PMS 2.0 1564 - Stanley Cup Finals Preview, Dan Orlovsky, Jackie Redmond, Jeff Passan, Chris Paul, Erik Johnson, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

18:39Pat McAfee:I don't think you thought it was going to be Miles Garrett. What was your thoughts whenever this came through and how do you think this kind of changes things for the Rams who go from plus 800 to win the Super Bowl and DraftKings to plus 600 in a matter of five minutes? which is a 200-point jump for a favorite, which is absurd with this move. Yeah. First of all, I'm not putting the bed that Aaron Donald thought until, like, November. Because if he's coming back, he's not going to come back in August, right? He would come back October, November, warm up for a month or so, and then make the run.

19:11This was the one, if you were nitpicking this football team, and really offense and defensive side of the ball, this was the one area that they were a flaw in. winning quickly in the pass rush game winning right now in the pass rush game i go back to when boogerhead said that as good as verse and fisk and young and turner are they're all bull rushers miles wins right now right now and so in in the era where the quick pass rush is the most important thing when it comes to the pass rush element of football if you think about Philly a couple years ago winning the Super Bowl and how quickly they got after Patrick Mahomes.

19:53And if you think about Seattle last year and how quickly in the Super Bowl they got after Drake May, it's the quick pass rush that really was the thing that this team didn't have. They went and got it done. I think Les Snead, their general manager, continues to run circles around people with the way that he's building his football team. Not everyone can do it because you can't bank on the quarterback and the coach keeping you so good that that pick first rounder will be late. but that's the flaw of this football team. The second thing I thought was, and I don't know if Hembo has the answer or whatnot, I would love to know in the last year or two how many times Miles Garrett, there you go.

20:32No, that's not what to leave, though.

20:33Pat McAfee:That is just pass drop backs, which you can go back and you can go back, you can hit. I think it works for whatever you're about to say right now, I think. All right, so go back to that first slide, because that was my question. I wanted to, Miles Garrett set the sack record 23 in a season when the Browns opponents dropped back 563 times, third fewest. So meaning they saw a pass game third least amount of the time out of anybody in the NFL defensively. Yes. That's insane. That's insane. So imagine now the bottom part, the Rams saw seven most because often with the lead. So Miles Garrett has done all of this with not often seeing teams throw the football.

21:17He's never had the opportunity or rarely had the opportunity to rush on third down in the second half with a 10-point lead.

21:26Pat McAfee:Forget about it. Hey, that's what Bill Pullian literally built the Colts about. Hey, Peyton Manning is going to get the lead, and then we got Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, and they're just going to sack him. We're not going to be very deep in a lot of places. If we have Bob Sanders back there, that'll be incredible uh if we have gary bracket do his thing yeah it's boom here's another stat about trailing and everything like that so that was an entire plan for how you uh construct a roster is like hey this is how we are going to get to the quarterback by getting a lead the browns you know very they're normally in dogfights too so very rarely is that going to be a uh is that going to be a situation that's funny to see your reaction do you know how to say that this guy never saw a quarterback drop back every third fewest and he gets the most sacks in history is what you said in history.

22:13We're talking about a guy who's historically good getting the quarterback on the ground and he doesn't see the pass game often. Now he will see it on a consistent basis that this offense is going to be one of the best in LA, one of the best in the NFL. I mean, it's not unrealistic to sit here and think that he'll break his own pass rush record again. It's not unrealistic to think he's going to break the sack record again because they're going to have so many leads and he'll get to rush the passer on third down in the second half of so many football games.

22:43Pat McAfee:Yeah, he'll also block like four kicks. I mean, the guy's everywhere. And McVay's going to throw him the ball at least once. At least once he's going to get through. Remember, we've seen him play hoops. He can get up and get it. Athlete. Yeah, his hands are above the block on the backboard, I think, a couple of those times. So I think Matthew Stafford can throw it to the moon, right? Yeah, oh, yeah. Yeah, and then just throw it to the moon. Could you imagine him, Devontae, and Puka on the field? What do you do? I mean, the Rams are seemingly in a very good behind. What are we doing? You're not allowed to do that.

23:17Pat McAfee:Let's go ahead and check everybody's alignment. Let's make sure everybody is exactly where they're supposed to be. Let's go ahead and investigate. Okay, so obviously we're going to talk about A.J. Brown with the Patriots, but there's another team involved in this entire thing. Go ahead, D. Bo. Yeah, another blockbuster trade yesterday. A.J. Brown going on to the Patriots, and obviously Kahneman will probably ask you about that, but I want to ask you about the Eagles. How do they look, their offense? How do they look post-A.J. Brown? how good is makai lemon this all for me comes down to and puts more pressure on makai lemon than any rookie in football i don't want to hear about mendoza or carnell tate can makai lemon be and i'm not going to say puka nukua his rookie year because puka his rookie year had 105 catches for 1500 yards but one thing about lemon a couple things about makai as a college player number one does not drop the football does his his hands are as good as gold so does not drop the football two loves to work on the inside of the field he is a refined route runner three his yards after the catch his broken tackle or breaking tackle um ability and his ability to kind of turn the short into long is a big deal which is a part but you know if this shanahan offense so it really comes down to like what can you bank on on a makai lemon devante smith's gonna go for 75 80 plus catches 1200 plus yards and sniff 10 plus touchdowns okay like that i will guarantee people we're gonna get that out of davante can makai do what jayden reed for green bay or what brandon iuk did for san francisco because those are the two styles of players that he reminds me of and it's the same type of system those guys each went for like 64 and 60 catches about 750 yards, eight touchdowns.

25:02So can Makai Lemon for Philly give them 65 catches, 750 yards, and six touchdowns? If he does that, I think they're going to be fine. I think they'll be in way more 12 personnel, two tight ends. It absolutely puts pressure on Eli Stowers, their second-round pick, Vanderbilt tight end, but here's the guy, okay? I think they'll be in 12 way more than they have been. In 11 personnel, they've lived in...

25:26Pat McAfee:Let's talk about the Philadelphia Eagles setup, though yes they got saquon barkley like they got an offensive line right that is supposed to be they are a run first team right isn't that what we all kind of understand don't we think that is that what we're expecting too going forward we're learning we're learning from maria taylor's uh conversation with aj brown which by the way great get maria incredible work there 7 p.m in brooklyn production i believe the name is create maria we are so sorry this is rude it's very you just said yeah but that's i think that's the entire maria great job but we everybody in that's a part of getting that interview incredible work there we're very uh thankful that you did that he said that just like kind of life happened there was no like bad blood with jaylen there's none of that it's just kind of he didn't know why a bunch of people thought it should be the epicenter of conversation and it's like, well, yeah, here it is.

26:24Jeff Passan:Creative?

26:24Pat McAfee:Creative Seven? Is that what it is? Maria, we apologize. We do not, you are, Maria, you're a fucking goat. You understand that. So this is an incredible interview, though. Getting this at this time was fantastic, and we got a lot more information. It sounded like A.J. Brown and Jalen just kind of grew apart, and they just were no longer had a lot in common. But there was a lot of shit, you know, that was seemingly happening from a lot of different sides. Is this a sign that, like, hey, Jalen, we want Jalen, this team to be like, does that make sense? What do you think this indicates about Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles and how everything's going to kind of go going forward with him?

26:59Yeah, my honest opinion is I think it puts a ton of pressure on Jalen Hurts to prove that he can play in this offense, this style of offense. And I'm not going to bet against him because all he does is prove people wrong, but you guys know this and everyone that studies the game has talked about this. This is a very different style of football that Jalen is going to be asked to play on a consistent basis. It's not going to be the shotgun world where we're playing one-on-one football on the perimeter. It's going to be more underneath the center. It's going to be more in the play-action game. It's going to be more throwing the ball over the middle of the field.

27:34And so it's a make-or-break kind of year for Jalen to prove that, like, yes, that's this offense or this style of offense that I'm capable of thriving in. And it's going to be very different. No question, they'll run the football. That's the bread and butter. Sean Manning, their play caller, played in L.A. I was in L.A. with Sean. So he was a player in L.A., then a player in Minnesota, I believe, and then a player or a coach in Green Bay. So he's coming from that Shanahan tree. What Philadelphia has run in the last, ever since Jalen's become their starting quarterback, is nothing, is nothing like the offense that he will run under Sean Manning.

28:12What type of – I'm sorry, Coach Roll. What type of, I guess, because what it sounds like is going to be like a drastic change. And you're changing that with your quarterback. And we know how quarterbacks are. And we've heard things about Jalen. Just like you hear about all the great winning quarterbacks. But how drastic of a change do you see it being? Because, like you said, he's been a shotgun guy. Even going back to playing for Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma, he's been a shotgun guy. That's kind of how he sees it. That's kind of how he plays. So how drastic of a change would it be for Jalen to go fully from that style of offense to this new style of offense from your eyes as a quarterback?

28:48Night and day, you have to learn things and how to play the quarterback position. You've got to learn how to play quarterback in a completely different way. Imagine this. Jalen Hurts, for most of his life, most of his life, and he's been great, has played football five yards behind the center, catching a snap, and seeing what the coverage was more often than not, declared for him pre-snap and go catch and i know where i'm going with the football or i'm taking the ball i'm putting it in the running back's stomach and i'm reading one guy and that one guy if he goes to the running back i'm pulling the ball and throwing it out to the perimeter if he goes to the receiver i'm handing it off that was the 2023 season i believe okay so it's been gun and RPO.

29:37So now he's going to have to much more wordier offense, break a huddle, and go underneath the center. This guy's won a Super Bowl. This guy's a Super Bowl MVP. We'll see how good you really are. Hold on to that for a while. What's going on? It's stressful. But it's very different. It's just very different, dude. Now he's going to go from underneath the center and not necessarily care what the coverage is because in your play-action game, the coverage really doesn't matter. and he's going to turn his back to the defense, not know what the coverage is, ball fake, and now have to set up and find areas.

30:13Like you find areas or you find people 15, 20 yards down the field and you're reading different levels. And it's going to be a very different experience for him. And you guys have heard me say this. I'll go back to talking about it with Caleb. Your feet are everything. You have to play on time. You have to play on time in this offense. And your feet tell you when and where to throw the football. And that just takes a while to master. I'm not betting against him. But it's going to be very different for him. Totally different. Completely different experience.

30:47Pat McAfee:Who's the backup quarterback there? Tanner McKee. Andy. Yes. Who? Isn't it Andy Dalton? In Philly?

30:55Darius Butler:In Philly?

30:56Pat McAfee:You know what? If it is Andy. Hell yeah, dude. Yeah. I'm kidding. Still doing it.

31:00Darius Butler:Andy's on the team, but I think it's going to be Tanner McKee. Maybe Tanner McKee.

31:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, but who's most comfortable doing this number right here?

31:05Darius Butler:Well, Tanner played at Stanford under David Shaw, so they were under center a lot.

31:09Pat McAfee:Okay, because I feel like that is a drastic change. That's huge. That's a drastic change for his whole life. You're already a franchise quarterback. You're already a 50-plus million-dollar quarterback. And I know it's so far back, but Andy Reid pre-Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid's offense and his style of play, all of it was kind of much different because of the talent that Patrick Mahomes was, and he changed it. And now that's kind of all we think. That's, you know, that's the dynasty. But before that, so I feel like Andy Reid is – I mean, he's coach Michael Vick. He coached Donovan Mapp. He always changed it.

31:41So I feel like Sean – like Sean Mannion, he's – what's he, 29, 30 years old? Yeah, he's a puppy. So he's a young kid. Obviously, Sirianni's still there. So I would just be shocked if it's like night and day. Will they gradually, I think, you know, make it more under center, more play action? Yeah, but will that be the bread and butter? That's a hell of a chance. He's 34.

32:02Pat McAfee:He's 34. Okay, 34. Sorry. I'm with you, D-Butt. But to his youth, he has experienced L.A. with Sean. And we know that that's now Sean varied a little bit when he got Matthew and spread it out a little bit more in the gun. But Matthew's a different animal. So he experienced the Sean McVay stuff. Then he goes to Minnesota and has experienced the Kevin O 'Connell stuff. And then he's gone to Green Bay and experienced the Matt LaFleur stuff. They're all the same. They sprinkle in different stuff. They're all the same. And so the bread and butter of it is you better put the quarterback on the center.

32:36You better run the ball because the explosives come off the play-action pass game. That's black and white. And so I'm not sitting here telling everybody that all of a sudden they're going to turn into, you know, handing the ball off 50 times a game outside zone. But it will be a very different experience for Hurts.

32:53Pat McAfee:Can you tell them what the docs are going to – I'm sorry. Can you tell me what the cadence is going to sound like? Can you give me what that would sound like? guys are understanding. What do you think Jalen's is going to be as he's under center there? What's it going to sound like, you think? Mike's 52. Mike's 52. Spot, spot, spot. That tells the receiver we're kicking the mic down one. That means your responsibility in the blocking game is going to change one guy over or one spot over. Spot, spot. Mike's 52. Set. 20. That's pretty good. That's really good. Yeah, and the big And then we go fake spot, we go fake spot So if you think we're handing the football off, we go spot spot And then we run fake run action That way, and we go play action away from it And those guys now go to the run game And here comes the crosser And then we're dropping that thing with a little touch pass over to all Just a little touch pass over to all Dan, last time you were on though You were talking about a couple different teams Who have first time play callers And how you were not high on them Because of that, does that worry you at all about manion because he has been around absolutely these guys but he's never called plays before absolutely um and i know sean absolutely i don't i smart guy i don't know what type of play call he's obviously learned under certain uh very specific offenses and great play callers but until you do it we don't know what kind of play call you are and i have such immense respect for the guys that do that because i i can i understand how unbelievably challenging it is So, yeah, there's a as much as I sit here and I go offensive line and say Kwan and Jalen's proven everybody wrong over the years and still really talented.

34:32It is a big giant unknown of, OK, how is this all going to come together? And do I expect it to be very different in November than September? For sure. I just think it's going to take a long almost like we saw Caleb start to settle in a little bit more in Chicago. I think that we'll see Jalen in November really start to settle into this style of offense and Sean learning Jalen as well.

34:54Pat McAfee:Excited to see Caleb continue to learn Ben's offense. That's going to be a lot of fun. Feels like they were nowhere close to being what they could potentially become together, especially next year. But yeah, the play action, especially off of Detroit, similar situation there. Jalen having to turn his back to the defense is a massive part of it. Not being able to see something, at least perif something, maybe pressure, maybe a disguise. can change how you play football entirely. So hopefully he's able to get it done. We'll be excited to watch it. And if that offense becomes very productive and Saquon's still doing his thing, will it matter?

35:24Pat McAfee:Coach Sirianni's going to be judged about that. Now, obviously, there is a coach up in New England who is being judged in a way as well. And I'm thinking he's going to have to win a lot of games this year. Go ahead, Conman.

35:34Jeff Passan:Yeah, and he's definitely got all these Eagles problems. It'll probably be easier with A.J. Brown, but he's a New England Patriot now. Dan, what do you expect from the New England offense this season, especially with Drake May going into year two? of the Josh McDaniels offense, not to mention the success that the first-year receivers in Josh McDaniels offense have had. I believe we have a graphic kind of highlighting that. But what should we expect from the Patriots, and should we all buy Super Bowl tickets right now to go watch New England once again hoist Lombardi? Yeah, this will be one of the best offenses in football.

36:06I think it's the deepest wide receiver room in the AFC right now. And what I mean by that is there's six guys in that wide receiver room that can flat out play. And I'm going to talk specifically to what AJ brings to this offense before I talk about the other guys. This dude kills man coverage. He kills man coverage. And if you looked at New England in the playoffs and watched what they struggled with the most, they could not beat man coverage last year in the playoffs. I think the number is Drake May's QBR in the playoffs last year was 19 versus man coverage, and he took nine sacks. Look at that stat since 22.

36:48AJ, 2 ,000 yards versus man. Hills man coverage. D-Butt, you're going to know this, okay? If we had to fast forward and think about, all right, New England goes on a run. Who does New England have to go through defensively? Denver? What? Yep. Houston? What? Yep. Buffalo? What? Yep. What's their main coverage? Man. man to man yeah so if you can't beat man in that conference or in that if you can't if you don't have guys who could beat man in that conference you're going to struggle when it matters the most and that's what aj brings to this offense and i'm not going to say i don't want to like but imagine what gronk did for this offense under mcdaniel and i know they're different players and i'm not but gronk would be the guy that almost always tom would start to read with okay does gronk have one-on-one let's go to Gronk yeah and if it's not Gronk because they're shading or favoring or double teaming Gronk who's the other guy and then the other guy is going to be Romeo Dobbs the other guy's going to be Matt Collins the other guy's going to be Pop Douglas the other guy's going to be if Booty's there Keishon Booty they just got a plethora of people that can create matchup

38:02Pat McAfee:problems as an offense yeah Booty did not show up everybody's thinking that he will be traded out now because too many wide receivers is how many wide receivers and maybe wide receiver market now looking differently after A.J. Brown officially moves to the New England Patriots. Drake may also like the third highest accuracy percentage in the history of the NFL or something. Yes. So the guy can spin it, loves the deep ball, loves putting it in spots, and he's only getting better and better. McDaniels obviously understand the situation. The Patriots are going to be good again, and we have to deal with people like him forever.

38:34Pat McAfee:That as soon as you said, he reminds me of like Tom's strong. Connor,

38:39Jeff Passan:just immediately. I mean, we're talking about the greatest title in the history of the NFL.

38:42Pat McAfee:But then he went on to say, hey, all I'm looking to see is if he's one-on-one. Drake May is going to look and see if A.J. Brown is one-on-one. And it's like, okay, it doesn't matter what this play is. We got a guy that is going to be wide open right there. And DBs know it, too. Yeah. Yeah, you talk about changing the game. He's a game wrecker. And that's like, just like we talk about Miles Garrett. These guys just change the math, whether it's a wide receiver, a pass rusher, whoever it is. And then, not to mention, we talk about Josh McDaniel. You talk about that type of offense over the years, you always got to think about that kind of scat back.

39:10And I keep bringing up Trayvon Henderson. Henderson, yes. The jump that he makes because you're going to have to – and that's almost a number one as well. That's a mismatch. For a lot of teams. That's a guy third and six. He can separate. He can make a tough catch. Red area, low red area. He's a go-to guy. So you're going to have the double number one, A.J. Brown. So you got mismatches all around.

39:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, but what about their defense though?

39:33Jeff Passan:Oh, we had a top five defense last year. I forgot you mentioned it.

39:36Pat McAfee:No, your defense has got to be not good.

39:38Jeff Passan:No, it's one of the best defenses. We also added Kevin Byard, who I believe led the league in interceptions. Correct. That probably won't hurt either. And like I said yesterday, we had the fourth most rookie snaps in all the NFL. So, yeah, we're going back to the bowl. He said we're going to be good. Let's make sure when we say it. We're a great footballer. We're going to be great. Yeah, okay.

39:55Pat McAfee:I understand. Sorry for the disrespect. I was just kind of piecing it all together there. Shout out to that. Okay, we appreciate you, Dano. Have an incredible day. appreciate it boys be good thank you hang loose bro hell yeah brother Jim yeah ladies and gentlemen joining us now to obviously help us understand what's about to take place this evening in Raleigh North Carolina as Carolina Hurricanes will host the Vegas Golden Knights as Stanley Cup final drops puck at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC joining us now WWE superstar and NHL on TNT and MSG Network star, ladies and gentlemen, Jackie Redman.

40:34Jeff Passan:Yay, Jackie! Hi! Guys, I miss you. I'm so excited to be on. I've been following the show because you guys always give love to hockey, and I've been loving it. And during that whole conference final that I just worked with the great one, Wayne Gretzky, I got to tell you, I got to pass it along, Wayne loves the show. Wayne loves. He was singing your guys' phrases all the time. He was like, that Pat McAfee, those boys do so much for hockey. So I wanted to pass that along.

41:00Pat McAfee:99 loves you guys. Kind of have to give it to us. Yeah. Kind of have to give it to us.

41:05Jeff Passan:Thank you, Guero.

41:06Pat McAfee:Thank you, Guero.

41:07Jeff Passan:Love you, Guero. Love you, Guero.

41:09Pat McAfee:That's incredible. Good for us. Hey, thank you for bringing that piece of information to us, because we obviously never heard that. The fact he comes on the show is absurd, and the fact that the NHL is as popular as it is now, and it feels like more people are respecting Wayne Gretzky for who he is and what he is, is good news for everything. Now, let's talk about the Stanley Cup Final, where a lot of people could potentially be tuning in for the first time. Maybe they missed the entire playoff run where they saw both these teams have absolutely wagon-like performances. Hurricanes just decided to never lose, basically.

41:40Pat McAfee:Gave up one. Was it Ross? They come back. Stomp out Montreal. The Vegas Golden Knights, they took out the Colorado Avalanche. Supposed to be the greatest team of all time. Jackie, what should we be looking for this evening? What should people who maybe haven't seen either of these teams play kind of think about as we look to Lord Stanley Cup final run starting?

42:00Jeff Passan:Well, what do we love in wrestling, Pat? And what do we love in entertainment? We love a story of good versus evil, good guy versus bad guy. And this is the ultimate good guy versus bad guy Stanley Cup final. Or shit. Yeah, the Carolina. The Carolina. What did you say? I said that's or shit. Ty is a Vegas Gold Knights fan. No, it's not. Listen, listen, listen, you got to own it. You got to lean into the villain narrative because it is real. The Vegas Golden Knights have turned themselves into the big, bad villains of the NHL. They are ruthless. They are cutthroat. They don't care if you're their coach.

42:36Jeff Passan:If you want a Stanley Cup with them, they are going to make cutthroat decisions for the for whatever it takes to win. And I respect it because it works for them. This is their third Stanley Cup final. They haven't even been around 10 years. So they obviously know what they're doing in Vegas. But, you know, people don't like that. They're turning themselves into like an empire. So they've become villains. And then the Carolina Hurricanes are their head coach personified, basically. I mean, Rod Brindamore is all hard work and responsibility, and that's how their team plays. They are the way the system and the structure that they play in is responsible.

43:10Jeff Passan:It takes really hard work, work ethic to do it, and they've been knocking on the door for so long. They are the good guys. So if I had to explain the final to someone that hasn't been paying attention to hockey, that's how I would explain it. It is the good guys versus the bad guys. We'll see who comes out on top.

43:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, let's see if the babyfaces can get it done. Let's talk about the barn that's happening tonight. Everybody says Carolina, I think they go with best tailgate in hockey or something is their kind of tagline. But everybody talks about the actual barn being toughest in all of NHL. and I know Canadian teams aren't going to like to hear that because I've heard the Canadian barns are certainly loud.

43:47Jeff Passan:Not loud enough to win a Stanley Cup.

43:48Pat McAfee:Well, it's been a while since Lord Stanley has kind of traveled north of the border, hasn't it? 1993.

43:58Pat McAfee:Holy shit. Have these guys been born yet? Hey, Canada. Canada, we appreciate you for the game, though. Great game. Thank you, Canada. Thank you for the game.

44:09Darius Butler:Mitch Barner. Mitch Marner best player in the playoffs, no? Boys, don't make me pull out the rosters. Oh, I didn't see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He made it. Let's not forget Mitch Marner, Canadian lad.

44:22Pat McAfee:Sidney Crosby's lived in Pittsburgh longer than he lived in Canada. There you go.

44:27Jeff Passan:Pat, I haven't forgotten the show where you tried to take Crosby as an American for the Olympics. Almost worked right. And you made an argument that I didn't see coming, but you'll never take Sid from us. And for Mitch Marner, I don't know who said it, but I'm going to push back because Mitch Marner has not. Listen, I'll give him I'll give him claps for what he's done. He's been unbelievable this postseason. He could win a con smite if Vegas wins the cup like he is legit. However, he has not faced a team as suffocating defensively as the Carolina Hurricanes. I'm sorry. I have to actually get this off my chest.

45:02Jeff Passan:Everyone's going, oh, Carolina's had an easy path. They faced Ottawa, Philly, Montreal, blah, blah, blah, blah. Vegas has not had a hard path. Vegas... Colorado Brown has come! The best team in the league! Anaheim Ducks, man? Let me finish. They faced Utah, who's never played in a playoffs before in their history. They faced Utah. Anaheim Ducks, who are young. Great coach with that mustache. Joel is a great coach, but Anaheim and Utah were the lowest ranked teams of all 16 in the postseason. They didn't get lower. They didn't get lower. And then Colorado didn't have McCarr. McKinnon was banged up.

45:45Jeff Passan:That was not the behemoth of the regular season. Well, hey, Bednar said McCarr could have went. He just decided not. As much as Vegas will be the toughest test for Carolina, Carolina is also going to be the toughest test for Vegas. And Mitch Marner is going to have no time, no space. They are going to smother them. And I'm curious to see sort of how that shapes out.

46:04Pat McAfee:Okay, so to your point.

46:06Jeff Passan:Carolina's not getting enough respect.

46:08Pat McAfee:Well, to the point that Jack is making, Vegas minus 155 would be... Carolina is the largest Game 1 favorite in Stanley Cup Finals since Tampa Bay in 2021 when they beat Montreal 5-1 as minus 170 favorites. So the books also think that Carolina should certainly beat the hell here out of the Vegas Golden.

46:27Darius Butler:A stat that just came in, teams that are minus 155 or more in Game 1 since the lockout are 8-0. Okay. All right, Jackie.

46:37Jeff Passan:I don't like that. I don't like that. No, Jackie. I don't like that. Especially with everything you just said.

46:42Pat McAfee:You just came out and said, the Vegas going nights. What a bunch of bums. He did say that. No, I didn't say that.

46:47Jeff Passan:You heard her, Torts.

46:49Pat McAfee:You heard her, Coach.

46:50Jeff Passan:I will take you in the parking lot. Hey, this is why Torts said we're not doing media.

46:55Pat McAfee:Bingo. We're not doing media. We're hopping on the plane. We're getting out of here. Stuff like that. Miss Jackie, we appreciate you motivating the KDX over there. You're the Vegas Golden Knights tonight.

47:09Jeff Passan:Listen, someone's got to put some respect on the Carolina Hurricanes. It'll be a good series, though. I think it goes seven. I hope it goes seven.

47:16Pat McAfee:We appreciate you. WWE superstar, Miss Jackie Redman. Jackie! I didn't know that was the overarching storyline that your team is just hated by everybody. I like it, though. I didn't even think about them saying they'll fire their coach with eight games left. They don't care about anybody over there. It's all about what's best for everybody. Oh, yeah, because everything's just fucking gumdrops and rainbows, right? This is the National Hockey League. Are we trying to win games? Remember, they cheated the salary cut. That did happen. It's hard for me because Stoner is arguably the biggest hero of my lifetime.

47:46So I look at this guy, and it's like, are you a villain? Are you kidding me? What? It's Stoner. Biggest hero? You're a Packard of Yankees fan. Yeah, I know.

47:53Jeff Passan:He put him above Jeter the other day. It was crazy. Stoner. You know how awesome it is when you open up Instagram stories on a random Tuesday, and Stoner's checking in on you? It's the best. I mean, it's just like. This guy cares about me as much as I care about him. That's why he's a hero.

48:07Darius Butler:They built quite a friendship. What happened? Yeah. I can't remember. It was just a very obscure Instagram story, something from the show, and I'm going through and, oh, yeah, nice stoners checking in today. Really? Yeah, it's awesome. Dude, that's good. You've made good sense. Yeah, exactly. See, so it's reciprocated. This guy knows that I would take a bullet for him. He is a, like I said, one of the biggest heroes of my lifetime. No, you said the biggest.

48:29Pat McAfee:That's why D-Bud immediately got a hold of the phone. Yeah, no, I don't think you can discount that. I think it, I mean. Play with a broken back. You were on the team there for a year. Exactly, exactly. And he welcomed me in the change room, you know, gave me a couple pops when I was severely boozed up. Don't really remember what I was saying, but Stoner enjoyed it. Oh, you nailed it. You know? Yeah, I was in there. Yeah, you hit a home run there. Exactly. Well, it started with just a couple of lads, and then I believe word trickled through. Hey, Ty's pretty drunk. Yeah, this guy's fucking hammered.

48:57Pat McAfee:Let's get in here. You did. You put on quite a show, motivated the boys. Weren't able to win a cup that year, but maybe. this year is the year. Let's pivot away from the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Let's go to another thing that you love. Baseball. Huge, huge time in the history of baseball. Obviously, ratings up and to the right. This college baseball World Series, I assume numbers are going to be the biggest that they've ever been. And I'm only saying that strictly because my dumb ass is paying attention more. Is that because the West Virginia Mountaineers, or is that because there's been more and more electric moments happening that is kind of capturing everybody's attention?

49:27Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, the man that's going to break it all down, Jet Passett. How you doing, Jet? Gentlemen, how are you? Happy Lou Gehrig Day to all who celebrate. Ty has his NDALS shirt on that was sent to us. And shout out to you for connecting us with all that and understanding that's happening. Because I have had people in my life that have been affected by ALS. It is, I mean, she just said smothering there. That's kind of what it is. And you just kind of got to watch it. and that we have nothing that can really stop it. So I appreciate any time anybody is raising awareness for something to hopefully protect future us and future everybody.

50:08Pat McAfee:So shout out to you for getting us connected with that. Now, let's talk about baseball and how it is an absolute wagon right now. Something that is very negative has obviously come into conversation because there's been a couple proposals that have been presented by both sides of the negotiation. I tell you what, I was pretty optimistic there for a little bit because, you know, it sounded like there was some positive stuff. And then I heard a response and it's like, we're, this is, we're going to get a work stoppage again. It sounds like we are, we're destined to do that. And I would hate, I would absolutely hate that if sports with how healthy we are as a whole, had the showcase to a world that for some reason, the players and its league cannot get along and continue to do business with each other.

50:47Pat McAfee:That's stuff that happens in politics. That's shit that happens in other places in sport with how healthy it is and with how much there seems to be a love for sport again and baseball in particular. So I think this would be a detrimental blow, I think, to a lot of things if this was to take place. How do you feel about it? Where do you think we sit? And inevitably, where do we end up with this entire thing? Because I'm bummed out the more I hear about it. And this is just a Tuesday, and I don't like bringing bad vibes. But we need to continue to push the narrative that this can't happen yet, I think.

51:15Pat McAfee:Right? Isn't that what we're kind of saying to everybody here? Pat, this is a Tuesday in June, no less. And we've got another five months until the collective bargaining agreement expires. So this is going to be a story that continues and hopefully, as you said, continues on a positive trajectory. But the reality is Major League Baseball and the MLBPA right now could not be farther apart. And it's not just in terms of money that they couldn't be farther apart. It's the philosophy. It's the fact that Major League Baseball wants to completely upend and change the system that has governed the sport since the first collective bargaining agreement.

51:56between the sides and the players want to look at it right now and say status quo is working for the game. The game is in a great place. Why would we change things up right now? So it's almost like they're speaking different languages at this point. And here's the thing, the language of MLB at this point, which is put a salary cap in place, is very appealing to a majority of fans out there. And that's what the Players Association is fighting against. It's against the narrative that salary caps are necessary to have competitive balance in baseball. And look, you look at the standings right now, and I understand we're in early June.

52:34You see teams that spend a lot of money at the top, like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. You see teams that don't spend a lot of money at the top, like the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians. You look at the bottom and you see teams that aren't spending a whole lot of money, but then you see the Mets down there and you see the Red Sox and the Giants and the Astros. And the argument from the players is that competitive balance already exists. Why would we change things? Whereas Major League Baseball says that for the future of the game, this is a necessity.

53:06Pat McAfee:Yeah, and the whole it's a necessity versus we've never done it before versus why would we do that is just a fascinating kind of argument that seemingly doesn't have a lot of common ground, especially if you don't like kind of want to have common ground. I guess 1994 is when this last one got really bad, really ugly. And I've done some research on it and got some information. I guess the way that thing all went down is there was a potential want for a work stoppage to happen or like, hey, something huge has to take place for us to be able to get to a place we want to get to. And I think the players were very solid on that entire thing.

53:47Pat McAfee:And then the negotiation went the way it went. And then that had a work stoppage in it. And I mean, guys just signed for 750 million guaranteed. Right. So I feel like that would end up being a pretty is 94 to last time they negotiate. Like when when is the last time they negotiated? And is this current deal like very old? Like when was the last time this was all updated? Because I keep hearing about 94, 94. I'm like, that's a long time ago. Is that how you're you're you're hearing about 94, Pat, because that was the last time that owners proposed a salary cap. And the fallout from that salary cap proposal was in August.

54:23The players went on strike. The World Series was lost that year. They wound up at a place where judges had to get involved. Sonia Sotomayor, who's a Supreme Court justice now, actually was the judge who put Major League Baseball back on the field after the 1994 strike. And, you know, Major League Baseball, I would say it learned its lesson. But I don't know if that's an accurate way of putting it. I think more so, it understands that when it throws salary cap out there, those are the two dirtiest words to baseball players. Baseball players, when they were building the MLBPA through the 60s and into the 70s and getting free agency into sports for the first time, they have held that up as a paragon of what the union can and should be.

55:10We should have unfettered free agency and the market should determine what players are worth. And inherently, a salary cap system takes away from that. You know, when Juan Soto is making$60 million a year and Kyle Tucker is making$60 million a year, and all of a sudden that's a quarter of the potential payroll that you have, it drastically changes things. So even though the floor that MLB is proposing is high and does bring up some of those lower spending teams and certainly shrinks the gap between the top and the bottom, The consequences of that are what players are not going to be on board with.

55:48And the argument at this point is getting very semantic, Pat. Major League Baseball says that Major League players are going to be paid more in 2027 than they are this year under the proposal. And that sounds good, right? But if you look at the mechanics of the proposal itself right now, major league players have been getting paid more each of the last five seasons under this collective bargaining agreement just naturally, just by the way that the market is moving. So when players see that, that the inherent mechanics of the market are likely to make the spend even higher and to make our salaries go up, they're asking the question, so what exactly are we getting here from limiting our ability to earn?

56:33Pat McAfee:Interesting. So the whole there's more money next year than there always has been type situation, I think is being presented because the NHL, whenever the NHL put in a salary cap, I think they took money out of salaries, I think at the time. And then that obviously created a work stoppage. So like there was like an entire thing. And we were just trying to figure out the last time that a salary cap was placed on it, what happened? And it was like, well, it was a different situation because they did like cut into salaries and like kind of lowered it. And that was the expectation. Then there was a full season stoppage.

57:07Pat McAfee:And it was, I think, a huge blow to hockey at the time. It was gnarly. And one thing, Pat, I think this is a really important point for people to understand. Even though we talk about this barreling toward a work stoppage, right? That would be on December 1st. If the parties have not come to an agreement, then the likelihood is that Major League Baseball would lock out the players. That's not the day that you need to be concerned about. A work stoppage in and of itself is nothing new. Let's not forget, five years ago in 2021, when the collective bargaining agreement expired, the league locked out the players.

57:47And that lockout lasted for 99 days. The important days are in late February and early to mid-March, because that's the zone to get a deal done, not to miss games. Now, it's when games start becoming imperiled that fans should start being concerned because that's the possibility not just of losing games at the beginning of a season, but of a particularly prolonged lockout. And so right now, let's enjoy the baseball season. Yeah, let's enjoy the baseball season.

58:19Pat McAfee:Let's enjoy the baseball season. Because the baseball is baseballing right now, and it's been fantastic to watch. But once we get to December, just because there's a lockout doesn't mean that everything is falling apart. All of these negotiations, Pat, are about two things, money and leverage. And those two things, the relationship between them are intertwined. And both sides are always just looking for the most leverage they can get to get the best deal at the end of the day that they can. And I'd like to believe that all of the parties involved understand that baseball is in a great place right now.

58:55And a work stoppage where games are missed would be catastrophic for everyone.

58:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, and because any missing of any games, as we recall with the COVID year, is the players are going to want the money for the entire season. Even though if they go back into the season, they miss some games and the owners aren't going to. So then more negotiations have to start happening that are already on top of the negotiations that are already taking place. So everything kind of starts compounding on top of each other. And there's so many people that have ideas and opinions. Come on, let's enjoy it, basically. Well, and Jet would know more, but last time they canceled the World Series, it took MLB probably like four years.

59:31They didn't come back really in popularity until Sosa and Maguire went head-to-head. So you would hope it took them four to five years. Yeah, and if not for Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa, it would have taken even longer. And that's the thing. You know, you shouldn't be banking on a black swan event to bring back your sport. And that's what Major League Baseball is risking at this point, that they would need just an outlier of outlier. There are so many things that fans can watch and can do. And they devote their time to baseball because they love the game. The game needs to love them back. Yes, it does.

1:00:11And that at the end of the day is what all of this needs to be about. everyone is going to be extraordinarily rich. This is a game that's bringing in 12, 13, 14 billion dollars a year. And they need to figure out how to equitably and fairly split that up so all the parties involved not only get enriched, but do what they're supposed to do, which is put on games that we all love.

1:00:36Pat McAfee:Carry the torch for the sport. Good luck out there. Jack, we appreciate you getting to the bottom of it. We won't ask about it again until at least November, December, because I'm bummed out already thinking about no baseball. Now, quick, Tone wanted to know, is Scoobo definitely getting traded? We got a minute until a hard out.

1:00:54Darius Butler:Where to? Where to? I don't know at this point, but let's put it this way. The Detroit Tigers have been the most disappointing team in baseball this year, and it all coincided when Tarek Scoobo got hurt. The reality is they have dug themselves an enormous hole, And if Tarek Skubal comes back healthy and looks like anything like he normally does, which is the best pitcher in baseball, he will be the headline of the August 3rd trade deadline. And we will be talking plenty more about him.

1:01:23Pat McAfee:Who's that? Yankees? Dodgers? Marlins? Mets? Pirates? Marlins!

1:01:33Honestly, it could be any of the above. Can you imagine Skubal and Skeens in the same rotation? Oh, yeah, I could.

1:01:40Pat McAfee:I thought I was going to see a Team USA, and then we didn't. But I'm not going to hold that against anybody. What's that? Owner's been up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're damn right. That's a new team. We're hoisting cones now. Never forget it. Jet, we appreciate that. Yes, Jet Passer. I'll be back on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Take three. Three.

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1:02:36Pat McAfee:That's the sound of zero sugar 200 milligrams of caffeine And the power to burn body fat Storm, energy for life Storm Energy Blend helps boost metabolism Which in combination with exercise and a healthy diet Helps burn fat This product alone does not produce weight loss Individual results may vary Hello beautiful people And welcome back to our humble abode The DraftKings Thunderdome On this Stanley Cup Final Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, our tour of the program begins now. Sports! The greatest in tonight's Stanley Cup Finals drop puck in Raleigh, North Carolina, as the Hurricanes host the Vegas Golden Knights as we find out who will win that trophy right over there.

1:03:17Pat McAfee:That is obviously a historic run in it that could be making its way to North Carolina or Las Vegas. yet again in the early organization's run. They've obviously had massive success. Stoner there leads the way for the Vegas Golden Knights alongside Jackie Aces and its squad that's been in Vegas for a while, but not as long as you would think for how much success it's already had. If they were to win another Stanley Cup, I think this would be the greatest start to a franchise in history in the NHL. I think this could potentially be the greatest start to a franchise in any sport in it all. And then the Carolina Hurricanes, they've been building and waiting.

1:03:56Pat McAfee:And now, will Stasi and Jarvie and a bunch of Caniacs going crazy be enough to win for that beautiful barn that they have down there where they're cranking sirens and chugging beers and basically lighting up an entire city all around a hockey celebration that they call the best tailgate in all of NHL? Congrats to both teams. Can't wait to watch it. The Talks of Table is here at Boston Corner at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboys, AP Tone is here. What is something we should think about tonight as we look to gamble on the Stanley Cup Final Game 1?

1:04:29Darius Butler:Teams have been unbelievable. The Hurricanes are minus 155 tonight. Interesting enough, they are also minus 155 to win the series, so the Game 1 price is the same as the series price. And something that we mentioned with Jackie earlier, since the lockout in the early 2000s, a favorite of minus 150 or more is 8-0 in Game 1. I know how we feel about stats and stuff like that, but it's a good stat, but I would not sleep on the evil empire that is the Golden Knights. They are loaded with talent, and they are playing great for torts. It's going to be an exciting one.

1:05:02Pat McAfee:Yeah, it certainly is. Good for hockey.

1:05:03Darius Butler:Good for hockey starting tonight.

1:05:05Pat McAfee:I hope a lot of people get a chance to watch electricity happening on the ice. Let's go to nine-year NFL vet, D.J. Butler. D.Bot, you look super cool right now. Thank you. Is Liv happening still? Yeah, just we're in Korea. Oh, yeah. Wow. Neiman won. Neiman won. His eighth win, most on Liv. Love Neiman. Great character. Love everything about him. I'm happy it's still going. Golf obviously took place this past weekend. There's about to be golf this upcoming weekend, which is spectacular. You watching soccer now, right, because you watched the Champions League this past weekend? I'm all in. I heard you're potentially rooting against the United States of America.

1:05:42Pat McAfee:Never.

1:05:43Jeff Passan:Never. In the World Cup? Never. Never. Are you going to get behind the lads or no? I'm always behind the lads. I'm realistic. Where's your tarp at? Exactly.

1:05:52Pat McAfee:I came into the room. Exactly. I was out. Connor, I was out with you. Don't. No, no, you're not with me. I was outside the room. I come walking into the think tank, and all of a sudden I hear Gumpy, who's wearing a United States of America flag shirt, and he goes, can't believe you hate your own country. And then walks away, and I go, what just happened over there? And Gumpy goes, ask D-Bot if he believes in a United States soccer team or something like that. And, Debo, you go, I just have some questions in this entire thing. Coach is already allegedly leaving.

1:06:24Darius Butler:We just beat Senegal, though. He's not leaving. You saw him with the iPad or the Mac, whatever. He's fully invested. So you don't think America is going to win the World Cup? Look, I'm where my feet are. You know, we're coming off a win, a friendly game in Senegal. In America, you mean? Down there in Carolina. Your feet are in America, you mean? They're in America, and they will be here forever. So, yes, we're coming off a win. And I think – That was not the time to do this, okay? We go balls to the walls, and then when we get beat out in devastating fashion afterwards, you say, this team fucking sucks.

1:06:53What was I thinking? That's the game plan. You know that.

1:06:56Pat McAfee:That's America. That's the blueprint. That's how we do it. We are blindly confident in this Team USA. I don't love that the coach is already leaving. It's not confirmed. You can still sign an extension.

1:07:08Darius Butler:We don't know.

1:07:09Pat McAfee:Our odds are good.

1:07:11Jeff Passan:We're playing on American fake grass. 10 to win a million bucks. I got to see the value.

1:07:19Darius Butler:They play Germany and Chicago on Saturday night. That doesn't even count.

1:07:22Pat McAfee:Joining us now, probably a guy that's pulling for Germany, college football national championship, football champion Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawk. Thanks, A.J.

1:07:28Jeff Passan:Hawk. That's pretty rude before I even pop on screen and say, I'm probably rooting for Germany. Absolutely not. I'm always rooting for the boys here in the U.S. But I don't know. Like Zeebutt, I'm not sure how confident I might be right now. What? No. This is the good. Good sign that Pulisic has scored a goal. Assist does all this stuff in these friendlies, as we say. But, you know, I don't know. What's the best we've ever done?

1:07:52Pat McAfee:This is it. What we're about to do. Okay, nobody talk here. Okay, nobody help AJ. Nobody help AJ. AJ, how many days are we away from the World Cup, do you think?

1:08:02Jeff Passan:Oh, my God. I mean, why would you ask me that? Just how many days do you think? It's close, AJ. Oh, I bet we're probably like 32 days. Why'd you say that? I said nobody say anything. You're nowhere close, dude.

1:08:14Pat McAfee:I didn't hear you. We're like five days away. Nine days away. Nine days. We are. The World Cup is happening very soon. That's great news. I think that's great news. I think so, too. Did you know that, though? I didn't know that. Gumpy came out to be. No clue. No clue. World Cup, nine days. I'm like, that's now? I thought it was maybe August, like early August. Me, too. And I guess some people are a little bit upset about the time of the games. You know, I guess some people. They're good for us.

1:08:39Darius Butler:They're great times, yeah. Yeah, we've been getting up to watch. Well, I have been getting up to watch the EPL at 5 a.m. my entire life. So guess what, Europe? You can deal with watching a game at midnight. Anywhere between noon and 10 p.m. So that's who's bitching about it, Europe? Yeah. Oh, tough shit. Deal with it. Yeah, we were just watching. We were watching Saudi play in the last one at 3 a.m. We've got this for how many of the last World Cups. You know how hard it is waking up at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning? The last one was in Qatar, dude. Getting boozed up, doing it.

1:09:08Jeff Passan:In December. It was in the middle of football season. It's not easy. When do they want him to play? When does Europe want us to play?

1:09:13Pat McAfee:On their time. Convenient for them. 6 a.m. maybe start. I assume all the favorites are probably that side of him. Yeah, everybody that is at the top of the – go ahead.

1:09:23Darius Butler:Who are the favorites? Well, Spain is over there, sure. And England's over there, yes. And Germany's over there, sure. And France is over there, yes. But Brazil and Argentina and the U.S. and Mexico. We're all over here. Mexico sucks. Botswana. I assume they're in the field this year. It's a good side. It was Becky's side. Thank you.

1:09:43Pat McAfee:Hey, it's great to hear you're on USA's side. He had not been. We know that the toxic table had not. This is the first day. Hell yeah, brother. They just learned that we're nine days away, too. We are very close. We are in the time now where we are blind and confident.

1:09:57Jeff Passan:I feel like this is our year. It is our year. Now we're starting to find it. This is the most exciting the Thunderdome has been. Yeah. We're here. What's the game? Keep up. Yeah, a little juggle, a little situation.

1:10:08Darius Butler:Last time it was in Qatar during football season. So, yeah. He has a top break.

1:10:13Jeff Passan:Yeah, and now we're Browns fans in the preseason. We're going to get all juiced up about going up for the preseason. We're not the fucking Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns have actually won a Super Bowl before. No, they have not. You're not getting right. They're worse. No, they have not. Yeah, right. We are worse than the Cleveland Browns. Look, I'm all for you. No offense to Cleveland Browns, but fucking no way.

1:10:36Darius Butler:And they have never won a Super Bowl. Yeah, what do we... We were not the Browns. Yeah, when everyone else is fighting World War II, they had their guys stay behind and win a Mickey Mouse championship. That's not...

1:10:46Jeff Passan:Okay, remember we like the Browns. Have we gotten the top 50, though? Yes! Lando Donovan, let's not forget.

1:10:52Darius Butler:In 94, we finished in the top eight. Come on. That was the last time it was on U.S. soil, I believe.

1:10:57Pat McAfee:But on that note, I mean, the comparison... How do we do that?

1:11:00Darius Butler:Colby Jones and... Alexi Lales. Alexi Lales and all the boys. Tony Miole between the pines. Tony Miole, yeah. If it wasn't in America, would we have qualified? Yes. That's an actual question. Yes, we won the Concae for Champions. And are we playing TST rules this year? Because that would be a lot more fun if we were. Oh, you mean you have to get arrested before you play in the tournament?

1:11:22Pat McAfee:Joining us now, one of the other questions from TST. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Paul. Yeah, Chris. Hey, something is really wrong with y 'all. This guy is one of the owners of the soccer tournament. TSD just got done with a fantastic weekend down there in Cary, North Carolina. Obviously, home state, home area of Chris Paul. We watched TSD and Foxy genuinely. Now, I might not be too far behind him, to be clear, even though I love Team USA. If TSD can get an international game going, which I think they easily could just from the people that are on the grounds there, you could probably get maybe 10 different countries represented, it feels like.

1:12:03Pat McAfee:But that style of soccer electrifying. I think you should hear from Foxy, who's not a soccer fan at all, Chris, about the product you guys are putting out that way. No, you're exactly right.

1:12:09Jeff Passan:I'm not a big soccer fan at all. So when we went to TST these last couple years, I'm going to show this highlight here. You got target time score, 2-1-2 with just one guy there. It's so electric. It is so fun to watch. I mean, I'm going to go to this one. This was for the championship. Look how close this guy was to scoring for the win from half court, man. From half court.

1:12:32Pat McAfee:$1 million. dollars. Exactly. It's electric. I wish the World Cup was like this. He's a live guy.

1:12:38Darius Butler:Two on two in the World Cup, Foxy.

1:12:40Pat McAfee:That is awesome. Christian Pulisic. Oh, man. Oh, my God. With Luna? Diego Luna? Against who? Leo Messi? Exactly. Anybody. Tim Reed. Anybody. We want them all. And we want Messi to play for the team in which he represents the league. That should be a World Cup bylaw. He should be Lou Messi. playing for America. All right. Congrats to all of TST and you guys. Great show. Good shit down there. Did you enjoy the weekend? We missed you guys, man. That shot you just showed right there, the stadium was crazy. It was electric. That shot right there, everybody, like this one right here, like Pumas, they lost again in the championship.

1:13:23Everybody was going crazy right there, thinking that's going in and then... And then what?

1:13:28Pat McAfee:And then what? Well, it hit a guy's leg and you guys didn't call a corner and then the other team got the ball, went down and scored, and Pumas loses again. So you going to play next year or you going to ref? No, no. All right, let's talk about that. You didn't ref, obviously, but it did feel like you were a coach on the court. And there's more and more highlights coming out about you as these young superstars kind of are taking the stage in the biggest way. More specifically, Wemby. There are some with you and Chet. And I think people are starting to recognize maybe that you were a little bit more than just a 5 '9 point guard that played in the NBA.

1:14:02Pat McAfee:I think people are recognizing that 21 years of NBA experience, there is potentially a coach on the court there. Can you talk about what it was like alongside Wemby and how, you know, you might be a part of the entire story here when it's all said and done about the greatest of all time? Man, through all these years, you just never know what each year is going to bring to you, right? So getting a chance to go play for the Spurs after playing against them in the playoffs, I got a chance to play for Coach Pop and then getting the chance to play with Vic and be a part of his process. The coolest thing about seeing the Spurs right now is obviously people see the team, but it's the people every single day.

1:14:40The people like if we had practice at 10 or 11 a.m., the people that was on the court with us at 8 a.m. every single day, them people grinding. That's why you see Wimby the way he is and all them guys on the team.

1:14:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, I appreciate the fact, though, you get that play right there. Jump ball. Hey, you grab this thing. I ain't never win one of these in my life. This is for you. It feels like he does want to know everything, though, right? Super cerebral, guy that wants to know absolutely everything. Like, perfect superstar for the NBA at this stage of the NBA's existence? No question. He's a student. He's a student of the game. His ability to handle the ball, affect the game defensively. Every player that you can talk to that has had Vic guard them, you've got to change your shot. He going to make you question everything that you've learned about the game.

1:15:32And to see just his mentality, right? I think that's why everyone appreciates him. He doesn't say what everybody thinks he's supposed to say. He says his real feelings, his real emotions. And he can do that because he didn't invest in the work and he didn't invest in the time.

1:15:48Pat McAfee:I appreciate that you call him Vic every time we call him Wemby. I assume the people that know him call him Vic. We as people that just buy his shoes and shit, we refer to him as Wemby. Okay, so it feels like now we know. Now, if we ever get to do it. No, no, you call him whatever you want to. I have the time when he was like my teammates, big fella, just because he's the tallest guy. Relax, Pat. You're going to do that to most guys. Me? Whoa. Whoa. You need to watch it. Pat, how tall are you? 6 '1". I put my cowboy boots on. You got me at 6 '3". I'm fucking stomping. You know, the cowboy boots get me a really good spot.

1:16:28Pat McAfee:It's not something these Southerns have done. They have kind of worked into their every day like a little inch and a half. You double sock that thing, you can maybe even get 6 '4 on a good day in those boots. So it depends on when you catch me, where you catch me at. But I fucking love those cowboy boots. I love everything they do for you. Yeah, you can have those.

1:16:50Darius Butler:You didn't get a pair when you were in Texas? Do you got those wrestling boots? Oh, I did. I did. I'm sure y 'all can find it now. When I played for the Rockets, I played two years for the Rockets. And you know they have – is it Go Texan Day? Oh, of course. Sure. Yeah. I'm sure somebody can find it. Yeah, I damn sure came in there with my cowboy boots and all that for one of the games. Shorts? Shorts with cowboy boots or did you have pants on? Jeans. I had pants on.

1:17:12Pat McAfee:Man, you should have went with shorts with cowboy. That would have fixed Chris Paul. I should have crossed wrong. That would have fixed Chris Paul image, don't you think? It's going to be a hell no for me. Oh, good. There you go. Wow, they covered up the boots, though. Real Texas Ranger you got going on right there.

1:17:28Darius Butler:Yeah. Good, Chris.

1:17:29Pat McAfee:Chris, not bad. You know, in North Carolina, I think you can pull that off, too, saying like, hey. No doubt. Yeah, I think you could say that this is how I normally dress. This is what I do. I think you should think about it. Plus, you, what? 5 '11", now? At least. With those cowboy boots, that definitely put me about 6 '4". 6 '4"?

1:17:49Darius Butler:Oh. There you go. outside the jeans oh you didn't talk to jeans yeah yeah love it yeah i love what you're doing

1:17:57Pat McAfee:chris okay let's so we talk about vick obviously we talk about wimby uh let's talk about the other side of this thing let's talk about uh the star in new york that is seemingly also unguardable go ahead debunk yeah big body brunson obviously you know both of you play a long time you dominate as undersized guards and what he's been able to do obviously you talk about wimby as soon as you look at him he looks like an alien but what brunson what he's able to do especially in clutch time I'm like fourth quarters. Like, just take us through that, like how he gets to his spot. What is it about his game that separates him from other guards?

1:18:29Because you're not going to speed him up, right? When you talk about the elite guards that have been played this game for a long time, it's about the pace of the game. I've told a lot of young guards for years, like when you're just really, really fast, you can guard that because then you can just back up, right? So with Jalen, he's always playing at his own pace. He's going fast to slow, slow to fast consistently. He's strong. He can shoot it. That right there, that pull-up shot, that's why it's so tough to guard, too, because that hesitation right there, you've got to acknowledge his shot. Then he'll bump you, play off two feet.

1:19:04He just – he's smart. So all these people that say you don't need a point guard, you don't need this, you don't need that. Jalen is great at basketball, but he's smart, too, which is still what's needed in a point guard.

1:19:18Pat McAfee:Tell me about Jalen Brunson going slow. Because Luka, obviously, whenever he started getting the ball here in America and we started learning about his game, it looked like he was in slow motion. And I didn't understand how it was able to work. And then Brunson's the same way. Why doesn't everybody play that way? Is that a goal? Or is that just some different styles? Like, why are some people super slow, it appears, and able to get away with it where others seemingly can't? Because everybody's different. It's pace. It's pace. Some people are super duper fast and they can come at you with a over the top crossover and they downhill at you.

1:19:54Whereas people like Luca, people like Jalen, who ironically they were teammates, you just play at a really nice pace and they they handle the ball and they take an extra second to see where your feet are and to play different angles. And when you play like that, you've got to be strong. See, that's the thing. A lot of people, Luca is really strong and so is Jalen. So being able to play at that pace makes you very hard to guard.

1:20:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, and you look super cool. Yeah, true. I would say you look super cool. Like, Luka looked like he was playing in slow motion, and he was still getting separation somehow. It was really – So is that what you would want your game to be? I think it's kind of what – So if you could go play in the NBA? I think it's kind of what I would have to be, you know. I don't know if I'm moving that quick. No, you're more like a Tyrese Maxey. Super speed. Yeah, super speed. Like a Tyrese Maxey. I mean, I've seen the play out here. Yeah, you have no idea about what's going on on these feet, bub. Especially with these new airbags.

1:20:50Pat McAfee:You know how fast Tyrese Max is. I've seen him with my eyes on TV. I think I keep – I'm fouling him early, obviously. We're not trying to race each other. But, yeah, I think that would be my style. Maybe it wouldn't be as fast, but I'm running full speed. You know what I mean? That's the matter. Yeah, it might look like Luka, might look like Jalen, but in my head, Maxie.

1:21:09Darius Butler:Watsy's kind of like a Baron Davis. Oh, look at that. I just love him.

1:21:14Pat McAfee:Now, you would argue, though, basketball players aren't like a slow bunch, though. Like, you guys are not built for speed. I don't think that is true. It's a lot of fast players in the league. I think people make it. Compared to what, though? Like, fast compared to, like, the toxic players? Most of us played football growing up. That's a fair, though. They said Russ. Yeah. Like, 4-1-8. Russell Westbrook, fast. Ron James, fast. Michael Jordan, fast. You just don't really get to see it. And I'll tell you this, even in training, when I would start to get ready for the season, and even my son and his training now, when you think about a basketball court, it's only 94 feet.

1:21:54So you never really have a chance to open up, which is why in training you have to go to football fields, you have to go to the track or whatnot, so you can actually build up speed. If you only train on the basketball court, you never get a chance to really open up and to build up that speed.

1:22:10Pat McAfee:Tyrese Maxey got up to 20 miles an hour on the SWAT that he had where he chased down old buddy. 38-and-a-half-inch vert, obviously moving, running, 38-and-a-half-inch vert.

1:22:21Jeff Passan:He's got to be able to run a 4-4, don't you think? 20 miles an hour in the first 90.

1:22:26Pat McAfee:How many feet did he probably run there?

1:22:28Jeff Passan:Maxey definitely. He's got a serious stride, too.

1:22:31Pat McAfee:Yes. What if he's 4-3? That would be great for NBA athletes. If Maxey dropped a 4-3 on everybody, that would be great for the NBA athletics because the way you're talking about you never open up i guess that's how we can only judge it's like we never see these guys running they're not that fast of individuals but they're running a lot i think the amount in which you guys are running is an absurd thing it's more of a cardio sport than you guys are kind of giving credit for i believe in that particular they track it they track it during every game you can look it up now um you can see how many miles you ran over the course of a game they show like how much guys are running during the game debone got 15 000 steps in in New York.

1:23:10Pat McAfee:Wow. Did you see that? His phone track. He are. D-Bone got 15 ,000 steps.

1:23:16Darius Butler:That matches six month total before that.

1:23:17Pat McAfee:Okay. All right. Let's get let's move along. Maxie obviously the fastest on the court in the East or the West but that's now becoming a conversation. Go ahead Conman.

1:23:27Jeff Passan:Yeah Chris kind of conversation right now. East is much much much better than the West. Just kidding. It is the opposite but what is that? Knock it off. What is that? Hey look don't make me go into what teams. Don't do it. Don't make me go into what teams have won the NBA Finals versus the West over the last time. You can do all that you want to. I've been in the Western Conference my entire career. And it's been tough all for the last 20 years and probably before that.

1:23:53Pat McAfee:Okay, so you guys really feel this way because Draymond Green came out and I mean it was on his show. He's in his house. He's talking his shit. But he very much was like the Eastern Conference. What are we even? It was pretty I mean, I did not know that was an actual thing. Then you start looking into it, and then you remember, well, the Celtics exist, though.

1:24:12Jeff Passan:Well, yeah, and the pendulum seemingly swings. Like when LeBron's in the East, the East is very good. But the conversation is more so like there's only one or two great teams in the East, and then in the West there's four or five, and then, you know, six, seven, eight teams are still even better than the four or five teams in the East. What is kind of the viewpoint from the NBA that if you want to win a title, you go to the east and that's why you just decided never to go to the east because you understand that's what I'm about to say I don't know because I ain't never win one right so I believe historically if you look at it the west I mean the east could be top heavy but the west was usually always the deepest and and I say that one of the years when I was in New Orleans I can't remember if it was 2008 or 2009 Houston went on this crazy run and won like 22 games in a row and they only moved up like a spot or two in the standings.

1:25:04And that's just how good the West was consistently those years. I mean, my first two years in the NBA didn't make the playoffs. Didn't make the playoffs my first two years. We missed the playoffs by, I think, one game my rookie year, maybe two games my second year. That's because we were in the same division with the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, and... Spurs? The Spurs. That's 12 losses. That's 12 losses. That's when you had Yao, Tim Duncan, all them there. So the West is the West.

1:25:39Pat McAfee:Yeah, the West is the West because, you know, the cities might be a little bit more destination-y or whatever. But you look at who's won titles. I mean, the East is represented. Let's never forget that.

1:25:48Jeff Passan:I mean, what team has the most NBA titles in the history of the NBA?

1:25:51Pat McAfee:Let me think. Is it the Pacers?

1:25:52Jeff Passan:I'm sure you know, Connor. Yeah, you're damn right I do. The Boston Celtic, bitch. Where's that at? Let me think. That's the most north end, the most east team in the United States of America.

1:26:02Pat McAfee:This is the map right here. It's over here, right? Yeah. It's right over here? Yeah. Mississippi somewhere here?

1:26:10Darius Butler:Yeah.

1:26:10Pat McAfee:The river? Yeah. Then the Rockies? Yeah. And then this is all like the west, right? This is where their teams are? Yep. Which one has the most? I think top right. This one over here? Yeah. Wow. You finished or you done? I don't think anything else needs to be said. Even the 90s, though, it was like the Bulls and the Pistons, you know, and everything else was kind of just like, well, we'll see. I do appreciate, though, that the guys who are playing in the Western Conference have come out and been like, hey, we all know what's going on.

1:26:38Darius Butler:Chris also didn't mention the Lakers and Kings back then during those days that were unbelievable.

1:26:43Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think what the West is saying, just look at our league versus their league, please. Can we have some conversations about that as we – I actually got a question about it. Go ahead. Now that we got you here, this is a very, very famous story, especially on the heels of that Miles Garrett trade in the NFL, going to the Rams, maybe AD comes out, you have a super team. That trade that was vetoed back in 2011, can you take us through that? Like what actually happened? Great question. Well, man, I don't think we got enough time. No, we do, we do, we do. This is June, what, 2nd? We ain't got shit.

1:27:14Pat McAfee:We got the Stanley Cup final later tonight. We do have time. That was a huge story. Huge. Man, it was very, very wild, to say the least. it was crazy times. Our team at the time was owned by the league, right? The league owned our team. We just came out of CBA negotiations. And it's a lot of stories that's been out there now where people say, this is what happened. This is what happened. I remember where I was and me and Kobe had actually got on the phone and talked that night. And then, yeah, it was basically like a little shit storm from there it was it was a crazy time it was a crazy time and just knowing uh the emotional roller coaster that it was at the time was was really different but i got the phone call basically that this trade ain't happening no more how informed were you you thought you're being traded obviously you and uh kobe talk i assume about hey we're gonna be you assume 100 that it is taking place how informed are you that there's like chaos happening behind the scenes and that the league inevitably is thinking about not allowing this to happen because they have literally a vested interest in the team in which you currently play for yeah uh after sitting through all those cba negotiations when we came out they wanted to the whole point of that whole cba negotiation was to make the league more balanced right they wanted more competitive balance yeah yeah they have mlb is pushing for right now yeah yep and so I gotta go back and look at the letter that a few of the owners I guess sent in but I guess when the trade happened a lot of the owners and whatnot from other teams was like well I guess that ain't competitive balance so because the team was owned by the league all the different owners felt like I think they had ownership in the team it's a no go what could have been we won a couple titles certainly

1:29:15Jeff Passan:Did that make you bitter towards the league? Oh, interesting. That's a good question. It would for me. It's a whole lot of dynamics that went into it. It wasn't necessarily bitter to the league. It was a lot of stuff that took place. I'm going to tell that story, I promise you. I'm going to tell every last detail of it one day. But what's interesting enough is, you know who my agent was at the time? Who that? It was Leon. Leon Rose.

1:29:42Pat McAfee:Oh, Nix. yeah so me and leon was on the phone every single day all night all day trying to figure out um what was going to happen because there were a lot of implications that were in on that deal as far as my contract right because in that new cba we had put new new parameters in where if you left not in a trade you wouldn't get as many years on your deal so it was a it was a lot that went into it yeah sounds like it we could all just think about what could have been and then it will always be referred to as the trade that never happened because the league didn't want to happen and about the power the commissioner has versus the league having and how much you know they have say and then whenever the little wrinkle about them having ownership of team at the time that certainly changed the entire perspective of the conversation you being in the middle of that's crazy to think about yeah first and last time we ever heard something like that happening our lifetime at least yeah it's fantasy football right you guys cancel trades in fantasy sometimes you can veto

1:30:39Jeff Passan:You know, if it feels like there's collusion, yeah.

1:30:41Pat McAfee:That happens in fantasy, right? All the time. I don't think we ever really heard about it happening anywhere else. Oh, wow. Look at that. Proposed Lakers-Rockets-Hornets trade. The Lakers would obviously get you, Paul Gasol, gone. Hornets, Lamar Odom. Louis Scola, baby. That might have done a lot. Evan Martin? Legit. I mean. Dragic?

1:31:04Darius Butler:Dragic's all-time great. Goran.

1:31:06Pat McAfee:So many things could change there. You know, Lamar Odom goes to Carolina at that time. Wow. Never happened. What could have been? Where's that? He goes where? Oh, sorry. Yeah, no, no. It's New Orleans. New Orleans. TST. Highway of TST. Yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry. That's 100 % on me. Hornets, that's 100 % on me. What a team name. What a team. New Orleans basketball is a – you guys ever going to win? You think they're ever going to win down there? Hell no. I do. Was that? I do. It's just going to take some time. You think the name can win? What, the Pelicans? Mm-hmm. I played for the Hornets. I know.

1:31:49Pat McAfee:I saw that on the graphic. It literally just went back in time right there on the graphic. Do you think the Pelicans are allowed to win with that name? Do you think basketball gods, with everything we know about them, will allow the name Pelicans? Pat, tell me. Tell me right now. What's wrong with the name? Well, I think the team being ass with it is part of the problem. But if the team was very good quickly with it, I think it would have caught it. Like commanders, that kind of put something to bed quickly because they had a lot of success. Now, if they go back to stinking, that's going to bring the old name back.

1:32:17Darius Butler:That's got some gusto. Well, the city deserves a good team. I know you played there in New Orleans. I was actually in New Orleans when the Saints won the Super Bowl. That city right there deserves a really good team because they know how to show up and they know how to party too.

1:32:33Pat McAfee:Agreed. We're big fans of the city. Big fans of the city, big fans of the vibe Big thing, everything We love going down there I don't know if that name can get it done I just don't know if That'll even be allowed Pelican's a good bird Here's a pelican for those that don't know I think out of the bird family I think you'd certainly show your respect To the pelican I think a swan would obviously just absolutely Smother one of these things If it was to run into it in a while Let's not even dive into what the fucking American bald eagle would do to this thing if it was out in the wild.

1:33:09Jeff Passan:A pelican would chop up a swan. Look at the beak.

1:33:11Pat McAfee:I'm going to be honest. I think the pelican might struggle with one of these Canadian terrorist geese that we got roaming around. Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm thinking the Canadian geese maybe bows up the one.

1:33:23Jeff Passan:Can we show a pelican with its wings spread out, please, so you can understand? Pelicans have got a bit of a dog in it. I don't think New Orleans is never going to win the NBA championship. But I do think the pelican has a bird. Yeah, look at that freaking dick. It's kind of majestic. It's like a pterodactyl. It's kind of majestic. It's crazy.

1:33:40Pat McAfee:I mean, it is a good-looking bird, I'd say.

1:33:43Jeff Passan:He runs that beak right into your temple. He could kill you. Oh, yeah. Or your throat. Impaling your throat. And there's no way.

1:33:49Pat McAfee:He's riding a chopper. He's flying a chopper. He's got that long front. You can't turn that thing around. There's no way.

1:33:55Darius Butler:He lines you up, though. What's that? That's Paul Tuttle. He lines you up and gets you, though.

1:33:59Jeff Passan:Pelicans have a wingspan of 9 to 12 feet. Yeah. Yeah. Pelicans are freaking huge.

1:34:04Darius Butler:Nine to 12 feet, these things? I still don't love the name, but that's an impressive bird. That was not a nine to 12 footer. You found the fattest, obvious one there was. That one doesn't inspire confidence.

1:34:15Jeff Passan:And with the neck, it's doing the double chin neck. What is happening right now? We're talking about a Pelican. You're welcome.

1:34:22Pat McAfee:We're doing this because of you. You're welcome. I can't believe we don't get enough credit for any of that. You talk about Leon being the guy throughout the trade with you in the Hornets and potentially Lakers in the league. He had to make a massive decision going into this year after getting so close over the last couple years. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, he had to get a new coach. And Chris, earlier in the playoffs when we talked to you, I think a lot of casual fans just assumed that he'd kind of just throw the ball out there and the players decide the game. But you basically said, like, no, coaching really matters, especially in the playoffs.

1:34:49When you look at the finals, Mitch Johnson, obviously very young but battle-tested. And then Mike Brown on the other side who's been there and kind of done everything. Who do you think has the coaching advantage in this series? I'll tell you this. I saw something on social media the other day showing Mike Brown's career and all the like he was in San Antonio. He was in Cleveland, obviously coaching Bronium. He was in Golden State. He's been a part of all these winning teams and winning programs. So, you know, he's battle tested and ready for this. But I'm going to tell you, man, a lot of a lot of people don't know Mitch.

1:35:25right and mitch is a point guard right was a point guard played at stanford i'm not sure if y 'all know that no right like yeah mitch played at stanford actually with um uh the lopez twins and so uh getting a chance to play for mitch last year obviously when pop had that uh unfortunate situation what i appreciate about mitch is y 'all watch the games and see how into the game mitch is right like mitch really be into the game like he's a point guard at heart and he's a coach and he's invested and because you're like that as a coach your players feel it that energy and intensity when you saw him i think it went viral when he was uh talking to um uh the young kid carter bryant yep right but your players hear that and receive it when they know you're invested yeah if you notice when he talked to carter bryant like that carter didn't turn and be like man get the hell on like they hear him and listen to him and that's because he's in there day in and day out and he's been in the spurs program for years so they trust him i think i saw him

1:36:32Pat McAfee:i mentioned it the other day like they're up eight maybe less than three minutes left and wendy and the boys were certainly jacked they showed him he was also like you could tell he was in the moment with him as if he was a player i like that we got jj right we got missoula we got We got a lot of young, seemingly players, ex-players getting into coaching that are having success. Not that non-players can't coach. We're not saying that. But I enjoy any time players get into the role of the coach, still hold people accountable, still coach their ass off, but also have that little benefit of understanding exactly where everybody's coming from in this situation.

1:37:08Pat McAfee:This guy could be the next one. We got a nice generation of coaches coming through, it feels like, Chris. Yeah, absolutely. Y 'all should at some point go find the clips of Mitch. I actually texted it to him, I think, last year when I was on the team with him playing point guard at Stanford, right? Because sometimes you don't understand these coaches and that they had a history and that they hooped and all that stuff like that. But Mitch was a point guard, and that's why he knows the game and sees the way that he does. It's like a kid with his parents, you know, or his dad, you know, not getting a chance to see it.

1:37:39Pat McAfee:And then all of a sudden there's like a reminder like, hey, hey, this is what it used to be like. let's not get it twisted what did you say D-Bot? talking about the Pelican I can't get my mind off that majestic bird I gotta get Chris's thought on the Pelican vs. the Frog that we always actually yeah this is probably the most important question of the afternoon actually once we get this picture popped up I gotta know your pick who's coming out of this battle yeah especially with what you just did with the entire Pelican chatter. Nine to 12 feet range. Let's talk about it. Never give up. This was on A.J.

1:38:18Pat McAfee:Hawk's bedroom wall, and this is something he references a lot. Obviously, it's a pelican trying to eat a frog. A frog choking out the pelican. There's a lot of different arguments here. Obviously, the pelican's not getting any air, but neither's the frog, really. Who ends up living here, you think, Chris, if you had to pick? A.J., please tell me this wasn't

1:38:41Jeff Passan:really on your wall no it was definitely not on my wall but i did bring it up a couple years ago on the show and it has come up multiple times it was on his wall you said it was on your wall actually i think it was on one of my when i was in elementary school cl stinley elementary centerville ohio i think it was on one of my teacher's walls shout out cll it was just centerville ohio it's a lot going on in this photo fellas a whole lot going on right here

1:39:05Darius Butler:you definitely don't want to be getting choked out right frog wins frog wins yeah i don't know You say a frog wing? Well, now that I've seen the pelican and not a cartoon, this is not like a cartoon situation. I've seen how big the pelican is. This frog has no chance.

1:39:21Jeff Passan:That's a baby pelican. The frog knows that the neck is very vulnerable of that pelican, though, and he goes right for it. Yeah, it's because the frog's got a good brain in there,

1:39:30Pat McAfee:but there's no oxygen getting to the brain of the frog either.

1:39:32Jeff Passan:He can strangle him quick enough. He can strangle him fast enough to where the pelican dies and the frog. He doesn't feel great, but he just makes it better.

1:39:39Pat McAfee:Look at the lungs on that bird. Those are all lungs there.

1:39:43Darius Butler:Legs still up, foot still up. You ever touch a frog's foot, too? It does not have the power to actually squeeze the neck. Well, it looks like it's pretty squeezed right there. I was going to say the pelican's eyes are starting to roll into the back of his head. Yeah, but that's totally... I'm saying... All right, ladies and gentlemen. Chris?

1:39:59Pat McAfee:21-year NBA vet. Who wins? Who survives? Who survives right there? Well, I didn't know frogs had opposable thumbs. Yeah, agreed. That's a good point.

1:40:10Darius Butler:I don't think the cartoon's accurate now that we're thinking about it. We also don't know if the frog might spin its tongue down.

1:40:15Jeff Passan:Is that even a pelican? That's all. I thought that. Frog might spin its tongue down its throat. Chris, who are you picking? I'm sick of the – stop avoiding the question. Pelican. Pelican. Shout out to New Orleans. That's not a pelican. I see it. Definitely not. Is that a stork? That is a stork. I can't believe it.

1:40:35Darius Butler:Yeah, a crane or a stork. Let's move along.

1:40:37Jeff Passan:It's definitely not a pelican.

1:40:37Darius Butler:Did you hear Connor's point? because I don't want it to go unnoticed. What do you say? Have you seen frogs and how they eat flies? Their tongue? He said he shoots it down the pelican or whatever bird that is throat and hits its heart and just immediately kills it instantly.

1:40:50Pat McAfee:Oh, maybe that is a weapon. It tries to dive into mouth so it can send tongue missile down to heart. I think that's not a bad idea. I couldn't imagine how much we got wrong right there. Just so much. I don't think much at all. That first thing we showed, was that a pelican? There's no way that thing had 9 to 12 range. Nine to 12 foot range. Might be a baby one. I know, but we just started saying a lot of things.

1:41:13Darius Butler:I googled Pelican wingspan after, and with the actual photos, it's impressive.

1:41:17Pat McAfee:Yeah, it certainly is.

1:41:19Darius Butler:It's a basketball team.

1:41:20Pat McAfee:And once again, we do not know if that frog survived.

1:41:23Darius Butler:No, no.

1:41:24Pat McAfee:In any of those photos.

1:41:25Darius Butler:No, we don't. We hope that it did, but obviously Mother Nature is always going to kind of do its thing.

1:41:31Pat McAfee:The rule of the wild is certainly going to take hold, and I think the Pelican probably won that one, but there's a chance the frog survived. And we got to remember they got super strong legs. But what about the top? I don't know about the top.

1:41:44Jeff Passan:Depends on the frog. Depends what kind of frog. I mean, some frogs would give up. Others would not. If you look up the strength of a pelican's beak, I think they can chew rocks like English people. Dead seely.

1:41:56Darius Butler:Nigel Seely.

1:41:59Jeff Passan:Jeez. I'm dead serious. Look it up, Tony. If they can chew on rocks, you'll believe it. They have incredibly strong beaks.

1:42:08Pat McAfee:pause ladies and gentlemen tonight the stanley cup final drops puck in raleigh north carolina as the hurricanes host the vegas golden knights these two teams have combined for the least amount of losses through a playoff series of stanley cup final uh contestants since 1987 only five losses between the two of this entire playoff run joining us now is a man who played 18 years in the NHL, Stanley Cup champion, horse owner, ladies and gentlemen, Big Horn-O, Eric Jonte. Big Horn-O. Wore the same hat as yesterday because yesterday we kind of got cut in half. Let's make sure we showcase that I got an Augusta National fucking Golf Club hat here.

1:42:49Pat McAfee:Eric, how you doing, brother? Thank you for joining us again. Yeah, I paid the Wi-Fi bill, so we're good to go. Can we go back to the pelican and the beak, though? Thank you. What's going on here? You tell us. You tell us, bud. That's not a pelican.

1:43:03Jeff Passan:That's a stork. Look how red his eyes are. He's almost dead.

1:43:06Pat McAfee:So this is stork, not a pelican, this particular one here. So if you would have to pick the stork or the frog here, Eric, there's a lot of questions on whether or not the front arms of the frog are strong because we do know the back legs of frog super strong. Like that's kind of a part of the entire thing of a frog. Are the front hands strong enough to choke out a stork while the stork kind of bops it around in its mouth? Frog losing air in there as well. Who do you think kind of walks away here? I have no clue, but how the hell do you get on a tangent like this? I don't get it. It's June 2nd.

1:43:39What are you guys drinking over there in the Thunderdome? No, it's Tuesday, June 2nd.

1:43:43Pat McAfee:We talked about the New Orleans Pelicans being a name that we don't think can win a title. We don't think the name Pelican should ever win a title in a sport. Now, obviously, Chris Paul played for the Hornets like New Orleans. Then we start talking about the Pelican ranking in the bird industry. And the Eagle obviously reigns supreme. We watch that every single day. I said a swan would actually kind of bury a Pelican. I think no questions asked. I think they would do that. Go ahead. If the Anaheim Ducks can win the Stanley Cup, the Pelicans can win an NBA title. Fair? No. Ducks fly together. Yeah, they're named after Pompeii.

1:44:21Yeah, listen.

1:44:22Pat McAfee:When the cows are mooing and the sky is rolling, Ducks fly together. Flying V, baby. Hell yeah. Bingo. Yeah, I thought you forgot about it there for a second. Jeez. Oh, no. Harley Conway, baby. Yeah, that's right. He couldn't rotate the stick there for a second. Don't forget about Banksy. That was Banksy. Yeah, Banksy. Cake eater. I didn't like the way they turned. I like the way they came together against the Academy, though. Sure. Yeah, Eaton Hall. Thanks, Russ Tyler. Yeah. I like what they had to do. Wait, I got a story, boys. Okay, you remember the Cowboy, Robertson? Yeah, Dwayne Robertson.

1:44:55Yeah. Best puck handler, Seth Gretzky. All right, no shit. I'm sitting at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion, Lexington, Kentucky, huge horse auction. And so they have these bid spotters that'll take your bid. And when you raise your hand, if you want to bid on a horse. So I'm looking down, I'm like, I swear that bid spotter is the cowboy from Mighty Ducks. And one of my buddies goes, dude, that is him. He used to be a child actor. He doesn't like when people bring it up. He's now a bid spotter at auction. So I go up to this guy. I'm like, dude, I hate to bother you, but I'm a huge fan. Were you in Mighty Ducks?

1:45:29He goes, yeah, I was. I got a picture with him. And now every time I see him, I go, Mighty frickin' Ducks. He hates it. He hates it. But I was like so starstruck seeing him. I got to send you the picture. We'll get it on the show sometime. But I was - Does he know you played punk? My doll was on the floor.

1:45:45Pat McAfee:This guy hates it. But we'll make sure we showcase the picture. We'd like to let Buddy know, you're a phenomenal addition to our lives. Amazing. We hope you don't hate it. I assume he got raw end of deal there somehow. So much spite, I would assume, towards so much of it. Hey, pal, you're a great bidder, though. Yeah. And you're a great child actor. Incredible child actor. Incredible dangles. Ty O 'Neal. We do have him working here at the bid. I believe that he's him there. No shit. Looks just like him. Wow. I'd be able to tell it was him as well. He's packed on. I got a pile of pictures. I would be able to recognize him immediately.

1:46:19Pat McAfee:I think you can certainly see how you...

1:46:21Jeff Passan:He's dark brooks a little bit.

1:46:22Pat McAfee:Hey, thank you for your contribution to our childhood. That's right. Thank you. I got to find a picture. No, let's not do the picture now. We'll do the picture later. Let's talk about tonight, game one of the Stanley Cup final.

1:46:33Jeff Passan:He's about to find it. He's about to find it.

1:46:36Pat McAfee:He's locked in. I can do both. I can multitask. Yeah, of course you can. Of course you can. Especially if you have Wi-Fi. Golden Knights, wagon. Hurricanes, wagon. What else do we need to think about here? Do we need to think maybe Mitch Marner and Seth Jarvis get at least an assist tonight, each of them? What do you expect tonight out of both these teams? Do we think it's going to be a goal-scoring affair? Is it going to be a bit cagey, you think, here? I think it's going to be tight, and I'm going to go and say that I love Carolina. I've been on their train for a long time. I think it's about time they broke through and got to the final.

1:47:14but I'm taking Vegas in five or six and I'm going to go out on a limb and say five and here's why I don't think Freddie Anderson has been tested really at all the Carolina goaltender throughout this entire playoffs they played Ottawa and they played Philly and they played Montreal wasn't really tested hasn't faced a ton of shots Carter Hart on the flip side faces Utah tough series, faces Anaheim, tough series, and then they bounce the president trophy winning Colorado Avalanche. So for me, I think Hart has been tested. Anderson really hasn't. So I'm going to put the edge in goal that's going to lift the Knights to the Stanley Cup.

1:47:55And then I think Vegas's higher end is higher than Carolina's higher end. Eichel, Theodore, these guys, I just think their level is higher than a Slavin or a Jarvis not to say that those guys aren't good players but I just think Vegas has that higher end to make that extra play and I want you to watch something tonight when they drop the puck so Carolina is known to play a man-on-man defense so typically you'll see the two defensemen really not go above the top of the circles in their own zone they'll be tight to the net but Vegas plays or excuse me Carolina plays man-on-man so you could see a defenseman all the way out at the blue line defending someone so if you get beat that opens up a whole new can of opportunities if you're Vegas if you get a step on a guy you're going to have extra space than you would typically for a team that plays a zone that insulates the middle but Carolina will run all over playing man on man I think Vegas can exploit that and get some chances so Carolina's

1:48:53Pat McAfee:not playing a cover tool they got everybody down in the box if you're able to break for a break free you kind of got maybe a breakaway here oh yeah now we're in there so then that goes back the middle carolina will run all over and play the man on man fascinating that's good live bet potential conversation here if we think vegas is able to get a step a stride what do you guys say yep a step a stride yeah just a step and i think if they can if they can shake a one-on-one matchup which they can they're going to have some opportunities so i look for a low scoring 2-1, 3-2 type game tonight for Vegas.

1:49:26I think they're going to win game one on the road.

1:49:28Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, I think the Thunderdome is going to want a couple points out of a couple guys, but we will certainly see how that all shapes up. Go ahead, Con Man.

1:49:34Jeff Passan:Yeah, Horno, we kind of talked about this earlier with Jackie Redman, but she mentioned how the paths haven't been too difficult, and you kind of just said it right there with Carolina. Is this kind of one of those conversations where they have to revisit the seeding of the entire playoffs because it feels as though some of the best teams end up getting screwed early on? and Gumpy's a Dallas Stars fan, it feels like every single year the Stars have the hardest path to the Stanley Cup final. Do you think there is a problem with the way everything is seeded, or do you think it's more so like, hey, sometimes the best teams like Vegas end up just steamrolling teams, same with Carolina?

1:50:10Great question. I think if you polled the players, they would go back to one versus eight. They would go back to the old format. but on the flip side now that I'm in in media I think the current format is good because it draws in so many eyeballs early because you have such great series like you know you have a Minnesota Colorado in the second round last year you had Dallas and Colorado in the first round so you're getting these heavyweight Goliath matchups right out of the right out of the gates which I think is really good for the league but then at the same time you're looking at these conference finals that just happened sweep five games now i'm not saying they weren't closer than the scores indicated because vegas had to win by a goal and pull pull their goalie every game against colorado but does the product maybe get a little diluted later on as you go because of how tough the first and second rounds are i think yes but i think it's also good for hockey and the nhl to have these awesome matchups early on in the playoffs staying healthy seemingly the most

1:51:13Pat McAfee:important part of it all, as is every single sport, let alone best of seven series where one team can look completely different with the loss of a player or an injury to a player, which I think is what we saw.

1:51:26Jeff Passan:Holy shit. Wow. Looks like Ross Perot. Yeah, wow.

1:51:33Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, you eyeballing that pretty good. I mean, you're from Minnesota, so obviously Mighty Ducks and a hockey player, so I assume you've watched that movie 100 ,000 times. throughout your entire life. That's good eye by you. I mean, honestly, especially with all the other things that are potentially horses' asses. Yeah. A bunch of stallions walking around. And then you notice cowboy guy from Mighty Ducks right there. Absolutely. Sorry to get off track. Had to show it. No, I understand. I completely respect and appreciate that. AJ has a question for you about the storylines coming in that Jackie Redman told us about earlier in her eyes.

1:52:06Jeff Passan:Yeah, Jackie Redman said this is good versus evil. Carolina being good, Vegas being evil. I guess what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, so I think, let's not forget, Mitch Marner was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, and via his no trade clause, he shut down a trade to Carolina. He didn't want to be a hurricane, and don't you think for a second that those fans, the Caniacs, or those players will not forget that. They, Marner is going to hear the booze tonight right out of the gates. And don't think as a player that you don't forget that either. Like they're going to be giving him some extra shots.

1:52:43They're going to play him hard. If you don't want to, if you spurn a team and you, you use your no trade clause to not go somewhere, players remember that. And, and the guys like planning Carolina. And so they're going to be giving it to Marner a little bit. Don't forget about that. And then, you know, I, I do agree with Jackie. I think it is kind of, you know, what Vegas has done, not allowing their former coach, Bruce Cassidy, to talk to other teams right now. How they didn't talk to the media after they beat Anaheim. So there's some bad blood right now going against Vegas. So I could definitely see the good versus evil, but I'm taking evil in this series and I think they're going to win the Stanley Cup.

1:53:25Pat McAfee:I like that you said that. and I appreciate that you're on their side because minus 155 or something like that, teams that have been that big of favorites

1:53:34Darius Butler:have gone 8-0 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

1:53:38Pat McAfee:You going against that, maybe you could change it. Hornel, though, has had a little bit of a seeing eye for what the future could hold. We'll be back tomorrow reacting to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. That's Hornel. That's AJ. I'm Pat McAfee. You are the best. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. It might change your life. Goodbye. All right, Horno, we're still live. Oh, I'm still here. Yeah. Yeah, there you go, Horno. See, big thumbs up. I almost shut the laptop. I'm happy you didn't do that. Quick hands, though, you know. Quick hands. Obviously, you got dangles. We got a couple more questions for you, if that's okay.

1:54:10Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Horno, you mentioned Mitch Marner maybe really hearing it from the fans tonight. As, like, leading up to the finals, home ice advantage hasn't really mattered in the playoffs at all. The stats don't bear it out. it really doesn't matter. Teams will win on the road. Do you think it matters more in the cup finals or is it kind of the same thing? Both of these teams have been so battle-tested leading up to this point that that doesn't really mean shit. Good question. I think it's circumstantial. I don't think it's going to phase Vegas at all. They've been through the gauntlet.

1:54:40They've won a Stanley Cup. A good chunk of their roster has been there, done that. They've played in the Olympics. They've played in these high-pressure situations. I don't think going into the lion's den, which is Carolina's building. I don't think they're going to be phased by it. That's maybe the toughest building to play in in the NHL. It's loud. They're right on top of you. Carolina plays a style that just feels like you're walking through quicksand. So I don't think it's going to affect Vegas. I think they're savvy and veteran enough, and they've been through it, and they know how to win.

1:55:13And they're really clicking on all cylinders at the right time. Like they're just a team that even when things look like they might not be going well, they just find a way to take a deep breath and get themselves back into it. And then let's not forget how loud T-Mobile is in Vegas as a player. You sit on that bench like your ass just vibrates the whole time because they crank the music in. Like you get a little tickled down there and you just feel how loud it is because they crank the bass and you just feel everything down there. So these might be the two loudest buildings in the NHL. I don't know if home ice is going to matter that much in this series just based on how good both of these teams are and how veteran and savvy they are.

1:55:53Pat McAfee:You guys are pumping in music in there? Absolutely not. Is he pumping in the sound? It's show business. It's show business capital of the world. Not the RCA dome.

1:55:59Jeff Passan:That was debunked. No, no, it was proven, factual. No, it was debunked. The flake gate was debunked.

1:56:05Pat McAfee:No, no, the piping and noise was debunked in Indianapolis. I was never in that. I would never, obviously. Of course not. Hey, I like humans. They're taking the humans' jobs, piping in and sound like that. That's right. But he basically said you guys are piping in sound. No, absolutely. I mean, it's Vegas. You know, what do we – this ain't fucking Carolina. Okay, this is Vegas. We got people there who want to see a show. And I think a lot of fans as well in Vegas are pissed off because they also sound the siren. And it's like we're talking about, you know, them cranking the horn, sounding the siren in Carolina.

1:56:32Had you ever done it? I have. It's funny you mention that. I have done that before. How do you think you did? Well, if – gosh, I can't think of what his WWE name is. But the gentleman who does it, Mark something, great guy, love the guy, he said, holy shit, no one's ever fucking moved that thing before. I damn near ripped the siren off its little podium. So I think I did pretty good, and not for nothing, the Golden Knights also defeated the Edmonton Oilers that night.

1:57:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, Golden Knights gave you a full Make-A-Wish evening where you cranked the siren. They did. You started to cheer. Yeah, you hit the sword. Nailed it. I don't really remember that much. I'm sorry. You got to Zamboni. Bunkled in, rode the Zambone for about 20 minutes. You got to be in the high five line after the game. Yeah. You got to go in the change room. They really gave you all that stuff. They did. That was really good. They did. And I was a good luck charm, you know, because they were having a tough time with Edmonton, and they fucking put belt to ass that night that we were in the fortress.

1:57:27Pat McAfee:And the Golden Knight won his joust at the beginning of the game. He did.

1:57:32Darius Butler:It was tough.

1:57:33Pat McAfee:Tell me a little bit more about Carolina here. You say hardest barn in there because they're sitting on top of you. Has it always been like that? It feels like we've been talking about the raging Caniacs for a long time. Has it been since they've gotten good here? What is your kind of thoughts on the state of hockey, I guess, moving into North Carolina? Because Florida took it there for a while. Now North Carolina, obviously not like a traditional hockey place, but it feels like their fans love it. Has it always been like that down there? Can you explain a little bit more about why you think it's connecting in that state and that place?

1:58:03Yeah, I think to add on top of that, the visitor's locker room is or it used to be until they remodeled it like it was a it was just a step up from hell like it was the worst setup for a visitor in the national hockey league like yes like you're on these chairs and you're sitting there and you're like there's sweater you know this old you know water stained carpet and the shitters are broken and the urinal's tight it's just like it's not good the cold tub's warm you know it's just it wasn't good so they put a little money into it's a little bit better so that always added to it and then where you warm up as a visitor it's like a wind tunnel so you know you're you're wearing shorts and it's cold and you're wearing your hoodie and you're trying to warm up and it's just like like a twister back there so it just it's not fun for a road team to come in there but I will say this about their fans they just they just yell scream and boo at absolutely everything like it could be the most clear-cut call and they're just screaming their heads off like it's the wrong call like i love the caniacs they're so passionate about the the hurricanes and and what they're doing and they've been knocking on the door the eastern conference finals the last handful of years and you know finally for the first time and you know over 20 years they get back to the stanley cup final and they deserve it because that team all those guys just buy in to play the same way i've said it before they have like four second lines they can all just roll you over and and just come at you in waves because they've all bought into the same style they know it works and they play to their identity and it's it can be suffocating to play against so i'm happy for those guys because they've been knocking on the door for a long time but that building is rocking and rolling and it's not fun for a visitor to come in there especially in those shitty locker rooms and you picked against them

1:59:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, you picked against him. Yeah, just Big Horn was saying that the Golden Knights aren't going to be. In five. They're not going to be. They won't wilt away under pressure. They're not going to be overwhelmed by the moment. You think Torts is going to be able to handle the Caniacs? Fucking A rights he is. As he always says, fucking A rights. Everybody tells him, hey, it's only one right there at the end. It doesn't need to be plural or do you guys? Oh, it's plural. Every time. Every time. Okay, let's talk about tonight and Coach Torts. Go ahead. Yeah, and guys that can handle the moment. I don't have a dog in the fight.

2:00:29I just want to see some ethical puck tonight. You've been seeing the puck. Can you give me a goal score for tonight? Maybe from either squad or maybe both squads. Who do you see putting that puck in the net? All right, I'm not going to give you just Jack Eichel or Mitch Marner or Mark Stone. I'm going to give you something with a little value tonight. And this guy's had a heck of a playoffs for Vegas. he came over at the deadline from nashville cole smith okay so he's a fourth line guy but he's played really really well i think he's just been one of those guys that's been hanging around the net he might even have to keep scrolling down he's way down there yeah let's keep going here let's keep going okay he's got to keep there he is cole smith 11 to what is that 11 to 1 i can't I don't have my contact.

2:01:1550 to 1. Put a little sauce on Cole Smith, the guy from the Iron Range in Minnesota. And then let's do... Oh, bias, but I guess we got to...

2:01:24Pat McAfee:I mean, if you're just going to start calling out 50 to 1. It's good value. Yeah, okay. And then let's do for Carolina, let's do Jordan Stahl, their captain. Okay, and Stahl's he. Probably, he should be floating around 10 to 1. That's where his first goal? Cole Smith to be first goal scorched?

2:01:42Darius Butler:50-1 is first goal scorer. Plus 1 ,100 is the anytime goal scorer. Let's just go anytime for both of those. I don't want to give you the Eichel. What's Stalzy for anytime? What's Stalzy? He's plus 475. He's done it before. Is he the only one? He's scored the opening goal for the Pens many, many times in this situation. Stal? Yeah.

2:02:02Pat McAfee:Good lad.

2:02:04Darius Butler:When they had Sid and Geno and Stalzy running the center, man. Good lad. That was a nine-cup champ in Pittsburgh. Yeah. Yeah. Say that again, brother. Against who? Who was it against? Who cares?

2:02:17Pat McAfee:Who did they take from us? Oh, they took someone who was very, very fast. And then he went to Chicago. He's very, very fast. And then he won three cups in Chicago. Saad. Saad? Huh? Saad's a Pittsburgh native. Brian Saad? What was that guy's name?

2:02:35Darius Butler:Marion Hoss. Marion Hoss. Hoss. Hoss. He was very good. Big Hoss, man.

2:02:41Pat McAfee:He was a hired gun out there. Yeah, he was. He was a hired gun out there, and he was good. We appreciated him. EJ, we appreciate you, brother. Do you mind if you ride with us this evening, though? Would you like to do that? This is going to be our first promoted bet on the DraftKings sportsbook platform. Would you like to take it with us? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm all in. If you're 21 plus, okay? Take the under and those two guys anytime. No! Okay. That's the horny. That's the horn. That's big horn. Okay. No, under. No. Okay. We will listen. If you would have answered your fucking phone earlier to this point of, you know, we might've been able to get this done a little bit earlier and maybe had a little better one.

2:03:23Pat McAfee:I already don't love what's happening. No, no, no, no, no. He's going to love it. He's going to love it.

2:03:29Jeff Passan:I don't love what's going to love it. Is he? Yes. I've been wrong before. I'll be wrong again. No, don't be enough.

2:03:37Darius Butler:We can all be right. Let's just act like you are. I'm out. No, no, you got to go. Horto, come back, Horto. You got to see our bet first.

2:03:46Pat McAfee:Okay. This is our first promoted bet on DraftKings Sportsbook. You know, we joined them, what, yesterday? Yeah. Okay, so this is the first one. Stanley Cup Final, Game 1. If you're 21 plus, we'd love for you to join us as we will be doing a team ride here in the Thunderdome. Do not bet a ridiculous amount of money. This is just to make the game better tonight as we ride into tomorrow. Mitch Marner will garner at least one point. Oh, man. Seth Jarvie will also have at least one point. Those two combined. Oh, you guys really went out on a limb there. Jeez. Look at the odds,

2:04:25Darius Butler:Horno.

2:04:26Jeff Passan:Point on the board. Shut the fuck up, Horno.

2:04:29Pat McAfee:It's our first time, Horno. That's Paul Smith, Horno. And all that note, listen, you're saying going out on a limb? Plus 175 is what it was boosted to. Great. Okay, you bet$10, you get$17.50 off of that. When you bet$100, it's$175. It was originally plus$110,$16,$15,$120. You can add guac to your burrito. That's what you're doing. You can add guac to your burrito. That's what you want to win. Okay, so you like it. Okay, it sounds like you like what we're doing here. For plus$175, these are great odds, Warren. Horto's out here betting Ty O 'Neal to be the first goal scorer. I don't expect that.

2:05:03Pat McAfee:Jesus Christ. He might, by the way. He might. That's Hopalong Gretzky. That's what they called him. He was the original Always Hockey. Yeah. That Always Hockey guy. He watched Money Day. Now Ty O 'Neal's embarrassed by it all. Yeah, you're right. That is who Horno's calling. Let's go, miss, oh boy, out of here. All right, so you like this is what it sounds like. We don't need any other comments other than do you like this or not. I'll support you, but I'm not on board.

2:05:32Jeff Passan:Dude. How's that work? What the fuck?

2:05:34Darius Butler:I like that. This is the best. Transparency. Come on, dude. Like, because you don't think it's going to hit or you don't like the odds? Do you think it's going to hit? I don't like the odds. I think it could hit, but it's like, you know, you're, I don't know. This is a guy who does horse racing. Horse racing is the worst odds of all time. So I get it. I understand. Yeah, and he's going for fucking 11 to 1.

2:05:54Pat McAfee:We want a 50 to 1. We all live in Count Dracula. We're all living in his fairytale land, okay? What we have learned through the last time we did these promoted bets, you can get a plus 750 that looks nice. But if that fucker doesn't hit with a crown at the end, people are going to be pissed. So we're just trying to get some points on the board here. That's all we're trying to do here is get some points on the board. First one on there. Figure out how to build the graphics too because of all the different disclaimers that need to be on there and all the different stuff that's been happening.

2:06:26Darius Butler:So EJ, I don't need the plus 170.

2:06:31Pat McAfee:That's fun, I guess. Yeah. We're trying to put some points on the board right now.

2:06:35Jeff Passan:You know what that hat stands for? Asshole. Not good coach.

2:06:40Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, that's Big Horno. Thank you, Horno. Thank you, Horno.

2:06:46Jeff Passan:That might be it. Not good coach. I think I was trying to figure it out the whole time. That's it.

2:06:50Pat McAfee:Thank you for getting to the bottom of that. I'll support you, but...

2:06:54Jeff Passan:I'm not with you. I'm not with you. Yeah. What a lad. But I disagree, pretty much. Love that. Big Horno is a lad. Good thing he didn't pick up that call because the parlay would have been plus 20 ,000.

2:07:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, you're right. And this guy doesn't know. He's still sitting here. Hey, Orno, you don't know what it's like to put out a fucking plus. I'm here. I'm not leaving. We need to get on board with the plus 175. Marnie and Jarvie and boys. We're doing it. All the boys. Come on, all the boys. I'll support you, but I'm not on board. That's not the same thing. How do I say it any differently? Eric Johnson. Thanks. Boom. Okay, Hornell. That's available now at DraftKings. You can ride alongside of us. 21 plus, be smart, don't be stupid. We're just trying to make the games a little bit more fun. We're trying to win one here in the Thunderdome.

2:07:42Pat McAfee:We are legitimately chasing the crown. Yeah, always. This will be sick we get points on the board of our first one. Oh, man. AJ, how do you feel about it? I don't think you knew exactly what it was going to be until it just popped up there as well. And we put Gumpy in there in the graphics strictly because he is a Canadian. and both Marner and Jarvie are both Canadians, so we thought maybe a little bit good Canadian juju could be good for the entire thing as well. And also, the helmet fit like a glove on Gump.

2:08:13Darius Butler:Pretty filthy with the quig, too.

2:08:15Pat McAfee:Are those skates you're wearing? Yeah, in Canada, we do wear slides on the ice.

2:08:19Darius Butler:That's an old staple.

2:08:21Pat McAfee:We need points on the board here.

2:08:22Darius Butler:We need points on the board here.

2:08:24Pat McAfee:AJ, your thoughts on Marner and Jarvie?

2:08:27Jeff Passan:I like it because it's goal or assist. They just have to get a point. If it was strictly goal for both of them, what were those odds?

2:08:34Pat McAfee:Much higher. Honestly, there was a lot of different ideas and concepts on what we need to go with. The main thing it came down to is we need to get a win.

2:08:43Jeff Passan:Yes. This is safe. I feel like this is a good, safe – Don't say that. Don't say that. You can't say that. I don't think that legal – I don't think we're going to say that. Cut that out.

2:08:52Darius Butler:You're right. I don't mean it that way. As soon as you say something like that, it's going to – Hunter, I led you to saying that.

2:08:58Pat McAfee:I do apologize. guys, but we like this, but we are not saying it is good. Sports gambling, you lose a lot. Yeah. You lose a lot, and something is a heartbreaker and everything like that, but we feel that this will be one that we will enjoy riding alongside tonight. Good start. Available at DraftKings right now. Boosted to plus 175. Let's chase the crown.

2:09:18Jeff Passan:I'm jacked. Go grab a crown or two.

2:09:20Pat McAfee:All right, let's take a break on the other side. We've got to break some news from the NFL world. We've got a little bit more information from the NFLPA. Okay, on a number that came out yesterday. That was good journalism-ing by us, I thought, AJ.

2:09:31Jeff Passan:Yeah, it really was. I mean, going straight to the source, it's good.

2:09:35Pat McAfee:I feel like we do that more often than people think.

2:09:38Jeff Passan:Try to.

2:09:38Pat McAfee:You know, we try to reach out to people that are part of the things and just say, like, hey, why is this happening? How is this happening? And things like that. We don't always get it right, but we try. I feel like we have some news on some things that broke yesterday. We obviously have some updates on some shit happening. And then the boys will also be making their pick for the Stanley Cup final. Feels like too big of a game not to get the picks from around the Thunderdome. Tell me a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Take five. Five.

2:10:06This 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.

2:10:38Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to our humble boat. The Thunderdome. On the Stanley Cup Final. June 2nd, 2026. Hour 3 of the program begins right now. Sports! Are fantastic. That's A.J. Hawk. Absolutely nailing it. at the Talks and Tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, Cowboys AP Tone is here, and nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. Yesterday, there was a report that came out that Shador Sanders earned$17.7 million from the NFLPA, the highest in the history of NFLPA licensing deals and business deals with a player. The second highest in history, Travis Hunter, also out of Colorado, $12.8 million.

2:11:23Pat McAfee:And then Tom Brady was at like nine-point-something, the previous record before the two colorado buffalos came into the nfl as rookies and obviously blew that number out of the water so we were yesterday very pumped for shador like hey hell yeah you get 17.7 million dollars but as people that went through it and kind of understand the business behind it we were so baffled on how the hell did 17.7 million dollars come through just the nfl pa to shador sanders let alone all his own marketing that he does and all his own businesses let alone the nfl contract that he gets for being on the team as a fifth rounder which obviously and then player performance which was a bonus on top of it but this particular 17.7 million dollars we're all pretty baffled on how it got to that and then also excited for if this was what it was going to be for future nfl players so we dug to the bottom of it a little bit more we got a chance to chat with jc treader who's the head of the nflpa not just head of the players he's the head of the entire NFL PA and he said about 15 million-ish came from card deal for Shador Sanders obviously collectibles are having a run like they've haven't had in a long time I think at this point especially sports cards with fanatics and everything else that's taking place so I believe the sports cards deal for Shador Sanders was a massive piece not just 9 million is what I think was initially reported I think it was even bigger than that so we could assume that Travis Hunter was also in the same boat of that case, and it's like, that's how much getting rookie stuff or signed stuff or autographed stuff means to these businesses that are projecting sports cards, I guess, to be on forever and for the future to be even bigger.

2:12:58Pat McAfee:So congrats to Shador for being, you know, that important to future trading that he's getting paid that much money now. That's a wonderful thing to star power AJ Hawk.

2:13:10Jeff Passan:Yeah, it goes to tell you like how I guess the impact he has and the impact he and Travis Hunter both, but yeah, the fact that Panini gets him this gigantic guarantee for the trading cards, it makes sense because your rookie card is going to be your most valuable card, right? So they want to make sure they get a lock on all of that. Now, is that just a one-year situation he signed with that? Or is that a lifetime? Like, that's crazy.

2:13:32Pat McAfee:It is an incredible deal, however you cut it. Congratulations, I couldn't imagine how many things he has to sign.

2:13:38Jeff Passan:Oh, yeah.

2:13:39Pat McAfee:Oh, jeez. I think there's probably going to be a lot of signing. You remember those days? Yeah. That's when you really figure out what your signature is going to be because everyone kind of has one, and it's like, okay, I'm not doing that 10 ,000, legitimately 10 ,000 times. I'm going to cut this down. Okay, so I did the – every Christmas there was helmets on everything in the building, and then players, half the players would sign one half of the helmets, the other players would sign the other half of the helmets. For advertisers, for people in the building, for everything like that, signed a bunch.

2:14:10Pat McAfee:I never had a card. I never had a card. And then I was asked, what year was that? I think it was probably like 2017, 2018. I was asked to do a card deal to sign these things. And they sent me this folder of these little things that I'm supposed to sign. And it's like, what, a hundred on a page or something like that?

2:14:28Jeff Passan:Just tiny little piece of little plastic that they'll take and put on top of the card, right?

2:14:32Pat McAfee:Yeah. It's like these little things I did. I was supposed to, I think I agreed. I think the deal was for like 1500 or something like that. Did about 40 of them. 40. Maybe. Yeah. Probably not that many. in 40.

2:14:44Darius Butler:Now might be a time to get back to the corner.

2:14:49Pat McAfee:No way. What I'm saying is that was a... I'm not complaining about that being a hard job. But there was no way I was committing like 10 hours of my life. The amount of time that some people, like John Cena, he'll sign these posters. Those are crazy. Those videos. He'll sign like a thousand of them every single time. Two thousand of them every single night. That's like two and a half hours. That is a long time of committing to it. And it was like, as soon as I started signing, I got through 40 of them, and I looked up, and it's like, it's been 25 minutes. Yeah, right. Not even close. Doing this whole entire thing.

2:15:25Pat McAfee:So I wasn't able to commit to it. So I assume Shador is going to have to commit his time to this particular deal. I'm not saying that he's not. His value, I think Panini's betting, is only going to continue to go up. Yeah. So does that mean the Cleveland Browns are about to be Shador Sanders' team? Because it sounds like the narrative about the Cleveland Browns is vastly different today than it was maybe last week, Tone.

2:15:43Darius Butler:Yeah, it is. And the narrative about the quarterback, everything that I've heard coming out of their OTAs is that Deshaun Watson is currently in the lead to be the starter. So I don't know how that's going to go.

2:15:54Pat McAfee:But then there's people saying they're mailing it in for the next draft because they pick up and they start bundling. That ain't happening. Not with that hair coach. What do you mean? It's a mastermind if I've ever seen one.

2:16:04Jeff Passan:The Munkin Maniacs are going to be going.

2:16:06Darius Butler:I think they might realize even if they don't mail it in that they're probably still going to have a high draft pick.

2:16:10Pat McAfee:Okay, but they have multiple picks now because they obviously picked up another one. They can bundle these things and make a big-time play. But the narrative on the Internet that I start seeing is this is next year they're getting a new quarterback. So that means that Deshaun, not going to work. That means Shador, not going to work. That means Dylan Gabriel, not going to work. That's what everybody is kind of predicting on the Internet at this exact moment? I mean, assuming, of course, because of what we've seen recently from Deshaun Watson and a lot of people still aren't high on Shador, so you haven't seen him come in and be a starter and win games.

2:16:37So, yeah, I can see that being the assumption. But we all know, you know, you got to play the game. You know, you got to get out there and play the game. And they're putting together, I think, a better football team than they've had. And, of course, in my opinion, Deshaun Watson is going to have the lead. He's going to be QB1 coming into camp because he's the guy that you owe the most money to so that you want to see the return on your investment. And it's never a bad thing to have a good backup or a guy who's ready to go in there and play if something does happen, whether on the field or off the field, that can keep Deshaun or anybody else from getting there and playing.

2:17:08So, you know, having – and shit, Dylan Gabriel's still there too. Who knows what he can do in this camp if he can ever get on the field for the Browns again. But, you know, talent-wise, I think you've got at least two quarterbacks who have shown that they can play at some level in the NFL. So I'm not completely – I mean, everybody comes to us and says, yeah, we're punting next year. And we thought this year's draft was going to be a great quarterback draft, you know, coming into last college football season. So who knows what's going to happen going forward. But, you know, the Cleveland Browns, they've been the Cleveland Browns, so expectations are what they are.

2:17:37Pat McAfee:A lot of the same guys for next year's draft are making it the big-time draft that this year's draft was potentially supposed to be. AJ, you were from the very beginning going, Deshaun Watson's going to be the starter for the Cleveland Browns. Now it feels like that is becoming inevitable. Let's say he has little success. Let's say they lose some games. So then Munkin goes to Shador? Yep. We don't know that, right? Do we know if Shador's above Dylan Gabriel? Do we know if that's good? Yeah. We know that.

2:18:03Darius Butler:As far as the ESPN Cleveland, that puts out the tracker every day from practice. Watson got majority of the reps, or sorry, not majority, about 50%, and then Sanders was right below him, and Dylan Gabriel got a significant amount of less.

2:18:17Pat McAfee:Okay, so there we go. So it's either Deshaun or Shador, and maybe they win the Super Bowl. There's a chance. Maybe they win the Super Bowl. There are odds on them. Maybe Vers goes there. Maybe Vers goes there, does the entire thing, and he returns to Ohio, and the Cleveland Browns have a master plan. Deshaun Watson plays like MVP. Shador comes in, wins three, four games throughout the season. Cleveland Browns are Super Bowl champions. Had the fifth rookie year last year. AC Graham, top five. Great tight ends. Broke the record. Harold Fenton. And you don't want to go play in the dog pond. The weather's going to be ass.

2:18:52Pat McAfee:The fans are going to be loud. Who knows what Munkin's got up his head coach. We haven't seen head coach Munkin. He's got those big sleeves. Exactly.

2:19:02Darius Butler:And he always wants your door. We've only seen what he can do with Lamar and Derrick Henry. Who knows what he can do with these guys? That wasn't called for. What are you talking about? Monk is at the wheel, all right? I'm saying. Tony might be a little bit worried. That might be why he said that. The Browns, yeah. He might be scared of Monk.

2:19:19Jeff Passan:I do think Tony is looking his future in the face when it comes to his team, and he knows, like, oh, my gosh, the Browns are ahead of us. What? You think so? Timing-wise, the Browns are ahead of us. We better win this year or else next year we might be the Cleveland Browns.

2:19:34Pat McAfee:I am intrigued to see how the conversation goes one year from now about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Me too. If they don't win a Super Bowl, the whole convo is going to be, inevitably we wasted another year here trying to rebuild for the future. But if they win the Super Bowl, we're the smartest program. We set up Will Hart perfectly winning the Super Bowl. There's so many different outcomes that can happen. Coach McCarthy obviously being in the middle of it, but the AFC North is so brand new. Honestly, what used to be, will it still? We don't know. Genuinely.

2:20:03Darius Butler:The last time they drafted a quarterback in the first round, he just went 15-1 and is a first bout Hall of Famer.

2:20:10Pat McAfee:Kenny Pickett did that?

2:20:11Darius Butler:No, that didn't happen.

2:20:13Pat McAfee:No, it did, though.

2:20:14Darius Butler:No, it didn't.

2:20:14Pat McAfee:He was a Pittsburgh Steeler. He was from the Pittsburgh Panthers. First round pick. He won the ACC championship.

2:20:19Darius Butler:That was the previous GM, and he sabotaged it. Whoa. Who's that? That's a big word. I want to put his name out there.

2:20:26Pat McAfee:He dressed up like him for Halloween. Sorry. No, no, no.

2:20:29Darius Butler:That was the offensive coordinator. I thought you weren't him.

2:20:33Jeff Passan:You act like you were.

2:20:33Pat McAfee:That wasn't Omar.

2:20:35Darius Butler:That wasn't Omar.

2:20:36Pat McAfee:Oh, okay. Because you're in on Omar.

2:20:38Darius Butler:Yeah.

2:20:40Pat McAfee:Con artist?

2:20:41Darius Butler:Yeah.

2:20:42Pat McAfee:You're in on Mike McCarthy.

2:20:43Darius Butler:Yeah, big time.

2:20:45Pat McAfee:You're in on that building being designed. Yeah. You're in on Bill Cowher walking back in there and holding the team meet and even hitting the wall separating the offense and the defense.

2:20:54Darius Butler:Get all the weight equipment now.

2:20:57Jeff Passan:You're in on Aaron Rodgers

2:20:58Darius Butler:Bingo

2:21:00Pat McAfee:You're all the way in on Aaron Rodgers

2:21:02Darius Butler:All 53 of them

2:21:04Pat McAfee:What's that?

2:21:05Darius Butler:Everyone on game day that dresses, 48, whatever it is, 53 The active, I'm in on everybody

2:21:09Jeff Passan:I was going to say, you guys got 53 Aaron Rodgers Holy shit That would be too many Aaron Rodgers

2:21:15Darius Butler:Some say one's too many What does that mean?

2:21:18Jeff Passan:Who says that? Who says that?

2:21:20Darius Butler:A lot of people, not me

2:21:23Jeff Passan:Why don't you sign that line? Your family Just like he said.

2:21:26Darius Butler:Big O. Thank you.

2:21:27Pat McAfee:Not all of Pittsburgh felt that way, I found out. What? Yeah, because I said now Pittsburgh Ingers are excited for Aaron to go win him a Super Bowl, and I got a bunch of people saying, don't fucking speak for us. Okay? Don't.

2:21:38Darius Butler:I think that's past.

2:21:39Pat McAfee:I understand what you're saying, but fucking that is not how I feel. My family doesn't feel that way either. Just want to let you know that.

2:21:44Darius Butler:It's like Jesus Christ. That was the vibe I got when I was there, but yeah, time heals all wounds.

2:21:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, but that was...

2:21:49Darius Butler:Wins will heal all things. That's right. He just does a couple of these.

2:21:53Pat McAfee:Michael Pittman Jr. Junior doing his thing. They're going to be in a good spot. Hell yeah. With no heart. Jeremy. DK pulling another fan's hair. Yeah. After a touchdown. No, no, no.

2:22:06Jeff Passan:Yeah, I'm a Yidra fan who's asking for it. He was exonerated. He was exonerated.

2:22:11Pat McAfee:Brand new footage of a brand new connection. Is this the new 1-2? That's number one in the league. Drake May to A.J. Brown. Back shoulder. One hand grab. Perfection. You know, the conversation about Drake May being a young quarterback, is certainly real. He's only going to get smarter. But if he gets more accurate and becomes a better passer of the ball with whatever fundamental foundational stuff that everybody said he needed to work on as he got drafted in the NFL, he's got to work on his base. He's got to work on his feet. It'll make him a better throw, make him a more accurate throw. Then he had like the third most accurate season in the history of the NFL.

2:22:43Pat McAfee:So this guy's an incredible athlete. I think he's a hooper by trade. So I think he has touch. I think he loves the deep ball. I think he enjoys the thought of letting his guy go get it, which is a good thing. and A.J. Brown and he I think are going to be a monster tag team across everything. And D, but you see that just right there. It's hard not to get excited, I assume. It's hard not to get hard if you're a Patriots fan. I'm bricked up. I could imagine you doing that because that's just the first connection of many we shall see over the next, what, five, ten years?

2:23:13Jeff Passan:There's other videos yesterday where people were bricked up. What? What videos? You watching porn lately? Huh? No, just some people that have been in the news, you know, videos leaking of him. I haven't really seen anything. Just screen grab.

2:23:26Pat McAfee:I'm sure you haven't seen anything, okay? But I'm happy to hear that you got it all figured out over there. I hope you learned. I hope you got to the bottom of all of it. I hope you got to the bottom of all of it.

2:23:37Jeff Passan:I don't know what's going on, actually. Me either. We're talking about all.

2:23:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, what the hell? Yeah, we were talking about the New England Patriots connection to A.J. Brown. I am, too. That is not what you're talking about.

2:23:49Jeff Passan:Just a quick segue into topical things.

2:23:53Pat McAfee:Super topical. Thank you for doing that for us. That was an insane takeover of the Algo that seemingly was everywhere. We're learning a lot about a lot of people and a little bit about a lot of people too. There's a whole type of thing going on, but Drake and A.J. Brown. Drake and A.J. Brown. What is he talking about? Let's talk about Drake and A.J. Brown.

2:24:15Jeff Passan:This is over my head, I guess. Really? Your Algo has enforced veggies? This is unlike your Algo. I've been in the middle of Arsenal soccer I'll go and I don't know how the hell I got there.

2:24:25Pat McAfee:I think Arsenal soccer somehow found a way to tie it in there. You'll find it. There would have been some footy ties. Somehow it would have found a way.

2:24:32Darius Butler:I'll be able to send you the memes.

2:24:34Pat McAfee:Maybe, you know what? Keep your I'll go pure right now. Mine is all ball. My house gear, AJ Brown. I don't know what these guys are talking about. All ball, huh? Yeah, fascinating. Let's get back to Drake and AJ, please.

2:24:48Darius Butler:And his half-assed drill, not even putting up two hands. I mean, look, I didn't see that. That happened? Right here. I did not see that.

2:24:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, this did happen very recently. Oh, I saw that. This video is from today, okay, as Drake and A.J. Brown. Can't wait to see it. Cannot wait to see it come September. And everything you talked about with all the concerns that people had about Drake May coming into the league as far as, you know, the fundamentals. I never saw Drake May being like a, what did you say, the third most accurate season. I never saw that for Drake May. I saw him being almost like a Big Ben type prototype. Josh Allen maybe making those big time plays. But if he can continue being this accurate quarterback, this deadly accurate quarterback from the pocket, we know he'll still be an athlete for the next decade.

2:25:31And then they continue putting weapons around him. As long as they take care of the trenches and they can actually protect them, we know Vrabel's going to take care of the team, have the defense on point. I mean, the sky's the limit for the Patriots for the foreseeable future, unfortunately, because we're going to have to hear comments,

2:25:45Pat McAfee:his mouth for the next you know 10 years yeah definitely he do aj do you think aj brown feels a sense of having to reprove himself like right there that's his first time on that field right there practicing there's so many new eyes on him obviously all the patriots history and patriots lore is looming i assume all around as it's a museum a celebration of championships maybe the greatest dynasty in the history of sports whenever it's all said and done do you think there is a sense of okay i gotta reprove myself to everybody here that is great for greats to have to experience

2:26:14Jeff Passan:Yeah, I'm sure there is. And I think it's great for him to get, like, a change of scenery in a new place. You have to go around, figure out where your meeting rooms are, where everything is. And also, like, how the team views a guy like A.J. Brown. Like, a lot of these guys, like, man, I remember watching – like, I've been watching this guy on TV for years. He's unbelievable. They're seeing him in person. Like, when Green Bay – we brought in Julius Peppers late in my career. Similar situation. We got on the practice field. Even in the weight room. Even in the locker room. Like, he is just such an absolute freak and brought so much to the team.

2:26:41Jeff Passan:Like, that's like an A.J. Brown type signing. And then wasn't Dano on here talking about beating man coverage? Like, good luck here stopping this back shoulder high ball where only A.J. can catch it. And, oh, by the way, he can double move you and go deep.

2:26:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, against man, he's the best in the league. And everything that Dano was saying is all the Patriots really need is somebody that can beat man. Yeah. You know, so if they find somebody that can do that, they're in a great spot. The A.J. Brown trade to the Patriots becomes official. Con man, you're getting your first glimpse at what could be the future. Let's talk about the future, though, that could be in Los Angeles. This Miles Garrett thing is bananas. I think we did it justice today kind of talking about it. We all have kind of fallen on the side of the Rams did good here. Yeah. Right? Like everybody on earth has kind of come to the same conclusion.

2:27:32Darius Butler:Yeah, frick them picks.

2:27:34Pat McAfee:Even the league. It's like, hey, yeah, look what we did. We had a team do. We were talking about Chris Paul's trade from New Orleans to the Lakers being kind of cut off. Not kind of. Definitely cut off by the league saying, nope, we can't have it. Now we got the league saying, hey, we like what just happened here. Miles Garrett goes to Los Angeles. He's going to get celebrated like a motherfucker over there. Yeah. He's going to be so good for them. Australia week one, prime time. Oh, my God. Broke the game. Broke the game, Tony. I love what's happening here. Why didn't the Colts do this?

2:28:09Jeff Passan:Well, they don't have any. They did their big move.

2:28:11Darius Butler:Oh, yeah. Well, actually, it was bigger. They had to give up two first for Sauce. They could have given up just one for Miles. Yeah, A.D. Mitchell. Wow. Oh, yeah.

2:28:22Pat McAfee:We didn't need that. You asked, Jarlene. No, but I did see Foxy got super excited. Foxy brought up, yep, see, he had his entire team make a graphic out of it. I didn't love this. Colts paid a higher draft pick price for Sauce Gardner than Rams did for Myles Garrett.

2:28:38Jeff Passan:And A.J. Brown, the Patriots paid for. So, just – It's the beauty of the league. You know, everybody does it their own way. We saw Seattle. Seattle just went on a run. Snyder just built another team. Situation – Yeah, we got Sam –

2:28:50Darius Butler:8-1, 8-1 at the time. When Sauce is healthy, this will work out. Can't predict the future.

2:28:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, and situations are situational. Exactly. We needed Sauce. We still need Sauce. Can't wait to watch Sauce this year. Didn't get to see much. Obviously, last year got an unfortunate situation. while the entire team kind of got hurt. Saw's going to be just fine. Young. Saw's going to be just fine. He's going to be here a long time. Oh, yeah. But I didn't like you, Foxy, just bringing that up 100 times last night and today.

2:29:14Jeff Passan:Yeah, well, you could be on the other side where you have a team that has a lot of young guys, a good quarterback, a good coach, and they don't make any moves in the free agency world or trade world. So that's kind of where I am at with the Detroit Lions. I don't mind it because I like our guys, but a lot of Lions fans are not happy about it.

2:29:31Pat McAfee:You like your guys. Well, it'd be nice.

2:29:33Jeff Passan:We have Aiden Hutchinson, and why not go get a Miles Garrett?

2:29:37Pat McAfee:Oh, I thought you were going to say trade Hutch. Why not go get a Micah Parsons?

2:29:39Jeff Passan:No, I would never say trade Hutch. Hutch is the core of the team. We love Hutch.

2:29:43Pat McAfee:Do we think Aaron Donald's coming back? Maybe.

2:29:46Jeff Passan:Interesting. I like what Dano said. Yeah. Yeah, November. After what he texts you, yeah. I was already thinking, yes, and no, with that confirmation, can that fire get – I mean, I know you guys are saying – or Dano was saying October, November. I mean, why not come back?

2:30:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, why not? He loves probably the building and facility. Right after they get back from Australia.

2:30:07Darius Butler:First six games, you could just do third down.

2:30:09Jeff Passan:Or maybe go to like the last two and a half weeks of camp.

2:30:12Pat McAfee:Yeah.

2:30:13Jeff Passan:After Australia. Mid-August. After Australia. Yeah, there you go. He doesn't want to go to Australia.

2:30:17Pat McAfee:Bow out of Australia. Australia, though, first game of the year, if you're post five years, your entire year's salary becomes guaranteed if you're first game active. so you know Aaron Donald's certainly gonna be worrying about whether or not the salary is guaranteed what's he coming back for Aaron Donald's just gonna come play for nothing 15 well do they have it yeah it feels like they got a bottomless pick because if he was gonna be retired listen the way we're talking there's this is a salary cap league people in baseball like no salary cap it's like listen to what we're saying about this team right now they they just signed show hey do a seven-year deferral yeah this is that's what they just did

2:30:54Jeff Passan:here in... But they probably could do that, too. They could give him a four-year,$120 million deal, like the Bills did with Vaughn Miller. And then you pay him for one year and then all those other years, you know?

2:31:06Darius Butler:They got$60 million in cap space, looks like. There you go. He's still under cut, or they have his right. He's still on the contract?

2:31:14Pat McAfee:And then is his contract just pick right back up right there? That's a good question, because he was. Because that's going to be a huge... Yeah, he was one of the highest paid, I would assume.

2:31:22Jeff Passan:He retired two years ago. The highest paid, I bet he's still like 20th at this point with what his contract was. How about the inflation of the league? It's insane.

2:31:31Pat McAfee:It's crazy where the league's headed. It's only going up as they do more global stuff. There's people that don't like it at all.

2:31:40Jeff Passan:Shrink the game, people.

2:31:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, shrink the game, people making graphics on ChatGPT or Claude every day to kind of get their message across. Do we need more people? We don't, actually. We've decided.

2:31:50Darius Butler:His contract expired. He's a free agent.

2:31:52Jeff Passan:Okay. So maybe he goes to the Colts. Yeah, the Colts. Come to the Colts. Holy fuck.

2:32:00Pat McAfee:But why would he come out of retirement to come to the Colts if the Miles Garrett thing was the thing? Love of the game. He wouldn't. The thought of him in the middle, though, and then Miles chasing wherever he's coming from. I mean, that's what you need, I guess, in a modern NFL. But how do you stop that with an offense and a stab? You don't.

2:32:20Jeff Passan:Yeah, that's where the commission does have to step in. Like, no. You are retired. You can't. You are actually, we have one rule for you, and it's you're not allowed to play with Miles Garrett.

2:32:29Pat McAfee:Now, granted, would Aaron Donald feel as if he's going back on everything? Because whenever he retired, he was like, I want to retire. I like where it ended. I think he was happy with his entire story. I think he was proud of everything he did. I think these are all the messages because everybody was like, hey, you still got, you still got. And he was like very, I think, very proud of the decision to retire, but also very comfortable and confident with the decision. So I think that would be a huge thing for him to change too. It wasn't part of it too, though, that this just isn't challenging for me anymore.

2:32:56It's not hard. Every time I go out there, I just fucking dominate. I'm good with what I did. I'm arguably the best player ever. I'm going to take two years off and I'm going to come back, and I'm going to see if I can still do it the same way. So maybe he does get that firing.

2:33:09Pat McAfee:A whole other story to be told. Like, hey, you stepped away from the game for two years. You still got it. Right. Remember, because they talk about Jordan like that, right? He stepped away, and he came back and won the entire thing. Hey, Aaron, that could be your story there, too. It would be, too. He's not going back unless he can kill. Yeah. You know, he's not going to go back. Imagine him fucking three technique and fucking Miles Garrett behind him. Doing the hooping shit. Oh, my God. It's not a lot. How about Aaron doing this? What if he was just standing on the line of scrimmage like this while –

2:33:37Jeff Passan:All of them with me being – Give them both a step. Find them both up in the A-gap. Have them both hooping.

2:33:44Pat McAfee:Have them both – Imagine an offensive line.

2:33:48Jeff Passan:just faking injuries left and right

2:33:50Pat McAfee:what the fuck man you got the Avengers over here they're fucking crossing me up before I snap it imagine somebody tries to steal the ball as a loop in center A.Q. Shipley

2:34:06Pat McAfee:Seahawks are still the champs too they're in their damn division and we're talking like this Seahawks fans are not going to be thrown

2:34:13Darius Butler:I saw a stat yesterday that the Cardinals have worse odds to win the division than I think like 12 teams do to win the Super Bowl.

2:34:21Jeff Passan:You can see that, though. They don't have a quarterback. Not a lot of help out there. Jacoby Brissett's still out to lunch asking for more money. You understand. We don't know if he's at lunch. He's at the gym. Yeah, maybe. I figured Jim at noon, he's eating now. To win the division. Fucking work. All right. Let's get out of here. Let's get back tomorrow, boys. Hey, let's get some points on the board here. Let's get some points on the board here. Come on now. Hey, listen.

2:34:44Pat McAfee:if you're 21 years of age or older, we are talking to you. So we're not going to be assholes here. Okay. You're not trying to become a rich person with one bet.

2:35:00Jeff Passan:No, it won't happen.

2:35:01Pat McAfee:Okay, and there's limits on what you're allowed to bet. We're doing this strictly to enhance the viewing experience as we watch two teams that are not our home teams battle it out for something that is obviously very special. If you'd like to ride alongside of us, Mitch Marner. One point. That's easy.

2:35:22Darius Butler:No problem. First period. Let's get a power play.

2:35:24Pat McAfee:Seth Jarvis. One point. Come on.

2:35:28Darius Butler:Come on, Jarvie.

2:35:30Pat McAfee:This is an assist or a goal for either of them. Okay? Just need something. Just need to get on the score sheet somehow.

2:35:36Darius Butler:Doesn't even have to be a primary assist. It could be a secondary.

2:35:39Pat McAfee:Yeah. Be the person that touched the puck before the person that touched the puck that scored. Dump the puck, pass goal, assist.

2:35:46Darius Butler:That's Jarvie's voice.

2:35:47Pat McAfee:That could be Jarvie or Marner. And if it is, we will be very thrilled here in the Thunderdome. We've boosted it to plus 175. It was a plus 120-ish. So it's 55. That's not bad. No, no.

2:36:01Jeff Passan:It's great.

2:36:02Pat McAfee:We'll take that. All day. And let's get some points on the board.

2:36:06Jeff Passan:Please.

2:36:07Pat McAfee:Let's open up the top. Let's open the bucket a little bit. Exactly.

2:36:10Jeff Passan:So you go through.

2:36:11Pat McAfee:Because we've been out 1 ,206 days. Long times. That is a long time. So tonight's a big one. Hey. Huge one. Jacked up. Tonight's a big one. Are we doing universe? No, I don't think we're doing. No, no, no. Now's not the time. We don't need universe ball. Trying to get the points on the board. That's right. Points on the board. Points on the board. Here we fucking go, boys. Just need a couple points to get points on the board. On the board. This is what we're trying to do here. Boys. Chasing the crown. Let's not be assholes. This is just to make the viewing experience more enjoyable.

2:36:42Darius Butler:Mm-hmm. get some points on the board. Very responsibly.

2:36:46Jeff Passan:1-800-GOMBLER. Or don't bet at all.

2:36:50Pat McAfee:And we hope that you will have the greatest night of your life. We'll be back tomorrow. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Stanley Cup final predictions. Game one. Tone. Knights. Ty. Knights. Connor.

2:37:07Jeff Passan:Cans.

2:37:09Pat McAfee:D-Butch.

2:37:10Jeff Passan:Cans.

2:37:11Pat McAfee:AJ.

2:37:12Jeff Passan:Vegas.

2:37:14Pat McAfee:Good luck to you all. Pat! Jarvie, Marnie. That's all that matters. That is what I'm pulling for. A crown. I love those Caniacs, though.

2:37:27Darius Butler:You've been in the change room with the boys. Boy, I love the Golden Knights as well. You shook stoner's hand.

2:37:33Pat McAfee:We almost sponsored the patch on our jerseys. Yeah. Very close. One of Taz heroes. Yeah. Would have been in the Stanley Cup. The hero. Oh, yeah. Yeah. let's enjoy it boys this is what they're playing for right there just bigger bigger than this just 15x 12 to yeah 12 to 15 X to maybe 16 X right here imagine it like this yeah and then Bob

2:38:06Jeff Passan:here we go boys here we go boys here we go boys there's like five of these

2:38:13Pat McAfee:four here we go boys and then up on the top there's a big yeah yeah just a little here we go here we go boys there we go and then your aj knows yeah he's done it here you go boys That's what it's all about. That's what they're trying to do. That's what it's all about. Sorry. A boot. Let's get some points on the board. Very fucking goal, boys. Be your friend, tell your friend something nice in my change of life. We're back tomorrow as the NBA Finals tips off tomorrow. Wow. What a great time to be alive. You are the greatest. Team on me, team on three. One, two, three, team. Goodbye.

2:38:58Thank you.