots on the ground at the Ohio State Buckeye Pro Day. Obviously, we do. We knew that before this exact moment. And we got NBA news we're going to talk about and some NFL stuff. And let's play ball. It's game day. Just heavy machinery just driving through our entire property. Stop. I don't know. I don't think I signed up for that. I don't think. Just getting started. It's going to be great. It's a big project out there. A lot of things going on outside. Yeah. Yeah, and I don't, how come we're to only, you know, I don't see them just rolling through everybody else's houses. Like, they're just rolling through our entire.

2:12:18I talked to guys earlier. They said we can drive the backhoe later if we want, so take them up on that offer.

2:12:22Pat McAfee:I appreciate the boys out there. They're working hard. We were watching them. I don't think they should just be rolling through our property with fucking a backhoe, though. I don't think that's happening. No, definitely not. A couple guys came in the gate this morning behind Bruce. Yeah, they kind of. Followed me in. Yeah, we'll just park here, work on the road outside. I'm like, no, I don't think so. And the guy goes, we'll see. Chris goes, no, yeah. I guess I'll find out. I'm like, I'm telling you right now, you're not allowed to park here. I do wonder what's going on here. Like, I don't even know how to do it.

2:12:50Pat McAfee:Do we call HOA? I don't know. No, I don't think there's anything you can do. Yeah, the train's rolling now. Yeah, they got cops out there just escort them just driving through our property. Yeah. Just right through. We appreciate their work, but is there some sort of something? Do we have any kind of timeline? We have any? End of summer. Only a couple weeks, they said. That was from the start, right? Not 18 months from when they first break ground? No, I think. Oh, Jesus Christ. I think we got 162 games. You got eyes on what's going on out there. It's going to be a while. I think we got 162 games, brother.

2:13:23Pat McAfee:Yeah. I think we're in spring training still. That or Shefty's Kitchen, which is first? Shefty's Kitchen or that project? Which one finishes first? This project. Definitely this project. Shefty's getting the run around. I don't know, dude. Golf course right there. We have help with the golf course. Golf course ain't going to like this either. They're not driving. That's exactly our point, though. They're not just – these people have no respect for us. They're starting on our side because the first break ground was on that stop sign on our side. Once they get to the golf side and the people who blinded that golf course see what's going on at their home course, uh-uh.

2:13:59That ain't going to fly.

2:13:59Pat McAfee:No, I know that, but I think they're going to still continue to do the – Isn't it? It's a full – I mean, they have to do that side, too. unless they're just putting the entire thing on our... Yeah, I think they are.

2:14:11Dan Hurley:Yeah.

2:14:14Pat McAfee:It's an honor to be here. It is. Shefty said his kitchen completion ETA is never. Okay. Okay, so this one's going to be wrapping up. Yeah. I wonder if they've even got, like, what the handles are going to be. No. That's last. No, but I'm saying have they even made that decision? No. They're not making any decisions. They're still making choices on grout and tile and stuff like that. Shefty's walking in on dudes taking dumps in his half-bathroom right off the kid's office. Can you imagine that? Where do you want him to go to the bathroom? We're not blaming the guy. Not blaming the guy at all. We're just saying the situation Shefty's in, it does seem like he's going to be on the wall for a while out there.

2:14:51Pat McAfee:Also, we just got to deal with backhoes going through the parking lot, I guess. Yeah. You know, it is kind of nice, though, because they can just pick up the fence, which they already did, and just move it for any of the door dashers. I saw that.

2:15:05Pat McAfee:once again upgrading hmm yeah upgrading internet or something what is it no we're getting a roundabout oh okay geez that's a lot bigger project than i thought oh yeah and who's doing it well the town is so who's who do we hey i don't like okay to who nobody yeah is that pen N dot out there? That'd be Pennsylvania. I dot. N dot. N dot. Bop bop bop badoo. Let me guess you don't know that yet. Hanson. D-butt definitely. Yeah. Okay. Hanson. They had it. Yes, they did. And they didn't. All right, let's get to a break. We got to cover all the sports stuff. And also, there's a 100 % chance we lose power probably at some point.

2:15:56Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You can count on that. Power, internet. They're probably going to hit a gas line. There's going to be a lot of neighbors around here not happy. Ideally. Smothers' house might explode. No, we hope Smothers is okay. Honestly. Not with him either. That is one of the reasons why I don't want to complain is because how much Smothers complained whenever we came here. So, it's like, I don't want to. We are, I guess, not part of the problem. But, I mean, they're just. Oh, yeah. And we haven't even. They had to vote on it. Like the HOA or someone had to, like, vote on it, didn't they?

2:16:25Pat McAfee:On this? Yeah, I was a part. Believe me, I thought I knew what was going to happen. You know, I thought a pretty good briefing. Pretty good. There's been a lot to this. You know, I had to sell the property to them. They had to buy the land and what part of the land and how's the land. There's been a lot of stuff that's going on, you know, and it's like, yeah, you got to do what you got to do. I understand. I understand. I understand. And I've looked through it all. How am I going to be affected? How's the company going to be affected? This is how it's going to work. It's like, all right, sick, whatever.

2:16:48Pat McAfee:Appreciate you guys doing that. Good luck. Hands off. That was, what, a year ago? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Then it got all the way to Mike Pence's desk. He said, all right, let's build this roundabout. It was announced in 2022. Okay, that was years, years, years. Holy shit. Yeah, that was a long time. So now we are. T.Y. Hilton was playing. Just to build a roundabout. Take that. Congrats on your time, T.Y. So now, you know, now it's actually happening. Cool. and it's like, I don't think I knew, is this what I signed? No way is this what this is. So I think there's probably supposed to be a little bit of a, hey, is this what we all agreed to?

2:17:22I don't, but they'll work their asses

2:17:24Pat McAfee:off. Yeah, yeah. We appreciate the workers out there. It'll be nice when it's over. Yes, it'll be great when it's over. Yes. But I don't like looking out there and seeing a backhoe just rolling right in between Diggs' car and Connor's car. You know, out that window. I hope they do. Is that DoorDash? Is that, is that? That'd be cool. That'd be cool. Ideally, they absolutely fucking demolished my truck, and I get a new one. Okay. Best case scenario. All right. I think I know where you need to park it for them to ruin it. Good. You just put it right there. It seems like that's where they're kind of putting it.

2:17:53Pat McAfee:I mean, I paid for insurance. We should line it up. Just line our cars up so they can't. Excuse me. Oh, so they can't. We don't want to make these boys laugh harder. No, but they can use the road. I mean, yeah. Now, on that note, I don't think I signed up for this a half a day ago. I don't think I did. Maybe, though. I don't know. 2022 was a different time. Yeah, you're right. 2022 was a different time. Were we even out? Are the houses in? Huh? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You guys moved in here 9-20-22, I believe. Yeah, the Thunderdome is under destruction in their original video with an aerial view of where they're putting the roundabout.

2:18:33Pat McAfee:We've been in it. Hey, listen, we can't wait for that place to be finished. Good luck out there, boys. Hell yeah. And drive your shit wherever you need to do. Cut all the fiber. get it done. Take it all out. I respect and appreciate the hard work there. They are out there early. Oh, yeah. And they are out there late, which I respect and appreciate. And this round of boot here will make this place much better. It's a good round of boot. Well, it's going to take a little bit to get there. A little bit. And you know, if it wasn't for the rain, the sun wouldn't shine as bright. Well said. So whenever that thing's done, and we're enjoying that, we're going to enjoy it even more because what we're going to definitely have to go through for the next two years probably as this thing gets done.

2:19:19Pat McAfee:Yeah. And those two years might feel like an eternity while we're in the middle of it. Oh, that's what you think, two years? Three years maybe, it sounds like you're saying. I put it over under two and a half. I'll take the under. Three and a half. Take the under on that. Have you seen these boys out here working? Yeah. Yeah. They're laying creek. Already laying creek. The highways have been under construction Since I moved here No progress on that whatsoever Yeah right They did the thing If you get more north Up towards where I live now It's a clusterfuck It's a nightmare This is going to be different It better be That's the best work on this thing And we appreciate them Not bringing the backhoes Into our building You can go right, whatever you gotta do It seems like Not yet I do feel like we should be prepared For any asks that they have When they drive those things up to our door inevitably You guys need some water, oil See I don't know I don't know if we should be Feeding these things Because then what happens I don't think we have any other options You remember what happened with the animals at your house That's when they start saying Oh hey we're thirsty We might as well just head out over to see a McAfee.

2:20:38He's got a fucking water for us. It's already happening, brother. That's why we say no. Get back to work, motherfucker. Are you saying that? I might.

2:20:48Pat McAfee:You go out there and throw a baseball into that, man. You guys fucking do anything out here? What? We do respect the workers. This will be a long time, though. This is going to be a long time. We're going to enjoy it. We're lucky to do this. Thankful to do this. And on the other side, we break down all the sports news that's happening around sports. NBA expansion has been confirmed. Is there enough good players for that, AJ? I think so. Is there enough of demand for that? That is a good question. I am not sure about the NBA when it comes to demand. Okay, we shall see. You know, the salary cap's going up$10 or$11 million next year.

2:21:21Pat McAfee:Feels like it's a healthy league. Signed a big deal. Two new expansion teams will bring like$600 million, I guess, into this entire thing, which you divvy it up. The amount of money that every team's going to get is going to be worth the same amount as a TV deal. So it feels like ownership thinks everything's okay. Salary cap's seemingly okay. Are they going to be the ones that are going to take over the world whenever they get to their playoffs like they do every single year? We shall see. This year might be a huge playoff run, playoff push for the NBA. But they do have to figure out, I think, garnering attention throughout the rest of the regular season by people that don't have the five biggest teams in the league.

2:21:52Pat McAfee:I think that is something that they'll probably have to figure out. But until then, it feels like they're living a pretty good life over there at the NBA somehow. It feels like Seattle definitely has a demand because people have been asking for the SuperSong since they left. and then Vegas will turn into just like the Golden Knights. They'll sell out every damn night because people who are there will just go to the game. Something to do. It's like that in Atlanta. If you go to Atlanta, it's like, is there a Hawks game? Yeah, let's go down to the Hawks game. Let's just figure it out. It's just something to do.

2:22:15Pat McAfee:If it's very easy to get to, which we assume it will be, LeBron James come out and say he wants nothing to do with ownership. Oh, really? Really. Yeah. Did you hear that? I did not hear that. Did you hear that, AJ? I did hear that. I heard that. Yeah. I read that. I don't know if – I might have got got by the internet, but, yeah, It was like a very much a I'm no longer really interested in the whole ownership thing. Is that because he's still playing and the team's about to happen? LeBron James and his partners at Fenway Sports Group are not interested in pursuing ownership of a potential Las Vegas NBA team due to the expected cost.

2:22:47Pat McAfee:7 to 11? Sean said 7 to 10, but yeah, I'm sure it could go all the way up to 11. 7 to 10, 7 to 11. What was the Lin Bin? 12 and a half? Yep. Yeah, 1%. $12.5 billion, though, was what the valuation of the Miami Dolphins was. That included the F1 race and everything else they had going on. Seattle Seahawks are going to go for what? $10, right? Lakers just went for$10. Yeah,$10 plus. What's an NBA team now? $7 to$10? Lakers got$10. Others are not. Lakers got to be like the tip of the spear, right? That's what I'm saying. An NFL team seems like quite a good deal all of a sudden. If an NBA team, no offense to the NBA, but I think they understand this entire thing.

2:23:26Pat McAfee:The NBA being worth that much is crazy. Professional sports, great investment. There's people investing in like second-level soccer. Yeah. Like tens and tens and tens and$40 million,$50 million into second-tier soccer in America. Fenway Sports Group is looking to buy a team in La Liga, Hatafi. Laffi? Who? Hatafi. Laffi Hatafi. Saltwater. Go and shake. Saltwater now. That's pretty good Are they a part of the Getafe, they're 8th currently in La Liga It's funny how What's that? FSG Fenway Sports Group sold the Penguins and then they got a lot better after because that group sucks Oh well that's funny because the Red Sox are freaking sick Well that's because the Fenway Sports Group might care about the Fenway team a little bit more I also just realized I don't think Fenway Sports Group owes the Red Sox They don't?

2:24:21I think they're just named after them Yeah. Wow. Whoa. No, they do. No, they do. Okay. They do. I was sure John Henry. The Penguins got a lot better when they got Hextall out the door and Dubas came in as well. That was Fenway. What, are you carrying Fenway's water? No, I'm just saying Hextall was a moron. And, yeah, I don't mind Fenway Sports Group. They own Liverpool, too, if we're going there.

2:24:41Pat McAfee:And how's Liverpool doing? We're in the Champions League. Just kicked Mosal out. How'd you do in Premier League? We're fighting it a bit. You know, we won it last year. You can't win it every year. It's a tough league. I've heard maybe not as many Premier League championships, so you kind of get judged in England, but you guys will win a Champions League every once in a while? Whenever we're kind of shite in the Prem, we will go on a run in the Champions League. And Champions League is all the good teams from all the leagues around Europe, so you guys win that one, but you're not able to do it in England, so England can kind of talk shit to you forever, but all of Europe, you guys are kind of kings.

2:25:08Pat McAfee:Is that an accurate depiction of never walking alone? No, because we won two league titles. We went on a run where we didn't win one for 20, so Man U's been shit for a while. They're kind of coming back up. Arsenal hasn't won one forever. It's Arsenal's time right now. Come on, you Gunners. What? I'm an Arsenal supporter. You're a Gooner? Since when? Forever. Really? Mm-hmm. What city are they in? Arsenal. Duh. What's the stadium called? Don't ask these questions, all right? Come on. You Gunners. No, you're a Gooner. You're not a Gunner. I'm a Gunner. No, fans are called Gooners. Players are Gunners.

2:25:46Pat McAfee:Okay, obviously. We know that. I'm always a player of heart. Yeah, always have been. And hello, let me get on the pitch too, right? Didn't you say that whenever you went over there and visited Arsenal over there in North London? Fucking right. Pitch on the pitch. They play a disgusting brand of football. People are saying they're ruining the game. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm talking about Big Gabby and the boys. The flopping, the wasting time. It's a disgrace. That's not football. It's soccer. They're saying you're ruining the game. What's that all about? Nah, I wasn't. Big Gabby plays the right brand of football.

2:26:14Pat McAfee:Big Gabby's the star? Yeah. Who's that? Ask Gumps. Ask Gumps about him? All right. They actually did try to sit in in the cup final this weekend and lost 2-0 to City. That's a tough game. They were in the final. Still at the top of the table. Top of the table by nine points? The Gunners and the Gunners are at the top of the table over there. Watch and bottle it to Man City with that game in hand. Okay, well, congratulations to D-Buds team. I didn't know the D-Buds team. Nice stacking them. Is your second favorite team Man City? No, I just think the one team. I got them in the inter-Miami out here.

2:26:47Pat McAfee:And how about in La Liga? You got a team over there? What about that one? Yeah, Real. Did you hear what happened? Serie A over Barcelona? Did you happen to hear what happened in Real? Uh-uh. They MRI'd the wrong leg. Oh, yeah, Mbappe. Was that real? How does that happen? I thought it was a real count. I could be wrong. That's what I'm saying. I mean, they had to both be in the tube. Yeah, but I think they were just focusing on, all right, left one's good. Let's get to the right one. The athletic football Mbappe knee injury was misdiagnosed after Real Madrid medical staff performed an MRI scan on the wrong leg.

2:27:21Pat McAfee:When no problem was found after a scan of his uninjured right knee, the 27-year-old was featured in three games from Madrid before the mistake was realized and rectified. Three games it took? It was interesting because everyone thought he blew out his knee and they trotted him out there the next week like nothing happened. He put out there, look at the fucking scan. And he just does what he's told. He's like, yeah, this knee, I guess. How does he have no idea that they're scanning the wrong knee? Your whole body goes into the MRI. Both of them go in. You never know how it works. The way Florentino Perez runs that club, you never know.

2:27:57I have heard of that.

2:27:59Pat McAfee:Couldn't they have said to him, there's nothing wrong? And him going, really? Are you sure my knee fucking hurts? Don't you think as an athlete, there's nothing wrong at all? They were kind of in it at this time. They fired their coach during this time, so it was a terrible time for the club. Oh, yeah. Scanning the wrong knee. Wouldn't you think a doctor would be like, so again, we're not seeing anything with your left knee here, your left knee, and he's like, oh, okay, I guess. I thought it was my right knee the whole time, but maybe it was my left knee. And then the doctor, what? Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah, you tore your ACL and your MCL.

2:28:34Pat McAfee:Didn't they see him limp his ass in? Is it pretty obvious to tell who's hurt on what side? I mean, we're not allowed to do it because we're not doctors. No. But we'll watch a game, any sport, fucking curling, I could probably watch and tell if somebody's ankle, knee, or hip is fucked up. Darts, we could tell. Darts can definitely tell. You can tell. Go, Johnny, go, go. And if we watched for more than a minute, we could tell you if it was his right foot gotten or his left foot gotten. Mbappe, one of the best players in the world, right? Yeah, absolutely. Walks into this scan. They look. They see him limp his ass in with a blown knee.

2:29:09Pat McAfee:Get him in there. and everybody goes, we all saw the same thing? It's the fucking left one? Definitely. Strap up. It's clean, dude. And they show it to him? It's clean. I don't know what I tell you. It's all in your head, you fucking weirdo. They probably made him feel so stupid to him. It's crazy. I'm in so much pain. It hurts so bad. What if he lied to him, though? What if he didn't want to let him know he was hurt? Oh, I like that. The baller. I like that. So you think he limped on the wrong leg going in somehow? Could be. You know, who knows? Maybe the technicians running the scans were on their phone playing Candy Crush or one of those games.

2:29:44Pat McAfee:Do the doctors watch the injuries, too? I think with modern technology, I know way back in the day, whenever we didn't have cameras, you weren't able to see things happen. Now, I'm pretty sure they watch the injury, and they're like, oh, maybe we should look at his interior because of it. So he got hurt, and somebody told the doctor, hey, he got injured, and we're going to send him over. His name's Mbappe. He might have heard of him. He's pretty good. All right, I'll get a look at him. Didn't even know the, like, what are we? Should have consulted Dr. Chow. I'm sure he had eyes on it. Yeah, he'd have been in surgery.

2:30:15I think he did respond to this. Did he? It's a great fuck.

2:30:18Pat McAfee:That's how they figured it out. Dr. Chow tweeted him? Yeah. Oh, wow. Straight from the OR? Can we call him, please? Can we? Nope. Do not. He will answer from the OR. Mid-surgery. Yeah. That's right. When you have surgery, you have to initial, like, if it's your right knee, I have to sign my right knee. the doctor signs the right knee before you get knocked out. So they know. That's surgery, though. For the MRI, I don't remember. Do they? I mean, I've had them plenty, but. Me too. Sometimes you do. I don't know. I don't know. You do go to, like, these third-party off-site places. Oh, yeah. Dr. Chow.

2:30:51Like, nothing to do with, you know, the team day in, day out.

2:30:54Pat McAfee:That's what Dr. Chow actually said. He tweeted. Lots to say on this, obviously. A, doctors order but don't perform MRI, obviously. Maybe nurse. Okay, now they're pointing fingers. Yeah, a lot of pointing fingers. Language barriers? Maybe they couldn't. Sure, French and Spanish. Docs should look at scan, not just radiologists report, and notice not sure what happened here. Topic for next. Hashtag pro football doc podcast. He's going to talk about it. Yep. And he's going to say, this is pro football like. Well said. European football podcast now, doctor. That's fucking terrible. That's almost as bad as putting a golf tee into somebody's lung.

2:31:29Pat McAfee:Almost. Yeah. 15 minutes before. Well, I believe I was this. Did I see this last night too? It was late. Jaws out for the season because someone put a needle in his elbow. Is that true? Or was that fake? Jaws. John Morant. Oh, I thought you were saying Joey Jaws, Chesna. I saw something happen to somebody. Somebody had a really bad. Oh, Moody. John Morant, elbow. Yeah, Moses Moody. The Warriors. The Moody one, yeah. He exploded. Yeah. That was bad. I still have yet to watch because every caption has been, this is the worst thing of all time. And then I don't want to see it. The picture is terrible.

2:32:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, I just scroll through it. I don't want to see it. And my Algo's like, hey, this is sports. You're going to want to see this. Nope. And then there's another one. Then there's a photo. Yeah. Then there's an entire thing. I forget, you know. I saw it on accident. It was nice. Your Algo would do that to you. Yes. Well, I don't like that they do that to us. I'm done with it, actually. Not at all. Not interested. I want to clear the air. I misread the injection tweet. The John Morant. He got an injection to treat it, but it was already injured. So now he's out for the year. John Morant's out for the year?

2:32:33What's wrong with Zobo? They're irrelevant now. They have fallen off cliffs and all that stuff. What's up? Is Jha still a player or no? I mean, Memphis is just kind of a whole bunch of nothing. They went from like two seed to all that stuff with Jha to this team is basically garbage now. He's probably got the best shoes right now. He does have good shoes. You mean the Jurassic Parks? I mean, I've seen so many different colorways. The Jurassic Parks are...

2:33:01Pat McAfee:What about Tyrese Albertans? Yeah, bro! Did you say we were going to take a break? The Scooby Dooby Doos. The Yabba Dabba Doos. The Sponge Bobs? Let's take a break. On the other side, we got boots on a ground at the Ohio State Pro Day. Who did what, where, how? We'll find out. Pro Day Showcase. Can't wait. On the other side. We have anyone at the Bama one? We'll go live from the Ohio State Pro Day. Have you guys got a hold of Bob? Wait, Phil Yates is at Alabama. I guess we could cold FaceTime. He just did it on SportsCenter. If Caleb didn't run, then probably nothing really happened because all the Ohio State guys did the combo.

2:33:40Can we call Bob Carpenter, please? Can we get a cold FaceTime? I texted him a little bit ago and said, hey, we might call you. I haven't heard back yet. So he might be meeting with GMs and owners and coaches. He actually is probably warming up. You're right. 40 at 40, baby. That's right. He's a known to bench press. Encouraging guy. Oh, yeah.

2:33:56Pat McAfee:How many do you think he puts up right now, AJ? Oh, man. 25. Are you thumb on bar or are you wrapped? As a youngster, I was thumb on bar like that. And then as I got older into high school, I wrapped my thumb. So I wrapped my thumb. What do you think, Bobby? Bobby has big arch, I assume. I assume there's a big arch on that thing. He can, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then he's doing that one, right? Bobby can clean probably 405 for 10. Bobby's a clean master. No answer from Bobby Carpenter. We'll get back from the Ohio State Pro Day tomorrow. Okay. Sounds like we're out of here. I would love to chuck the stone around a bit outside.

2:34:37Let's play ball. It's game day.

2:34:42Pat McAfee:I thought it was a good day, man. I thought it was a good day. Judge double tonight. I can't wait to see the fucking Los Angeles. Me neither. I'm excited to see what Jimmy and Jay do. Boom! Boom! When's the pre-game festivities start? That's a good question. Probably now. Is Netflix live right now from the... I don't know. Can we get another at-bat before we get out of here. Good idea. You're right. You're right. You're right. A little redemption. The camera's in a bad spot. It is. Is the issue? Normally do you throw from back here? No. Because that's, I mean, there's a lot of variables there.

2:35:13I don't want him to, you know, be breaking shit.

2:35:20Pat McAfee:The desk at bat is difficult. It is. Yeah, it's very. You've had success. There he is. Two for him. You have had success. Yeah, but I think. Oh, you did throw from back there. Yeah, I think he threw from his seat. Yeah, from seat. No, this is not on you. You did one of these. You did like a basketball. I don't know. I'll tell you what, I just don't want to hit this. Do we have another of these? We do, right? Yeah. Yeah, we got one. That one's been through some hell. Yeah, the bat just... Just fuck this baseball up. Yeah, I've been trying. Forget about the camera. What do you mean? What about the mic?

2:35:58Forget about the mic. What about the screen? Bat and ball. That's it. Let's play ball. It's game day. Crack.

2:36:08Pat McAfee:Yeah. I think we got to go around here. I think we got to go right around here. Right around. You're coming in hot? No, I'm coming in hot. I'm coming in straight at you. So I'm going hands to ball. Yeah. Throw those hands. Hands to ball. Hands to ball. You might want to back up. Nah, he's good. Yeah, hands to ball. Hands to ball.

2:36:31Yeah! Okay. All right. Nice hit. Little flooper.

2:36:36Pat McAfee:That's one out. It's two outs. It's two outs. Okay. All right, here we go now. Time. Take it to you. Mm-hmm. Hey. You seen it now. Now you seen it. I'm going to be out here. Got to be out here. Got to fucking roll. I got to fucking roll. Watch him throw in that junk. Yeah. Come on, jungle line. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Oh! That's a single up the middle. Laser up the middle. Who's down? Let's play ball. It's game day.

2:37:11Pat McAfee:I had to move back into batter's box. Smart. Pete Rose. Pete Rose taught you that. Let's play ball. It's game day. Oh, shit. That's all right. You don't want that one anymore. We're done with baseball. We're done with baseball. What happened? Maybe I don't watch tonight because everything just happened right there. What? You're talking about it. You got a bass hit. Yeah, you're right. You didn't feel fine. Blow your webs in the book. Who's singing the anthem? Scott. It's that. Come on now. We're talking highest ratings ever if that's the case. Who is singing the anthem tonight? Can we bet on that?

2:37:45I don't think so. I doubt so.

2:37:48Pat McAfee:Santino Corleone's song Spirit of the Game has featured a soundtrack for MLB coverage on Netflix. It was a major spotlight during March 25th. The anthem song Spirit of the Game by Chantina Correone is highlighted tonight. Chris Angel. Yeah, he can sing. Carlos Santana. That would be. He's still doing it? What's that song by Carlos? Smooth with Rob Thomas. Just like the ocean, I'm in the moon. It's the same in the emotion that I keep from you. You got the kind of love and negative. Give me your heart and make it real. Always forget about it. Oh, okay. I looked it up and this article said, I hope that Demma Gordon comes out to lead the seventh inning stretch and maybe the cast of Bird Box can sing the national anthem.

2:38:43Pat McAfee:Come on. All right. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice about changing life. Great work this week, D-Bud. Yeah, you too, brother. We're going to play ball tonight. We are. Can't wait. It's game day. Game day. on it. There it was. All we needed. AJ? It is game day. Oh, you got a little deep breath. Cool, man. That knows the passion I have. Scott Stapp knows that you don't know Scott Stapp's shit now. I think I was a part of that game when the guy was swinging from the rafters. I was in that game. Yeah, but that doesn't mean you were listening to what fucking Scott was doing. Oh, I'm listening.

2:39:18He knows. He knows now you don't

2:39:20Pat McAfee:because you don't know that they're playing ball. It's game day. We'll be back tomorrow. Full overreaction for three hours to a baseball game night. And Sweet Sixteen tomorrow. That's right. Let's enjoy the hell out of this life. Be a friend. Tell a friend. Something nice might change your life. We're in this thing together. Thank you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. You're the greatest people on earth. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

2:39:52seasonal MLB.TV package. And if you don't, no problem. When you sign up for MLB.TV, you'll receive a one-month free trial of ESPN Unlimited. Cancel any time without losing your MLB.TV access. Get in on the action at stream.espn.com slash MLB TV. ESPN Unlimited. All the way news at$29.99 per month after free trial unless canceled. Backouts and other terms apply. From 30 for 30 Podcasts.

2:40:22Did you think someone got shot? Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he scrapped it. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.