PMS 2.0 1561 - Dan Orlovsky, Erik Johnson, Chris Paul, & AJ Hawk

22:23Give him any knowledge that he needs. Again, we're both competitors, and I know we both won what's best for the team.

22:31Pat McAfee:Has he been receptive to hearing Curtis? Of course, of course. He's overly receptive, and he's always communicating, asking questions, stuff like that, so it's been good. JJ, what's your relationship been like with Kyler so far? It's just like two guys in a classroom. You know, he sits on one side, I sit on the other side, and it's the coach's responsibility to teach us and coach us. Is there any awkwardness, like, between you two? Awkwardness, you know, it's just like the same feeling, you know, when you're in high school and there's another person on the other side of the room. That's just kind of how it is, so I wouldn't say there's any awkwardness.

23:04Okay, so I'm feeling awkward and uncomfortable just listening to his answers.

23:10Pat McAfee:Now, on that note, young lad, I think he has his own form of leadership. But it feels like he's viewing it in a fashion of we're both in a room trying to learn the same stuff. Let's go to work. Kyler trying to say, hey, I'd be willing to help at anything. Should we read into any of these answers? Because I'm going to let you know how I feel. I think Kyler, who a lot of people have wondered if he's a good teammate, if he's a good professional, if he's good at all these things. I'm not saying there are valid reasons to wonder these things. This is just the things that are kind of wondered about Kyler Murray publicly.

23:38Pat McAfee:So going into a competition situation with a top 10 draft pick at a place, I was eager to see how it was going to be navigated. Kyler has seemingly, potentially, had a, I don't want to say a humbling moment, but a reality perspective on life moment whenever he leaves Arizona. And everything that I've seen and heard and watched from him, with the dreams of him and a Kevin O 'Connell offense, are like, holy shit. We've seen this with a lot of guys. We saw it with Sam Darnold. We saw it with Mac Jones. We saw it with Baker Mayfield. Carl Wynn. No, I'm not talking just Kevin O 'Connor. I'm talking about quarterbacks getting another opportunity after a first time actually not working out in the long run.

24:19Pat McAfee:It's like, is Kyler about to have that with Kevin O 'Connor on an offense that we know is incredibly proficient? They're like, no, it's a competition with JJ. So Kyler, I think, has an interesting viewpoint going into the competition to begin with because if he wanted to be, you know, a shitty teammate, he could here. I think he could try to be. Instead, it felt like he was trying to come from an older guy perspective. What did you learn from those two answers, and what are your thoughts on how this is all going to play out in Minnesota, Dano? Yeah, it was an uphill battle for J.J. McCarthy on the field in this competition.

24:51Hearing the answers, it sounds like there's an uphill battle off the field as well. And if you haven't, I guess, divided the locker room or lost the locker room, I don't think that answer is helping you. Okay, one, I want to give kudos to Kyler. He comes across mature. It sounds like good leadership. It might be like coach speak and right thing to say, but there's a reality to that. With JJ's answer, and I like JJ. I've supported a fan for JJ. I'm rooting for JJ. At times, it just feels like it's, at least publicly, it's an act. like this i i have to have this bravado type of response or something like that and you're on the same team at the end of the day you're you're on the same team we all know you're competing we all know you're in the same room at the end of the day whoever plays better is more than likely going to win that job so for you to have that type of response of like oh we're just in the same room it's almost I don't want to say you're I your feet it feels like you're trying to divide the locker room like are you team JJ or are you team Kyler and he comes across that way at times okay

26:09Pat McAfee:I can understand where you're coming from I hate the fact that we are breaking down a quote like this the way we are sure but I do think it is just one piece of the entire puzzle that we've been seeing here for a bit in wondering how and why because coach Harbaugh man that we have respect for it but obviously he was coach at Michigan when JJ McCarthy had all the success that he had and recruited him out of IMG and everything like that said he had the greatest workout in the history of quarterbacks or something like that after his pro day and then talked about him being the best quarterback and I think his opinion carries a lot of weight with a lot of NFL people as it should so I think we all immediately had super high hopes for JJ McCarthy for one reason or another yeah we I we did too we watched him in the Rose Bowl throw a 102 mile an hour fastball to the sideline on a rollout.

26:53Pat McAfee:Almost got picked off. Yeah, as they beat Alabama there. I mean, it was, we saw him in his games and ship. We heard about his leadership style. But since the NFL has happened, it's just been an interesting watch. It's been a very interesting watch. And that interaction right there is certainly just another piece on it. And then to your point, Kyler, very comfortable. Like very rarely did I see him comfortable speaking. Right at Arizona. I don't think I ever really heard him comfortable speaking. I love what he's doing. I love that this is where his life has taken him. I appreciate the fact that he was a Vikings fan growing up, and I appreciate that maybe everything that we have thought that Kyler could become is still very possible in a place that needs it.

27:32Pat McAfee:Bad. Hey, hey, they need it over there in Minnesota, don't they, Ty? That NFC North is getting real good real quick, and they were not too far away from a Super Bowl a couple years ago. Yeah, and I don't know if you believe in the football gods or if you ascribe to that, But I think a lot of people do. And listen, this isn't just me saying this as a Packers fan. They won 14 games with Sam Darnold. We're, you know, what, like three minutes away from being the number one seed in the NFC. They lost. See you later, Sam Darnold. We're going to bring in J.J. McCarthy. He's the guy. He might be the best quarterback ever per Harbaugh.

28:08I think it's already been written in stone in time. Listen, I hope that Kyler Murray is good this year. I don't think the Vikings are going to win a Super Bowl in my lifetime.

28:18Pat McAfee:What? How old are you? I'm 35. I just don't. Listen, they've been through all the trials and tribulations up to this point. They haven't gotten it done. You just don't do that. You don't write off a guy like that and then have it immediately. I'm talking immediately blow up in your face. Usually it's a couple years. Hey, it didn't work out. We're going to have to do something else. Every year with this guy already, it's like, Jesus Christ, we've got to go get Rodgers or we've got to go get Kyler Murray. Like, they haven't publicly really said it yet, but it's like, fuck this guy. We're done with this guy.

28:47We've got to figure something else. I mean, I get it. That is not what you were saying. Well, and I'm just saying, I know we all love KOC, but now the heat's going to start turning up on him. Why is that? Because it was – Answer that. I agree. Yeah, because, like, everyone's been killing Kwasi Adolfa Mensah, and, you know, rightfully so. I mean, he's not there anymore. But, like, KOC's the head coach. He's the quarterback whisperer. For how long were we talking about this guy can win with anybody? It doesn't matter. You put someone who is a little bit accurate, you put him in his system, and he's going to figure out he's going to win games with them.

29:21Boy, we all saw J.J. McCarthy play last year, and I'm not saying he's the most accurate guy, but Kevin O 'Connell clearly thought, hey, I can make this guy into someone special, and now it's – I mean, we're, what, two years removed, and it's like this guy's not special. Kyler Murray, though, he might be special in my offense again. So I'm just saying – I'm just saying. They better win. they better win quick because this could get ugly.

29:43Pat McAfee:Dan, you've just been gassing him up right now. He's a Green Bay Packers fan. This is Green Bay Packers fan. That has nothing to do with this. Yeah, nothing, of course, nothing. I agree on his sentiments. I think Kevin O 'Connell is a tremendous coach, tremendous. We all know what this league is about. And if you go, I think that has to factor into the decision-making as well. at the quarterback spot is like, who do you think not only like gives you the best chance to win now that absolutely is factoring in, but who do you see and or want to be your future guy? I just, I sit there and I go, you're not going to survive two straight years of subpar quarterback play when I believe they're still searching for a general manager.

30:31Am I right with that? Yeah, the Vikings are still searching for a general manager. Do we not think Kevin O 'Connell is trying to be

30:37Pat McAfee:General Mandurin coach right now and then they're going to have him Maybe hire somebody too You're not going to survive Multiple bad years with bad quarterback play As great of a coach as he is Yeah we agree We believe, I believe So do I but that's what I'm saying Like Dan's saying, you can't have another bad year And we can't keep saying This guy can win with anybody You're above 500 You can't I think there's Quarterback play was third worst in the league or something, I think by statistics and metrics. He won 14 games the year before that. So the thought about Kyler, though, in that offense, you're saying the same things I'm saying about maybe him having a humble or a perspective situation taking place once he leaves Arizona, now going back to his childhood team that he was a fan of and now having a different idea of what he needs to do.

31:28Pat McAfee:I think that's a big deal for Kyler. I genuinely think that. I agree completely with the leadership element. And we're taking a snippet of a quote and kind of evaluating that. But I agree with just the comfort that he said it in as well. I would tell you this. This will come down to does it work with Kyler or not in Minnesota. You guys have probably heard this. Kevin O 'Connell as the play caller. He's top five in under center and play action pass. Okay. When it comes to doing both of those. I learned did that about three times per game in Arizona, three times. Now, Kirk Cousins under Kevin O 'Connell did it about 10 times a game.

32:11I think Sam did it about nine times a game. So a lot more than Kyler. I'm not telling people Kyler can't do it. I'm just telling we haven't seen Kyler do it a lot. So how comfortable Kyler gets running that offense is the number one thing, the number two thing. And this is the next level of it. If you just watch where Kyler has struggled as a player, I would tell you one of the main areas is throwing cross-ring routes across the middle of the field, sideline to sideline, guys running sideline to sideline. I think 14 or 15 interceptions, I tracked them, 14 or 15 interceptions since 2000 on crossing routes by Kyler Murray.

32:51That's the most in the NFL over that period. one of the main staples past concept wise for kevin o 'connell is the crossing route and so while i agree like i'm hopeful there are those two areas that i sit there and say can he do the play action under center game consistently and then how much does he improve because it might be a vision thing with kyler it might be a vision thing with kyler how how much

33:17Pat McAfee:does he improve throwing those crossers well okay so in the throwing the crossers could be something that maybe isn't changeable, right? Because Kyler is shorter than most quarterbacks, especially whenever you're trying to throw... Let me jump on that real quick. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Okay, real quickly, it is changeable, I believe, because the way I think that really good coaches do it is you change the ability with the pass protection scheme. AQ would be great at this. If you think of Sean Payton with Drew Brees, they were really good at, I would always say, like, think of an accordion. They were really good at their play-action game almost stretching their offensive line out.

33:55And so because of the pass protection or the play-action pass protection concept, they would actually build in passing lanes for Drew Brees and or quarterbacks to have a bigger window to throw through rather than trying to see and throw over.

34:11Pat McAfee:And Kevin O 'Connell will be able to do that? I would imagine. He's very smart, I would imagine. So we got to know who works. I don't think so. And Kyler's not scared to drop one of these things, too. If the passing lane is over here, I'm going to go ahead and take that thing over to guard, you know, as the head's over the center maybe, you know what I mean? Yeah. Jefferson, Addison, Juwan Jennings. I mean. Oh, not a bad. Have you seen the rushing stats whenever Kyler's running and then Kevin O 'Connell rushing stats? No. So when Kyler Murray is a quarterback, the rushing stats for the Cardinals, 27.4 attempts a game.

34:43Pat McAfee:So if he's able to do the play action, obviously this will only cook even more. 133.2 yards a game, 99 touchdowns in 87 games. Wow. The Vikings, 101.6 rush yards per game, 30 yards less than that, obviously. 29th in the NFL since 2022. So Kyler's automatically upgrading the rush game, which could only help Kevin O 'Connell's pass game, you would assume. But can he go on a certain return and turn his back to the defense? That's what we're wondering, right, Dano? That's what we're wondering? Yeah. Yeah, it's a big deal. Can he do this? He definitely didn't do it in college either. No, because college is literally.

35:14Pat McAfee:Yeah. Lincoln was not. Catch and throw. That. Yeah. Kyler, though, at this stage, I think this is a good time where he's, yeah, I will. Kyler's done some of it. I mean, he did a little bit more. Three a game, you said. Yeah, he tracked. Nine, ten, maybe we need to do Sam Darnold. That's an interesting couple stats he threw out there. He does about three times. Kirk's a nine. Can you do it consistently more? I think that's. Three X. He did a little bit. Three X, maybe four X more. First time with a franchise left tackle, you could argue, with there. So. Darisal, yeah. And also a facility, right?

35:51Yeah.

35:52Pat McAfee:First time ever having a facility. From the report cards that got leaked publicly, I don't like that they got leaked publicly. No, they shouldn't be doing that. That's good journalism, whoever did that. The entire story of the Vikings, though, will be, was J.J. McCarthy the right move or not? And if Kyler goes on to have the success this year, they'll move on from J.J. McCarthy. That'll be Kyler's team. All so much to be figured out. And maybe, you know, this bravado character isn't just a character, even though it feels like it might be a movie character. Maybe this is just actually who he is.

36:22Pat McAfee:Maybe he's got to find his way, this J.J. McCarthy, and hopefully this year could be the year. Now, let's talk about some teams that have seemingly figured out which way they are headed, but having a little bit new things going on. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Dan, I wanted to talk about a couple of playoff teams last year who have new play callers, different situations, obviously. Start with the Panthers. Dave Canales, the head coach, has been the play caller. He got that job because of being a play caller, and he is going to relinquish those duties. and then up in Seattle obviously Clint Kubiak goes to the Raiders so Seattle no longer has him as the OC they have a first time OC play caller as well what are your thoughts on those situations don't like either of them I would start with Carolina I think if you're hired because of your play calling you should not give up play calling I think Canales is good as a play caller it's you know this game it's probably if we're being honest it's that's probably 150 million dollar loss i think if bryce young and then beat the rams he would have gotten an extension this offseason i'm not saying they didn't because of him he played great in that game but i just believe the optics of that upset he's probably under top five pressure quarterback wise in the nfl and so going into this season and so i don't like the fact that coach canales has given up the play calling i believe their new offensive coordinator brad idzik as to my knowledge has never called plays um i i for me i don't understand how that happens i know at some point everyone has to call their plays for the first time i don't know if it should be with a quarterback that's having you know an enormous year on top of his shoulders i think carolina is going to be good up front offensively it'll really be about their really secondary and third option pass catchers tech was obviously very good you know does coker take a step forward Xavier Leggett, they draft Brazel out of Tennessee.

38:09Sanders is a good tight end. But I don't like the fact that the head coach and the play caller has given up the play calling duties with such a big year on tap. For Seattle, I would say the very same thing. I don't know Brian Fleury. I know that he has history with Sam Darnold. I believe that they were together in 23 in San Francisco. I think most of his background is on the defensive side of the football. I know he's been around the Shanahan tree and some different offensive positional roles. I don't believe he's ever called plays again. I don't understand how we're hiring these people in these roles that are really important roles, the defending Super Bowl champion, and saying, let's do this for the first time.

38:49I'm sure Kevin Petulo is a good football coach. I'm sure he knows a ton of football and can dial it up X's and O's for the Philadelphia Eagles last year. They come off winning the Super Bowl. They take a coach and they say, you've never done this before. Go do it. And obviously it did not go well. And I'm not saying here telling everybody that that's going to be the case in Seattle, but I don't love it.

39:14Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're pretty down on both of those pretty quick. I mean, as soon as the question was asked, you were kind of downing out on it. It seems like you're bummed out. You remember with Mac Jones? You remember with Mac whenever they put Matt Patricia as the offense coordinator? I think for him, you said very loudly, my least favorite move in the entire NFL is the offense coordinator position at the New England Patriots. Because the quarterback, you talk about Bryce Young. He literally just hit it. Now we're going to change it, even though the person's still in the same building. That feels interesting.

39:47Pat McAfee:Obviously, Idzig had success as the wide receivers coach there, I believe. So he does have some offensive wide receiver stuff. And hopefully he'll do well for Bryce. But why would you want to change that? We don't know. Canales maybe wants to oversee more. I don't know. Sam Donald's got to be like, come on. Finally got the everything off my shoulder. Didn't win the Super Bowl MVP, but still won the Super Bowl. Who cares? Got paid. Kind of made everybody regret everything that they've ever said. You can win with me as quarterback. Okay, now let's go back to square one. Also, we got a brand new play caller.

40:19Pat McAfee:It's fascinating times to make those decisions, but if they end up working out, nobody will care. Some teams have gotten better. Some teams have gotten way worse with new play callers because obviously it can affect everything. shout out to Philadelphia Eagles now there's another place you've been pretty high on go ahead Ty yeah Dan what about Tampa I think a lot of people kind of forgot that they fired Josh Rizard and hired Zach Robinson he came over from Atlanta but Baker is obviously one of those guys who's had about a hundred different OCs play callers what are you expecting from the Bucks this year I think on paper they're a championship contender in the NFC I really do I think everything that was attached to last year was about health for them.

40:59I think their roster is one of the best in the NFL. Their offensive line, I think they started last year nine different offensive line combinations. Nine. Year before, I believe it was like three. And the year before in 2023, it was two. Everything about Tampa for me is their offensive line from an offensive perspective. I think Baker's awesome. I love Bucky Irving. They're tight end. Otten is really good. I think They're receivers, and I know they lose Mike Evans. Emeka's going to take a huge step forward. McMillan's a really nice player. They still have Godwin. So they've got plenty of people to throw the football to, plenty.

41:33Everything will be about their offensive line. If their offensive line's healthy and stays healthy, I think it's going to be an awesome offense and an NFC Championship contending team. I guess the question mark, the unknown, is the defense. I think with the defense is this. One, they've invested in that front big time. Obviously, they have Vita Vea. I believe they signed A'shaun Robinson, the defensive tackles of free agency. So you got two veteran defensive tackles in free agency, okay? If Reuben Bain is who everybody who, you know, I trust in the draft process says he is, then you've got Bain.

42:06You've got Yaya Diaby. They've invested the young Klaja Kansi. Klaja Kansi, good call. Anzalone. Anzalone, yeah. And I think they've got some young players in the back end. Don't forget, this was the team that I think like week five last year, maybe week six, week five, they went to Seattle, and I think they hung like 40 on them, 38, 40, something like that. And then the injuries just started to decimate their football team. I think they're really talented.

42:33Pat McAfee:And Mike Evans, obviously, that's a huge, I mean, that's so many touchdowns, so many big red zone situations, first down situations, obviously deep shots. How will they just post that? And I'm excited to see how he does with the Niners. I mean, that's kind of been an under-talked-about story in its entirety. Good news, first game of the year. We'll see him in Australia. That's right. Taking on the Los Angeles Rams. Last question for us. Did you happen to see last night's State of Sports? And Matthew Stafford saying all the right things. He said, you know, Ty Simpson, although he was Alabama, was kind of ass, you know, go dogs.

43:08Pat McAfee:He felt obligated to obviously put on there. He said, I'm ready to help him. That's what I've been around a long time. Do you think that's strictly because they just paid him the amount of money that they just paid him that he feels that way? Or do you think he's felt that way the entire time? Because it felt like to me that Matthew Stafford is very content with who he is whenever we were talking to him. I'm incredibly pumped for him that he has gotten to a stage of life, especially after having a Super Bowl win and all the records and everything that he's done and put his body through, that it feels like he does understand that he is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, we think.

43:39Yeah.

43:39Pat McAfee:You know, with the first ballot Hall of Fame. so that feels like a different mindset you know uh that's a different maybe a younger player would have do you think this is how all staffords would have been like in detroit and uh maybe at the beginning in la and now la like what are your thoughts on that type of relationship with ty simpson and anything else that he said last night as we chit-chatted about him looking ahead being healthier than he obviously was last season going into the year yeah i saw a bunch of the clips from the stuff on social or on social from last night. Outstanding as always.

44:10I think you've got to pinch yourself in some of those moments, by the way. Thank you, man. Yeah, it's awesome, dude. I don't really like me.

44:17Pat McAfee:Pinch is not really my thing, but I will. We did last night. I don't know. Do you ever take a step back and be like, oh, the playoffs for one of the major main sports is over. You're the guy they go to. Like, it's pretty awesome. Oh, yeah. I never thought of that. The only thing I thought of is, oh, no these people think jalen brunson timothy chalamet ben stiller uh spider james harden atkinson's gonna give some quote he's gonna give some but that's who these people uh that are you know paid for that particular show are thinking about so us getting presented the opportunity incredibly honored to do something but how do we make something that would like make it anywhere near okay to be presentable at that time so yeah there was afterwards there was a there was a sit down oh i can't believe that just happened that was pretty cool yeah we felt really and the execution from the graphics department to everybody in the back i mean it was a whirlwind of like a 24 hours and to all the commissioners that came by and obviously shefty and and rap sheet kind of sitting there together and then cool yeah and pk and monica mcnutt was incredible jet passing immediately after the entire thing.

45:29Pat McAfee:It was cool. We were very, very thankful for everybody that stopped by and for the opportunity. But yeah, I don't like the pinching thing, but we definitely did sit back and do a whole like, wow, that was a fucking crazy run from New York, baby Midas, New York, to that, to how everybody just executed immediately. It was really cool. It's almost like we were planning for it for years, but instead it was just like a 24-hour, 48-hour thing that really came together. So thank you for watching. And we are very lucky to do it and thankful to do it. you're right yes and i said a thank you to espn obviously for the opportunity because that's crazy that we got to do that but um thank you yeah but stafford was great i would say he had a sun shining on his face did you see him with the teeth the teeth were glowing smile in the nfl the sun was just like he was glowing he looked like a los angeles look young he looked like a movie a beautiful sunroom he did he looked like a movie a bit of the gray coming through the beard i've been here a long time yeah the whole thing but the way he talks i think matthew yeah i think i think this version of matthew is probably uh the most complete from a player and a person and a competitor uh i've known him obviously a long time um i think he's in the ideal frame of mind where the journey and the destination are both the same for him in many ways like I think he truly loves and has the chip on the shoulder of, yeah, I'm the old dude, and I still do it better than everybody.

46:59I'm the old dude in the locker room, and I can still hang with the young fellas, whether it's shooting the breeze or busting chops or whatnot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

47:10Pat McAfee:Shooting the breeze. I can still hang in that regard, but then I can go out and be a killer on the field. and I absolutely think that the dream scenario for him is you know win the Super Bowl in LA and and call it a day but I think that it's genuine that he wants to help Ty I think it's genuine that you know he realizes how lucky he's been in many ways to to get to go to LA and finish his career in LA with Sean McVay and I'm sure the Rams organization and Sean feel the same way and I think he wants to just leave his very best footprint on the organization and the league. Would I love to see them trade for A.J.

47:50Brown or sign Stephon Diggs? Absolutely. But, yeah, I think he's in a very good place.

47:57Pat McAfee:Allegedly, one of those was potentially going to happen here earlier this offseason and then something happened and then there was a different kind of pause on the situation. Maybe things are going to heat back up. We'll find out. I think it's a no-brainer. We'll find out. We will find out as the days roll on. We might have a rap sheet report from the golf course in the next hour about that entire situation. So you'll have to stay tuned, Mr. Back-to-Back Emmy Award winner. Have a good one, Dan. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. From the NFL, that's obviously always a conversation, to the NHL that is in the middle of trying to figure out who will be taking on the Vegas Golden Knights.

48:32Pat McAfee:Last night, the Caniacs and the Hurricanes took a 3-1 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens in an ass-beating win. They had three goals in the first period, basically none for the rest of the game until an empty netter. And congratulations to the Caniacs, who were seemingly the wagon that we thought they were. Joining us now is a Colorado Avalanche legend, a Stanley Cup champion, a man who played 18 years in the NHL, and one of his horses just came in second in San Anilis. Oh, really? Ladies and gentlemen, big whore, Eric Johnson. How you doing, pal? A lot better now, boys. What's going on? Hey, great shirt.

49:09Pat McAfee:I heard we didn't wait. How are we doing in the IIHF? It's 4-0. Sid the kid just made it 4-0. Love you, Sid. We don't give a shit about that tournament. We need the plane sweep, right? We got men's Olympics, women's Olympics, Paralympics. Now we need the world championships back-to-back. Let's go. We're down 4-0, Horno. Never say never, baby. Never say never. Okay, okay, Hornel. Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, I even doubted. How much time do we have left? I think like 30 seconds. At least five minutes. Five minutes. It's over. Five minutes, we're toast. We're toast. This one doesn't matter. No, it doesn't.

49:52Pat McAfee:It does matter. To who? Listen, how many world championships? Yeah, but if you're screaming into a black hole. Yeah, you're right. Plus, that's the excuse. for losing the Olympics. Well, I got a world championship story. This is fantastic. This is 2007. I'm 19. Team USA calls. I just finished my freshman year at the University of Minnesota. Wet behind the ears, young pup, right? And I get a call that I'm going to Moscow for the world championships for Team USA. We're staying in this hotel in Moscow. There's a bowling alley. There's a strip club. And there's a casino. All in the entire hotel. And I'm 19 years old.

50:29I'm just like sensory overload what the hell is going on here I didn't partake in all of it but I did partake in some of it 19 years old you couldn't eat any of the food there so we'd walk to McDonald's every day casino, bowling alley, strip club 24 hour buffet unbelievable, Moscow how did we win? no, hell no no, no

50:57Pat McAfee:we're bowling for you Okay, we are over here pulling. I remember that one. I remember being disappointed. Yeah. Remember how bummed that was? Did we hear what these players were doing over there? They're at this bowling alley all night. You were in Morgantown watching every game. Every game. I'm like, we're going to Moscow to win this world championship. The Canadians care, though, so I want to let you know that seems to be a little bit of a problem. Sidney Crosby, obviously, down there. The Canadians seemingly beating the United States in the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship. Literally right now as we speak.

51:25Pat McAfee:had hopes even though we are now officially toast. Speaking of toast, are the Montreal Canadiens completely toast or cooked here? And are the Carolina Hurricanes kind of reminding everybody exactly who they are? Is this inevitable, Vegas Golden Knights Carolina, or do you think the Canadiens can potentially pull one out and save the series, Horno? I think it's going to be tough. And I think the reason it's going to be tough is the Habs have been outshot in the first handful of games here, 136 to 65 through four games. They have four shots combined in the third period in games three and four. So what Carolina does, and I texted you the other day, is it's like going uphill on a down escalator.

52:13Like you think you're making progress and then you're in the same spot where you started. So especially with Carolina going back home, it's going to be so tough for Montreal to just try and make a series of this thing. And let's be honest, they're playing with house money anyway. No one thought they were going to get this far. They look tired. Carolina looks fresh. That rest at, at, at first started out as rust for Carolina. Now it's looking like the rest is really, is really paying off. And you know, if you're going to piss like a puppy, you got to stay on the porch. This is the big dog series.

52:44Pat McAfee:Yeah. It seems like, yeah, Yeah, you got to get out there and really let the hose out. And the Hurricanes are certainly doing that at this moment against Canadians going into their home. Tomorrow night, it will be a potential series decider in front of a bunch of Caniacs down in Raleigh, North Carolina. Congrats to the boys, Jarvis boys, potentially heading to the Stanley Cup final. Cannot wait for that. Okay, let's go to the West and talk about what's going on over there. Obviously, your Avalanche team, we were all speaking very, very highly of. I think the entire hockey community was incredibly impressed by what the Avalanche could become.

53:18Pat McAfee:Them and the Carolina Hurricanes were on a collision course and maybe just sweeping their way all the way to the Lord Stanley Cup to find out who's the best of the greats right now. Instead, the Vegas Golden Knights under a torch have just become an absolute wagon. And the Avalanche get swept out of the Western Conference Finals? What the hell happened, Horno? And what are your thoughts on this Vegas Golden Knights team? It feels like they do have the juice and they might be lifting and hoisting Lordo whenever it's all said and done yet again. Yeah, so I think let's start with Colorado. I think everything went wrong for them at the exact worst time and the exact same time.

53:55McKinnon wasn't at 100 percent. McCarr wasn't at 100 percent. Nachushkin wasn't at 100 percent. And let's be honest, most guys are playing with something throughout this time and this late in the playoffs. But what Colorado had, everything went to shit all at once. Vegas always got one more save and they made one more play. The series was closer than a sweep. But let's be honest, that game four that Vegas played, I haven't seen a more complete defensive game in a long, long time. They were just, they had the Avs in a straight jacket. Like the Avs just couldn't do anything. They're the most high-powered offensive team in the National Hockey League.

54:34and Vegas just always had numbers above them. And what I appreciate about that the most for Vegas is everybody buys in to play the same way. Like, could Mitch Marner or Jack Eichel have more goals and more points? Sure, but are they going to maybe sacrifice a little bit on the defensive side to get those points? Yes. So they all buy into the defensive structure, which is allowing them to just completely shut teams down. And they do, as the great Claiborne Farm always says in Lexington, Kentucky, they do the usual unusually well. And what does that mean? They just do everything that looks so simple to perfection.

55:14And they make it look so easy. Is it hard to check? Yes. Is it hard to defend? Yes. But all four lines, all 6D are committed to doing that. And that's why they're going to the Stanley Cup final. And one thing that John Tortorella said that really struck my ear when I heard it the other night, boys, was in the regular season, he coaches at them. In the playoffs, he coaches with them. So there's a completely different script that you flip from regular season to the playoffs. And he had another great line. I don't give a shit about analytics. I don't give a shit about expected goals. I care about actual goals.

55:51Tort is just a walking quote machine. He's just breathed a life of fresh air into the Vegas Golden Knights. And it'll be interesting to see what Colorado does. I think a lot of questions are being asked, and we'll see where they go from here.

56:03Pat McAfee:You're the best, Horno. We appreciate the hell out of you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Stanley Cup champion. And Horst, who placed second at Santa Anita this past weekend, owner, ladies and gentlemen, Eric Johnson. Yeah, Horno. Thank you, Horno. All right, Hour One wraps up with some great hockey break. Yeah. Vegas Golden Knights. Horst. He coaches at them. Hate me now. Coach is with him. Love you later. Torts. Of course. Must have read the book. Unbelievable. Vegas Golden Knights might really have it. Stars all across the board. Mitch Marner leading the playoffs in points. He's saying, could he have more?

56:39Pat McAfee:Probably. But he's buying into defense. Canes are still the favorites to win it all. As they should be. But the rest-Rust thing really did seemingly come to fruition. Yeah. They start to pile it all. Yeah, they are. This Carolina Hurricanes team is unbelievable. In their barn.

56:56Pat McAfee:Jarvis boys, sire. Power two on the other side. Be a friend, tell everyone something nice.

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58:18Sports are the greatest, aren't they?

58:22Pat McAfee:Yeah. We are so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to celebrate them every single day as the NHL and NBA playoffs are carrying us and MLB stars are hitting dongs and pitching heat all over the diamonds across the United States of America. Sports are delivering for us in a massive way on the courts, on the ice, on the fields, and certainly in the drama. So many storylines to be developed. Trades potentially happening here in the near future that is involving Super Bowl champion all-pro players like A.J. Brown. New contracts are being signed. Firings are taking place. The world of sports never stops.

58:58Pat McAfee:That's why we're incredibly lucky that we get a chance to cover it all. The Toxic Table is here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. I guess all good news coming out of New England, Conman, and I think that's what this time of year is all about. I did see that your quarterback potentially got asked about a little bit of weight he might have put on from year one to year two, where he was asked if he's a little bit thicker, you know, with like three Cs. And he said, I think that's a pause. I think that's a pause. I'm not 100 % sure. But what are the words coming out of the New England Patriots? Because I'll tell you what, it was a rough couple weeks there to be a New England fan.

59:28Yeah, a rough couple weeks, you could say. A rough couple months, perhaps, even on the internet. All the words are fantastic. First of all, Caleb Lomu, the dancing bear that we got from Utah who plays tackle. Apparently, he was taking first team reps. I write can also move to left. Not sure if that is going to happen. We'll see how the season plays out. But, yeah, you mentioned it. Drake May is, in fact, a hog right now. He is huge. Two C's, three C's, four C's. The guy put on – maybe, probably. I'm not talking about it. Maybe that's where you went to. I'm sure that's doing well, too. But he is looking fantastic.

1:00:02Romeo Dobbs, who we got from the Packers, looking like wide receiver one. And we'll see what happens with A.J. Brown and Stephon Diggs. It feels like both those guys still on the table up in New England. But, yeah, vibes are very high. And it is ELE. Everybody's loving everybody, okay, in the best type of way. So, I mean, to be completely honest with your voice, I wouldn't be so surprised if we're seeing the New England Patriots right back in the Super Bowl.

1:00:24Pat McAfee:There was a time where I think you were a little bit worried about everything that was going on. And we really worried about how is this what we are. This is not what we are. There's a little bit of that. Then there was a little bit of what's that called whenever you don't think you should be the person that you are. Imposter syndrome. There it is. You started thinking about maybe there's a little imposter syndrome with this New England Patriots scene because of how many people were saying easy schedule, easy schedule and then you start seeing what was happening off. Even Connor, I think, was starting to have those thoughts.

1:00:50Pat McAfee:Now he swallowed them and buried them anytime they need to speak to us publicly, but you can tell by some of the questions he was asking when he was asking them that he started to wonder if this was a fake Patriots scene. If this was not a, like, hey, should I be as excited as I am because of all the amateur drama that was happening. Very amateur. Bush league type stuff that was kind of happening around it all and then now you get a couple good quotes get a couple videos coming out and connor's just i never thought that that never ever thought that we were supposed to be in the super bowl it's not our fault we didn't schedule these people did you see drake may his accuracy baron are we talking about him being an accurate quarterback are we just talking about him being a big quarterback a young quarterback what is the conversation oh we can have all those conversations it is nice to see you back i want to let you know that.

1:01:35Pat McAfee:From the rest of us, it is great to see you all the way back in the yeah, we're supposed to win the Super Bowl. We have a great head football coach. We have a great culture. We have a great young quarterback. And we have the ability to go on a run again. It is great to see you back too, Connor. I want to let you know, because it was tough there for a bit. It was hard not to. I know it was hard. I know it was hard. Couldn't really tweet about anything regarding the Patriots for a little bit there. You really couldn't even. There's still some stragglers, but those are just the haters. And, yeah, Drake May had the third most accurate season in NFL history.

1:02:05And every single coach in the NFL is like, hey, being accurate is the most important thing. And then you're talking about Josh McDaniels, too. You're too in the system. I kept forgetting. Oh, wait, Drake May is only in his second year last year as an MVP candidate. Probably should have won it if Dan Orlovsky didn't love his buddy so much. And then you're talking about Drake May. That's not true. Dan Orlovsky is only one out of the 50 votes. But he is a vote. And Drake May only lost by one vote. But, again, hey, look, it was one of those things where once that subsides and then you just start focusing on ball, not the fodder, just ball, yeah, Patriots are back, even though the NFL gave us the hardest starting four games in September since 1986.

1:02:41But that's okay. That's on paper. That don't matter. Everybody's hard. It's the NFL. Well, that's not what we heard last year with our schedule, but yes. Yeah, but you even started to believe it a little bit whenever you started seeing some stuff going on. Until the playoffs when we played the four best defenses in the NFL and what we do, played really well until the last one. See? So, yeah, we're back. Okay, in Lomu. Wait until you see this Caleb Lomu character. He's quite the tackle. And, by the way, he's a stick. He has like a one handicap. He's an absolute athlete.

1:03:16Pat McAfee:Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP Tony. You look cool. I see the baseball cap today. Hell, yeah. Hey, Skene's night. Oh, is it? Skene. Here we go. How's Skene's doing? We've been talking a lot about Shohei. Are the Pittsburgh Pirates still a good team? And Skene pitches tonight against who? He pitched against the Cubbies tonight. He is 5-0 with a.5 ERA at night. So good bounce back spot for Skeens. Yeah, Pirates are still really good. The standings in the NL Central are absurd. Every team is above.500. Every team is within two games of each other. So not a real big deal. The whole first-last thing is not a real thing in that division.

1:03:50Wait, what the hell? What? Since when are the Red Sox in the last? Day one. The first day of the season. No, because we won our first game, but we were just in dirt.

1:04:00Pat McAfee:We've been playing the Braves a lot. They're a good ball club. Yeah, the Red Sox are ass. But look at the Pirates there. Look at that division. It's insane. Those two through five there, all one game apart. And then the Brewers, who just somehow continue to be the Brewers, are in first. But no, Skeens is doing great. Should be a great ball game tonight in Pittsburgh. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is noted Cincinnati Reds fan, who is only above us in the division because they've played one less game, is what I saw there. Ladies and gentlemen, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Emmy nominee.

1:04:34Pat McAfee:Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hall. Yay! The Academy. Thank you to the Academy. Yes, good to be on here and, you know, shoot the breeze with you guys. Why did he say that? He didn't want to say it. That's my thing. Why did he pause so long? I just wonder why. You could just say it. You don't have to pause and think like, ooh, what can I substitute here? Well, I immediately thought to myself, is it Dice? Like, is Stafford in there like, you know, like, is he? Come on, jump. Is he doing all that? I didn't know. And then whenever he went to Breeze, we were like, oh, we all know what you just did.

1:05:04Pat McAfee:You just said shit in your head. But he was never going to say it. He wouldn't say it to you in person if we weren't on the show either. But I think he wants to. I think when he's all alone by himself in front of that mirror, I think he's saying it all. I think there's F words coming out. I think he's screaming. F, F. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. And then, F. Yeah, real loud in there. And a soundproof because kids can't hear. Obviously, wife can't hear. Because he wants to say it. He'll go, these mother fudgers. Does he gag, though? Is it like a full? Oh, my God. He's sick.

1:05:42Pat McAfee:We'll ask him next time. How did you feel about our journalism last night, H? It was legit good. I actually didn't get to watch it live, so I watched it later last night when I got home, which was better. I could kind of zero in a lot easier. You guys kept it moving. That was a real professional program. Thank you. I wish you would have potentially just did a fake watch for the ratings. It was on the TV. It was on the TV. We put on three or four different ones. With different accounts, too. Three or four different accounts as well. I keep score at that. Thank you, guys. There's no point to think about that.

1:06:20Up and to the right, baby.

1:06:23Pat McAfee:Everything. It's been a lot of fun. We appreciate all the opportunities. Joining us now is the man who's going to break down tonight's Western Conference. Potential deciding game in San Antonio as Oklahoma City looks to get back to the NBA Finals and maybe go back to back as the New York Knicks are waiting on them to decide who will be winning. The Larry O 'Brien. Joining us now is a man who's going to be smarter than us forever in this particular sport. and he is a man who I believe could potentially still get buckets on all of us. I wouldn't go that far. Chris Paul. Yeah, Chris! Wow. Wow, I heard that.

1:07:08Good.

1:07:09Pat McAfee:I did feel like, Connor, were you implying yourself? Because the way you said it, it sounded like you had been in the lab and maybe you're about to cook Chris Paul. Is that kind of what you meant to say whenever you were talking? I mean, what do you think these things are, huh? Those are basketball shoes. What you got on? Halley shoes? Yeah, you've never seen the Halley Scooby-Doo's? No, they're not the Scooby-Doo's. No, those are SpongeBob, dude. SpongeBob. SpongeBob's, whatever. Knock it off. We'll send you a pair of Halley's. Maybe you'll be able to lock down. Nope. Nope. See that jump man right there?

1:07:44Yeah, we ain't going to do that.

1:07:46Pat McAfee:Good decision. Very good decision. I appreciate that. Well, let's talk about the Pumas and let's talk about Hallie. We talked to Adam Silver last night about some of the things that are going on in the league. He mentioned, you know, teams tanking and that being something that keeps them up at night and trying to figure out the lottery and all that. And then I mentioned flopping. He basically said, you know, there's embellishing, they're selling, and then there's the fooling of the referees. And he thinks the refs are great. And then we asked Tyrese because Adam Silver basically said, like coaches are teaching people how to flop.

1:08:18Pat McAfee:Here's what Hallie had to say. Yeah, for sure. It's being taught. I don't think it's as much head coach teaching as much as it is like player development. Even before you get to the NBA, it's just something that you kind of work on by nature. I think the best scorers are the best, usually the guys who get to the free throw line the most. So it's definitely something they work on. Even in pickup, they're working on how they can draw fouls, things like that. Like, I think that's a part of the game. I think it's interesting here. Tyrese. No. Come on. Wait, wait, wait. This is the future of the sport.

1:08:46Can I say something? Can I say something? Please. I think he made a great point about embellishing calls versus, you know, fooling a referee because I am under the impression. I mean, obviously you guys are NFL guys, but I think we have the best officials in sports. Like, I believe that especially when you go play like in the Olympics or in FIBA or something, you're like, damn, like I really every time I go do that, I get back. I'm like, I go to the rest. I missed you guys. You guys are awesome.

1:09:11Pat McAfee:OK, so Tyrese may be doing a little public plea to the refs, letting him know once again. and he like, yeah, okay, that's what it sounds like. A lot of that going on right there. Okay, not a bad idea. Uncle, uncle. Not a bad idea. I mean, he was right exactly what he said about it being part of training now. Right? Like a lot of guys, when you're with trainers, you do a move and you go through, extend your arms just because that's part of the game, people reaching for steals. So that is part of training now. He was exactly right about embellishing calls and things like that. But you are taught that at an early age now.

1:09:52And I can't do it. That's actually hard to do.

1:09:57Pat McAfee:What's that? That's a skill you're saying that has to be trained. That's why SGA is so good because he's very highly trained at getting the benefit of their doubt for the ref, I guess, which is the big game is just trying to get the ref to believe that something had happened. No, I think all players have a way of, if you're driving and being able to hit a guy and then take the bump. But when you talk about extending the ball, Chauncey Billups was one of my vets, a guy who was a vet to me. And I appreciate Chauncey. Chauncey was one of the first guys that I ever remember who used to extend the ball on a drive.

1:10:34But what's funny back then is that if you didn't foul him, he would throw the ball over the goal. yeah he didn't know how to finish unless you fouled him so then when James Harden started doing it and all these players that is a real skill like you you won't just find a guy who can go in the gym and do a hard move and extend the ball and be able to pull it back in and score

1:10:55Pat McAfee:okay so you're just providing more opportunity for them to hit you in the arms is the goal but the exactly the issue and why he was probably not condoned or taught uh before was because you think that's loose ball management or whatever so that was probably why did people just start doing it they just figured out why do you think Chauncey just figured out that it was a good idea and then why do you think now is the time where it's seemingly becoming like hey this is just a you got to be able to have a jump shot you got to be able to have the triple threat position you got to be able to dribble between the legs you got to be able to draw fouls as well it's seemingly becoming just a part of basketball is that what we should expect for the next generation that's coming through right now well it's part of the game it's a part of being smart so when you drive when I was growing up you was taught to sort of like tuck the ball right you you sort of like you coming through on a hand handoff right you get the ball then you bring it back out to lay it up but this right here now where guys extend the ball is just a part of a part of the game and it's so you draw more fouls so that you catch guys trying to make plays.

1:12:00It's just part of it.

1:12:02Pat McAfee:I hate it, Chris. Well, there's a difference between that and falling as well. I get that, like sticking your arms out so you get hacked so then you can, you know, and one and stuff like that. But there's a difference between that, kicking your legs out, falling on every shot. Yeah, there's like a difference between getting a bachelor's degree and everything. There's some doctors of sport there. I don't like that you like this unethical ball. No, I just, I think if you're going to be allowed to do it, people are going to take advantage of the situation. And I think that's probably what basketball players are saying.

1:12:29Pat McAfee:Like, hey, if this is a thing, competitors will find a way to take advantage of every situation. Like, that is how it goes. Literally, that is how. That's what happens. I told you guys, I've been on a competition committee for like 17, 18 years. Rules change or whatnot, but you got the smartest players in the world. You're always going to find somewhat of a workaround. and I think sort of what happened was teams are trying to generate points right you're trying to get to the foul line to get extra points and all these things but it's it's really hard so when you play against these elite guys who extend the ball now you got to be a smart player too because in the locker room just know that the coaches are saying when this guy drives do not reach like Greg Popovich is notorious for, like, the first play of a game if they were playing against the guy who draws a lot of fouls.

1:13:24If a guy reaches and does something that they said don't do, oh, you're coming out. You're out.

1:13:30Pat McAfee:Got it. So that's how we stop it is we don't reach. Can the refs – is there a different way to officiate? Because Tyrese did mention before he started seemingly publicly smooching. Yeah, smooching butt. He was. He was kissing butt. Are we all voting in favor that he was kissing? He tripping. It was a referee to rounds. That was an eye before the even vote. So everybody thinks that was to the refs of the NBA right there. Yep. Okay, well, before he did. Smart play. Yeah. Easy. He's flopping with his words before he's even done. He's flopping? With his words. He's trying to get calls before he even has to even do an embellishment or whatever.

1:14:10You're kind of promoting it.

1:14:11Pat McAfee:No, I'm not. You like it. Okay, so this is where I'm going to go. How do we stop it? The refs, like the FIBA refs, are they the ones that have to stop? Like do you have to – do the NBA refs have to just stop calling all this stuff? Like how do you stop it or is this just kind of what we should just expect basketball to continue to be?

1:14:29I don't know. I'm not a ref. Thank God.

1:14:32Pat McAfee:Is that how you would stop it? You're on the competition committee. Can we get – you're on the committee. Yeah, you're on the committee. You're making no rules. You're in here deciding what the rules are. So how would we stop it? How do you say? Yeah. Well, you got it. Well, it's funny. Years ago, years ago, they tried to put in an anti-flopping rule, right? So if you flop, you got a warning. And then if you flopped again, it cost you$5 ,000. Then if you flopped again, I think the penalty went up. So you'll see it during the game. Something happens and you see all the guys doing sort of like this.

1:15:07Like that's the signal for flopping. So they're going to have to call it.

1:15:11Pat McAfee:Sweet. I like that. That's pretty sweet. Yeah. Because you would think flop would be like a dive. Yeah. Or yeah, maybe a ooh. Like a wobble. Yeah, what if they were all ooh. Y 'all know what's interesting, though, is that as fans and people that watch the games, when they freeze it, like on social media or something like that, when it's frozen or it's slow, or they slow it down, it really can look a lot worse than it actually is in a real game. Like, you can't always tell that somebody actually got elbowed in the nose. Right? You can't always tell. Well, and that's what we said. Like, the flopping is so hard to officiate.

1:15:48So how do you know if it's a flop or some guy actually just ran you over? Like, that's why is there an answer to changing it or what?

1:15:56Pat McAfee:I don't know. And Chris says above my pay, Gray. Don't ask me these questions. Got that right. For now, for now, I got a Chris Paul. I got enough text for questioning it. Yeah, I could imagine. I got enough. He said, I got a youth team that right now, you should see we're in the lab too. We're in the lab taking it. They're going to call it. They're going to call it. Get the marms out. Until they change the rules, we will be stacking fouls on the other team as quickly as possible. Okay, is that the story of tonight? What is your thoughts on what the story of tonight will be? Because obviously this Spurs team has always answered.

1:16:30Pat McAfee:The stats say that they answer. 20-6 after a loss. They answer, they answer, they answer. Everybody thought this would go to game seven, but obviously Oklahoma City has a chance to kind of close this one out. How do you see this game going and what do you expect of both of them? I expect a big game from San Antonio. But like OKC, they've been there before, right? They know how important this game is. And given their series last year, they know game seven, anything can happen. I know the Spurs going back home, you get to sleep in your bed, all that energy and excitement. And while a lot of people say OKC has this, you know, veteran leadership, they've been there.

1:17:03I keep saying it's nice to be there for the first time. You don't have any expectations. You're just going out there and you're playing hard. So it's going to be a great one tonight. Go ahead, AJ. What about Caruso? Can you explain a little bit his impact? Like this dude comes off the bench and seems to give this team a jolt every single time he's in. He's draining threes. I know he's draining a lot more threes in the postseason than he did in regular season as far as percentage. But can you explain the impact he has? So in the league, they call it a make or miss league. And I give Caruso so much credit because if you see in the game, sometimes he'll miss a shot and then they'll get the offensive rebound and they throw it right back to him and he shoots the next one just like he made the one before.

1:17:46And that's what you want, especially in the playoffs. You can't be out there second-guessing yourself and questioning yourself. He'd have seen it enough now coming from the Lakers series, being in the San Antonio series. It's easy. They're saying, Shea, you're not going to beat us. we're going to live and die with Caruso, Dort, and all these guys shooting shots. And Caruso is stepping up game after game.

1:18:07Pat McAfee:You're talking about a robin conversation there potentially. Tone has a question for you about that old narrative. Yeah, Chris, we were talking about the other day with Big Perk, and we were talking about Wemby needs a robin. And then we brought up Steph Castle, and then we were talking about how Castle has to guard SGA and then also on the offensive side get buckets. Obviously, you were somewhere between seven and nine all-defensive NBA. So how hard is it to waste all that energy, not waste all that energy, exert all that energy covering SGA, and then go back on the other side and try to get buckets?

1:18:40It's hard. I did it consistently for 12 years. 12 years. I was making every play just about on offense and guarding. A lot of times the best player on the other end. But that's why you're a team. and somebody like Steph, I know how he trains, how he works out and all that stuff, but they got so many other ball handlers. They got Fox, they got Vassell, they got Dylan Harper. They have so much depth on that team. And right now in the playoffs, when you get to this point, don't nobody care how tired you are. Everybody's tired at this point. So in these situations, everybody's like, just find a way.

1:19:14Find a way.

1:19:15Pat McAfee:I hope that this series gets extended tonight. Yeah. Really, I do. for the good of sport, but also for the good of basketball. Like, these two teams, what, the next, we got 10 years here. Yeah, long time, long time. They fun to watch, man. I mean that wholeheartedly. Both teams and getting to be in the locker room, especially last year with San Antonio, just seeing the building that took place for them to get there, it's dope to see them on the stage. Yeah, we appreciate, obviously, the opportunity to kind of watch. And I love the way the OKC team has already become heels. You know, he has, oh, they don't play basketball the way that we want.

1:19:52Pat McAfee:If I'm going to play L.A. Fitness, I'm playing basketball a certain way. And I like the way they're doing basketball. And there is a chance that basketball does start to follow suit behind OKC, especially if they go back-to-back, because everybody is going to want to do what the champs do. And you're already hearing Chris Paul say, hey, if they're not changing what you want us to do, they're not changing rules what you want us to do. If we can steal an extra one and also get that guy off the court. I mean, this is everything we want. They get in foul trouble. We get bonus shots. That guy gets off the court, and we get more points.

1:20:22Pat McAfee:What do you want us to do? Bring in the AI ref. That's what we want you to do. No, it's not for those types of calls. AI is strictly for the out-of-bounds. Use them for both. What are you going to have? Go ahead. You know what, though? You know what, Pat? And I think about how everybody sort of talks about OKC now, and I remember, obviously, I played against Golden State in those days where they were winning games, winning championships, and I got a chance to play with Draymond. And Dre, he might have said it recently, but I remember even watching him, right, watching games the way that I watch.

1:20:52When you watch them play, it just looked like they were fouling all the time. It just looked like it. And I remember somebody said one time, if you play that way, they can't call everything. Right? They just can't call everything. So if you come out there and you sort of grab and you hold and you do that from the beginning of the game, it just can't call everything.

1:21:13Pat McAfee:Hey, listen, they can't give you six fouls in the first quarter. Okay. So let's go ahead and set the tone on what this is going to be early, and then let's go ahead and keep going. On that note, big man, very, very large guy who's been playing a lot. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chris, we had a big perk on yesterday, and he said that a lot of people maybe have been giving Wemby a little bit of a pass when he isn't playing as well because he's been playing so many more minutes than he did in the regular season. And he did look tired last game. Is that something where, like, you think he even notices that, or would that be like after the series is over?

1:21:45where it's like, damn, I've played a lot more minutes than my body's used to. I think everyone who is watching expects him to have a massive game tonight. But how big of an impact are those extra minutes having on him? I mean, this league now is all about analytics. So there's people within the team that's showing you and telling you this. But the other thing that players know is that you're training for this. Even as the regular season ends and through the playoffs, you're training for these moments. So I know Vic. Vic is so calculated. He's training. But it's hard. It's your first playoff series, your first, I mean, not series, but your first run.

1:22:24There's a lot of emotions that go into this. You're not going to play your best every single game. It's a long series, but I'm not worried about him being tired or anything. It just might have been a tough game.

1:22:35Pat McAfee:All right, let's talk about a team not being tired because they got so much damn rest on them. Let's talk about the New York basketball Knicks. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Chris, the Knicks are basically on the greatest run in NBA history. I think they've won 11 straight in their plus-261, three closeout games to win the series by 30-plus points. Should we buy stock in the Knicks now? Because it does feel like the Spurs and OKC are almost eating each other up in this series, and then the Knicks are going to be healthy, full strength, coming off more rest after closing out on Monday. How should we be viewing this Knicks team?

1:23:14And is this one of those teams that just got hot at the right moment and nobody can stop them now? And this Knicks team, first thing I got to say about them, I got to give a huge shout out to Leon Rose and William Wesley and Leon and how he done constructed this team. It's been an up and down year, I know, for that team. But you get hot at the right time. And see, I see this video right here with Leon and his son, Sam, right there, who's actually Jalen's agent, to know that all this stuff happened off trades and movement and all that stuff from the front office. And the scariest team to play against is a team that believes in themselves.

1:23:52And this team right here, whatever they've had going on all season, right now it don't matter. They locked in. They believe in each other. Shamit coming in off the bench. Mikael, OG, this team right here, they rolling.

1:24:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, and I appreciate that, you know, Coach Brown is obviously running them a little bit differently than they did in the past. You talk about moves that they make. They make the Eastern Conference Finals and fire the coach. And it's like you kind of laugh at it. You laugh at the move. You're like, this is ridiculous. What are you guys expecting? You're expecting to win the whole thing? And then here we are. And it's like, yeah, yeah, that is exactly what we were thinking. Every time we ran into another team, we were seemingly getting outcoached because they had been prepared all season with a deeper bench.

1:24:34Pat McAfee:We couldn't keep up with the good teams in the end in seven-game series. This year, very different roster construction, very different usage of the team, and then also sweeps so we get the amount of rest that we potentially need. The team, seemingly ready to win it all for the last couple years, just finally need to get over the hump. Bruce, this is what you guys were dreaming of whenever all the moves were made. Yeah, it's been unbelievable. I think Wendy said it. Once they went to Carl Anthony Towns playing more of like a point center where he's kind of holding the ball up top at the top of the key and everyone's kind of moving around off the ball.

1:25:08It's just turned into a massive party at Madison Square Garden every time we're playing. It's been unbelievable. Chris, I guess my question is, what would you do to maybe try to slow that look down? Obviously, it's more diverse now where it's not just Brunson tearing people apart until they're doubling them. So what would you do with the cat at the top of the key look? Man, it's tough because I think a lot of people loved when you just seen the ball in Jalen's hands for so long for most of the game. But that was sort of how they were orchestrated. I mean, Cat is so versatile. He can shoot it. He can drive.

1:25:46You saw in that Cavs series, every time they closed out on him because he could shoot the ball so well, he would drive. But they just right now they play like a complete team. And I think that's a huge credit to Mike Brown because you're getting those minutes from McBride, all these different guys that's coming in off the bench. It's going to be tough. I'll tell you this. What benefits the Knicks and what you should really be scared of right now with them is I feel like the last few years, their runs that they were having, Jalen was the series were going long. Right. So you had like Pacers and these teams that could pick him up full court and sort of tired him out.

1:26:22and they've been, what, two sweeps back-to-back? Yeah. They're going to be well-rested.

1:26:28Pat McAfee:Four games in 23 days or something like that? I forget what the stat was. It was like the lightest schedule, what, from off-season times that they've had. Definitely. Perfect. Remember, OG had a hamstring and then he didn't have to play and then, oh, yeah, we got another week and a half off anyways. It's like that's a really good situation to have, especially if your team had been run off the court the last couple years out of exhaustion because you didn't have enough players, which is exactly what happened against the Pacers for sure. Yeah, good for you guys. Congrats to the Knicks. And also, congrats to whoever takes it home tonight.

1:26:58Pat McAfee:Let's hope this goes to game seven. And you, are you live at TST right now? You're down in North Carolina? I'm down here. I'm down here. We're missing Concafa. What was the name of your team? It was a good run. Why don't you just go look at some stats, and then you'll see who Concafa is, okay? As an owner of TST, you need to know the Indians. Look out. Gene Fit. has picked up the torch. 2-0. Yeah. A lot of the lads from Concafa out there. Mr. Ruggles with the press down there. Oh, look who it is. Brecci! Hey! That was in target time. Remember, target score time or target goal time is just one more goal than whatever team is leading becomes the final goal.

1:27:42Pat McAfee:Has to end on a game winner. And the boys from Gene Fit. There's Big Meat, Steph. Former Ball TST player. Mario is playing gold. Black boots down there. Yes, absolutely. Oh, this would be one where Meat would take a shot. Instead, he's ground, he's mature, he's a daddy, passes, and Gonzalez is winner! That's TST soccer. That was last night at about midnight because they took on the Hoosier Army, which is the Indiana University Hoosier alumni team. The Indiana University Hoosiers in soccer, eight-time national champions. They took a lot of pride in that. That TST tournament is fantastic. It's electrifying.

1:28:19Pat McAfee:Obviously, baby boy on the way. It was tough to kind of judge on whether or not I'd be able to get down there. We are missing it as well. How are the vibes down there, and what are you guys looking forward to this weekend? Vibes are great, man. We seen Gene fit last night. To see the familiar faces and the guys that continue to come back in the women's tournament, now we got a mixed tournament. So the energy's high. I'll be out there. It starts at 2 today. I think the last games go to like 9, 30, 10 o 'clock. but y 'all know what it's like being here, man. It's just really fun and cool vibes to be out here.

1:28:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, that sports complex down there is gorgeous. So nice. It is absolutely gorgeous. The city of Cary crushes it, and hopefully we will be returning next year. You know, hopefully all signs go. Tough to schedule something that far out. Tough to schedule something. Yeah, I'm down there too. And playing. And playing again, huh? You playing? I think I went out the right way. I kicked the ball out of a stadium. Like that is. And Coach McStommer. Beautiful cross. And what happened when you kicked it out of the stadium? We got like a home run derby this year too. I heard. I was a little bummed out about that.

1:29:24Pat McAfee:Like a long kick contest? No, yeah. I think they got a, I think home run. Yeah. Somebody will pass it, and then I guess it's a kickball. Yeah, like meat. Oh. Meat should do pretty good at this, but who's going to pass him the ball? Coach? No. That doesn't sound like it. It doesn't look like it. Maybe black boots. Chris, I know that you're an owner of TST, and you probably can't do any bias. Don't be scared to go poke your head into the Gene Fit trailer and say, hey, boys, you got enough talent here to win it. Let's all go in the same direction because I'm here and there's a chance. And then duck after you say that.

1:29:57Pat McAfee:And duck out of there after you say that. But let the boys know that we obviously wish we were there with them. We appreciate you joining us from there, and good luck all of TST weekend and the rest of the summer. No doubt. Appreciate y 'all, fellas. I'll see you soon. That's Chris Paul. Hey, Chris. Yes. See Breck Shea with the absolute cracker. Talk about just a timeless classic. That guy, he looks the exact same every single year. I don't know how he does it. That's a true footballer. Yeah. And then a guy with long dreads right there, Ruggles. Ruggles. He is saying something to somebody in there that makes them want to absolutely shoot.

1:30:32Pat McAfee:What a – see the spin turn. The spin, yeah. Spin turn with the touch turns around. Absolute strike. He's been training with Mike Bargues. I've been watching the film. Getting ready for this. Makes sense. Mike Foss, obviously. absolute fuck. Put him on Team USA. Did Foss steal that? Was that him? No, yeah. So I do believe Foss who had been preparing... I mean, what a rocket. That was insane. Put him on Team USA. Legit. Well, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't fucking matter. We knew this was always... Alright, boys. I'm out of here after we lose. No. He was a hired gun. It was a two-year contract.

1:31:10At least wait until after we get eliminated. Can you please tell the people that are watching that have no idea what you're talking about? Yeah, Coach Poch Pochettino not even a month, like two weeks before the World Cup starts he says, hey, fuck you guys, I'm out of here. No! I'm going to AC Milan, yeah. Hope we do great. Hope we have a deep run. He's already thinking about Italy. He's already thinking about living in Italy. Maybe the Italians should have kept this under wraps, you know? No! Had to let this leak out.

1:31:40Pat McAfee:Maybe Pochettino should have done what he said he was going to do, which was bring pride. He has. Someone's going to do your deal. Restore us to glory. Where's Luna? He's a hired guy. It's like he's leaving before the World Cup. He's overweight. He shouldn't have made the team. Whoa. Luna? Yeah. Okay. I'm just telling you what I heard. From who? AJ. The less MLS guys, the better. Listen, there's a lot of people watching right now who might be newer to our show or have been watching for a while. know that we know enough about soccer to be dangerous, but nowhere near enough to be speaking about it this long.

1:32:15Pat McAfee:And this is where we kind of find ourselves. We kind of walk ourselves into the deep end of the soccer pool, and this is where we start getting attacked by footy-knowers. Yeah, football enthusiasts. Yeah, this is when we get ourselves in trouble. So let me triple done. Team USA needs to win the fucking World Cup. Don't have a choice. Okay, if we want to be taken seriously in this entire thing. In our expectations, we are winning a World Cup. Now, I don't like that the skipper that we thought was going to be doing had the same mindset as us, remember? He didn't speak the clearest of English, but every time he spoke in English or they translated it into English, he had the same mindset as us.

1:32:53Pat McAfee:This country deserves greatness. It's like, yes, this is what we need. He wanted dogs out there that fought. We had fights in some of these. We had guys that were actually fighting. It was like, yes, this is what we need. He can't. He's gone forever after this is all we have him for, Gumby? Because AC Milan hired him. Yeah, it was a two-year deal, unfortunately. He was hired for the World Cup. Now, should this have broken and should he have taken this meeting before? Obviously not. This looks like shit. I don't love it either. Punch. You know what else looks like shit? Have you seen the grass that are rolling out these places?

1:33:27Pat McAfee:It looks terrible. I mean, it's better than the sea cans in Qatar. Isn't this how you install grass? Like, why does this look bad? I don't understand. No, I think people are thinking that it would be grass. that would be grown from just like the ground at least instead of like from the sky getting dropped into the dirt but i do think the technology of grass these days could potentially make this a good field this is something that jj watt has spoke about though about the turf that is needed for soccer and good for soccer versus maybe for football because anytime something like this happens in nfl stadiums whenever these soccer teams travel into america and do like a showcase game and these nfl stadiums roll literally roll out this green grass carpet for them as they play a lot of people oh the nfl owners will put grass in their stadiums for this for soccer they'll do it and then jj wad who obviously owns a couple teams in the soccer world has a lot of interest in the soccer world i believe his wife is former professional soccer player he's been to a lot of these games he goes that grass ain't good either let's let that be known and i think that's kind of the reaction a lot of people are having right now this is the first time that people have had the reaction of like oh that isn't like state-of-the-art grass that they're putting in the stadium normally the reaction is these nfl owners are putting grass out for fucking soccer, but they're not doing it for football.

1:34:38Pat McAfee:Now the reaction is seemingly, oh, that is kind of ass grass. They're putting the ass in grass, kind of, that they're putting down there. But for soccer, remember, it'll be soft. It'll be durable. They're not doing super exertion stuff. That's a high speed, a lot of rolling tough, longer run. I think they probably understand what they're doing. It's the World Cup. It's the biggest tournament they got. It's the biggest world's tournament. They're going to get it right, right? They're playing on gravel and crushed bones over in Qatar. They're worried about this. They're worried about some rollout.

1:35:08Grass looks beautiful.

1:35:09Pat McAfee:The stadiums were put on top of desert sand that didn't have anything, and they built the stadiums very quickly. And they were also putting fans into the stadium so they could blow onto the players because of how hot it was. It was unreasonably hot. On that note, pulled it off. Did pull it off. Pulled it off completely. So I think they do got soccer pitches, which I believe is what soccer people call it. Don, I think they have it pretty well figured out But if the pitch becomes a problem for this World Cup And we make it a mutter Maybe the Team USA is actually We're on the West Coast So just wait until you see what our pitches look like I'm sure they will be pristine Far be it from me to say who gives a rat's ass If Honduras and Kadar don't like the field conditions in Miami You guys have to fucking deal with it If you advance to the next round Then we can talk, okay?

1:35:58Pat McAfee:We do not speak for soccer But we are speaking for humans that are cheering for you Yeah, this country. In this country, we can't just build 12 new – we got a lot of stuff that's already here. Can't just build 12 new stadiums because the World Cup's coming around. Okay? So guess what? You shut your fucking mouth. You play in the Dolphins Stadium. And the grass is going to be beautiful. And that's the end of that. I don't want to hear it again. Thank you. This is such bullshit. Now, if we lose in Seattle or wherever we're playing, then sure, we have the right to bitch about the field conditions.

1:36:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, because we need it to be a certain way for our style of play. And because they are home games, we should benefit from that. Bingo. And if you don't like that, then don't give us the bid to have it in our country. You know how we're going to act. Exactly. That's the way it works. USA. USA. USA. I'm worried about our chances, H. I thought we were going to win. It's a talented squad, to be fair. The coach is going to talk. There's a lot of very good players on this team. And can it come together? I don't know. But when you look at it on paper, there's a lot of talent on the squad. All right.

1:37:06Pat McAfee:So maybe actually the way Paunch is saying is, one last time for me. Yeah. They're going to be calling Paunch. Paunch is pilot by the end of this freaking day. No. Lissick won't be heading back to AC Malad next year. I know that. Do you think that's why he cut everyone over email? Because they couldn't understand it. It was over email. He told 55 guys they made the team, and only 26 of them did. That's standard. He didn't want to be the bad guy. Classic. Good cop, bad cop. You want to call from a coach? Would you rather, like, all right, so you're trying out for U.S. men's national team. You want to call and be like, or would you rather?

1:37:44Text is cool for me. Yeah, exactly.

1:37:46Pat McAfee:I think a text would be good. That's what everyone says. Tell me to bring something. I drop it off, you know. Bingo. Hey, bring all the really cool gear that we had for you. You don't deserve to wear it. You don't want to hear him say, like, hey, man, you tried really hard. Sorry. Next time. I think so. The way it worked in soccer for a while, you were usually at a live camp where it was happening, and then at the very end of the camp, they put names on a list. What an incredible. Yeah. What an incredible. It was like out of a movie. They're like, eh. And I watched some hearts break. Oh, I bet.

1:38:16Pat McAfee:Oh, my God. Should have done that. Almost like don't want to go. They did that for seventh grade course, too. It was tough. Yeah, plays, stuff like that. You didn't make it. I didn't try. I didn't try. I knew I wasn't going to make it, brother. I never did anything. What plays were you in, Diggs? No, no, chorus. Chorus was much different. Chorus is where, you know, it was either chorus or I can't remember what. If you didn't make chorus, you were in some other shit class or whatever. You know, all the girls were in chorus, so everyone tried out for chorus, but not everyone's got a good voice. I did none of that shit.

1:38:45Pat McAfee:I had none of that shit. I had to take some terrible music class. That's probably what I did. Now, Mr. He was great. Dark hair guy. Beard? Huge fan. Yeah, we'll keep going. He really left an impression on you. Mr. Bronchi. Mr. Bronchi. I appreciate you, Mr. Bronchi. He taught me a lot. I do, and I still think about him to this day whenever things happen, so I appreciate him.

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1:40:23Pat McAfee:Let's move from one particular conversation of soccer to another. Ladies and gentlemen, we have some breaking news. According to my source, Ciz, in the NHL, we have a scheduling update to break to the world. If the Eastern Conference final ends in five, which could potentially happen if the Carolina Hurricanes take this thing out tomorrow, game one of the Stanley Cup final will be Tuesday, June 2nd on ABC, which is next week. If the Eastern Conference final extends to 6 or 7, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final will be on Thursday, June 4th. There will not be a long layoff. We're letting you know we have adjusted this thing.

1:41:02Pat McAfee:Let's go ahead and get the things rolling. I think this is good news. This is breaking news. And I appreciate the fact that I am kind of becoming an insider, but I also appreciate the fact that they're moving and grooving here. Let's go ahead and keep this train on its tracks. Everybody's going to love what happens in the Eastern Conference. If the Hurricanes continue to do their thing, they're a wagon. Vegas also a wagon right now. Let's get our two wagons on TV as quickly as possible. Let's take advantage of the momentum that we have. And I cannot wait for it all. And I like that they have a plan and announce the plan.

1:41:31Yeah, absolutely massive, too, because we experienced it over these last couple days, having one game on. The NBA Finals start June 3rd. And I believe there was a conversation about maybe that's when the Stanley Cup was going to start. So now it is kind of like an every single night, either the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup Finals. That is massive.

1:41:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, so it'll either start with hockey or it'll start the next night with the NBA. And then we got alternating evenings. Shout out to sports doing that. Shout out to the NHL doing that. Shout out to the commissioner, Gary Bettman, coming on the program last night. We appreciate you, man. Hey, all of them coming by was sweet. That was really cool of everybody. They seemed like they wanted to be there, too. Like, yeah, they were all very good, I thought. And, you know, we did all pre-records because it was hard to get on everybody's schedule in less than 24 hours. They are commissioners of leagues, you know, and there's a lot coming on.

1:42:16Pat McAfee:A couple takeaways for me is I appreciated that they were all willing to speak about things that are happening in their league, actually. I also do appreciate the fact how open they were about how things are. Technology and AI, really. I mean, right? We all hear about it. They're like trigger words at this point. And, I mean, AI is getting booed at commencement speeches because you've got an entire group of graduates coming into the world right now that are basically being told that AI is about to take all of their jobs. And then you've got these commissioners of these leagues who obviously employ a lot.

1:42:46Pat McAfee:I think 1 ,000 people are in the office of MLB over there in New York. There's obviously offices in other places. I think the NFL obviously has a lot of people in these offices. And there's a lot of jobs to be had in this entire league. And then you hear these conversations like, we're looking at AI for everything. What do you mean everything? Is the ball in? Ball out. AI. We're doing that. The marketing, the promo, the ideas, when we're playing games, how we're playing games, how many people are in this. It's like they are trying to get as much information, I think, from the modern technology as possible to continue to grow their leagues.

1:43:13Pat McAfee:And I'm kind of intrigued to see how much better leagues can get, you know? Like, what is the, like AI gets you all the information that you need like this. AI comes up with polls and research for you for things that have happened in the past whenever this has happened like this. Everything is just like at the snap of a finger. What will be the actual implementation that'll make the leagues better, I wonder? You know, like five years from now, 10 years from now, as AI is just like kind of a tag team partner, what will the biggest change be from one to the other? has to be an officiating, right?

1:43:42Pat McAfee:Yeah, by far. That would be the entire thing is officiating. Scheduling, I assume, is another big part of it. Just certain calls. There's always going to be need for humans there to make the subjective calls, right? Yeah, I think so. I think with AI in general, this is a deeper conversation just because we've gotten a chance to kind of see different genres of AI now and obviously experience different genres of AI as we get introduced to different worlds and everybody's using them. Everybody is using their own different separate ai they need all of them need a human you know but that job used to be of a human or multiple humans right so like there is certainly a replacement that's happening but there will never be a full take in my eyes in my opinion there will never be a full take and we'll always need human to uh like ah or correct it but clearly from all those commissioners everyone but the nfl Oh, what?

1:44:36Pat McAfee:Yeah. Oh, jeez. We're already on it. Come on. Where the hell was Goodell? Where was he? He was out of pocket. Hey, listen, that guy's got to do what he's got to do. It's the offseason. All these other leagues have their stuff going on right now, actually. Yeah, probably abroad. It is very, very AI conversation-centric whenever it's like, hey, what's the future look like? What's the future look like? Technology, technology, technology. I appreciate that we're kind of getting to that same point. Everybody's kind of welcoming it or being forced to welcome it. When will fans in, like, younger generation accept that this is, like, kind of the new reality?

1:45:05Pat McAfee:Five, ten years from now? As they grow. Because all these young kids, teenagers now, they're all, they are deep in the AI world. So I think it'll become more and more the norm. And I think I appreciate the youngs, like, booing it because we, I'm 39, AJ, you're 40-something. 42. It's going to affect the rest of our lives, too. Oh, yeah. You know, there's a lot of things that are being affected by. It's here. It's here. Either get on board or don't, like, whatever. Like, use it. Try to become good at it. It's not like you can turn your head. Hey, if I don't pay attention to it, it doesn't exist.

1:45:34No, it's here.

1:45:35Pat McAfee:That was my initial thoughts. My initial thoughts were, let's just unplug this thing. Okay, let's just unplug this thing and not worry about it. But now you're hearing everybody speak about it. They're like, hey, we're using AI and everything. Well, if you submit to it now, it might be more lenient on you when it takes over and it's in charge. Easy. I'm not submitting. No, I'm not doing that. Really? You're controlling the taco? We're going to be collaborators. I'm going to work with it. I don't need to submit. There doesn't need to be an alpha in this situation. I think you're working for it, though, I think inevitably, is what Nick is saying, I think.

1:46:05Pat McAfee:Because these things are starting to have feelings. Yep. Come take your bees, dude. These things have some deep thoughts, I will say. But these things – I mean, until they can put them into the little thing – I'm sorry, until they can put it into the little robot that was freaking Shaq and Charles out on set last week, whenever it was, until they can, like, make that thing attack us and take us over physically, we shouldn't be that worried. Do you think Johnny – What? Yeah, he fought Bob Minnery. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Roughed him up pretty good. He kicked early. Kicked him right in the ass one time.

1:46:38I do wonder if kicking him in the ass was one of the things he was like,

1:46:41Pat McAfee:you know, I want to kick him in the actual ass. I want to kick this guy's actual ass. These robots, I haven't seen one that could win any of those fights. They can't walk up stairs. Exactly. The ones we see. Let's make sure we know that. Yeah, you would think they're right around the corner or they're just hiding them somewhere. But eventually, don't you think those little guys are going to give us a run for our money? Are they going to wear masks, you know? What do you mean? Let's not even get into that. Let's not do it. No, not at all. More so a good way that it could be involved in sports more.

1:47:12You would think that there is some sort of AI that will help with kind of like scouting and drafting. Like you would think there would be an AI that would be better kind of equipped to evaluate how a player is and maybe what their projections will be. And I'm sure – I mean, John Lynch said it. Like, if you're not using AI, you're already behind in that field. But I'm sure there could be one that down the line, like the Colts, you know, you won't have any more bus. We don't know if we have a bus, by the way. I'm not saying that. That's actually a good pivot.

1:47:41Pat McAfee:Thank you for saying that. We had number four overall pick who was a quarterback out of Florida. He had only played, I think, eight football games or something like that post-high school because of every situation that was happening in the world. at the time and also his world at the time. He comes into the NFL with a massive, massive upside. I mean, incredible athlete. Dunking from like the foul line while also being 6 '5". So much wiggle and ability to throw a football 95 yards. And then just injury after interesting situation after interesting situation continues to happen. And inevitably, he doesn't get enough reps.

1:48:13Pat McAfee:And also, is he taking to being an NFL quarterback how you would hope to have it? And all of a sudden now people are saying, maybe AI will save the Colts from doing that. Whoa. Well, I'd like to have you know he's back on the field, seemingly healthy. Great mindset with where he's at. Daniel Jones just got paid to be our quarterback. Anthony Richardson, obviously a very similar type player to Daniel Jones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just with a little bit more protection. If he is in the right mindset and he's at the time of ball where he understands what's going on on the defensive side and he's making throws like this, have you seen this?

1:48:46Pat McAfee:Have you? Holy shit. That was standard. That was not 2X playing speed. Rope. Oh, my God. Why'd you guys pay DJ? We're going to need multiple quarterbacks. Listen, don't you worry about that. We are a team, seemingly, that the football gods have deemed a team that needs multiple quarterbacks every single year. Daniel Jones is back on the field as well. Don't you worry about that. And, yeah, the connection with the tight end is A-OK. Okay, so we're about to win it again. We know that. There was actually a funny little stat that came out from Hembo about points per game the teams have whenever their quarterbacks are starters and their ones are up there.

1:49:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, why don't we go ahead and look at that real quick just to see who's who. Oh, the two teams are in a Super Bowl and the MVP. Oh, yeah, and who? Daniel Jones in the Indianapolis Colts. Matthew Stafford, whenever he was starting for the Los Angeles Rams, they averaged 30.5 points. Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts, just got repaid. Everybody's saying, why would you do that? Why'd you do that? Why'd you do that? You don't know ball. Okay? When Daniel Jones was playing, before he broke one leg, which was before he actually tore his Achilles on his other leg, the Colts were number one offense in the NFL and potentially the best team in the league.

1:50:04Pat McAfee:I mean, everything was humming. Everything was fantastic. Then he gets hurt, coming off a bye week, can't move. Then he tears his Achilles. Now it's over. And the Colts go on to lose every single game. Yeah. Drake Mayans up in the Super Bowl, 28.8 points at the starting quarterback. Sam Darno, 28.4 points. Now, is it him or is everybody around him? Who cares? This is what the quarterbacks have been able to produce whenever they start. And don't look now. By this stat, Colt's going to be in the Super Bowl. Or Daniel Jones is going to win the MVP. They should at least win the South. Or both. Thank you, AJ.

1:50:36Pat McAfee:So let's remember that graphic we just saw right there whenever we start chip-chatting about who's going to do what in the AFC. because I saw Lamar Jackson was back in the building. Did you guys report that? Who's you guys? You. I don't report anything. I didn't see your Twitter account saying, hey, good to see Lamar Jackson back. I couldn't retweet it fast enough because Lamar missed a couple of voluntary days and everybody was talking crazy, especially with the new head coach. Then he comes in and says, I go do some things. Okay, you don't know what I do. It's a voluntary workout. I'm back in the building.

1:51:02Pat McAfee:I love the building. I love the energy. I love the fresh mindset, just like I was here in the off season before the voluntary OTOs. So I didn't see you take back any of the words talking about Lamar Jackson not being there, Tony Diggs. I didn't say any words about that last week or two weeks when that happened because he misses practice all the time. Okay. Tony. Okay. That was a non-story for me. It just depends on the reasoning. You know, like was he out just at home in Florida because he happened to be, you know, getting his jersey number retired? Or was he just smooching his girlfriend in Europe?

1:51:32Because that's what a lot of people are saying about a different guy.

1:51:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, Justin Herbert obviously missing a couple. Voluntary. Do you care about ball or not? Is it voluntary to win Super Bowls? Hmm. We don't want. Voluntary offseason workouts, okay, which guys have been missing since the beginning of ball for certain reasons. Now, there are some guys that don't miss a single thing. There are people, obviously, that live in the city year-round and train in the facility year-round, so the OTAs are a little bit different. Justin Herbert is in love, and he missed a couple days so he could show the same support to his lady that she showed to him during the season.

1:52:13Pat McAfee:And now you guys want to judge him. Justin Herbert was born eating a football, pal. Okay, he loves the sport. He loves everything about the grit and the job that Jim Harbaugh has brought to Los Angeles. He loves the city, and he loves the lady who happens to be on tour. So he's just trying to do the right thing. And chivalry is not dead. Now. Are the judges? exactly that's a complete all this doesn't matter they don't win this matters yeah like he's providing things for it to get very loud aj i think we all want when training camp opens that's why the nfl is the best like when training camp opens this doesn't matter we're talking about like i think i feel like this is groundhog's day where we've been on here years previous saying like talking about things in may and june and a guy missing the day of otas or something And then, you know, like once training camp hits, no one's ever said, well, you know, he did miss those three days of voluntary OTAs back at the end of May earlier this spring like that.

1:53:12It just doesn't happen. But I guess that's why we love football, because everything kind of does matter, even though it doesn't.

1:53:17Pat McAfee:Yeah. Yes, it kind of does. Now, it will get brought up if they're asked this year. If he is not great, it will get brought up in a very loud, mean way about him not worrying about football and worrying about chivalry. Okay? We like that he's a good guy. We like that he's representing ball in a huge way to an entirely new fan base. We appreciate everything that he's doing to the world. But if he doesn't play football good, people are going to kill him for it. And Herbert doesn't care. I think that's kind of the thing about Herbert. So I hope he does great. I hope they continue to roll. I hope he continues to represent football in a good way, showing up for his partner.

1:53:58Pat McAfee:But, boy, they have to be good this year or it is all going to be talked about even though it's the end of May. And history will tell us he will be good every year even though the Patriots absolutely blew through them in the playoffs. But I will say, to AJ's point, every year in the training camp, there's always a couple teams we also don't talk about that end up going on to make the playoffs and be unbelievable. Like Seahawks-Patriots, we didn't really talk about them, and then, boom, they go on. The year before, it was the Commanders. Didn't really matter. and then they go on to the NFC Championship.

1:54:25That's why none of this actually matters.

1:54:26Pat McAfee:Congratulations, Herbert Madison Beer. Clearly in love. Talk for him. He's in music videos, man. Smooching. Smooching all the time. All the time. I just hope he can make the correct reads. Looks like all the blood's going from his brain. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no. I understand. I understand. He's in love. He is in love. Chivalry is not dead. Let the guy live. And we are happy for him. Once again, these are all voluntary. You know what else is voluntary? Giving your money to a good cause. Aaron Rodgers donating to Women's Flag Football. Thank you, Aaron. Awesome. He's a camp. Give it back to the next day.

1:55:07Pat McAfee:He is. Didn't miss a single day. No, he didn't. Even though there was a lot of conversation about that. What will matter? What won't matter? What's real? What isn't? Well, tomorrow we got a whole other list of questions because we have no idea. But we do know if the Western Conference will continue. you. We'll watch that and we'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice about. Change your life. Goodbye. I think we got it in. Wanted to get the Aaron thing in because that is cool. Sick. Yeah, because he's at camp and all he's doing is fucking. No, no, Tony, he donated.

1:55:38He did do that but he does. We all know.

1:55:41Pat McAfee:He was staying in shape. We do know that because obviously he and his wife like to have exercise. You know, they like to be in shape just so they can have a good time together. He told us that that's why he was in good shape. It didn't necessarily mean that he was coming back to play football. He wasn't staying in shape to continue his Hall of Fame career. He was staying in shape strictly so he could potentially, you know, do it with his wife, which we appreciate the honesty, the transparency. But we do know he is in great shape because of that. Because I think it was four, five, six, seven times a day.

1:56:14Pat McAfee:Yeah. So that's what I'm thinking. Seven. Did you see his calf? Please. When he showed up, maybe 10. Honestly, I don't know what type of things are being thrown around or being tossed around wherever. He showed up at Steelers camp, though, that day one. Absolutely just calves gigantic. I don't know what they're doing. Something with him standing, I think. Maybe jumping. I mean, probably that move right there. And obviously the hips are in there. I mean, he's been training all offseason for all of this. And I think he's been doing well. So other guys might need to look into this being a lot of people doing Pilates.

1:56:47Pat McAfee:I saw guys get into yoga for a bit. Aaron's going to tell us if the fucking exercise is actually the way to prepare for an NFL season as a quarterback. Now, let's go ahead and talk about him being there day one. Yeah. Zero days missed of adult OTAs for the Pittsburgh Steelers. There was some rookie stuff that was happening. There was offseason stuff happening. But as soon as the OTAs, the actual, hey, this is when the league year kind of begins for everybody, He's been there. And I think, have Yenzers kind of died off on expectations? How do kind of the Yenzers feel about how this season is going to go?

1:57:26Pat McAfee:Because I said, whenever the signing happened, that Yenzers now the signing said, okay, now we've got a chance to win. And a bunch of Yenzers told me, don't fucking say that. Yeah. Why are you saying that? You're making us look like we don't know a bowl. We, we. And we don't, there's a good, there's a lot of us that don't think we're going to win now because of this entire thing, but we think we'll win more games. It's like, I think the Super Bowl mindset is what the Steelers fans have had, which is why the Mike Tomlin era kind of inevitably ended the way that it ended between the fans and Mike Tomlin, because it was like, yeah, we're good.

1:58:00Pat McAfee:We're good. We're good. We get that. We're good. Everybody, believe me, we have teams that are not good that we know about. We like to mock and ridicule them, but we are not going to win a Super Bowl. We are looking to win a Super Bowl because that's what Pittsburgh's supposed to do. Yinzer still feel that way, and it's going to have to be a lot of like, you guys are going to have to show me that you can still do this at this stage? Yeah, you know Yinzer's naturally a bit pessimistic. So they are kind of in a holding pattern and wait and see how the season goes. I personally am very, very optimistic with the new weapons that have been added on the offensive side.

1:58:30One of those weapons being Coach McCarthy and his offensive mind with Aaron. I think that's going to be incredible. And then, you know, on the defensive side, it's always been the talent. And now they have a new voice in that room that is saying all the right things. And, yeah, Aaron's been awesome. He has been there. He's not been at white parties or the Met Gala or anything like that or missing for whatever he's doing in Florida or God knows what the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks are doing. But, no, I mean, we are very, very lucky to have Aaron as our quarterback right now. Can't wait to win seven.

1:58:58Pat McAfee:Not seven games. Seven. The seventh Super Bowl. Yeah. Win seven kind of sounds like you were saying win seven games. 7-10. No, they haven't won seven games in over, I don't know, 20, 25 years. No, they've won more than seven. Correct. You're saying they haven't won at the lowest. We haven't lost. People know. People know. We know what you're saying. They haven't come. Everyone always predicts they're going to finish last in their division. Oh, that hasn't happened since, I don't know, 1987 or something. Yeah, and you ran that coach out of town because of it. Chuck Knoll? Talking about then Bill Kahn?

1:59:35I'm on Mike Tomlin. No, he never came last in the division.

1:59:37Pat McAfee:Mike Tomlin never had a losing season, actually. And then they ran him out of town. No, he walked away. He walked away. Oh, yeah. He resigned. Yeah, ran out of town. What was that, AJ? That was the first time we heard something out of you over there. I'm actually curious, like, the logistic. Did he resign? Because how do you make sure you get the rest of your contract? It was a mutually parting of ways. Yeah, when you get ran out of town, it's just like a hey. It wasn't run out of town. It was clearly. You want his big statements? I just want to know, I would assume the Steelers took care of him.

2:00:08They both talked like, yeah, I think I need to change. Let's change things up. But, hey, we want to take care of you, Mike. You've been here and done so much for us.

2:00:16Pat McAfee:We would assume that the Rooney family took care of Coach Tom. Yeah. Locked rod, dude. Let's talk a little bit about the Cardinals and Jacoby Brissett. That ain't happening. Carson Beck, your starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. Over Gardner? Yeah, or Minshew. Minshew, my friend. Gardner's the highest-paid quarterback in that room right now. Doug Guy. All right, I'll do it. Gardner Minshew, starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. And I'm going to watch every game. He's a pro bowler. He's a pro bowler for your team. He was. He almost led us to the AFC South Championship. He almost hosted a playoff game until Wheel, running back that never heard of, Fort Stringer was in there.

2:00:54Dropped it. Threw it behind him a little bit. No. Yeah, wasn't a great pass.

2:00:57Pat McAfee:Both sides could argue that the other person was to blame. but if it was a play that was made in the fourth quarter late, the Indianapolis Colts win the AFC South. Gardner Minshew's a pro bowler and we're hosting a playoff game. And that's what Gardner Minshew did for the Indianapolis Colts. Shane Steichen's offense, Gardner Minshew understood because he's a super genius, was able to break it down, make plays, had incredible moxie, great leadership. Is that what the Arizona Cardinals need in the first year of the floor? Maybe. Maybe that's why he's the highest paid guy. Jacoby Brissett, though, is expecting starters money.

2:01:24Pat McAfee:Is that what we're hearing? At least second range, third range starter money. And Jacoby Brissett, allegedly the leader of that team last year, clearly. We are big fans of his. Good luck to the Arizona Cardinals as they continue to get things right. Yeah, they're going to need a lot of help. Took Jeremiah, at least. Jeremiah Love, incredible moment coming out of the St. Brown podcast where he was asked about a bunch of players. He's really locked in. Yeah, he is. This is from the St. Brown podcast from the St. Brown brothers and Jeremiah Love out of Notre Dame. Four players and you just got to tell who they are.

2:01:57You ready? Yeah. Here we go.

2:02:02Sorry, Foxy. I don't know this first guy. No, wait, hold on. You don't know the first? We're going to stop this right now. Can you turn that around? He doesn't know the first guy. He looked like old dude Andrew Garfield. Is that showing the – All right.

2:02:15Pat McAfee:We love Jeremiah Love. Actually, yeah. Very – That's a compliment. Yeah, huge. Yeah, we love Jeremiah Love. We think that's good news. Let's just – Whoever's playing quarterback, let's get the ball. Just hand it off. Let's get them all to him. Let's see. What else do we have to talk about that we haven't talked about? Oh, yeah, the Bears are coming to Indiana. Doesn't it feel like that? That's happening. Now, granted, this could all be a leverage play. Everything could be a leverage play. And obviously nothing is done until it's done and nothing is final until the ink is dry on any deal. There's been a lot of goal line situations in business deals, especially with the government being involved, taxes being involved, and billions of dollars at play.

2:02:53Pat McAfee:so there's certainly some things that become a hold up for a deal getting done but unless this is all some master plan to get some illinois tax benefit that's coming around the corner which we've been told by the people involved it says like they've been waiting for that for like three years now so if they're able to get it done now they'd be very surprised feels like chicago bears coming over to indiana and indiana has presented a deal that is i think very very beneficial for all sides. I think Indiana is excited for the long-term success of this thing. The Bears don't really have to put up a lot of the money.

2:03:25Pat McAfee:They're able to earn it back through their fans and merch shops and everything around it. It feels like Indiana's got two NFL teams. So, New Jersey has two. California has two. Florida has two. Texas has two. Indiana is about to have two NFL teams. Pennsylvania has two NFL teams. You know, these, Ohio has two NFL, these are football states. These are the football states, and Bears fans are going to have to kind of deal with this, I think, AJ, because it's going to be held over their heads by everybody in the NFL, but definitely in the NFC North for sure. Yeah, it will, and I know when this first came up, we first started talking about it, I didn't think it was actually a real possibility.

2:04:11I thought it was just posturing, trying to negotiate through the press, but right there when it says Chicago and the state of Illinois is with the Indiana taxpayers, they'll pick up the$1 billion tab to subsidize the development. That's what makes me think like, yeah, maybe the Illinois people are okay with this happening.

2:04:26Pat McAfee:But I don't think it is all Indiana taxpayers too. I believe it is just in that area, the taxes that are going to be paying that back. So even the wording there is potentially a little bit of a leverage play to try to get a narrative in there. So I believe because it was being reported that the Indiana taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the Chicago Bears coming. And then I think there was a correction like, nope, nope. That county. The tax that's coming from there will be the entire thing. I think. We don't know where they stand right now, but there was some plan that they pieced together that were basically like, yeah, you guys come in, we'll foot the bill for that, but then the way we'll get paid back is basically just, we kind of got a lot of shit here.

2:05:03Pat McAfee:So they would be banking on the Bears to continue to be successful and very popular. So I think that is what Indiana is trying to provide. Like, hey, we would like to give you the best chance to be as successful, as popular, and make this as seamless as possible because we need your fans to want to travel here. Like that we are going to need them because that is going to how this is going to work out, I believe. And you're right. We haven't covered this from the beginning strictly because we live in this state. But also it's crazy to think that the Chicago Bears would be leaving the state of Illinois.

2:05:31Pat McAfee:That is like a crazy thing to think about in the history of ball. But it seems like there's really no other option with how good of a deal that is being offered from the state that we live in right now. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. Everyone wants to get to every owner of an NFL franchise. you want to get to the point where you can own everything around the stadium. And in Chicago, where Soldier Field is, that's not going to happen. It's right in the heart of the city. So it's just like the Bengals. The Bengals Stadium is right in the heart of the city. If you want the franchise to be worth$5,$10 billion, you've got to find a way to move it out somewhere, and then you build up everything around it and you own it all.

2:06:02Pat McAfee:You should see what the Simons are doing right now downtown Indianapolis around Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Oh, yeah. They're buying up a lot of these buildings around Gainbridge, and they're kind of building up like an entertainment center, basically for... That's awesome. Yeah, it is full investment. Everybody wins. I think everybody wins when they do that. Obviously the owners, they're going to bring in money and all that, but us as fans, we get to use all that awesome stuff and going to a game is that much better. You could have a whole... Think how many families, the memories they create for the weekends when they go spend in these places.

2:06:33Pat McAfee:Okay, so here is the tax breakdown that we read about. In all, the measure would offer approximately$1 billion in investment to the Bears to convince them to build a new stadium in Hammond, and that money would come from a series of new tax levies. Among those taxes would be a 1 % food and beverage tax surcharge assessed in Lake and Porter counties, which is up there, on top of the state's existing 7 % tax already on those items. Lake County's hotel tax would also double as a result of the bill rising from 5 % to 10 % according to lawmakers. So once again, that's up in that area up there for people coming in.

2:07:02Pat McAfee:There would be a 12 % tax assessed on all tickets purchased to the games at that venue. Once again, that would be up in that area. Capital Facts is also reporting there would be a special taxing district in Hammond that would capture sales, use, and income taxes within the district There would also be tollway funds allocated. So that area would be paying back basically the entire thing. All those bars and restaurants they build. Yeah, restaurants, hotels, everything. Yeah, so this is Indiana fronting money for a business to basically invest in the state, in the area. And then hoping that it works.

2:07:31Pat McAfee:Right? That's what Indiana would do. And, you know, history would tell us it's going to work. How would it not work? Those places are awesome. Yeah, that was NBC Chicago. I don't know how it would not work, honestly. If you were able to build up a dream place. Like you said, just if people are too, like, if, like, Bears fans are too pissed and like, fuck it, I'm not driving 30 minutes to go to Indiana. The Bears aren't even in our state anymore. Fuck this. I'm not doing that. But eventually, it's like you care about the Bears enough, you're probably going to move past that. Well, and if they get enough support here to build up a destination that people will want to go to, you know, like maybe a museum or something like what the Packers.

2:08:04Pat McAfee:Indoor water park. Ooh, that'd be sweet. You're right. That'd be cool. An indoor water park would be sweet. With one of the slides that goes outside, like that one in Ohio. Those are the best. Well, that one's been shut down for years and years. Why they shut it down? That was a long – I know there's a couple NFL guys. A couple NFL guys actually invested in that situation that I know of. Mark Bolger. It looks cool. If anyone get that thing running again, it's been shut down for like 15 years or something. I drive by every once in a while. Yeah, I would love to get back into that game. I don't know if it's AI.

2:08:36Pat McAfee:I saw a lady stuck in a water slide. She was upside down. I think it's AI probably Hold up Upside down Those are really popular AI videos Where a bunch of fat people Just get stuck in the slides Yeah I've seen several of those That's not the one I was No of course not Those are popular AI videos Oh my god dangling I was so impressed Once again AI Too good But we'll always need a human And some human had to direct that to make that entire situation. And that's why maybe we get better as a society. Yeah. You know, maybe, maybe we decide today that we'll get better as a society. Actually, if this goes in, actually, I don't have a ball.

2:09:23Pat McAfee:Thank God. It's a lot of pressure. All right. That was way too much pressure on me anyways. Got a huge event about to kick off here. Premier League of Dots night 17 in London is about to start. We should get eyes on that. Luke Littler is throwing darts against Go and Price. So just want to throw the ice man. The ice man, Go and Price. Ice, ice baby. What is going on? Week 17? This is the final. The final. It's at the O2 Arena. The final. The final four. The semifinal into the final. The final is today as well? Yes. Oh, so the semifinals. We got the final four and national championships. Same time.

2:10:01Pat McAfee:It's happening right now. O2 Arena, bro. 19 leg semi into a 21 leg final. I believe Cool Hands Humphrey is looking to defend his title, go back to back. But we'll see. Okay, so these are the final four. These are the final four of eight. After a long season, grueling dart season. 16 nights before this one. Yes, this will be night 17. These men battled gout and exhaustion and hangovers. Yeah, dehydration. Bad diets. Certainly a little sitting down there. You have a cheesesteak. A lot of these guys are on the Aaron Rodgers diet. They're fucking only. And that is why they're still in tiptoe. That's not a diet, I don't think.

2:10:46Pat McAfee:I think it's an exercise plan. Different type of diet. Anyways, Luke Lettless should win this one. Or is Cool Hands Luke or Gerwin Price? I know he's in the best shape. I like him the most to show up. And then Johnny. Wow, what an electrifying character Mr. Clayton is. Yeah, go Johnny, go, go, go. we were kind of pontificating. Maybe he ate a ton of meat to bring his gout back because that's when he was throwing his best darts. Cool hands Humphreys has beat the piss out of Littler the last two weeks. And then, like you said, Go and Price kind of has the intimidation factor. He's fucking strapped.

2:11:19Pat McAfee:And there's a new official calling out the 180s. Yeah, I don't think people loved him early. And then one of these nights, people were throwing stuff and he basically turned around and was like, oi! I fuck off! Stop that! And they did, immediately. And everyone stopped. It was like, okay, never mind. This guy that we thought might have not been the one might be the one. All right, you have followed this very closely. Way too closely. To the point where even I'm wondering, like, what the fuck? Why do I like this so much? But I'm all in on it. I truly am. Yeah, go Johnny, go. Go Johnny, go, go, go.

2:11:58What does Luke come out to? Luke Lettler? Yeah.

2:12:05Yeah, he does this one.

2:12:09Pat McAfee:I don't think he writes to these songs. They just blast them. Oh, yeah. They're just a huge part. They got entrance music with actual songs that are very... All these artists are just true fans. Fucking Bulletproof? Yeah, when Bunting... Do they dance in them? Bunting actually goes around and does karaoke at random pubs when he's not playing darts. Stop. There's a lot of... Yeah, the Bunting move. The Bunting move. Bulletproof! nothing to lose. Fire away. Fire away. He's not in it, unfortunately. And then there's this one, too. They do a couple of these. He got the song because him and Sia had a fling for a little.

2:12:46Pat McAfee:I don't think that's true. I know. It is. You're going to have to win a Premier League darts championship to get into that conversation. Bunting's won. So here's what the entrance looks like, AJ. Just for those that don't know, the song is jamming right now, signing autographs. They would have had to walk him through the crowd, but instead... What's that? There it is. Come on. Come on now, lads. Fun fact, Bunting did win this in 2014. He is a world darts champion. Well, it makes sense, especially with the aura. Everybody wants his autograph. The men want to throw darts like him. The women wish they threw darts with him.

2:13:17Pat McAfee:I mean, that is the type of electricity that is potentially in these Premier League darts, and the entire place is singing right now. As this man, who has focused his entire life on being a professional athlete, says, Hello, lad. to his little baby boy go on son his mom and he thinks to himself maybe i shouldn't have had the extra entire pizza last night this man does not focus on anything other than darts obviously it's hard to bet on these guys you know because i don't really know who's who on day to day night to night but i'll tell you the darts world in europe is certainly a uh an electrifying magical experience i don't know if they'll be able to do this in america but who cares yeah exactly Only one way to find out.

2:13:59Pat McAfee:I don't know if we're going to get that music cleared over here. We need some Americans to go over there and infiltrate their game. So the Cash Brothers over in Centerville, Ohio, they've been trying to work the minor league circuits for a while now. I think if we were able to keep them sober through an entire, I guess, night of dark tournaments or whatever, they might have an opportunity if they were able to lock it in. But I don't see that ever happening. I just don't know. The right amount of drunk, maybe. Sober is too much to say. and trying to sell to somebody. Just the right amount of drunkenness.

2:14:28Pat McAfee:And I do think Jeremy, the younger one, finds the right amount of drunkenness and he gets himself to the finals. But if they give him a three to four beer timeline between semis and the finals, the other person, in his words, fucking loser. This guy hasn't had a beer. It's like, well, there's like 2 ,500 bucks on the line or whatever, you know, like pretty big. There's 5 ,000 bucks on the line. He's like, whatever. And then the sober guy normally beats him in the finals. But I think he does have the level where maybe just IV him. There you go. So we can monitor. What was that Orange Theory Fitness where they had monitoring everybody's heart rates?

2:15:10Pat McAfee:So they had the little bands on them. So like, hey, we don't care what you do. We just need your heart rate to stay in between this amount and then this amount. It was actually a pretty cool little idea. If they were able to do that for Jeremy Cash on his intoxicated level, if they were able to just somehow keep him at that one level of drunk where he's really 100. I got a couple of them. Order on Amazon, the little BAC test, where you blow into it and it tells you how drunk you are. Just keep him between a certain range. Test him every 30 minutes. So you get a bunch of those just to make sure, right, you're okay?

2:15:42I have a couple. I've gotten a couple of them over the years, yeah. Just to make sure? No, not to make sure you're okay. It's a party trick. Bring it in. Hey, who can blow the highest? Yeah.

2:15:50Pat McAfee:Blow the highest, obviously. We look for everybody to be responsible. I saw a guy have three glasses of wine. You saw that guy online? That was an AI. Oh, gosh. Is it weird because Bobby always wins at your parties? I didn't know that was a problem. Bobby B-A-C, you mean? What are you, blah? Only a four? I need to get to 44. That's not good, by the way. Drink responsibly. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. Thank you all so much for letting us live this life. It is because of you that we were able to do this.

2:16:30Pat McAfee:And we are incredibly thankful for you. I can't believe we did a primetime thing last night with all those commissioners. I know. Night before that, we were at the Industries Award Night in New York City, eating Bradley Cooper's Philly cheese sticks. So good. Thank you, the Academy. A couple days before that, Baby Midas was coming into the world. life kicking ass daughters three years hey life is good let's all enjoy all of it hell yeah hell yeah team on me team on three one two three team goodbye

2:17:08this is what everyone's talking about everything's on the table this is what champions come to take this is what everyone came to see And the slam. No do-overs. No second chances. No more Mr. Nice Guy. This is Winner Take All. And it's all happening now on the home of the NBA Finals. Don't miss it. June 3rd on ABC and the ESPN app.