PMS 2.0 1526 - Cooper Flagg, Chase Daniel, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Dan Orlovsky, & Darius Butler

20:36Pat McAfee:If you have a good first year or second year, and you happen to get into March Madness or you just play well at all, all these big schools are just coming in and pock, pock, pock, pock, pock, pock, pock, pock. Because if the ducks are quacking, you've got to feed them. Exactly. And all those big schools are just quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. They are literally just taking all the small schools. So we thought maybe the power four would take over basketball. It would be bad for hoops. Turns out, no, quality of play is great. The games are battling. There's been a few blowouts. That certainly happened.

21:02Pat McAfee:But there's been a lot more exciting battles in this March Madness. And the numbers are gigantic. Have we been winning and gambling? And I'm saying, has the public been winning? Because I know favorites did well in the first and second round. And then as we move into the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, now the Final Four, How should we feel whenever we're gambling on this? Have the public been operating at a high clip against it, or have the crowns never been ours? So the first weekend was good, obviously, because of all the favorites, and the favorites dominated. And then that Friday, if you did a favorites parlay, it was undefeated.

21:32So they did well in the first weekend. And then the second weekend was going to be like, how was that? The favorites went 6-2 straight up over that weekend. There was only two upsets the whole weekend as far as the straight-up money line goes. and then it was four and four against the spread were favorites in the second weekend. And a lot of people in these, the spreads weren't that big, so they were doing a lot of money line parlays and stuff like that. The one person who always wins, always, is Dan Hurley. He is 10-0 against the spread, sweet 16 and later, 18-3 against the spread overall in the tournament.

22:08If there is a man that you want to follow into war, betting, It's Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies. 18-3 in the tournament in his career. And 10-0 against the spread Sweet 16 or later is Dan Hurley and UConn in his career there. So pretty incredible.

22:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, it sounds like Dan Hurley was letting their ref know potentially. And I appreciate both sides of that conversation afterwards coming out and saying, that was a great basketball game. It certainly was. Down 19-1 point. Down 15. They come back, not only cover, obviously get the win over the highly powerful Duke squad. Which is a shame. Join us now. Oh, tough. This is a tough transition. I didn't know this is where we were headed. That's all me. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a Duke legend. Absolute icon. Potential goat convo in the future when it's all said and done. Hembo has sent us stats about what this dude is doing during his teenage years.

23:05Pat McAfee:Remember, he reclassified, graduated high school early so he could get to Duke quicker to get to the NBA. Now, I don't know if it was strictly to get the NBA or just for the good of Duke, where he lost to the Final Four. Made it to the Final Four, though, which is certainly fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, Dallas Mavericks star. The main event. Cooper Flagg. Yeah, Cooper! How you doing, man? What's up, yeah? Hey, thank you for joining us. Listen, we are very thankful that you have joined us. I want to let you know that. Immediately off the jump. But I understand season's not going anywhere near what you expected.

23:36Pat McAfee:I looked up your record. In high school, you won a state championship. Then you go to Monferno. You win a national championship there. You go to Duke. Obviously, you go to Final Four. Anytime you're a highly sought-after person, though, especially in professional sports, you're potentially not going to the best setup. What has this season been like for you? Obviously, you are getting numbers. You're balling. You're learning the NBA game. But what has this all been like is you're not getting as many wins. I assume you're a bit conflicted, living dream, while not going exactly perfectly. Is that kind of a good way to describe it?

24:04100%. Yeah. I mean, obviously, it's been tough. Like you said, through high school, college. I mean, I only lost four games last year, so there's been times over the season where it's been, you know, really mentally taxing on me. You know, just not having the success that I would have hoped for. And obviously, we've had a lot of injuries and a lot of, you know, unfortunate things happened throughout the year. But, yeah, it's obviously not been ideal. And, I mean, I've had growth along the way, and I've had to get better and learn on the fly. But, yeah, definitely not the start I would have looked for.

24:34But I think, you know, hopefully eventually I'll be able to look back on it and know that I was able to learn a lot from it.

24:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, let's talk about you playing like point guard with Kidd there also helping. I think that was a big decision early in the year. Let's put the ball in his hands and see what it's like. You're a teenager. We put up some of the stats about the guys that you're next to. I don't know if you know this. Hembo sent this over to us this morning whenever he found out. Averaging 20-plus points as a teenager, you, Luka, Durant, LeBron, and Carmelo. Okay? Not ass. Okay, so let's go ahead and finish this entire thing out. What has it been like as you transition into the men's league? Do you view yourself as a bucket getter?

25:11Pat McAfee:Have you had to develop? What do you think you've really changed in your game since getting to the Mavericks as opposed to college or high school? Yeah, I think I've had to change a lot. I think coming in, I wasn't expecting to be thrown in the fire as much. You know, obviously, I was looking at, you know, AD, Kai, Clay, and obviously with, you know, some of the injuries and stuff, it just didn't work out that way, and I was kind of just thrown out there, you know, a little bit more than I would have expected and had a little bit more responsibility. But I think overall it's just helped me to develop.

25:41Like you said, you mentioned the point guard thing. Like, you know, Coach K is giving me that confidence to go out and be a creator and learn the game in a lot of different ways. I think it's helped me to just get comfortable all around.

25:52Pat McAfee:Yeah. How do you feel about the handles right now, better than ever? Like you think if I was to train for a month or two, I might be able to get a hand out there? Do you think so? How do you feel about the handles right now? I feel good. I feel great about it. Like I said, I've gotten so much more confident and comfortable out there, you know, as the years progressed. So, no, I don't think you could, but you could try. I'm fouling the shit out of you. You know that. Because first of all, I'm looking straight. How tall are you in real life? 6 '9". Okay, so we're here. We are here immediately. Okay, so that's not great news, but I'm fouling you immediately.

26:26Pat McAfee:But you're tough, dude. You go hard. You go so hard in the paint. It is – you're fun to watch, brother. That's why, obviously, the NBA is so excited about the future with you in there. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Cooper, one of the reasons you could argue why you go so hard is you were basically training with, you know, the Team USA Olympic team before you even got to college, you know. What was that experience like? How much did you learn, you know, just going one-on-one against, you know, guys on that list, Kevin Durant? and how much did that kind of carry into your development for that year at Duke just knowing what was on the horizon and what kind of players you were going to be playing in 18 months?

27:01Yeah, it was incredible. I think for me just having that experience before I even played in a college game just gave me a lot of confidence going into that season. Playing against those type of guys, just sharing the court with them, it showed me that I was right where I belonged and I was on the right path. So it just gave me so much confidence moving into the college season. And, you know, I just took that confidence and momentum with me. And, you know, I had a great season at Duke.

27:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, they were talking about you. Obviously, you've been very good your whole life. I believe mom star, too. I think you've been great your entire life. When you hear the OGs in your eyes, there are contemporaries, but you're a young ass. What year were you born? I was six. Jesus Christ, man. You were in college? I was a freshman in college. what month what month uh december so pretty much oh seven oh my god wow we're having quite a time jeez we're having quite a december oh my god we're having an absolute blast you are so young anyways when you talk about the ogs i guess who are younger than me and my age coming out speaking about you and getting play against them is that a is that a big deal especially in this nba now whenever you travel around are you talking to guys on other teams are they welcoming to you?

28:16Pat McAfee:Like, how do you kind of view that relationship with the older generation of the league as you are clearly in everybody's eyes, the next generation? Yeah, for sure. I think it's been cool to interact with, you know, some of those guys that I grew up watching and, you know, that the team USA thing, like that was my first time, you know, sharing the court with any NBA players at all. So I was definitely a little star struck, you know, for that experience. And it was a little surreal, but, you know, I think now there's definitely a lot of, you know, guys that are welcoming, like the older guys. But you can definitely tell that, you know, a lot of them want to go at, you know, the rookies and the young guys and they don't want to, you know, let them play at all.

28:54So a lot of guys just, you know, attack and come at the young guys.

28:58Pat McAfee:How do you feel about that? Yeah, just knowing a guy's trying to kill you. Hey, you're really good. Yeah, main event. That's cute. Okay, I heard about you. Kevin Durant said this about you at the Team USA stuff. He looked like a hell player. He's somebody that's only going to get better with more experience. He's 17 years old coming in here playing like a vet. No emotion. So you're a stone A. We are not talking about, I'm not a fan of these guys. Okay, I'm not a fan of these guys. If I act soft, these guys are going to fucking kill me. Was there a full pre? Yeah, I assume there was for you going in there, like how we're going to operate.

29:26Pat McAfee:And obviously you impressed everybody, but have you been that way your whole life? Or are you always just like kind of made for the moment, it seems like? Because you youngs, because of money now, are handling money, I think, a lot better than us olds had to do it. But also like social media, being a famous person, Do you feel like you've had to mature in that aspect of how you handle your emotions in those situations? 100%. Yeah, I think it definitely helped me to grow up a lot earlier. I mean, I left home when I was 15 to go to a prep school and live in a dorm. So I think I definitely had to grow up a lot quicker and things of those natures.

30:02But as far as getting on the court and being nervous, for me, it's just once I step onto the court, it just comes down to basketball. Like, I've played so many basketball games at the end of the day. I've worked out so much. And so I just go back to that and trust all the work that I put in. And I know that I don't really have anything to worry about, you know, when I'm out there. Yeah, but, like, you haven't done that.

30:21Pat McAfee:You can't. If you've done it every moment of your life since you were born, which I know there had to be some days where you're a baby, you took a nap, right? Maybe. It had to be some days. So it's like the amount of reps that you've had compared to it, it's outrageous. Go ahead, D-butt. Yeah, Cope, I know you're in the middle of it right now, but what's been the biggest adjustment on and off the court as now a pro? Like you said, you've left home 15, so you've kind of been doing this. You've been on the big stage. You've been under the spotlight. But what's been the biggest adjustment now, you know, being an NBA player?

30:51I mean, there's a lot. I think the first thing I would think about is just the lifestyle change. It's a big lifestyle change, obviously. I mean, I'm in a new city, you know, living on my own. I'm worried about paying rent, paying for different things, just figuring that stuff out. You know, everybody has their own family. Like, a lot of the guys have, you know, children, wives. So nobody's hanging out. Like, I'm going to practice, going to the games, and I'm going home and kind of just chilling by myself. So a lot of the lifestyle things are a lot different. And then another thing I would say is just the length of the season.

31:23Like, you know, 82 games is a lot and you can't really prepare for it. So it's just been things that I've had to learn throughout the year of, you know, mentally, physically preparing my body, preparing my mind just to be ready for 82. Have you had that kind of welcome to the league moment yet? We all kind of have had it in different ways. Have you had that yet? I had a couple. So I think, you know, very early on in training camp and practice when we were going hard at the start of the year, it was definitely a couple moments. You know, one I'm talking about before, like I tried to dunk on one of my teammates, PJ Washington, and it just didn't go very well.

32:05Pat McAfee:When you say you sit at home alone because your teammates are all adults, you play video games, I heard? You're a big gamer? Yeah, I play video games. Which ones? What are we playing? What are we playing? um i'm playing uh 2k a lot fifa um rocket league fortnite sometimes like whatever i kind of just switch around play whatever you're a good hooper or a good gamer and do people know it's you um i'm okay i wouldn't say i'm great i'm okay um and the only game people know it's me is 2k uh because they give like give us a little logo um so people can tell what it says How are you in FIFA? FIFA pretty good or Rocket League better?

32:46Probably better at Rocket League. I don't play FIFA as much.

32:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, Team USA is just getting their asses kicked in soccer. Nobody picks them on the game. We're just getting our asses beat, dude. We just got Portugal last night. Yeah, good squad. Ass beat. The other day, who did we play? Bolivia? Who was it? Belgium. There it is. Belgique. No, Belgique. Smack that. I mean, we need to get better. Cooper, why don't you take your 6 '9 ass and go stand in net for us at World Cup? We're giving up a lot of goals. We're conceding a lot of goals. Too many. Could you imagine him? Yeah. Oh, my God. Coop, where are you at next? When's the World Cup? Summer. Yeah, July.

33:20Pat McAfee:All right, forget about it. See you, July. This kid's young. We don't need to be putting that much pressure on him, but you need to fucking think about it, Cooper. I think that is something you at least need to think about. Obviously, the Maine event is one of the greatest nicknames I've heard. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Cooper, being a New England guy myself, I kind of understand the layout. In Maine, I don't want to bury Maine at all, but there doesn't seem much to do in Maine aside from skiing, and maybe head on down to a gun clip. But what did you kind of do growing up? Was it strictly basketball?

33:48Did you play other sports? Like what was kind of like growing up? Or was your mom just on your ass every day? Like you better go get 200 jumpers up right now so you can go to the University of Maine just like myself. Unfortunately, you were much better at once at Duke. Yeah, my mom was definitely on my ass every day no matter what. It didn't matter what I was doing. She was always on me about something. But, no, I played a bunch of sports all the way up until high school. I played football. I played soccer when I was younger. Baseball. Ran track for a couple years. So, I definitely did, you know, a lot of different things just to keep my body in shape.

34:22And, you know, to just kind of compete when basketball wasn't in the season. But, yeah, I definitely did a bunch of different things.

34:31Pat McAfee:Lobsters? Is that what's up, man? Oh, yeah. The best lobster he ever had. Fresh catch. Great lobster. He's never complimented Maine. I want to let you know that. That's not true. my parents go to a gun quit uh for many many years over the year and plus i'm a north shore guy gloucester is basically a stone's throw away from me oh you're skipping stone up there to maine will you will you get back to maine will you when do you get back to maine and what is the plan for the main event i feel like you should just go do shoot around up there probably sell an arena is there yeah maybe get traded to boston come over the celtics like you know you want to stevens will get it done i don't like what tatum did either fucking some miracle return whenever You play Boston earlier than anybody, so the main event can't even be celebrated up there.

35:11Pat McAfee:But tell me about your relationship with Maine and what it will be here as you continue to go. It's a lot of pressure. I mean, other than the lobster thing on Shark Tank, right? Yeah, legit. The lobster people. It's like you are what I think of when I think of that state as a whole. Well, I appreciate that. But, you know, for me, it's less pressure. It's more of just, you know, love and support. And I felt that ever since, you know, I was 15 and I left home to go to Mount Vernon in Florida. It was just an incredible amount of love and support from the state of Maine. They've showed up for me in a lot of ways ever since I left.

35:45When I played in high school, we went back and played a game in Maine and sold out two arenas two days in a row. When I played last year in Boston, there was hundreds of people that drove down to support us at Boston College. And then obviously, when we went up to Boston this year, I felt a lot of love and a lot of people drove up and supported me. So it's been really cool. and like I said, less pressure than anything. It's more just love and support and people just show me that love.

36:12Pat McAfee:What lobster should I buy if I want to have a good main lobster? Well, lobster? I'm going to be real. I don't eat lobster very often and it's not my favorite, so I can't give you the gross recommendations, but my trainer's wife actually makes the best lobster roll that I've ever had, so maybe I can get that for you sometime. Thank you. We will like you. Nothing like a good lobster roll. I mean, lobster roll from the training, too, make me taller, more athletic. You never know what's going on in there. Yeah, your trip down to Duke, obviously, talked about in a massive way. Everybody learned of you, but it wasn't just you that they learned about.

36:49Pat McAfee:And I think through the draft, another Duke guy obviously comes up, and now rookie year going crazy alongside. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Cooper, obviously, your Duke teammate, Con Knipple, and you are the favorites to win rookie of the year in the NBA. just he set the rookie record for threes youngest player ever to hit 253s in a season did you know coming out of duke that con had this in him and then is there any competition as far as rookie of the year how often you guys talk yeah 100 i didn't have any doubt in con like um i mean i saw it all year long throughout the season last year i saw his work ethic and i just saw what he was capable of i mean he was my roommate so um we had a lot of you know conversations and talked about it a lot of our both of our mindsets and what we were looking forward to next uh for this year so i mean i never had any doubts in con uh at all but as far as rookie of the year i mean we don't talk about it specifically um we've definitely stayed in contact throughout the year and checked in on each other and just kind of seen how each other we're doing but you know it's never been like oh did you see the newest rookie ladder or have you seen my game last night or anything like that so it's more just been you know love and support of each other and and we're just going to let whatever happens with that happen.

38:02Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, good for you guys. Obviously, you don't get a chance to see this because you're in the game, you're in the league. Let's make sure it stays that way until you're retired. But anytime two friends, two teammates are at the top of the odds to win an award, that's cool. Yeah, that's a special story that you all will talk about for the rest of your lives. Ty has a question for you on that Duke connection. Yeah, do you have much contact with Coach Shire? Does he reach out to you guys during the year? I know a big thing for you guys, and I don't know if Coach K was doing this too, but the Duke brotherhood and all that kind of stuff.

38:35So not just Khan, but are there other Duke guys that are established in the league? Have you been able to lean on them? Do you guys interact at all, or what's that been like? 100%. I think any time we play somebody that has guys that went to Duke, it's always cool and a good experience for me to catch up and talk to them. But I think definitely my teammates specifically, every time we play or even in general, I've definitely stayed in contact with from last year. And I mean, there was all five of our starting five is in the league now. So just, you know, staying connected with those guys. And it's been really cool to have that experience.

39:09But that's why Shire, you know, he's reached out a lot of times throughout the year and we've stayed in contact. Obviously, we've both been pretty busy, but I'll talk to him a lot. But the all-star break, all of us went back from last year's team, and we were all back and watched two games at home. So we definitely saw that brotherhood and that connection, and that would never go away.

39:31Pat McAfee:You should send him a text, I think. Yeah. It's going to be okay, Coach. You want me to come back, Coach? You should think, man, I want to go golf. You should send him a, yeah, you want to go golf, baby. Heard you're a big golf guy. I also see you're wearing, is that a New Balance t-shirt or is it a sweatshirt? It's a New Balance t-shirt. You're a New Balance guy? You're a New Balance guy? A huge New Balance guy. I love New Balance. Oh, yeah, everything about him? Just like the logo, the style, the fit, the shirts, the shows? Yeah, everything. Everything, yeah, yeah. The shoes, the clothes, you know, the brand, everything about it.

40:01Pat McAfee:Yeah. What's your favorite New Balance thing other than the shirt you're wearing right now? If you had to just go through your entire mindset, like, oh, New Balance has so much good shit. But my favorite thing is when I... Obviously, my favorite thing is the lifestyle shoes. Obviously, I love the basketball shoes, too. But, you know, I like the lifestyle shoes. There's so many options, and they have some really good lifestyle shoes. Do we have any sales on that going on right now or anything like that? I mean, his shoes have been sold out basically since they came out. It's kind of bullshit. I remember us trying to buy them.

40:28Yeah.

40:28Pat McAfee:I remember us trying to buy them. So that's kind of – thanks, New Balance. Is there anything else? The leisure shoes, maybe. That's why he said the leisure shoes. Basketball shoes are cool. Tough to get. But the leisure shoes, you can wear those right. Is that what you were saying? Yeah. I can get you some, too, if you need them. I want to support the best I don't, I'm size 12

40:54Pat McAfee:Cooper, thank you for joining us man continue strong here, this is going to be a huge year obviously you know this, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but this year is going to be massive whenever they tell the story of your entire career we can't wait to watch it all and thank you for giving us your time of course, thank you guys very much ladies and gentlemen Cooper Yeah, Coop. It's the main event. New Balance. They got a roster. They do. Shohei. Coco. Cooper. Coop. Is it Kawhi? Yeah, I think Kawhi. Maybe Kawhi. Did you see – we got the TV on the back of the wall here. Backwards as well.

41:31Pat McAfee:Yeah. Classic. Might have saw both sides of my face right there, and I thought to myself, yuck, dude. Too much of that. Shohei. Speaking of Shohei in New Balance. Yeah. He made his pitching debut last night for the 2026. This would be a normal rotation, too, for like a starting pitcher, right? Yeah. So it feels as if Shohei potentially going to be one of the starting pitchers in rotation this year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He threw in preseason. He had 11 strikeouts in four innings. Last night, six innings pitched, six strikeouts, one hit. Massive success is what we would call this. And he also got on base as well, right?

42:06Pat McAfee:So this was a full Shohei evening. and this is what we should be expecting throughout the rest of the season, Ty Schman? Yeah, I have no idea how often he'll pitch. He might, you know, typically starting pitchers, they'll get four or five days rest and go again. I don't know if Shohei will do that or if he'll kind of, they'll sprinkle him in a little bit more just because he is doing so much, like you mentioned. He played, you know, I mean, he had a single and also had two walks, so he got on base three times through six innings. But it's one of those things where if Shohei's out there and he's pulling the string on that sweeper, He's throwing six innings of one-hit ball and striking out guys.

42:40Yeah, and if he feels good and wants to do it, you need to have this guy out there every five days because not that the Dodgers aren't winning enough already, but if he's pitching like this, it's damn near an automatic win.

42:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, and on that note, we all think from our information that we have gathered about Shohei Otani, he views himself as a pitcher. So if he does not have at least one successful full season where they win a World Series as a pitcher, I think he won't fully feel as if he did it. He told us that he thinks he could strike himself out whenever we talk to him at the All-Star Game. Do you view yourself as a hitter who can pitch or a pitcher? I'm a pitcher who can hit is how he views himself. So I think it's a very self-important mission that he's on as well. And I think the skipper, Dave Roberts, has mentioned that too.

43:25Pat McAfee:Like, Shohei wants to go, so we're going to have him go. He seems to be one of the most driven people in history of sports as a whole. He's going to be talked about as one of those guys. If he accomplishes a full season of pitching and hitting, though, this is a ludicrous venture that he's about to attempt here? Oh, yeah, for sure, because that would be the only concern is just, like, how much can the human body take of him going out there throwing 100, throwing a bunch of pitches for six innings, also taking a bunch of at-bats? And then because he's not going to get very many days off to begin with, A, because he probably doesn't want to be sitting on the bench, but he's also DH-ing, so, like, they need him in the lineup.

44:02if yeah if he were to go through this entire season and have like a Cy Young-esque season on the bump we already know what he's going to do at the plate and then if you know they stay healthy and make a run to the World Series or win a World Series like there is no question that he is already the the best most talented baseball player of all time but yeah this would just take it to another stratosphere. He's the greatest athlete ever like greatest season athlete. I think you can make that argument.

44:25Pat McAfee:Can I drop can I drop a stat just before you ever get into that? Slings on sports. This was tweeted by the MLB. Shohei Otani currently holds the longest active on base streak, which is hitting the best. Yeah, just getting on base. Which is most consistent. I mean, 36 games straight of getting on base is pretty good. Yeah, very good. It's obviously the longest streak. And then the longest active scoreless inning streaks as well, 22 and two-thirds innings pitch. That's baseball, right? Yeah, pretty much. Is that what baseball is? It's this one, it's this one, and then it's this one, right? That is baseball.

44:55This is baseball. Getting on base and then assuming guys are going to drive you in and then not allowing the other team to score, like, yeah, that's a pretty good recipe to win baseball games. Insane. So, yes, just that kind of accent. That's crazy. And I don't think that – I'm guessing that doesn't count playoffs. Like, he had the playoff game last year where he went like 6-6 and then pitched two. Three home runs. Yeah, exactly. Just like the craziest thing ever. So, like, every time he goes out there, it is kind of one of those things where it's like, Shohei could do something tonight that has never been done before.

45:28Pat McAfee:Creating history, which is always a cool thing to be a part of, and we will continue to watch that. More history happening today as well. Who's on the bump for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tone? Paul Skeens is on the bump today. Oh, really? It better go better. Skeens, it has to. Yeah. The last time Paul Skeens was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he got pulled in the first inning. 67 ERA. He has still yet to get three outs this MLB season. That's true. This will be his second start. Now, there's some stuff that happened in that particular inning in which Paul Skeens was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

45:57Pat McAfee:Like the center fielder, that guy couldn't catch a ball multiple times with runners in scoring position and potentially a way to get out of the inning. Good news, he'll never have to deal with that again. Paul Skeens had to have that on his first game, and he won't have to do that ever again. Sure? Yeah, they're not. Why would they? Well, it turns out there's some salt to O 'Neal Cruz. We got the same center fielder going out there for Paul Skeens today? Yeah, guy hit two fucking home runs last night. Cool, put him in another position. Guy can't catch a damn fly ball. I mean, that's where he's at.

46:30Pat McAfee:I don't know what to tell you. This is how we feel about Paulson. Can't just stick him so long. Don Kelly likes his gas. I respect that. And there's a lot of people that have lacked their gas for a long time. And listen, if that guy's going to hit multiple dingers every single day, can we DH in this league? Yeah, we have a DH that can't play in the field already. Yeah, and he just stays in the dugout and just hoists the cone all day long. The what? The cone? He hoists the cone. Hoist the cone. It's kind of the... Come on, don't play though. Hoist the cone. I think Tony can talk about it more because I think this is like a Pirates tradition that goes back to the Pirates.

47:05We were out of the game.

47:06Pat McAfee:Hoist the cone. That's what they're doing. So why are they hoisting the cone? You might ask yourself. If you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you're probably wondering the same thing. Little did you know, we're all hoisting cone these days. How did a cone make its way into the dugout for the Pittsburgh Fire? Yeah, you'd be shocked to learn that buckos have not always hoisted the cone. What? Now, we raise the Jolly Roger. We do raise the Jolly Roger. Not a lot. That's when a win happens. You raise this Jolly Roger. It's a bucko fire. You're supposed to raise it up. That's cool. Yeah, it doesn't get up there a lot, though.

47:47Pat McAfee:A lot of very fresh Jolly Rogers around Pittsburgh. Can't ball on deck. Cannonball coming. A lot of these. Hoist the cone. Hoist the cone is new because, shocker here, you're going to be absolutely shocked. Pirates, this summer, Fanatics put out a shirt that said hoist the cone on it. I believe it was a misprint, but there's the Buccos P. Right underneath it says hoist the cone. No one in Pittsburgh had any idea what that meant, but the team has decided to embrace it. When we're hitting bombs, we are hoisting that cone, baby. We're still putting on the welder's mask, but we're also hoisting the cone.

48:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, so we got a welder's mask. We got a cone we're hoisting because it's a traffic cone. We can't be having too much traffic on the bases. There's a cone and a mask. So there it is. Hey, however many more the buckos need to keep winning, let's do it. And fanatics are saying, this is what we do. We influence pop culture. Exactly. We give traditions to folks. And I'd like to say, fanatics, I think people would say, huge strikeout on the hoist cone at the beginning because nobody knew what it meant. You were just living in the future. that's Fanatics football. Exactly, because I believe the Marlins are actually the Miami Marlins, D-Buts team, who are lightning hot so far.

48:554-1. Ruffle the feathers. What? That's what they're going with this year. Really? Yeah, ruffle the feathers. Ruffle the feathers. Did you see that on a shirt? I did. Same deal. No, it was the Marlins, and it had like the little fish coming out of there, and ruffle the feathers. That's what they're running with.

49:08Pat McAfee:Really? Ruffle the feathers. What are we talking about? Exactly. That's what you need to start doing. That's what you've got to start wondering. And didn't you see another one in there? Yeah, I saw that the Reds were thinking about doing break the bulb. Break the bulb? They're going to have a bunch of light bulbs in the dugout, and then any time they hit a home run, they're going to take that bat and bash a bulb just right in the clubhouse. See, this is what Fanatics is doing. Fanatics is saying, we get involved in your league, we make your league better. We start traditions. We hoist the cone.

49:37Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's going to break down the situation in Philadelphia with their quarterback better than us. And to be honest, I learned of the situation through this man's Twitter account, where he has certainly been active this morning on his thoughts. This guy played in the NFL for 14 years. He's Super Bowl champion with New Orleans Saints. Now, ESPN guy, and I think he has his own show as well. Ladies and gentlemen, Chase Daniel. Yay! Chase, sorry we're hoisting a cone there. Had to do it. I love it. What's the Padres one?

50:08I'm taking my son to a Padres game today. I'm taking him out of school. Does the Padres have something cool?

50:12Pat McAfee:We'd have to ask Ruben over there, our fanatics. I'm sure there's something that nobody's thought of yet that is certainly going to become a lucky charm. On that note, family forever. Love that. It's a good hat. It's a good hat. Yeah, love them. They're good people over there. I got about 15 of these hats every time I'm on. I'm trying to wear something like that. I love what they do as a company, man. Yeah, I hope they're good people because we give them a lot of marketing. If they're like serial killers right now, and I've never met them. They're great people. Okay, good. Happy to hear that. Family forever.

50:38Pat McAfee:Good hats. We appreciate the hats you sent us. Chase, let's talk about family, maybe not forever. Let's talk about a football team becoming a family. Let's talk about an organization becoming a family, especially with the amount of paisans that are over, ish family over there. The story that Fowler reported this morning, fresh out of league meetings about Jalen Hurts. First of all, we talked about this earlier. We do feel as if we are a part of the problem as we are continuing to amplify anonymous sources within a building. Don't love that anonymous sources happen in sports. Don't think your life is in danger.

51:04Pat McAfee:We understand where there is a need for anonymous sources in sports. It feels weird, especially with this type of shit that's coming out here. Chase, how abnormal is everything that's being said from Minnest Building, especially for a guy that's won a Super Bowl? And why do you think it's happening and what are next steps? Kind of just take it everywhere and every thought that you have about the situation, Chase. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you guys. I was watching Yale's A Block and Open, and just the fact that the anonymous sources to me says it all. I absolutely hate that. Like, put your name behind it because these are people's careers and jobs and stuff like that.

51:33On that note, when I read this article, it's like another Jalen Hurts hit piece. It seems to be coming out every single year, and the timing is really weird, right? A.J. Brown trade didn't go through. Now we're back to talking about Jalen. This is not normal, Pat. For teams, team sources, whatever it may be, to be talking to reporters and getting this news out there, you want to protect the family. You want to protect the team. So when I see this, I'm like, well, do they not love them? Do they not do this? He's one of eight quarterbacks to go to two Super Bowls in the first five years of his career, right?

52:15But I think because of what's being said in this article, there are a lot of parallels you can really draw to his play. And that's where I take it is like the play on the field at times, right? He's known for his clutch gene. He's known for his winning. He's known for all this stuff. And I'm saying this, and I'm probably the Philadelphia Eagles public enemy number one, like Philadelphia fans. absolutely hate my guts because they think when I'm talking about Jalen, they think that I'm like criticizing him as a person. No, no, no. Look, we're just talking about his play. And you guys saw last year, right?

52:52He's going to be on six different play callers, I think, in six years. Yes. Something's got to give. And I think the article hits on a lot of correct things when it talks to his time on the field. Because his time on the field, right, it's very vanilla. What Jalen Hurts does really well, he wants to sit back and shotgun. He wants to see everything. And he's really a half-field type progression guy. You don't really see him. He doesn't feel comfortable going under center. You don't see him sweeping the field one, two, three, four like other quarterbacks. And that's fine. But when you have an offense that has surrounded him like that with full of all pros.

53:32They can park like the best running back in the world. A.J. Brown, you're talking about trading one of the better receivers in the NFL. It's just a really interesting thing. And so that's why just zone coverage, you know this better than anyone, zone coverage, it just makes Jalen sort of freeze up, right? You don't know, he doesn't know where to go at certain times. When he's on time and in rhythm, it's good. But more often than not, it's not. But I'm with you guys. The anonymous sources drives me crazy.

53:57Pat McAfee:And we're amplifying, once again, we are amplifying the anonymous sources. So we feel terrible, but it's a huge story. This is a gigantic story for the Philadelphia Eagles, especially because they've won a Super Bowl with this guy. They've paid this guy. And there's been drama seemingly surrounding him. Now, you talk about the six different play callers in six years, something has to give. He's made three head coaches, too. So it's like a very – Sirianni, obviously, Shane, and then Kelly Moe in there, three of the guys' head coaches still that have been his play callers. So it's like there has been some good.

54:23Pat McAfee:It's seemingly been way too negative, though. And your point about the timing, people are just getting too comfortable talking bad about the starting quarterback. People are way too comfortable talking bad about the starting quarterback. And I think that's what we're acknowledging about the entire situation. But if everybody's this comfortable talking bad about it, they feel handcuffed, I guess. They can't move on. How would you move on? And what would you move on to? I mean, it's a tough spot to be in, obviously, being, you know, the quarterback of the Eagles. But back to on the field, Chase, do you see at this point in his career those things changing or him evolving or him doing those things better at the quarterback position?

54:57Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. I think everyone can evolve. When you have a guy with the talent that Jalen Hurts has, you can absolutely evolve into that guy. And with Sean Mannion, right? LeFleur guy, McVay guy, Kubiak guy. You're going to see this year, D-Bot. This year is going to be a really good litmus test, in my opinion, for Jalen Hurts, because there is going to be a lot of under center, which he doesn't love to do. But he's successful when he does it. The run game is more successful when you do it because you have the play-action pass, you have under center run, you have outside zone, you have inside zone.

55:27I think the quarterback run game is going to be brought in more to what's happening. And so it's going to be a good litmus test this year to see, hey, if you can fit in this mold, I'm not saying they should move on by any means. But when you have an offense and you have that type of defense with Vic Fangio, you expect better results. And it's just Philly. Look, I played in Philly in 2016. And that locker room is different, man. Like everyone is very aware of everything that is being said about them and about other people. And I've witnessed at times that locker room can be a little divided. I'm not that was in 16.

56:05That was 10 years ago. Right. Completely different head coach, completely different building. But Philly just seems to be like the negativity coming out of there is like in an all time high.

56:16Pat McAfee:Always, too. It seems like there's always some negativity. 30 seconds or less in your answer. Fernando Mendoza throws today at Indiana. What do you think everybody sees? The entire Las Vegas Raiders organization is out there. Yeah, I mean, clear number one pick. Like, I really do believe this dude is a franchise guy. And you're doing that because I've talked to Dan quite a bit after his whole Ty Simpson thing. And we're, you know, we see it differently. And I think Ty's a great player. But when you look at Fernando, there's a lot of things that you can't teach. It's the intangibles, the heart, the poise, the interviews.

56:48The guys love him. He's 6 '5", Pat. Like, come on, man. Like, how can you not? You're handing the ball to Ashton Jinty. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. We appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Chase Daniel. I'll do it on the other side.

57:00Pat McAfee:You're the man.

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57:55Pat McAfee:Sports are fantastic, aren't they? Oh yeah, they are. In this hour, we're going to be talking to a commissioner of a league. Woo! A league that just signed a new CBA, a seven-year CBA that saw its salaries for players grow exponentially. Ladies and gentlemen, Cathy Engelbert will be joining us this hour. She is the commissioner of the WNBA. People are wondering, you know, why would she come on this show? Who said that? Me, kind of. That's fair. I think that's fair. But I'm pretty excited. I've taken this as a huge honor, huge opportunity, and we've tried to do as much research as possible so we get some good answers out of Cathy, but also provide Cathy the opportunity to kind of talk shit about her league a little bit.

58:35Pat McAfee:You know, for her league. Yeah, there you go. For her league. Not about for her league. Good shit. And what they were able to accomplish. I mean, this negotiation, I thought they had no chance, especially with what the projections were happening, how it was happening. They had pictures coming out from the negotiation with the players and the owners. Governors, I don't know what names they use for the people that own the teams. Sure. I don't know if they use the name owner or not. I think it is governor. The governor who also owns teams in there while they're doing the negotiations and everything.

59:02Pat McAfee:Like, I appreciate the way they've operated, genuinely. I really have massive respect for it, the way she's been able to guide the ship. I cannot wait for her to get a chance to put her league over a little bit. And in doing so, maybe us learn some things. Yeah. Maybe we get a new favorite team. You never know. Wow. Do you want to be a fan of maybe a dynasty in the making, three out of the last four? The Las Vegas Aces? Yeah. With Asia Wilson, who's going to go down as greatest player of all time until CC out here in a fever kind of do their thing. Got a new facility going up. So I'm excited for our WNBA conversation today.

59:37Pat McAfee:I think it'll be different than anybody else's, and hopefully this will be one that ends positive. Yeah. Right? Yeah. That would be cool. Of course. This is the one. That'd be so cool if that happens. I don't think you've got anything to work. Our time is now. Yeah. Your time is – everybody's time is up. Yeah, our time is now. But our time also talks to the table at Boston Conner, at Ty Schmidt. That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP 10 looking like Cameron Young with the MLB. You're going to go right on your chest. Damn right. Is that because Paul Skeens is pitching today and he's his biggest fan?

1:00:07It is because Paul Skeens is pitching because the Buccos are currently hoisting the cone. O 'Neal Cruz hit another one. it's also because one thing that Netflix did do right on their MLB coverage is Burt Kreischer wore this hoodie out when he was announcing the teams and I saw that hoodie and I went to the website immediately and bought it because I can be easily influenced hold on, it's a good hoodie, hold on you were influenced by the Netflix coverage, yep, see that's what I'm

1:00:30Pat McAfee:talking about, everybody's talking negative about what was going on there, hey it's baseball, let baseball do baseball, well what they were thinking was big business, they were thinking let's go ahead and sell some shit to Mark's. Boom. Now that you mentioned it, you do kind of look like Bert in that hoodie. It looks good. That's a hell of a compliment. Take your shirt off. Then I would still look like Bert, so I don't take my shirt off. Let's go baseball! That was a good speech. The thought of Netflix getting absolutely crushed and crucified for that first. When's their next baseball game? Never!

1:01:01Yeah, they have the Home Run Derby in the middle of the season. Yeah, they do. Okay, I'll watch that. That'll be good. That is a spectacle. ESPN doesn't have the Home Run Derby anymore? No, Netflix does. But I think what Netflix is trying to do, it's in Philadelphia this year. I think Netflix is perfect for the home run derby. I do believe that. I think a lot of the stuff they try to do, I anticipate this year's home run derby being very entertaining.

1:01:23Pat McAfee:Okay, there's been a lot of moving of assets. Nine-year NFL quarterback, Darius, or could have been. I played a little quarterback. Played wide receiver, played corner, played safety, played a little outside linebacker if you need me. Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Bullard. Yeah, D-Bod. D-Bod, we're talking about assets kind of moving around. Did you see what happened with the Monday Night Football doubleheader? I did. I like it. Yeah, Monday Night doubleheader no longer. Yeah. Much of the chagrin of nobody, the doubleheader on Monday nights is over. This was something that was cool maybe one time as like, hey, we got a double thing here.

1:01:56Pat McAfee:But nobody really enjoyed it. It was tough to watch. March Madness, much easier to watch multiple games or have multiple coverage on. But if one of the games was clearly better than the other, you had no interest in the other, and then you end up seeing less of that particular game than even whenever you do for Red Zone Channel on Sunday with Scott Hansen covering games that don't matter. So I just think it was an interesting thing to try. I appreciate ESPN getting more NFL games out of it, so I appreciate and respect that. But I do believe during the negotiations of NFL Network coming over to ESPN, which is now official, congratulations.

1:02:23Pat McAfee:Let's go. I saw there were some emotional conversations about the history of NFL Network now that it's about to enter a new stage with ESPN in control as the guider as opposed to the league itself. They have brand-new studios over there in L.A. that are beautiful. They obviously have a lot of technology, They have a lot of assets. They have everything like that. But in doing so, he moved some games around. Now they have five games that would have been Monday Night Football doubleheaders that are now available potentially to new streaming platforms that they can sell. What's that called whenever you sell something individually as opposed to in a big package?

1:02:52Pat McAfee:Like a one-on-one? It's like a la carte. There it is. That was exactly what I was looking for. Now they can sell these games a la carte, and that's where you can just start getting the bidding wars for absolutely absurd games. and this is how the revenue and the salary cap in the league will continue to grow. And once they continue to showcase that they can sell one-off games, whether it's on Friday, Black Friday, or a Wednesday afternoon game, or a Saturday game, or a Christmas night game, or a super-duper day-in-the-week night game that happens on one of these platforms, once they showcase how much money they can make out of that and what the salary cap can become, and then they make their pitch to the players saying, hey, if you give us 18 games here and we're able to do this with others, the amount of money and what the salary cap can become is astronomical.

1:03:34Pat McAfee:I know we're talking to the WNBA commissioner and Kathy Engelbert. They've been around for 30 years, the WNBA. Yep, they sure. I think it took the NFL a long time to become a mega profitable kind of operation. So we're talking decades and decades and decades for most of these leagues to become mega profitable. The NFL is currently in its super duper profitable world. And if they're going to start a la carton games even more with how much these streamers are looking for live events, streaming platforms are looking for live events, It's only up and to the right for the foreseeable future for this NFL.

1:04:05Pat McAfee:And I like this move as a viewer, even though ESPN is losing an NFL game, which technically because ESPN licensed this show, we should be bummed out about. I think this is good for the viewer. I think this is great for the NFL's pockets. Yeah, it's always going to be great for the NFL pockets. Any move that they make, and then I think what you said more importantly, though, for the viewer, because for the viewer, you would think more games better on the same night. But, you know, you have one game. Hopefully it's a good game. You got the crew that you're used to every Monday night. It's going to be that big game.

1:04:34And as a player, too, even. Like, you knew when you had that Monday night game, that was the day, the night that all your peers are going to be watching, your family, your friends, your fans, wherever they were, your haters. Everybody was going to be tuned in watching that one single game, and it makes that game huge. Just like Sunday night football. Sunday night football is huge, so now you have Monday night football, and you have it with that one specific game. In the NFL, they're going to always make their money. It's always going to help that bottom line. But for the viewer, I think it's more important.

1:05:01I think it's a win for them, too.

1:05:02Pat McAfee:I think so, as well. Thanksgiving Eve is being pitched by Ari. Obviously, at night, Thanksgiving Eve, there's a lot of families gathered around. Just like Thanksgiving Day is the same. I've been pitching for a while to the NBA, Adam Silver. Christmas Eve, because the NFL kind of came in and took over Christmas. We just kind of – I'm saying we like I had anything to say with it. I didn't. But Raj Goodell, he said we're taking Christmas. And they did. and Christmas for the NBA used to be that day, right? That was kind of like the day for the NBA. So they need to move Christmas Eve. But if they won't move Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, another great day for the NFL to go to.

1:05:40Pat McAfee:Strictly because everybody's off school, right? Christmas Eve is off school. And this year's a Thursday, so I assume they will have a Christmas Eve game. So they'll try it. This is what they did with Christmas. Christmas fell on a day in which the NFL, Sunday, Thursday, Monday, whatever it was. Christmas fell on a day where the NFL was and they felt obligated to their viewers, obviously, to deliver. and then once they saw it, they're like, oh, everybody's home. Let's go ahead and we can total audience deliver or manipulate this thing a little bit. There's at least two, three people at every TV, right?

1:06:07Pat McAfee:Think about these families gathering. Yeah. We've got 275 million people that watch this game. Yeah, we can do a couple more of these things. We've got a couple more of these, a couple more of these, a couple more of these big events. Now all of a sudden they're doing their own. Christmas Eve could be one of those. Thanksgiving Eve night obviously could be one as well. But it's like you can get another day, I think, on Christmas Eve if you really wanted to. And actually this year, because Christmas falls on a Friday, I believe yesterday at the league meetings, the owners passed something where teams can now play more than two short week games or whatever.

1:06:34Thursday night. Short week games this year because of that. So, yeah, I mean, the wheels are already there. Yeah, it's really hard.

1:06:39Pat McAfee:The money is, and they know it. You can tell that they know it. And you can tell that people are trying to buy. NFL teams know what's possible. They can just start making up events. Yeah. I mean. Well, if a duck quacks. Feed it. Mm-hmm. And I'll tell you what. Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. But if that thing's quacking all day long, which we will. Yeah. We will. We will wake up. If there was a 7 a.m. game, we'll do it. We will wait if it's a good game. That's going to have to be a good game. I think the whole world would wake up at 6 a.m. if it was a good game. You know who's calling the volume that determines the volume level?

1:07:14Sure. Who's calling the game? Oh, yeah.

1:07:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, we can't be mailing it in on those morning games. You're trying to tell us it's prime time because it's all by itself and we're supposed to wake up to the NFL. Our first impression of the NFL is that game. Let's make sure we're fucking putting on a good show. Like over there in Australia, they're doing a 10-35 game or whatever it is for their time, nighttime. That's going to have to be a good presentation of the game. That's going to have to be a good game, 10-35 a.m. And it will be. That's why they got such a good game going down there. I do love Shanahan going. You know what? I've been trying to look into it a bit.

1:07:42Pat McAfee:I haven't found one positive. It's good for the game, though. And I like that he said, hey, when we're in Mexico, Rams, they're playing as Mexico because if we're doing two internationals, they're doing two internationals. Then you heard the little conspiracy work about how fans take over other stadiums. Oh, we've got to move to another part of the world. Okay. All right. Yeah, sounds good. A lot of red in so far. Interesting. Interesting. We're taking this thing to Australia. I like the way these coaches have been operating at this league meetings. Feels like they all know who the guys are. Feels like this generation of coaches all know who the head – feels like we're going to have this group of – this is a class of head coaches that we're about to live with, I think, for the next 10, 15, 20 years.

1:08:18Pat McAfee:And I think they all know each other very well. That is my takeaway from the off-the-record camaraderie, chemistry, building thing that we got a chance to see. You would assume this is when they really get to know each other, especially when we got eight new head coaches or what, six or seven first-time head coaches, so this is their first time being in that element, being around the pool with Jay Glazer holding court, and now you kind of see kind of the pecking order, the hierarchy in that world. I like that they're talking shit to each other. I like that they are confident and comfortable. I mean, even the Ben Johnson, LaFleur stuff.

1:08:49Pat McAfee:It's like they just had to be in the same place here a little bit ago, still carrying that on. Like, I like this generation of coaches. I also appreciate the fact that Vrabel understands. You know what I mean? Vrabel kind of understands. During that coach's annual photo, we had to zoom in on it. Mike Carthy almost missed it. He thought the GM was going first. We had to send him on his way. And where he stood in that photo, you could tell that he almost missed it. He was just getting there late. I don't think many people were talking about that as context added to why he was standing back behind everybody and looked the way that he looked there.

1:09:17Pat McAfee:As Vrabel sat down, we saw him. He was one of the first people to sit down for this photo. He knew exactly where he wanted to go. He put his left foot down. Then he put his right foot down. And he put both of his hands on his knees. This thing was an engineering feat to keep these legs locked into the dirt in which he was holding there. And then others sat down. Sean Payton sat to his left. Halfway to his right. We actually wondered how that was going to go. Sean Payton, Texas guy. Football guy. from what we've been told, a little bit of a hard ass as well. Sure. You sit down in an airplane, and you're sitting in A or C, and B has done both arms with legs completely spread out.

1:09:58Pat McAfee:That's a decision that has to be made. As soon as you see that, how do we – are we just – are we – or are we taking this? Halfway sat back in the seat. Oh, yeah. Said, that's my first year. I don't need to be doing this shit. Crumbled. Sean Payton tried. They're definitely knee-to-knee there. I mean, they are knee-to-knee there. But Vrabel definitely knew what he was doing. And then the New England Patriots tweet out today, big dog. So this is what's been going on. This is the attitude. This is the mindset. I don't like that. What do you mean you don't like that? Shut up. What do you mean you don't like that?

1:10:32I love Vrabel. I love what Vrabel's doing. He's bullying Joe Brady, too. I love the performance he put on. He's a Patriot. I came into the league as a Patriot. But that's my head coach right there. That's Jeff Halfley right there. What are you talking about? And I don't like how the Patriots, you see how they kind of cropped Sean Payton halfway up. They made sure they got half these full body in there. Yeah, this is a, I can't say exactly what I want to say, but it's a great performance by Mike Vrabel. Jeff? Come on, Jeff.

1:11:00Pat McAfee:Do you see Sean Payton cook the OG move? He took a tip of his knee, something that he could feel, and dug that into his IT band so that he had to feel that a little bit. It's a little bit of jujitsu style. because in jiu-jitsu, you know, they poke you here, and you're like, why are they poking me here? They can't do anything because that just moves you a little bit like that. And as soon as they get to you, you are dead because you opened your neck this side. So Sean Payton went in with the tip of his patella, the kneecap, two IT band, just to get a little bit of a reaction. And then once he moved a little bit, he had to stomp that in, and he had to lock that in because Sean Payton said, oh, no, no, that's not how this is going to go.

1:11:35Pat McAfee:And I think Sean Payton's probably doing it in his own way with that left leg on the other side as well. Vrabel wore these glowing white pants because he knew he was going to do this. He knew he got in early. He had admission. Left foot down, right foot down, hands down. White pants, they're glowing. Surprised he didn't wear a kilt, so his dong was hanging out. Yeah, see, that might be next year. We don't know what's going to happen. Then there was the AFC coaches meeting the morning after the whole big booze fest that happens. He went over and grabbed Joe Brady's name tag, crumbled it up, fucking threw it in his face.

1:12:06Pat McAfee:He's walking out of there. Nerd. Fraves is having quite a time out there at league meetings, and from my understanding, boy, the Patriots fans love it. Con man is flying high. Every time he reads one of these new situations, he gets excited. He saw him the other night do a thing, and he was like, Patriots are going to win forever. That is genuinely how you feel whenever you see things like this. And what are your thoughts here on Joe Brady and Halfley, okay, rookie head coaches in the division, kind of feeling the wrath of Mike Frable running rampant at the league meeting? And that's kind of the best part, and that's kind of what I try to just pontificate and imagine, is the conversations that Vrabel had when he was sitting down, or once Halfley sat down next to him.

1:12:48Now, as far as Sean Payton digging his knee into Vrabel's own IT band, metal doesn't feel rubber. Old man Payton ain't making a budge on Vrabel. And when it comes to Halfley, what they didn't show is probably Vrabel standing up, giving him an elbow. Maybe, hey, what time is it? Boom, one of the fates. Hey, what time is it again? Boom. A swirly? Yeah. How are your nuts doing?

1:13:10Pat McAfee:You think he's doing what's on the shirt even? The trick with the upper cover? I can see one of those. Yeah. Hey, do I have something on my knee? Boom. You know, how's your dong? Got you, bitch. I mean, that's two. Aaron Glenn's the only one that seemingly escaped the AFC kind of bullying that Vrabel had to do at the league meeting. Word on the street is he was very tired. Had to take a couple naps while they were there. Come on. That was very easy to fall asleep in there. We've been there. Yeah, it was very easy to fall asleep in that Arizona. a son too but yeah the joe brady thing is really what gets me because we get brandon bion on the program he's talking about winning superbowls you know they're talking about all this fun stuff i don't know how many times first year head coaches have won superbowls oh wait i think i do never so that's one of those things where the expectation gets set a little bit but the brady and vrabel thing does seem to be more friendly than the halfley thing the halfley thing was like hey sit next to me i'll make you look like a little boy okay it's gonna be really fun for me because you're going to look like a child.

1:14:06Pat McAfee:I would like to say, okay, Big Dog certainly did his thing. Okay, Vrabes certainly had a league meeting. I think people would say Vrabes had a good league meeting. Okay, he had the orange juice moment. Okay, we've seen him around. He's doing a – Vrabes won the league meetings. And I would assume that people would say without Vrabes in there, energy probably terrible at the league meetings. I assume he brings it. Even outfall. If we were to get a full photo, though, Sean Payton played this game before, too. Yes, he did. Oh, yeah. Both those seats were empty. We saw it as they were filing in. Did you see how the photo ended?

1:14:34Pat McAfee:No. Go ahead and zoom in. Can we zoom in down there or no? We can't zoom in? Can we zoom in on? Because if we zoom in on that, I think Sean Payton's right foot outside of his chair leg. Oh. I think Vrabes' potential shoe turn in a little bit. Oh, there's light. Yeah. No. You know. You can see, Vrabes. What are you talking about? Yeah. Now, granted, both of them are outside the chair leg, but let's not act like Sean Payton isn't scared to even touch Vrabel's foot. But if Sean Payton had real cojones, they would be, you know, kind of outside foot to outside foot. Vrabel's foot is one in front. I mean, look how much bigger his feet are.

1:15:12Pat McAfee:I mean, top of shin, outside knee certainly in there. And Sean Payton's heel is back there at the chair where Vrabes is a little bit out because we know Vrabes did have to get full extension out there. We will say Sean Payton put on a good performance for the situation in which he was placed. Yeah. We think. Oh, yeah, for sure. And he notices that too. He held his ground. Sean Payton knows that as well. Savvy fit. Because whenever he walked over and he saw what Vrabes was doing, there's an immediate come on we gotta do this yeah yeah a little bit of a kick over there open that thing up i love it it does feel though like this generation of coaches are all kind of a lot of blue a lot of bros too there's a lot of feels like this is a good group for the nfl it feels like this is good for the league i'm not saying everybody's gonna be good there's gonna be ass coaches all over this place how's mentor gonna do in baltimore we shall see he's very happy he didn't sit where halfley's at yeah inter is pumped that he did not have to deal with half the chair halfley not thrilled that this is what how this way at all you can't even see his left shoe his left shoe is in frame's shadow this is how halfley has to start this whole thing yeah right we would like to let halfley know and the people that are watching that are halfley supporters he really had no i mean he was this was this is checkmate by first time frame sat down early well Well, and that was probably a rib from all the other coaches.

1:16:25They just scramble and be like, no, no, no, no. Halfley can sit next to Vrabel. We know what's happening here. Let's let the first-year guy kind of have his shoes be in the shade the whole time.

1:16:34Pat McAfee:Do you think when people saw Vrabes in his white pants, they thought to themselves, oh, Vrabes is up to something. Yeah, he's playing his song. He knows. Yeah, he is. He's up to something. Joe Brady, actually, great performance in the coach's photo as well, just to give a little bit of light to him. He looks massive. I don't know if he's sitting next to somebody. He's a lot bigger than – Oh, is that the floor? He looks big. Yeah, LaFleur kind of did get a little sunned a little bit. Kevin O 'Connell, once again, giant. He is a creature in the middle there. You were to zoom out a little bit back to the left.

1:17:04Pat McAfee:That is where Kevin O 'Connell, giant. Huge. Shane Steichenthal. Yeah. Shane Steichenthal chose to stand next to Kevin O 'Connell. Is that who that is? We're not doing this again. Old man Steichen? We're not doing this again. Todd Bowles doing his thing next to MCDC back there. Shoddy, good spot for Shoddy to be right there. That's a good selection. Now, next to MCDC, a little bit aggressive, but he gave himself some space. See, he kind of spaced himself away from there. Nobody really turning, leaning sideways, getting the full bodybuilder physique build. And Sirianni said, you know what, just straight on.

1:17:39Pat McAfee:Maybe a wind gust on my polo too going at me. That would be the best it could possibly be. Shout out to the boys. Way to go. Congrats. Salah had the good. Yeah, he looked good. I didn't see a coach. Salah was square. I was going to say, Munkin had a plan, but he was sucking out a lollipop at the barbershop after his fresh faint. We do not know if a lollipop was given or a sucker was given after the haircut, but Todd Munkin would have had best haircut in that photo. Certainly the freshest. He was allegedly getting his haircut at the time of the photo for the photo. So just classic misread. You know, Pacific time, mountain time.

1:18:15Pat McAfee:You know, you never really know with Arizona. And then us on East Coast time. It's a different world over there, man. It is. It's a different time. Like, obviously, we enjoy it. But, I mean, like, 5 a.m. on the alarm is 4 a.m. Late 4 a.m. on the alarm for, like, a 6.30 thing is vastly different because that 6.30 thing is actually a 9.30 thing. Yeah. So it's like you just have a different day over there. You know what I mean? But 12 o 'clock hits. We had time. Yeah. Different ballgame. A lot of time wasn't good for a lot of livers, I think. Yeah, true. we certainly had to tie one or four on a couple different days.

1:18:53Pat McAfee:For the good of the league. Yeah. For the good of ball. Celebration. And Fowler was walking around saying, what do you guys think about Jalen Hurley? Jason Kelsey will be doing coverage for ESPN for Wednesday's par 3 contest. We'd like to say congrats, Jason. Yeah. Congrats, Jason. Jason did some TGL coverage. Obviously had the Hawaiian shirt on, cut off the sleeves. Him and his brother were down there bombing it around during the TGL playoffs. Eli Payton, I think, also down there that particular evening as TGL was celebrating, you know, playoff golf in a big way. TGL appearance allegedly potentially leads to also Masters experience.

1:19:32Pat McAfee:You know, Jason Kelsey likes golf. He knows golf. He's obviously a goat at his position, Super Bowl champion. Has the biggest sports podcast on earth right now, I do believe, right? His new heights, Did they win the biggest? I don't know. Them or pardon my take, whatever the case is. We apologize for the current rankings, whatever it is. One or two, gigantic. And we think he'd be good to maybe freshen up the coverage of the Masters. Okay, that's potentially the thought as it happens. I like it. The internet was rude. Yeah. The internet was rude about this. Obviously, the internet goes on to say, like, we don't need Jason Kelsey at the Masters.

1:20:06Pat McAfee:Yeah. And that's probably a valid point, if I had to guess. and I'm only saying that strictly because we have attempted to be a part of the Wednesday coverage of the Masters at the Part 3 thing for three consecutive years now. And for the people that are mad about Jason Kelsey being a part of the Masters, I got a good piece of news for you. They've told us to go to hell. So I think you should be happy about that, that they do try to preserve it as a whole. They have a certain thing that they are looking for. So I think Jason Kelsey, who's a dog, who's funny, who's relatable, and is a very good athlete, and is probably friends with a lot of these guys that are going to be golfing in there.

1:20:36Pat McAfee:I think he will provide a bonus for that par three coverage. But to the people that are upset saying that the Masters are the only thing you got left, know that they've turned us down very loudly numerous times, which I think should be good news for the state of their golf and the way they view it all. Oh, and the people who are upset too, it's like, hey, this isn't Thursday. This isn't the opening round and Kelsey's going to be walking around. Like, this is Wednesday when it is fun. When, like, the families are out there and the kids are taking putts. It's like Jason Kelsey should be there because it also gives other fans, kind of like myself, who haven't been massive golf guys or kind of been around the golf culture to kind of bridge that gap.

1:21:13So for them to be mad about a Wednesday of Masters is just absurd. There will still be a standard. Yes.

1:21:19Pat McAfee:That's what I think people still – there will still be like a Masters standard. And that's the only reason why I'm saying they've told us, yeah, right, a couple times because they're like still very much the people that are making those decisions are very like we're not doing that, which we understand in respect. It's the Masters, for God's sake. It's down there in Augusta. We understand that as a whole. But I think he'll be a benefit. And I think golf growing, like I know TGL was a little bit of a whiff, I think is what people call it. You know, it drew some attention. I don't know if it was as big as they thought it was going to be, but I like that they were trying it.

1:21:47Pat McAfee:Like I appreciate that golf is going to continue to try to grow and try to evolve because we all love golf. I think everybody loves golf that has ever played golf. More people golfing, the better, especially for if there's teenagers or younger people that jason kelsey might attract into golf it's like learning the skill of golf my daughter's going to learn it later in life a lot of things happen with people that make a lot of decisions on a golf course and if you are ass at golf it's not good for anything if you are okay at golf good if you are great much better for all parties a lot of big business done for the people that are really good at golf but if you're ass it's bad news so like i think golf being introduced to people however it gets introduced people is good which is why i like tgl them taking a swing on that i appreciate them trying to evolve this master's coverage even though there will be a standard because i think golf is good for society yeah golf is always at least like growing up it kind of felt like oh this is kind of for us keep everybody else out so this is another step and like kind of bridging that gap and post-covid you know you just mentioned it like the golf uh has boomed for younger people for women for all these different types of audiences.

1:22:53So I think this is a great movie. I think this would be fun. I've never tuned in to the Wednesday Part 3 thing. But because Kelsey, yeah, as a football guy, because Kelsey's on there, yeah, I've seen clips. I've seen like Fleetwood Kid, you know, head over to Part 3. Skipping. Yeah, I've seen different videos on the internet. But even like YouTube golf, like there's so many different avenues of golf that the fan can kind of – because sitting there watching, you know, and the coverage of golf I think is great because it's always action. It's always a shot. It's always a storyline. And then Sunday, you know, Saturday, the movie.

1:23:20all the different parts of it, but I think this would be cool for the average golf fan. The people who are the avid, oh, Masters, I wanted this, I wanted that way, they may not like it, but the day one or early golf fans, I think this would be great. There's just so much other stuff you could be upset about. They should just not crack the list. Like you guys mentioned it, I mean, I will check in on the par three. You know, you see, yeah, there will be like a hole in one from, you know, every now and then or like a great shot or someone skipping one over the water and maybe making it, but you're not locked into this like you are Thursday at the Masters.

1:23:53So, like, exactly. Why not, you know? And the stuff with Jason Kelsey, like, that's just not going to go away. Anytime he does something now going forward, that's always going to be the response is, they're shoving this guy down our throat. Nobody wants him on this or that or whatever the case may be. But, like, why not? You know, if you're given the opportunity to go out there and do this at Augusta, like, you don't think he's probably not like, you know what, that sounds like awesome. That sounds awesome. I'd like to go do that.

1:24:19Pat McAfee:I love that Jason Kelsey's getting an opportunity to do all this shit. He's been doing a lot of shit. Yeah. They've had him do it. Remember they were dropping Marshawn in situations? Yeah. We should still do that, by the way. Oh, yeah. That's kind of disparate because he's doing actual movies. Right. I think he's getting paid real money to be in real movies. I think what we're going to see Marshawn in over the next couple, because movies take a long time. They do. Act and then edit, and it happens later. I think Marshawn's about to become a real actor. But if we can continue to drop him into stuff, let's do that.

1:24:51Pat McAfee:Jason Kelsey, they're doing the same here. I'm excited to see what his Masters coverage is. I am excited to see what he thinks of Augusta, the whole thing. He'll be on a microphone live in real time. I don't hate it, but, boy, people get loud. And could you imagine if they would have said yes to us, how loud it would have got? Same reaction, yeah. Probably much louder. Jason Kelsey, much more affable with certain group people than us. There would have been a group of people with us. I don't know. Oh, you think there's different groups? I'm just saying he gets a lot of heat. He's a baby face. And so when that turn happens, it's usually big and it's usually loud.

1:25:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, but what if he hits a hole-in-one on Wednesday? Everybody's going to have to eat shit. Oh, he's golfing? I assume he's going to swing a club. He's going to swing a club. Then he'll have a problem. Okay. See, what are we talking about? He can go. He can call it. He can announce it. He doesn't need to be swinging a golf club on Augusta, okay? Well, it's a par three course. It's still Augusta. Tony, come on. What if a player asks him to take a shot, which will happen? That's fine, yeah. What if a player asks him to take a shot and the shot? Yeah. Yeah, well, that won't happen at Augusta. It's Augusta.

1:25:56Pat McAfee:That won't happen. We're talking boozing and shooting, you know. It might. I mean, maybe he does. Maybe he has a good time. I think it'll be good. But, boy, that got loud quick on the internet. That got loud really quick on the internet. Hopefully it goes fantastic so everybody has to eat shit. But then there's a chance also it goes horrendously. I don't know how that would happen. And they try something new maybe next year. You know, there's all these types of ideas and setups. Tiger Woods has released a statement since the accident that us saw. We saw him upside down at Range River allegedly climb out of the opposite window for another time.

1:26:25Pat McAfee:And we're about done with seeing it. I think that was our entire take. It's like, hey, I don't like knowing that you're potentially going to be dead anytime you get into a car. You need to stop doing it. It's what our take was. This needs to stop. Obviously, how dangerous it is. We all have friends who have passed away from DUIs or from driving or getting hit in the entirety. with the access that he has to things. It's like, it's seemingly, it is inexcusable to say. It was our take on it as a whole. Tiger, get a driver. Waymo pulled up right behind us. Yes, it did. A robotic car pulled up behind us.

1:26:57Pat McAfee:Tiger Woods understands, it seems like. I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my wellbeing and work toward lasting recovery. I'm committed to taking the time needed to return a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support and ask for privacy from my family, loved ones, and myself at this one. At this time, Tiger. All right, Tiger, good luck out there, dude.

1:27:23Pat McAfee:Good luck. Give him, Tiger. That's a big decision, dude. Big decision. Hopefully, you know, you go ahead and go on with that because none of us like hearing anything about any of that. College Hoops this weekend, final four. We got the right ones, Connor, don't we? I saw a graphic now with where the starting fives were from. Yukon, five American flags. One of them being right here in Indiana. Splash City, how you doing? Everybody else had a European infiltration of some sort for at least two of their starters. We all have been saying that it's good for the quality of basketball. Are we expecting a phenomenal Final Four?

1:27:57Pat McAfee:That seemingly all conversation is like, hey, this is about to be maybe greatest Final Four that we have ever seen, Con Man. Yeah, we saw the numbers on the March Madness tournament. Those are only going to go up. The two games feels as though they are the best possible matchups. Like UConn versus Illinois, you mentioned it. We've talked about it. The big itches from Illinois, that feels as though kind of like a new style, kind of sweet team. And then UConn, older school, Hurley, Caravan, guys we've seen before. There's the kind of lineup there. And then Michigan-Arizona, that feels like kind of the one seed versus one seed matchup we've been wanting to see since the beginning.

1:28:34Arizona has been dominating teams. And then Michigan just beat Tennessee by like 30 points in the Elite Eight. It wasn't close for one minute. Lendenborg, I believe he's a graduate. And then Arizona has all these freshmen. Co-opede, of course, our guy, Braden Burries. Tommy Lloyd is kind of hitting the news, you could say, with the whole UNC thing. A lot of guys are saying, hey, Tommy Lloyd, Arizona, he's going to leave immediately after this season. But he's also come out and said, hey, I'm only focused on this team. So that will be something interesting to watch. Yeah, exactly. I have to say that.

1:29:07But this game in particular, it makes sense why this is kind of the later billing game of the night. UNC is thinking about getting West Virginia's coach too, right? Russ Hodge? Yeah. If he can bring home the crown, I think that is kind of a little thing. Tall task.

1:29:22Pat McAfee:If he was dying to get there and that Tar Heel blue, good things could happen. You know what I mean? I actually don't think he would delay his interview or any of the process for the fucking crown. What you're talking about right now? Yeah, he would go. Well, we've got a big-time game tomorrow. Remember, the Super Duper crown does begin tonight as Baylor and Minnesota will do battle, as will Oklahoma and Colorado. Tomorrow night, West Virginia and Stanford obviously find out who's going to do battle against Rutgers and the Blue Jays. I heard the president can't address the country anymore tonight because this is going on, so they couldn't take it off of TV.

1:29:54Is that true?

1:29:54Pat McAfee:I think there's a presidential address set for this evening is what I just learned. I thought I saw that. I saw it. Yes, there is. Is that real? I believe they're supposed to be launching to the moon around like 6.50. And then I'm dead serious. We are actually first time in 50 years. I've seen some photos. We're heading up there. Is that what's happening? We're doing a president. I just learned that right now. And once again, I know that's not good. But I just want to let you know that. That's the type of human you're talking about here with me. I did not know. That's whenever you attack me for whatever you attack me.

1:30:20Pat McAfee:Just know. I didn't know we had a full presidential address tonight. April Fool's. So it's one of those things where you just don't know. You just don't know. But I'm going to be pissed. Okay? If. If I can't watch Baylor, Minnesota first round, super duper crying. Because I'm learning about going to the moon. Couldn't agree more. Because I'm learning about going to the moon again. Some people got to scout these games. Again? 50 years, dude. Yeah, what do you mean? I'm glad that's... What do you mean? Let's talk about it. I think we know. What's he saying, Todd? I don't think we do. You know what?

1:30:52This guy's uninformed. He's a moron. You know, I don't know if this is some sort of... Me or Toad? Me? Please? You're talking about me?

1:31:00Pat McAfee:Okay. Uninformed. Check the tape, brother. Yeah, maybe the most informed. But what is that? Who knows? April Fool's. Exactly. April Fool's. Could be any day now with the way AI is, we really do have to stay on top of things. And what we should be doing more of is going directly to the sources of things. Now, these sources of things certainly get upset whenever we don't do that, but we assume that we can't get to source of things to correct these things. Whenever we have an opportunity to get the source of things, though, we've got to make the most of it. Ladies and gentlemen, I have no idea how this happened, but we're pumped about it.

1:31:33Pat McAfee:Tighten up. Tighten up. Everybody lock in. You two need to stop with what you guys had going on. No, we're done. I mean, I don't know about that. We'll click pause. Circle back. Just like you've got to do when you come home from the moon. You've got to go around the backside. Yeah, slingshot techniques. You've got to circle back. You know, that's what they said. The dark side of the moon. You got to go around there, use that centrifugal force to kind of, in the gravity, lack of, kind of slingshot your ass back to Earth, right? Do we still have to do that now? 50 years later, are we still slingshotting around the dark side?

1:32:07Pat McAfee:Do we know? It depends. Well, it depends what kind of thing. What? We're not doing it. I thought we put a pause on this. We did. I thought we did too. I thought we put a pause on this. I might ask our guess. Now, on that note. Got bigger fish to fry. If you remember the mathematics side of the entirety. of it all and the numbers and accounting that took place for all of that historic moment for the united states of america yeah she potentially is one of the ones that would be representing former head of deloitte and if you know what that is that means you understand how impressive that is if you don't know what that is it's unbelievably impressive it is an absurd thing that is happening in the money world accounting world she is that she's also the commissioner of the wmba and just got done negotiating one of the fastest cba things we've seen in some time especially with how seemingly far apart all conversation was the commish of the wmba kathy engelberg how you doing commish i'm doing great i'm doing great now pat hey we are so thankful that you are uh joining us we did not expect this opportunity but we are thankful for it and you say you feel good now let's talk about the negotiations congratulations on the new seven-year cba getting done we know that is very difficult there was certainly work stoppage conversations and it felt like there was a lot of posturing happening on both sides both through the league and the players and then we saw photos of you all working together and getting this deal done which is going to see an increase in pay and seemingly very happy operation right now how did we get to this point and was there ever any sketchy moments where you thought maybe there would be a work stoppage for the WNBA?

1:33:44Well, it's interesting, you know, Pat, CBAs tend to get done at the 11th hour. And I mean, I think this one was a function of how important and meaningful it was, not just for the WNBA and women's basketball, but maybe all women's sports. So there was so much passion and the players were amazing through it. And it was just a testament on how invested everyone is. We needed to get it right. I mean, when you're looking at this long-term labor piece, seven years, the process wasn't definitely not linear and you know you have to do a lot of listening reacting responding and in some cases you're totally pivoting from what you thought when you went into a bargaining session but you're just trying to get it right for players team owners fans the business you know we want to set that all up for success and that's why I think this was everybody thought this was so unusual I think like again because the WNBA has grown so much.

1:34:38I think it was now we're arrived as a major sports property and it was probably a little more usual, but obviously everybody likes to get things done sooner rather than later in this environment. But, you know, we had to get it right.

1:34:49Pat McAfee:Number one, a lot of heat coming in. And anytime you're a league that's been around for 30 years and are projecting into the future, it can be hard to come to an agreement, especially with the players and how everything is kind of gone. We did some research. D-Butt was looking into it. We tried our best to learn as much as the situation that you were in as soon as we found out that you were going to join our show. So We've been looking into it, so some of these numbers might not be 100 % accurate, but we learned that the NBA took a long time before it became a profitable business. The NFL, like 50 years almost before it became a super-duper profitable business.

1:35:17Pat McAfee:You guys are going to be celebrating 30 years right now. Feels like we're close to making. How do you kind of project what the future looks like, how much money you can make? Because there was numbers coming out, and we don't know what side the numbers were coming out from, where if you gave up 20 % or 30 % and a$10 million salary cap, the projections would be you'd lose$200 million or something like that. I forget all that. But the projections were all negative that were coming out about your guys' deal or potential deal. How did you end up falling on the$7.5 million salary cap for seven years and a percentage split that ended up with the players?

1:35:50Pat McAfee:And how are you projecting this kind of to go over the next seven years of the WNBA's existence? Yeah, it's a great question. And obviously we grounded everything, both sides in principles that we needed significant increase in player salaries and benefits, but also balancing that with the ability to continue to incentivize investment in our league. We've had incredible investment in the league and practice facilities and player experience, et cetera. We've had incredible investment by our broadcast partners, including ESPN, Disney, and we're bringing on NBC this year and Amazon, and we have Scripps, Ion and CBS.

1:36:27So, So incredible investment into the game, into the WNBA, our corporate partners as well. So it was making sure we could balance all of that. That's the hard part, right? Because you do want we're in our 30th year, by the way, the longest tenured women's professional sports league in the United States by double any other. So we took it with great responsibility that we're just not going to do this without a financial model that was sustainable for our owners, our board of governors, our team owners. So that was really important. And we were able to strike that balance, I think. I mean, not everyone gets everything they want.

1:37:03You know, there's a lot of uncomfortable moments when you're negotiating around these things, especially because you're looking for that long term agreement. and you want to make sure that though the players are going to this is the first time the players are going to benefit every time we increase our revenue they have a full revenue share on full league and team revenue and that's a huge win-win for both them and the owner and the team owners

1:37:26Pat McAfee:congrats on all of it and that being the longest tenured professional women's league by double or triple we're appreciative we have a lot of baby girls in this thunderdome and uh my daughter has been to three soccer practices now first one just tried and watched the entire time second time we kind of got involved third time we had much better attitude but there was numerous times where didn't want to use her feet uh just picked that thing up and actually dunked it into the net so let's continue that okay for the good of my and i think that's why i had so much interest in the business side of it in the sustainability of the league i think we looked it up we don't know what's 100 accurate obviously on the internet it is april fool's so you know there's a lot of that But I think it's 42 % WNBA, 42 % NBA, and then there's, what, 16 % of other investors in the entirety of the WNBA.

1:38:10Pat McAfee:I think my natural thought was that the NBA was kind of owning this. How do you get everybody on board for this deal? How much is the NBA involved whenever there's negotiations and conversations happening? I know there's a lot of carryover for NBA and WNBA owners, like here in Indiana, I think in Phoenix. I think Mark Davis is an owner out there in Las Vegas. They're in the middle of a dynasty run. But how much are you and the NBA kind of doing all this together and how much expectation is on the NBA to continue to help WNBA grow? Yeah, absolutely. The NBA and Adam have been so supportive. There's a reason why when I came in that we were the longest tenured league.

1:38:45And it's because, you know, we're tipping off our 30th season. The NBA has been a great partner. Cycles happen in the economy. And so, you know, when I came in, everything needed to be transformed from the player experience to stakeholder success to our fan experience. So, you know, one of the other things, you know, when I came in, one of the things was like less than one percent of all corporate partnership dollars were going to women's sports and less than five percent of all media coverage at the time was in sports was women's sports. So those percentages have gone up. Thankfully, we've helped grow those percentage.

1:39:19And, you know, when you look at how many hundreds of basis points you would have to grow those to even get to 10 percent, 15 percent, given that there's billions and hundreds of billions of dollars going into sports. So the NBA has been a huge partner of ours, hugely helpful. And, you know, as have all of our stakeholders, I'll call them more broadly. And that includes, again, these media companies, these corporate partners, because without them, you know, companies like Ally and Deloitte and AT &T and Google and CarMax and Nike, they have stepped up in a big way. And that enabled us, quite frankly, to build a sustainable revenue model to pay the players what we're now paying them.

1:39:57You know, everyone's like, why can't you pay the players more? Well, you need a revenue model to actually fund the payment of these type of salaries. And we finally have it. And we wanted to be able to sustain it. So, yeah, the NBA, great partner. And I think everybody's rowing in the same direction now.

1:40:14Pat McAfee:Hey, it feels like you're an absolute dog, Kathy. You know, because you hear the same thing we hear when they're like, pay the players, pay the players. This happened, and I don't want to compare the WNBA. It's been around for 30 years to the USXFL. Okay, I don't want to do that. Sure. I don't want to do that. But we got information from the USXFL. They were like, hey, Dwayne Johnson, friend of our show, lost$45 million last year on USXFL. Then their quarterbacks were like, we're holding out. We want more money. It's like that doesn't make, like it's hard to really, I feel like when the WNBA, it's always talked about, it's like lose money, lose money, lose money.

1:40:44Pat McAfee:Then we heard there was going to be a work stoppage. And I think everybody like wanted to pile on. But I love the fact that you took the mindset of like, okay, let's make this a business. Let's do what we have to do. And for those companies to jump in for the good of your league and for the future, and obviously broadcast partners. I mean, that's any of our businesses having partners that support it. Good for you, Kathy. hey good for you and the entire WNBA team for making that happen because it's good for our society whenever that's taking place exactly and I love you guys are girl dads and you see the the benefit and I think what happened is we had this investment from the NBA before we became as popular as are we today we are today and those other investors who came in which by the way half of them were NBA or WNBA owners already so everybody doubled down on their investment because when I came in the owners at the time were like you know we're going to go big or go home That literally is what they went.

1:41:33My first meeting with some of the owners were we're going to go big or go home. And you know what? We hit the pandemic right after. And that was like existential for us, because if we were to be out of the sports landscape for 20 months, which is what it would have been had we not had that 2020 season. So we cobbled together the bubble in Bradenton, Florida at IMG Academy and held a successful season. And that put us off to the races. So you kind of look back at all these turning points in kind of the trajectory of the league, at least since I've been here. And, you know, you look back and say, thank God we had the resistance and the persistence and the resilience to, like, keep going because we could have hung it up there, and I probably wouldn't be sitting here today as the commissioner.

1:42:14We could have hung up the CBA when it became contentious, but we said this is the right thing to do for the WNBA, for these players long-term, and for the owners long-term. So, again, it's all a balance.

1:42:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, it certainly is a balance, but I think the product on the floor also has to keep up with the business. You know, we've seen businesses where the business is good, but the product is kind of trash. Feels like you have stars. Obviously, Las Vegas Aces in the middle of maybe the best dynastic run in the history of professional women's sports as a whole, winning three out of the last four. Asia, absolutely absurd. I think more people learned about her as that rookie class from a couple years back, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, who took over March Madness with LSU in Iowa, come into the league.

1:42:52Pat McAfee:Now, on that note, any business runs off of its stars and how their stars perform. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Commish. So obviously everyone's excited that this is done, but it kind of feels like now is where like the real work starts. How confident are you that the league can create new stars? Cause I'm an Iowa alum. I watched all of Caitlin Clark's games, you know, while she was in school there. And then you're just naturally kind of curious when she gets to the fever. And you guys definitely did catch, you know, lightning in a bottle with her. And obviously it wasn't just her, but the WNBA was, you know, kind of appointment television for a while there.

1:43:25So how confident is the league that you guys will be able to continue to kind of get these not only college players that are coming up, but current current players in the league and establishing them as like household stars? Yeah, and you bring up the point that I always say, like, you need household names, you need games of consequence. And that's usually, you know, because our season's shorter, you know, now we'll be able to play up to 52 games over the life of this agreement. When I came in, I think we were playing 32. too so you need that and you need those stars and caitlin without question has been a huge part of the growth of our league and she's not only an incredible player but a great ambassador for the game you've seen her on she's done some work with the nba on nbc this year um and couldn't be prouder how she's handling the moment for her because a lot of pressure on her um but as you said there's a lot more stars i mean this year our draft is actually like 12 days away and we have az fudd from UConn.

1:44:18We have Olivia Miles from TCU, Flauge from LSU, Lauren Betts from UCLA, who's in the final four. We actually have two players from outside the U.S. And so we're becoming a more global player population as well, just like the NBA has done over the years. And we're catching up. I think when I came in the league, we were 8 percent players born outside the United States. And last year, we were 23 percent or something like that. So we're growing our global game too so um and we need to invest there as well but it's going to be a great draft i think there's gonna be a lot you know you think next year you have hannah hidalgo you have um juju depending on she's redshirted this year obviously because of the injury juju watkins and you have so many other great players kiki rice at ucla that are going to be coming in and i think like i don't get to see a lot of the the u18 but i'm told like kathy wait till you see these u18 players these under 18 players.

1:45:11They're going to be the next Kaitlins, the next Juju's, the next Aaliyah Boston's and Asia Wilson's. So I'm excited. I think our broadcast partners saw the future even before, as we were negotiating, even before Kaitlin was in the league. They saw the future of all this great talent coming in, again, not just from college but also internationally.

1:45:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, they also saw that you're bringing massive partnerships with you too. I mean, that's awesome. That's an incredible weapon to have. You know that. as we have our show licensed, you know, so we, much smaller situation than what you have as an entire league. But in negotiations, having businesses that'll be like, yeah, if he goes, we'll go. That's a huge, that is a huge ordeal. So the fact that you're able to gather that, they get a lot more confidence in what the future looks like whenever you're able to supply that type of shit. Kathy, you're a beast. You're an absolute beast, Kathy. That is for real.

1:46:00Pat McAfee:One of the moves was the roster size. I think that became a big conversation. Who wanted this, league or players? because now there's 12 players with two practice squad players that are allowed to play on the team. Is this more players on the roster than it used to be? And who really presented this one as something that seemingly needed to be a necessity? You or the players? Yeah, I think this was a collaborative effort. We knew players with a 12-person roster. We knew that we didn't need to stand up an entire G League equivalent, but could we bring development, we're calling them development players, in so that there'll be two development players per team.

1:46:36That's 30 additional opportunities for players. We also went from 144 players, and now with expansion, we'll be up to 216 by the end of the decade. And we'll be 180 this year, 180 players, plus the 30 development players. So we'll be over 200 that we're taking care of, giving opportunity, and developing. So that was definitely a collaborative effort between the Players Association and the league and the teams to bring on these two development players. It's a huge investment, don't get me wrong, but it's also a huge opportunity as well for more players to make this league. Because you know, in the past, like a second and third round pick in our league generally wouldn't make a roster.

1:47:13I think there's a lot more opportunity with both expansion and these development players to develop the next generation of talent.

1:47:19Pat McAfee:More roster spots, higher salaries, more teams. Feels like everything's up and to the right, Kathy. Just need to see the hooping. You know, the hooping just needs to maintain. Now, who's doing the hooping? D-Butt has a question for you. Yeah, back to the talent and the draft. I'm a UConn grad, so I've been following the ladies' game for a long, long time. Has there been any conversation about changing the draft rules for the WNBA? I know you have to be 22 years old. You have to be a college grad for international. You have to be 20 years old, I believe. And a lot of times, you know, our stars, Caitlin being one of them, obviously all these girls that go to UConn, they're stars in college for four years before they can go to the WNBA.

1:47:56Any talks of changing those rules going forward? Yeah, there wasn't a lot of debate over that. I think we were all comfortable with where we were in the prior CPA with, you know, the 22 that you mentioned. You have to be 22 by the end of the calendar year in which you get drafted, which makes them mostly college graduates or a college graduate if you're younger and go earlier, I guess. Obviously, internationally, as you mentioned, it's 20. so we're consistently studying whether you know which option is better should you be younger I think in general both the players association has thought we have struck the right balance on that and it gives opportunity for players who maybe are either starting later or a little older or do a redshirt year to come in you know after their junior year but mostly you know after you graduate and again it's provided an enormous amount of talent and I think one of the things that's also So these players are building their brands while they're in college.

1:48:49So the one and done is not going to work for us because they won't have built their brand by the time they come to the W. And so I think it's important that they have that opportunity to build their brand, get their NIL money also, because the women basketball players, the stars, have been really kind of at the top of the list from that perspective. And then they come in with big brands like Caitlin did, like Angel did, like Leah Boston has built now that she's come in post her playing career at South Carolina as well. So, and again, the list goes on around that and the endorsement opportunities they have once they come in the W with just not just a domestic national brand, but now we're going to be in Canada this year with the Toronto Tempo.

1:49:26We're going to be in Portland with the Portland Fire and then like kind of globally be able to build their global brands coming out of the university. So I think it's an advantage to have that four year career. But again, we're constantly studying it.

1:49:39Pat McAfee:Yeah, with social media too, the evolving building of brand will continue. And obviously colleges have helped, certainly have helped, since the history of time in all sports. Colleges have provided a nice feeder system into professional sports. We've seen it in yours. Excited to watch that. Flo J, is she going to play good in WNBA? I'm a huge fan of hers. Yeah, huge fan of hers as well. Followed her since she was a freshman. I mean, huge success at LSU. Very confident. And just personality, and I can't wait to see her at the draft. One of my favorite parts of the year is coming up, which is I get to call each of these potential draftees into the league and, and invite them to New York city, to the shed on April 13th.

1:50:18And, um, some of them have never been to New York city and some of them, and they're so excited and they say things like, thank you for making my dreams come true. And it's like truly the most inspiring part of the commissioner job for me is seeing that next generation of talent come in and how excited they are. And Flaugé is definitely one of those talents.

1:50:35Pat McAfee:I love that. Can't wait to see how it all goes with her. She's a weapon. She's an absolute weapon. Anytime there's been a microphone around her, she's hit a home run. I think that's great for the league. You mentioned Toronto and Portland. I think we're at 15 teams now. Going to get to 18 by 2030. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Commissioner, Pat's point there, Portland and Toronto being the two teams this year. How do you pick as far as cities to expand to? I think Philly is also on the docket and two others coming up here. But what is kind of the process in picking like, okay, that city would be great for the W.

1:51:06We'll head there next. It's a great question. because when I first came in and we were only in 12 cities and not having scale, I was like, boy, and we didn't have one in the Bay Area. In the Bay Area, given the media market and the progressiveness and where the W stood kind of societally, I'm like, we need a team in the Bay Area. And then the Golden State Valkyries came in and killed it this year with Portland and Toronto. It's not easy to pick. We probably ran 25 different – I'm a bit of a data geek from my prior life. We ran probably 25 different metrics through 100 cities, both in the U.S. and Canada, and kind of like looked at which ones we thought would be have the right demographics, psychographics, the right.

1:51:47How many like do they have the right facilities? Because a free agency now is so important and we want these owners to be highly successful. So they've got to be able to bring in free agents. Do they have the right arena? Do they have the right practice facilities? Fandom. Are they already fans of the NCAA? Are they already fans of the W? We had a lot of data around that. So we put all of that together, and we came up with a process that in the last process, we probably started with 25 or so cities that were bidding. It came down to about 13 cities, and that's when we granted. We originally only intended to run the process for one, but we had 13 really viable bids, and we came up with Cleveland in 28, Detroit in 29, and Philly in 30.

1:52:30And so bringing in those three great cities, great basketball cities. I happen to be from Philadelphia, so no bias there, of course. Yeah, a little heavy pen on that side. Yeah, we understand.

1:52:40Pat McAfee:$250 million per franchise there. Hey, keep going, Kathy. We appreciate the hell out of you. Obviously, our daughters hope to all get a chance to play in the league that you are currently guiding. And congrats on a massive deal getting done for the future. And we hope, we hope, no injuries the entire year. That's right, none. None. So do we, so do we. So hopefully our trainers and our physical therapists are all working on our players here in the offseason. And we'll tip off May 8th. It's a big tip-off date. April 13th, we got a draft. May 8th, we got a start of a season. The Fever are going to topple the Aces, even though it seems impossible.

1:53:18Pat McAfee:We appreciate the hell out of you, ladies and gentlemen, WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelberg. Thank you, Kathy. Have a good one. She's impressive. Oh, yeah. Killer, you can tell. Yeah, hey, we're wondering if you wanted to do a deal with the WNBA. I don't know if we can really relate. Deloitte, Nike, Baba. Yeah. Yeah, they're all here. We would love to do. She forced that deal. Oh, yeah. That's incredible. That's what a commission is supposed to do. We're back tomorrow. Be a friend, tell her, and something nice might change her life. Goodbye. Yeah, she, that's. Yeah, she's like, I got here. There's no scale.

1:53:51We got no business.

1:53:52Pat McAfee:So how are we playing on making money around here? What are we doing? Tickets. Nachos. Beers. Okay, anything else? I'm sure there is stuff. All right. I just came from Deloitte. I'm sure there's some sort of – call it Nike. Hey, don't you? Thank you. How about this? Don't you? Yeah, we can bundle. We'll get you – yep, don't you? Hey, with our players, thank you. Yeah. Should build a business, it sounds like. Yeah, and it's so much shit that goes into it, obviously. Oh, so much negotiation. You were talking about the leagues earlier. NBA founded 1946. Didn't really become really profitable to, like, the Magic Bird.

1:54:28the 80s and they went on we saw the documentary with jerry buss and how he was you know going through a lot of shit to keep the lakers afloat of all franchises yeah like stern too to your point like that era of david stern he's considered one of the greatest commissioners because of that and the nfl nfl 1920 they didn't get profitable till after the merger in 1970 we saw the letter from uh lamar hunt was it in the hall of fame and they didn't get profitable until 1970s is when they kind of became the cash printing machine that they are so it takes a while and obviously we're in a different landscape and then it's a it's women's sport too so it's obviously very different mlb probably had the fastest because they kind of had a monopoly on it and it was just a different time when was them 18 yeah i mean yeah it was 1890 something like also all local media exactly it took them like 20 30 years to become really dominant in that space so it takes a while there's a lot of different moving parts but it feels like they got the right

1:55:21Pat McAfee:people in there yeah kathy seems like an absolute beast like like actually and you look through her resume and it's like, this was fucking killing me. Oh, we didn't ask the McDonald's question for D-Bone. Son of a gun. What was the question? Is it safe to eat McDonald's for six straight days? And super dinner. As he likes to call it, early morning. Ball sleep dinner. Second dinner. Fries on chest dinner. Getting more fat dinner. At the glass. Well, that technically doubles as a midnight snack too because he falls asleep then wakes up and eats all the fries that are all over him. Early breakfast.

1:56:00Good for his skin.

1:56:01Pat McAfee:Cold pizza. Yeah, right. Have you ever tried hairy cold fries in the morning? D-bone special. Gut McDouble. His lady. The gut McDouble.

1:56:14Pat McAfee:Keep it warm. Ladies and gentlemen, the Indiana University Hoosier football team, the reigning national champions who have the Heisman winner as their quarterback has their pro day happening today. We have eyes on Fernando Mendoza. Boots on the ground. Anthony Calhoun of Wish TV here in Indianapolis has sent me 14 text messages since he's got down there. He said, Fernando looks bigger. Looks huge. Looks like he's put some muscle on. This guy's ready to go. He will be swelling with the boys. He said he wanted to. Obviously, one last sesh with Omar Cooper Jr., who could potentially be first rounder amongst other guys that will be out there.

1:56:46Pat McAfee:So eyes will be on the number one overall pick, Fernando, today. We'll take a break. On the other side, he might be working out. and we got some other sports stuff that we definitely need to cover on this beautiful April. Don't be fooling around. First, 2026. I don't like that. Take that off the screen. Take that off the screen. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. That was bad. That was bad. What did I mean? That was bad. You're not a scout, so. Oh, the. Didn't even notice. We talked about it to Dan Morgan. You want his hands to get wet before the biggest day of his life? He used that lotion on his hands. He probably covered it.

1:57:24Pat McAfee:That's not good. I believe. I still believe. I still believe. If this goes in, it's okay.

1:57:32Pat McAfee:Let's take a break. That one fucking blows. I might need a new shirt. That's a different ball. Small ball. Different ball. Which? Why is that? Oh, they talked about that. Let's take a break. Be your friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. It's a lower room, too. That's how you fly. That's for you, ball. That's for us. Mm-hmm. That game hasn't been played in a long time. New champs kind of killed the game. Killed the game. Nobody wanted to play with him. That beast you guys were talking about was a dominant force in the paint. Thank you, D-Bone. He hasn't moved in the paint in six months.

1:58:03There's trophies been sitting there just waiting to be won. Collecting dust. Everyone knows the fans' favorite. That'd fit awesome right on top of the cup. I wouldn't. Let's get to a break.

1:58:14Pat McAfee:Cathy, I think she's going to figure it out. I think Cathy's going to figure it out. I don't like how all they talk about is how much money he loses all the time, though. It's not fun. That's like a direct counter all the time. WMB is good. Oh, who cares? How many millions are they losing tonight? It's like, whoa, Jesus. What about this arena selling out? Yeah. Caitlin sold this place out. Every night. She was the Beatles. Outside viewing parties, because people couldn't get tickets in. She single-handedly changed downtown Indianapolis a bit. They got a facility practice facility now. They got different areas being built up.

1:58:52Pat McAfee:Knocked a jail down for it, too. Like, helped out the city greatly when that thing. Yeah, freed all the prisoners from slow. No, they didn't. No, it was old school. But right there where it is, it's right by Cambridge. I believe it's across the street from kind of the bus stop area, Hotel Indy area. And it has genuinely helped the city immensely. Ishby has done it in Phoenix. Built a WNBA facility. Davis, Mark Davis and him in Vegas have built the Aces. facility. They're in the middle of a dynasty. The Simon family has been very open about how thankful they are that Caitlin Clark has joined the Fever.

1:59:26Pat McAfee:And how they are going to try their best to make sure everything is as good as possible so they can get as much success as possible with her on the team. It's been fun to watch. It's been very fun to watch. Hopefully WNBA continues to go. Congratulations to Kathy Engelbart. We appreciate her. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We have updates from a pro day and from the sports world. Sweet hoodie tone. Yeah. You're telling me. Let's play ball. It's game day. For Paul Skeens, what time is that game? It's already started. Oh, yeah, Neil Cruz hit a home run. Yeah, he hoisted a cone.

2:00:05Pat McAfee:Boom. He hoisted a cone. They're currently up 3-1. They are in the top of the six. Skeens has 5Ks through 5. 5Ks through 5. That's O 'Neal Cruz hitting a ball. Bye-bye. A lot of people there. And you're about to see the coin. Hoist the coin. Hoist the coin.

2:00:30Pat McAfee:Hoist the fucking coin. Hoist the fucking coin. Hoist the fucking coin. Hoist the fucking coin. That's what they're doing next. Paul Skeen's ERA is down to 9.53. It's at 67 before today. What do you want from the guy? You want from 67 to 9. It's quite a climb. It's not bad. Down the mountain. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Take fight. Fight.

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2:01:32Pat McAfee:In a classroom of sodas, most stay quiet. Then there's Mr. Pibb, sweet cherry, bold outbursts, the kind of flavor that gets attention. Bold kick of cherry. Are you Mr. Pitt? Whoa! As we peek in here to Fernando Mendoza's Pro Day, number one overall pick to Las Vegas Raiders, calling out routes, letting the boys owe you. Shredded. Okay. Six-pack as well. Wow. What do you look? Getting another quick score of ice cold water. I'm looking for all little things, you know. We know he can spin it. Can't have slippy hands. He's been obviously throwing beautiful balls here. We've had zero balls on the ground since we've been watching.

2:02:16Pat McAfee:Going to the left here. Adidas athlete. Oh, that's good. Five-step. On top. That's not on him. That's not on him. Dan Orlovsky is going to count that. He will. Packed house down there for the Hoosiers. This is very abnormal. A pro day looking like this for the Hoosiers. Play action. Take a shot. Yeah, he likes it. It's rot. Tell you what, Fernando, 6 '5". You forget about that when you're watching this. He is towering above the competition. Flank to the left, two different colors. Cleats. Cooper. Elmar Cooper, Jr., first-round pick. Hey, he's smooth. Oh, the guns get caught up. Found his feet.

2:03:03Pat McAfee:Fernando waits for him. Delivers a dime. Wow. Stays in bounds, finishes upfield. I'll tell you what, it's a little bit of a showcase, isn't it, D-Bud? Of everything we like. Yeah, absolutely. You saw the dig ball, I believe, to Surratt, and obviously the little post corner right there. But those are the passes, especially those intermediate routes that these scouts, these coaches, everybody. Because everything you hear is the RPOs, the back shoulder phase, the shots. We saw them do that a thousand times. But NFL, we always talk about it even with the Jalen Hurts conversation. The intermediate passes, layering the throws, being on time, being on target.

2:03:35So that's what everybody's looking for.

2:03:36Pat McAfee:No, Koski out of the backfield. Beast. Mr. Everything. That's a good ball right there. It feels like he's in complete command, which is what we're looking for. One ball on the ground, it was a drop. Do they normally call it, the quarterbacks in these pro days? Do we know? He's saying he's telling them all the routes what to do. Even that ball right there. We can run with that. It's a runner's ball. We can run with that. Perfection. And I think I saw him break down the coverage, too, and find out that was a must - We're lost. He's got to be sick to his stomach. So pissed. I was showcasing his stomach by Fernando.

2:04:06Pat McAfee:He wants people to know he's a little bit bigger, but still in our fat zone. I'm also pretty sure I saw Clint Kubiak's jaw hit turf. Just loving everything he's seeing here. Mr. Black in the backfield. I don't know what's going on here. They're going back to a previous throw to... Embi, maybe? I don't know. I'm thinking the underclassmen don't have numbers. Is that what... Because they're just there strictly for Fernando. Wheel route to the crib. You see that with Ashton Gentry, potentially. Over there in Las Vegas. Unless they're keeping their cards. Hairline looks magnificent. Hair's flowing in.

2:04:46He's sweating a lot. That's why I can't hold the water bottle.

2:04:51Pat McAfee:I don't necessarily love the whole squirtsy and the mouthy, but I mean, that might be a little stuttering go from Sarat. Oh, that was a good ball, Nando. Kiss a ball. That's a touchdown. That's got to be a touchdown. do they got a wide receiver over there vegas yeah uh thornton super fat trey tucker super fast one brock bowers is brock bowers obviously a tight end top pass catcher he's why i was super one for them who's gonna be catching that go ball though that he just uh who was the rookie out of tennessee they took last year thornton was the kid out of tennessee trey tucker oh here's another one.

2:05:35Pat McAfee:Omar to the crowd! Slow down a little bit. He was wide open. Yeah, that's because the last guy you overthrew by a yard and a half. Lock in, Nando! Nando's locked in. It's not about Nando. We gotta lock in that. No, Akowski got a little bit of an knee sleeve and a limp. Who cares? I mean, what? Catch the goddamn ball, boys. Orlovsky's watching. This is bullshit. Speaking of, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now. Oh, great. Dan Orlovsky. Dano, what are you seeing here from this pro day? Dano? Love you, Dan. Miss you, Dan. We love you, Dan. A lot of balls on the ground, huh? Dano? Yeah, I mean, I'm not a massive pro day person.

2:06:13These guys should look good. I mean, I've seen them throw the ball well, but. That's a haircut.

2:06:20Pat McAfee:Let's go see you, Dano. Good to see you guys. Is it? Okay. Still bumping out. Okay. We miss you, Dano. Listen, the internet happens. We're a part of it. That was a good ball. That was a good ball. That's Brock Bowers right there. Exactly. You see that one? You see Brock Bowers right there coming across? Bang, right in the front. Let's go get some more yardage out here. That's what he's doing. Yeah, it's a good throw. Okay, good throw. Let's check the box here for Fernando. Did you see somebody else squirt the water? Again? That's honestly kind of him to let those people be out there and work. Yeah, you're right, be a part of the moment.

2:06:53Pat McAfee:Yeah. Because they worked their ass off all year. Exactly. They deserve to be here too. We don't even know this. this is maybe a pro day for also the athletic trainers and equipment. Yeah, they're trying to get their own tape out there to Mark Davis. Mark Davis might see one of them and be like, we need that guy at the Raiders. That's a good squirt. Yeah. Danny, you don't think about that much, do you? I do not think about that. I don't think that's a real thing, so. All right, dude. Oh. Yeah, Chalk. I think I know what it is. He's a big sweater. Oh, you think he's a little bit of a big sweater.

2:07:26What's that, Danny? He's used that towel. My guess is, yeah. That's why he's doing that because he doesn't want to put moisture on his hands.

2:07:32Pat McAfee:Okay, I like that sticking up for Fernando there, Dano. I like what you're doing there. Thank you for doing that with us. What should we be looking at this pro day, Dano, even though it's hard to kind of see? Yeah, I mean, again, I think there's most people who have played quarterback could probably go in a pro day and throw it well. It's a seed. You expect those guys to look good. It seems like he's throwing the ball down the field, which is a strength of his. There was a couple drag routes we just saw. We just saw a couple. He didn't do a lot of this under center stuff, so that's going to have to be something he gets comfortable with.

2:08:09Pat McAfee:Okay. Grab him a pillow. This dude's comfort level is elite right now with the bucket. Sorry, Dan. I think he's a good player, yeah. He's a good player. No one's ever said he wasn't a good player. I agree. Hey, listen. You don't have to get so defensive. Yeah, good. We're having a good time. We're watching Pro Day. We're past what happened last week. Omar Cooper with an eye. What a throw. Nando on the face. No big deal. Ready to throw on the face, man. That's a creep call. For the other team? Yeah, for the offense. For the other team. Okay. Oh, now you're laughing at him. Oh, now you're laughing at him.

2:08:39Pat McAfee:Okay. Just like we thought. How come you guys, you guys can joke, but I can't? Well, Dana, we didn't know you were still joking. Yeah, we thought you were potting, maybe. Oh, wheel. Wheel to Dorkoski. Touchdown. Touchdown. Touchdown. What's that, man? That doesn't count. Did you see it in the backfield? That was an RPL that does not count. I like a little play action. There was a penalty. There was a penalty on what? Yeah, penalty. Oh, look at this one. You were like that one, huh? Those were easier throws for him, he said. What's that, D-Butch? No. D-Butch say he loves yourself right there. D-Butch putter.

2:09:11I mean, look, this is the thing to watch. With all these routes, just watch the receiver. If he slows down, if he's not out in front of him, like that, boom. Oh, perfect. See, you saw how he caught that and had to turn back. Well, he settled in his zone.

2:09:23Pat McAfee:He settled in his zone. They were settled in his zone. Sitting cover two, you want to throw him right into the flat defender? I'm just saying, this is what they would be looking at. The deep balls and colds. It feels like the UConn Pro Day. You didn't hear the coach yell out, cover two, cover two. I'm just watching the tape. I love Fernando. He's going to be the number one pick, but that's what I'd be looking at. Oh, that's good. Oh! It's a good ball. See where he put it, though? It's a good ball. Right here in front. Right here in front. Dan, did you see that right here? You don't know what coverages they're running.

2:09:56That's true. It's not the judge to film.

2:09:59Pat McAfee:Oh, he's so tricky. Play action, beautiful. Oh, we love that. Wow, we love that. Dano, your thoughts on that perfection right there? It was a nice throw. It was a nice throw. Bummed out. Are you bummed out that it was a nice throw? I thought we liked all quarterbacks. Not at all. Oh, Omar. A little stumble. Who cares? We found it. Bang. Perfect. I mean, what a game. All right, Dan O 'Neill, now that we have you, as we continue to watch, number one overall pick, Fernando Mendoza, do his pro day. Down there in Bloomington, Indiana, with a packed house, which is very abnormal for Indiana. This man won a national championship for that team.

2:10:36Pat McAfee:Won a Heisman down there. Mr. Heisman is currently standing in Bloomington still, which is crazy to think about, especially for Hoosier fans, what he's done for his—oh, rollout, athlete, on the move. Perfect. Sig is there with a fishing rod? Well, did you see what happened with the fish and rod story? I saw Deion, yeah, explain himself. What do you mean explain himself? He explained the situation. He was coaching. He was motivating. Even as the guy wouldn't be able to play for the Colorado Buffaloes, he's still motivating somebody. Well, maybe one of them prime fish and rods. I do like that he got a little bit of an ad in the entire announcement.

2:11:12Pat McAfee:But, Dano, let's talk a little bit about what's going on around the NFL. Jalen Hurts' situation and story, how do you feel about it? This feels like a big deal. It genuinely feels like a big deal. We had Chase Daniel on earlier. strictly because I learned about the situation through Chase Daniel. He basically – I mean – That was a strike right down. That was timing. That was right down. I mean, unbelievable. That guy's got a sleeve on, not running full weight. What do you think about the Jalen Hurts situation? Is this all a bunch of bullshit coming out of league meetings? Or what do you think, Daniel?

2:11:39No, I mean, I think my first reaction is this is the second time their starting quarterback in, what, six years has had some stuff like this come out about him. We heard it with Carson Wentz. Now we hear a little bit. I'm not saying it's apples to apples, but it's the second time there's some level of disconnect between the organization and or the starting quarterback. You heard Wentz was empowered too much or given too much power. Now you're kind of hearing some of the same stuff with Jalen, changing of plays, disliking or doing too much of the play calling, change at the line or in and out of the huddle.

2:12:18so it's odd that that happens at least two times in a row with their starting quarterbacks that were you know mvp championship caliber obviously jaylen won it um you know so that's that's different i think the second thing is like i don't know the why i think anybody can be honest about jaylen hurts and sit there and say if you just took him out and i would tell you i was probably the most critical person of jaylen hurts when he came out of school and in philly if you just took him and threw him on the field with all this 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL he would not be a top 10 probably top 12 guy he just that's not he wouldn't pop that way but I just think it's ridiculous to take a quarterback that has gone to three two Super Bowls in the span of three years been the best player on the field two times one MVP once and the Super Bowl and be like yeah it's just not really that good that's hard for me to wrap my head around I understand the fascination behind it so you hear stuff like this throughout the year um you hear a lot of rumors and hearsay whatnot but it's it's interesting that it's happened twice to their starting quarterback in in the last five or six years now that's a strike um i agree people way too comfortable

2:13:36Pat McAfee:talking bad about the franchise quarterback over there in philadelphia seems like yeah it's yeah that's true it's just it's it's weird i i it's odd to me that two times in a row this has happened And for a guy that has won as much as he has. Oh, man. Just carving this indoor facility up right now. It's like an Easter hum that you're kind of experiencing right in front of us. They have a sprinkler system in there because he's catching fire. Yeah, well, I think his sweat can help if they need it. He is on fire right now, Dano. And he'll go on to be the leader of the Las Vegas Raiders franchise. That team invested heavily in free agency.

2:14:14Pat McAfee:Allegedly, they've already given him. Oh, we're doing it again, aren't we? Yeah. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we are. That's perfect. It was a delay. It was a delay. That's perfect. It was a delay. Do a backflip now, Nando. That was the last one? Do a backflip now, Nando. Yeah, this guy's the best. Maybe a high five? Yeah. Yeah, backhand. Yeah, I shouldn't be here. Best teammate ever. Yeah, you want to make sure all the boys are there first. That's good leadership, honestly. Oh, actually, the guy just ran deep balls here. Yep, thank you. Hey, so let's stay down here, boys. Let's go ahead and do our thing.

2:14:46Pat McAfee:See you, leadership. Hey, boys, I'm in. Hey, let him in there. Yeah, we are. Well, he's just kind of – yeah, he's in. Look, he just wants to be one of the guys one last time. I like it. That's good work, boys. Good show. Flawless. The future. Dan, I'm bummed we weren't able to have you on during the Ty Simpson one. I know what that would have sounded like.

2:15:06Oh, look at that.

2:15:08Pat McAfee:I don't like that. You guys. I would like to let you know that we are happy you're back on here. and I did think you didn't like me there for a while. I did think you were pretty mad about it all. You thought that I didn't like you? I thought you were pretty mad about it all, yeah. I FaceTimed you, didn't answer. No, I'll tell you. I wasn't in a good space to answer that FaceTime. I know, that's what I'm saying. That's why I sent you the, we love you, Dan. We love you, Dan. I wanted you to know that. I was pissed off. The internet, when it's on you, it's on you. I've had a couple times over the past couple years, It feels heavy, and I don't know why I pay attention to it when I know I'm in it.

2:15:46I would tell you that I'd prefer you not to maybe say that I'm getting paid for my thoughts on national security. No, I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

2:15:55Pat McAfee:I said this is why people are saying it. The internet was saying it. I said this is why people are saying it. Because then what you say, Fernando, what big games has he played in when you got really defensive? Can I clarify that, please? Do I have the opportunity to clarify that? Absolutely. we should just move along but on that note you were talking to me as if we were in like a living room and like we were that's how you were talking you were talking to me as if we were in a living room as opposed to on TV with people watching and like I think because that would be something like we would say if we were trying to debate a point with a friend somewhere like yeah but tell me the thing so then people I didn't know people were going to kill you for that though in real time I did not know that was going to be the one that got you but it certainly did It certainly did.

2:16:37I did not love it. I mean, I was asking the big game thing as a literal question. Okay, what game are we talking about? Because I obviously go into the time with you prepared to talk about Iowa on the road, Penn State on the road. So it was a literal question, not a jackass question type of thing. Oh!

2:16:54Pat McAfee:It was rhetorical. You weren't saying, like, what big games has this guy played? Of course not. All right, we're not going to do what we did. Because that's how it sounded when you watch. That is good clarification. We misheard it. I misheard it then. We all misheard it. We appreciate you. No, but I would never, I can't ever be mad at you like that. I value our friendship too much. Good. We love you too. And then I like that you did this. This was a good play. This was a good play. I did it all. I stole that from D-Butt. D-Butt was the first one who did it. And then I wrote to him like, hang. Had to do what you had to do, brother.

2:17:25You got it off. You killed it. Good fucking job.

2:17:28Pat McAfee:That's a good teammate. That's a good teammate too, D-Butt. That's my quarterback. Give me an idea. Say hey. On water bottle. Yeah. This one's for you. Here you go, Dana. Good job, dude, bud. It was a good 72 hours. He got a lot of text messages and phone calls. Just saying, hey, we love you, man. Just keep fighting in there. A lot of that. I got a text message or a phone call from someone you know. I don't want to say his name, but you know him well. Work. He was like, it's been an interesting 72 hours for you. Hasn't it been? I'm like, it has been, dude. I can't believe Coach JB called you like that.

2:18:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's crazy. Wow. Okay, big pop. What a pop. Mitch is done. Dan, we're happy everybody calls you and loves you. Because I felt obligated to do it. We all felt obligated to do it. But, you know, hey, that's the game. I didn't get a phone call or a text from Tone or Ty or Boston. Well, he said we all felt obligated to do it. I said I love you, Dan. Yeah, and I said I actually don't. I don't have your number either. and if I did I'd lose it alright anyways Dano we love you buddy we appreciate you thank you for coming on and watching Nando do that during his pro day that was a fun time wasn't it Dan is going to cook for Nando tomorrow because of that pro day?

2:18:51Pat McAfee:oh yeah I saw a couple behind the back I know he's going to do a whole thing Dan I remember there was a couple deep ones in there right in the bucket back shoulders those out routes yeah yeah. Why weren't you at the league meetings, Dano? Is it because the internet was cooking you at the time? Is that what happened? No, I was told you're not needed. Oh, man. Tough week. That's bullshit, dude. We didn't know that was the case. I asked to go. We would have brought you. Oh, good. Well, actually, I don't know if we would have at the time with what was happening. I don't know. I got work tomorrow. I got work tomorrow.

2:19:34I got work Monday. He's got a lot of receipts right now. Oh, my God.

2:19:37Pat McAfee:Rent's due everything. Just ready. Used to not be invited to meetings, and now we're on the rooftop. Yeah. Dan Olovsky can take a selfie at next year's league meetings. What? I'm the fudging man. Started from the bottom, now we're here. We're talking about Dan O. We love that. Started from the bottom, now Dan Olovsky. Dan, I want to let you know we have Brett Michaels on the show tomorrow. What? Brett Michaels. Brett Michaels? Brett Michaels? Only one Brett Michaels, brother. That's right. Every rose has its own. That's what I'm talking about. He's on 140, 145 tomorrow, depending on... Well, is there...

2:20:18I'm being respectful here. He's a legend, but is there a tie to him coming on? Is there something going on? Yeah, there is. You didn't hear? I'm interested to hear, too. What? Is he going to be live from the moon? Is he on the mission? No, he's the biggest fucking Steelers fan there is. That's why he's coming out.

2:20:35Pat McAfee:That's not the only reason. We've never had Billy Gardell on. That's a good point. I think we have put a request in for Billy Gardell. A couple times. Multiple times. Wasn't answered. Well, we would like to say we do that for a lot of folks. And even though people turn us down and don't come on numerous times in a row, a lot of them, doesn't mean they hate us. And I guess I found that out yesterday. Yeah, sure. Sure. Happy to know Troy Eggman does not hate us. We would like to let you know, Troy. We appreciate you coming on our show back in the day. We'd love to have you back on again. Classic mix-up.

2:21:04Pat McAfee:I don't know. There's a lot of those. But I would like to say, I'm happy he doesn't hate us. Maybe he does now. We love you, Troy.

2:21:17Pat McAfee:And we cannot tell you why Brett Michaels is coming on. It's actually not allowed to be announced. It is embargoed until tomorrow. Yeah, we got breaking news tomorrow, Dano. How about that? Maybe you'll talk about it on your show when you're back to work. You should have been at the league meeting. I think. We got a chance to meet Shregs, Miss Laura, Shefty was out there, obviously. We got a chance to kind of experience the NFL Live folks for a little bit because we're all kind of in the same world. Not just them. All the media people were there. It was, you know, getting to see kind of the entire operation.

2:21:44Pat McAfee:Your suits that were there, the executives that were probably the ones that sent you the email telling you not to go, they were there. We didn't talk to them much. We saw them, though. Saw them. Had eyes on them. Had eyes on them. Are you guys going down to Augusta next week? So we tried last couple – we talked about this earlier in the show. I know you're not watching because we're finally past this. You didn't like us there for a bit. We know you didn't. I was running errands, dude. We understand. For the last week and a half you've been running errands. More tissues. We understand. Oh, jeez.

2:22:14Pat McAfee:There's no reason for that. Did you hear what he just said? I didn't hear it, miss. Good. What did I say? You didn't say anything. Connor said more tissues, and I don't like that at all. Like, that was very rude of him to say that because we're at a stage now where obviously look how happy this guy is. He doesn't need tissues. maybe tears of joy. I was in it. I'm not going to run from it. I was in it. Dude, I've been in there before. Believe me, I've been in there before. I think Connor's been in there before. Oh, yeah. Now, I ain't crying, Pat, but I live in those fucking streets. You got Glazer's number, shoot Jay.

2:22:44Jay Glazer's what you need. He'll fucking pull you out.

2:22:47Pat McAfee:Jay Glazer walked over to me and gave me a motivational speech at about 10, 30, 11 p.m. at night at that league meeting thing when I was, what, four or five cones deep at that time? Oh, yeah. I was hoisting the cone. You were hoisting the cone. I was lighting the cone, hoisting the cone, smoking the cone, enjoying the time. I was having a blast there. You know, I didn't head to the booze as much as I headed to the sky. Jay Glazer walks over, right into it. Oh, yeah. Hey. Was your dauber down? Did you need motivational? I thought I had pretty good vibes, I thought at the time. Something you said.

2:23:19Pat McAfee:I said something. And he was like, you don't have enemies. And then he was like, I think I do. No. and then right into a five-minute sermon about everything about life. Jay knows. And I was like, hell yeah, Jay. Jay said it was. It was awesome. It was really good. That's awesome. I was getting a little tired, too, wasn't I? I think at the time we were kind of one way or the other there. We ended up being the last couple people there. That was 130-hour time, East Coast time. Yeah. I was in it. Some of these guys didn't make it, though, did they? Didn't make it or chose to leave? I understand you're an adult.

2:23:56Pat McAfee:Dan Orlovsky would have been there and if Dano wasn't we would have said something and then we would have been reminded immediately people often forget that kindness is free let's take a break we agree that was outside a tennis a tennis racket place I was taking my son to practice I'll tell you what sometimes the universe and God drop things in your life when you need it at that moment it felt like you needed a nice reminder it is isn't it and you send it. I think what bothers me is I think the competitiveness of the job and wanting to be right and then saying something and people think there's an alternative.

2:24:42I think that's the thing that bothered me the most.

2:24:45Pat McAfee:We appreciate your competition, your competitive fire at what you do, how much you want to be respected as a opinion giver. and we like that you will throw yourself right into a fire anytime you want to. I appreciate that. Don't we? Absolutely. Not a lot of people have that trait. So you need to find a sign that says, hey, if not me, then who? And it seems like you do. So we appreciate you. I didn't think it was that big of a thought. Like, I really didn't. Still not. Hey, Ty Simpson being good in the NFL could all be possible still. You know? This could all be very possible. Yeah. What big game?

2:25:21Pat McAfee:You know, that's the whole... Because then it sounds like you're just... Oh, he's really... How about this? I thought that was an easy thing to like, oh, he doesn't mean that. He probably means which one. We're happy to hear that now. Yeah. Aren't we? Yeah. Aren't we? Yes, absolutely. Certainly. No doubt. And just like we said to you, well, I said to you, I assumed he butted, but these guys did not. We love you, Dana. Oh, yeah. Can't wait for the rest of the draft season with you. Have you moved to any other positions other than quarterback? We got any other big takes, big swings on any other positions?

2:25:58Pat McAfee:Fishing for something. No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. No, I still feel the same way about the quarterback position. I still feel the same way about Jeremiah Love. I still feel the same way about the wide receivers. So, no. Status quo. That's why we love you. Ladies and gentlemen, he's back on TV tomorrow. Yes. Let's watch. Do you know what tomorrow is? Do you know what today is and do you know what tomorrow is? Today's April Fool's and we're done. If you were a great friend, if you love me the way you say you do, you'd know. Maybe you'd know. It's Holy Week, obviously. We know that.

2:26:35Pat McAfee:Kelly, we understand that. Good Friday, so that doesn't come into play. I think Passover was last night for people, maybe last night or tonight or tomorrow? Passover? April is also Autism Acceptance Month, obviously, which we like to push and advocate for, especially with our friend Orlovsky. Good job. Tomorrow's World Autism Awareness Day. Are we getting, is he back designing the set tomorrow? That dude has been, he's got, he'll be there and it'll be all over the place again, man. I can't wait to watch that. He just sounds differently this year than he did last year because the old P word is in play for him.

2:27:15so what's the what's the p word he's got a little puberty going on so he doesn't sound like the little little kid anymore he's got he sounds a little deeper voiced really i like is he gonna

2:27:27Pat McAfee:sun you maybe tomorrow tell you to sit your ass down shut up dad as he goes through is there any of that happening tomorrow we'll be excited no he's too good he's too nice of a kid we all got pretty emotional watching you experience that because you were experiencing his true happiness happening in a moment that you don't get to provide as often, right? I think is how you viewed it. I don't want to speak out of the pocket for you. That's awesome. I'm happy for you. All right. Yeah, he's back in the saddle tomorrow. Oh, like Luke Combs' new album. You listen to that? Great. I haven't heard the whole thing, no, but I've heard some of it.

2:27:58It's awesome. Yeah, Luke's back. It's Luke Combs.

2:28:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, I was hoping that Luke would maybe drop a long neck. I was going to be here. I never broke my heart. And that Saturday night song. I think he could have got it in there. He could have paid tribute to himself creating one of the most awesome things of all time in there. He did not. He just made another banger. It's great to see you back, Luke, the way I am. Available now. Hell yeah. In a way you are, something that we love, Dano. And that's just the way we are. Ladies and gentlemen, ESPN NFL expert, guru, super genius, Dan Rolofsky! Dano! It's good to see you, Dano. Always a pleasure. He was a little bummed out at the beginning.

2:28:41Pat McAfee:I think he was trying to play a little bit of a character. Okay. What kind of character would you call it? Bumbat. B-O-B-A-D-A-N-O. Bumbat. Bumbat. We call it something else. Yeah, that's what I was doing. If we were in the locker room. Bitch-ass Dan-O. What? No. You don't deserve that. I thought that's what he was looking to. Badass Dan-O is what he's talking about. Is that what you're saying? Jeez, Louie. Let's get to a break until tomorrow. That's what you're saying. Let's get to a break until tomorrow. How are the Pittsburgh Pirates doing? Paul Skeen? We are in a close one. It's 4-3 heading to the bottom of seven.

2:29:18Paul let up three runs? No, no, no. He got taken out, and then Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run jack. He's a good player. All right. Skeen over responsible for those runs or no? No, he did not start the inning. Okay. So he's only responsible for one. Yeah, just the one that he gave up earlier, so his ERA probably dropped even more. Back to nine. Maybe. 9-5-3. 9-5-3. What's the update of the Marlins game? Eight-nosses. Marlins are a wagon. That's a good ball club. Hey, shout-out to you boys for playing that video. Let's play ball.

2:29:50Pat McAfee:It's game day. If you wouldn't have said it right there, it's over. Some hockey news real quick. Can we talk hockey real quick? Yeah. Sidney Crosby about doing something nobody's ever done. He's been great forever, going to continue to be great forever. He becomes potentially the first guy to ever have a point-per-game NHL season over 21 seasons. Unbelievable how great he's been. There's been some injuries, obviously. That's why they say point-per-game. He maybe hasn't played an entire season a couple different times. But any time he has played, he has contributed. This guy is the picture of perennial consistency at greatness and loves Pittsburgh.

2:30:30Pat McAfee:There's been multiple times where he's potentially going to leave and he's just said, nah, I'm not doing that. I'm going to ride the wave here. We got new front office, new ownership, new head coach, new team, same legends. Him, Gino, and Chris Letang still together, still around. And they're making a run in it this year, and he's about to accomplish something that nobody's ever done again, which is kind of Sidney Crosby hockey. Yeah, those three have been together forever, and they are hot right now. The East playoffs race has been insane, but the Pens have kind of, I don't want to say secured their position, but the chances of them making the playoffs over the last two games have jumped immensely.

2:31:04They've dominated the last two games last night against the Red Wings, who have crumbled the last three seasons, been the worst hockey team. Last four seasons. Oh, sorry, my bad. Four seasons. Their march has just been absolutely horrendous. But the Pens are on fire. The East race is insane. The West is not as insane, but the East is, and it's going to be an incredible NHL playoff.

2:31:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, the NHL playoffs are always special. How's Washington doing? Are we going to watch him make a run at it? Because Ovi is about to accomplish something that nobody else has accomplished either. Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, both the old guard of carrying the NHL over the last two decades. Nick, what is Ovi about to accomplish? He just hit his 20th season with 30-plus goals. Jesus. We talked at length about how he broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time career goal record. Now he's just adding to that, and he's just the epitome. He is goal-scoring defined. Like, he may not be able to do all the things he used to do, but to still be able to put the puck in the net at 40 years old 30-plus times a season is unbelievable, and it just seems like he's never going to slow down.

2:32:09Pat McAfee:I love that Ovi's still doing it, and they've been protecting him a little bit here at his older age. Nick, what was the stat you told me? Something about last night was his first faceoff that he was on the ice for in the defensive zone as opposed to in the offensive zone. Yeah, it wasn't last night. It was one game ago. It was the first time he started a shift in his own defensive end. That's insane. So they had been deploying him in the offensive end pretty much 100 % of the time in his usage. Now that drops to about 99.9%. They're saying, hey, listen, if the puck's near the other team's goal, let's get his ass out there.

2:32:40Pat McAfee:If it's near ours, let's not be wasting any skate time for Ovi. He is special with the stick. He's special with the puck. Those two have done special things for the NHL. Now it's the next generation's turn. The next generation was the Florida Panthers, but. It's all right. It's all right. Back to back. Forever will be. Yep. Good times. Who's the team that's going to win it all this year, then? The Avs are the favorite. Well, the hottest team right now is the Boston Bruins. I thought the Pens just did some historic thing about beating people's asses. No, no. They beat the poopy Red Wings and the Islanders.

2:33:12The Bruins beat the one seed in the East. Let me check. Yeah, the one seed in the West. And then what did they do? They came back down 3-0 in Columbus, took over Ohio. And then does it stop there? It has to stop there, right? No. They actually won. Again, last night against the Dallas Stars with our backup Corpus Allo in there.

2:33:33Pat McAfee:Pittsburgh Penguins do have better odds than the Boston Bruins to win it all this year. What do the sportsbooks know, though? What do the sportsbooks know? In hockey, nothing. Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning. Maybe Florida remains the hockey state of this entire thing if they're able to get back to the top. They were phenomenal just about four or five years ago. Carolina Hurricanes. The Caniacs obviously always running wild down there. It's a hard place to play. The Dallas Stars. Congratulations, Texas Hockey. Gumpy. doing your thing. Edmonton Oilers, is McJesus still having a hell of a season?

2:34:03Pat McAfee:Is Edmonton ever going to get the job done? That's always the question. I guess, huh, Gumpy? Is that what people are saying? Yeah, Dreisaitl's banged up, too. They're hoping he's back for the playoffs, but we'll see what happens there. Congrats on your Texas hockey team being at the top of the shaft here or whatever, being close to raising the cone. Yeah, we're always in the mixer. It's going to be tough. We've got to go through the wild and the avalanche to even get to the Western Conference final, but the boys are built for it. We're a little more tougher. However, Glutzen's boys are a little bit different than DeBoer's boys.

2:34:29Pat McAfee:It's fascinating. They won't put hoist the cone for hockey, right? Because we all know it's a cup. Yeah. Maybe. You never know. You never know with fanatics football. There's only one team hoist the cone. Vegas Golden Knights, how you doing? Not too shabby. Might win it all this year, Ty. Maybe it's time to go over and get in a change room, give a little bit of a motivational speech, ride to Zamboni, maybe hit the thing. Yeah, you might be right. I'm very interested to see how Coach Torts has been, you know, because obviously Butch Cassidy, the Sundance kid, was just let go, you know, a couple years removed after winning the Cup.

2:34:57So I'd be very curious if Torts has motherfucked those guys up and down the change room yet. I'm sure that's coming. So we're almost here, boys. You know, it's almost time for me to really lock in on the Golden Knights. Like I said, you know, those 11 p.m. midnight puck drops on the West Coast are a little tough to, you know, kind of. So you're checking a lot of box scores, but I'm very excited, you know, for the playoffs.

2:35:16Pat McAfee:The Penguins being back in the NHL playoffs is good news for our show because we'll certainly get a chance to chat about it a little bit more. and the NHL playoffs, much like the NBA playoffs, a must-watch in what the NHL does whenever it comes to crunch time, so fast, so beautiful, so physical, so fantastic. And the fact that the Penguins are probably going to win it all again, that's a beautiful thing. Yeah, it is. I like that a lot. Pulling for everybody to do good, though, honestly. This show, if everybody's teams are doing good, it feels like we pay attention to a little bit more. Come on, boys.

2:35:45It's your turn. Here we go, boys. Thank you, Batsu. You carried the torch proudly. Yeah, you did for a couple years.

2:35:53Pat McAfee:I feel like you did represent NHL well on the program. It's a three-year run. Back-to-back Stanley Cup champion, three years in the Stanley Cup finals. But I think hockey kind of holds its own if it needs to. Yeah. Oh, yeah. When we got goalies fighting each other. Yeah. Incredible. At the end of March. I love everything about that. Conman, they got after it last night a little bit, huh? They dropped a blocker, dropped a stick, dropped a mask, and said, let's go ahead and have one here, fella. Oh, yeah, Igor Shosturkin and Jacob Markstrom, maybe Haka Markstrom, depending on where you are. Jeez, Luis.

2:36:24It was a full-blown throwdown, yeah. This is New Jersey Devils versus the New York Rangers. Bit of a rivalry. Let's make it even more intense. Let's get these goalies fighting. I believe Igor, Rangers goalie, took a couple shots. Markstrom skates all the way down the ice. He says, no, no, lad. You take those mitts off right now, Igor, and let's throw down. And they did.

2:36:43Pat McAfee:I'll tell you, Shosturkin made him regret skating all the way down there. It feels like he did the winning. His first fight, by the way. Who, both of them? Igor, yeah. Shesterkin's first fight? First, yeah. Yeah, so he's been waiting for this. He's been practicing in the mirror. Oh, God. The amount of grab, bang, bang, and big haymakers. Now, hockey players know this. Obviously, you can get God out there very bad. There's fists flying at faces. So you can get buttoned. You can get bled. There can be color. I mean, that can happen. But also, he who looks like he's thrown the most punches, is normally the one that is assumed as the winner.

2:37:17Pat McAfee:It's kind of like the rock 'em sock 'em robots that it used to be. If you just kind of went in there just throwing, I don't think you would ever really lose, but people would get tired from pushing a button. So then as soon as they put it down, bang, you counter and hit that. Shestarkin's been waiting for this. He knows the deal. I'm throwing at all times. This one, too, is a big one. The left hand on the sweater, just jab to the jaw a little bit, and then bang. Those who have long arms, certainly an advantage. Oh, gosh. Certainly advantage because they can just kind of schoolboy you over here.

2:37:45Pat McAfee:Just kind of keep you out here. He's huge. Yeah, goalies most gigantic. But the goalies very rarely battle. I'm happy to hear they're already throwing it down. Shout out, get the glove out of here. Get the blocker out of here. Yeah, you can tell Igor's been watching Rempe tape. You know, last year, I believe, or the year before, we watched Rempe throw down time after time after time, and Igor took notes. You're talking about the Rempire State Building? Bingo. Does he still play hockey? I don't know. That's a great question. Okay, you're the Rangers fan. Oh, dude, I'm fired up watching Sturkin fucking throw that.

2:38:17Pat McAfee:I saw a lower third that said the Knicks are dead. What's going on? Are you guys okay? Three straight losses, so the morning show's got to, you know, got to hit the Cowboys notes, do the Knicks are dead angle. I think they're going to be okay. You know, tough West Coast trip. It's coming home, gentlemen. So where? You know where. There's a reason this thing hasn't left. We'll see. Because it's coming home. Maybe they should trade for Cooper Flag. That would help. I just said his last name like that. Two G's. Flag. Why don't you say his name fast? Ten times. I just called him Coop. What's that?

2:38:58Pat McAfee:Coop. Coop. No, no, but. Main event. Boom. You got a nickname like that. And you can also abbreviate that. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. For a main event? Yeah. I don't think you can. I think you can. I don't know if anybody will know who you're talking about. What up, me? I think you can. Go me. Go me. Go me. He will come home. Hey, and there is a me in team, too, isn't there? Yeah, there is. Yeah. And meet Dallas.

2:39:29Pat McAfee:That was a fucking full-on failure like everybody said it was. Oh, yeah. Big time. Even us non-NBA people? Anthony Davis isn't even there anymore. And Luka's the best version of himself. They got rid of Luka. I mean, I guess they ended up getting the number one pick out of it. But that was up. Yeah, exactly. But, yeah, they basically just gave up Luka for nothing. Was it? Shom's got$100 million. What's that? Was it? Just a – Was it? We're going back to the moon today. It's goddamn right we are. That's the big word there. You know the Pelicans traded Anthony Davis to the Lakers too once, right?

2:40:03Do you remember who they got in the draft? He said no one? Zion Williamson with the first overall pick. It's weird how that works.

2:40:11Pat McAfee:Anthony Davis is worth a big-time prized possession. No doubt. That's why Washington did what Washington did. That's right. No doubt. Yeah, they traded like a fourth pick. Are the Lakers okay in this? I tell you, that Nico guy, Michael Don is the worst. The Lakers are awesome. Yeah, there was that video or picture servicing of him, you know, just waiting to board with the C group at some airport. Cuban retweeted it. Yeah, this guy was just flying private a couple weeks ago, and now look at him. He's fucking boarding at C29. That's penthouse to outhouse there. Yeah. Think about how bought in everybody had to be in that building that he had.

2:40:42Hey, it's not us.

2:40:44Pat McAfee:It's this fatso. We got to get him out of here. The guy that scores all the points for us? Yeah. Yeah. The guy that just took us to the finals? He's fat, isn't he? His transformation has been incredible since he was there. And I assume that would really rub you the wrong way if you're him. It's like, yeah, that's what I said. he needs to lose 40 fucking pounds and then he'll be unbelievable yeah but he and he did just just not with them and he is yeah he's phenomenal in la what a perfect place for him he's gonna be those 77s are gonna go over if they win which i know people don't like hey plus 3 000 and now he's dunking see i take that patch mahomes dunk we talked about that before did you see that high school he had terrible shorts on i don't know what era that was how old is he 30 yeah yeah 30 28 29 that was a bad era of clothes i think the those shorts look terrible on that basketball court no because there used to be like the baggy shorts i like those after the fab five era those were fun but he had like a tighter longer short there that i don't really know what it was almost like a baseball like a capri it's what it looked like in the high school highlight of him but all i know was the first one I saw was him fucking going up on something.

2:41:59Pat McAfee:Mahomes? I wonder if he saw the clip from the other day whenever we remind him that everybody thinks he's ass. Probably. I saw a bunch of Chiefs fans going, yes, yes, yes, yes. Did they win it all? Nope. This upcoming season? Yeah. I mean, shit. I got a shot. I like that. You say no. No. I think they got a shot. I think if Rasheed Rice plays, yes. That's. Yeah. They also just traded Trent McDuffie. So if they draft the number one corner, you know, that as well, then definitely. Got a Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth Walker. Got a Colt solo on this fucking thing. We paid everybody. Yeah, but all the guys you paid have torn Achilleses.

2:42:42Pat McAfee:One guy had one. Oh, yeah. You only paid two people. Look at us together on there. Danny Dimes' old home and his new home. That's crazy. That's disgusting. Yeah, but at least your team got rid of everybody. Let's get out of here. I don't like that. I don't like that. We're right next to the Giants like that. Giants are the trendy pick this year. I like the G-men. I know, but they're literally rebuilding again. Whole new culture. So are you guys? No. We are really deep in this one. We're a decade into this thing. We haven't won the AFC South in 11 years. Yeah. And we're still doing it. But how long is Stevie Eiserman?

2:43:28Pat McAfee:We already covered hockey. Okay, we're past hockey at this point. TJ Lang told me specifically, do not call him today. He's on vacation. He does not want to do anything. You guys are really loud with what Stevie Y was about to do. The Y is back. He's like us. He's like us at the Colts. Everyone's sick of the Eiser plan at this point. It's a bummer. Oh, my God. Legend. He's a Red Wings legend. No, I love Stevie Iserman. We're sick of the Iser plan. Two different things. The Buffalo Sabres currently have the longest drought to make the playoffs in the NHL. The Red Wings are number two behind them in like 11 years.

2:44:06I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, the Sabres will make the playoffs this year, which will put us at the longest drought to not make the playoffs. That can't happen. Do you know how Buffalo turned around? How? This season they fired their GM and went on an unbelievable run to make it. Well, maybe Stevie Y is just like an ambassador of Hockey Town. It's like Hockey Town is really up for grabs. The only cane they're talking about in Detroit is the one Patrick's using to get to the ice. No, don't. Listen, Dylan Larkin won the United States of America a gold medal.

2:44:39Pat McAfee:You guys should all be thanking him. But because of that, he got hurt, and now we stink. Was he the one? Yeah, I am proud of Larkin. I am thankful for that. For sure. He represented the United States of America very well. but I remember when COVID happened and you guys weren't even invited to the game. Yeah. Do you remember that? Yeah, and you guys were... There's only like two teams that weren't invited. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That is real. We can't house the entire league. Two of you aren't going to be able to make it. And it was the Red Wings and maybe Phoenix. Yeah, Coyotes. Yeah, they are now Utah, Miami.

2:45:13Pat McAfee:So I'm bummed out about that for you, Fox, because I do think your city loves hockey. Yeah, we do. I mean, even when the Red Wings are bad, people still show up to those games. That'll tell you everything. But on the flip side, we were just talking ball. The Pistons are still the one seed in the Eastern Conference. Just need Cade Cunningham back. Something just happened, though. TJ listed it all out. He said it's been a bad fucking couple days. Oh, yeah, you guys aren't giving a guy the money? Yeah, he was holding the Lions water on that one, though. Was he? Yeah. It's their policy. They're an old lineman.

2:45:40Pat McAfee:Tigers are up 5-0 in the eighth. Oh, yeah, we lost last night. Yeah, pretty big collapse. Incredible. Yeah, I mean, there's 162 games. It's not a big deal. The Pistons being the one seed. You just know that has devastation written all over it. Cade with his lung. No, we like the head coach. Is Cade going to be back for the playoffs? They're saying he might be, but I haven't gotten any updates at all. Did you get a chance to chat with MCDC up there at the league meetings? I did. That was the first time I've met MCDC in person. It was awesome. It was everything I wanted it to be. And he's the man.

2:46:11And he basically just said, we'll be okay. Everything's going to be all right. And everything happens for a reason. Man. We're going to be back.

2:46:18Pat McAfee:Does he still man it? We haven't talked to him in a while. Oh, yeah. It basically was everything you would expect in a combo with MCDC. A lot of mans. I love that. Yeah. Did he slug you really hard on, like, the arm at any point? No, he didn't slug me, but we dapped up, and it was just like I'm dapping up an absolute fucking monster. Yeah, you were. Yeah. Yeah, that's MCDC football. Yeah, it is. I'll tell you what. Some of those coaches weren't getting physical at that little reception thing. There was some physicality. There was some physicality. That makes sense. The booze was flowing. A lot of alphas.

2:46:46a lot of testosterone, one stents, above all.

2:46:48Pat McAfee:I will say I had to do the sprawl technique to make sure I wasn't lifted into the sky in front of peers. People. Yeah, in front of peers, yeah. So Jack and Diet here, okay? Jack and Diet here, very nice. I believe Zeta was the one that bought the first round or got the first round from everybody up there. Jack and Diet here, having a conversation. All of a sudden, I feel massive mitts on both of my hips. Okay, and I know next move is, well, somebody's trying to lift me up right now. So I squat ass down. Okay, go hand on this one here, even though somebody's getting me with this hand here, sprawl.

2:47:29Pat McAfee:And then there's a punch almost to... A re-grab. Yeah, you think it's going like that? I don't think so. Punch. Boom. Butt at... Escape. Escape. Escape. Spill of jacket diet. Got to go. Still don't know who this is. Turn around. Jesus Christ. Obviously. Big laugh. Okay. I was like, oh, we're having a good time here, aren't we? Yeah, we are. So then that person kind of leaves, goes over to the bar. It was good interaction, good time, cheers. We're having fun. Then I'm standing there. Remember somebody said they were Big Show 2.0? Yeah. Big Show 2.0. Back. Same exact situation. Back. Having a conversation this way.

2:48:09Pat McAfee:Boom. I'm trucked. Turn around. Big Show 2.0, baby. Holy shit. One line. What he was not? Guy is a monster. Monster. An absolute monster. And I turn around. I go, oh, yeah, you are. Handshake. He said, I'm getting out of here. He left. That was my only interaction. I don't know if I'm getting. Am I the only one to get my ass beat this fucking place? There was physicality. There was physicality. I looked around there. There was some other. Physicality. I saw some people in the sky. There was somebody that was lifted up like a baby Bjorn. You know, with their legs out like this. Oh, sure. Over here to the right.

2:48:41Pat McAfee:One of those, I guess. Yeah, the floor picked up MC. MCDC. Let's get to a break. We'll be back tomorrow. The show's the worst. We're thankful we get to do it. Thank you all so much. When's the launch? Hmm? Lunch? Launch. To the moon. That's good. I believe 649. We're damn near already there, I'd guess. I'm trying to get there, if you know what I'm saying. They're just circling the moon also, allegedly. They're not actually letting it out. Well, well, well. No, no, no. We talked about it. They're perfecting the slingshot technique, so when we go back, it's no fucking horseplay. The crew is scheduled to lift off as early as 624 from the Kennedy Space Center down there in Florida.

2:49:20Pat McAfee:Is it a NASA-SpaceX combo? Is that what this is? I don't know. I assume. Hopefully just NASA. Thought it was NASA, yeah. Yeah, but didn't NASA take SpaceX's? Kinda. And that they're renting them? Mm-hmm. Might be using the jet. All I know is SpaceX isn't American. A lot of bureaucratic red tape involved. Call me when we fucking land on the moon. Hopefully just NASA. We ain't today. What did you say about SpaceX? I know it's not American, so. What is it? I thought it was. Elon's South African, I believe. It's made in America. The astronauts right there. I still don't care about that. That I care about.

2:49:54Pat McAfee:Tony. We're going to space, dude. We're going to men. These colors don't run. Apparently, they do for all of you. The colors of the MLB logo? Red, white, and blue, brother. Yeah, they don't run over here. It is a SpaceX collaboration, just like I fucking said it was. I thought it was. Great. He's making them for, like, much cheaper, and they're much better. Yeah, be safe, gentlemen. Don't listen to Tony. Only for the U.S. or is he selling it to all the nations? Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together. I'd assume he's only doing ours and allies.

2:50:25I'll change my tune then.

2:50:27Pat McAfee:But I did see somebody on 60 Minutes who's making these massive drone weapons things. Mm-hmm. And I don't think it's only coming to America. I don't think it is. No. A lot of those are. That kind of scares me a little bit. It was right after a game was on. A game was on, and then all of a sudden this interview started, and I'm like, I maybe woke up from a nap or something. Where's he sending those things? Everybody that hates your guts is going to get one of these. I'm making it right over here in whatever state. I'm like, can we stop doing that? Let's go to space. Let's go to space, baby. Let's go shake their hands.

2:51:03Pat McAfee:Let's go shake their hands. From what we're hearing, we're doing maybe a little more than shaking hands. Shaking more than hands. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're going to sit together. Team on me. Team on three. D-Buck, great work this week. Good luck to the team. Good luck, Busty. Both of them. All of them. This team, too. Which counts? All you. You. You. And you. And you. And also you. Even you. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team! Goodbye! Hey, sweetie. Your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car. I'm going to give it a try.

2:51:51Wish me luck. Me again. I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer. Unbelievable. Okay. I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway. I haven't even left my chair. It's done. The car is gone. I'm holding a check. Anyway, Carvana. Give it a whirl. Love ya. So good, you'll want to leave a voice. voicemail about it. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.

2:52:40under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.