PMS 2.0 1543 - Mark Schlabach, Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Rick Tocchet, Danny Green, Pete Thamel, & AJ Hawk

21:15Pat McAfee:And then I don't have to watch the people that I don't know playing in between. I can watch like a 20-minute thing with the good, good. I can watch all those. I'd rather watch those than having to watch live. The product itself was bad. And if you have a bad product, it's not going to work, let alone all the other stuff. The broadcast television product was no good. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has a lot more information on it and uh i'm excited to actually hear his thoughts on it from the very beginning till now yeah this guy's become our golf authority ladies and gentlemen from espn go dogs mark slava okay so i gave my views of live from the very beginning i loved that there was a massive amount of money going to athletes a lot of people are like where the money's coming from is not good it's like well that money's in a lot of things i think we're much more educated on that now versus whenever this whole thing started but it did get very loud in that entire department i think they had a chance to maybe make things better feel like they executed poorly and inevitably for the golf purists they also kept the best golfers away from each other is there anything that i missed in this entire thing and that i should be thinking about whenever i look back on the live experiment that was first of all let me commend you on the transition from record ratings to a league with no ratings.

22:37Thank you.

22:38Pat McAfee:Cheers to you, schlopball. Thank you, bro. Go Dawgs. No, I spent much of my morning walk pondering how to refer to it because you got upset when I called it the Saudi league, and obviously I can't call it that anymore. So now I think we'll just call it the barely living tour. Okay. Okay. All right. No, I mean, you hit it. Look, a bunch of rich guys got richer. Their agents got richer. they disrupted the game I think their legacy will be that they made the PGA Tour evolve to bigger purses you know signature events with more elite fields but you know they tried somebody said this morning they tried to reinvent a 200 year old sport with a checkbook and you know the way they went about it I think Greg Norman was the wrong guy I think he was too arrogant in how he did it the fact that a bunch of its players sued the PGA Tour, didn't help.

23:34And the fact, you know, frankly, I think those guys are the guys that are still there starting to figure out you can't prepare for the Masters in the U.S. Open by playing in a city park in New Orleans and a municipal course in Bowlingbroke, Illinois.

23:48Pat McAfee:Well, the New Orleans one actually got canceled. So please have a little bit more respect for that one. And we love the city of New Orleans. And Governor Jeff Landry does great work to welcome it into PGA, who had a fantastic weekend last weekend. We regret to inform you that the Live one will not exist. Okay, so you say they tried to change a 200-year-old game with a checkbook. The devastation to splitting the players away from each other, to your point about not playing, I think was on display when, what, the Champions Tour had a better performance than Live did at Augusta, right? And we very rarely saw any of the Live guys go.

24:24Pat McAfee:So it was clear that they got paid a massive amount of money and it's like you're not working as hard or you don't have to be as good. So it affected some of the best in the world's game. Now, we talked to Brian Rollap, new PGA CEO, formerly of the NFL, and we said, hey, what's the transition process back into the PGA? And this is what he had to say, Mark. We talked about some of the rumors with the other tours and now with big game Brooks coming back to PGA Tour. We saw some of the stipulations, I guess, with his deal. Is there like a defined path for players to come back to the PGA Tour And is it kind of, I guess, situations are situational with a player-by-player situation?

25:02How is it? Yeah, I think we're thinking about it. Listen, we're reading all the same headlines you're reading. We don't know what's going on over there. We don't know. We know those guys are under contract. We'll respect that. Brooks came back onto the tour because he made a phone call and said, look, I'm out of my contract. I'm ready to come back. So we're thinking about it. we'll react when we have an opportunity to react but right now we're focused on making the PGA Tour better but listen, I've said it publicly and I'll say it again I'm interested in whatever makes the PGA Tour better that's what my job is, that's what I'm interested in doing and that has no limit, so that's how I'll focus on it

25:43Pat McAfee:Okay Mark, so obviously situations are situational and he's thinking about thinking about it and Brooks calls and he says you're good Patrick Reed allegedly a year I remember there was some real heat though So, like, potential lifetime ban. Rollap was not there at the time. Obviously, that was the person that was before him that he is now filling in the role of. How do you see it kind of all unraveling? Will it be situations or situational? Like, hey, Rombo, yeah, we'd certainly love to have you come back because you're so good at golf. Like, how do you kind of view it, Mark? Yeah, I think the PGA Tour obviously has all the leverage right now.

26:15I think there's still some hard feelings on that side. I had people in the last 24 hours tell me, screw those guys I don't care who they are I think Brian Rolap coming from the NFL is all about the bottom line If Bryson DeChambeau and John Rahm can make his product better For television contracts and those sort of things He'll figure out a way to get it done But I think it's going to hurt, I think it's going to sting I think there are some guys who won't want to come back to the PGA Tour I think there are some guys like Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. Some of the older guys will just go back to the DP World Tour.

26:53Some of their younger players who never played on the PGA Tour are going to have to go to the Corn Fairy Tour to try to get a PGA card. But there's going to be some guys walking back with their tails between their legs because, I mean, this is the equivalent of Lane Kiffin showing up in Oxford, Mississippi, saying, I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please take me back. It's like the 19th Eagles reunion, Pat. When hell freezes over, we'll come back. It's pretty damn cold when you don't have the Saudis' money.

27:23Pat McAfee:Thank you, Mark. Good line. Thank you for all of it. The football metaphor, you know, for the doofuses like us that can maybe feel what is happening over there. And then also, you know, it's cold world out there, you know, and just one last, hey, remember what you did from Schlock. I had a four-mile walk after I got your text, so I thought about some things. This is the best thing about a four-mile walk, Pat. It's only six widespread panic songs. Oh, that's not bad. Is that every morning? Do you do that? Every morning, every morning. So you're listening to widespread panic going, the Saudis ruined golf.

28:03Pat McAfee:Saudis ruined golf. It's like Lincoln. What's the funnel? Barrel over the waterfall? Yeah, that's good. All right. Can we ask some questions about golf that's happening now as opposed to just a remark? I do got to tell you, I got to play the patch in Augusta. I was glad to hear you made it to Augusta National. But I played the patch, the new Muni that Tiger redesigned. And I played with this kid from Ireland. And it was his first trip to the Masters. And I said, what was the highlight? He said, I saw Pat McAfee on the 14th hole or something. I was like, oh, my God, even over there? I was like, this is insane.

28:36But I did learn something about the Irish. This kid had never played golf before. Ten yards, hits it again. Ten yards, hits it again. Goes on and on for like three hours. The Irish never pick up. It was miserable. But the guy in his eye was saying you. But I did get to play the big course last year. I finally won. I was 0 for 9 in the media lottery. And I got to win. Tell me about the media lottery.

29:00Pat McAfee:Tell me about the media lottery. Media lottery. You enter a lottery, you get to play it once. Once you win, you can't play again for seven years. So I finally won last year. They picked like 18, 15, 18 people to play Augusta National. I'm the only dude that ever rolled down Magnolia Lane with a Weber grill in the back of his truck playing widespread panics. Ain't life grand. Getting ready to play Augusta National. I know you did. It was amazing. And life was grand. But I played terrible. I'm not going to tell you my score. No. But we had a caddy in our group who was Peyton Manning's favorite caddy, your guy.

29:33And he said the last time he had been out there, he hit it in the ball, hit it in the Rays Creek three times on number 12. And he said finally the caddy turned around and said, damn, man, it ain't the freaking Mississippi. Hit it on the damn green.

29:45Pat McAfee:I think I've golfed with that guy actually in that particular golf course before. He's good at reading greens, that guy. Greens, yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. That guy's great at reading greens. I thought you were going to say that they told you that although it's only seven years that you can't win again with the lottery, you got a lifetime ban for the fucking grill in the whole thing but no instead they said that's schlaba football that was a cover they said that's schlaba football that's smart okay let's talk a little bit more about golf huge news especially in this thunderdome go ahead connor yeah schlaba the goat is back uh michael block aka blocky aka the guy that probably will be the number one golfer in the world if he could drive it 20 yards further uh will be playing in the pga championship What do we think?

30:28Does he have a chance here to take home a major title? It feels like now that he has one under his belt that this could be the year that Blocky gets it done. This is him. Look at that pot here, schlop off. Obviously, one of the goats of the greens. He damn near never misses. I don't know if we have it, but he actually had a message to some people that maybe don't believe in him. I don't know if Ty even qualifies that anymore. How did you react in your career? Ah. I mean, the support's insane. Like, ridiculous. I mean, I can't thank everyone else out there enough for the support and for all you haters and whatever.

31:05You haters.

31:07Pat McAfee:He's talking to you, Ty. He's talking to you, Ty. Goat shit. He's talking to you, Ty. Goat shit. You prick. But anyways, is Blocky going to win this thing? Yeah. And how much more Blocky? I like Blocky. I met Blocky. Blocky was a good man to me. Good dog. Ty hates that he went on a podcast and said, if I can't like Roar, I'd be the best golfer in the world or whatever. He was just getting gassed up. He was just having a time. He was bad.

31:30Mark Schlabach:You know, I'm very interested to hear Mark's take on Blocky. Very interesting. Yeah, he flew a little close to the sun that first time. He got a little too arrogant, too little big for his britches. But, look, it was great. You know, I think Koepka won up there in Rochester when he played and he had the hole-in-one. but yeah it doesn't make pga tour players happy when a when a pro shows up and and kind of steals the spotlight but uh good for him he's got one i was there last i was at abandoned dunes last week

32:02Pat McAfee:and i was about 30 shots worse than him i'll tell you that okay so you you think he's got a chance to see him a little bit he's playing good right now you're thinking he's playing pretty good yeah he's playing well uh he won't contend he'd be lucky to make the cut you don't know that All right. You don't know my haters. Yeah, yeah. He's talking to you, Mark. You don't know that. And by the way, Ty knew what you were going to say. Ty knew it. He was so excited. I want to let you know, Mark, you, within the first 15 seconds of you talking on this show, won over the entire Thunderdome. I forget the exact conversation it was, but you murdered 15 people within the first, like, 20 seconds.

32:38Pat McAfee:And everybody in the Thunderdome's like, yes. Probably fastest ever. It's fastest, yes, we've ever got. So you are in high regard, sir. I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm just not a subtle guy, man. Get to the point. Yeah, but the way you get to the point is also part of it. So I know you got that accent there. Go Dawgs. Yeah, very Go Dawgs at all times, it feels like. So life is good. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mark, I was looking at the Cadillac Championship this weekend. It's an elevated event, and I was looking at the odds. Rory's not there. Feels like Rory has not played much golf this year. I think it's five times maybe in three or four months.

33:17I was, I'm confused. I thought they had to play elevated events or is Rory going to pick up his schedule through the summer? I just didn't know how that worked. Cause I saw there was a lot of talk about it online, how they have, people haven't seen Rory a ton besides the players and masters this year. Yeah. I mean, he was part of that group that came up with the signature events to get all the good guys in the fields more often. And, you know, and then he ended up skipping the one after he blew the late lead at Augusta national and got fined for it, but they've kind of done away with it. You know, I don't know.

33:45It's, I think it's the new, rory maybe um we saw it a little bit last year after he won his first green jacket he took some time off probably celebrated a little too much he'll tell you but um you know didn't win again but he's playing well yeah he's been playing a little bit more around the world maybe if live stays to together pat he'll he'll find a home over there well that's the thing we have yet to

34:07Pat McAfee:reference is the global impact that they had on golf look i don't i don't think it's dead yet because I think there are enough rich guys, really rich guys, that have a lot of money who love golf. But it's not going to be anything like its current form. But I think if they love golf, they won't want to do that, right? Isn't that kind of the love golf people's thing? They love money more than golf. If they can figure out how to make money off the golf, then it's a perfect world. I think there are some answers there in the content-driven world. I don't think you should ever be trying to market yourselves as a PGA competitor going forward, though.

34:40Pat McAfee:I think that is a – I think that's probably – like they got the what's that the grass league yeah they're playing like at night or something

34:46Mark Schlabach:like that with some part three part three three i don't want to say the youtube content golf people

34:52Pat McAfee:but they're doing a lot of content as well if you viewed live as like uh like when live was about to was there a time where they're about to be together pga and live it felt like there was a time where they were meeting a little bit more strategic alliance uh framework agreement june 2023, June 6, 2020, 2023. Yeah, 2023. They signed an agreement to form an alliance with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour and could never come to an agreement. And I think it was probably because the Saudis thought live golf was worth a lot more. They couldn't get into their head that nobody cared about the Range Goats or Ripper GC.

35:27Pat McAfee:Whoa. I got a range hat right here, Mark. Yeah. You're the guy. Do Mark. Bubba gifted it to us. Shout out to Aces, too. Bubba dogs. Bubba's a dog. Yeah, Bubba is a dog. Driverhead here from Range Goat. What happens to the Range Goats? They're done. I'm worried about it, yeah. Starting their own league. Bubba's got enough money from his previous golf. He's got a fucking candy store. He's got like 10 different things. Owns the Blue Wahoos. Bingo. He's on a golf course outside of Athens called The Rose. Oh, really? He's competing with the Masters? I like that. Bubba's not giving up at all. I appreciate he's competing with Augusta.

36:10Pat McAfee:I did not play down there, but I did have the time of my life. The golf world is special. That's why I think whenever you mention that the guys that have a bunch of the money, I think they would want to work with the PGA. I don't think many people that love golf are going to want to go against PGA again, maybe. You can find some of those heels out there. but if they turned live into like uh pga guys doing scrambles or like two on two or like gimmick golf like if you took the pga guys and turned live into what gimmick golf could be so that basically their youtube portion of it i think that would have been good if we could have saw four pga guys battle against each other in a scramble and it like what would they shoot how would that old thing go if you hosted it right like i thought they were going to do that i thought live was going to become like gimmick golf and uh i guess that's not the case sounds like saudi arabia wanted them to be the masters yeah man it was supposed to be louder though but dj collin was always showing up with big putts because he's such a good time that's right it was hard for me to take it serious mark i tried i tried my best it was fucking ass yeah i mean it's the sad part is you don't get to see sergio garcia play six more times i wish boom boom couples all right let's uh The boom would have.

37:20Sergio,

37:22Pat McAfee:see, I think the big thing, Serge, whenever you did what you did at the Masters to the thing, did you think you were going to win? So I think that's the thing. Like at some point, there has to be a look in the mirror, and it's like, hey, probably not going to win today. So if I miss it a shot, let's just roll with it. You know, like when he was younger, bashing a thing, maybe you thought you were going to win. This stage of life, I don't think anybody's thinking Sergio Garcia is winning at the Masters, right? So everybody just kind of looks at you and goes, bud, bud. Those Spaniard golfers run hot.

37:50I think he's made the cut there twice since he won. When was that? And he won like 20 years ago. It was a long time ago.

37:57Pat McAfee:All right. I haven't thrown a golf club in like 25 years. I almost took a guy's head off one time, and that was the last time I threw one. What was it? Helicopter. Three wood off the fairway. Did you duff it? It wasn't bad. It was my buddy's dad, too. That would have been bad. Did you duff it, or what happened? Top it? Oh, I'm sure I hit a worm burner down the middle about 30 yards like I usually do. And then you turn directly to your side and

38:27landed on the top of his golf cart.

38:30Pat McAfee:That is close. I mean, that's pretty good. Yeah. Did you go? Yeah. Did you? Let's put it this way. The club went further than my damn ball. All right, Pat? Hey, that's because you hate good dogs. Good dogs out there. Let's talk about good golf, shall we? Maybe the greatest of all time when it's all said and done. Go ahead, Ty.

38:47Mark Schlabach:Mark, obviously the elevated events are nice, and we know Scotty a lot of times will go out there and maybe not have his A-plus stuff but end up grabbing a top five or a top ten. But what do you think of his form going into the PGA? And then also, just a little sidebar, have you been doing any digging on the Brendan Soresby situation? Oh. No on Soresby. Pete Thamel's handling that and doing a fantastic job on it, as he always does. Yeah, Scotty, look, the iron play had been great, and we've talked about it ad nauseum. But, you know, he had his B-plus game at Augusta and finished his second. So he can still put it together.

39:28I don't think he's had a finish outside the top 25 in, like, two years. So, you know, his bad golf is a lot of guys' best golf. So I think he'll be in contention. I think he's going to win the career grand slam at the U.S. Open. I called that at the beginning of the year. I think he'll win at Shinnecock in June.

39:49Pat McAfee:Tell me about the Fitz boys down in New Orleans. Little brother punching the ticket and the older brother having, what, the season of his life right now? Yeah. Matt had really struggled about 18 months ago and, you know, was one of the best iron players in the world when he won the U.S. Open at Brookline up in Boston, but had struggled for a while and found it again. And, you know, I mean, my God, to win with your little brother and secure his PGA Tour card and spotting all the signature events the rest of the year and the players next year and the PGA Championship next month. I mean, I don't think it gets any better than that.

40:27And I think he's expecting his first child here shortly, too.

40:30Pat McAfee:Wow, what a run. Atta, baby, Fitzsie! Hell yeah. Northwestern hasn't won this much in about 30 years, Pat. Amen, brother. Amen. Hey, what do you know about this, Schlaw, Bob? What is that? Do you know what it is? Come on now. Spider? Yeah, he knows. Last time I went golfing on me. I got a 3D printed one. Does it work? Michael Collins gave me. Comedy? Caddy? ESPN Caddy? ESPN Caddy. Caddy, yeah, he sent me a whole set. Don't tell anybody. Somebody accidentally sent him a right-handed set and forgot he was left-handed. Okay, so that's not a bad place to be, right there on side card of ESPN Caddy's golf cart.

41:10Pat McAfee:Good for you, Mark. Yeah. We see ESPN Caddy everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah, he's a beast. Crushing everything, just like you. Thank you so much for joining us. How many tournaments are left now in the golf season? 17 on the PGA Tour season. We still got three majors, though. A lot of golf left. Man, we can't wait to see you again. Yes. 20 couple weeks. We appreciate you taking time. We'll see you in Philly. PGA. Yes, you will. That's what? PGA. PGA. Championship. Oh, I thought it was a home run derby July. They do have that, too. Yeah, Philly's got everything. They do. Yeah, and the UFC fight. Yeah.

41:45That was kind of the big.

41:45Pat McAfee:And I got to put that suit on. Yeah. Perfect place to go when the PGA wants to clean up fan behavior, Pat. A lot of mashed potatoes, huh? You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, go Dawgs. Mark Slobock. Yay, Slobock. It's funny we talked about that earlier. Oh, Slobock, you on? Yeah. Hey, can we get a ranking on these SEC coaches swinging? Saban obviously plays all the time. Shot his age last week or two weeks ago, 73. Kirby smart go dog Awful okay Huh Huh Who's that Pete Golden's got a good little baseball swing Senator Tubs Is Tommy still coaching No no no Who do you got Kalen DeBoer

42:41Not that one Not Oates I'll go. Pete Golding? Pete Golding's not bad. He gets through it pretty good. I mean, Tuberville's got the smoothest. Not Nick. I'll go with the goat. He's got that little hitch at the top, though. Yeah, that's because. I mean, Nick Saban should play well. He owns about four damn golf courses.

43:02Pat McAfee:He owns everything, I think, brother, including a resume that says he's a goat of everything. Just like you, we do believe. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Mark Schlabach. Yeah, Mark. I mean, I didn't know he owns a bunch of golf. Yeah, he owns golf courses. He's the best. Duh. Guy owns everything. Guy owns everything. We're just moments away from talking to a guy who, ladies and gentlemen, join us now. He's a man who is an 18-year vet in the NHL as a player. He was drafted by the Flyers in 1983. Played for the Flyers for 11 years. This is his first season as the head coach of the Flyers.

43:40Pat McAfee:Penn's taught him everything he needs. And then last night, he sent the pens to Cancun. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, Rick Talkin. Yeah, Ricky! Congrats, coach. Thanks, boys. Hey, Pat, I want to be your friend because I know you pay big bar bills, man. Yeah. Hey, USA Hockey Hill, you're a winner. I know they beat it. I was on the Canada staff. I mean, I had to watch that party where you paid the big bill. We lost, yeah. We got the silver medal. So thanks, man. Was that you guys? Yeah, Canada, buddy. Oh, was it? Oh, I didn't know. Take me back to that day. Because I don't like this day at all.

44:19Pat McAfee:I love that day. You're right. Oh, Jackie. A little payback. A little payback. A little payback. Yeah, a little bit, obviously. We appreciate you joining us and everything that you've done for hockey. I would like to talk about your team here. And very rarely will I ever pay the Flyers compliments. I think you understand that. You're a Flyer and also in Pittsburgh very, very, very well. It's been one of those things where we have been successful and the Flyers have not. You know that. You understand that. Flyers fans understand that. But always been a good team and a town that cares about hockey.

44:48Pat McAfee:So it's a good thing for us to talk shit about because you people care and we definitely have better run than you. So it's been a good run for us. So then we run into this team. I'm expecting Crosby, Tanger, Geno, guys that you know very well, the rest of that team, to kind of do what they do, especially against the Flyers. Then I'm there watching your team. Holy shit. You got dogs all over the place. These guys are big, strong, fast mean obviously grit is a part of the philadelphia way but can you tell me about your team and why did you know that you guys are going to beat the pens in this series with how much knowledge you have of this pittsburgh penguins team well first of all uh you know i feel about the i've been there as a coach or a player in pittsburgh six years and won three cups there so there's a there's a pittsburgh penguins are dear to my heart but now i'd be in a you know obviously on the other side being part of that rival um i knew you'd have to put the stake in them to you know to kill them type of thing because sid doesn't go in away tanger who i thought was great the last three four games they don't go away obviously gino so um we have a young team um you know inexperienced but a team that bought in right from the uh from training camp january is probably our worst month and i think for us pat uh the the the west coast trip when we were you know i think we here five games, three games over 500, and we swept the West Coast trip.

46:06The guys went out. They had a lot of dinners together. They bonded, you know, bonding in sports. And after that road trip, we started to believe, hey, man, if we start stringing some games together, we can get back in this thing. You know, our big tagline, a 3.8 % chance of making the playoffs at one point, and that's a big thing we always talk about. You know, so 3.8 % chance, and all of a sudden now we're going to the second round. So got to give the young guys, and our veterans too, that have bought in for our team.

46:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, congratulations to you guys. And I saw the 3.8 % chance marketing, and I had not followed your guys' season as closely. So yeah, I was 100 % sure we were going to beat your guys' ass. These guys, 3.8 % chance to get in, these guys are living on a miracle, okay? Miracle was whenever we beat the Soviets. That ain't happening with Sid. Yeah, that's right. That was what my thoughts were. Getting to watch your team, man, I love it. I really do. The culture of your team, and obviously hockey isn't incredibly physical and tough and everything like that, but it does feel like your entire bench is tough, guys.

47:11Pat McAfee:Is that how you feel, and is that what you have to have in hockey? And how many teams are built that way? Are all teams built that way nowadays? Yeah, I think the game's changed a little bit than when we played. Yeah, you're right. Physicality always is important in hockey. It's probably different than it was 10 years ago. you know for me it's it's you know intimidation with speed you know controlling the puck you know wall battles wall work you know you know you look at like look at Sidney Crosby to me he's tough right yeah you know he'll he's fought the odd time don't go to me he's tough he's a mentally tough guy that's to me is the new age toughness Connor McDavid Jack Eichel all these guys do they drop the gloves once in a while maybe once in a blue moon but they're tough they're tough every shift whether it's with puck possession or body position.

47:59That's the new age hockey player.

48:01Pat McAfee:Tell me about gritty and human form. Tippett, number 74, tell me about this guy. That was my takeaway after watching your team. Sanheim might be a serial killer because I looked him in the eyes and he didn't blink and he appeared to not change his face one time throughout the entire game which was wild. In 74, this guy was faster than everybody else on the ice. He was very clear and he was also built like an ox. Almost has the game winner last night over time, obviously an incredible player. I should know of him? Obviously. I feel like you've got a lot of people that maybe the world does not recognize.

48:32Pat McAfee:I don't want to talk shit. I'm glad you said it to give props to those guys because Tip wasn't on the radar last year. This year he's put himself on the radar. He's one of the Listen, I coached with Connor David in Canada. He's almost got that kind of speed. You saw it. You just mentioned some of the games where he had the speed through new zone i think he had 11 hits one game i mean that's that's tough to do so he's a power forward and then i thought sandheim and rissa lane and were terrific we matched them against sid most of the series they played 25 minutes a night um i gotta give them a lot of the twin towers they were great and you're right sandheim uh notched his game another level and you're right his demeanor he is right it was like flat I don't know if he was happy or sad half the time because he has that stone face, which is great for me.

49:25I love it.

49:26Pat McAfee:I was a little intimidated. I had a neck brace, obviously. We didn't know if I had a broken neck at that point. I was sitting there on the glass. I didn't know if you boys wanted some. Just let them know, because of my neck, I would not have been able to fight them. That is the only reason. That is the only reason. Yeah, right. Okay, let's talk about standing on heads, shall we? You guys saw it in the gold medal game against Halibut. Go ahead, Taco. Yeah, Taco, obviously a scoreless game through three when you go into overtime. It's not like there was a lack of chances. It was up and down. Hockey was an awesome game to watch.

49:56Vladar has 42 saves in his shutout. Could you talk about him a little bit and how huge that was last night? Yeah, you're right. Most of the game was back and forth, but I think overtime, let's call it as is, the Penguins had the puck a lot. We had the prevent. Yeah. I get it, the prevent defense, and that's when you need your goalie. And that's when Vladdy was great all game, don't get me wrong. But he went to superhuman lengths in overtime. Like he was, you know, I think Manta had something on the doorstep. Who's had a really good year for him? And I think Vladdy stopped him. There's some saves there.

50:32Like Sid said after the game, they're one shot from going to game seven. So, yeah, whether you want to say we're lucky in overtime or resilient or bend or don't break defense, the guy behind, the guy with the mask on really was the key for us, especially in overtime.

50:46Pat McAfee:I think that's my favorite thing about hockey, actually, and it was kind of showcased on a global stage there in the gold medal game. Every single playoffs, if your goalie gets hot, you can win. Like, if your goalie decides you're not going to lose, you can win. We got a chance to do it in Pittsburgh, obviously. You were there. We got to experience that with math. There was a couple times math just decided, yeah, we're going to go ahead. It went jarring, actually, his first introduction to Pittsburgh. He stood on his head throughout the entire run. It's like Matt Murray, sorry. Matt Murray went on the run.

51:15Pat McAfee:And I remember that from Tommy Barrasso. Tommy B, yeah. Yeah, so it's like a goalie can decide basically for you. Like I go back to my memories. Like when we won the Cup one year, Fleury was against Washington. Game seven. And we were in their building and they were all over us. Like I'm behind the bench and it was like they put on a clinic and we come out of the first period 0-0. And I said to Mike Sullivan, we're going to win this hockey game. And our team went, you know, we were on our heels, and Fleury stopped, I don't know what he had, 18 shots, and he was terrific. And then we took our game, and we beat him.

51:53And that's what a goalie can do for it. You know, just give you that one period of, oh, my God, this guy's going to, he's saving us. And then the players wake up, and then, you know, we took over the game.

52:02Pat McAfee:I love that. I absolutely, because it's like a pitcher. You know, it's like when a pitcher has a team that can't hit for shit, it's like the pitcher can decide, hey, we are going to be in this thing forever. in goalies, those who get hot are the ones that kind of win, it feels like, in the playoffs. Obviously, you have to have a great team, but you're in the playoffs, so you're already a great team. That's kind of the deciding factor. Good luck to you having to make all decisions. When do you play them, especially a hot goalie? Got to give them some rest, can't strain the eyes. Is that kind of the thought?

52:28Pat McAfee:Is that always the thought? Is the strain? What is it? Well, regular season playoffs, you're throttling down. Unless something injury-wise, listen, you've got to ride your guy. but you know regular season obviously you're trying to give the guy a little bit of rest but playoffs is pretty well you know war of attrition man you're you're all in and I mean like Pittsburgh they had guys banged up we got guys banged up you know people are playing with broken stuff in the playoffs and usually at the end of the year on the media day you find out hey man this guy you know this guy had a fractured foot this guy's got you know you know a cracked rib some guys are you know taking some tortle to get through stuff.

53:07So, yeah, that's what the playoffs are. It's playing hurt.

53:11Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's hockey as a whole. That's why there's always an excuse, basically, for every hockey player at any moment if they don't play well. And then it comes out later through a memo. The player doesn't even say, that guy had a fractured back. Oh, it makes sense. He's playing hockey. What does that even mean? Hey, this guy was a little slow. What a bomb this guy was, comes out later. Tibula, fibula, and C4 fractured. He's out for how long? Two years. He was just playing. That is hockey as well. Okay, let's talk about a 12-year-old you have. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Ricky, it feels like another thing that Stanley Cup teams have is just some young sensation coming out of nowhere, and you have that in Porter Martone.

53:46What has he kind of meant to the boys as he's basically taken the world by storm? I remember after game one, we were all like, who is this 15-year-old who is basically going to carry the Flyers past the Penguins? And how do you handle something like that where a guy comes in late from a college season and kind of get him in with the boys while also knowing like, hey, this guy's going to be a huge contributor to our team? Yeah, I think obviously it started at draft date for me was, and I didn't know a lot about him. And usually, you know, the coaches aren't really involved in the drafting part.

54:18We don't really see the prospects. But when he fell to us, and I was in that war room, to see all our guys being so excited, we picked him, right? And then his development at Michigan State was incredible, getting stronger. Honestly, we didn't know he was going to have this impact. You know, we were going to give him a game. You know, you give him that token game, see how he's going to be. And all of a sudden, I think he scored his first game, and then he gets an assist, a big assist. He gets another goal. And all of a sudden, he's a 19-year-old kid playing in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, you know, playing an average of 15, 16 minutes and playing on our power play.

54:50So that's amazing. That doesn't happen very often in hockey.

54:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, fighting, tanger, almost scoring in overtime. I mean, he didn't look scared at all. once again here's another thing i saw from being on the ice because nick was like hey that kid was just in the frozen he literally he was just playing college and i was watching him all he gotta be a little scared maybe he's big yeah he and he was not scared at all i mean there was it felt like he was wanting more so you guys aren't are gonna be good for a while now come on man come on because this shit's happened on your side is this you did you do this that's you coach Huh? Is that you that did that? Yeah.

55:31Oh, I didn't do that. Look at that. Holy jeez.

55:34Pat McAfee:Yeah. Was that after the game? What were you doing? All right. Enough. Okay. Now I got to wear a suit too because the governor was pulling for you guys. A lot happened in my life, but what I did come to realize is. Yeah. What was the bet? What was the bet, by the way? I forgot. I got to wear a suit. What do you got to wear? You got to wear something? Okay. Coach, I got to wear a suit. Yeah. I got to wear a suit. Full on suit. Gubernator. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. that's like me selling out my everything that I have coach. I mean, come on. You have to make a legit bet. Like you'd have to, you'd have to walk the Philly in a speedo.

56:09Pat McAfee:You win the Stanley cup. That's a real bet. That's a real, you win the Stanley cup. You got it, pal. How about it? Okay. You win the Stanley cup. Now, if you don't, we'll see you at a Thunderdome. Yeah. We'll see you at a Thunderdome. Okay. You have to make a visit. You want to have to walk at a speedo though. You're head coach of a team, but I will walk to Philadelphia. You guys win the Stanley cup. yeah man that's yeah yeah that's a good incentive the boys will love it you know what they'll pay the bar bills all summer all right forget the walk one weekend okay one weekend but there will be a cap okay because i did this at a media event yeah yeah and some of the assholes found out i was paying and they went through the top of top shelf we're not having that with the flyers but on that note, I'm a fan.

56:54Pat McAfee:I appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Rick Tockhead. We're back on the other side. We'll see you then. Goodbye.

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58:10Pat McAfee:million bucks up there on the wall over there as uh we zoom in every single day in the middle There is a picture of a dog. That is Valerie Ann. She is a Pitbull Sharpay mix that my wife got from one of the shelters downtown. Used to be a street dog whenever she was young. Sam adopted her. And then shortly after the adoption, a couple, two years after being adopted, me and Sam get together. And Sam just kind of moves into the house. Just almost brings this dog. first dog ever that I had a relationship with and she's the greatest dog of all time had to put her down last night it was one of the heaviest experiences I've ever had in my entire life I don't know if I could compare it to anything that I've ever had to do there was this incredible company that they did that the house so instead of having to go to the hospital or a vet and so many great memories kind of reminisced about with Valerie just want to let her know I I absolutely love her.

59:18Pat McAfee:There was a little rainbow up in the sky shortly after she left, like right outside of our window where we were looking. And for us, it was just like, hey, see you later. For Mackenzie, our daughter, this is the first time she's had to experience anything like this. She was not around whenever it happened, but immediately upon coming upstairs, she goes, where's Valerie? You know, because she hasn't been very mobile for a while. So, yeah, it was just a heavy night and sports immediately afterwards. Wife and I and daughter got a chance to watch and kind of just escape from everything. But Valerie was an incredible dog.

59:48Pat McAfee:And I would say greatest of all time. I know a lot of people feel that way. And we started a charity because of Valerie's battles with cancer. She had five bouts with cancer. She died with cancer. Her first four got treatment, got surgery for. It was so expensive. And we realized and found out how expensive it was that Sam and I thought about if we were kids growing up with our parents with how much money was available for everything. if we were told that that was how much it was going to be to save our dog whenever she was like six years old seven years old or whatever there was no way that we would be able to say yes to that so we started a foundation to raise money for families to be able to get surgeries to take care of their animals hundreds of dogs went through it all because of her badassness and it's like uh yeah it was it was a heavy night last night for the wife and i as we bowed our eyes out for hours and just kind of reminisced about it and i would just like say thank you to Valerie more tears this week than any maybe in my life and it's a perspective you know we got to enjoy the hell out of what we have right now we can enjoy the hell out of the moments because at some point we'll just be looking back on these moments as memories and I hope we all get to say that in the moment we enjoyed the hell out of them as much as we should have and that's why we're so thankful we get to do this every single day and that's why we're so thankful that we get to do sports and that's why i genuinely now outside of a wrestlemania run sure well i was not trying to bring people together trying to fix a business go ahead say what you're gonna say i'm not saying anything but life is good let's never forget it because when it's gone we'll never be able to say i wish toxic tables here at boss of connor at ty schmidt one half of the hammer Cowboys AP Tone is here.

1:01:33Pat McAfee:Joining us live from Manatic in Ohio, ladies and gentlemen, a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk. A.J. Hawk. Hawk, how you doing, pal? I'm doing good. Coach Taco was great on here actually. He dealt with all of your guys' kind of shenanigans very well. Shenanigans? Any questions? Well, I mean, kind of like you could take it as like, not disrespect, but you know, you're angry that he beat your squad. Oh, you couldn't take it. I think they did take some of it is disrespect just from the feeling that i had being on the glass of one of those games i i it was in the moment when they're inches away from you where you go wow i've said a lot of stuff about this team in like a pens fandom sure way yeah that a lot of pittsburgh people have certainly told them in their past but they know that i said it they definitely heard it that's kind of the world we're in right now and i'll tell you what i think they would have done that to me i think that stick throw would have been done to me at one point but instead the flyers move to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a massive win over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.

1:02:34Pat McAfee:Taco was awesome. I can't wait to watch them. And they're a good team. And if their goalie's going to do what the goalie did last night, they got a chance to win it all. Hopefully the Penns' big three get figured out and play 10 more years. That's what I would like. Five of eight series are left now in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Six of eight NBA series are still happening right now. Two out of the West, gone. Okay, so the West is Oklahoma City sweeped the Suns, and then the Spurs beat the Blazers 4-1. And the Spurs might be the real deal, brother, with Wemby. We shall wait and see if they can get past the OKC test.

1:03:11Pat McAfee:The Lakers were up 3-0 behind LeBron James. Don't look, now their Rockets team has won two straight, got people wondering, is this the big collapse? Uh-oh. Is everything that's going on with this Lakers team just become too much, and they won't be able to keep up with the young Houston Rockets team that has maybe figured out how to attack this Lakers team without a Luka Doncic playing. Austin Reeves returns. He gets more than 12 points. I'll have you know. LeBron didn't get a double-double, though. I don't know if you knew that. You paired LeBron double-double with a win last night, you get pretty good little hearts.

1:03:47Pat McAfee:You can have a nice little return to your DraftKings account after losing a massive amount of money on Flyers, beating the Pens, and everything like that. But instead, Austin Reeves, LeBron James, and the boys aren't able to get to home win. Houston Rockets now are on a two-game winning streak. Do they have all the momentum? And if the Los Angeles Lakers don't win this, is LeBron James nowhere near the goat? Oh, no. That's what people are going to say, AJ Hawk. It's amazing how quickly things can change. Now LeBron is washed and he's run out of steam. That's what I've been hearing on the headlines this morning.

1:04:14Pat McAfee:What I do love about what we do for a living, and I just talked about enjoying a moment, I don't think anything on earth does that more than a daily sports show. Okay? And you can pull some takes that end up not being good from a daily sports show any time you want. Oh, yeah. Because we can only go off the information that we have right now. When LeBron put the cape on, then put the entire Los Angeles Lakers team on his back at this age of 41, after the amount of minutes he had all season. Okay? After the amount of minutes he had all season. And just starts cooking this Rockets team, with or without Kevin Durant.

1:04:47Pat McAfee:It was hard not to just immediately go, Well, That's never been done before. That's never going to be done again. That's the greatest of all time. People got loud. Evan Fox in the back got real loud. People in Chicago are getting louder. They're on microphones getting louder. Let's not. Let's show them respect for sure, but let's make sure we remember. That's what was happening. And now they couldn't wait. Could not wait for a Jordan ever. Was Jordan ever up 3-0 and then lose the best? This is, uh, we certainly showed him his respect, but there's a chance that happens. And LeBron knows that. And the sports world knows that.

1:05:30Pat McAfee:But that would be a massive story, especially with where we were just a few days ago, AJ Hawk. Yeah, but do you think it's actually going to happen? Do you think they are going to collapse and not win this series? Force game seven after trailing a series 3-0 has only happened four times. Celtics versus the Heat. Trailblazers versus the Mavs. Nuggets versus the Jazz. In 1951, we all remember the Knicks versus the Royals. That's a good team. That was one-sided. Royals were just smacking around. They got hot. Everybody in New York was like, 1951, I'm sure they had. What do we have? Definitely have good pizza.

1:06:05Pat McAfee:Good pizza. Those were good times. Were they? Black and white television in 1951? A lot of babies were written made. I don't know if it's there yet. Is TV happening? 51? Yeah, TV's happening. It's not color TV, is it? Definitely not color TV. How many channels? Two. Most. So many. Two to three. Ovaltine here. We're doing Ovaltine. Ovaltine, yeah, on the radio. Steak, bourbon. Yeah, the decoder ranks. And they were like, the Royals. Problems. People were walking and getting on a... What type of vehicles did we have in 1951? Model T. No, that was 1920s. We had cars. We had some tires. Cars, right?

1:06:4350s? Oh, yeah, definitely.

1:06:44Pat McAfee:I Love Lucy was the most popular show. What's that, AJ? Did you think they were still riding horses in 1951? Some people. I thought they did get in a buggy there to go to New York to tell them how ass they are after they go down 3-0. They're still doing horse and buggy in New York. They're definitely doing it then. First televised beer commercial for Paps was in 1951. BBR. Trail blazing. I can't believe it. I wonder what that commercial was. Have one. Probably. Hank Williams was your number one country artist. Is that a Studebaker? I like what we got here. Their cars were in my ass of Mercury.

1:07:19Pat McAfee:1951 Mercury. I'll tell you what, I don't know how they drove those things at all with how small the roads were. There was no power steering. Obviously, the gears. Definitely. A lot of protection and a lot of metal on those. I mean, there's a lot of metal. I don't know if it gives at all. I don't know. When did the fender come in? The rubber fender, because that was a game changer for the Jackson. That's pretty much shotgun. That's a little jackpot. Kind of changed the entire thing. Anyways, it doesn't happen often is what we're saying. where the Rockets would be able to come back, and it's never happened where they've come back and actually won it.

1:07:51Pat McAfee:If that was to happen against LeBron James, people would go crazy. Now, there are certainly LeBron post-game interviews coming like this. He feels like, obviously, the Rockets are the better team. What's the best way to respond to a group that obviously has confidence growing over there? I don't care about shit like that, bro. The game is one in between the four lines. I don't give a damn who cares. I mean, of course you say it. Why would you say it? We're not the better team. But I don't – ask one of them young guys that question. I'm too old for that shit. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to say?

1:08:24Pat McAfee:His team wasn't better than our team? Come on. Get out of my face. How about that guy thinking, I'm going to get LeBron here? Does he think his team? This guy said his team's better than yours. Go ahead. Anything? Yeah, that is a wild question. Get out of my face, bro. What an answer by LeBron. You can see he's obviously a little frustrated, though. Oh, yeah. You see, he's not exactly thrilled with what's going on. Now, I do appreciate the fact that everybody in the NBA seemingly understands that people have to answer questions in a certain way. Because remember when Joe Flacco was asked if he thought he was elite?

1:08:54Pat McAfee:And he said yes. And then all of a sudden it was, this dipshit thinks he's an elite quarterback. What are you supposed to say, A.J. Hawk? I like how passionate Bron Bron is, though it appears. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think it's wild. If he actually does engage in all of the talk that is about him after every single thing that he does. I hope he doesn't engage in a lot of it because it would be a roller coaster trying to figure out, like, one day he's obviously the greatest of all time. The next day he's washed, he's terrible, and he's, you know, not in the top 25. So it's just crazy. You know, I think he does hear a lot more than we can imagine.

1:09:26Pat McAfee:I think he's very knowledgeable of the conversations that happen. I think whenever he talked to Dave McMenamin, I think that one where there was a lot of conversations about the GOAT debate with him and Jordan, and then he even came out and said he hopes he did Jordan Prowl with the number 23. I think he showcased some humility in there while also saying, hey, I do hear a lot of people shitting on me. It's like, why do we always got to do that? I think he understands what's going on, but I'll tell you what. The Lakers currently minus 330 to win the series. Nobody's dying. You think LeBron's going to lose the series?

1:10:02Yeah, right. I heard some LeBron fans earlier this morning really bitching and moaning about the fact that LeBron ain't Bron no more.

1:10:08Pat McAfee:We will get back to some NBA conversation with a former 15-year NBA vet. Let's do some NFL quick hitters here, shall we? George Pickens has officially signed his$27.3 million franchise tag. It was reported last Thursday before the first round of the NFL draft by every insider that George Pickens had signed his franchise tag. Then Sunday came and went, and on Monday we were talking about that being an indicator of something happening on our show. And then during our show, Mr. Todd Archer puts out a tweet into the Oblivion that says, hey, just a heads up, Pickens has not signed his franchise tag.

1:10:42Pat McAfee:To get traded, Pickens would have had to sign his franchise tag. For anything to happen, he would have had to sign the deal. It was reported that he signed a deal, but then we asked the same insiders, both of them, we go, what happened here? He's intending to sign. He's going to sign. They just know he's going to. We thought maybe there was some gamesmanship out of George Pickens saying, yeah, no problem, just in case a trade was to come through during a draft. Now that the draft has passed, maybe he won't sign his franchise tag. he has as being reported now by Mr. Archer signed his franchise thing nothing else can happen until he does this what does this tell you AJ he's a cowboy for the year I still don't feel super confident he's a cowboy for the year this obviously opens it up for him to uh to be available to be traded I guess but uh you know what I think it's 50 50 now I thought the other day like me I don't think there's a chance he's playing for the Cowboys I think he still could play there he literally came uh not he I'm sorry people came on the show back to back.

1:11:34Pat McAfee:It was Tannenbaum and it was somebody else. I forget who it was. Rapsheet. Rapsheet and Tannenbaum back to back come on the show and go George Pickett's probably playing for the Cowboys this year. And I'm like, that's the first time I've even heard somebody with conviction say that. Because going into a franchise tag here as a number one wide receiver, with Mullah Guetta as his agent, with what has happened in the past, it feels like that would be a no-go for a one-year contract with no future guarantees and a potential another year of franchise tagging coming on the other side of that. That just feels like a no.

1:12:10Pat McAfee:But then you start thinking about it from a George Pickens angle where he's getting$27.3 million. He's got another prove-it year. He probably enjoys being in Dallas versus what was going on in Pittsburgh. Him and Dak have a great relationship, obviously. Maybe George Pickens does this year one year, $27.3. We get to watch another bag-chasing show for a year on primetime every single week. And then he gets a huge one after this season. I don't think any of us truly know, but maybe he is a cowboy and that would be a blast because last year watching him on the cowboys was a great time i will say he was all over the place all the time on national television especially when they're playing at 425 kind of prime time brady and uh burkhart i want to say yep okay uh they are amazing with george pickens think about how much more fun they are to watch and if it wasn't for t higgins and jamar chase already doing it i would say there's no way this is going to happen but because of that brand of football and maybe the bangles go out there and absolutely dominate this year and Joe Burrow stays healthy.

1:13:02Pat McAfee:Big Dexie coming over there. Yeah, Dexter Lawrence comes over, which is kind of what the Cowboys already have with Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams and Rashawn Gary. Like, there is a world, it feels like, where after this season, after the franchise tag, they could pay him upwards of$35 million a year. Okay, so George Pickensons' franchise tag. Way to go. Is Aaron signing anywhere? Well, Rooney, owner Rooney, says about the UFA tender that they put on Aaron Rodgers. We alerted Aaron and his representatives that we were going to do it. Answering our real big deal. Just something that in the unlikely event he goes somewhere else, we're eligible for a comp pick.

1:13:43Pat McAfee:Sign business. That's right. It would be stupid not to. We move forward now. Is that what you read there, Tom? Yeah, that is exactly what I read. Because if you don't do it and you go somewhere else, you look like idiots. Everyone's saying you guys are idiots for not getting a comp pick out of this. Oh, they're laughing in a guy's face. Yeah. Oh, now you want him. Oh, not so. No, that's not what I said. I never said those words at all. Tony, what's going on? Tony hates this guy. It sounds like, I don't think Tony hates the guy. No, no, that's not the person. I like the person. We all like the person.

1:14:13I just don't like that for the second straight year, he's just stringing us along like we're his little lap dogs. Like you're not the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bingo. It's the Pittsburgh Puppies. See, that's what. Oh, man. I wish I didn't even think of that. We're not, what's his name? Don't do that. Don't be doing what you're doing.

1:14:31Pat McAfee:Hey, Chad, you hear, this is how Pittsburgh people, I believe, because Tone has come back from the draft where there's 805 ,000 visitors, most of them from Pittsburgh. Talked to a lot of people. Tone was around a lot of Pittsburgh. Tone sits down in his chair and he goes, you know what? Now's the time, actually, he's saying, we're done with this guy. It feels like Tone went and did a little focus group, a couple of them, Yinser group, how you doing? I pulled the city. Different ages, different groups, different cities, different parts, different events, different everything. How are we doing? we we're all yeah all done with it okay thought so just wait till you hear me on monday and the first thing came out of his mouth is hey we're done with it it does feel like that is how steelers fans are because it is two seasons in a row now where they are being told like hey maybe maybe and it's like the steelers fans are like get this guy the fuck out of here if he does not want to be a pittsburgh steeler and now from the other side of it okay that is just me reading tone who was talking to everybody and me potentially talking to similar people that tone was talking to you read me well me as aaron rogers okay person that understands aaron and has massive respect for who aaron rogers is in the history of ball and currently in ball in this entire thing the guy's allowed to figure out what he wants to do with his life okay okay respect coach change Change.

1:15:50Life change. Yeah, you bet. He's living. He's in shape. Okay, he signed in early June, I believe, last year. Tone, is there a deadline in June you have? What if he signs here in two or three weeks? Are we going to be happy all of a sudden?

1:16:02Pat McAfee:So he signed in June because there was something going on, right, last year? Was that last year? Yeah, he had a personal situation. He said that he let them know about. Yeah, so I think everybody was like, okay, so that kind of happened. And then now this year it's like, don't you and McCarthy fucking know each other? Yeah, bingo. He's a newlywed. The guy can't enjoy his new wife for a little? There's a lot of newlyweds in the NFL that are on teams. They know they want to play for that team. Not ones that are goats. What about ones that are 22 years in trying to figure out what they want? Yeah.

1:16:31Well, if you can't figure it out already, it's not in your heart to play. You don't know that because he didn't find every part of his heart yet. And I don't know how I'll react to AJ until that day comes. Okay. He's Italian. I'm sure I wouldn't change my tune.

1:16:44Pat McAfee:AJ, I'm sure Pittsburgh won't immediately go. He never would. Got a goat back. Yep. That's what I'm talking about. He better play good now. He kind of strung us along. The future's here. Maybe Will Howard, maybe Drew Auer, you know, Mike McCarthy. Sure the word Super Bowl wouldn't come out of my mouth. Yeah, exactly. As soon as Aaron gets back. AJ, what do you know in that situation? What has Aaron told you? Honestly, I don't have really anything for you on that situation. You have a big derby weekend. I don't know what the thing would be. Yeah. I don't know what – there's no deadline. I don't know anything.

1:17:11When do you get Donner?

1:17:11Pat McAfee:Are you guys doing derby this weekend or no? No, I'm not going. Really? Don't lie. Smart play by you to act like you're not going if you are going. Is he going? But if you're not going, also smart play to get that public because we'll be peppering you with questioning on that. The NFL has distributed crew assignments to referees this week amid indications of continued progress toward a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association. Sources have told Seaford over there at ESPN. Now, there are some numbers and stats coming out that we found pretty interesting. At the time the talk stalemated this spring, the NFL had offered the NFLRA, the Ref Association, a six-year deal with the average annual raises of 6.45%.

1:17:53Pat McAfee:That's more of a raise than the players get percentage-wise. Yeah. The average NFL official earned$385 ,000 in 2025. Now, refs in other leagues, professional leagues, get paid more money. Obviously, a lot more games in those other leagues. I believe there are also full-time referees as opposed to NFL refs that only have 17 regular season games. And then if you're not asked, you also get playoff games in this entire thing. And then you're done for an entire off season. So the negotiation is fascinating. That felt like a lot of money. If you let players know that that money was available if they got into a pipeline to become officials, I think a lot of players would be excited to do that to give back to the game.

1:18:29Pat McAfee:But I do think it's good news that we're kind of making progress with the stalemate that has potentially happened over the past couple months with the referees association because the last time we had replacement refs, it was ass, AJ. Yeah, and I think people may, like, it's easy to overlook this and think it's not that big a deal. But if you were around for the old situation with the replacement refs, I was on the field when the fail-marry situation happened with replacement refs. I saw, like, the impact it could have. So I think it's a lot bigger deal than people think. So the fact that there's progress and they're not – both sides aren't killing each other publicly through the press, I think it's a good sign.

1:19:01Pat McAfee:They were there for a bit, though. They were killing each other publicly, which was a lot of public. Let's try to win the mob here. Let's try to win room. And then I assume there was a conversation like, hey, it's not good for any of us here for people to think our refs are ass. Okay. But we do need a little bit of accountability. We do have to be able to say that we can get rid of people that stink. Like I think for the good of the league, for the good and integrity of the game, we have to be able to do that. That's where the NFL is coming from. And the referees association says, we've always had the greatest deal in all of sports.

1:19:25Pat McAfee:Basically. We don't have to answer for anything. We don't have to be off season. We don't have to train. We don't have to do anything. Yeah. You pay us. And guess what? Never fired. So if you want to get off of that contract a little bit, if we want to start there, which is where we have negotiated the last 100 years we can certainly do that both of them have a good stance because if the replacement refs come in again the referees association will have leverage pretty quickly which is why the nfl was like we'll have new york make the calls and it's like all right well that's gonna piss people off the refs are gonna get some leverage there something terrible is gonna happen the refs are gonna be able to get you just like they did after the and i think because you're on the field and because i had a chance to you know ride alongside some teams i think we care more about the ref thing than anybody else and uh if it becomes a big deal, I would like them to say we did journalism.

1:20:09Pat McAfee:Okay. They won't, but we've done some journalism. Is there any chance, though, that the replacement refs come on and they've done this vetting process and they've worked them out a little bit to where it kind of goes off without a hitch and they do a decent job? Maybe. Yeah, and it did say in that article that there were some college refs from the NCAA obviously that were willing to go up. So it wasn't like a unanimous, hey, we're not doing this because of the union. it was kind of like a, there were a few that would come along, which would be massive. Is it? I sure hope so. Is it Vander? There's no way that guy's a scab.

1:20:49Him and his crew are not scab.

1:20:50Pat McAfee:Maybe, though. Vanderveld and the boys getting a call up to Sundays, Thursdays, and Mondays could certainly be something. And then they're so good that the refs association would be a force. Yeah. But you can afford to be. But I don't think Vanderveld will do it because he's so close. Yeah. So close. It's fascinating. Okay, let's go to the NBA, shall we, in the middle of the playoffs? Obviously, the six series that are left all have go-home implications happening in the NBA playoffs. There will be three games this evening as the Knicks play the Hawks at 7, Celtics take on the Sixers, and the Nuggets take on the Wolves after a two-day break.

1:21:25Pat McAfee:Fascinating to see how that all affects everything. Joining us now, 15-year NBA vet, three-time champion. Ladies and gentlemen, former NCAA champion, McDonald's All-American, starred ESPN NBA analyst, Danny Green. Yay, Danny! No, no, hey, hey. Appreciate you guys having me, man. I'm on my way to two ESPN now. It's the biggest job, but it's the most important job that I have now, so I'm heading to the studio. Okay, are you driving right now? Like, actually, are you driving? Danny. No. No. I just have my seatbelt on. in the back. Okay, because it looked like you put your hands onto a wheel there after you gave the double deuce and then went to the wheel.

1:22:09Pat McAfee:We just want to make sure you're not doing anything stupid, Danny. You know what I mean? Don't be stupid. No, not at all. Not at all. Did you just turn on a turn signal? Not at all. Daniel. I did not turn on a turn signal. I'd be self-driving. Do you have a hand? Because I guess you NBA guys, you could reach from the backseat, I guess. Put it on the steering wheel. And just kind of drive from the backseat with sunroof, though. You guys have a hand. I got you guys. you guys are hands free we got you guys magnified in we got stands you know you do when you do media stuff you got to have stands to make sure that your phone is stable okay i want to let you know i don't love what's going on here i don't like i don't like that you're you're we cannot be a distraction you understand you are a yeah uh a very see now you're at a red light right now yeah i i can tell i can tell right now we're totally safe here we're totally safe here okay uh all right let's make sure we're doing that let's be smart about it nice car by the way 15 years in the nba does certainly have its perks we appreciate you joining us uh let's talk about some of the stuff happening around this nba you obviously won a championship as a spur back in 2014 very different team now with wendy can you tell me about this spurs team and can you tell me about wendy a little bit from an ex-player with obviously still connections around the league?

1:23:28Yeah, I mean, their team is very a really good group. Wemby is a special talent. It's things you can't teach. Him being 7 '4 and that wingspan, I was lucky enough to play with some really great big men like Tim Duncan, like Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, even Marc Gasol, Sergi Baca, like guys that I could play defense and not have to worry about the rim because they're going to protect it for me. He's just another level of that. A lot of guys go in there deterred and scared to shoot the basketball because of him. And he still gets four or five blocks a game with guys knowing that he's there and scared of him.

1:24:06So I could imagine what his blocks for the game would be. I have to try to challenge him more often, which if you're smart, you wouldn't do that. So, yeah, this is a really good special group. They're young. They showed some of that in the first round. So if I gave him a grade for round one, it would probably be like a B+. because they, it's a Portland team. Don't respect them. They're really good. But if you want to put yourself in the same conversation as the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, that team in a championship contention, you shouldn't be playing behind in the series. And I feel like in that series, they were playing from behind a lot.

1:24:42But I think they learned a lot from it. I think they grew from it. And it'll make them better and more prepared for whoever they face in the second round. That could be the Denver Nuggets. It could be the Minnesota Timberwolves. We don't know.

1:24:52Pat McAfee:I hope Wemby does the dunk contest next year. That bounce in between. That'd be a winner if it was to happen. Spurs trailing in games but obviously won the series 4-1 over the Blazers. Oklahoma City reigning champs. They swept the Suns 4-0. Hey, Danny, call us when you get to the place. I'm getting anxiety. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen. Stay angry. I'm getting anxiety. I can't do it. I can't do it. We're good. We're totally safe here when he's at the red light. Look, both hands here. I'm like, yeah, right. I can't do that. I gotta get known. No, no, no. Tell him to hang up. He's still talking.

1:25:26Pat McAfee:And call us whenever he... This has always been a thing with the show. Oh, yeah. Do it. No one's ever wanted to be on the show more than Danny Green right there because that was the most unsafe thing I've ever seen. Ever. I don't know what he's doing. That was... Because then I did think, oh, he is in a backseat maybe. And I saw him literally turn on turn. So I check the traffic. It's like, yeah, right. Can't have that happening. I'm not going to be associated with that. I'm also a motorcycle driver. He's driving in LA too.

1:25:50Mark Schlabach:I'm pretty sure he's... No, he's... You said ESPN, but don't they do NBA Today from LA? Maybe they don't. That's immediately what I thought of Jesus Christ. He's on the 405 right now just looking down. No, no, no. I hope that's not the case. I hope that's not the case.

1:26:04Pat McAfee:I would like to say that that has always been a part of this program. AJ, I have always – AJ probably not. I guess AJ's like, yeah, let me roll that. Might get a little action out. AJ watches movies on an iPad when he drives. Yeah, he'll close his eyes for two minutes. But he's the shitty drive. 30 minutes. Yeah, 30. Absolutely not, Ty. He is an ass driver. Documented ass driver. That's very subjective. It's very subjective. But we're talking Wemby, I think, some kind of sports. No, we're talking about all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers being on the record as saying, when the sun's going down, it's tough for me to drive.

1:26:38Pat McAfee:I just fall asleep. Yeah, that doesn't mean I'm a bad driver. That means I fall asleep when I'm driving into the sun as it goes down. Okay, so falling asleep while you're driving would be a trait, I think, that would say you're a bad driver, no? No. A bad driver would be like a lack of awareness. You can't figure out when you're asleep. You have no consciousness. You are asleep. I'm aware of it so I can beat it. I know going in, hey, this is where I get tired. I've got to find a way to stay away. Okay, and we're appreciative of the fact that you beat it now, but there was a time in your life where you're just out there falling asleep behind a wheel waking up with two feet on, right foot on the gas, left foot on a brake, brake lights on the entire time while you're falling asleep.

1:27:17Pat McAfee:I mean, that would be considered a bad driver. Okay, I just want to let you know. That would be a tough situation, but yeah, I've never been in a situation as dangerous as that. I promise you. That is. Okay. All right, that is how you describe it. I don't like that that happened at all. What I do like, I like Steve Bishotti saying, I want a draft pick. For the first time in his relationship with Acosta, I do believe, first time maybe in his ownership of the Baltimore Ravens, our favorite owner on a microphone, Steve Bishotti of the Baltimore Ravens, said he negotiated with his GM to make a pick.

1:27:48what unfolded cinema. Hello? Hello? Hello. Is this Adam? Yeah, it is. Adam, this is Steve Bishotti. I'm the owner of the Ravens? Yes, sir. Well, I'm good friends with your coach, Dabo. Yes, sir. My GM, this is the first call I've ever done because my GM and I negotiated something this year for the first time and that was that I was going to get a pick that I get to pick by myself. So I started working with Dabo a little while ago, and he told me that you are the highest character player he's ever had in his program. Yes, sir. I appreciate that. Well, that's how highly he thinks of you. And so I started watching you, and I found out your whole story about conceding being a wide receiver and doing what Dabo needed you to do most.

1:28:47Yes, sir. You've got a lot of growing to do to become a good running back, but with your character and your pass-catching skills, I believe we just got you a year earlier than everybody else is going to find out how good you are. Yes, sir. We are about to put you in as the newest Baltimore Raven. Yes, sir. I appreciate y 'all. It sounds good. Where are you today? I'm in Myrtle Beach at home. With who? Your family? Yes, sir. So they're going to be excited that you're going to be taking handoffs from Lamar Jackson? Yes, sir. They are. All right. Good. I'm going to let you talk to head coach Minter, okay?

1:29:30Okay. Welcome to the Ravens. Hold on. Appreciate it.

1:29:34Pat McAfee:What a moment. Hey, that's beautiful. Well, I like the behind-the-scenes stuff of this. And how about first time ever the owner drafts Adam Randall, drafts anybody, that guy's going to get a lot of opportunities. Yeah. Jesse Minter, first-year head coach. Yeah. Yeah. He said, how's it going? Tell your family you're going to be taking handoffs from Amar Jackson. He's going to be doing that. Okay, I think he sounds like the person that Bashadi would build a team around. For that to happen, I hope Adam Randall understands how special of a moment that is. And I hope this works out because we love Bashadi now that we're learning of him over the last couple months only.

1:30:07yeah I didn't that's the first time I'm seeing that video too that that's really cool I like how Bashadi says with your like what your high character and your pass catching ability you're gonna have a good chance here like you it's not this isn't like a charity case because you're a good dude because you're you're a stud on the field as well that's why I like that you have

1:30:21Pat McAfee:both of those you conceded the fact that you're running back to go play wide receiver I think we're a year ahead of everybody knowing that you're supposed to be a running back it's like Bashadi might know ball a little bit huh and how about Dabo that boy still got the fastball with

1:30:33Mark Schlabach:the mouth huh oh yeah dabo i mean he he's dug out obviously still part of me when i'm seeing these because i feel like maybe it's maybe it's just recency bias i feel like this year we're getting every single one of these kind of like behind the scenes looks at when these guys are getting drafted and part of me is kind of like i don't love that because this is you know one of like the more personal a lot of these guys are crying but the more you do get to see these like it is just such a cool moment and that is one thing that i really do appreciate that all these teams put out because, you know, I mean, we see everything in the first round with the dap ups with Raj and stuff like that.

1:31:07Mark Schlabach:But like, this is the stuff that's really special when you see a fourth round pick or like a late round pick. And it's still, I mean, it means this, they might as well be going, you know, first overall.

1:31:16Pat McAfee:Yeah. And look at the family, look at the whole team, the community, everybody's been working for that their entire lives. Draft is still so special. We're very lucky that we get to be a part of the coverage. I think a lot of people watch the draft. Oh, it sounds good. Yeah. It feels like a lot of people, the draft has officially become a massive spectacle as it should. A lot of things happening around the NFL. It is also an outside of the Baltimore Ravens. They have signed Claes Campbell. Will be his 19th NFL season. We got a chance to see this guy whenever Miami had their run during the college football playoffs.

1:31:44Pat McAfee:He was on the sideline, towering over everybody, in better shape than everybody. One of the greatest teammates of all time and a man who's obviously wrecked shop on a football field at the defensive line position. Not only getting to the quarterback, stopping the run, disrupting an offensive line, special teams. This guy blocks kicks all the time. He's an avatar. This man's a monster. 19 years at D-line in the interior, AJ. Calais Campbell going to Baltimore. Love that Jesse Minter said, yeah, I think we could have a Calais Campbell in the locker room for the first year around here. You know what's awesome about him?

1:32:14He can still play at such a high level. He's not like, hey, we've got the old savvy vet in here to teach the young guys how to go about it and the process and how to prepare for games. No, this dude is still making plays. What a unique outlier. He's going to be 40 years old on September 1st. Can you imagine being out there? I mean, he's been in the trenches for so long, and the dude continues to do it. Yeah, I hope he plays for 10 more years.

1:32:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think it's a cool thing. Jesse Minter we believe in, right? I think so, yeah. I believe in Bashadi. Definitely. He's changing his ways. Lamar. I believe in Lamar. I mean, Matt Abike, their other stud, D-tackle, he apparently has cleared. So now it's Calais Campbell, Matt Abike, Trey Hendrickson, and then their second-round pick, Zion Rung, who's like 6 '6", 270. Kyle's a free agent. I know. I think I re-signed him. That's what I'm saying. They bring in Calais Campbell. That kind of scares me. Actually, it was my thought while I was watching Calais Campbell kind of do his thing, and then I thought about who Calais Campbell is as a teammate and how much of a leader he is.

1:33:15Pat McAfee:Remember, Tyreek was going through a car that pulled over his Calais. I mean, like, Calais is the epitome of an NFL teammate. Like, that is not only – Well, Peyton Man of the Year. He's forced to be listened to because anytime somebody that large talks, everybody's going to listen. Think about there's never going to be any foolishness on that defense. Say you're in a walkthrough and guys are jacking around. Kaleas is in the room. It's not going to happen. Remember Lamar took all the TVs off? Yep. The walls. Yeah, because he said he would have taken the TVs off the wall if he could too, but Mr.

1:33:47Pat McAfee:B paid for all that. Because Lamar, I think, was having a little bit of issues with maybe some tomfoolery happening around that team last year in the locker room. Now, obviously, Harbaugh moves on. It's a new coach. I think Calais Campbell's a good signing. I'm a huge fan of his. And every time his name comes up, I bring it up. You walk into an event and you look, scan the crowd, and events aren't really your thing, maybe. Let's say I'm talking directly from me. Hate events. Don't like anything about them. Live in Indiana, so we don't have to go to events. Every once in a while, I go to an event good time though always dependent upon who's there okay who do you get trapped around at said event there's always like a trappage that kind of happens at these events anytime i walked into one and you just scan and you see fucking big calais at the back it's like that's where i'm headed okay head down straight to the massive guy and that's happened numerous times every time good time every time so nice to everybody every time like just complete like the energy the juice the whole It's just like he's a special individual.

1:34:56Pat McAfee:19 years at D-line out of the U is something that will be first ballot Hall of Fame worthy. And for him to continue to go, I hope we do cherish it. I think it was the Miami Hurricanes Ole Miss game in Arizona where he was there on the sideline for the U. And it was the same exact thing. He sticks out like a sore thumb and you walk right over to him and he's like the nicest guy of all time. Yeah, definitely sounds like he looks. No doubt. Definitely. It's not a different voice. Like, where was I at Raw where that guy recorded me? Was that San Jose? St. Louis, I think. St. Louis, maybe? Yeah, one of the two.

1:35:27San Jose. Some sort of San. I think it was San Jose.

1:35:29Pat McAfee:Yeah, guy had a camera, kind of a bigger guy, and he was like, you suck! And I'm so... Is that your actual voice right there? Like, that was a genuine wonder. Calais Campbell opens his mouth. It's like, that's how a 6 '8", 19-year NFL D-tackl is. Deep. He's got his deep air tone. and he's done good. Congrats to him.

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1:37:06Pat McAfee:Speaking of doing good, let James Cook graduated. We'll walk on May 8th from New Versus you georgia go dogs go dogs we'll walk at georgia's graduation ceremony on may 8th after completing his degree uh congrats to him obviously this is something he wanted to get done the nfl does a very good job of getting you in contact with the people to make these types of things happening with e-learning now who knows how many classes he had to show up for how many he had to do at home though certainly mightily he earned this they didn't just hand this out they don't just do that because uh investigations happen and they could lose a bunch of stuff he had to have done something I hate whenever people immediately say like, oh, yeah, cool, James Cook bought a degree.

1:37:48Pat McAfee:It's like if it was as easy as that, I'd have a degree right now. I do not have an degree. I got a lot of buddies that would have them, yeah, if it was that easy. They try. People do try. They definitely try. Certainly. I thought about hiring a team to get me a doctorate, and I guess that's just not how it goes. So congrats to James putting the work in, the effort in to make this happen, and I know his family pumped up. AJ, did you graduate? Yes, I did graduate. Post getting drafted? No, I stayed. I was still in school when I got drafted. I didn't finish up until that May sometime. Did you redshirt or leave early?

1:38:20No, I was just there all four years. Played special teams mainly my freshman year. And started those games and had like 15 tackles. I backed up C. Grant. He rolled his ankle, so I got to start a couple times. Shout out to him.

1:38:34Pat McAfee:Shout out to you. Who knows how many hours I am away now. I was at one point 13 hours away. Can you imagine going to sit there? what if someone gave you a schedule and they said okay for the next three months on monday wednesday you got to go to class from you have a 10 a.m to 12 p.m just that just that one class uh i i don't know if i'd be able to do it i wasn't able to do it in college so that was kind of like now it'd be impossible now i feel like yeah the e-learning i think kind of opens some things up for people to maybe get back in there but it's going to be hard for me to take anything serious at this stage yeah because even the e-learning now with zoom it's like that's still kind of a classroom like you're not just scrolling through like there's a teacher and you guys are all in a little box like we've seen those videos of people but that was the whole thing with jr smith too and he went back like jerry smith was like yeah i'm going to class every other day like this is very difficult also doing this while playing golf yeah i uh they tried to get me to go back numerous times um like do you have any idea how much you have left though so they wouldn't release I had 100 parking tickets for my scooter.

1:39:35Pat McAfee:Sure. Oh, yeah. Okay, my scooter had 100 parking tickets, so they would not release my... Diploma? No, not my diploma. I didn't graduate. My files. Yeah, right, right. So the NFL was trying to get my files to see how many hours it was, and they were like, we're not releasing it. The guy's got 100-some parking tickets or whatever, like, for my scooter. I didn't know they could tie my scooter back to me. I guess they, like everybody else, knew it was my scooter, because that thing was never registered to anything. So I kind of did a couple different times say, uh-uh, that's not mine. Those aren't mine.

1:40:02Pat McAfee:And then they came back. Yes. So pay that bill. I think I had one semester at one point, but that was early in my career they were trying to get me to finish it. I think it was DT, David Thornton, who's Director of Player Development, or maybe Rich, at the beginning, they were trying to get me to go back and do it. Now it's got to be, those hours have to be just multiplied, I would assume. Who knows how many of my classes that I actually went to and graduated from still count. Yes. I don't know if any of those things will count now. It's a whole different world now.

1:40:29Mark Schlabach:I don't know because you didn't transfer. So if you only had 13 hours or like a semester left, I don't really know how they could fudge that and change that. I think that's pretty steadfast.

1:40:38Pat McAfee:Maybe James Cook motivated me here to walk across that stage. That would be cool. Yeah. Is anyone graduating? Is anyone that goes to the league graduating? I said, come on now. You really think you're going to go back to college now? Come on. You've got a lot of time. You're not doing that. We can move on from that. We know that was quick. That came and went pretty fast, I think. Yeah, you're right. We are passing. But go on, what were you saying? Any of these guys that are in the NFL right now that are transferring? Does anybody graduate? Yeah. Does anyone graduate? I know it's like a common thing.

1:41:05If you're a big recruit, you graduate high school early and you go enroll and you take part in spring ball. But then if you're going to go to the league, how many people are graduating? You just have to count on all the guys that don't play to keep your graduation up?

1:41:16Pat McAfee:How about Coach K? Coach K was like, they don't really do school anymore. So I'm like, was that Coach K that told me? Because the NIL? Because I have that question. Do these guys have to show up at class? Like, are we still worried about them showing up at class now that we're paying them actually to do football? Like, what takes precedent? What takes... I mean, I don't know a lot of guys that are strictly, like, online now. Yeah, but are they even doing that? They have to be.

1:41:39Mark Schlabach:Like, you look at, like, some of the Big Tens. Like, it'd be during, like, basketball season and, like, teams from the Midwest would take, like, their West Coast road trip where they'd play Oregon, UCLA, and USC and they stay out there. They're out there for, like, two weeks.

1:41:52Pat McAfee:But is everybody just eligible now?

1:41:55Mark Schlabach:Yeah, I mean, maybe. Yeah, we don't hear anyone being ineligible, do we? I feel like they do. You really don't hear that. We don't. Because if I'm ineligible and I can't.

1:42:01Pat McAfee:It used to be a thing. So I could sue the school for taking away money from me? Because you are deeming me not able to get my money here? I assume there's some. Well, don't they take, like, kind of, like, teachers or kind of guidance counselors on the road with them so that they kind of have some sort of study guide? And then during the summers, don't they take classes? Are these guys called Pete Thamel? We need to know if they're doing the school. Is anybody doing the school? I think so.

1:42:24Mark Schlabach:When we get these guys who come on and commit, it's always for the next two to three years. There's no thought of three to four. But even that, it's not. Because football, you have to do three. And if you're doing a summer semester, plus your two actual semesters, you only have to be there for three years to get your diploma. That's right. Coach K was like, hey, look, they're here for 180 days. And then they're gone forever. Oh, yeah, because one and done actually. Yeah. You used to hear that. That used to be a thing where people were ineligible. Andy Katz, one of the greatest linebackers ever at Ohio State, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and said, like, The Ohio State is number one, asterisk, if the big cat is eligible because of this whole school situation where he didn't have enough credits or something.

1:43:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, eligibility really mattered whenever we were going through school. That just stopped happening, I feel like. You know what? These kids are smart. They're smart. I think after COVID, they kind of just stopped caring. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is the authority on college sports, Pete Thamel. Yeah, Peter. Everybody in the 3-1, Pete, we appreciate you for joining us, Pete. Do they do school anymore? College athletes?

1:43:26Mark Schlabach:So, Pat, most college athletes, I would say, and we certainly don't have a holistic percentage on this, take classes online.

1:43:33Pat McAfee:Yeah, but do they do it? We were talking about we haven't heard of somebody being ineligible. And then would they even be allowed to be ineligible because then they could potentially sue because you're affecting money in gains if you were to deem them ineligible from something that wasn't their actual profession, which is football. Has anybody been ineligible because of academics since money has started flowing towards football players and athletes?

1:43:55Mark Schlabach:I would say rare, rare, rare, rare. I'm sure somebody has. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head, but that was an annual thing. Like he's not going to make it or, you know, he's missing games or didn't go to class. But with ever since everything has shifted online and Reese has joked about this, the, yeah, there's been magically no, virtually no academic issues.

1:44:20Pat McAfee:These kids are all smarter. I'm happy about that. Hey, what's going on with the Soresby stuff? Do we know anything now that we didn't know maybe a couple days ago? And what do we think the fallout's going to be inevitably?

1:44:30Mark Schlabach:I don't think there's anything particularly new. I think the scope of how much he gambled, some of that has unspooled, to use one of your favorite words, Pat, in the past few days. And I think before there's any definitive action on what happens next, I think he has to leave rehab. They, you know, and it's pretty simple. Do they take an uphill fight to try to regain his eligibility? Which, again, precedent would tell you is something would have to radically change, be it an injunction or a rule change for him to get eligible. If, you know, the NC enforcement finds everything as as it has been as it has been reported or he goes to the supplemental draft.

1:45:12Mark Schlabach:My understanding of the supplemental draft, which is a bit of an opaque world, is that you have to declare by June 30th. We haven't had, I believe, a supplemental draft the last two years. I don't believe anybody has been taken in the supplemental draft since 2019. If Brendan Sorsby did indeed go to the supplemental draft, he would certainly be the most prominent player since Josh Horton. which was maybe a dozen or so years ago coming out of Baylor. But ironically, Pat, the reason you do end up in the supplemental draft is you don't have eligibility. That I believe, without looking at the rules in front of me, is one of the tenets where this sort of loophole emerged.

1:45:57Mark Schlabach:Because you weren't going to be able to be eligible to play at your school, you could then use this exit ramp and go there. So I have a feeling if it goes that way, we'll all be learning a lot more about the supplemental draft because it would be a, you know, look, he's a first round talent quarterback who is trending that way, certainly, and may have even been this year if he went. It's hard to say in a hypothetical, but he was certainly in the conversation, would have been studied by everybody and, you know, would have been in the QB2 slash three conversation.

1:46:32Pat McAfee:So we know a decision will be made by July then with the NCAA. That's never happened, right? Right. That would have to know.

1:46:37Mark Schlabach:That would mean that would mean he would have to declare by then. So this is the process.

1:46:43Pat McAfee:But he would only declare right after an NCAA investigation and punishment came that deemed him ineligible or.

1:46:49Mark Schlabach:So we can always count on the NCAA working slowly, Pat. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. If there's one thing we could do. The unique part of how the gambling situations work is he has not technically, I believe, been declared ineligible yet, but he will be declared ineligible. If you have a gambling violation, a gambling allegation that arises or that's found, you are declared ineligible. And then the process proceeds through a reinstatement process. But before that goes, they have to obviously investigate everything. So that would all be lengthy. So it would be surprising to me if there was NCAA clarity by June 30th.

1:47:28Mark Schlabach:And that's not knowing anything insightful from this case, but rather just covering these things for 25 years and how they tend to work.

1:47:36Pat McAfee:Got it. Okay. And I agree with you. I haven't been covering it for 25 years, but I've been around watching the NCAA operate. Us having an answer by July would be just, it won't happen. So he would potentially, okay, what if he did this? It's been done in the past. where they said you know what i'm done actually i'm done and they say well we want to look into your stuff sorry i'm actually not an ncaa person anymore i'm gonna leave he gets banned but he could enter the supplemental draft and then the nfl people would have to worry and do the investigation because if it's not any legal stuff and it's just ncaa stuff and he chooses to no longer do college stuff is there an investigation happening like is that his out actually just to say the whole thing i don't know that's you would tell me more pete i guess yeah i i think like it

1:48:23Mark Schlabach:would make sense to explore all possible like coaches have gone to the nfl before whenever there's about to be an ncaa thing right correct yeah no that that john calipari uh sort of invented beating the posse we saw pete carroll do it it's it's happened quite a few times so this would be

1:48:38Pat McAfee:a player doing it right investigation is about to happen actually i'm gonna go to the nfl that that would be the first time so if there isn't a legal investigation then we never really get

1:48:48Mark Schlabach:yes yeah my understanding is the only legal things that could emerge from this is like underage gamble which is you know parking parking ticket stuff that's not anything that's good so soarsby

1:48:57Pat McAfee:could potentially if he comes out of this rehab not wanting to gamble ever again which we hope

1:49:01Mark Schlabach:happens for him by the way it sounds like surely yes sincerely hope we genuinely hope that happens

1:49:05Pat McAfee:again and then they just shut down this investigation because he decides to go to the nfl he could basically get a brand new right he could kind of get a brand new thing here with an opportunity misses out on 5 million from texas tech right but this could actually be a coaches have done it with the ncaa they'll say you come back you can't show claws whatever but then this could actually that's interesting that that could be the outcome here for mr soars sounds like that

1:49:26Mark Schlabach:that should be what he does because regardless if he's going to get suspended like he's not he's not ever going to see that five million dollars from texas tech right like that's that's not happening

1:49:34Pat McAfee:so he why wouldn't you i don't know yeah i'm very fascinated we're all talking about this live obviously that's not how most shows work uh but on that note that feels mr soarsby sounds like there is an ability and a chance for you to change your life here you know and uh that very rarely does that happen we hope you are able to do that but if you bet on your own teams uh on a regular basis we would like to say you can't fucking do that to us no can't do that to the sports world and a lot of people obviously attacking the coverage of sports having sports gambling being prevalent that's two different this is a two different world in the sport take it from us two ex-athletes you know it's just two different things like talking about sports and knowing that lines exist and where money is and everything like that that is where we are as a society with sport and that's how some societies have been talking about sports for generations at this exact point so i just think athletes have to continue to be very disciplined i don't i don't necessarily think it's fair but for the good of fucking everything in sport we have to keep the integrity of the game i think we all kind of understand that which is an interesting the soresby thing is an interesting thing because like if he gets another chance the nfl team is going to want to know a lot but how are they going to get to know a lot if the ncaa doesn't get a chance to investigate because didn't coach harbaugh just say no yeah he just went to the charger he's got a few clothes fascinating okay last question for me pete uh before we get out of here uh and once again anybody that's going through anything any type of addiction definitely gambling addiction we hope you get to a point where you want to help yourself just like soresby did there and we hope that helping yourself sticks as somebody who's been a part of a lot of different interventions for a lot of different things uh it isn't until the person really wants it and obviously you can motivate them but if you're in a spot know that you can get help and people love you and that should be something i hope soresby's hearing even though it probably feels like his life is spiraling out of control last question right now from me about college everything wasn't march madness good enough what why are you changing it pete why are you adding teams to my pete why are you doing this to march madness i i don't think i understand why you i thought you liked college sports pete i thought you liked march madness now you're gonna make what march surplus why why are we into a march mockery kind of it is kind of a little bit of a march mockery yeah yeah we don't need any of this, sir.

1:51:55Pat McAfee:Why'd you do this?

1:51:57Mark Schlabach:Apologies if I offended you by something I clearly didn't do and just am reporting on. I would say this is something, Pat, that there's been a drumbeat for this for a while. And as much as some people have cast this as a money grab, and there's certainly money involved, no one's naive to that, this is really an access grab and and a byproduct of these leagues ballooning to the size where they are right now. I believe off the top of my head, it probably says something I don't know all this cold. We have 18 in the Big Ten. I'm confident in that. I think we have 17 ACC schools, 16 SEC, I believe 16 Big 12.

1:52:36Mark Schlabach:When this TV contract for college basketball was enacted, or you can go all the way back, these leagues, well, there was a Pac-12, right? And these leagues weren't nearly the size that they were. and the money obviously that the power conferences can pay their players has created this huge separation right between the power leagues and the non-power leagues and we can throw the big east in there for for basketball chat at this point so the power leagues that now control the voting and uh you know have a have a big say in this they want more of their mid-tier teams in the tournament i'm sick of it sick of it you know a lot of the reaction pat i mean you are not uh You're not on an island, and what you and Ty and Connor were intimating there, obviously.

1:53:21Mark Schlabach:There has been a strong rebuttal to this publicly, but you tend to follow the money, just like Woodward and Bernstein taught us, Big J journalists, a long time ago. And you follow the money, and you tend to get your answers. And there hasn't been a significant expansion of the NCAA Tournament since 1985. So things grow, things evolve. basically Tuesday and Wednesday now of the NCAA tournament are going to have 12 total games. Six each. One set of those in Dayton. It's a great state of Ohio. Nice looking week.

1:53:57Pat McAfee:Yeah, it is. Okay, so just like I was going to say to you, my reaction, everybody's reaction is everybody's reaction, but then when it comes on, guess who's going to be paying the bill for all of it? Me. And us. Now we get to shut it down for more days? We like that. But go on, boys, we never heard of. Go on, 500 team from the Big Ten. Good luck out there, boys. Maybe you strike gold here in this March Madness that has been blimped up a little bit. We have a minute left here on ESPN before we continue digitally. I'll let Tone ask you the question, but if I cut you off in the middle of your answer, it's because I've got to send people to SportsCenter.

1:54:32Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Pete, big news yesterday. The Big 12 approved the deal with Redbird Capital, a private equity, I believe, company. So now if schools opt in, I believe they get$30 million. Is that on top of the 20-some-odd million or whatever they get in revenue sharing already? And why would a school not opt in to get the$30 million?

1:54:52Mark Schlabach:Yeah, actually, it's on very few. It feels like from the Big 12, the early feel is very few will do this. You have to pay it back. That's why you don't do it, right? Like it's just not – there's no free money anywhere. Other than the field goal kick, Pat, there's no free money in America.

1:55:05Pat McAfee:Oh, you think that's free? Yeah. That's expensive. Yeah, somebody's paying to be on game day every year.

1:55:12Mark Schlabach:Random sophomore in Athens, right? So, yeah, PE is on its way into college sports. We're feeling it and seeing it in different ways. It's manifested on the campus side. It's now manifested on the conference side. And there will be more of it, not less of it, as things go on, Tom.

1:55:28Pat McAfee:30 % or 30 million. I wonder what percentage of revenue they're looking for, for how long? Are you signing one of those 20-year deals then with Redbird Capital? How many people will be in charge whenever this bill actually comes five to ten years from now? Will there be people that are looking out for their asses right now? We can get an extra 30 mil right now. Who cares who's going to have to pay the bill ten years from now? There will be some of those types of decisions made. I assume Kamish, who is the one who probably negotiated this deal, would like to see some of his teams use this. Remember, we had an LED basketball court.

1:55:59Pat McAfee:He obviously changed that. He does like to think. This guy is a forward thinker. I think we have a lot of respect for your check. Your mark. Hunter. Sorry, you're a mark.

1:56:08Mark Schlabach:No, Hunter Juracek, Brett Jurmark. Hunter Juracek is the Arkansas AD. Brett Jurmark is the forward-thinking Big 12.

1:56:18Pat McAfee:And I would like to let forward-thinking Big 12 commission Jurmark know that I got respect for him and his twin brother. They are good business people, and West Virginia women's basketball team and our rifle team are their Big 12 champs. So I would be interested to see if WVU decides to do this.

1:56:37Pat McAfee:Very interesting. I don't have, yeah.

1:56:40Mark Schlabach:As will I. My hunch would be no, but I'm not sure.

1:56:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, but who would be making that decision? The president? The AD? Yeah, what if Rich Rod wants to do it, but the president and AD don't?

1:56:48Mark Schlabach:Sorry. I think those would be, you know, board decisions, high-end decisions like that, if you will.

1:56:56Pat McAfee:I know. High-level. That is legit, though. It has to come from somebody that's potentially going to be there when this shit has to get paid. Because everything's so cyclical. I'm not cyclical. what'd that mean? Revolving? Everything's so revolving at some of these Big 12 schools. Like, Ren Baker? We thought we were going to lose Ren Baker when any AD job leave. So if AD is making this decision to check into one of these private equity things, it's like, AD, is he going to be here in 15 years? Does he care if we're fucking paying 15 % of revenue 15 years from now, whatever the percentage is, for$30 million right now?

1:57:28Pat McAfee:I don't think so. And some of these people might be big risk takers. It's like, hey, if we take this $30 million, we can compound it, pay this thing off quick and then we catapult ourselves into a monster spot presidents too they change we've had a president change the last couple years it's like who's making that it's that's a big decision huge it's like high school kids signing these deals that are like hey we'll take a percentage of this for this long it's like you're kind of weighing everything in the future and how much striking gold now helps you know deferred payments are good because you know you got something coming later but what if you strike fucking now then you don't worry about what the payment is later because it's only going to grow.

1:58:02Pat McAfee:Good luck out there. $30 million being available. Pete Thamel, we hope you would take it because if we put a$30 million rocket on your back, you'd be at fucking Mars, pal. You're the man. We appreciate the hell out of you, Pete.

1:58:15Mark Schlabach:Thank you. Good to see you guys.

1:58:16Pat McAfee:Goodbye, Pete Thamel. You get$30 million rocket, basically, for your organization. I wonder what you have to give up for that$30 million. Yeah, what percentage of revenue later in life? Well, you're going to win, though. You get all that money from the CFB and all that stuff. That's what I'm saying. What if you don't win? If I... Then you leave. I think you heard me explaining there. That's true. Okay? The downfall of this is the people that are potentially not going to be there are going to be making decisions for future generations of whatever that are going to have to flip the bill. What is the bill?

1:58:48Pat McAfee:We don't know. Okay? We have not seen that detail yet. We'd probably get it from your market if I had to guess. I'm sure we could probably find that out before tomorrow's program. We'll do some journalism-ing. but if i'm a dog and i'm in one of these powerful positions i get what are we all looking for all fundraising right we're gonna get 30 million dollars to do whatever we need to do right now i think i'm betting on the boy i think i'm betting on the team i think i'm betting on us to use this 30 million dollars to put us into a different stratosphere now if it doesn't work i'm getting fired and i'm not there which i don't have to pay the bill yeah so of course you're taking it yeah exactly that's what i'm saying he said he doesn't think a lot of schools are gonna do it's like push comes to shove.

1:59:24Pat McAfee:You get people in a room. Hey, do you want 15 million? You can get up to 30. Do you want$15 million to maybe help you? This is what you're giving up. It's like, that's like a reality show. They need to be filming this shit. You got to present that to the board or the chancellors, those people that are there, that will be there 10 years from now, I guess. Then you got to, you got to talk them into it. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see who does it. They should be filming that to make the money back. That's what they should, they should be doing. Cause that's a huge decision. You're just, you're obviously this is every negotiation, but you're leveraging the future for the moment.

1:59:54Pat McAfee:Can you create the moment to be bigger than what the future would be?

2:00:00If I'm there, Mountaineers, we get$30 million right now?

2:00:04Pat McAfee:How much is Cody Campbell giving to their fucking dealer? Yeah, exactly. $20 million? Okay, I guess we'll beat Cody Campbell for a year. Let's go ahead and try that out.

2:00:11Mark Schlabach:And I guess that will be the tough sell because the Board of Regents are all people who have either been there for like 10-plus years or will be there for the next, you know, so you can't just do like, well, you know, hey, yeah, if this doesn't work out, I'll just make a lateral move to a different big-time conference that's kind of down there, you know, lower towards the bottom. When they fire their GM, I'll just leak to my agent, hey, you know, I need a fresh start. I think I want to go to, you know, Colorado instead.

2:00:38Pat McAfee:Bruce just said that the media rights deals are up in 2031 as well. So if you're deciding to get this money, you can always sell a fake number coming in 2031. Yeah. You can always sell, especially with some of these deals that are happening around sports, you can just say, oh, we're going to give fucking$75 million a school. This won't even matter. We're probably going to join maybe even the Big Ten. I mean, there's a chance. So this money, I'm thinking more people are going to use it than less people. Texas Tech, they're definitely going to take it. Yeah. Do they need it, though? Yeah. Which schools need it?

2:01:11No.

2:01:12Pat McAfee:Oh, they're not going to give up 15 % though. Yeah, exactly. What is the percentage? We need to know what the percentage. What's this guy? I'm calling him.

2:01:19Mark Schlabach:It's Cody Campbell. He could just cut a check for the return right away.

2:01:23Pat McAfee:He can get$30 million. Yeah. What the fuck is this guy's number?

2:01:34Pat McAfee:This is not 100. Something else.

2:01:39Pat McAfee:We'll find out about the Big 12 going forward. I have some breaking news, I do believe. Okay. Wayne Gretzky has texted us. Wayne. Great interview with Rick. Yeah. Thank you for promoting hockey. 99. Wow, Wayne. Love you, 99. He gets it. Oh, my God. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It's pinnacle. It might change our life. We're in this thing together. We got hockey. We got NBA tonight. Wayno. There's no way he's watching now. What a walk-off. Wayno. Love you, 99. Wayno. Fuck yeah. That's a great one.

2:02:24Pat McAfee:Isn't it nice to feel that? Yeah, it is. That's nice We need that Especially after Valerie Rest in peace I love you dog Bob Rest in peace Love you dog Fucking Wano Says hey Pretty good little Sausage there With fucking talking Hey I got you Patty That's fucking good Hell yeah Yeah I bet Yeah No universe Ball universe just Called Yeah Universe puck We gotta figure out what Big 12's got going on. Yup. On it. Who knows? We'll see you tomorrow. Big guess tomorrow, I think. Huge, man. A couple. I think so. From what I'm hearing. Let's remember we're lucky to be alive every day. You wake up alive. Good.

2:03:16Yes.

2:03:17Pat McAfee:Is there things that you can find around you that are ass? Certainly. Should we try to move on from those things? Yes. But remember, life, good. death alternative not great let's enjoy it all thank you for being the best dog of all time i fucking love you girl gotta get a tattoo i think okay yeah i think i have to i don't think it's gonna be big because you know yeah your whole back or what did you hear what i think because i already got this one for the daughter yeah i think it's already got that one i think the tattoo community knows that if i go under if they put me out and i get a whole sleeve

2:03:56Mark Schlabach:in my bag like i pay my respects certified now yeah certified right here bro boom right here that is a painful spot exactly it looks like it for real i'm gonna wake up someday double sleeved take it off hold back be sick what's up boys i've been under for 28 hours

2:04:15Pat McAfee:four artists who's sleeve over here oh yeah i'll be so much of this so much of this so much mono Let's enjoy life. A lot of mana. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. It might change your life. We're all in this thing together. We have no idea what everybody's going through. Never forget it. So maybe make somebody smile. Could be a benefit for all lives. Yourselves included. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

2:04:40Mark Schlabach:Hey, sports fans. The ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network in service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional cause. Visit activate.espn.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN, all in one place. Sign up or activate now.