PMS 2.0 1522 - MLB Opening Day, Sweet 16 Preview, Jeff Passan, Stanford Steve, Jimmy "Jomboy" O'Brien, Adam Schefter, & AJ Hawk

14:43The account has been emptied. So if today doesn't go well, let's go.

14:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, huge shout out to the Lakers last night. You're up 30, I think, in the third quarter. That's unbelievable. Obi Toppin, congrats on making that. Boom. Eight and a half is the spread here. 137, 127. Obviously, that's 10. And that's seven. And the game's over, and the Lakers win, and the Pacers continue to lose. Okay. Luke could have scored 100 points last night if he wanted to. LeBron James doing stuff. Donk it on guys. Exactly. The Tigers are playing no defense here. Win by – not only that, look at the game, but boom. Minus$1 ,100,$5 ,000. Oh, Tyree's laughing about it. Thanks. Oh, Tyree's having time in his life, huh?

15:24Pat McAfee:Happy to see you up in Adam. Genuinely. Yeah. Genuinely happy to see that. No joke. Very happy for you, Tyree. He's very, very happy for you. No, we're not. But I was not in a good spot when I saw this clip for the first time. I woke up this morning. I saw we were up 100, whatever, in third quarter. Yep. Go to bed. Wake up this morning. Checked the old DraftKings account because now I'm going to make some plays for opening day. Money's gone. That can't be. That can't be right. It made a mistake. Void. I go into my bets to see if the crown was mine and it just didn't get transferred. The crown has still never been mine.

15:56Pat McAfee:I am still scrolling through reds. I mean, it has been a tough time. I have no idea how we lost it. And then Mick goes, did you see, man? I was with you. I was so afraid already. Look at this shot by Obi and it bounces. He goes, that's how we lost. I was there. He is actually there. He said he was celebrating the dub as they were coming down, so it's actually his fault why we lost. But nonetheless, today, I'm going to put more money into the game, but today, we're hitting bets.

16:26Jeff Passan:Yes, all day.

16:27Pat McAfee:Today, we know what baseball is. That's right. Today, we're fully invested in MLB for a season. Yeah. Joining us now is a man who's obviously going to help us for that, going to help us through it all. he's a guy who has been preaching baseball to us pretty loudly.

16:43Jeff Passan:Yeah.

16:44Pat McAfee:With incredible hair. Mm-hmm. And always a good-looking fit. That's right. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, the voice of baseball to multiple generations, ESPN's own Jet Pass. Yay! Gentlemen, happy opening day to everyone. Dude, happy opening day to you. Even though opening night was last night, how do we kind of judge that? Is that normal? What's normal? What's not normal? What is normal anymore? Well said, Jet. That's what the good, the bad, and the ugly is all about. You know what I mean? What is normal? What is normal? That's a good call by you. I enjoyed watching the Yankees get hot in the second inning there.

17:20Pat McAfee:I enjoyed watching baseball get celebrated for an evening. I enjoyed the thought that another league is kicking off another journey to championship stuff last night. And it got me pumped up about today, Jet. And when I talked to you this morning, I think I told you this, we're making a pact and a pledge in here in Thunderdome. we're going to try to watch 100 of the games of the teams that we root for this year. Now, not going to be able to watch the whole thing. Nobody's expecting that. But at least follow along with 100 games of 162 seasons. I'm with the Bucca. I'm with the Buccos. I'm with the Brewers.

17:54Pat McAfee:Royals. Rolves. Dodgers. I love the Dodgers. Cubbies, maybe. Who's that? Cubbies, maybe. I like the Cubs. Yeah, I like Bryce Harper. I'm 100 games.

18:06Jeff Passan:100 amongst them, not 600 total. I cannot get 100 per, but I am going to follow along.

18:13Pat McAfee:And it starts today with Paul Skeens. Can you tell me who I need to expect to win this entire thing? Is it Dodgers again? Is it Yankees again? Are the Pittsburgh Pirates who are the most bet-on team, I believe, on draft things because of how good their odds are and how they've done in the past whenever they've spent actual money? What other storylines do you think we need to watch for this particular season, and what should today tell us about all of it? The Dodgers are the clear favorites. And Pat, we haven't seen a team like the Dodgers since the 1998 to 2000 Yankees. They're one of only two franchises ever, along with the 72 to 74 A's, to win three consecutive World Series championships.

18:51So that's what the Dodgers are trying to do this season. And they're trying to do it with arguably their most talented team ever. You've got Shohei. They've got Freddie Freeman. They've got Mookie Betts, their rotation. And then they bring in Kyle Tucker. And then they bring in Edwin Diaz. And it's like, you know, Roki Sasaki is struggling this spring. And the Dodgers say, so what? We got four more starters who are every bit as good, if not better, than he is after them. And, you know, I think for fans, there is certainly some frustration that it feels like it's a done deal. But let's not forget, the Los Angeles Dodgers went almost a decade of winning like they are now without getting a World Series championship.

19:34it's hard at the end of the year to be crown champion and so the idea that this is a done deal no it's not close are the dodgers going to win the national league west yeah probably but after that over is a weird time man and so uh i think it's good frankly in some ways that there are all these other teams chasing the this monolith the this mega team that they've put together and you see on the board there the new york yankees good baseball team seattle mariners they are my pick to win the american league uh the new york mets are going to be interesting in that opening day matchup with paul schemes rolling into city field today the newly constructed new york mets against arguably the best pitcher in the world right now like that's going to be a hell of a game uh on a slate frankly of a bunch of good games today yeah i think there is a pack

20:28Pat McAfee:slate which we're excited about a lot of stars that we remember and know uh which i think is a good part of what mlb had last year the stars played well so like aaron judge striking out four times last night not necessarily that big of a bummer because at wbc for most people we saw him hitting the ball all over the place but i think like if only if we didn't have wbc and we just had opening night last night and aaron judge does shitty i think it's not good for baseball i I agree. I think it is. Genuinely, the stars playing well in baseball, I think, is good for baseball. And last year, it felt like all the stars were playing well, and we got this new big dumper character that is hitting it from both sides of the plate.

21:08Pat McAfee:It felt like last year had a lot of good storylines, and that's because the big names were playing well and the marquee were playing well. And the last question for me as we clean up kind of the Dodgers are going for greatness that has never been seen before. Roki Sasaki, obviously, great righty. Let's talk about another great righty out of Japan. Shohei Otani, 11 strikeouts, four innings. There's 12 outs, right? So that's 11 of 12 strikeouts. He's full-time pitcher this year while also being hitter for the Dodgers. How do we view the Shohei Otani season? And have we ever seen anything like this before?

21:42If we have seen something like this, it was 100 years ago. And it was in the Negro Leagues. And then before that, it was Babe Ruth. But something like this in the modern era, no, we have not. And here's the thing, Pat. Shohei Otani has won four MVPs in his career. It was interesting, though. The last time he was a full-time pitcher four years ago at this point. Wound up blowing out his elbow the next year. But his batting actually suffered a little bit. But he had his best pitching season. Started 28 games. Had like a 2-3 ERA. And I think Shohei Otani finding this version of himself again is going to be something to really keep an eye on over the course of the season because nobody else can do this.

22:30Like, absolutely nobody else. Guys have tried, and it's just too difficult. But him, he is as locked in of an athlete as I've seen. And it's interesting, though, I was talking with Dave Roberts, doctor's manager, and I was like, you know, you've been with Shohei for three years now. What sort of evolution have you seen? And he said, you know, when he got here, we got the sense that he was solely and intently focused on being the best baseball player of all time. And he's loosened up a little over the last couple of years and he's more comfortable now. And, you know, with everything with Ipe, his translator, seemingly in the past at this point, he has the ability to focus on being that best ball player ever.

23:15And I'll tell you what, there's no better way to show that, to absolutely indelibly stamp that on your resume than to have the kind of year that he can if he's pitching full time and also hitting at an MVP level.

23:27Pat McAfee:When I asked him if I thought he could strike himself out and he said yes, I think he views himself as a pitcher who can hit, right? Yeah. I mean, when he came over here, the belief was that most teams wanted him to be only a pitcher. And his insistence on hitting is how he wound up with his team in Japan. And it's one of the reasons that the Angels said, yeah, you can do whatever you want. He didn't get the sense that they were going to make him strictly into a pitcher like some organizations wanted to. See, so I think this is a big personal thing for him because there's a lot of people, I think baseball people, that are much smarter in the sport than I and have a lot more research on the topic than I do, especially with the modern stats that we have for medical and everything like that.

24:12Pat McAfee:It's like, I think personally he wants to be a pitcher, doesn't care about like, hey, you're going to burn yourself out for hitting or you're going to be this. I think like since he's a little kid, I think he's viewed himself as a pitcher. So I think he probably wants to be respected as a pitcher. I think that might be a deep, you know, like I see myself as this. the entire thing yeah like when i got drafted but he does he points to himself too when i got drafted to punt instead of field goal kick it was like i'm a kicker i'm not a punter you know i do these things but i'm a kicker and then lo and behold vinatieri's still playing i think he just retired they're like well yeah okay you'll get a chance whenever adam vinatieri retires all right this old guy will certainly do that and then lo and behold he never retired he was always better than me so it's like yeah okay i'm never gonna do it but i assume there's something in him that's like i'm supposed to be this is who i am so if he's fully locked in and the dodgers are promoting it and you said he wants to be greatest baseball player of all time we got fireworks all season it sounds like from show hey i am excited about that that's good for baseball also good for baseball tony tony's boy doing his thing my man has a picture uh question for you jett yeah jet obviously tony tony's boy he's going to do his thing i think we all know that that is a fact he's the future of the baseball league but what do you think about the balls this season jack can we assume there's going to be nights like last night not many dingers or are we expecting kind of the ball is to be a little more juiced.

25:32A lot of home runs make this super entertaining, especially if next year we might not have baseball. Great question, Connor, because I got a number of texts from people this spring training who are convinced that the balls are juiced now. Now, some of this was based on what was going on out in Arizona, and you guys were out in Arizona a little bit earlier this month. So you saw, I mean, for lack of a better term, it was hot as balls out there. Like, it was gross all spring long. And with warmer weather, the balls go flying a little bit more. So maybe it was that. I asked around, and, you know, the league said there's no difference in the exit data right now.

26:13But the league on this matter has been a little wishy-washy in the past.

26:17Pat McAfee:So, I mean, I like juiced balls. Yeah. We can't do juiced dudes, right? Because that's not safe. even though the science nowadays, you know, from my understanding, is pretty good. Who knows what it is long-term, but it is pretty good, which, you know, back in juice baseball days, we all remember what was going on. So if we get our juice guys baseball days, that's good. If we could just have juice baseballs that are going to add a little bit more excitement, maybe get some more balls into that kayaks where Burt Kreischer was. Your buddy Skeens is not going to like that. Skeens doesn't care. They're not hitting his balls.

26:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, Skeens doesn't care. Skeens says – no, Skeens says – he stands so casually too. Like whenever he stands on the bump, I guess, he just starts out so casual. Just like – I wonder how they get to all their different – like how many different stances have they gone to get to? Because, I mean, I pitched what? About a quarter of an inning. I had three different styles of – I think my leg is supposed to – Confusing them. You know, and then Clayton Kershaw comes down with that big son of a bitch right there. That was a pretty intimidating situation. I wonder how they get there. But, yeah, you're right.

27:29Pat McAfee:The pitchers don't love juice balls. But, you know, throw where the bat ain't. Good point. Throw where the bat ain't. We don't have to worry about it. Big strikeout guy, Pat McAfee. I like it. No, I'm a big home run guy. I want to see home runs. But on that note, I want to see Paul Skeen strike out everybody. I don't like watching Logan Webb. I don't like what happened to Logan Webb last night. It'll be fine.

27:52Jeff Passan:It'll be fine.

27:53Pat McAfee:I don't like what happened. A couple C &I singles.

27:55Jeff Passan:I'm a big fan. I don't know if I go that far. They hit the piss out of me. But he'll be fine.

27:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, it looked like a bad inning there. They really started going there. I don't like what happened. But those guys, I would like them to strike everybody out. Everybody else, I want home runs. I like offense. You know, I like seeing Bam Adebayo go for 83 points on ethical or unethical buckets. Well said. They honored him overseas, by the way, with a banner. I don't know if you saw that. No, did they? Yeah. In Taiwan, they actually put a banner up. Unfortunately, they put Dwight Howard on it instead of being out of body. But they did put a banner up for the 83.9. That's right. Dwight's big over there.

28:28Pat McAfee:He is. He is. We talked to him recently. A lot has happened. A lot has happened. NBA champion. As sports, baby. As sports as we continue to go. Baseball, juice balls, I think is good. I want to see dingers except for against Paul Skeens. You skipped over the Pirates when you were talking about who's going to win this entire thing. So riddle me this. I saw a stat online. Andrew Filippone, Pony Express, posted that the Pittsburgh Pirates are 22nd in salary this year. Pretty good. The last time we were this high in salary, we won 95 games or something like that. Oh, more. And then we won a little bit of a run in the playoffs.

29:03Pat McAfee:Got one MVP. The Pirates are trying. And also, the Pirates were forced to watch Yinzers tell them what it would mean if they weren't asked for once. Great. It was pretty good. This is good social media. I don't know who did it, who created this, who came up with the idea. maybe Nottingham self-fit to motivate the boys. Whoever came up with the idea, good. And also to the Pirates players that sat there and actually watched it, thank you for doing that because that could have been something they easily could have been like, oh, that's dope. Yeah, sweet. All right, see you later. But instead, it sounds like they all want to win for Pittsburgh.

29:32Pat McAfee:They're the most bet on team. Can you tell me a little bit about the teams like the Pirates who maybe aren't the big spenders, which are certainly a part of this next collective bargaining conversation? Who are the teams we should look at, right? Aren't the Tigers one of those teams? The Guardians, aren't they one of the teams? The Royals. The Royals are in there. Which one of these teams is most poised to kind of go and run, and who should we be watching that we know, I guess, at this stage? I got this buddy named Clark, and Clark loves nothing more than going to the casino, sitting down in front of the dancing drum slot machine and saying, today is going to be my day.

30:08Today is going to be my day. That's how Pittsburgh Pirates fans feel right now. But today is going to be their day That this season has a chance To be their day And let me tell you something When you've got Paul Skeens in that rotation When you've got Bubba Chandler In that rotation You've got Braxton Ashcraft And Mitch Keller The Ashcraft can play, Pat He's going to have it He's going to have a good season

30:39Pat McAfee:Cracking bats, kicking ass That's Ashcraft baseball Connor Griffin's going to be up eventually. That's right. We know all these guys. We know all these guys. Shit. If they can play good hands, well, if they can play better defense than you, and if they can just hit the ball a little bit, their pitching, Pat, I realistically believe that the Pittsburgh Pirates have a chance to make the playoffs. I think their starting pitching is that good. And look, maybe this is not the season. Maybe it's next year. Maybe it's after that. Oh, look at this. Everyone. Hold on. Can we get a couple games of catch going right now?

31:19Like, is there enough room in there? Hit a home run yesterday.

31:23Pat McAfee:Thanks. Don't worry about it. Almost broke camera. We're skipping stone all day. Yeah, I know why we're doing it. Okay, so the Pirates are going to playoffs. That's all I want to hear. I like that a lot. Now, let's talk about other teams that are going to make the playoffs. Go ahead, Ty.

31:33Jeff Passan:Yeah, Jet. So, I know you like the Mariners in the AL, and the Dodgers in all likelihood will be representing the NL. What are the chances you think that four teams from the AL East get into the playoffs this year? A lot of people have been very high on the Red Sox after what they did this offseason. Obviously, the Yankees, Blue Jays arguably were the best team in baseball last year. And then the Orioles are kind of up and coming. I've seen a lot of that. What is your prediction for the AL East this year? I don't think they're going to get four playoff teams. And I don't think so because when you look at the American League Central guys, like there are a couple of a couple of bad teams there and i think detroit and kansas city are both good and i'm not saying detroit and kansas city are necessarily going to make the playoffs but american league east is just going to be beaten up on each you know you look in the al west and i think the mariners are clearly the best team there but every other team you can make an argument for like the a's can hit the rangers i think white langford has a legitimate shot to be an mvp candidate.

32:33He is really, really good. The Houston Astros, year in, year out, they're good. So when you got the ALEs beating up on each other in the fashion that they are, I think it's just going to be difficult for four teams to get to 90 plus wins. But damn, they're talented teams. You can make a great argument in favor of the Yankees. The Red Sox rotation is good and deep. And I think Roman Anthony is going to have a monster year. The Orioles, it's a brand new team, it seems like but Pete Alonso in the middle of that lineup I got big year ahead for Gunnar Henderson and a completely revamped rotation and then of course let's not forget the Blue Jays who took the Dodgers to one out in the ninth inning in game seven of the World Series last year and frankly probably should have won that series we can't be sleeping on them so just real

33:21Pat McAfee:quick I know they're a Canadian team so you're gonna want them to win more than you okay yeah I don't even need to hear that they should have won. I am tired of the slander here. I am tired of the slander, McAfee. I know. It was a fun run watching. I mean, not for you. Not for you. And obviously, we saw you personally and through the FaceTime, through the entirety of it all. But it was a – that World Baseball Classic was the greatest, dude. So awesome. That was the greatest, Jet. I am – I couldn't be a bigger fan of what's going on there. It's made us each individually want to watch the 100 games of our teams because of that.

34:02And isn't that the point, though? Isn't that the beauty of that tournament? You guys got to see in person what that Venezuela-heavy crowd was like. It was different. It's not baseball like we expect or we come to know in the U.S., but it opens your eyes to what the game's like around the world. and it allows you to appreciate what's coming more. And that's why the WBC is great. It's not a matter of who won. It's a matter of it makes you love the ball. I would like us to win.

34:33Pat McAfee:We would like us to win. It would have been nice. It would have been nice. It would have been a great night. Yeah. Not that it wasn't. But walking out of there. I saw you guys afterward. You looked like you had a good night, Pat. We did, but you didn't see us outside when we had to do the around all the paunches. Yeah. They're taking shots at the bar. Having so much fun singing and dancing. We're just walking behind them. Didn't even think we were going to lose this. Didn't even think about this being a possibility. Because we've got a long way to get home here now. We've got to figure out how to get to the parking lot that we were at.

35:07Pat McAfee:A lot of shutdown rooms. No idea. No clue how to get there. Where's the driver? Okay, absolutely. Yep, certainly. Everything. Then we get to driver. All right, now we've got to get to airport. Yeah, right. That's going to take forever. No chance that's happening. We just sat there in Miami. Yeah, we're doing that. Then obviously get on play. Far. That shit's way down there. And then when we land, it was four degrees. And we're still losers. And we lost the whole time. We didn't even think about anything. And your voice was gone that night, too. Yeah. I had to cheer for America. It was a fan. Yeah, it was a fan out there.

35:35Pat McAfee:But that night when I learned about baseball and why it isn't boring, baseball isn't boring. You know who did this, right? You know this guy? I do. Rob Bradford. Great guy. Good podcast. Thank you, Rob. All right, Bob. Bob, good work getting us in here. What I realized is the parts that I thought were the most boring, okay, were actually maybe just building pieces to the story here. You know, this is kind of just, this is building the story that's happening. If Bryce Harper did not hit that two-run home run, I think baseball loses me forever. I think baseball loses me forever. And I'm not saying that that matters.

36:09Pat McAfee:I'm just talking as a personal experience. I'm not saying like, no, no. You know, I'm not doing that. I'm just telling you, me personally as a fan would have never fucking watched baseball again. I would have never not as single, yeah, right. Is this what I'm going to invest my life in? He hits that home run though. And I feel that moment of like, oh, it's even better now. Because we didn't have anything for so long. Like that was just like, I guess it would be called a beautiful thing. Yeah.

36:37Jeff Passan:It was like a euphoric experience.

36:38Pat McAfee:It was. It was exactly like that. So what I used to think was like terrible was the build up to that. like come oh geez louise this sucks but then when that moment happens and it's a full i mean it was like a volcanic eruption of happiness came out of my body it was outrageous you know i've never felt that with a sport before obviously with daughter i love you like you're finally seeing it all this time i'm feeling it all these years all these years i've been coming on this show man and been preaching the way i've been preaching that's what it was for that moment right there. Thank you, Bryce.

37:11You know, it's impossible not to love. And it's why, listen, it's a long season ahead, Pat. And there are unquestionably some moments in a baseball season, yeah, where you're like, God, this is a lot of time. This is a lot of energy I'm investing in. The way I look at it is you're investing in a durable thing. And what I mean by that, our attention spans are so bifurcated right now. We got things coming at us right and left. We got But we're getting pulled in every direction. It is quite insidious. Good movie. You know, we're getting pulled. This is our ability to invest in a story. And that's what a baseball season is.

37:51Every baseball season is a story that's told in 162 chapters. And all you're hoping for is for a little overtime in October, where those are the most meaningful moments. And given time for that, investing, because that's what it is. It's an investment. Investing time in that, it's worth it, man. and it's what makes the game as great as it is.

38:10Pat McAfee:That's why it isn't boring. That's right. It's building. Baseball is building. Baseball is building because you're building to somewhere until you get to that climax and then you hit it. And then Venezuela shouldn't win after that. Bifurcate, divide into two branches or forks. Just below Cairo, the river bifurcates is an example. Good word. We appreciate you bringing that into our lives for sure. and thank you for promoting baseball as much to us. You've finally cracked the code. We're in. And now, granted? Hell yeah. It can't happen. We know that physically. Paul Skeens gives up fucking 10 home runs today.

38:48Pat McAfee:I'm probably not watching baseball ever again. Maybe one. I doubt 10. We're talking about Paul Skeens here. Well, the issue is, who's leadoff for the Mets? Do we know? Their lineup is... Rendor. Is he a good hitter? Yes, he is. He's very good. He knocked that dude out at second base that one time. I love him. I like the way this guy plays base, but that's not him, I guess.

39:09Jeff Passan:Yeah, you're thinking of Jose Ramirez, who's also very good.

39:12Pat McAfee:Okay, I love him. Is he leadoff for the Mets today against Paul Skeens?

39:15Jeff Passan:No, he plays for the Guardians.

39:16Pat McAfee:Okay, so... They may see them down a road. Okay, so who's leadoff for the Mets?

39:21Jeff Passan:Francisco Lindor. Lindor.

39:23Pat McAfee:Okay, he's a good hitter?

39:24Jeff Passan:Very good, yeah.

39:25Pat McAfee:So he knows that Paul's coming with fucking straight gas on that first pitch. Is this his thing that everybody knows? Everybody in baseball knows the first pitch is a fastball? yeah because if you throw a first pitch off speed you're just kind of a dick yeah so the first pitch is potentially the worst part of the whole night for the pitching team basically right like that's what i learned through wbc our first pitch was getting yanked back to back to back games and i'm like hey how come we're just giving up fucking jacks to start the game that's not a fun way to start the game and then i'm told like ah yeah pitcher has to throw a fastball on that first one it's like do we have to every time they're like doesn't doesn't have to.

40:03You know what? Skeens might come in with a splinker on the first one. That's what I want to see. Looks like a fastball, then dies a death at the end.

40:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, I like that. I just don't like that we just feel obligated because of a sports thing that we got to give the hitter one. It's like, let's not do that.

40:22Jeff Passan:The flip side of that is a lot of these guys just take the first pitch too. You don't know if he's going to be super aggressive, so he might take that first pitch just right down the middle, see what Skeen's got today. Okay, now we go. Oh, so that's like penalty kick chipping it down the middle.

40:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, a little bit. But those WBC guys were like, hey, first pitch is going to be the best one that we got. We got to – Yeah, swing. Okay. All right. Well, hopefully – whatever the case – Pat, you know what I love about this? You are literally in real time breaking down like the psychology of a baseball player and like the intricacies of the game without even knowing it. Like these are the questions that they all ask themselves. and and so if you see a first pitch breaking ball today you're gonna think to yourself man that guy's trying to get in that other guy's head hey not messing around yeah i appreciate that so i'm a i've been playing poker since i'm like a kid you know so like there's always a reason for everything when i was i knew kershaw was coming with a curve on the foul the foul tip out i knew his curve because i ran one out and he like probably was like oh is that right let's fucking go ahead and break this guy now and i knew i knew that's what he was going to try to do and uh it felt really good that i actually like oh he's going to try to embarrass me right now let's not get embarrassed exactly right let's not get embarrassed right now and then bang foul and then he catches it and dunks it on me but anyways but it was that amount of thought obviously i didn't know about and that's why baseball is important you're the man we appreciate the hell out of you happy baseball season good luck this year boys thank you for everything you're doing to it truly is appreciated spreading the gospel to a lot of new fans frankly and and i love that and and who'd have thought pat mcafee being the pied piper of baseball i was actually at the podium at the press conference of the all-star game and that was quite a moment that was quite a moment we will all remember okay that we're there and that experience in real time and while i was up there i was like i just met these guys like five days ago now i'm the dana white of organization.

42:19Pat McAfee:Here we go. I enjoy it. I appreciate it. You all have been good to us. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Jet Passage. Yay, Jet! Jet has been very good to us. The baseball community has been very good to us. Very appreciative. Yeah, very, very appreciative. It does feel like they're like... NHL's very appreciative. They have been in the past. Sports, those sports are appreciative. Are you doing it? I don't know. It just kind of stopped me in my tracks thinking about the NHL. Trying to figure out... As in Gare? Yes, definitely appreciative and thankful. But remember, teams, I mean teams. Oh, yeah.

42:59Pat McAfee:Well, yeah, you're right. One of the greatest moments I've ever had in counters. I'm not counting those. Well, that's kind of what we're talking about here in this entire time. I'm talking about the league, not individual teams. Okay, all right, respect. Yeah, MLB, NHL, NFL. Yeah, NBA. Maybe. Silver. Not really, though. Silver was in here. Adam Silver was literally right here. I don't care. LeBron James came in here. That's what we're talking about. With an agenda. Steve Nash. Tony. Jesus. You think LeBron Versace had an agenda? You're out of your mind. Steve Nash, thank you. Foxy. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a guy who's going to be so disgusted by what you were just trying to do.

43:37Pat McAfee:I don't think he's going to be. Speaking of no agendas. He just wants to work. The other guy. Yeah. Stanford Steve. Yeah, Steve. This guy's disgusting, Steve. This is disgusting what's going on here. I'm so sorry that you have to join this right now. I am still taking to Jeff Passan anointing Pat McAfee baseball psychologist. I've never, never thought I was going to hear that one. I'll tell you what. Pat McAfee baseball psychologist. That's what they say. I like to get deep thinking. You know, that is what they say about us and our show. So it is. Rock, paper, scissors. Come on. Tell me some things on that one.

44:12Yeah. See, Steve?

44:14Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm a checkers player, okay? But if the event involves a checkers outcome, which is right now, as opposed to a long-term one, I'm normally okay. But if it's a long, like, if it's a long, I ain't got you. But if we're in the moment, I'm normally going to have the right strategy to get through said moment. And that duck, that Oregon duck had no idea. No idea. Just full bird brain blender. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And, Steve, now you have the trick as well, so you'll be undefeated. Speaking of being undefeated, I have been completely defeated, Steve. I don't know if you saw.

44:48Pat McAfee:I put five grand down on USA to beat Italy in baseball. It was a minus 1 ,100. I just wanted to crown one time. I wanted to crown to be mine one time. I wanted to see a winner. I wanted to scroll through my bets and see a green hit. Italy wins. Congrats to Pasquatch. Last night, Lakers were up 100. And then Obi Toppin hits a state fair. Yeah, it's a bad beat. You needed multiple stops. The Pacers scored basically every time down the court. LeBron had a turnover late, then a missed shot. The Pacers just feasted from the three-point line, and that OB shot, you saw Nembhard have a shot that was going to be contested right there, and then he gives it up, open look, and cha-ching.

45:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, I guess cha-cha-cha-cha-ching, I think is what happened there. But what I'm saying is, first round of the tournament, second round of the tournament, I lost on everything. Duke minus 28 and a half, see how I loaded up on that. John Shire, yeah. Thanks, Steve. So what I'm saying here is we have brought you on today to maybe give me a crown one time. I would just like a crown one time. What do I need to be looking for in these Sweet 16 games, and what teams do you enjoy kind of maybe going on a run here as basketball really starts to explode in the college spot? Yeah, I love the storylines with all these games, Pat.

46:02When you look at tonight, you have arguably the best freshman in the country in Darius Acuff Jr. against the best defensive team in the country in Arizona. And my favorite thing about Arizona is they come out, they don't care who scores. They have different leading scorers. It seems like every other game, Burries is a guy that leads the team in scoring now. But the matchup of what Acuff, because no one can stay in front of Acuff Jr. It's just no matter who he plays, the run through the SEC tournament, the numbers he's putting up, you know, it just gets lost with the talk of Peterson and then Devonza and Boozer.

46:37Acuff Jr. is tremendous, but Arizona has multiple guys to throw at him. When you look at Bradley, who is Big 12 player of the year, Burries is going to guard him. I mean, Karchenkov could come off and help off the bench. So I look at it as a tough matchup for Arkansas because they don't really get interested in the defensive side, and Arizona knows that. Arkansas wants to go up and down, dunk on you, follow dunks. Acuff throws alley-oops. But I think it's a tough matchup for Arkansas because also they go three days straight in Nashville for the SEC tournament. They fly out to Portland and play.

47:17And then they play the upstart high point team. And then I saw Cal sit in courtside at the Sacramento Kings game the other night. Nobody really does that by choice. But that just told me Arkansas cut the travel in half and just went to Sacramento from Portland. But I think it's been a lot. Arizona, I believe, has the most pressure on them and any team in a tournament because it's been 25 years since they've been in the Final Four. There are some serious names that have gone through that program and coaches. I like Arizona minus the points tonight against our team.

47:46Pat McAfee:Minus 7.5, the other guy that likes it, minus 112 right now on DraftKings. Steve, we love how you're swinging seemingly the basketball bat right now. Everything you just broke down, I love, especially because Co-A-Pete, he announced his commitment to Arizona on our program. that football player he's lived up to the hype completely and then the rest of the team they're talking about maybe the most dominant ever if they can continue to do this so you like arizona minus seven and a half calipari was talking about six billion dollars the other day calipari was talking about a cuff this guy unstoppable unguardable what you're saying is calipari might need to inspire a little bit of defensive wood bopping is what you're saying in this entire thing is that your breakdown basically so you like over under in this looking for arkansas to bend their knees a little bit and play a little more defense, and I just don't see that happening.

48:33Pat McAfee:Okay, over, under, or are you leaning towards? Probably over the way Arkansas is going to dictate, and if they're trailing, the ball's going to be going up. And I think, like I said, Arizona's going to be able to score. I would lean towards the over. Okay, any other teams that we need to be looking at here whenever you talk about college hoops or any other sports that maybe I can get a crown one time from DraftKings? The crown is yours. You just got to keep believing. The crown is yours. I look at the best matchup, I think, in the whole Sweet 16 is tonight in Illinois and Houston. And it just feels like because Houston, the talk has been since they were put in that region, the regional was going to be in Houston.

49:09Florida was the one seed. If they advanced, they were going to have to go to Houston to play Houston. I just look at Illinois as a team with plenty of capability. They are enormous across the board. And when you look at Wagler, he's the kid, probably the cheapest in NIL from a freshman standpoint that's done the most. And when you look at Houston, they offset size better than anyone in the country because of how physical they play. And that's just the brand that Kelvin brings to the table with his teams. But Illinois has enough firepower to do that. They have enough size to rebound. So going against the public or everybody, the narrative, whatever you want to say, I believe Illinois has enough to pull it off tonight.

49:48I'll take Illinois in the upset on the money line. I love the different way they can go. So, yeah, we're going to go money line there, Illinois.

49:56Pat McAfee:Houston likes to be physical. Illinois won't mind that because they got the bodies. If they weren't as big, maybe the physicality would beat them down a little bit. But Illinois is built for the Houston game is what you're saying, Stanford, Steve. Yes. My only issue with Illinois, like I said, but they have plenty of options. I don't know what their best five is to close the game. Like if they're trailing, then you've got to have Boswell on there for defense. He's not good as a scorer as Stojakovic is. So it's going to dictate. They do have multiple ball handlers. So I look at Illinois. Okay, I think I saw him down in Texas whenever he was on his visit, right?

50:29Pat McAfee:Yeah. Okay, this guy's a guy. Yeah. Has he become one? He did not go to Texas, I just found him.

50:35Jeff Passan:No, I believe he went to what, Cal? Cal. Transferred to Illinois, yeah. Oh, Stoyakovich, yeah, he's a dog. Started at Stanford. Started at Stanford, there you go. Yeah.

50:43Pat McAfee:You guys got sports still? Yeah. What, you guys are playing each other in Super Duper? Yeah, I got a huge bathroom in the crown. Oh, yeah, we got the crown. Crown. That's the under crown. Well done, Steve. Well done, Steve. Still bringing it. There's a couple others as well, but that one is definitely the other crown. Well, just know Stanford's got no shot at it. We're taking out the Toronto Blue Jays in the second round, and we got probably Minnesota, and West Virginia's going to win the super-duper other crown. You're 100 % right. Stanford, good sports still? Legit. Yeah, we're getting there.

51:22Our women's lacrosse team this year is awesome.

51:24Pat McAfee:Okay, because you guys create Olympians, right? Like, that's the big deal. I hope Stanford remains. Yeah, we can be our own country in the Olympics. Yeah, I just hope Stanford remains committed to sports as a whole. You know what I mean? I do, too. Legit. I believe we have a foundation. You got to start with a foundation. You talked earlier in the show about building up. You got to build up, you know? Yeah. Are you on the base of that thing on all fours helping out, or are they, what's going on? Trying. Yeah, trying. I think you need to get a good, sturdy base in this entire thing. You know what I mean?

51:55Pat McAfee:The sturdiest. For the Stanford Foundation building its way up. I mean, your name is associated with their school, whether they like it or not. That's right. That's true. But I do trust who's in charge now. I will say that. Andrew Luck? I will do. Yes. All right. Good luck, Stanford. Good luck, Stanford. Yeah. Hey, for that super-duper utter crown thing, five public push-ups, you and me, for this first-round game? Bet? Sure. All right, cool. As you know, I can – you can or I could deliver those one at a time, two and three, five at a time, and it's in public. All right. All right. Boom. I was in Japan.

52:34Pat McAfee:When we're together? You can make a call. I think you can text them in. If you text them in, though, it has to be multiple. It cannot be just a single one. Okay. But, yeah, if we're together – It can't be one text of the five right in a row? You can say, hey, hit five right now, yeah. You can't just say text like, hey, I see you right now. You do one. I think that's a little lazy. I think we should have to be around each other. Don't you think so? I got you. Yes. You know Shibuya over in Tokyo, Japan? No. Roll call? Shibuya? Shibuya is the most active. Yeah, crosswalk. It's a five-way crosswalk in Japan outside of their train station.

53:17Pat McAfee:It's like, I forget how many thousands of people are walking across every single time. It's clean, though. Taquale Jackson had to hit three public push-ups right in the middle of that thing, almost got his ass trampled and ran over. And that was some of the best. So I will try not to put you in any dangerous situations, but I cannot promise anything. There's a chance. I appreciate that. Yeah, no problem. If I happen to see you on your Instagram, there's Shibuya. Yep, right there. That's Shibuya. That is Shibuya. Is that the name of it? That's a whole lot of Shibuya. Fucking nailed it. I'm so happy to hear that.

53:47Pat McAfee:Ohio, by the way, to everybody in Japan. We were watching along. Okay, let's continue to get some crowns, maybe. Five public push-ups between Stanford, Steve, and I over the Super Duper Otter Crown basketball tournament between West Virginia and Stanford. But we need to win crown on DraftKings and obviously opening day. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Steve, it is opening day, and I believe your Mets take on my Pittsburgh Pirates and Paul Skeen, so good luck with that at 115. We're 20 minutes until first pitch on that one. Do you have anything on that one and then any other winners throughout the day on MLB opening day?

54:17I look at the Mets as the one thing we still hang our hat on is we're the greatest opening day team in the history of baseball, even starting our franchise in 1962 with six straight losses. But we are now at 40-23. It's the best winning percentage in the game on opening day, coming off a loss last year to Milwaukee. But during the course of all those years from 1962 on, they have not faced a guy like Paul Skeens. So I will let you guys have this one. I like the Pirates with Skeen on the bump. I love what I've seen in the WBC that you guys have documented. And Mets still figuring out what that lineup is going to be.

54:55I do like the additions, the fresh faces they got in. Peralta, a lot of pressure on him as they were backed into a corner late in the trade deadline and gave up two huge prospects. But Skeens, the Pirates, can we say they've invested a little more?

55:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, they're up over$100 million. Okay, we're popping mitts right now. Yeah. Popping the mitt. Yeah. Yeah, so Pirates. And then I looked at tonight is Seattle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Seattle tonight, Logan Gilbert. I like that lineup a lot against Cleveland, who's another team that's in flux, it feels like. We know the finish to the year that Seattle had. So I like Logan Gilbert on that team with plenty of balance. Get Cal Rowley back in the mix. heard you guys talking about him, how he just wanted to get back. No offense to the WBC, but he needed some at-bats. Had to get some at-bats and expect big things from Seattle.

55:48I think, you know, Jeff pointed out the best team in that division. I believe that, and I like them in the home opener, which would be an awesome, awesome atmosphere in their first home game of the year.

55:57Pat McAfee:All the Hammerdown boys just utilized their talk back to my ear button and said, minus 199 pick. Okay, yeah, we like that shit. We like that. I did not. This guy got a minus 1100 maybe he wants to give out to us. Yeah, that's what the – Well, you can throw all these things in a parlay, too, you know? Hey, man. Hey, I'm Patty Parlay. Don't you worry about that. I'm not here all day. I'm with you. Speaking of, I imagine one of those guys in your ear was Gumpy in the back talking. He had a – I mean, at one, I had it. Lakers – what was it? Nick's Nuggets the other night. Minus 125. Yeah, minus – what's wrong with minus parlays?

56:30Nothing. They win. Nothing. Minus 199. Take it all.

56:33Pat McAfee:They are talking shit, though, I will say. I don't like it. We just want the crime. We just won the crown. We won crowns. It was not me. It was those two. You know it. Red Sox minus 167. I know who it was. Don't worry. You only pay to lose. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. Stanford team. Thank you, everybody. Hour two on the other side. We got John Boyd joining us. We know it. A business success and a baseball stud. Can't wait to chat with him and Adam Schefter and A.J. Hawk. We'll see you then.

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58:07Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our humble and beau, the Thunderdome, on this Sweet 16 MLB opening day, Thursday, March 26th, 2000, 26th, hour, two-star time. Sports! I tried to get a little Busta Rhymes in there, a little Twista. You remember him? He used to go absolutely ridiculous. Eminem obviously had quite a rapid word per minute as well whenever he wanted to. Those fast talkers are certainly intriguing to me, especially if they're not able to mess up ever. You know, that is certainly a fascinating thing. I try to get in there to time it up, but it's such a big day. Sweet 16's happening.

58:44Pat McAfee:MLB has its opening day after opening night last night where the Yankees just absolutely throat-punched the San Francisco Giants. Now, Aaron Judge didn't have his best night, to say the least, four strikeouts. It's happened how many other times?

58:57Jeff Passan:Fifteen times in his career, but he didn't do it once all of last year.

59:00Pat McAfee:Okay, so we're getting this out of the way for this particular season. and then we're going to get moving. But the Yankees throttle the Giants on Netflix, officially launching the MLB season. And then today is now officially opening day. The Stars will be out. And in just a matter of moments, Paul Skeens will be taking the bump against the New York Mets. Bryce Harper's going to be hitting baseball. Shohei's going to be out there doing his thing. Every star that you can think of is going to be trying to create magic for MLB today. And friend of the program, Jacob Mizoroski, pitcher for the Brewers, is on the bump over there.

59:30Pat McAfee:He's going to be going for 104 miles an hour for a$100 ,000 donation to a charity of his choosing. Once again, if he blows his arm out trying to do that, that is not on us. Not liable. Toxic Table is here. At Bossy Conner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. That. Cowboys AP. Tone is here. And joining us live from Anattican, Ohio, is a man who is a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, Ohio guy, A.J. Hawk. Hey, Hawk-o! Hawk-o! Wearing the pinch-snipes. Go Yankees. Sorry about it. Ken Griffith Jr., ever heard of him? Yeah. Opening day, boys.

1:00:01Pat McAfee:Okay, so that's a Ken Griffey Jr. jersey for Cincinnati Reds that you're wearing there? Oh, yeah. It's even got a fake autograph somewhere on the back. So, yeah, we're good to go. I like a good fake autograph. Obviously, anything to appear to up the value of something or if you got hustled into it, that's great. I don't think of him as a Red. Should I? I should think of Ken Griffey Jr. as a Red because I see him as Seattle Mariner with that backwards hat doing something really cool. That was early on in his career. I mean, he spent like eight, nine seasons in Cincinnati. Had a great group. How's Cincinnati?

1:00:26Cincinnati a good baseball team? Yeah, great baseball team. What do you mean? That's where baseball started. Baseball started in Cincinnati, Ohio? I mean, I believe the Reds are the oldest team. Actually, a real quick trivia question. What was the Reds' record in 1869, Pat? I would assume. Undefeated, I'll tell you. Undefeated is the only time left. A long way away from 1869. How many wins?

1:00:49Pat McAfee:18 what? 57-0. That's probably the proper amount of games they should have, too. 57-0. How about that? What year was that? 1869. Yeah, 1869. The Reds' stockings at the point, they obviously, with the times, with the generations, go ahead and cut that thing down to the Reds. I had no idea that the Reds were good in the 1800s. Are they good in 2000? Like, 26? Are they good now? I mean, there's rumors of the Big Red Machine, you know, making a comeback, this new age version. Who are your favorite guys on the team nowadays? I mean, we know Eli Dela Cruz. We know he is the face of the league almost, pretty much, if you think about it.

1:01:27Yeah, and do you have your notes down below you there? I don't have any notes, but we did sign Suarez. I know Ty knows about Suarez. 49 homers last year. Yeah, Venezuela hit it. I'm glad you guys are paying attention. Joey Votto, whoops, just got the talent. It's an unbelievable clock. Look at that. I honestly do want one of these.

1:01:45Pat McAfee:Okay, the city has one, so AJ deserves one. That's awesome. Joey Votto gave this clock to the city. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, he gifted it to Cincinnati because he said, you guys are awesome. This is a great franchise. You deserve a beautiful clock like this. Thank you, Cincinnati. It's always the right time, is what Joey Votto said. I don't know how anybody that would be playing against the Reds today has a chance. Who are you guys playing today? It doesn't really matter. It's about us, usually. That's all I care about. I think we are playing the Red Sox, but it is about us. Oh, the Red Sox.

1:02:15Pat McAfee:Funny you say that, because you have a jersey on, and the only other person that has a jersey on today is Calm Man. Ken Griffey Jr., he's got a legend on. Are you wearing – whose jersey is that? Ken Griffey's pretty cool, I guess, but when we're talking about American heroes, This is the kid. This is Teddy Ballgame. This is Ted Williams. I don't know if enough people know. AJ, you know Ted Williams? Yeah, I know that he is cryogenically frozen still. See, those are the things that people joke about, but he ain't no joke. Why don't we pull up this graphic right now, Fox? Just teach some people.

1:02:45Okay, first of all, Ted Williams. Okay. He batted 406. Hold on, Harker. Hold on, yeah. He batted 406. He's a freak of nature. He has the greatest eyes in the history of mankind. He's a great American. You see a lot of AL MVP. You see a lot of all-stars. Triple crown in 1942. That one pops up to me because you know what he did after that year, AJ? He went to war, damn it. Okay, he went 1942, triple crown, MVP. And then he said, you know what? My country needs me. He then went, basically taught half the pilots for World War II down in Florida. Everybody was like, oh, my God, the kid just taught me how to fly.

1:03:24I know it better than anybody. He comes back after that to baseball. What's he do? Oh, I don't know. He wins the AL MVP. Okay, you see that other one right there, 1946? That's when he basically took over the league once again. All right, Hawker? And then, oh, was he done there after World War II? Hey, before you're finished, we didn't get to wait for an American now. Why don't you just wait? Why don't you wait a second, Hawks? Okay? No, I can't wait a second. Shut up. I didn't get to build a graphic for my 30-year-old. I'm trying to talk about an American hero. I didn't know about that. Do you support the troops?

1:03:50Hey, Fox, let's build a character. Let's build a graphic. Do you support the troops? It sounds like you don't because we're talking about the truth and you're cutting it up. We're trying to talk about the truth. So just shut up for a second, okay? After that, he wasn't done with war. He went over to the Korean War as well. He had 39 combat missions, bitch. Nobody for the Cincinnati Reds ever did that. You know what a lot of aviation people say? They say Ted Williams basically invented the Purgachev Cobra, which is one of those moves. Which is the move where you're flying and then you stop on a dime.

1:04:25You know the movie Top Gun? They basically based it off of Ted Williams. Maverick is an iteration of Ted Williams. The only reason they did a volleyball scene was because they didn't want to do baseball and TC didn't want to act like you could hit a baseball like Ted Williams. Not like Ted Williams. That's how good this guy is. TC can hit a baseball, but not like Teddy Ballgame. So for you to come out and say, oh, in 1860, the team went and they won 57 games. No one gives a shit. What we care about is American heroes. Teddy ballgame. Ted Williams, the greatest hitter in the history of mankind.

1:05:00Probably would have been the greatest baseball player ever if he didn't serve in two wars. How many Cincinnati Reds players do you know, Hawk? None. Not on this team. You were checking your notes looking at Ellie Daly Cruz. Roman Anthony. Garrett Crochet. He's going to shove it today. But it all starts with that guy right there. There's a reason he's got a statue outside Fenway Park. Baby, he's an American hero. Congratulations, God, man. Word of all. I agree. He is. I agree with everything you say about Teddy Williams. I never said anything poor of Ted Williams. You know that.

1:05:27Pat McAfee:Okay, well, we appreciate the fact that you respect Ted Williams, but I don't think you fully understood what was happening here this morning. You know, as Bailey McComas was representing the Cincinnati Reds fans in the Thunderdome, and then obviously you come on. We love baseball's happening. The Red Sox are taking on the Reds. It really is. Ted Williams versus Ken Griffey Jr. Can't wait. That's what it's all about today, and that's why we shouldn't cover this sport. Okay, well, everything just happened right there. Now, on that. Pukachev's Cobra, to learn that, I feel like I educated a lot of people.

1:06:00I think that's the point. Hey, you nailed it, dude. You really. A lot of people in the aviation world do believe Ted Williams was the first one to ever pull it off without their wings snapping off his plane.

1:06:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, because the Cobra, obviously that thing. I mean, you got to stop that thing on a dime. Most people couldn't do that back then because the planes were made out of wood. You're going to listen to you back on that one, and you're going to say, I fucking nailed it. Yeah, absolutely. Pugachev's Cobra probably could have come out a little cleaner. No, the whole thing, the Ted Williams sell. That was good. Did you hear AJ was crying? Oh, Kurt, we got a graphic in this entire thing? Always does anytime someone just is trying to support the troops. He's always like, oh, really? Like, all right, dude.

1:06:41Whatever.

1:06:42Pat McAfee:Did kind of walk right in. That was a fun game. Let you go first. He's been dressed like this obviously the whole show. Didn't talk about it one time I did not know what I was getting into. I'll stand up for the Reds. I can. Hey, we're doing baseball. Okay. That's right. 100 games. Yep. 100 games. 150 of them, maybe. Took me 100 hours to figure it out, how to sign up for it. What did you do? How'd you guys get in, by the way? We didn't. I had to make a new email. Okay. What's the email? I love baseball in the Red Sox at gmail.com. Nobody emailed me. I wish I didn't say that. But that being said, I had to make that email in order to sign up on 14 different websites to figure it out.

1:07:24But I got there. So we're going to do it. MLB TV used to be so easy to use. And then ESPN took it over. And it was a disaster trying to sign up.

1:07:32Pat McAfee:What happened? What did happen, actually? Because we have relayed the message. The same thing happened when YouTube TV and ESPN was having their argument earlier in the year. And I just wanted to watch football. And you couldn't sign up for football. It just happened again yesterday. We just kicked it down the road. I don't know. I didn't go to sign up for the new email because my Disney account's linked and my daughter loves Moana, so I didn't want to fuck that up. Moana is awesome. I still don't know if it works. I'll wait because the buckos are on NBC today, so I won't find out until tomorrow if it actually worked, if I could watch Pirates out of market.

1:08:01Pat McAfee:All right, well, let's assume that'll get figured out. Okay. Okay.

1:08:04Jeff Passan:Or it won't, and you guys will be shit out of luck. What, you get to do it? He was grandfathered in. I'm grandfathered in, so I'm not really worried about all this. I'm also grandfathered in. It must be nice. the game for so long.

1:08:14Pat McAfee:All right, I guess I'll just follow along on socials. There is one account that I have followed along with throughout my non-baseball world for over the last few years. And I think a lot of people have, which is why immediate investments start coming in to a company that is creating sports content, which is obviously good for all of the sport, but certainly good for the entrepreneurs that are covering a sport that they love in a way that people think that they could get involved with it. and I have followed along with, ladies and gentlemen, the man behind John Boy, Jimmy O 'Brien. Yay! How you doing, brother?

1:08:49Thank you for having me. Appreciate it, guys.

1:08:51Pat McAfee:Dude, thank you for joining us. I have followed along with your shit for a lot longer than I would assume that you would realize. I think you've done great for the sport, and I appreciate the fact that you're getting, you know, blessings to continue to do as such. So thank you for joining us, and thank you for serving sport the way that you have, without even realizing, as you've been supplying me, basically with most of my information in baseball. All right. Well, some people might get mad at you. You can just pin the blame on me there if you're just repeating what I say. That's fine. That's what it's all about.

1:09:21You know, we've built this niche of like, I'm not an expert. I'm just a fan. It's a perfect place to live.

1:09:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, you create great highlights. You bring things together. You showcase the things that I think us and fans would like to see. So I appreciate what you do and how you go about doing it. Now, you are a Yankees fan, obviously, and clearly. First place. Hell yeah. Good point. Undefeated. Yeah, I get it. 1869. Do you know the Reds were undefeated, too? Do you know that? That's like according to one guy's record book. Oh, so we're saying that's not real? Uh-oh. Is that your record book, AJ? There's probably something not real about it, but I'm sure they were good. Oh, this is 100. 100, no.

1:10:03Yeah, it's probably more games. I mean, like a rainy day and that game card is getting ruined. and then they probably redid it, so I don't know. Oh, they kept great records. No, 1869?

1:10:16Pat McAfee:I don't know. No one in the Reds organization would ever do anything sketchy. I don't think they had good enough pens to last. What is the inch? That's a good call. How'd the Bible make it, guys? Come on now, it's a little bit older. Say the Reds in 1869 and the fucking Old Testament? All right, let's move along. Everybody's chasing. what those Reds lied to people about doing, which is being undefeated. Can you tell me about the Yankees a little bit more, and then we'll talk about all the other teams in the MLB, and then the boys, and can I say the MLB? And when I say that, why does everybody attack me?

1:10:53Well, you know what? I don't really care about a lot of that stuff. I found the more that I talk to players, the more they, like, you know, Trevor Plouffe is on our show. He played in the big leagues for a long time, and he'll call them refs every now and then. and like baseball fans are up and all right it's an umpire or Aaron Boone calls them points instead of runs I mean his grandpa managed his dad managed his brother plays like it says baseball families you can get so sometimes I've learned fans kind of care about the verbiage when the players don't even uphold it so yes you can say the MLB if you want I'm not going to correct you okay the MLB

1:11:28Pat McAfee:then kicked off last night in the big way on Netflix I saw you talking about the score bug Ty also pissed about some of this stuff and how it all goes but let's just talk about the game itself. Yankees look great. Judge didn't look great. Is this a year because we live with Ty, who's also a diehard Yankees fan. You guys have to win this year or are you guys just going to let the Dodgers become the team that everybody desires in MLB? Is that kind of the narrative that is potentially available? They have to win every year. They haven't done it in a while. So it's hard to still have this stance and attitude as a Yankees fans.

1:11:59I think a lot of younger Yankees fans are really confused with how they're supposed to act because their dad or their older cousins are telling them like, well, it's World Series or bust. And it hasn't even been close to that in a long time. So I'd like it if they won. I do like that they returned a lot of guys. So the chemistry in the room and kind of just like, you know, Boone knowing how players tick. There's only one new player on the offensive side of the ball. Like that's very weird. I think the White Sox have 13 new players or something like that. So that's odd that they have, you know, they're calling it the run it back Yankees because it's just a lot of guys that were there last year.

1:12:37They didn't add many new faces at all. They're spinning it as a good thing, and we're in March, so I'm accepting it as a good thing. If it starts to go south come June, then I'm going to be back and say this is the problem. But we're optimistic. It's March.

1:12:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, optimistic in March. I love that. And then later saying, oh, we expected different results with the same old shit. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I'm excited to hear that come out of your mouth and out of Ty's mouth through its entirety. Jazz Chisholm actually mentioned that. He said it's like a family, you know, in the clubhouse, all very comfortable. He was spectacular. He was – now, obviously, no score bug. We don't know who the hell is hitting against where, and we don't know anything.

1:13:15Jeff Passan:How many outs, how many balls, how many strikes? That would be like if a network took over an NFL game, and they were like, you know what, for this quarter, we're not going to do the yellow line. Like, you know, as fans, we've been doing that. That's insane. I'm like – I was personally insulted by it. I saw a foul ball, and then I saw a swing and miss. I was like, is it strike two, strike three? Like, that's basically how my dad grew up watching baseball. They didn't have the count. I told them all the time, Dad, you had no idea what you were watching. You just watch a pitch and then react by base what the players did.

1:13:46Pat McAfee:Like, come on. That was crazy. It was crazy. But the Josh Chisholm interview was fantastic. And everybody seemed to play well except for Aaron Judge. I normally will only kind of stir the pot with Ty, you know, especially when Big Dumpers doing what he's doing from both sides of the plate and just such a force and a dynamic. Sure. You know, human being. I'm always going to, Judge, he's going to beat this guy for envy. Okay, okay, in this entire... Judge striking out four times. What are you taking out of this? Are we worried WBC hangover is happening, or what are your thoughts on it? Well, you know, Logan Webb also didn't do well, so they're both Team USA guys.

1:14:21So, you know, if you want to start a is Team USA jinx narrative, we've got enough ammo to, you know, nudge it along.

1:14:27Pat McAfee:Oh, no, no. D-Row's going to get it again. If one guy's not going to get hits and the rest of the lineup hits, it's fine to me if it's Judge. Maybe this is him being a captain and saying, look, you guys can get it done without me. That's fine. You know, if this was Jazz or McMahon or Wells, some of the guys that are at the end of the batting order, you'd say, oh, man, like, you know, if this lasts, like, we got an issue here. Judge can have, he can go bad for two weeks. He did this two years ago. He had a bad first three weeks, I think. Didn't hit a home run for a while. and then broke the AL home run record.

1:15:05So if there's one guy that has earned to not worry about at all, it's Aaron Jeff.

1:15:09Pat McAfee:So you guys all get the talking points. Ty has a question for you.

1:15:12Jeff Passan:Yeah, Jimmy, just curious what you think the ABS, like how that's going to impact everything this year. Obviously, it would have been nice to see it last night. We missed it, you know, first one in history. They spent a good portion. He's got visibly uncomfortable. Yeah, a good portion of the pregame show. You know, hey, we had to bring in John Cena to let us know what the ABS was. they dedicated a lot of time to it. And then some half-assed question to Tony Vitello about nothing steals the moment and we don't know what's going to happen. But how big of an impact...

1:15:40Pat McAfee:AJ, take it easy, AJ. Jeez, Louie. It's a big deal.

1:15:43Jeff Passan:They're acting like, you know, I mean, it is a big deal. And it wasn't a big deal at all last night. It was actually like the most insignificant part of the game almost. But how do you think that's going to impact everything this year? I saw a lot of people like bringing up, you know, situations that maybe we haven't thought of like a full count where it's potentially a strike you know or a ball and it gets challenged guys going to second gets tagged out etc etc how big of an impact do you think this is going to have on like the day in day out of the season I it should have a decent impact um but I think guys are going to be hesitant like the umpire missed I think 11 calls yesterday and they only challenged one and it was incorrect and then the very next pitch was such a bad call and then they didn't want to challenge it because they want to burn another so they're gonna have to figure out the limbo of that networks are gonna have to figure it out you you don't you have to show us if they challenge it uh well absolutely 100 but also the next pitch is way off the plate you got to show us hey should he have challenged it like they got to be way more ready to show us the info here because it's going to change the sport from a viewer standpoint um baseball has had different strike zones and that's been the beauty of the game because technology didn't exist you had to accept it as beauty, even though it's awful, where, you know, this umpire calls it wide strike zone, this umpire calls a tall strike zone, and then you would have to learn it as the game goes.

1:17:05Well, now there's a strike zone, which I've been saying forever as a surface level fan, someone getting into the sport, which I encounter more now in this position, they just kind of want to know like, wait, isn't it easier if I just know what the zone is all the time and it's a little more standard. and new fans don't want to accept all the old crap that baseball fans accepted simply because they had to.

1:17:29Pat McAfee:So I'm excited for like that. On that note, I am new fan and I am certainly an advocate for that box that I see on the screen. Every single pitch, whether they challenge it or not, being accurate, especially if I'm betting on how this is going. And then all of a sudden we beat the Dominican Republic on a tall strike zone. And I got all baseball people telling me it's bullshit. It's like, well, hey, I've been saying we need to use the little electronic boxy thing. You guys, baseball people, have been telling me that that's the beauty of the game. The umpire has a strike center or whatever. And then all of a sudden we beat the Dominican Republic and everybody has a problem with it.

1:18:04Pat McAfee:I don't think I fully understand where we actually stand on what the old folks want in baseball, what the new people want in baseball. I think we just want consistency, right? Just like in every sport. Yeah, it's just nice to know what's what. You know, like if it's a steady rule. So there's a lot of misconceptions that go around, and I'm not coming at the umpires here, but everyone's like, umpires are 94 % accurate. They're not. Anytime a guy swings, the umpire does not have to make a call. Anytime the ball hits the dirt, the umpire does not have to make a call. Anytime it's right in the middle of the zone, everyone knows what that is.

1:18:39Balls on the shadow zone. That one time just a week ago. Yeah, but balls that are on the edges, if you look at their percentage of those calls, which are when they're actually needed, and I'm not blaming the umps. I think it's too hard to do now. Guys throw too fast. They move too much. But they get them right 80 % of the time. That's two out of 10 is a lot. There's like 300 pitches per team.

1:19:02Pat McAfee:So that's 30. Well, a lot of those pitches wouldn't count towards the stat I just said. So I was wrong at the end. But they're wrong way more than we expect them to be because we're being taught the wrong numbers. Yeah, I got you. Deans is throwing pitches at 95 that move every way. These umpires don't age out. We've got like 70-year-old guys. Eyes go at like 40. That's a known fact. Yeah, yeah. Science tells us that. And we don't have any Teddy Williams back here with the best eyes in the history. Never again. Best eyes in the history of mankind? Yeah, ever. He hit 406. And then he was... And then I believe he was about 820 in the cockpit.

1:19:41So, I mean, if you run those numbers. He was batting 820 in the cockpit. in the cockpit isn't that a big like that's like a spray yeah yeah yeah he only missed like twice and that's because the plane was already shot down headed towards the water oh so once again these are kind of faulty stats yeah a lot of people would say he was a perfect shooter how many missions again 39 combat missions just want to make sure it's emphasized so people know that

1:20:06Pat McAfee:that's a lot okay let's get back to uh baseball the abs is going to change it it's going to change baseball forever um the 15 second shot clock thing awesome i like it that's been great right we like this right yeah go watch an old game it was crazy it was crazy how long they were taking yep it was at the pitchers or the batters uh it was everyone so it's a big game so when the batter and the pitcher are there it's a big game of uh who's settled so if the batter um if the pitcher makes you wait, you know, back in the day, it's called holding a guy. So if the pitcher just stands there and just stays still, you know, and freezes the batter, now his rhythm's off.

1:20:46You know, you want to get into that little like wobble, and if you get frozen, so then the batter would step out. And then, sometimes then the pitcher would step out, because it's tit for tat. It's like sumo wrestling. And it would go on forever.

1:20:57Pat McAfee:We had a sumo wrestling thing happen. Ichi ended up winning. Shout out to Ichi. Absolute beast. Had a big night out in Pittsburgh, and we did a best of three, so we thought, alright, so this should just It should be quick. It was 40 minutes. They weren't ready. Each time it was not, we're stepping out of this thing. And Shane Gillis was reffing that thing. He had no idea when they were stepping out or when they were stepping out. And he had to get down in there. This one feels a little more intense. Okay, here we go. I didn't know baseball was like that.

1:21:23Jeff Passan:Oh, yeah. That's why, I mean, the games, sometimes you watch four-and-a-half, five-hour games. Well, I wouldn't, yeah.

1:21:28Pat McAfee:You're saying, like, people would, though. You guys would. Without a doubt, yeah. Thank you guys for your service, keeping this sport alive so that I can get here to this stage of it. AJ has a question for you, John Boy. Yeah, I'm just curious your thoughts on all of the, I mean, especially last night, but all the gimmicks that are going on, the pregame shows and the different people they add to it. I know there's some guys in the studio that feel very strongly, but where do you think that's going as far as baseball goes? How much are they going to integrate into games and pregames to try to spice things up a bit?

1:21:57I'd like them to push the needle however they feel like they want to, pregame and postgame. I really don't matter. It is entertainment. I just usually networks get games and they use the in and out commercials to promote themselves you know if you watch a Fox game the last commercial before they come back is the new Fox show or the first commercial after uh they when they go to break is the new Fox show Netflix not using those areas but using the full inning to promote their own stuff that's what I got a problem with like I understand the business pretty well I know why you're paying a premium to get this game.

1:22:32I know what you want to advertise the other stuff so you get new people to sign up and then you show them all the other stuff they can watch on your site. But don't use a full inning where you take all the score bug away from me. You take all the announcing away from me and now I'm just my dad in 1972. You should have put in black and white like watching nothing. I have no idea what's going on. I haven't been trained to watch baseball that way so they can do all that dumb stuff. I'm not saying I love it.

1:22:58Pat McAfee:Dumb. It's not. It's fine. Dumb in an endearing way. Like the taxi cabs, and that's silly, I guess is the better word I'm going for. They can do all that. I'm not going to really complain. Yeah, I'm not going to complain. The post-game MVP with the hot dogs, that made me laugh. But use the time that you use and has been established. Don't do it in the middle of the game. Yeah, that's like whenever Liv tried to reinvent watching golf. Exactly. Golf coverage is like, hey, they already figured out golf coverage. Just do it. Just do your own little way on it, which is what you basically said to them.

1:23:29Pat McAfee:but I do appreciate, you know, that new people are putting money into sports. We've got to continue to remember that. Money into sports is a good thing. Let's just not, you know, once you get the money, let's get sports people around when we're making decisions. That'd be awesome. Speaking of decisions being made, the Pittsburgh Pirates' decisions are already paying off. Two-run shot for Brandon Lowe. He's the second at bat. Wow. First guy. Who got it?

1:23:49Jeff Passan:Lowe.

1:23:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, Lowe, Lowe, Lowe. Brandon Lowe. Be Lowe. You know him. You go like this, you go, be loud, be loud. Yeah, well, be loud, be loud with the bat. It sounds like this guy's got a two-run shot here. First at-batter. O 'Neal Cruz. On base. Shoot. First pitch, I think. Had under half a run, man. Yeah, that's not the buck of his bats these days. Freddie Peralta, screwed it. Yeah, the crown will never be yours, brother. The crown will never be yours. Tone has a question for you, John Boyd. Yeah, I do. Fucking Pirates are about to be undefeated. Up 2-0. Okay. See, that's the guy we played in the offseason.

1:24:25That's what happens. You score runs, okay? Hold the phone. The Pirates have a home run welder. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

1:24:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, we got a little Tegan Fagan MIG welding going on down there. The boys are in the fire. You better cover your eyes. That's awesome. Yeah, you're right, because it's so damn bright. I love what you're doing, boys. Let's go, Bucca is undefeated. What if the game never ends? What if we get a hit at every bat? That's kind of what's happening right now against the Mets. What if nine go through all hits? That's called batting around. Okay, how often does this happen? Yankees did it last night. In an inning, decent amount. Yeah, I saw Judge a lot. Yeah. Yeah, he was getting up a lot. A lot of games.

1:25:10There's 15 games a day. So, you know, things happen a lot.

1:25:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, a lot of stats in your guys' sport. A lot of stats. A lot of numbers. A couple times a week. We couldn't see any of them on the screen last night, but there's a lot of stats in your guys' sports. Go ahead, Tone. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Jimmy, obviously, now that the Buccos are up 2-0 on the Mets, We know that this is one of those teams. But is there anyone else you think in the NL that can compete with the Dodgers? The other ones that obviously the favorites, the Phillies, the Cubs, and those Mets that are down 2-0 to the Pirates. But anyone that can compete with the Dodgers, you think, in the NL?

1:25:41Now, this might make your guys' audience upset. When it comes to baseball, I'm a coastal elitist. So I just haven't believed in a central team in a really long time. Sorry to your Pirates. Pittsburgh's East Coast. Come on, bud. Yeah, I know, but they're in the Central Division. We're up to it. But they are East Coast people.

1:25:59Pat McAfee:We're up to it. Everybody that's been at, kind of, I think we do share some East Coast traits. Yes. I think we certainly do. Definitely. Yeah, I think we're much more East Coast than we are Midwest. No doubt, but still a little Midwest. Yeah, there is a little time. Yeah, it's a blend. Comes in from Ohio. Because there's a lot of Ohio in you. Yeah, Ohio comes in. And Ohio will ooze. Yeah. Yeah. They drink it, too. Yeah, it will ooze. Yeah. I think whichever team comes out of the NL East, if we get a team that really puts it together out of the Phillies, Braves, Mets, I choose them to challenge the Dodgers the most.

1:26:34Although I love the Padres team. I really do like the Padres lineup, but they just play the Dodgers so much and Dodgers really good. Yeah.

1:26:42Pat McAfee:The Dodgers unbelievable. So much fun. And everybody's saying they're ruining the game. Okay. They're potentially going to change the entire CBA. hey, I've seen the new rules. Maybe we do change the game a bit here and how it goes. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Jimmy, it feels like one of the biggest and best parts of the World Baseball Classic was just like the pimping of home runs, of big plays, like when Julio Rodriguez robbed Judge's home run and he went bananas and threw up the X. Like those moments were awesome. The whole dugout clearing when they hit home runs, those moments were awesome. Do you think that kind of that will be accepted more in baseball, the pimping of home runs, of big plays, you know, huge celebrations.

1:27:20Do you think that'll carry on a little just because so many people found that attractive when watching baseball for the first time? I think definitely something we did during COVID was me and Jake, my partner, we went back, we watched big moments from every World Series game from 1977 to now, like that were on YouTube. And we learned a couple things. People have been pimping home runs for a long time in crazy ways. the narrative that baseball's dying was first in print in 1892 and has been every year since then and i think this like you can't pimp home runs or like bat flip uh is the same way because we were kind of shocked we were like wait a second that dude just threw his bat stared down the pitcher and slowly went around the bases uh what junior camanero's doing where he's like doing a dance around every base as he runs it that's new um and you and guys would retaliate like pitchers would hit the guy that were mad um because pitchers are like the big bad bully in baseball because they have the weapon and no one and no one else does so they've run the game um and they have like the softest egos so that's why baseball is in this state now these younger guys sounds

1:28:34Pat McAfee:like they're cool with it from our understanding you would know better than us but we just asked the miz the other day hey if you hit one on me you do what you gotta do because i'm gonna do the same thing paul i don't think cares i don't think paul cares at all i do remember those older guys though that like what as the person was turning they would be like oh yeah ready to fight them

1:28:50Jeff Passan:as they're going around the bases and yeah i didn't think we had it last year in colorado when endeavors hit a home run who is the pitcher in colorado i know his name but i'm blanking on and he got mad at him was like run and we we also had it with school ball uh for the tigers young winner uh and zach i don't know about school so we can go ahead who's the shortstop for the Angels, Zach Netto. They did it perfectly. They jawed at each other, like, F you, F you. And then two seconds later, they looked at each other and they nodded, like, sorry, man. And after the game, they were like, it was heat of the moment.

1:29:24He hit a home run. I was mad at him. Like, I still think that we should allow athletes to have, like, short fuses, because that kind of makes athletes athletes in a way, like, when you get into that zone.

1:29:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, we don't need to be hampering competitive edge. We're looking for a competitive spirit in competitive edge out of guys. and I think if some people, not every, Barry Sanders, handball the ref every single time, but if your natural reaction is to let the person know that you just, hey, all the work that I put in, okay, was for that moment right there and I just, you're a punk, dude. If that is your natural reaction, I think you should be allowed to do that. The NFL tried to get rid of dancing. Was not good. It was not good. Eliminating emotion from an emotional thing is never a good idea, I think.

1:30:06Pat McAfee:So whenever the whole anti-pimping a shit was like a thing for baseball that I learned about. I'm like, we don't want emotion, but we want them to care. I don't know how that... I will tell you, if you want to see the worst version of it, go watch college baseball from like five years ago. They put in the strictest rules. You're not even allowed to like talk to each other now or look at each other and everyone gets upset because I have a contrarian opinion because I'm like, they needed that. Those kids were insane. They were like doing WWE wrestling stuff with like 10 people in the fans and it was always at the other team like they'd hit a home run and instead of celebrating wildly with their boys they'd just be like so aggressive college is crazy now you can't like like fist pump you're kicked out of the game and i say it was they needed it it was it's like the tennessee i mean it was insane what the college kids were doing You're saying the boys needed a little bit of a – Yeah, too much.

1:31:05Pat McAfee:We need a little bit of a – this needs to slow down. And then we assume they'll allow a little bit back. And then there will come a generation that will go too far again and they'll have to come back. I love that. Didn't the Tennessee – yeah, against Georgia. Yeah, spiked it. Go Dawgs. Stole Lawless. You remember that? And then the guy stole the – Yeah, robbed the homer to end the game. Yeah, which, by the way, the Dominican guy, stealing Aaron judges yeah Julio Rodriguez oh my god and then doing a full that was see that's what I'm talking I want more of that see I understand baseball it's we don't need all that we don't need all that I uh I respect it hey thank you for joining us man I appreciate it will you do it more throughout the uh season a long season man long season yeah yeah we have a crazy schedule yeah 162 games in 180 days just on it's baseball season is unbelievable what do you do how many shows you put out how much because I see all your clips obviously so uh what i do three yankees episodes a week i do at least three of the like the breakdown the lip reading things a week um awesome and then we have a bunch of other shows and as the company we have you know it's like i think it's like 200 things a week uh covering baseball to die hard people that love the stats my breakdown videos are much more to people that have never watched a full game but like here's a storyline here's some narrative and here's what's like happened between the cracks.

1:32:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, you got me. Yeah, I'm the guy. Yeah, I'm the one you're talking about there. Yeah. I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. I loved it. Yeah, I loved everything. They're great. Yeah, this guy did this. This guy doing this at this time. It's fantastic. I appreciate you taking time and we'll see you again, man. Good luck out there. Have a great season. Thank you. See you guys. Ladies and gentlemen. What's on the other side of the card? I saw you holding a card. Are you a fidgety guy or do you have actual... Yeah, very fidgety. I'm like, yeah, fidget spinners were made for me. We just did our pregame show, and these were all my notes for that, and they just never left my hand.

1:32:58Pat McAfee:Any good ones? Any good notes that we didn't get to on this particular show? Roman Anthony? You want some real my favorite ones? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. The Mets. Let me see. You want negative ones or positive ones? It's the Mets.

1:33:11Jeff Passan:You can fire a couple negative ones out there. Yeah, it depends who it's against. I found more positive for the Mets, actually. All right, here's what I did. I really love dumb stats. Thank you. I'll give you a real dumb one. I was looking at the most popular names That have hit home runs On opening day I used to have a show called Stats That Exist But Don't Matter And it was basically like Here's some I'd lay out a whole framework of why this is important And the stats And at the end I'd say but this doesn't matter at all And then the video would end Oh that's clever

1:33:40Pat McAfee:At curveball I just wasted your time The name Mike That's the most common first name For opening day home runs there's only one Mike in the league right now Mike Traut the most common last name you're like this Pittsburgh is Davis and the most common age for guys that hit opening home runs is 26 Henry Davis got the start today for Pittsburgh last name Davis age 26 so if he hits a home run I'm a genius if he doesn't that doesn't matter thank you yeah yeah that was awesome That's awesome.

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1:35:02Try it today at Starbucks.

1:35:10Pat McAfee:Henry Davis, this guy. Hank Davis. Yeah, for number one overall pick. And he plays for the Pirates. And what we know is he's got pop time, AJ, from here to here. Study Kendall his whole life. He did study. And I hope the Mets, and I know they've got a lot of money in research and shit like that. He's not scared to do bang and boom. One guy's on first. He's a little lazy. Keep him tight. Especially when there's a lefty bat and he'll go behind that bat or one of these right here. And it turns out, last conversation about baseball here that we're going to have for the next at least 20 minutes. I'm a side-arm thrower now.

1:35:49Pat McAfee:Now? You see that? Yeah, I just learned. I just learned that I'm a side-arm baseball thrower. Show him. Show him. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm a side-arm baseball. Found his arm slot. Is this like when you're turning two or just in general? It's just when I'm fucking having a, you know. Yeah, just throwing. Just when I'm throwing. Okay. Yeah, yeah. All right. That's good to change that arm angle. What do you mean change it? This is what my natural. He found his arm slot. This is what I, oh, shit. That's what I should have been doing.

1:36:09Jeff Passan:Oh, no. Drop the stone. I got another stone. Let's start it.

1:36:13Pat McAfee:So I'm turning that shit right here. You see that edge? Yeah, it's good. Right? And also, I'm tucking this thing like this right here. Boom. You're out. Popping mitts. That'd be scary to see if you were standing on the mound, pitching, dropping down, and throwing that at me as a right-hander. Now, I do think I probably should be submarining when I'm pitching against Clayton Kershaw. Sure. Probably give me a little bit more accuracy in this entire thing, but I don't think I'm supposed to be a pitcher, brother. That strike zone was small up there. I was standing there trying to find it. I just don't know if I would have been able to hit it.

1:36:47Pat McAfee:Who's that guy that got drafted, couldn't hit strike zone, ended up being a tight end? Hayden Hurst. Yeah, I understand. I don't know how any of them hit that thing up there. He was a bucko legend. Adrian doesn't even have a glove. That's how you know. I don't have one up here. I should have brought it up. You're right. Yeah. The only baseball stuff that Cincinnati is known for is 1869. Yeah, and clocks. And also the opening day celebration is incredible. It is sweet. It's like a St. Paddy's Day situation every year. That's what I heard. And then your owner goes and goes, so what? You want me to move the team?

1:37:16All right. I will. Shut up. That was a couple years ago. A couple years ago. I think he's changed his tune.

1:37:21Pat McAfee:We're at a different time. I understand. We're at a different time. We got the clock out front now. Chuck Logano is sending some fact checks in the group text. I don't know if you saw that. Oh, yeah. What did he say there? What did he say in that fact check? Chuck has his truth. He has his truth. Chuck said that it turns out the oldest continuously operating baseball team is the Atlanta Braves. They were founded in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings, and then they moved from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, but the franchise itself has existed continuously. Close second, Chicago Cubs, established in 1876.

1:37:52So 1869, I don't even think they're talking as the league even was there. And the Red Stockings turned into the Red Sox once they went to Atlanta. and be kidding that too. Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on chat here. Google AI was singing a different tune.

1:38:08Pat McAfee:Oh, no. AI is wrong. Well, you know, we have come across a time where we have more access to information, but what's the accurate information at the time that we are currently at? That is kind of a crazy time to be a part of. So we're very lucky that we have human AIs a part of our world. Ladies and gentlemen, one of those. Senior NFL insider for ESPN. Andrew Schefter. Yay! What's going on, guys? Hey, how do they look? How do they look?

1:38:38Jeff Passan:Yeah.

1:38:39Pat McAfee:Ah, my eyes! Yeah, so bright. So bright, AJ. This man just went to the dentist this morning. Just got the entire thing. I mean, we're fresh out of a cleaning right now. These are the whitest that they are going to be. Not as white as AJ's. I mean, AJ, I mean, we've got some good grills right now. Sheffer, I don't know if you're breaking more news right now or what you are currently up to in this NFL cycle, but we do know there's a couple things that are certainly worthy of a conversation. Miles Garrett's getting traded from the Cleveland Browns. Why did they do a whole new contract for Miles Garrett unless they were trying to trade him is the question that is heating up around the internet.

1:39:12Pat McAfee:Obviously, the internet is going to grab onto fodder and grab onto any piece of information and run however they want to run with it. But is this setting up for a Miles Garrett trade? And what exactly happened with his contract that sent everybody into an uproar? Yeah, well, here's what happened, okay? And again, I got a call on Tuesday night, a team called me and they're like, hey, hey, hey, hey, do you see this Miles Garrett thing? I'm like, no, what? They said, his option bonuses were shifted around. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, well, if you're shifting option bonuses around, usually there's like some trade smoke.

1:39:53Now, let me say this. Right away, I called the Browns. I'm like, what's going on here? And they're like, we are 100 % definitely not trading him. I'm like, okay. Now I will say this. They were adamant about it. Adamant about it. And they're like, don't even bring it up and dignify the fact because we're not trading him. Shout out us then. Just bring it up.

1:40:18Pat McAfee:Shout out us, dude. Yeah, sorry about it. Well, hold on. So the great part is, the great part is it comes out, of course, you know, FieldDH sees it. Other people say it. that the contract language was modified and everybody makes the conclusion that other teams also true oh something's going on now here's what i would say again all i can say is that the browns were adamant to me we are not trading miles garrett this was not done to trade miles garrett this was done to give us more cap flexibility i'm just telling and they couldn't have been stronger about it. But that's not going to discourage other people from wondering and speculating, could he be traded?

1:41:03And again, I'm just telling you, they told me no. Now, I will say this also.

1:41:08Pat McAfee:Now, you, twice now, now everybody else in the NFL is saying you don't do that unless you're thinking about trading somebody potentially. But the Browns are saying, unequivocally, 100%. Now, there is, you've done that a couple different times. Option bonuses. Sorry. Okay. Well, you know, I just got out of the dentist pack. You know, the summer is wearing off my mouth. Anyway, the option bonuses were moved every year in the contract. So it wasn't just this year. So could there be a point in two or three years when it's easier to trade him? Yes, absolutely. But the Browns say we're not trading him.

1:41:51That's all we can tell you.

1:41:52Pat McAfee:Okay. We appreciate the inside information from other teams' views upon it and also the Browns' views on it. I think the Browns have been pretty clear that they do not want Myles Garrett to go anywhere else. Myles Garrett came out publicly, kind of took a slight shot at the front office, Andrew Barry, for what he said about going to Canton. Publicly, loud. This shit was loud. And they end up making him the highest-paid defensive non-quarterback of all time, and he's still there. So it's like, I think the Browns have been very adamant about this is our guy, but I love the fact that everybody sees the shift and goes...

1:42:22Pat McAfee:we would only do that if we were trying to fucking send them back. So... Gotta get some flexibility down the line. That's what I would assume. Like, it gives them flexibility in, you know, a year or two or three years if they want to move them, I guess. Well, that's what Andrew Barry's saying. I think that is kind of... Well, maybe not Andrew Barry. Maybe it is Haslam. Maybe it is Munkin. Who knows who, Schefter? Yeah. You know, we don't know. Was Schefter there whenever Munkin showed up the first day as a head coach? Remember at the building? Oh, yeah. He was grabbing coffee, right? I think you're in the background coming out of the bathroom or something.

1:42:55Pat McAfee:All right, we'll figure that out as we go. Big news coming out of the NFL. We have a game on Wednesday night to kick off the season and Thursday night. In the past, it has been Thursday night and Friday night. Now, the Thursday game will actually be played at 1035 a.m. in Melbourne, Australia. And the game will be live Thursday night here in the United States of America. Felt like there was a lot of backlash to this one. But I would like to say if kickoff week is going to be Wednesday, Thursday, and why not, Foxy? Need Friday. Why not throw in a Friday game? If this just becomes the new norm, we'd be okay with it.

1:43:27Pat McAfee:What are your thoughts on how this is going to roll out? And how do you think we landed on Wednesday, Thursday for the NFL, Shefty? Well, I don't think they're allowed to do Fridays. We have the last couple of years. Remember Brazil? And then, you know, so I get it. Bye Friday. Yeah, there are certain rules. But in this particular case, with them wanting to play in Australia as badly as they did, and with that game working out to be Friday morning in Australia, Thursday night, back in the States, that meant that they had to move up the Seattle home opener to Wednesday, September 9th. So, it's going to be a great week because Monday is Labor Day.

1:44:08And typically that week, everybody in the fancy football community, you may not care about this, but anybody who plays fancy football there, we always did our draft the night before the season, Wednesday. I can tell you this. There are going to be fancy football drafts everywhere Tuesday night. The season's going to open Wednesday night. It's going to be another game Thursday night. And that's going to be that week. Wednesday night is the first time the league has had a Wednesday night home opener since 2012, Cowboys-Giants, which was the year they moved it up to accommodate the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night when Barack Obama was scheduled to talk that night.

1:44:45So first time in 14 years that they're opening on a Wednesday night. It'll be in Seattle that Wednesday night, and it'll be a great week of football. What's the matter, Pat?

1:44:55Pat McAfee:Skeens is getting fucking hammered right now. Oh, no. Skeen's getting shelled in the bottom of the first. Yeah, it's 4-2, and they're all celebrating. I don't know. Oh, no. I appreciate what you just said. Everything's good. All right. I'm sorry. I just was showing the low light that Paul Skeen's getting shelled right now. He can't throw a fucking strike. It's the first inning. We're down 4-2 to the Mets. I mean, it is. Five. Five to the Mets. Sorry about that. Wednesday night since 2012, whenever we made the NFL move from the Democratic National Convention, I think last year we had a Friday game.

1:45:27Pat McAfee:The year before that, we had a Friday game. I thought Thursday-Friday was going to be the rollout for the NFL season nowadays. Wednesday-Thursday is going to have to be just as good. Maybe Friday, get out to a high school football game. Get out to a high school football game. And we're going to be so excited for ball whenever this happens. I'm excited to see how it plays. And I'm excited to see if the Australians show up 10.35 a.m. Oh, they're going to be there. They're going to be there. Have you talked to them? Do you know that? Do you? Yeah, they're going to be there. Okay. I love the Australians.

1:45:57Pat McAfee:I've been there. It's really far away. The only issue that we have with their Aussie rules football is it's impossible to watch because the time change is so crazy. When I was over there communicating with you guys, it was just like damn near impossible. My family.

1:46:09Jeff Passan:Unless you just stayed up all night.

1:46:11Pat McAfee:It was like a damn near impossible thing. So I know they have an NFL fan base over there. We are very thankful. We think they will love our game too over there from what I know of their people. And obviously we've got Australians in the leagues and have for a while, but it's like, man, 1035 AM. They're being expected to show up and turn. They will. Hey, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi! I don't think they do that. AJ has a question for you, Shefty. Yeah, Shefty, what's going on with Tom Brady? He said he wanted to come back, he was going to play again, and then the NFL, what, shuts him down, or he says they do not like this.

1:46:40Can you tell us exactly what happened here? I think probably a lot of players toy with the idea at some point or another with coming out of retirement and returning to play again in the NFL. Most players are not as accomplished and as decorated is Tom Brady. So when he has that idea and even checks into it with the NFL as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, obviously they conveyed to him that they didn't care for that particular idea. By the way, you know how much I love this, right? When we're doing the show and information flows in, this is what I was telling you. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prohibits NFL games on the second Friday in September to the second Saturday in December, starting at 6 p.m.

1:47:28or later, Labor Day is Monday, September 7th. So the NFL cannot violate the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and schedule a game Friday night this year. Last year, they played a game on Friday last.

1:47:42Pat McAfee:Two years in a row. And two years ago. Yeah. So did they just pause the sports broadcast?

1:47:47Jeff Passan:Yeah, it was the week one, so it was the first Friday in September, not the second Friday in September. So then you must be able to do it the first week of September, and then after that.

1:47:58Pat McAfee:So we changed it. We moved it up a week, I guess? I guess. Why did we do that? Good question. Well, Labor Day is Monday, September 7th this year. Last year, it was earlier. So Labor Day is later this year, which because of the rule, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 61, it prohibits the NFL from playing that Friday night. Can't wear white. Can't fucking play football on Friday. You've got to be kidding me. All right. I didn't know Labor Day had so much implication. It really does. 1961. Jeez, we've been doing it 65 years like this, and we're trying to change it. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. That is grossly ignorant out of us.

1:48:39Pat McAfee:And thank you to the stats machine from the government that just sent you that piece of information while we are chatting here. Let's talk about the NFL in 2000. Straight from Capitol Hill. Straight from Capitol Hill. Trump texted you? Wow. Mr. President? Which one? Mr. President texted you? Yep. Yep. Yep. All right. Listen, I'd like for them to take care of the TSA issue before we fly out to the owners' meetings. But, yeah, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

1:49:16Pat McAfee:Let's take care of that TSA. Please. Please. We need to get some photos out of there. We need to live our lives. Connor has a question for you, Shefty. Shefty, five league rule proposals were kind of thrown out there by the competition committee. One of them in particular, though, was the one-year only, allowing the NFL right there at five, allowing the NFL officiating department to correct clear obvious misses, basically, if there are replacement refs. It feels like all roads are leading to the replacement refs. Is that the kind of vibe you're getting? Because the latest thing was that essentially the NFL didn't have somebody there for the counterproposal, allegedly from the NFL RA.

1:49:58So what are you kind of hearing? What's your feel on the situation? and should we expect this ref thing to last all offseason? Look, I think that this country's got a lot of issues right now, TSA among them, but this is right. Shortly thereafter, we got a problem with the referees and them trying to figure out a new CBA here. And the two sides are far apart. The talks have broken off. The way it was described to me, and it has been described to me for the last couple of weeks, Ty and I have talked about this, it was dire a couple of weeks ago. it doesn't seem like it's changed at all and the NFL RA feels like the league is not making good faith efforts the league feels like the NFL RA is not stepping forward and open to talking and figuring out a solution who knows what's right but both sides are accusing the other of not being willing to get a deal done and the NFL is already taking steps to basically have rules in place if there are replacement officials, whether they can review calls from Park Avenue in New York, whether there are officials being brought in from the college level, whatever it may be.

1:51:11I think everybody's preparing with the idea that replacement officials are certainly possible. Like we are a long ways away. The CBA doesn't expire to the end of May. And there's always a lot of saber rattling in advance. But right now it doesn't sound good. Today it doesn't sound good. Could it change next month, next week? Sure. Or today, bad.

1:51:32Pat McAfee:A lot of public negotiating going on. The NFL has released a counterstatement to the NFLRA. This is happening, I believe, in real time. We continue to focus on investing in accountability and performance in our officiating. Scott and his team haven't changed their approach in almost two years. Continuing the demand raises at almost double the rates of the increases realized by the players over the course of this CBA. And in addition, millions of dollars in marketing fees that rank and file union members never see. We are ready to continue in negotiations to reach a fair and reasonable agreement.

1:52:00Pat McAfee:But in the meantime, while the union refuses to engage in a meaningful way, we will continue to prepare for the exploration of the current agreement because we will be playing football in August. A lot of public posturing going on. Good luck to all parties. We need refs. Big time. We need good refs. Okay? So let's figure this out. Because those high school refs from before almost ruined the game. They almost ruined the game. Schefter. And I don't know what your tweets were from around that time. I'd like to go back and see if you're putting enough heat on these replacement refs for ruining the game.

1:52:34Pat McAfee:Now, on that note, once that fail Mary happens, the refs association goes to the NFL. No postgame pressers. This is not full time. No ability to fire us. We ref for as long as we want. Do you want? You tell me. Up to you. And they got him. Nobody's ever got the NFL like that before. I don't know if the NFL is going to take two of those. I don't know if that's going to happen. So them publicly saying, we're going to create rules so that if these ass refs have to ref our games, we're calling the games in New York. I'm fascinated to see how it goes. This is a big deal for the sport. Hopefully they're able to figure it out.

1:53:10Pat McAfee:Hopefully they're able to come together. And we need refs. We need good refs. We also need refs that, you know, if you suck, hit it. Get them the hell out. It's a meritocracy, brother. You know what I mean? You're going to hear a lot more about this. I guarantee you that. A lot more as the summer gets closer. This one isn't going away anytime soon, I don't think. Scott's got his heels in the sand. Yeah, he does. Fits in their face. And we ain't moving. You are a disgrace. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter. Hey, Schefter. Thank you, Schefter. Speaking of disgrace. Paul Skeen's got pulled in the first half.

1:53:49There's a WSBC curse going on. He had a tough – well, he walked the first batter, which is never good. Well, he hit a guy. He also hit a guy and he also –

1:53:59Pat McAfee:Also hit a guy? So the walk wasn't the hit? No, no, no. He had two walks and then hit a guy, which wasn't great. O 'Neal Cruz sucks at center field as well. If he gives up 10 home runs, I'm done. He didn't give up 10 home runs.

1:54:12Jeff Passan:He gave up a triple and a double back-to-back, which kind of killed him. And the Sun in New York. How many outs here? We got one out. Oh, no. Oh, geez. Well, I didn't see that. The Pirates? This is what we worried about with the Muckers. It was here. They already had four runs at that point. True. They're going to bounce back. Long game. They got two in the first inning, too. That is the Pirates. I was told it was different.

1:54:36Pat McAfee:Did you say that guy just Savannah Banana that thing? We never said the defense. Savannah Banana guy catches that, does a backflip. Pittsburgh Pirates guy misses it. Stanford told you to take him, too. Stanford Steve, that was his pick. It's a long game. This is Pittsburgh Pirates. It is a long game. That's his son. It happens. Stop showing this. I'm not doing it. I'm not giving up on baseball today. No, you can't.

1:54:56Jeff Passan:You can't.

1:54:57Pat McAfee:We'll see. We'll be back tomorrow. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. Bye. Change your life. Goodbye. Hey, get that glove on. Get that glove on. Get that stone in there. Get ready for 4 o 'clock. Get ready for 4 o 'clock. Feel that stone. All right. Yeah. Pop the mitts. There it is. Pop the mitts. There it is. Skeeno. Feel that stone. That guy couldn't throw a strike. Skeeno. All right. For the good of... Skeeno. Started the game three. He's worn out. Look what I just did. A guy in the outfield can't do that. What's that, buddy? You're saying he's worn out a little bit. He might be worn out a little bit.

1:55:25I don't know. Cancel the WBC. They were seeing the ball today, though. Sometimes you make good pitches. Cancel the WBC. We're not doing that.

1:55:33Pat McAfee:Easy. Baseball needs to be more boring when Paul Skeens is pitching. Can I get that shirt? Ruined all the best players in the world. Oh, man. They're not going to blame. I mean, they might. If the Red Sox. That's what I'm thinking. The Sox lay an egg. All right, let's do some picks for Sweet 16 tonight. Like, hey, you mean get beat like they're going to and they should? Get the fuck up.

1:55:59All right.

1:56:00Jeff Passan:It's not that bad, guys. Scheno's ERA right now is only 67.5, okay?

1:56:06Pat McAfee:What does that mean?

1:56:07Jeff Passan:Last year his ERA was like below two. It means if he would have went nine innings, he would have given up 67. Correct. That's right. But he didn't. Hold on, okay? He only went one inning. No, he didn't go one inning, so that's why it's a little skewed. He got two out, so he'll be able to really crater that thing. Only up from here. And what happens when the Buccos come back and win 6-5? That'd be cool. I need them to do that in the first five innings.

1:56:34Pat McAfee:They will. Okay. I need them to speed this up. Yeah, I heard the first five is the one.

1:56:40Jeff Passan:It's Skeens in so many fucking parlays today. So many. Back to the fucking drawing board, man. Scoobles throwing a gem. I won the fucking crown one time. Stocks, first five. No, we got to bet Scoobles.

1:56:55Pat McAfee:Scoobles quit on America. You know he's throwing a gem today. That's a good one. He's playing Slam Diego. He's playing in Slam Diego. What did I say to you this morning? About skeins. I said to somebody, I was very worried about skeins. You did say that, actually. You're right. What do you mean? He walked in a good suit. It was just something off in his last spring training start. He was hanging out. Paul Skeen's ERA, no pitcher in live ball air since 1920. He's posted a sub 2.0 ERA in three consecutive seasons. And that's going to continue. Nice. Until he bounces back. So I do know about getting yourself behind the eight ball pretty good.

1:57:34Pat McAfee:If you give up a punt return early in the season, you might as well, the fucking season's over. You might as well. because your net is however negative. So if you punt that from the 40, your net is a negative 40. So you need an 80-yard net to get that thing. You're kind of constantly just fighting that one forever. You know, where a fun one for punting is the team decides to punt from the plus 37 week one. That's fun. Okay, that's really cool. Can't fucking just kick a field goal here is what we're doing. Nah, yeah, put this thing 17 yards up in the sky. You're going to fight that for the rest of your season.

1:58:15Pat McAfee:That's what Skeena's going to have to do for the rest of the year, huh? He'll be okay.

1:58:17Jeff Passan:I mean, if he throws seven innings and doesn't give up any runs, you know, his next outing, that thing's going to fucking go. Yeah.

1:58:24Pat McAfee:Let's put some picks in for tonight, Sweet 16 Thursday. We obviously are chasing the crown. The crown has been very elusive. So if you would like to fade us, probably good move. And by us, I mean me. Somehow everybody else that I talk to in this office wins when I'm not betting with them. Isn't that kind of how it goes, Foxy? 100 ,000%. Oh, we lost on darts. You did. I'm like, you're the fucking one giving me the bets. Well, speaking of, we do have a mortal lock. Don't say that. This is a cannot lose. Johnny Clayton versus John Rock. Yeah, go, Johnny. Go, go, go. The Gout Man is going up against John Rock, who is yet to win.

1:59:06Okay, Goutman still battling? Oh, yeah. I think it's feeding him at this point. His limp was improving a little.

1:59:14Pat McAfee:AJ, I've gone to European darts to try to fucking find a crown. They're in Munich tonight. That's a dangerous line. Johnny Clayton should be minus 5 ,000. All right. I would agree.

1:59:24Jeff Passan:Go, Johnny. Go, go. I think I'm better at darts than Johnny Rock is based on what we've watched the last several weeks. Gumpy, are you betting on this? Yeah, John Rock is absolute shambles all across Europe. They are saying John Rock is a night. He hasn't won one match since joining Premier League Darts. Is this night eight? This is night eight in Munich, and Gumpy's been part of the Clayton Coop since day one.

1:59:54Pat McAfee:We haven't hit a team ride bet yet, boys. You know how you do. We're doing it. Go, Johnny, go, go. Go, Johnny, go, go. Who has gout? Huh? Johnny Clayton. Johnny Clayton. Go, Johnny, go. He's fighting through. Johnny be good. He fucking, he took that gout foot and put it right to somebody's ass last time I watched. And getting the dart out was a. He's top of the table. Every time. A Littler Clayton parlay is even money, just so. Yeah, and also again, Van Veen is back from his kidney stone. Littler's got bunting? Yeah, right. And Van Veen's going up against Go and Price. I'm not doing that. All right, I'm emptying the account.

2:00:35Yeah, Bunting beat John Rock 6-0 last week.

2:00:38Pat McAfee:I just emptied the account on Johnny Clayton. We do not think you should do that. Once again, I am on one of the coldest. What time is that tip off? 2.15. 2.15 tip in Germany. We've got to have eyes on that one. Go, Johnny, go, go. Connor loves darts. It is something he really loves. It's so fun. I'm skipping stone. Just moved to minus 140. It's falling like a rock. It was minus 160 this morning. I don't know what's going on, but I'm worried about it. Hold on, man. You can't attack it up. I just bet$1 ,000 on Johnny Coffey. Me too. Me too. Hold on. Hold on. All right, I'll jump in. All right, Team Rod.

2:01:14Pat McAfee:Here we go. Johnny Clayton, go, Johnny. Go, go, go. Can he throw from a wheelchair if he needs to? Oh, yeah. He basically is in one. You could shoot from a wheelchair if he needs to. I need to watch him. It's down to minus 140. What? Yeah, I don't know what's happening. All right, let's move along. Let's just act like it's not a big problem. This is basically like the 2008 Patriots versus the Cleveland Browns, and the line's dropping. and we don't know what's happening. Do they have Myles Garrett or did they trade him? They traded him. I don't think they're trading Myles Garrett. Why is that? Because Shefty told you?

2:01:41Not this year. I don't think so this year.

2:01:42Pat McAfee:Shefty said. They told me 100 % unequivocally they're not trading. I don't think Shefty would go that hard. Once again, speaking of going hard on things, Dan Orlovsky, we love you, buddy. Love you, Dan. Love you, Dan. Love you, Dan. Something else happened? No, just the same thing. Just you know he's still going. Oh, he's still crying. I saw some people because yesterday we gave him a picture. Yeah, being kind. We're trying to be kind. We love you, Dana. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to be kind. Well, Dana didn't answer my FaceTime first time a long time the other day. So, dude, he's pretty upset.

2:02:15Pat McAfee:Then I saw, you know, we did our We Love You, Dan. We love you, Dan. We birthed you, Dan. Like, we did one of those, you know, like a parent. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yesterday, and I saw a lot of people saying, whoop, the ESPN black SUVs just showed up, told Pat to apologize to Dan. It's like, nope. I just knew Dan was probably going through it pretty good right there. Yeah, yeah. And we want to let Dan know we are sorry that it happened on our particular program. We still believe that we are right. Yeah. But it's all love. We don't love the way that it... They're putting his picture up. And then asking if any people of the past have done anything of significance before because he said his Fernando play in any big games.

2:02:53Pat McAfee:Obviously, he just won the National Fugging Championship, ran through his CFP. And they're undefeated. Yeah. 16-0. So, obviously, everybody's like Dan. And Dan was just trying to, like... In the moment, he was just battling. I think Dan was talking to us as if he was in a living room. And we lost our time. We knew that was going to happen. That's Dan O 'Lofsky. Yikes. Oh, no. Wow, second day of construction, and we glued to the Lord. There we go. What do you know? We're still live, Bill. All right. All right. This is good. This is great. But we love Dan O. That's what we love to say. Love you, Dan O.

2:03:23Pat McAfee:Love Dan O. We love Dan O 'Lofsky. Actually, we just disagree on this particular fact. And also, we like Ty Simpson. Like, I hope Ty Simpson's good. I like Ty Simpson's moxie. I just think that Fernando has earned the right to just, you know. Play big games. Clear cut. This is the one guy. Could they both be good? Yeah. Could they both be bad? Yeah. Yes. Could one of them be good and one of them be bad? Yeah. That's the draft, baby. The draft is literally one of those. You don't know. Now, you can piece things together, traits and tape, and you can piece those things together to try to predict, which is what every NFL team is trying to do in these things.

2:04:00Pat McAfee:And I think we see some things, obviously, that we really like, especially whenever we have, you know, like on. I did a lot of this for a living, but when I wasn't doing this, I was just standing on the sidelines. So field pass is like, you know, pretty comfortable location for me. Can't see shit. You know, sidelines a lot better at the ends. I can't really see much, but down there you can. And it's just like boots on the ground. We have pretty good conviction that Fernando is a guy, just like from everything that we've seen in between, not just on the tape, but like in between downs, sideline, how he is with his team, all that type of stuff.

2:04:32Teammates talking about him.

2:04:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, pretty good prediction. But he might be ass in the NFL. There's a chance he's ass in the NFL. Never know. We have no idea, but we feel very good about it. And we also think he's earned the right to just, this guy's number one guy. Like we think, once again, Ty Simpson.

2:04:51Jeff Passan:These guys are sawing through something out there right now. Know they're doing it and just... Unbelievable. We can cut this wire.

2:05:01Pat McAfee:Unbelievable. Honestly, I don't even know. We got to call the town. We got to call the town, I guess. Hey, shout out to the generators. Yeah. Still bringing it. Still bringing it. The generators had to add another one of those before this whole thing began. Yeah, okay. This is sweet. All right, let's get out of here. Okay. I'm sure that wasn't just them right there. Probably not.

2:05:26Jeff Passan:No, I wouldn't think so because if they cut through something, we'd be really fucked.

2:05:29Pat McAfee:I mean, we kind of were twice, though. But it came back on. We're down, actually. We're down.

2:05:34Jeff Passan:Okay, so that is back in plan. Bill said we're back. Yeah, yeah, we're back. While we're here, should we put it on record that also, while you said what you just said, Dan did that to himself?

2:05:46Pat McAfee:Dan did choose to do all these things. But Dan was talking like he was in a living room with us. He forgot, which is his fault. Agreed, but he was in his car. His fault. I think he handles it well. I'm sure, yeah, I think Dan handles it fine. I don't think it's affecting his life too much, do you? We hope so. We love you, Dan. We love you, Dano. And we'll find out 10, 15 years if you're right. Exactly. About Ty Simpson. And we'll find out about Fernando. Yeah. And hopefully they're both Hall of Famers. Hopefully. Actually. alright let's get the hell out of here I'm going to talk to a couple construction folks I think I have to talk to the city hey we need power so like how do we what just how do we not do that you guys caught something out here hey I saw a fucking backhoe again driving through the and then we lost all the oh these are your wires

2:06:42Pat McAfee:we appreciate the workers these guys are working their asses all out there but can we get a little heads up about the power out there they need to keep it ah guess just be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change your life we're in this thing together we're back tomorrow for an incredible feel good friday hell yeah yeah tomorrow's a good friday huge day oh yeah we got damn jeremiah joining boom moving the sticks boom coach shishevsky's on tomorrow two great guests who two great guests oh i thought you said some three i think i think we have who else you only said two names oh p crow armstrong i forgot about him yes loved him in wbc yeah for a couple innings wanted to see him a little more yeah in wbc does he know about the curse should we have all to tell him well he didn't play enough i don't think to yeah and roman's gonna break that anyways at four against those shitty red He's better.

2:07:41Pat McAfee:Anybody in Cincinnati playing WBC? Suarez.

2:07:45Jeff Passan:We were focused on the ball.

2:07:46Pat McAfee:Oh, Suarez. He's your stud. Yeah, he is. He's warmed up. I met his family. He's awesome. He's a good guy. God, he was good at baseball, too. He might hit 75 homers this year. I doubt it. Not today. Maybe. I mean, that's the optimism of March, isn't it? Sweet 16, let's make our picks. Can we do graphics still? I got Purdue. Cut. I got Purdue. I got Iowa. Fuck yeah. Give me Nebraska. I got Arizona. Arkansas. I got

2:08:27Pat McAfee:Illinois. Illinois. All right. There you go. Houston's a scary team. Houston scares me, but I do like Illinois. The other guy said they're big enough to handle. Illinois is big enough to handle Houston's physicality. They said they'll be able to. Because remember, Houston, they bop wood. Yes, they do. They really, they bop wood. He's saying Illinois can handle that because of their size. Now, if Houston wins, I'm okay with that because I like physicality happening. Sure. Sounds like Illinois is like that as well. Purdue, let's go for Indiana. Indiana's had a hell of a, the state of Indiana's had a hell of a run.

2:08:59Pat McAfee:I'm not saying anybody that are Hoosiers fans are pulling for Purdue. That's not how that goes at all. but would be sick if the state of Indiana just kind of continues to do it. That would be a lot of fun. We got the Bears here now. We got the football natty. Maybe get the basketball national championship. Lacrosse. They got a point guard. Notre Dame maybe gets lacrosse. They got a point guard who's just – he's a little bit of a defensive liability, but on the offensive side, he certainly can pass that. All the time later. Ever. Yeah. Braden Smith? Yeah. He's awesome. He is. Fun to watch. Great fade, too.

2:09:35Pat McAfee:great fade on his head. All right, so enjoy the night. We'll be back tomorrow. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. We will remind people when Paul Skeen's on him out again. Mm-hmm. Okay. Bad start. That's going to happen. Long season. They can still win that game. Yeah, for sure. Boom. I don't. Okay, I do care if the Pirates win. Yeah. It's not just about how Skeen's does for me. This is game one of 100. 60. Let's lock in. A lot of teams. Two. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice might change your life. Go throw a baseball run.

2:10:08Yeah. So fun.

2:10:09Pat McAfee:And here in Indiana, I mean, we lost power before it even started. I think there's some real storms coming. So across the Midwest, let's keep our eyes on, head on swivel. Be safe. Eyes on the skies. Yeah, but not too much. Make sure you get in the basement whenever it gets to the point. Bingo. What is the torque on? Yeah. What's that? Tornado condition index. And it's out of how many? 10. And what were we at? Yesterday when we read the doc? We're going in tonight with a 4-5. Okay, so moderate. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see the Torcon? I did not see the Torcon, no. Well, I think it was Ryan Hall, y 'all, maybe.

2:10:44Yeah, it was Ryan Hall, y 'all.

2:10:45Pat McAfee:Sure. Who was it, Bill? Bill, which one did you pull from, Internet Meteorologist? Do we know which one Bill pulled from? Because it's not Fyke. No, it's not Fyke. Was he a Max Velocity guy? No, it might be Max Velocity. Nick's definitely a Max Velocity guy. I don't mind Ryan Hall, y 'all. He'll sit in it. Oh, yeah. Ron Hall, y 'all will go live for 10, 20, 15 hours. Bill's not answering. Yeah, Bill's like personally powering the generator. Oh, he's on the bike? He's on the bike. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice if I change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three.

2:11:14Pat McAfee:We'll see you tomorrow. AJ, great work today. Go Reds, bub. Yes, go Reds. 410. Can't wait. I know you and Herbie are pumped up about the Reds. Herbie's probably there. That's a Red Sox fan looking to steal the day from Cincinnati. Crochet coming down the chute. coming at you. What if the Red Sox win and say, that Joey Votto clock looks like the time is ours, pal. And they take it out of the city. Red just like our Sox. Andrew Abbott might throw a perfect game today. Nice job. Yeah, right. He's a bitch, dog. That's not true. We do not feel that way. Be your friends. Tell our friends something nice when I change your life.

2:11:53Pat McAfee:We're in this thing together. Let's enjoy the hell out of the sport. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this. You are the greatest of all time. I saw a tweet from 2017 that I put out this morning and it felt good for a throwback Thursday. And the only reason why any of it turns out to be so true is because people allow us to do this for a living and because you boys kick ass so much, let's do it again tomorrow before we go into the greatest weekend of all time.

2:12:13Jeff Passan:Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Oh, no.

2:12:18Pat McAfee:Sounds like we got some more bad news coming down the chute. Is it just the USA guys? Mizorowski just gave up a homer at first at bat. Okay, he didn't play WBC, so maybe it's just... Okay, good. juice balls let's go is it just people we know juice but no i don't like what people are already going to start saying i know what they're going to start saying i've seen it yep be a friend tell a friend we won't talk to skeins ever again or judgy be a friend tell a friend something nice might change your life when we're sitting together we can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living it is outrageous that this is our job but we're so incredibly thankful we would like our friends to start doing better in a sport that we're trying to get into though stat stat that's gonna have to i know me i've been with me a long time we're gonna need that to fucking quick we're gonna have to turn these things around quick they will i fucking hope because i'm loving it right yeah john boy on it guy was fucking spectacular yeah we had two baseball guests on today yeah opening day could you imagine going back and telling me that a couple years ago yeah right away too bad to do are we trying to fucking sabotage the program that's what i would said.

2:13:23Pat McAfee:Look at that shirt. It's from Rob Manfred.

2:13:31Pat McAfee:Rob Manfred. Okay. It'd be cool if Manfred said that. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice about changing life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Love you guys. Team on three. Love you too. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

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2:14:24Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped it. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with Tabata. This might be a hit. You want the truth. Biggest one of convictions. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.