PMS 2.0 1569 - Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Recap, NBA Finals Game 4 Preview, Carmelo Anthony, TJ Oshie, Chris Paul, Zac Brown, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

21:56They start off slow and they figure something out. And maybe game two or game three, they figure something out. And then they expound on what they figured out. And even though they dropped two at home against the Knicks first two games, they still feel like they're going to win this series. And when you have that confidence as a team, with Wimby at the helm, that approach coming to it in game four is totally different. There's no pressure on them. They really feel like they can win this game. Now, on the flip side of that, the momentum that the Knicks were able to garner in 13, 14 wins, consecutive wins, that momentum is gone now.

22:37That loss, you know, diminishes that momentum. So now how quickly could you respond to getting that momentum back is what I'm looking for in game four.

22:46Pat McAfee:Okay, so talking about getting that momentum back, in football, we have a term that says, like, winning is a good band-aid for all the bad stuff. And then once you lose, all the bad stuff comes to the forefront again. Jalen off by I don't know what an eighth of an inch you guys shooting hoops it's crazy what falls and what doesn't fall and what could fall and what doesn't fall and how far one does fall before it comes out sometimes it's a crazy game but he was dribbling a lot I think the amount of passes or something like that that they had in game three very low but if they win that game I think it's okay right because Jalen is supposed to control the game they lose the game now people are saying he's being ball dominant what do you think they go to what do you think Coach Brown goes to in game four Do you think we should expect more of that or kind of just what are your expectations there of Jalen?

23:30I think in game three, Jalen came out trying to put the Spurs away. And we up 2-0, first game at home in the garden. There's a lot of energy surrounding this game outside the arena, inside the arena. So he understood, I got to come to play. I'm going to do everything I can to try to get us up 3-0 and win on our home court. with that being said, did he pressure it a little bit? Did he force it a little bit as far as trying to get it done at the end? I believe so. I would like to see him get off the ball a little bit more, play through cat, preserve some of that energy that you have because these guards that you're playing against, they are big, big guards, man, San Antonio has.

24:13But I do think in game four you'll see a different adjustment in Jalen Bronson. He is the Knicks MVP. He understands this game a lot better than a lot of people do. And he's going to make the adjustment. He is Jalen Brunson. My thing is, who else is going to make the adjustment in game four? Because we know what the Spurs is going to do. Spurs know what the Knicks is going to do. Nobody's going to do anything different than they've been doing at this point. It's about who's going to be the most physical team, who is the X factor in this game four. And I think the Knicks bench is the X factor in game four.

24:48Pat McAfee:I'm a doofus when it comes to this. So take that for what you want. It does feel like who's going to knock down shots. You know, like who will knock down shots and who won't. Now, granted, the other team is affecting why you're knocking down shots, how hard your shots are, where your shots are coming from, all that shit. But inevitably, whoever knocks down the shots, no matter how hard they are, seemingly wins. OG went crazy. Yeah. OG went absolutely crazy. I don't think I – should we expect that? Like who will be – because remember we had, what, in Oklahoma City, Caruso went crazy. Yeah. And it was like, hey, can that continue?

25:17Pat McAfee:Can that continue? and it's like it seems impossible for the people to continue to go other than like this the main so you need him to go off at the same time like he went off but then mikhail bridges didn't really show up cat never really got going so og was doing his thing brunson was kind of forcing it gotten his numbers but wasn't as efficient as we're used to seeing him seeing them be so it's like can they get off at the same time that's the question with the knicks it seems like and then when on the other side stefan castle i love this guy monster long ass shorts looking like your ass out there had a t-shirt on looking like your ass i mean you're calling legend yeah he is he's old and he's huge he sat down next to uh draymond after the and i think draymond big physical the way he's built this guy is stop he's a football player this guy he's built like a football player as well and he has the same mentality he seems like a perfect one-two punch alongside wemby they got that little alley-oop thing that seemingly is going to be unstoppable for what the next four or years.

26:13Pat McAfee:What are your thoughts on Castle, Rookie of the Year last year, and the entire supporting cast in San Antonio? Fox had a huge shot. He had a big moment. That could be huge for him. They got a lot of dogs out there that are young, Carmelo. What should we be thinking about this Spurs team and the cast around Wemby? I really love this Spurs team. I love the confidence that they have out there playing, and I love the way that they allow Wemby to lead them. Even though Wemby's only 22, they allow Wemby to lead those guys. Stephon Castle is an amazing player. He understands how to play the game. And he's a dog.

26:49When I'm talking about a dog, Stephon's a dog. He don't back down from no matchups. He take on all the challenges. And he can lead, too, in his own way. And that one-two punch between him and Wimby is starting to be – it's starting to look very, very good. And we're going to see that for a long time in these next couple years. His first important cast is amazing. You don't know who it's going to – They just come at you in waves. Dylan Harper, Fox, Bissell, Kelvin Johnson, Cornette off the bench. They just come at you in different ways. And their bench haven't had a great game yet, right? So we're talking about having a great game that we've been accustomed to them having in this postseason.

27:30They haven't had that game. So I'm looking to see how this important cast of Wimby is ready to go in game four. But what they've been doing all season long has been phenomenal.

27:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, and you look on the other side, what I was going to say is you almost cut you off. I apologize. Never cut. Why would I fuck with the UFO you're talking about this? You know more than I do. But the other side, Brunson and the boys, they're going to be around for a long time. Oh, yeah. And then you got Wemby's going to be around a long time. SGA and them are going to be around a long time. I mean, Boston's going to be around for a long time, it feels like. Obviously, the Pacers, they're jumping right back in. This thing is going to be around for a long time next year, right? You know that?

28:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, sure. You know that, Melo, too. Yeah, exactly. We're all on the same page there. I like to hear that.

28:11Pat McAfee:carried the league for a while. We're watching Braun right now try to figure out what the hell he's going to do somehow still at that age. It's ridiculous. I don't know how he goes about doing it. He's unique. Remember, his eyes did at that Olympic thing. He can't be a fucking human. You would know more than I would. Listen, he's going to figure it out. That man, he's going to figure it out. He's going to figure it out when he figures it out, and he's not going to try to figure it out until it's time for him to figure it out. And I just think he's going to go through this process and allow himself to just take all of this in and just sit back and reflect on everything, where he's at, his family, where he's trying to go, what he's trying to accomplish.

28:55I honestly don't know if he knows at this moment, which is a good thing because that goes to show that he's still at this age and state in his career in the game, he's still committed to being great. He's still committed to bringing something to this game and enhancing this game and pushing this game forward. Now, he didn't know these young boys are coming. He know that. He understand that. He understand he's of the league. So the fact that he still can lead, I think it's him showing people that he still can lead. He still can get his body right. He still can get his mind right going. And for the love of the game, I think that's what we're missing.

29:34And for the love of the game, he's been loving this game since he was a little kid. And he's 41 years old, and he still loves the game that much right now. So it's impressive to watch my brother go out there and continue to do it. I want him to come over here with me, man. Just come hang out. Come chill out. Let's go back. Like, enough is enough. I've seen him with the gray beard. He got the gray beard now. He's chilling. So once you see the gray beard, you know he don't chill more.

30:01Pat McAfee:gray beard and also golf highlights every day hey he's getting good he's figuring this shit out it feels like he is going to figure this out and i think he's got the bug i think he's in love and that goes to the point even more that he is you know uncle the legal hey old ass playing golf now like that is that is retirement right i mean that is basically what it is but you know um there was a quote yesterday in the time time did its hundred most influential people in sports it's first ever I think and had Braun on the cover and obviously an interview with him and one of his quotes is legendary just absolutely legendary uh I'm not taking nobody over me says James there's no question but I think Mike will say the same thing rest his soul Kobe will say the same thing Magic will say the same thing Bird would say the same thing Shaq could say the same thing the late great Wilt Kareem I don't think none of us are going to take somebody else if there's a general manager and he's eyeballing all of us on a baseline with the number one pick it's going to be hard not to take me champ okay that's a great question yeah i don't know what the question was but that is a great answer to whatever the question was uh by leslie dickstein here uh great reporting leslie by the way i love what you did so we made the graphic here okay so this would be the baseline okay so larry bird 6-9 i think we learned that today quickly 7-1 shack 6-9 magic 7-1 6-6 7-2 6-6 and then 6-9 for braun i mean that is that is a base first of all i like this team's chances yeah okay i like what they would go 80 and 2 in that stupid website yeah somehow they would have a loss somewhere uh somehow they would have a loss in there but mother whenever you think about the greats of the game in that conversation first of all as a friend of braun's are you appreciative of him talking his shit first of all i think that he didn't do that for a very long time a lot of other people did and he got kind of buried for a while and he was expected to stay above it but if If he did come out and say like, hey, since I'm 14 years old, I've basically been running this entire sport.

31:54Pat McAfee:Okay, I'm 41 now. Let's go ahead and understand what's happening in this entire thing. He finally is doing that. Do you think this is just him kind of reminiscing about what it is? And what do you think about his comfort level amongst the game in the history of it in the context of the conversation? I just think he's in a state now where it's like I don't have to prove nothing to anybody. Like, I've done everything I could possibly do. No matter what I do, y 'all are going to continue to push the goalpost back. You know, no matter what he do, I love this comment because it shows me that I see everything.

32:31I hear everything. I understand the company that I'm involved with. But competitively, no one is going to say, or I'm not going to say somebody is better than me. Me personally. Like, I'm not going to say that. I don't care who it is. I'm not going to say that.

32:47Pat McAfee:You looked at that baseline, you're like, cook, cook, yeah, yeah. Fuck it. In his situation, there's no way that he could sit there and say, somebody is better than me, especially when you match up everything and put everything in perspective. And I like the fact that he said, you line us up. I'm going number one, champ. Like, I love that. That's him telling you my body of work and what I do and how I did it. Nobody can do it like that ever. And he is stand on that. And I love the fact that he's standing on it right now. Talk your talk, Brian. I love it. Yeah. Who are you taking one though, Mello?

33:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, on that note. There's a lot of people taking other people. They're very loud and mad. You take your boy one. You're a Jordan athlete too. Oh, no. You're going to lose the jump man. Jump man. Going out the door. See, this is what's wrong with y 'all right now. You are putting me in that situation. I'm not answering that question at all. Let me tell you, that team is going 82-0. I'll tell you that. Okay, good answer. I like that you were going to take Larry Bird there. That was cool of you. Thank you for doing that, Mello. Thank you for doing that. The hit from French Lick, dropping that shit.

33:58Pat McAfee:Larry's highlights of doing that. All right, last question here for you, Mello. Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, kind of about to input you on that spot. I asked you that question. Your transition into media, it's been great. I've been loving to see. Obviously, we saw you get buckets for a long, long time, but now in a completely different phase of your life, NBC, 7 p.m. in Brooklyn, and then having your own production company as well. What's been your favorite part about it? Any surprises? What have you taken from the actual playing the game into this level of your life? well team building right and understanding camaraderie and being able to tell or story tell the way that that i want to story tell and tell the story that i want to tell it takes a team of people who can understand your vision understand what this particular story means and how we're going to execute this and when you have that you're able to just build a nice foundation of a team and people who really just want to work and really want to you know showcase stay talented, what they can do as far as putting projects together.

34:54But also me believing in my team and trusting in my team to get to this point and post-retirement, post-NBA, I'm allowed to just kind of take my time and see a lot of things and do things that I love to do. And I always say that I'm not going to do nothing that I don't love to do. I love content. I love storytelling. I love telling other people's story. So for me to have my own production company with 7 p.m. underneath for that, we expand in the 7 p.m. universe. We got more concerts. We got more shows coming underneath for that. And then as just Creative 7 as a whole, we got documentaries coming up.

35:31The Born Mellow documentaries here and Tribeca Film Festival coming up. So I'm excited just about where the media, Mellow, is going at because there's a lot of upside, a lot of opportunities and a lot of stories that I'm excited about telling.

35:47Pat McAfee:Congratulations, man. Not easy. Whenever you retire, you know, just because you played a sport doesn't mean you're worth a fuck talking about it. You know, there's storytellers, you know, there's people that are able to do it. There are people that aren't able to do it. And there's no knock on the people that aren't able to kind of illustrate a story, tell a story or execute on something. But players getting back into the media in the way that they are. And I'm not saying that pundits and journalists and people that didn't play don't have a very important piece of this entire thing. But anytime players give back to the sport, start creating for the sport, we have massive happiness for you because it's not easy.

36:18Pat McAfee:I mean, the NFL and NBA is different, especially with how you guys get paid. Congrats, not that you don't earn it because there's only a few of you out there. But like the NFL had like 85 % bankruptcy rates or something like that after guys retired or something like that. So anytime we see any players, ex-players, athletes take advantage of what they did and go on to have success, we get super pumped about for you. as soon as I saw Maria Taylor have the AJ Brown interview onto the 7 p.m. I was like, hell yeah, Mello. That is happy for you, not only providing her the opportunity for that, but your company is the one that's breaking the biggest conversation that's coming out of our sport, let alone your sport, at that time.

36:52Pat McAfee:So congrats on everything, man. We hope you absolutely crush it. Now, on that note, why don't you give us some insight here. Whenever we're chasing the crown, which we know you have a relationship with DraftKings as well, and we appreciate you joining us, and shout out to DK for kind of piecing this together. What is the safest okay points because it feels like it's difficult to pick who's going especially in these things do we just expect buckets in madison square garden let me tell you why so uh game three we're calling it obviously needed a little uh need a little action on it but didn't want to be biased no didn't want to be biased so i just hammered over absolute hammered over we hit that thing og ananobi hits it it ends up going way over even though it started very cold for me that was not only a blast but a good time but also in theory wendy was going to go crazy in madison square garden we knew that like that was that's like the history of ball that is what madison square garden is especially in that moment should we expect that again is an over just like a good bet at madison square garden in a big moment because stars are going to show up man i'm gonna tell you man and shout out to shout out to both our partners in draft kings you know for actually getting us together and having this conversation for you game 49 but i would say man it's it's When you talk about right now, game four, you want a guarantee?

38:06No. No, no, no, no, no. There's no guarantees.

38:08Pat McAfee:There's no guarantees. There's no guarantees, as Melo was saying. I'm saying no guarantees in the win or losses. I'm going points, right? Me, personally, I will go points. It would be hard to go rebounds. It would be hard to go to assists. I'm going points. Stick to the point. It's game four, Madison Square Garden. The stars have to shine. I will go points and make it easy. All right, I like that. I agree with you, by the way. Mr. Bucket Gitter himself. absolute legend. We had your resume across the bottom of all your accolades. Good for you, dude. Honestly. Good for you, man. You done did it.

38:41Pat McAfee:And now the boy is about to do the same damn thing. I still get worried when I watch him, though, that if he was coming here in the Thunderdome, I'd potentially hit him with one of those. You know what I mean? Send him back. You can send him over to Denny Hurley, too. Not a chance. Jerry Mack. Jerry Mack is back, baby. Yeah, I like that triple threat. I like that. I like that. See that? The hard jab step, I like that. A little bit more finesse. A little bit more finesse. Light on the feet. Light on the feet. No, I'm trying to break the wood. Bang! So you can feel it. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, come right here.

39:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, hello. He's the man. You trying to get him to. Yeah, what's that about? I like what you did there. Because then it made me think, wait a second. West Virginia just won the crown. True. Maybe he does want to head back. You forgot that Jerry Mack is back, though. Yeah, his point guard. Yeah, point guard, national champion. Well, Carmelo Anthony, living legend. Thank him for joining us. We'll also take a trip on that banana boat in the second hour to Chris Paul. Okay. Here we go. We did try to book all the others. Turns out golfing, maybe doing some other stuff. So we got half the banana boat on this particular program.

39:49Pat McAfee:So we can consider this a way back Wednesday. Yeah, definitely. I think we'd get him to make a pick. Melo actually not a banana boater, too, just to clear his name. I double-checked this morning just to see. What's that? Melo was not a banana boater. Oh! D-Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron, D-Wade's wife, I believe. Oh, my. That's an incredible decision by Melo, by the way, in the moment. I'm not getting on here. You know? Just saying, I'm going to lay back here. You knew. It does feel like maybe his mindset there. Yeah, I think he can kind of see a little bit better than some of the others sometimes. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, he's an American hero on the ice.

40:26Pat McAfee:He's also a Standard Cup champion. He's a icon. Ladies and gentlemen, ESPN NHL analyst, TJ Oshie. Yeah, Oshie. What's up, boys? What's up? Hey, great time to be a hockey fan. 6.1 million peak the other night, 5 million average. Obviously, huge numbers for the Stanley Cup final that is taking place between two names that aren't like the most nationally famous. Obviously, Vegas Golden Knights, newer franchise within the last decade. Carolina Hurricanes been around since the 90s. But, you know, Raleigh, nobody's talking about being a massive market in this entire thing. Feels like the sport is actually the thing that people are being drawn to right now.

41:05Pat McAfee:Hockey has been immaculate. How do you feel about the state of the NHL and these two teams representing the sport of hockey at this exact moment, TJ? I love the state of the NHL right now. And I think the Olympics really gave it a big boost, right? The Jack Hughes, all the things that went into the U.S. winning the gold medal. I think these two teams are representing the NHL extremely well. I can't remember a series. Not that I watched a ton of hockey before I retired, but I can't remember a series, a final, being so many different momentum swings back and forth. There's so many times in the series I was like, oh, it's over.

41:40Like Vegas has it. And then Carolina comes back down 4-0. And then after last game they win an OT. I'm like, ah, Carolina, you know, I don't know if they'll be able to recover after making a drastic comeback and then losing an OT. and then here they are dominating in game four. These teams are doing an unbelievable job, like you said. Obviously, not the big markets, not the New York and LA, but these teams are representing. Yeah, Pittsburgh, obviously. Boston. Actually, you guys were on any of the top ten. You know, whenever they talk about the ratings

42:14Pat McAfee:for the Olympic hockey, for the women, men, and the Paralympics, they do top ten by markets, the percentage of the markets in which they're watching hockey. Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. It's not hockey beach. You guys aren't done. Where's that cup been? Actually, where is it currently? Hockey beach. This thing's on the road. The place has been seen the least. Yeah, technically it's in Carolina. Whatever. Elbow room. Joining us, obviously, TJ Oshie. Let's get back to a conversation about puck, shall we? You can talk about the momentum swings. I think also, you know, fans of sports naturally are going to want to see success.

42:48Pat McAfee:You know, that's why it's hard to get Americans into soccer because there's not a lot of success, even though the World Cup – hey, World Cup Eve right now. Here we go, boys. We would like the United States to win, and we can win. But I do believe the thing about soccer that is tough for most Americans to kind of get into it, we would like to see success. We would like to see something happen. We'd like to see celebration. The NFL has changed their rules to make it more offensive. The NBA, obviously, the three-point thing is becoming. These goals have been in abundance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

43:15Pat McAfee:So I think, you know, seeing places go crazy. Last night in Carolina, they had a sold-out arena that was going absolutely crazy. That is obviously a part of the coverage now. I think there's a lot of celebration happening in this particular final, which is potentially catching a lot of people that aren't diehard hockey fans because there's so much good happening. The teams themselves, though, I don't think love that the over is almost hitting every single time they step on the ice. Ty Schmidt, Vegas Golden Knights fan, has a question for you, TJ. Yeah, certainly not, TJ. Before last game, I kind of wondered, hey, listen, every Golden Knights fan appreciates what Carter Hart has done that got them to this point.

43:50Since Tord's got there, he's been unbelievable. Is it maybe time that they consider a goalie change? I just don't know how sustainable it is giving up four goals every single game and kind of hoping that, hey, we'll score five, and that's just the way it is. They have Aiden Hill on the bench. He wasn't great, which is kind of why Carter Hart grabbed this position, but he has won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights. After last night, especially the goals they are giving up, they're in such quick succession, and it does kind of feel like it just kills the Golden Knights when it happens like that?

44:22Do you think it might be time to maybe give him a night off and go to Aiden Hill just to see if we can change some things up or what's going on there? That's an extremely tough one. I'm a really big believer in you kind of run with your horse and you're going to win or lose with them. Carolina flipped the script a little bit on that. But if I look at the goals from last night and we look at how Vegas plays the game, They protect the interior of the ice. It's like this goal right here for Stankovin. That guy should never be open in their system. On the next goal that was about to show there, the power play goal, the puck should never go across the crease when there's a defenseman there.

45:03Vegas is very good at protecting the center of the ice. And last night, the first four goals, when there was a goaltender in the net, the puck somehow went through the middle of the ice every time, whether it was a rebound or a pass, even Stahl's second goal, which I don't know how he got a piece of it. But in their system, you have got to pick up those players. We played the same system in 2018 when we won, where we protect the interior of the ice. We let the other team, which was Vegas at the time, play on the outside and think that they're doing good. And then you turn it over and go the other way.

45:38So honestly, right now, it's coming down to which – I don't blame any of these goals on Carter Hart. The guy, the stall right there is all alone, right? It's going to come down to who's going to play their system better because there's not many adjustments that need to be made. Is it going to be Carolina's pressure that's going to win the series or is it going to be Vegas' star power and protection of the interior of the ice?

46:03Pat McAfee:What should we blame on the goalie? Because right there, that was clear. You just said stall had nobody around him. So that was a wide open shot. So even though we think maybe he should have got his ass. And I don't want to hear that. Yeah, exactly. So when should we blame the goalie? Like, when should that be happening? Because I know there's a lot of times where they can't see shit, but also they make saves whenever they can't see shit. Like, when should we be potentially blaming goalie, you think, TJ? Fairly. Yeah, so I guess if you're not, if you play in the NHL, a soft goal would be a shot from the outside that's uncontested that goes in.

46:32Shots from bad angles around the goal line that squeak in around his pads. Those goals, you could go to Stahl's second goal, and the one that we saw where he's falling down and hits in the back of the net. Three seconds before that, Shea Theodore threw the puck up the middle of the ice, turned over blatantly in the middle of the ice. So it starts there. Now everyone's scrambling. Everyone's out of position. And Stahl ends up being by himself. So there's no way that you can blame that on Carter Hart. If anything, I'm sure Shea Theodore right after that goes up to him, taps him on the pad, and say, that's on me.

47:04That's my fault. A huge mistake at that moment of the game. but I'm not blaming the goaltender there. Carter Hart's their rock back there. He's got them to where they are. I thought they should have started Freddie Anderson this game. Obviously, I was probably wrong about that for Carolina. But a soft goal is just uncontested. It's ones that he should save 99 out of 100 times and multiple of them start to squeak in.

47:31Pat McAfee:Okay, that's when the team and the boys and the coach probably starts going like, hey, okay, maybe we take a break over there. Maybe we go take some pads. Maybe we go to a different town at a lower league. Maybe we do that until you figure out how to stop those. So they up the middle ones, the ones that are contested, the ones that are kind of maybe somebody else's fault, we don't blame the goalie for it. And they're probably not doing it in the building as well, if I had to guess. Carter Hart obviously hates himself. I assume that's how a lot of goalies are. I assume there is a lot of those feelings whenever there's anything that goes by because I think that's an isolated position from my understanding.

48:05Pat McAfee:pitchers, golfers, goalies, kickers. Yeah, tennis players. Isolated with your thoughts. I assume he's very hard on himself. If I had to guess, that's kind of how goalies are. Is that accurate, TJ? The goalies are probably very hard on themselves? Oh, yeah. Extremely hard on themselves. And honestly, I don't even know if we'd be having the conversation if it wasn't for Carolina coming back down 4-0. Carolina took Freddie Anderson out of the game literally just to be like, hey, we're not going to leave him in here and get this onslaught of shots and all these chances. We're going to give them a break.

48:36I would assume Rob Rindamore wanted to bring him right back in the next game, thinking the game was a little bit out of their hands. And Busty comes in and plays unbelievable, and they find a way to get to overtime, and it kind of changed the momentum a little bit. I don't think that was necessarily the plan for what Rob Rindamore wanted to do. He was more so protecting his horse from sitting in there while the team wasn't playing very well. And so if the team was playing great, if Vegas was unbelievable last night and Carter Hart let in four goals, like absolutely you have to move on. You're in the Stanley Cup Finals.

49:09You're trying to get a ring. You're trying to get your name on the cup. But in those instances, in those goals, I just don't see anyone blaming Carter Hart. If anyone, I'm sure Torts runs an unbelievable meeting, by the way. I had him in the World Cup. He's pointing out every single one of those mistakes and probably saying, you boys better be thanking Carter Hart that we were even in that game.

49:30Pat McAfee:Okay, so hopefully Carter Hart is not, you know, dumping on himself like you kind of wanted to do. No, no, because I'm not saying fans are blaming him either. We talked about this earlier, though. He served a 20-month suspension. I wonder if he's not just, like, tired, like, mentally exhausted, physically exhausted. Like, you know, he hopped right back in, and I don't know. I mean, I'm not a professional hockey player, but I assume that when you haven't played for that long, and now you're in the keepers. Avalanche, just at the Avalanche? Yeah, exactly. I don't know if maybe just one game, hey, just kind of reset your mentals and then we'll get you back out there.

50:00But it sounds like that is a pretty fucking idiotic thing to say. No, hey, yeah, yeah.

50:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, certainly. But, Ty, that's why we have TJ Oshion. You just brought up Bussey there. Connor was going to bring him up. That feels like a big deal because we've seen a lot of teams make a goalie change and get hot. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, what do you think about that, TJ? Now with Brandon Bussey just kind of playing his ass off, you know, going down 4-0 in game three might have been the best thing that could have happened to the Cans because they got a shot at him playing a little bit, getting hot, and now he is rolling. They win, and he let in three goals. But to what you just mentioned about goals being goalies' faults, it didn't feel like that was the case with Busse yesterday.

50:38And I believe Anderson missed a practice, whether that was a maintenance day or not, before game four. Maybe he's not completely healthy, but Busse's playing his ass off. They are back in this series. They're going back to Carolina. What do you think the situation is there now? Now, do they go back to Freddie? Is it too late? Hey, there's three games left, Bussie. We're just going to go with you now. What do you think that kind of situation, and how do you think that's going to play out? Well, as of right now, you've got to roll with Bussie because of how well he's playing. And think about the mental side of him coming into the game, right?

51:12This is the absolute dream is playing in the Stanley Cup final. He came in with Freddie Anderson. I mean, a lot of people were saying that if Carolina wins the Cup, he's maybe the front runner for the Conn Smythe, right? So I don't think Bussie really thought that he was even going to get a chance to get in the game. And so now he's playing with so much desperation. He's living out his absolute dream right now that maybe didn't look like a possibility as they went on this run that they were going on. So I think you roll with a hot hand right now. I don't want to necessarily contradict myself a little bit with what Carter Hart's doing.

51:53That kind of sounds like it, TJ. He came in when the score was 4-0 and he hasn't left the net yet. It's a little bit different as if Vegas would have pulled Carter Hart last night and they came back and won in overtime. Then we'd be having a very different conversation. That's pretty good. Look at that. Look at those shoulders. Look at the movement. I like that.

52:15Pat McAfee:Ball hockey. I've played goalie before because fuck, somebody has to. We're not going to play. If we don't do this, who's going to do it? What's that? Top in. You're right. Tink. Boom. Slapper. Boom. That's what I'm doing right there. And then I got the pads on, too, so I'm dropping that thing. Boom. Right there, pal. See that? How's the flexibility? He's a big butterfly guy, yeah. How's the hip flexibility? Well, TJ, I can't touch my toes. And a lot of people would say my flexibility is my Achilles heel, as some would say. So getting me from one side to the other is a bit of a problem, but I do a lot of, you know, I trust the stick.

52:48Butterfly the legs. I bet you have a hell of a kick save.

52:50Pat McAfee:yeah yeah I did have the hasic mm-hmm this thing right wasn't he one of those he was a clean cage cage ever little boxy we got to bring that back I think well that's what I'm saying as soon as they started getting this super cool custom yeah that was a big deal that that was like I remember Tommy Barrasso putting one of them on I think your Pittsburgh Steeler I think he had a Pittsburgh Spiele one that he put on. Yeah, great. And Phantom's Revenge on the other side? Phantom's Revenge wasn't around yet. Yeah, that's awesome. What a stud. What a stud. I'm always jealous that the goalies get to paint their helmets.

53:30Football players get to paint their cleats. We don't. The players, NHL players, we don't get any of that. Yeah, but you guys are all robots. Yeah, don't think, don't talk.

53:39Pat McAfee:Just fucking do, TJ. That's what hockey players are kind of treating. We're old school. That is a real thing. Do you think that's because when you're growing up in the hockey culture, that is basically impressed upon you guys like hey it's not about you nobody cares about you it's about the team shut up don't say anything because that is a very real thing that is somehow not oozed out into what the modern world is which is very much a uh attention attention attention brand but i'm i mean fuck i had a show whenever i was a punter i uh had a whole merch company i mean i had pocket i had everything while i was still playing so i'm not one that should act like that's a bad thing but like hockey just hasn't had that at all is it because of how you're taught of what the sport's supposed to be or why do you think that is the case yeah i think it's that's how you're taught and i don't know it would go back to the olden days for the guys that set the standard and then as you get older and older and older and fighting starts coming in if you don't buy in like the older guys will just beat you up in practice like you there's nothing you can do about it you either buy in or you're not going to make teams so that's just kind of our standard our culture and uh and i have i mean i absolutely love it yeah we can fight over here if you do recall so it's the best some guys really popping off a little bit that's cute okay yeah boom oh okay you want to do this no i don't oh yeah we actually are though yeah yeah force into it yeah that's awesome that you guys still do that hockey's the best i love it absolutely the best d-butt has last question for you here tj yeah i'm chasing the crown i'm trying to get the crown tj and now it's pretty much a best of three series.

55:12Who you got down the stretch of close without a win at all? All series, I would have said it's Vegas. Carolina has really shown me that they're just not going to go away. And I played against these guys in 2019 when we were trying to go back to back. And they were absolute pests out there. And this is a team very similar to that style. Rob Rittenmore was the coach, except for this team is so much better. And so for now, I am going to stay Golden Knights, but I would say the Carolina Hurricanes have earned so much respect for me. I think the Golden Knights can fix up a little of the mistakes they did last game were letting that puck get to the interior of the ice, and Torch is going to make sure he gets on him for it.

55:53But I think this, I mean, listen, growing up, I did not watch hockey. When I played, I didn't watch. This year, and especially this series, has really turned me to like a diehard hockey fan. And cool sport.

56:08Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's a fucking cool sport, TJ. You should have seen what we were doing whenever you took, what, 50 straight penalty shots. We were having a time of our life. I wish you would have been able to watch it. You should go back and watch yourself. You should go back and watch yourself. It's great hockey. TJ, we got a hard out coming soon. But to your point there about this Carolina Hurricanes team being pesty, first period they're plus two. Vegas Golden Knights have dominated the second period. Third period, Carolina plus seven. Obviously, they have a massive comeback in here multiple times. So it's like Carolina's never given up, never quit.

56:35Pat McAfee:Brendan Moore's got those boys in shape, too, because I think he's doing all the cardio with him still. Not that Torch is not doing it, but that's a crazy stat. TJ, we appreciate you making time today. Good luck out there. Thanks, boys. Appreciate it. TJ O'Shea. Crazy stat right there. Very. Yeah, insane. Crazy stat. What's happening there? Vegas Golden Knights really get going there. And they closed the door. What about the Knicks? We'll find out tonight. Hour two on the other side. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.

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57:53Pat McAfee:Sports! Part of the greatest in game 4 of the NBA Finals Is tonight in Madison Square Garden The Spurs and Knicks, who are favored by two and a half at home, will do battle to see if it'll go to 3-1 as a series or 2-2 heading back to San Antonio. The Spurs team, uh-huh, uh-huh, kind of saying hello to the whole world. Hey, how you guys doing? We're going to be here for... A bit. Maybe the next decade and a half, two decades. And remember, with the way contracts are set up, all of us were here. We're all going to be able to make more money if we stay here in San Antonio. And, yeah, we know they're changing the draft rules because what we got going on.

58:34Pat McAfee:Can't have this many high draft picks on one team anymore. We get it. We get it. We get it. Well, good luck trying to stop us. They got dogs across the board. Average age is like 23 or something like that. I forget what the actual age is. What is it? It was the youngest ever to start a conference finals. Yep, there it is. 22 years, 346 days. Okay, so that's the average age. LeBron's playing at 42 next year if he plays. he'll be 42 years old next year 20 years okay feasibly now nobody else is lebron james obviously we talked to carmelo anthony in the first hour okay he's retired he has a full booming production company amongst many other already accomplishments 19 years and he's like 19 he's still in there so nobody but with the modern science we're talking 10 10 years very moderate projections for what this team could potentially be and then there's new york knicks team who's been on the big stage obviously not just of new york and broadway and all that and biggest city in the world and playing in Madison Square Garden in front of all the celebrities and all the stars.

59:28Pat McAfee:It's like they've made it each year in the playoffs. One step further, one step further. They've made it, they've made it. They've been on prime time every single game. And this year, they've just been beating the hell out of people. 13 straight wins, and then all of a sudden, they get punched in the mouth at home by an alien. How will they respond? We shall see. I believe in Jalen Brunson. You know why? Because I believe in Rick Brunson. Okay. We had a chance to call Game 3. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. Yes, sir. Hey, Bucci. Talks at the table. At Boston Conner and at Ty Schmiver there.

59:56There you go, boys.

59:56Pat McAfee:One half of the hammer. God. Cowboys AP 10 was in our ears, obviously, back in Bristol, alongside Foxy and the boys in the back. Good to see you guys. But Rick Brunson was sitting across the court from us when we were standing on the court, and I was just trying to watch what he was doing. He just pissed at everything. I didn't see a single – there wasn't a break. There's a lot of people talking to people, okay, before that game, hour and a half before the game, whenever we were out there, an hour before the game. A lot of people doing a lot of conversations in Madison Square Garden. Yeah. These people live off happy hours.

1:00:24Pat McAfee:These people are signing up for Zooms to talk about other Zooms. These people love small talking. Everybody was seemingly having a conversation with somebody in there. Rick Brunson was sitting on a seat like this and just looking around pissed for, I don't know, 45 minutes straight, I saw him. Because I was trying to give him a wave and be like, hey, I'm a big fan of what you do. I love what has happened there. No, not even a chance of that taking place. Then after the game, we were walking through the annals of Madison Square Garden as they were trying to get us out of there because obviously everything was pretty chaotic and crazy with the way they had security, which I guess is coming back again.

1:00:57Pat McAfee:So was that all not real about the whole thing, if they're going to do it anyways? I don't know. That's a big conversation to be had. We saw Wemby. He walked by us. Yeah. Yeah. That was crazy. I don't know where. It's like back in the day, they used to make like, come see the mustache woman. You know, come see the world's fattest pig. You know, like those things. Come, like, state fair attractions type stuff. You know, like carnival type stuff. That was just right in front of our eyes. Like, I've never seen something like that before. Holy hell. Obviously, we're not able to talk. We are keeping our mouth shut.

1:01:37Pat McAfee:I can't believe we are in the place that we are in right now after he just won his first finals game. Why are we even near him? Well, that's because they've been so nice to us. Thank you to everybody for getting us out there. But he's special. I mean, he is absolutely special when you see him. Then we walk and turn the corner. Rick Brunson's getting onto an elevator. It's like, we certainly should not be here if this is what's happening right now. Same facial expression that he had before the game. I think this guy, I think he is, I mean, obviously, Jalen Brunson, I have so much respect for who he is in New York City with all the distractions that could potentially happen.

1:02:07Pat McAfee:Stars literally everywhere. If he was to say hello to any of them, they would wet dream themselves. Right there in front. Like, he is the king of this place, and he's been able to handle it. It feels like those two have a pretty good handle on what the locker room is because I assume this was happening at Villanova as well. I like that they got dogs who are seemingly very composed, and they also will fight you. I like this New York Knicks team a lot. I don't know if they're able. I don't know because I feel like the Spurs are a team that, if they haven't figured out, super deep thinkers, all in, are they going to steal game four in Madison Square Garden?

1:02:45Pat McAfee:I'm torn. Over. I'm betting on the over. I have no idea what's going to happen to him. You got dogs on both sides. And we always say it starts at the top. I think both of the coaches are pretty intense. We talk about Mike Brown and Mitch Johnson. And then obviously Rick Brunson, he's been there a lot. He's getting a lot of, I wouldn't necessarily call it love on the Internet, a lot of talk about him. Not a lot of love. He's crying. AAU dad and doing all these type of things. But I love his passion. He played in the league for, I think, nine years as well. But dogs on both sides. You talk about Harper.

1:03:14You talk about Castle. You talk about Wimby. And then the Knicks, the thing that surprised me being in the building and feeling energy, it kind of felt like they were the more like nervy or nervous team, like sloppy, just throwing the ball. But just since you don't see on like a good high school basketball game, so do they get all of that out of their system and just bounce back and kind of get back to themselves and not allow the Spurs to steal two on their home four? That seems more likely, obviously, with the two-and-a-half point spread. But like you said, you never know how the Spurs team has reacted so far.

1:03:41Yeah, it's kind of what Carmel Anthony said actually on one of his shows before, like sometimes in New York there's too much energy. Like you, of course, want it to be an incredible building. You want it to be a home corner advantage. But one of the things he mentioned was like in New York sometimes they don't know exactly what to do when there's that much energy. And you mentioned I think the first three possessions for the New York Knicks were turnover, turnover, turnover in game three. And the energy was palpable. It was unbelievable. But you can kind of see where that does kind of play a bad role versus what you wanted to do and like build everybody up.

1:04:13But tonight will be the best game of the series thus far. I can't wait.

1:04:15Pat McAfee:I don't want to act like some super genius, but I feel like at Bristol, in the middle of the conversation about the game that we're going to be a part of, which is so stupid, my brain told me, wait a minute, Wemby, Madison Square Garden. There's no way he loses this game. I mean, it just felt like that was who Wemby had been, and just the world hadn't been fully introduced to that as who he is as a player. And then you start thinking back to all the greats, and it's like, Madison Square Garden finals? their first, like he's gonna, he has to. I think if he is anywhere or anything like what they say he is, this is a game where he has to go absolutely crazy.

1:04:51Pat McAfee:What does it say about game four? I don't know. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, live from Manatic in Ohio, a man who's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawk. Yeah, A.J. Hawker, how you doing, pal? Great haircut. Great haircut. Big program feud tomorrow, so I had to get a cut before I came to Indy for that. But yeah, I think tonight, I have no clue what's going to happen. But is there going to be a weird drop-off with how much hype there was leading into the last game? Is there going to be, I don't know, at least the atmosphere surrounding the game?

1:05:22Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think the arena is going to be better strictly because I don't know what the prices are. I don't think the prices are anywhere near what they were saying game three was. Once again, you can get$30 off, remember,$10 ,700. I thought it was the right thing. All right. All right. So, once again, use code PATMACAFEE. P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E. Spell it right. And you can get$30 off your ticket to game four tonight. Now, granted, remember, fees will be applied. You're looking at about 11 Gs. Okay. There's going to be more than about$30. You will see. Have a lot of food inside the building if you have a chase car.

1:06:04If you have a chase car. So if you have one of those, you get half off.

1:06:07Pat McAfee:Pick up the lowest. You could probably get that done in the next hour. You could probably get a chase card with the lowest whatever to pick up the half off food inside, which you're going to want to do. It's worth it. Yeah, you're going to want to do that. Ty ate three to four hot dogs in there off his chase card, and I appreciated watching it. I kind of had to. Yeah. Didn't have a choice. New York dog. 50 % off. Yeah, and it was a poopy dog, too, just to back up Ty a little bit. Not a good dog? No. She grabbed the worst one off the roller. I was going to be like, hey, that one stinks. I don't want that one.

1:06:35There are a bunch of people behind me. I just said, fine, fuck it. I'm going to take that one.

1:06:38Pat McAfee:No, you go finger with the – What about the Zod? Oh, you think I didn't? I said, no, I want that one. I want that plump, juicy dog right there. That's the one I'm looking at, and she kind of just – Well, actually, there's this really burnt one that no one else is going to want in the front. You can have this. Do you think this guy's the jumpsuit? The tracksuit? No, because I got a delicious dog. His dog looked great. It was fantastic. And I figured they were going to be fucking bending over backwards for me because I was a Chase customer. But maybe they were like, you know what? This guy's already getting 50 % off.

1:07:07Let's give him the shittiest dog we got. So, you know, what are you going to do? So you guys got kind of... Yeah, different experience. Fantastic slices of Zostobaro's. Yeah, wow. All right, that is not what the... New York Slice, baby.

1:07:20Pat McAfee:That is not what it was. It's not Sparrow over there, okay? The New Yorkers get very upset whenever we do ask for Sparrow-like slice. Right. Where do we get that? Which is weird because that's like the ultimate compliment. I don't know how you could take that any other way than saying, oh, this guy wants the best slice of Zah available. Well, I think they call us like, they call us stupid. Like they say we are ignorant. They say all these things. And we're like, that sounds like you. Oh, really? Mr. or Mrs. High and Mighty, have you ever had a slice of Sbarro? I know you live in, you know, the pie mecca of the world, but Sbarro.

1:07:57Did you say a slice of Zah? Yeah. Is that, that's the, okay, that's a new one for me. I didn't know. What do you mean? I didn't know this was what y 'all called Zah. Hey, bud.

1:08:05Pat McAfee:What did you think Zah was? Not that. Could it be? Slices Zah. So a slice of Zah. You were having a moment here in this conversation where you're like, Zah, Zah. Trying to figure out what we're talking about? No, no, no. You know, I used my context. Was Zah on job, maybe? Was Zah's, you know. You've never heard me say slice of Zah? No. Yeah, I do. Dude, we had a Zah hot run. We did. No, you never caused that. Yeah, we did. No, never. All right. What the hell? Learn something new every day. Hey, that's going to be a good thing for you. How high was this guy the whole time? That was probably the problem.

1:08:33See? Yeah, bring him back down. Yeah, seriously. I don't feel that Reggie. But now I know. Ain't no Reggie in here. Where are we?

1:08:41Pat McAfee:Never. In Indiana, actually. You can't. Not yet. It's not legal. Wake up! Oh, governor! We got two NFL teams. Yeah, we need it. I don't know if we're going to be able to keep professional athletes in the state. We've got two NFL teams. We've got an NBA team. We've got a WNBA team, by the way. Game winner. Big win. From her logo. From her actual spot. Hard not to say, from CC, whenever you CC, somebody shoot for 3-3 from there. That's literally her spot, right? I think she has her logo on the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball court at that exact spot. What a pass by Sophie. I mean, hypnotizing with the different color paint on the ball.

1:09:24Pat McAfee:And the defender, I think, got trapped in the hypnotizer. It was like, there's no way this pass is going to be able to make it. Tries to jump that thing. Yeah, right. Sophie's got an absolute cannon over there. Full court pass. Absolute splashdown. Fever win. Your team loses. This is the WNBA. No big deal. Welcome to it. Who's playing good right now? The Lynx? They got a rookie point guard that is going viral for Olivia Miles. There it is. Obviously, Olivia Miles. At a TCU. Just absolutely. She's an absolute dog. Smooth as butter, dude. Got it on the street. To quote the Hulkster. The Hulkster would watch her play, and he would say, She's as smooth as butter, dude.

1:10:11Got to be heavily Hulkster or something. Well, yeah, I mean, he absolutely would, but I think the Hulkster, when he was sitting right there, he'd say the same thing. In his KDs? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right after watching Donovan Mitchell. Here it is. Here it is. What's that, AJ? Those KDs were size 23. Yeah, they were actually Kevin Durant's.

1:10:31Pat McAfee:I think they were actually his that he sent over there. Yeah, KDs sent him to him. What was D-Bud's question? Man, I'll tell you what. I could have never guessed that you'd be wearing NBA shoes. That was hilarious. You said you were Hooper? I had to answer some. Loves basketball. Everything I have heard and been told, there's no way you'd be wearing those shoes right there is basically what you said. He basically said the same thing about Donovan Mitchell. Yeah, that was his response. Like, how could you not be, dude? You look at Donovan Mitchell where he's dicing up and picking Royce with his butter, dude.

1:11:03Pat McAfee:That's basically what he said. Rest in peace. Rest in peace, Holzer. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man that is. This was his favorite player. I'm pretty sure Holks are out of pair. Tie it in. Tie it in here. This is his favorite player. Every direction I was headed was not going to be a great start. I didn't know he was going to potentially wait on the line. He's hard, Holks. I know, I know. I've actually watched him get disinterested twice. I get it. He is complete. But he was also smooth as butter, dude. So it's kind of. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who played in the NBA for 21 years.

1:11:37Pat McAfee:It's a long-ass time. That's a long, long time. He is now retired. Once again, we're talking about the Spurs being 22.346 days or whatever it is. This dude played 20. They still have a whole other life in the NBA, potentially, these guys. That's how young they are and how great they can be if they were able to be anywhere close to as great as this man obviously is and was. First ballot Hall of Famer, former leader of the MBPA, founder of a bunch of youth basketball teams in which he invests a lot of time and money into the future of hoops. A guy who has joined our show throughout this entire playoffs and has delivered the goods like he's done as a teammate to so many others.

1:12:20Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, wake for a superstar, Chris Paul! Hey, Chris! Chris, how you doing? How do you feel about Hulk Hogan on some basketball analysis? Did you expect that? Y 'all over there just saying anything today. Anything? That's good analysis. That the hell? That glizzy conversation was wild. Then y 'all started talking about Zah. Yeah. Do you know what Zah was? Did you know Zah was pizza? You knew that, right? Obviously. I absolutely didn't. I was on the same lines as Dee. See? Over there. Somebody that's known to America. That's an interesting thing we're learning here live in real time.

1:12:57Pat McAfee:Meet Zah. This is going to sound and look like a certain thing. I don't want it to. I am strictly trying to learn something for all of society right now. Please. Okay, is everybody in on that? Dirty! Dirty! Have you heard Za? Where's Dirty? Well, being from Northern Virginia, very highly diverse area, I've heard of Za before. Okay. Okay. He said, I've been around yous before. That's what he just said, and I like that. How do you drop Za in the convo, Dirty, after hearing it's a great word? Like, I assume D-butt will be doing the... Let's go get some Za. Za. Exactly. I assume you're sorry. I would say me and the boys just stay with you.

1:13:35I don't know. It's our two and watching the game.

1:13:38Pat McAfee:Okay, so you will start casually. Hey, congratulations, guys. Hey, this is what sports does. This is what it is here. Okay, let's go ahead and drop that into the conversation. Okay, let's get into sports now. Maybe tonight we'll have Azar and watch game four of the NBA finals. Can you tell me a little bit about what you're seeing from this incredibly young San Antonio Spurs team? Obviously, you know the franchise. You played there. Obviously, you understand who Victor Wembenyama is better than us. You actually just call him Vic as opposed to all of us calling him Wemby. What did you see from them?

1:14:10Pat McAfee:And was it inevitable that he was going to have a massive night in his first game in Madison Square Garden in the finals in his career? Feels like that's something that all greats would do. And did that feel inevitable to you as it felt for me? And what did you see from the entire team there, Chris? I think, first of all, Vic could be the first one to tell you that it wasn't just about him. It was about their team and how they had to approach it. When you're in the playoffs, you lose the first two games at home, especially being a young team that can be a little bit deflated. So I'm sure with all the energy and excitement going into game three, they was like, we got to have this one.

1:14:44Obviously, statistics show that no one has ever came back from down 3-0. So they came out with high energy. Vic had a great game, but it was still a close game. So I still feel that at the end of this game, neither one of those teams can overreact.

1:15:01Pat McAfee:Okay, so no overreaction from either team. And I think we all kind of overreact. Maybe not us, me in particular, because I believe that Wemby is an absolute dog. But after game two and how that whole thing ends with him passing it off a Castle's back, the first thing I really thought of was when I think during Oklahoma City or maybe, I forget what series it was, there was six point something seconds left for the San Antonio Spurs. Somebody got the rebound and you pointed out, you were like, hey, something to look at here as we were on the replay. it was like everybody looked to the sideline and it was it was in the playoffs and you were just like it was interesting to you that they were looking to the sideline for what the answer was literally everybody as opposed to having the answer already and then you see that Wemby thing with Stephon Castle it's like I feel like we're watching them have their growing pains in the biggest stages is that kind of how you would view it and how would you kind of view these types of situations that are happening late in the game for them yeah because obviously I was at the game And this situation is literally a mistake.

1:15:59If you watch right here, you see Jalen. He's looking at Vic's eyes. And Steph was looking, not sure if he was going to get the outlet. And then you turn to run up the court. And that's where Vic is different. A lot of big guys don't dribble the ball up the court. But Vic has the ability to do that. So I'm sure Steph, once he saw him dribbling, thought that Vic was going to bring it up the court. And I don't think they was looking to call a timeout because I'm a believer, too, that if you just play sometimes, Now everybody's sort of erratic. You have some coaches that I'm sure y 'all know, they want to call a timeout.

1:16:30They want to drop a play. But in those situations, that also gives the defense an opportunity to put their best defenders on the floor. So I love that Mitch trusts his guys. He was going to let them play. It just, that's sports too. It happens.

1:16:44Pat McAfee:Do we think the late game stuff, that will be something that they're able to carry? You know, like Vic will learn from that. Like every moment we're watching them fail, Is this something that teams like learn? Like are these calluses that will carry them? Because we're talking about their age, 22, 346, whatever the date is, 346 days. It's like they're so young. This team is going to be for the next – like it's hard not to get excited about the next 20 years for these teams. And we're watching them in real time kind of mature as a team. Is that a good way to kind of talk about what we're seeing here?

1:17:14Pat McAfee:They're nowhere near what they could be? Or are we watching the Spurs play their best hoops and that's why they're able to take down this Knicks team in Madison Square Garden? you definitely watching them make their growing pains while they're still in it. But those guys know, especially with the vets that they have in the locker room and Harrison and Olenek and Mason Plumlee, all these guys in biz. But you can't look at it as we're going to get there again. Right. They know that they have to learn really fast and figure it out really fast because these opportunities don't come around for everybody, you know, making it to the finals over and over again.

1:17:51So they got to figure it out. And I'm sure the coaching staff is telling them every game, every play has got to be a learning experience. We can't keep having these mistakes. I love watching them, man.

1:18:01Pat McAfee:I do. And it's like there's so many mistakes being made still. It's like, man, they're only going to get better. And you ask some people, like, who they want to win. They're like, I want the Knicks to win. Why do you want the Knicks to win? Well, because I think this is their only chance. I'm like, what? They've just been good the last couple years. It's like, I think the Spurs are – like, people now think the Spurs are going to win the next 10. Get him now. Yeah, this is now is the time to kind of get it. I've heard, like, numerous people say that is their take on who they want to win. Go ahead.

1:18:29That's what everybody say. I say, like, you know, just a second ago, everybody was so in love with Oklahoma City. Right? But you just never know what's going to happen. You never know. When injuries happen, like J-Dub, hamstring injury. Right? Different guys, the left-handed guard ended up going down for OKC, too. you just don't know what's going to happen. Trades happen. Front office stuff happens. So that's why you really have to try to seize the moment. And I'm sure both teams are looking at it that way. But when you're young, you feel like you're always going to get there. I remember my third year in the NBA.

1:19:04That was my first time making it to the playoffs. And I just, I thought I was going to be named MVP. I thought I was winning MVP that year. We was in a team meeting. One of the vets stood up and was like, hey guys, really take advantage of this moment. We might not get back here and i'm sitting there like you might not get back here they got to name me mvp what you mean i'm i'm gonna be here every year and the next year i mean tyson chandler ended up getting hurt these different guys got hurt trades happened so you you really y 'all know y 'all you

1:19:34Pat McAfee:got you got to go for it right now while you in it yeah for sure i i much less importance to anything happening on the field made to the super bowl is a rookie that was all we were undefeated until, and I say we, very, very, very, very lightly. The Indianapolis Colts team that I was on, undefeated until they chose to lose. Okay, so they chose to lose. I remember that. I remember that. That was my rookie year. We only go right to the Super Bowl. That's crazy. Then we're in the lead at halftime, okay? Obviously, they hit that onside kick. Everything kind of happens in the second half. Pick six, we end up losing the game.

1:20:06Pat McAfee:I walk in the locker room. It's like, man, all right, we'll be back. All right, let's fucking. He was like, no, that ain't the way anybody's looking at that right now. I'm like, what do you mean? We're fucking unbelievable. We didn't lose until we chose to lose. And then second half just got unlucky there. And they're like, no. And then two years later, we were completely defeated. We all missed one completely defeated. And there was a conversation from outside looking in. These guys are trying to lose. That's how bad of a football team we were. These guys are trying to lose so that they can get Andrew Luck.

1:20:30Pat McAfee:It's like, I think we're earning it, I think. I think his team's pretty ass out here, you know. So it's like you do have to, like, very much take advantage of it. And obviously Wemby will. That's kind of how he looks at it. But I think for the Knicks, they've been so close, so close, so close. fire coach to get here and now there's a lot of pressure on them go ahead absolutely to that point too with nba it's been what eight different winners or something over the last decade so yeah that's crazy but uh jalen brunson you know it's been a lot said after game three about his play style over dribbling uh the ball not having that energy and i think him both even had a stat as far as passes per game throughout the series so far uh what's your thoughts on jalen brunson and game four, any adjustments the Knicks need to make?

1:21:11Jalen is fine. I say it all the time. You have Monday morning quarterbacks, people who will be loving this thing about you when you win, and then as soon as you lose, everybody want to dissect this and that. He's playing against a very tough team. You know, you're not going to have a great game every single night. And Jalen is unfazed. He's going to continue to play. But this is why the Spurs are here too. The Spurs got all these defenders. There's Steph Castle, a young fella, Dylan Harper, Fox, all these different guys. They put Carter Bryan in there, my boy Julian Champagne. He defends. So it's the finals.

1:21:46It's not going to be easy. That's why everybody wants to see this. But Jalen is somebody I'm not worried about.

1:21:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, tell me about the passes per game stat or the dribbles. Because I think I heard Mike Brown said when we were at Golden State, we wanted James Harden to have 1 ,000 or 10 ,000. I forget the number. Yeah, I saw that. I forget the number of dribbles. You as a point guard, obviously, is that a stat that's being monitored? Are the number of passes per game something that is being presented to you as a stat that's good or bad as a point guard? Some teams, they're not bringing it to you like that because you have a style of play. The way the Knicks have gotten here, obviously, is Jalen handling the ball, but they've obviously made some adjustments where they're playing through cat.

1:22:27They're going to OG and all these things, but there was never a coach that was saying, this is how many dribbles you had. right they could tell you to advance the ball get off the ball and as i got older and got a chance to play with more guys that can handle the ball it makes it easier on you right jay jaylen knows that if you watch him in a lot of these games he's had a lot more energy because he's been able to

1:22:48Pat McAfee:get off the ball okay how many dribbles do you know the amount of dribbles that you would average in a game i mean that's an opinion no probably a lot though probably a lot but it's great they have a stat, as y 'all know, for everything. There's a stat. This is what I learned in being an NBA that long. You will play against a team that's got 14 wins on the season. Right? When you get ready for that game, a coach will tell you, like, hey, guys, this team is the leading scorer of the first three minutes in the third quarter. Hell yeah. Right? You're like, oh, okay. Okay, we better be ready. Oh, football, they got that, too.

1:23:24Oh, yeah. They got a stat for everything. They can make the you know they can make the stats look a certain way for whoever you're playing but

1:23:32Pat McAfee:really stats are on both things who's counting the dribbles is there a human actually counting on the dribbles that would be a tough job kurt goesbury oh that's genius genius you saw that came up there genius iq genius genius iq did it what did it just did you see when they put the play up there said you see that genius like ai situation doing it yeah so in every every arena there's cameras or whatnot. Every single arena that's showing your movements everywhere you go in the game. So it shows how far you ran during the game. You can go to see that. You can see I ran 2.5 miles a night at this speed, at this, man.

1:24:07The analytics is crazy.

1:24:09Pat McAfee:And we know the speed of NBA guys slower than NFL guys. So they'll tell you the speed is slow. So I think he's about to relax. That's just because the court is shorter. Oh, yeah. So you guys can't open up the strides. You can't open up the strides. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I understand. Especially with how tall you guys are. Okay, let's get into it. We'll do more conversation about tonight's game four, but obviously a friend of yours and you know, somebody you know very well was on the cover of Time Magazine. We asked Carmelo Anthony in the first hour. He was pumped up that LeBron is in a state of mind in which he is comfortable enough to say what he said in that Time Magazine.

1:24:44Pat McAfee:And Carmelo also said, I'm not saying any of these guys can beat me, let alone what LeBron is saying in this situation that's kind of how you have to be not only as a hooper but as one of the elite hoopers or competitors on earth you're not just gonna say that somebody else can do it what are your thoughts on this entire convo that obviously lebron is definitely in but also it becomes the conversation of basketball normally it's like well lebron's doing this is he the greatest of all time how would all these other guys do it you know like for you how's chris doing How's all the point guards in a hit?

1:25:17Pat McAfee:Everything is always judged off the pass. LeBron, obviously, since he's a teenager, has been judged off the greatest of all time in a lot of people's eyes. Now he's at this stage, maybe going to go play hoops at the age of 42. What are your thoughts on this comparison, this thought, and what LeBron is saying here kind of at this stage of his life? First of all, I missed all of this, but I'm sure you ask any hoop or anybody if you're going to take this point guard or this player over him, they're going to say no, right? Yeah, you're just going to say no. So I didn't think anything of it when I just heard you mention it.

1:25:53But, I mean, if you tell me the name, my all-time starting five, I don't know who's going to be on the team, but I'm damn sure going to be on it.

1:26:03Pat McAfee:I know who's passing them the ball. That is incredible. And I can shoot it too. I don't know. Tall. You know, nowadays, everybody's so tall. you know what i mean it's uh much smaller it's an altitude game now chris it really is it yeah is it yeah that's why you find me on the golf course man i just came from maize stone you find me on the golf course are you uh how are you on at golf very good i assume no no i'm i need some work though i just did a really cool golf trip to the main baystone club with a crew of guys good time well i'm i definitely know what that is but those who don't uh you know what i mean like other people that are yeah exactly if you were to tell the casuals yeah it was my first time so i don't know i got all these different places that i want to try to um to to go play at some point you got any recommendations i'm i'm telling me where the hell were you what the hell is this you said you went to uh bainstone make where i was in the hamptons

1:27:11Pat McAfee:first time first time how was it we're handshaking i hope i mean there's i hope there's a lot of handshaking out there cp3 man it was it was a good time it was a nice view at the game three it's the thing about this lebron's still thinking about playing this what he's got going on just yucking it up in the hamptons just living life in the hamptons carmelo he's got production company just kind of doing his thing got a documentary coming out on Friday? LeBron's chipping in and trying to decide whether or not he's going to play for the Lakers? Yeah. I'm going to a high school basketball tournament tomorrow.

1:27:43Doing all this fun stuff.

1:27:45Pat McAfee:Is it your team? Your team's playing? Your boy's playing? My son. My son is playing. My daughter got a game tonight. I'll be in the building for her game. Then I get to go to my son's tournament start tomorrow. Where's that tournament at and how's he playing? I know he had a good weekend. Highlight worthy like two weeks ago or something like that. and you said this is what he's supposed to do. That's what you said, I believe, was the exact words. Where are we playing? This weekend we'll be in Phoenix. We'll be in Phoenix. So the whole month of June is high school basketball. So the rest of the summer is usually AAU.

1:28:19This month is high school. So it'll be with his high school team. So you – oh. Interesting. That is. Yeah, kind of take a little break and then come back to the high school.

1:28:28Pat McAfee:So how many tournaments? How many tournaments is the high school? Four, I guess, because there's four weekends in the thing? And it seemed like it, but this is where I say sometimes people are overdoing it. You know, there's no break. There's no offseason. So you've got to figure out how to manage that. Yeah, because I guess because you're young, you're just able to do it. But at some point, right, you assume that will catch up, especially with how much basketball players are. Oh, yeah. So much running. So much running from such large, large, large dudes. Okay, let's continue to chit-chat about what's going on.

1:28:57Pat McAfee:Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Chris, speaking of large dudes, It felt like at the beginning of the game, of game three, the Spurs were essentially just telling Wembe, hey, go down below the basket. We're just going to throw it as high as possible. You're going to grab and dunk it, and we're going to win. I think he had like nine points in the first quarter doing that. Why don't they do that more? Is it just simple-minded to think, hey, if Wembe's 7-5, if we throw the ball as high as possible just towards the net, he's going to be the one to come down with it, and then all of a sudden we're set up on the post perfectly?

1:29:26or is it much more complicated than that? And do you think he should be down below the net a little more than what he was doing the first couple games? Man, it's funny. Before I got on here, I was on a group chat with all my homies that I grew up with, and all them was like, man, 7 '5", just throw the ball in the air to them and let him dunk it. Yes, that's what we're saying.

1:29:47Pat McAfee:The homies, it sounds like, have good brains over there. Listen, it's not that easy, right? It's not that easy. First of all, you can't be in the lane for three seconds. First of all, Carl Anthony Towns is, how's his cat? 6 '11"? 7 '4". Guys are leaning on him. And even though he's 7 '5", when he reaches his arm up, if you throw a pass, the other guys can still jump at it. They can get it. And then you're just not standing there. Now, when Vic rolls into the lane, you'll see a lot of times he just points up and the guys try to get it to him. But I think the biggest difference in Vic, Last year, I think he averaged eight threes a game.

1:30:26Average shooting, eight, eight and a half threes a game. Now he averages what, three or four? That's a huge difference.

1:30:31Pat McAfee:Great stat here, actually, from Hembo. Wemby's average field goal attempt came 8.9 feet from the basket in Game 3, his shortest since Game 1 of Oklahoma City. 7-11 inside two feet. And a lot of those were just to throw it right up, basically, like when you play on one of those kids' toys. Fisher Price. Fisher Price. Game 1. Game 1 against OKC. that was the 40 42 24 yeah so he was getting away from it obviously he did knock down huge threes has and obviously we saw him pull up from the logo basically to win that thing but like him underneath at seven five me the guys here the homies you're on a group text with as you're watching stefan castle just seemingly throw it into a space like a quarterback would it's like that feels unstoppable and they're just getting started with that it feels like right isn't that something that they're kind of changing?

1:31:20Pat McAfee:Is that an innovator? Is this a game-changing thing that's about to take place over the next couple years with Castle and Wemby? You saying throwing the ball there? Well, it's like, it's different than an oop. It just felt like he didn't have to have much touch. It just feels like if you just get it in that area, almost like a volleyball set, like he will just be able to just... Jackie Moon's mom. Exactly. She's probably thinking this is a completely different play than what I invented the alley-oop. Yeah, and you talk about Lob City. Coffee Black and Jackie Moon obviously start that. Blake and Chris Paul go crazy, obviously.

1:31:51Pat McAfee:That's something. And I think the reason why we like the alley-oop is because, boy, we have teamwork and we got the spectacle. Because normally a guy's flying, you know, and we're doing the entire day. That one, he just literally just has to shot put it to anywhere above the rim. And this guy's able to just kind of just bat it down. It's much different than I've ever thought. Go ahead. I don't know how much they run it now, but I'll tell you what was one of the coolest things about playing with Vic last year. and we had an inbounds play where Vic would walk to the front of the rim. And I don't think they do it as much now.

1:32:23I hope not. I hope I ain't like just giving away their plays. Vic would just stand in front of the goal and he would like bend over, right, with his hands on his knees like he was tired. And so the guy with Gardner would just be standing there and I would have the ball and then I'd just throw it to the rim and now Vic just stands up. It's unbelievable. Yeah. He doesn't have to jump. Do that. He doesn't have to jump. But you can't do it. Every play. three seconds. Defensive three seconds. Like, guys ain't just letting him walk in there. Right? There's an actual fight. They hitting each other and all that.

1:32:54And this thing, too, if you throw the ball up to him, the pass sometimes has to be very perfect because it's the playoffs. They not calling all the fouls and guys leaning on them hitting. So then you turn it over once or twice. You're like, hell no, I ain't doing that no more. I just – They'll call it flimpy. What's that? No. Fouls. They don't. Boo-hoo, Butler's back. I'm saying they're going to call him a Wimby. What do you mean? I'm sorry, you watch the same game we were watching there now?

1:33:20Pat McAfee:Chris, do we always hate the refs and think they're wrong all the time? Because it does feel like that is kind of a conversation that takes place all the time in hoops. I mean, in the refs tonight. It might depend on which one it is. James Williams tonight. James Williams. Whoop? James Williams. Last game, it was Mark Davis. And before we even got on the call, the NBA guys we had with his perking cue, Rich, ah, shit, Mark Davis. So now we got James Williams, and I think everybody on the net calls him Gucci Mane out there. Yeah, Gucci Mane. That's Gucci. Gucci, yeah. Is he good? He tried to throw my brother out a game in Utah one time.

1:33:55He repped my brother when he was in college. But, yeah, everybody cool. They cool. Scott, where he at. Okay, Zach. Zach nice and Courtney. Courtney real cool. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Zach and Courtney, two of the best. Are they going to let Wemby just throw Brunson around the court, man? James Caper is one of the best, too. Are they going to let what?

1:34:15Pat McAfee:they're going to let Wemby just shove Brunson by his face. I thought everybody loved it when it happened against OKC. What happened? It wasn't a grab to the face and a got it. I still love it. That was a call, by the way. That was a whole conversation about what it should be and what it can't be. We got Wemby somehow blending in as 7 '5 with the other star shot putting his face into the ground. That's what we wanted. Physical basketball. I still love it, and don't you go and grab Wembe's jersey and hold on to it and act like you're not going to get tossed to the ground. Actually, he was digging his fingers into his belly button.

1:34:51Yeah.

1:34:52Pat McAfee:I mean, maybe there was a little belly button fingering going on. Yeah. We don't know what was taking place under here. See if he was an in-eer or an out-eer. Chris, we have piles in football. I don't know what you guys are doing when you're grabbing on the shirts all the time. Maybe you are fingering belly buttons. Maybe that is something that takes place over there. I'll be doing a bunch of weirdo stuff in them piles in football, though. Not really. I want to let you know. I've been in one pile. I got my hand on the ball and then my arm almost broken. So... On the football? Yeah. You what? Kick off.

1:35:19Pat McAfee:I kick it off. Boom. Okay. Return comes. He gets hit. He fumbles. Fumbles towards my direction. I'm like... Yes. 13 yards, 12 yards away. Scrum starts. I'm like, holy shit. Never been in one of these before. Have to make... Have to get into this. Have to... So just somehow. So I dive in at the edge. That's how you get hurt. My hand gets to the ball. I have my hand on the ball and I'm like, wait a little ball. Chris, you fucking, it's a football. It's American football. I wasn't on anybody's balls. Okay. I was on the football. Got my hand on there though. And you always think about getting your hand on the ball in a pile, but until it actually happens, you're not actually living through it.

1:36:00Pat McAfee:And I'm like, what the hell am I going to do now? Right. So I'm like, I'm going to try to get this thing, you know, but it turns, as soon as your hands on the ball, everybody else is trying to get the same thing. They now know your hands on the ball. Just break your little fingies there. Just start peeling your fingies right and sideways. Boom. I was getting peed. They do what? They do what? They were ripping my fingers. Somebody started chopping my, like this is my drop hand. This is my drop hand. Somebody started, like, little one of these, you know, like on my hand because he's underneath there.

1:36:26Pat McAfee:It was like a chop on my wrist. Yeah, and then my fingers were getting, from somebody else I think was on my finger. I'm like, get me out of here. Like, I actually, like, get me the hell out of here. I don't want to do it. So then I just, like, grab a couple people. You got to move. Hey! I just broke a finger. So it worked? You just let go? Yeah, yeah. I gave up. I gave up. I'm never going to get that thing. I realized that. There was like two people in between me. They really be trying to break people's fingers in there? Yeah, I was chopping. Yeah, absolutely. Show them your hands, AJ. Mine are pretty good.

1:36:53I never messed them up. It's all good. That's in a pile. It's actually pretty good. Because AJ always tried to do this to the ball.

1:37:01Pat McAfee:Yeah. They were trying to tell him that he had to grab it. He's credit card. He's in there. He loved the backside, too. I'm nowhere near the football. AJ would cut a hole in his pants so that they could get their fingies in. He was knife-handed in between guys. Sean, like that. Cutting cheeks in half. Yeah. Sean, dude, right in half. I didn't do that, Chris. I did not do that. Well, it depends where the ball is, right? I mean, that's all. Yeah, you never know. I'm going to go get the ball. I'm not grabbing anything else. AJ, grab your hawk. Jeez. That's not what's happening under there. That was one of his dictates.

1:37:33Pat McAfee:That's not what's happening under there. Okay, let's get back to the game. Hey, tonight, I expected Wemby to go crazy. I expected the Stars to come out because the Stars were out. I expected a lot of points. We bet the over. The over hits, even though it started kind of cold. Then last night in hockey, we bet the over again. It was like five and a half or something like that. We got that pretty quick. I mean, that was awesome. So there's a little bit of an over train kind of going right now. Do we expect more buckets at Madison Square Garden on the boys tonight? Can we do it? Because we would like to, once again, hammer the over and hammer some points responsibly.

1:38:06Pat McAfee:Of course. Responsibly, obviously. We are going to do this responsibly. If you're 21 years or older, come on, follow along with us. But do it responsibly. We're just trying to make the game a little bit better. We're not trying to become millionaires around here. Okay, we're just trying to do this thing smart. But we like the over again because it's Madison Square Garden, or do you think this kind of shifts away from what it has been with them? Now, I'm going to say that game three, I don't remember a game in a long time being as hyped and publicized as that. Right. Like the guys, like they had to worry about their families and how they were getting into the arena and how, you know, they're telling you to show up two hours early.

1:38:45You couldn't bring bags into the arena and all that. So I can only imagine the energy and excitement for both teams going into that game. I think coming into this game, everybody will be a lot more settled in. Everybody will know, you know, their shooting time, how they're moving and getting into the arena. The field will just be a little bit different. So I think everybody and both teams will understand the importance of this. This game, everybody always say the next game is the most important game. But there's a huge difference in 3-1 and 2-2. San Antonio, you're like, if we can get this win, we go back home, we have control of this series.

1:39:22And then if you're the Knicks, you 3-1, you take a real chokehold of this whole series.

1:39:29Pat McAfee:You're winning the title for the first time a long time over there in New York. You get statues on top of Madison Square Garden. Still a high ticket price to get in there, and I do think the environment will still be sweet. But it's settling in. That means they're going to make shots. Is that what you're saying? yeah i think they're gonna make shots but it's the energy gonna be crazy again though because everybody talking about that play that you just showed with with vic and jaylen right and so you got all these people chiming in i would have did this i would have did this all this stuff but when when the guys are watching the game the ball could be somewhere else so everybody don't even know what happened but everybody know what happened now during the actual game you see this stuff you catch the end i don't know if they showed the replay in the arena but now everybody knows what happened knows this play everybody's talked about it so it's going to be interesting to see who comes into the game and who you know who trying to take up for jay who's going to do this is what chris paul just said okay just as somebody that uh enjoys like kind of reading between the lines of what people are trying to say listen in the stadium they did in the arena they did not play a replay of that okay guys got their own no they did not the guys i didn't know that we found out via a text message like four or five minutes later and we thought it was like maybe too late to go back because we are obviously in there as well calling the game.

1:40:45Pat McAfee:And what you're saying is it'll be interesting to see if, like, the ninth, tenth guy, maybe eleventh guy off the bench is in there early. I'll probably be saying stuff. Maybe we see a little something out there. I don't know if Alvarado's the right guy to do this. Yeah, I don't know if he's going to hit him in the knees. He's going to need a little bigger body. Alvarado would gnaw on Achilles, though, I think, if he had to. Oh, yeah. Who's there, Carter Bryant? Carter Bryant's a dog. He just goes in there to box out as hard as he possibly can. And also run through. Yes. Yeah, it's box out. No, because.

1:41:10But you got to be smart, too, because you're in the finals, right? So you got to be smart. You don't want to necessarily do anything crazy to hurt your team chances. But I play with a few guys over my career who sort of like, you know, got fouled you hard or whatnot. Like Reggie Evans played on my team. Shout out. The Hawks. Yeah, Reggie. Reggie, listen, he might check in the game, might keep his shooting shirt on. He came in there with a plan. Who was Tyrese's guy? Josh Johnson? James Johnson. James Johnson. There it is. James Johnson, Wake Forest. Go Deeks.

1:41:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, okay, go Deeks. And also, thank you for what you've done for Tyrese because, you know, I had a chance a couple times to sit near Tyrese's family, and obviously, Bob Halliburton. Big John. We love John Halliburton, but we got a chance to sit next to his family, and they were like, James is here for Tyrese, and we very much thank him for that. And then you watch stuff happen, and it's like, oh, yeah, he actually is. Checked him with Tim's on. That is 100, because they got security. I actually did. But like their security for the team is fighting, and then players have their own security. And then, okay, you also got a player on team just in case stuff needs to be handled out there to protect stars.

1:42:21Pat McAfee:I like that the NBA does that. I like that that exists. And I also appreciate you pointing out like, hey, yeah, there will be some – you can't just do that to Jalen Brunson. That's not going to be how this thing is going to go. Because you heard a lot of people saying – and I think Carmelo said it too. He was like, hey, I would like people to fight there for Jalen. And I think a lot of people have said that about the Knicks team. They're like, hey, nobody really want that bat for him. I don't think anybody knew. It was hard to know. And somehow we missed that. 7 '5 and Jalen Brunson, the story of the game.

1:42:49There were three fouls on the play. So that went into it as well. There was maybe a flagrant one on Cat with the elbow to his chin. There was this foul. And then there was a called foul on the Spurs. So the ball went back the other way. If Jalen did shove him in the shoulder, belly button, wherever he could shove him, got teed up, they would have reviewed it and given a flagrant one. I think it's crazy on the review that they didn't go back and give him a flagrant one. And now, yeah, there's all this talk like it's hockey culture. We got to put in Huck Portie and police the game ourselves because the NBA officials failed to do so.

1:43:25That's hoops, baby.

1:43:26Pat McAfee:And I think Gucci would respect it. I love it, yeah. I think Gucci would respect it. I think Gucci understands what's about. I don't know Gucci well as everybody else. I look at the picture. I think Gucci understands what's probably happening here early. The best crew, in my opinion. Take that over foul baiting every single day. Yeah. What about brothers? That's CP's guy. Oh, brothers, yeah. Don't offer it. How do we get him in the conversation? We were just talking about the best. Yeah, the best of all time. Like our favorite ref. Yeah. Scott Foster. Every time I bet on a game that Scott Foster was reffing, I won.

1:43:57Yeah, that's right.

1:43:58Pat McAfee:How about you? I'm sure. I'm sure. I send him a Christmas card every year. Yeah, because fake Chris Paul. Bingo. That was awesome. He hated the way you played basketball, brother. Did you know that? How does that develop? Because you guys do have relationships with all the refs, more so, I think, than other sports. You guys are around each other a lot. It feels like the guys that are reffing are there for a long time, and you guys know each other. You're kind of in the arena together. I think they view it that way, that they're a part of the game and a part of the show. I think they know that.

1:44:26Pat McAfee:But, for instance, the Scott Foster relationship that you have with him, that's very well known. Oh, yeah. That's like very, very well known out there. When does that happen? And what is your relationship like with all the other refs that aren't Scott Foster? I got to – I mean, some of them I have a great relationship with. You know, some of them you talk to, communicate. Some of them just, that ain't it. That ain't – yeah, he one of them. Why are we talking about him, though? I mean, because I feel like we got enough. What, he just didn't respond? He didn't want to have any open dialogue like the rest of them?

1:44:55Huh? He didn't want to have any dialogue? I feel like NBA players are talking to the refs all the time. Is he just not – Yeah, I think so. You know what? For me, being on the competition committee for all those years, one of the biggest things that we tried to work on is the relation, like the conversations and being able to have them. Like we all aren't the same. Some guys can play a whole game and not say anything to an official or whatnot, and people will be like, oh, I love the way he plays or something like that. Well, some guys just don't care that much, right? Seriously. Everybody is different, and you got to be able to talk in a certain way.

1:45:30And if you come in at a guy a certain way, an official might just be like, hey, all right, that's enough. That's enough, right? You got to be able to have dialogue. Now, if it's too much, get a tech. But then you got some officials sometimes, y 'all know, y 'all done seen them that come in and try to be bigger than the game. Yeah, those guys are awesome. That was real. Yeah. That was real, yeah. That was ass. Yeah. Charge! All that. All that. Knock it off, man. Call a foul and let's keep playing. I like that. Go left arm back.

1:46:03Pat McAfee:You guys have personal fouls over there? You don't? What are those? The blocking one just goes. That is the big one. Chop to the arm, you know? Yeah, absolutely. You fuck it all. Tech. Someone call a tech like this. Oh, yeah. Boom! Yeah! and now coaches you know it i like that scott foster just told you to hush please thank you oh me yeah enough we're not listening to you please not tonight thank you and then you got on the competition committee to try to change the rule so he had to fucking talk to you i like that i like that a lot no no no no no no no i was on the competition committee way before that oh okay Okay, so you do know when it started with the idea.

1:46:53Pat McAfee:That's good. Okay, Eddie. I'm so happy. A great highlight. You need to go get you a Scott Foster jersey. He would probably love that too, Pat. Excuse me. Get out of my face, please. Jeez, you guys ain't got time. I do like that Scott Foster does not care that you played 21 years in the NBA. Okay, I've been here just as long, buddy. Okay, what do you think? I said 25 right there. Yeah, 21. That's cute. Okay, yeah, sweet. All right, you're welcome to my league, pal. There's nothing. I love that. All right. Well, maybe you guys have dinner sometime. Never. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Chris Paul.

1:47:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, Chris. That's a real heat. Yeah, it is. That's some real heroes. I mean, he was like 0 for 18 at one point. It was a guarantee. Yeah. That's probably the most known beef. Oh, yeah. A star player and a ref. Okay, let's think about that. In other sports, I don't think so, right? I can't really think about that. Me neither. Definitely. People that aren't into basketball, no. Scott Foster, Chris Paul, they've seen so many headlines and tweets about it. And it was like a lock. Like, hey, there's no way this guy's going to let this guy win. He's going to stack some fouls. This thing's going to happen.

1:48:03Pat McAfee:Scott Foster just didn't like the way CP's replayed hoops. Sorry. Didn't want to hear it either. Are you in baseball? Not as much. Yeah, I mean, maybe. There's like Jim West. There's a couple guys. But those guys rotate around. So, like, you know, one day you might have a guy behind the plate. and then he's behind second base, so it's not. But there have been guys who have ruined perfect games for guys and stuff like that. But probably not like basketball. Google says Chris Paul and Scott Foster is perhaps the most well-known ongoing feud in modern sports. And it doesn't sound like it's ending.

1:48:37Pat McAfee:No, it doesn't. Anytime, so you guys go get some food? Absolutely not. All right, sweet. Okay, that's over.

1:48:46MLB.tv on ESPN is your home for every out-of-market game, live or on demand. Catch your favorite teams and players, plus MLB Network and ESPN app features like Multiview, syncing your stats, key plays, bets, and fantasy, all in one place. Sign up now for MLB.tv in the ESPN app. Separate subscriptions required, blackouts, and other terms apply. Visit stream.espn.com slash MLB TV for more information.

1:49:18Pat McAfee:Let's hit some things that we haven't chatted about. Zach Brown will be joining us at 2 o 'clock. He's performing at UFC Freedom 250 this weekend. Insane situation. Travis Pastrana. Oh, yeah. Is that real? I don't know. Natural circus? I don't know if it's real. I hope that's not real. I hope it's not real. Is he jumping over the White House? I think this could be cool, but if people really want to have an issue with it and make a mockery of it, then Pastrana and the boys bringing dirt bikes and flying over the claw and doing stuff like that. That's how we get this thing at a different level. I just don't know if it's...

1:49:58Come on. It is happening. People are going to be so mad. It is so mad. So mad. Travis Pastrana... He's going to ride it over the claw, like up one of the claws. I don't know if that's... But can you imagine this guy doing circles at the White House lawn,

1:50:11Pat McAfee:just tearing it up? Yeah.

1:50:18He's going to turn around.

1:50:21Pat McAfee:He's going to get off one of those. He's going to get on another one. Get on a rally card. Backflip that thing over. Go through the White House. Lands on top of the White House. Yeah, yeah. We need that. Travis Pastrana is an American dream story. I agree. He's an American icon. We are big Travis Pastrana fans. Yes. But I do think if you wanted to just go ahead and. Yeah. Unfortunately, in this climate, this feels real. It is real. It feels like it's real. We've got confirmation. It is real. Nitro Circus. It's confirmed? Yes. Oh, I didn't know. 100 % confirmed. Who confirmed it? Are you sure? Welcome to the modern world.

1:50:57Pat McAfee:If this is going to be your first Nitro Circus experience at the White House. They got a lot to pull from there. Okay, there's a pool right there. They just repainted. Everybody's super pumped. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard the painting looks good. Who knows what he's going to do? What if he takes, all right, jet ski across there, jumps onto something, maybe an ATV, past Lincoln. Maybe then he hops off that thing onto a dirt bike, heavy bike. Yeah, heavy bike. Heavy bike goes rolling down, jumps that into the White House property, in the air, kicks the heavy bike off, gets onto dirt bike, obviously, backflip.

1:51:35Pat McAfee:over White House, lands on other side, gets in go-kart. President Trump jumps in with him. With a golf club. He slams up. Trump takes golf club, seven iron, hits golf ball. 250. Dana White catches it with his teeth. On the backside of it says, we just signed a deal with Iran. Let's fight. The state of her moves is open. You know what? You can't discount it. You really can't. This could all be in the works right now. They might be running through this as we speak. What did KG say? Anything is possible. Feels like that is. Yeah. Oh, boy. So let's hold off any immediate what. Okay. Is this real or are you guys fucking...

1:52:22I saw the video. Yank you my chain. The specifics might not be real, but it does look... I don't know if they're going to do that. Yeah. They're probably still brainstorming too, by the way. Something around close to that. You should skydive in. Why don't he skydive in and deliver a flag?

1:52:34Pat McAfee:Maybe no parachute, yeah. Like he did with the Red Bull. Lands in the pool. He does that belly flopper. Yeah, freaking the pool's beautiful. It's freshly painted. I've heard it is freshly painted. Maybe he will jet ski on it. Something to think about. Whatever the case, Freedom 250 this weekend. Sunday, Paramount Plus. Live from the White House. Big card. Massive. Zach Brown's going to be singing the national anthem. Hell yes. This is, for shoot, if this was a fight card weekend, just anywhere, people would be losing their mind for the card. It is an insane lineup. It's going to be sick, yeah.

1:53:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, it is. If, you know, weather. Yeah, and they don't gimmick themselves out of it before it starts. But we're a sport, though, that goes outside. And I think, you know, concerts are being held outside more than they've ever been done in the past because people are very scared of rain and things kind of taking things down. More people are doing open-air stadium concerts than ever before. I think people are just kind of rolling the dice with the weather. The weather is going to hit or it's not. I mean, we all know that. We can't control it. But as long as it's not ass, I think even if there's a little bit of drizzle, whatever the case, as long as you can't.

1:53:43Lightning's the only thing. Lightning's the only problem because that'll shut them down. If it rains, who cares? I think everyone would be excited to watch it.

1:53:49Pat McAfee:Now, it's going to be slick as shit in there. And that's going to obviously. No matter what. And there's titles up for grabs. So it's like, was that a fair? I mean, it is. Humidity potentially making the fights boring too. guys just gassing out right away. That's what I would worry about. Well, I don't think, hopefully, one side would be able to take advantage of that. So maybe a lot of quicker fights. I mean, we'll see. Yeah, if it's humid, they might just have this point at the middle and say, hey, we got to get this over with right now. Watch out for bugs. Swarms of bugs. Yeah, and they got, obviously, you need a queen bee, baby.

1:54:14Pat McAfee:Alright, we're back tomorrow for some reason. You'll watch, hopefully. We'll see you then. Goodbye. I think we really nailed that. Yes, certainly. I think people that are watching are like, man, I can't wait to go watch those guys again tomorrow. You think that's what they're saying? Tomorrow's going to be pretty sweet. Yeah, tomorrow's going to be sick. Tomorrow, World Cup, we're kicking off. Program feud, baby. People will be jacked up for tomorrow. Oh, yeah. 12 to 1, story. Sure. And I think I can announce Wayne Gretzky will be joining us tomorrow. Wayne O. Boom. 12.40 Eastern, daily. Daily.

1:54:51Pat McAfee:Yep. Is that what it is? E-D-T. Whatever you're currently. Yeah. Whatever it is currently. But it might be forever because they might be getting rid of Daylight Savings. Is it EDT? I've heard that for like three years now. I've heard that for a long time. Yeah, I know. The Daylight Savings thing, it feels like that hubbub is just up. If someone doesn't know, if you just say Eastern and they are like, what was it, EDT or EST, and they don't know, that's on them. That's a good point. No, I agree. And obviously we know, and we always do know. But if we're going to shut down Daylight Savings as a whole, EST much better than EDT.

1:55:23Pat McAfee:I agree. Eastern Standard. Is that what we're on right now? We're on EDT right now, and I'm worried if they cancel, we're going to be stuck on EDT forever. EST is much better, I think. I disagree. You think EDT is better? Yeah, because it gets dark at like 5 o 'clock. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about the title of it. Strictly Samanity. I'm talking about that title. Got it, got it, got it. Title-wise. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I don't like EDT. You just go to ET. You drop the Eastern time. Eastern time, you're right. ETZ. I don't like that. It's ETZ. I don't like either of them.

1:55:56Can we just do a.m., p.m.? What the fuck are we talking about? What do you mean? We don't need to know if it's ST or DT. Is it 1 p.m. or is it 1 a.m.? That's all we need to know. Don't need to know all that other shit.

1:56:13Pat McAfee:No, just because daylight savings time is kind of going away, that doesn't mean that the time zones are going away. There's still time zones. Well, guess what? But if it's 1 p.m. here, I know it's 11 or 10 p.m. So you think they should all have to go off of what we – they should be shown Eastern time, and they should do their own math every single time? I mean, look, we know my views on time. But first of all, I don't think it matters, the ST, DT. I don't think – I know your views on time. Is it all the same? It's all an illusion. But again, if it's 1 p.m. here, we don't need to know if it's ST or DT.

1:56:45We know, hey, this is where we are. It's 1 p.m.

1:56:47Pat McAfee:Time, though, pretty good tracker of when light will be outside. Yeah. I think that's a good thing. Yeah. I think time does that pretty well. Yeah, 1 p.m., whether it's EDT or EST, guess what? The sun's out. Hopefully. Not here. It depends what month it is. But here. Well, that's weather. Yeah, weather's a whole different area. Yeah, that's different. That's a different color. I just think EST sounds better than EDT personally. Probably because that's what we grew up on. And I would like that to be. I would like us to not do the change. I don't like the change. I think we all agree. As Indianapolis here, we're like the most western, eastern, standard time, eastern daylight time.

1:57:25Pat McAfee:It's awesome. It is. We get very late suns. 9.30 right now. Yeah, you could tee off at 8 o 'clock and get 9 in with light. No problem at all. Like, you could do that out here because where we're at with the entirety. But the other way, when we just lose light as a whole, I don't know how that helped farmers. I don't know how it— I think that was bullshit. Yeah, I don't know how that helped. I don't know if that was actually a thing. Is there any way that we could not ever lose an hour? Because I really do enjoy when you get that hour of sleep back. Let's just keep going. I like that idea. Every once in a while, it's just like, hey, guess what?

1:57:58You're getting an extra hour of sleep tonight.

1:58:00Pat McAfee:And every 24 years, it'll get back to being right. Yeah, there you go. Do you know what I mean? Exactly. It'll be a fun society cycle. Arizona never changes. No, they don't. No, they don't. They don't spring forward. They don't fall back. Yeah. It's like, boom. Yeah, I like a lot of things about Arizona. That could be one of them. Who gets to make that choice for them? Well, so U.S. lawmakers revive Bill to make daylight saving time permanent. So it might be the Thunderbirds in Arizona that are doing that. Yeah. But it sounds like it's U.S. lawmakers kind of doing that. 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time tomorrow, the second half of this program, will be program feud as the McAfee Show Lads will be taking on the back-to-back Emmy Award-winning NFL Live crew in program feud.

1:58:44Pat McAfee:Odds are currently available to be traded on DraftKings market. Do that responsibly. The boys are a little bit of a favorite whenever it comes to what the crowd is saying early. Now, obviously, this does sway with the bets. So this did start even, and then now the boys are favored. That's because more people are betting on them. Trading, sorry, not betting, sorry. Trading, trading. It's a market. Trade, trade, trade. The more boys get traded upon, the more they will become bigger favorites. But people start thinking, wait a minute. That Ms. Laura Rutledge seemingly very smart and liked in all demographics.

1:59:21Pat McAfee:So let's assume that she might know sports fans who are polled. Ms. Mina Kimes, she just won Celebrity Jeopardy in an absolute ass-kicking fashion. Let's assume she could figure out maybe some family feud sports questions. Shefty, yeah, he's relatable. Yeah, bingo. He knows. First thing you think about. Dan Orlovsky, he has normal thoughts. Oh, yeah. Jackass. What do you mean, peanut butter? And then Schrags. Yeah, right. He's going to know all 1 ,372 sports fans that were polled. He might have it above you guys, but the market is being traded in a manner in which they think you should win. I know you guys are very confident.

1:59:59Pat McAfee:AJ got his hair cut today. D-Butt has actually taken some leadership classes because he is the captain of the team, I do believe. How do you feel about your squad as they take on NFL Live? I mean, I feel fucking great. I won't say who, but one of our team members really got the shit going last night. I wanted to play in the morning. I could not sleep after I got that. Yeah, ready to run through a fucking wall. So, yeah, we're ready. I mean, at the end of the day, we fucking know ball. And we know people. But sports, though. Ball. Okay, all the balls. Balls are ball. We know it. Yeah, but maybe a puck.

2:00:29We know puck ball. They better open a fucking puck.

2:00:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, exactly. We want everybody in on a little secret, okay? and this might be something you might want to take into account whenever you're trying to trade on either the boys or the NFL Live crew on DraftKings. Also free to play in some of the states in which it is not able to be traded as a market. A.J. Hawks in a motivational text last night. That was a two-scroller. This has never happened before in the history of our existence. A.J.'s focused. Yeah. A.J.'s very focused. I hope the NFL Live crew has just a little bit of a clue about what you guys are not fucking around. You are trying to be program feud champions.

2:01:12Pat McAfee:You feel as if you will embarrass not just the program, but your families if you were to lose. And I think that is a backs against the wall mentality I like for you guys to have, Ty. Yeah, I mean, we're playing for something here. This isn't some fucking round to grab ass. Okay, so yeah, seeing AJ put that out there, because I knew kind of, you know, I mean, AJ's not in the office every day. Like, I knew kind of where we were at. We knew what we're expecting going into this, and I was kind of thinking, like, man, we need something like this because, you know, on the other side, Orlovsky's like, we're not fudging going out there to get embarrassed.

2:01:44Don't fudging embarrass this program. So we kind of needed the other side of that for it to come from AJ and for some of the coarse language he decided to use in it. I was like, okay, this guy's ready to go. And he's kind of the guy that I was worried about because, like he said, last time he was on something similar to this when he was on Family Feud, they got goose egged. What? Yeah, AJ got goose egged when he was on Family Feud. So I think that's kind of been eating at him ever since then. And I think he's kind of just been waiting for this opportunity. And will and behold, it's coming tomorrow.

2:02:16Pat McAfee:1 o 'clock Eastern Daylight Time on ESPN. I bought all the boys switchblades for you. Yeah, I'm going to cut. We start losing? No, that's not technically in the rules. Oh, we'll add it. We'll add it. I'm going to cut his ass up. Don't. Schrager said he's blue-collar, so go ahead. They reach for that button? I don't think we should steal. That's a wound. That's a kill. We should not be stabbing. Let's not stab anybody. I didn't see it in the rules. It's in the rules. It's getting at it. We've still got time. Everything will be fair. The boys don't know the questions. NFL Live doesn't know the questions.

2:02:51Pat McAfee:You can trade on it until 1 p.m. tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who released his seventh full studio album, Love and Fear, which is currently going to go on tour. He had a Sphere residency that was incredible. At one point, I think he maybe had like the top 10 songs just in the world. He's started out his country. He's partnered with Avicii. He's been all over the world doing music of all different genres. and his band and he sound just as good live as they sound through any of the streaming services. Ladies and gentlemen, a first ballad Hall of Fame musician, songwriter, and singer, and a man that you can go see on the road.

2:03:36Pat McAfee:And this weekend at UFC Freedom 250 as he was singing the national anthem, he's jacked. Yeah. Wasn't always. Used to be a little bit of a chubbier. Okay, I've been a fan for a long time. Used to be a little bit chubbier. then he got like super locked in jacked dude and then that guitar and he just is an absolute animal up there sweet hats sweet hats angelic voice ladies and gentlemen zach brown was that an accurate description i don't want to be too better than i deserve brother thank you okay so you were a little chubby though and now you're super jacked is that is that rude of me to say and is that an accurate depiction of how you think you view you are there yeah man i just didn't know how good you could feel if you take care of yourself and then it was life changes and all that but yeah i used to be pretty fluffy man i was i was like up to almost 270 at one point i was i was fluffy were you worried that if you go down and get in shape or get thinner that because i was a fat so as well uh but it helped me i thought i thought i had to have a fat ass to kick a ball further i was scared to kind of get in shape were you a little bit worried that if you got into shape, maybe you would lose a little bit of the bellow that you had potentially had that maybe some bigger folks have that maybe some jacked folks don't have.

2:04:54Pat McAfee:Did you think about that at all? No, man. I think, you know, as I got older, I got to take care of my voice. If I don't eat clean, I don't exercise. I don't keep my regimen, man. My voice goes out because I warm up for 40 minutes with my coach. I warm up with my band for an hour and then we played two, three hour shows. So I would lose my voice if I didn't do all of those things. So it just started. And then I have an amazing trainer and nutritionist that I started working with and I can trust them. So I just do what they say and it's changed my life. Well, we're happy you did it because every time we go to one of your shows, it's spectacular.

2:05:23Pat McAfee:And you're, you like the show, you like it all, but everybody that's up there with you is elite talent at everything. Your fiddler is outrageous. I mean, the guy goes fucking bananas. I think you have a bongo player that I've never seen do the gymnastics of sorts that he's doing on the real time. You had a steel guitar, I think, or something like that, that was being played at one point. You're, you're a showman and we respect and appreciate it. Let's talk about this weekend, UFC Freedom 250 event. When you get asked about that, what are your initial thoughts? And obviously if it's at the white house, there's going to be some sort of political potential conversation surrounding it.

2:05:55Pat McAfee:What are you hoping for the event? And what are you most excited about? I guess to get out there, man, I'm there for the troops, man. I'm there to honor America. I'm there. This is patriotism, not politics for me. I mean, fuck all the division. I don't believe in that. I love this country. I love all the people that have sacrificed so that I can live my American dream and that everyone that lives here gets a chance to do that. If they work hard, make the right decisions and do that. So it doesn't have a place in politics for me. There's going to be like 8000 active service members that are going to be there.

2:06:29I'm a massive UFC fan. I've watched every single UFC probably multiple times. It's my favorite sport. I'm honored that Dana is giving me the opportunity to do this. We're going to be playing after the weigh-ins for the concert on Saturday. And then getting to do the anthem for this with the Marine Band is going to be sick. So we've been working up some arrangements with them. And it's an honor, man. It's my favorite sport. You know, I did judo in college and fell in love with the art of position and all those things. And I've been watching it avidly. So I'm a major, major UFC fan. And it's an honor.

2:07:06I'm so, so excited for this weekend. and it's history, man, getting to be part of American history, man, having the first sporting event that's on the lawn of the White House. I mean, it's an honor.

2:07:15Pat McAfee:I love to hear that. I can't wait to see the show that you all put on. I can't wait to see the fights on Friday. You and the Marine Band, we had them on Veterans Day, part of our Open. Hey, they will deliver. Talent. And they will. I mean, you tell them to walk. Hey, we need you about an eighth of an inch away from each other. Just, we'll please, one after another. You got it. No problem. and obviously with the talent that you guys have. I can't wait to see you come together to celebrate the shit out of America and I'm excited to hear that you're a fan. That's awesome. That's dope. Yeah, I can talk shop.

2:07:47I could commentate.

2:07:49Pat McAfee:They should fucking do that. I hope they do that. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Zach, you mentioned your extensive warm-up with your coach and with your band before a concert, which is crazy to think of. I guess going into singing the anthem, what's that warm-up look like and what are your nerves or anxiety like? It seems like one of the toughest things to do and not flub a line or not figuring, you know, like I just cannot imagine what the nerves might be like heading into that. No, I get excited, man. I don't really have nerves when I perform anymore. I just, I get excited, but it's the same thing. Same process, same warm-up.

2:08:22I'll do the same thing, man. I'll warm up 30, 40 minutes, get everything kind of elastic and get out there and do it. We've worked really hard on the arrangement of it. We have some of the singers from the Marine Band as well. And it's, you know, time and everything. That's what's going to be kind of challenging because we have we're doing it to a click so that we can hit the last note right when we end brave. The flyover happens and it just, you know, mock whatever going above your head, the crack of that air slamming back together. So I'm excited, man. And I'm ready. I think I did my first anthem at Fulton County Stadium at a Braves game when I was 14 years old.

2:08:56And I was back when I didn't have any airs or anything like that. and you hear you sing a word and a second later you hear that word back again. So at least now, you know, we've got ears. It's a lot more pro than it used to be and a lot easier to pull off now because you're not fighting the acoustics of the thing. And this isn't going to have that same thing, you know, in a stadium. It's not going to have the same reverb and slapback. So this is going to be great, man. I'm so pumped for the card this weekend too, man. I'm a big Gagey fan. I know this is the biggest test yet for him. but I'm super super excited about everything I love the card I think it's gonna be great

2:09:33Pat McAfee:Ilya Teporia came on yesterday alongside Justin Gaethje which is an interesting dynamic for us we've never done that before where my I watched it you had to cut him off I know so that's the thing I didn't and there was a lot of MMA fans that was like super pissed at me for cutting him off it's like well I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do here yeah they're just gonna talk on top how long will they talk I don't know I can't hear anything that they're saying I have no idea what they're saying. But Ilya Taboria, I mean, the confidence was just like, hey, don't blink. I'm knocking this guy's head off so quick.

2:10:02Pat McAfee:Like, first round, no questions asked. And then Gaethje's like, okay, dude, like, shut the fuck up. Like, actually, you shut the fuck up. You're talking to the king right now. Like, there is, it feels like there is an actual, but Gaethje is a 5-1 dog. He's the one that said that. He kind of understands that. He was against Paddy, too, I think. Like, it wasn't supposed to go like that against Paddy. there's a chance this is like a spectacle of a fight as well in this whole thing however it goes let's talk about the rest of the card though go ahead con man yeah zach aside from that one who are you most looking forward to kind of just watching in the octagon prayer obviously it feels like every time he fights he's knocking somebody out sugar sean i saw something that he is looking to kind of get back to that his last finish was in 2023 who on the card are you most looking forward to seeing you know up close and personal man you know after watching the hokit and Curtis Blades fight, I felt like a star was born with him.

2:10:56Just the antics that are there, but he better watch out for the bombs that Derek Lewis is throwing. So I love that there's so much unpredictability on this card. You can never count Justin Gagey out. And, you know, his last few fights, he's as good as he ever was, you know, as kind of contrary to people that have been in for a long time, been fighting for a long time. But, you know, Taporia's a murderer. Gagey's a murderer. This is going to be a violent card, man. I think all the way up and down. I'm also a big Bo Nickel fan. I'm really excited to see Bo get to go fight. And, you know, when people stand on their main discipline that they kind of worked on, I mean, obviously, Bo Nickel is such an elite wrestler.

2:11:36But his striking had come a long way to be able to see that. So I'm excited to watch his trajectory around, you know, seeing where he's at. Man, and then O'Malley is a hobby. that's going to be a war. There's not one of these fights that's not going to be a war. There's not going to be any sleepers, I don't think, in this one. There's no just rolling around for, you know, three rounds on this fight.

2:11:58Pat McAfee:We need you to get a headset on. That was awesome. Thank you for, you know, showcasing that you're not lying. Whatever you say, like, hey, I know this shit. This isn't like a Fugues thing. As you run through that entire card, obviously you love Derek Lewis. His balls is hot. How will the weather affect everything? We shall. Those two guys are – that's what I miss out of, like, old school UFC is having the personalities. But Josh Hokett, man, that Curtis – I was there at the fight. I was ringside watching that Hokett and Curtis Blades fight, and I could not believe the damage that they were both taking.

2:12:32And also, Curtis Blades has a head like a cinder block. Like, you can't kill that guy. We like that. But it was unbelievable. You know, the main one that's kind of a puzzle for me is O'Malley and Zahadi because the stance that Zahadi has is going to be a challenge for the length of O'Malley. And O'Malley's footwork and him being able to keep his distance. So I'm not sure if he's going to try to push that to the ground. They're both really balanced and really well-rounded. But I think they're both hungry, man. Sean's hungry to get a finish. They're both – I don't know. I'm excited. I mean, Cyril gone.

2:13:12Yeah, let's go.

2:13:13Pat McAfee:Oh, hey, let's make sure we hit every fucking, let's go. Make sure you get every fight in there. That's what it felt like. You were getting excited as you were looking at the card. It felt like you were getting more jacked up every time. I'm so excited. And I love it. Any chance, you know, I work a lot and I got five kids. Anytime I can come to go to a fight, man, I'm there. I'm in the early prelim. I'm there sitting the whole time. I'm the only person in the whole section that I'm in, you know, watching the early fights. But it's my favorite sport of all time, man. And I grew up around, you know, everything, playing football.

2:13:42I played ball for 11 years. I love the sportsmanship, but watching this sport evolve and turning into what it is, and I think, I want to say that it's going to be stringed to a billion homes worldwide. That's like eight times the Super Bowl numbers. That's crazy. A billion. That would break a lot of records.

2:14:03Pat McAfee:That's a lot of people. Right? We got the World Cup coming up, too. Yeah. They lie. I feel like the World Cup lies. They always say something. Classic FIFA would never. They always say some fucking number. Look at this. We had six billion people watch the fucking world. It's like, says who? Oh, you're going to question the numbers coming out? Are you going into Asia and Africa to fucking counter? Or are we doing that? It's like, okay, all right. They have a billion people potentially watching these fights. I think it's the right fights to watch. Oh, yeah. Hey, there's going to be no problem. It's going to be beautiful.

2:14:34Pat McAfee:There's going to be no problem. Now, the set obviously getting talked about a lot. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Zach, I don't know. have you had a chance to kind of like see the set or see like how the setup is going to be like, um, it looks unbelievable, obviously, but like acoustically all that kind of stuff, is it pretty similar to kind of any outdoor like stadium show you would do? Or have you had the chance to talk with Dana about kind of what that whole process is going to be like? You know, I've seen the renderings of it. I'm going to get to see it. I'm coming in, uh, on Thursday night to, uh, rehearse with the Marine band and stuff like that.

2:15:06So I'll get, I'll be able to be there and have some time to get on stage. But normally the acoustics, they're going to, they've got the right investment in the right sound system and everything like that. But it's, it's going to be, there's, there's no, there's nothing for the sound to bounce off of. So that's really best case scenario when you're in a bowl in a football stadium and you're in the back and you're hearing the bass roll around, you're basically playing in a bowl and you're not going to have any of that here. I think the sound's going to be stellar. They've spent a lot of money making this as big and beautiful as it should be being such a historical event.

2:15:34So I'm not worried about that at all.

2:15:36Pat McAfee:I love Dana saying I'm losing a lot of money on it. Okay? Celebrate America. Okay, let's all the troops. The fucking stock people don't love what's happening with this entire thing, but it's a spectacle for America. He's trying to make it as great as possible. Now, on that note, is Travis Pastrana skydiving in with your microphone, maybe? Oh, there we go. Is Travis Pastrana coming down from the sky with your microphone? Like, imagine squirrel suit. Squirrel suit. Squirrel suit thing. Comes in. Has a golden microphone for the golden pipes. Hits him with it. Fly by. Yeah. Yeah. Then he goes up into the thing.

2:16:18Pat McAfee:Lands on top of the. On top of the claw. Yeah. Then you. Oh. And he starts raising the flag on top of the. Are you doing that? We're going to work on it now. Now it's a good idea. I'm going to call Danny and tell him we need somebody in a squirrel suit to fly by. and hand me my microphone off right as they hit the count. Good idea. I like it. See, you're a fucking showman. I saw the Sphere thing. You and Brock Leser getting after it up there in a big crowd. I know you love the show. I remember the Chinese Dragon, I think, at one of your tours. It was this gigantic thing, the way the entire... I mean, you do enjoy the spectacle.

2:16:52Pat McAfee:I appreciate that. So I'm excited to see what your next tour looks like. I'm excited to see you on Sunday. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate the hell out of you. Yeah, I love you guys, man. Y 'all have an awesome day, man. Thanks for having me as part of the show, man. I love what y 'all do. Thank you. Anytime you will come on this show, we will certainly have you. And also, where are we at right now, weight-wise? I just got back from my honeymoon. So I think I'm actually – I'm a little bit over right now. I'm probably 197, 198 right now. Congratulations, you and Kendra, by the way.

2:17:22Pat McAfee:Let's go. What weight class is that, UFC? I don't know. Yeah, what weight is that? What weight class would that be? 205? Yeah, I mean, I would probably have to cut if I was going to fight. to walk around where I'm at. It'd probably be middleweight. I don't know. What would be your fighting style in there, Zach? What, your striker, ground and pound? What would be your fighting style? You know, man. I got to protect these fingers, man. I can't even roll anymore because if they mess up my guitar playing, then that's my livelihood. So I can't roll and rip geese, having things ripped out of my hands and fingers anymore or anything like that.

2:17:53But I'm as good once as I ever was, I guess, if I got to prove it. But hopefully it doesn't have to be in bars or anything anymore. I lived in bars for a long time. So those days are over, man. I'm throwing elbows and I'm choking people if I got to get it. Muay Thai. I like that.

2:18:06Pat McAfee:Muay Thai. Muay Thai. Obviously, roll, you meant like, you know, a little work in there. I thought potentially you weren't allowed to roll anymore. I thought there was a change. You weren't allowed to roll anymore. I'm like, Jesus, we got to get some lighter papers or bunts in there. And I guess you could just bust down a black and mild. We thought about doing that in New York the other day. So we're just trying to look out for you there in that particular. Yeah, you're saying yes to all of it. Yeah. Yeah. So Rampage taught me how to do it. He calls it freaking it. Oh, yeah. You take a white towel and you got to freak it to get the tobacco out of it.

2:18:37Yeah. I don't know. I got to protect my lungs, too, man. I got to spearfish. I got to sing, you know. Spearfish.

2:18:44Pat McAfee:God, good for you, dude. Hey, go do it all as you are. We appreciate the hell out of you, especially this guy who played ball for 11 years. That's awesome. We're going to view you as a football guy dominating the world. Have a good one on Sunday. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. That's Zach Brown. Yeah, Zach. Football guy. Boom. Makes sense. Georgia. That's why he's. Go Dawgs. He's very much go Dawgs. Game day, I think, before we got there, he was at the SEC Championship. Yes. And I remember watching that just being like, if you guys can get Zach Brown at your thing, you should get Zach Brown at your thing.

2:19:19Pat McAfee:Certainly. And then, like, Luke Combs, like, loves college football. Yes, he does. Hey, if you can get fucking Luke Combs, you go ahead and do that. Is he App State? Yeah. But we should. Well, and he came to one where it wasn't. Yeah, it was Georgia. Yeah, with Bailey Zimmerman. Yeah, absolutely. Anytime we can have that on game day, I am a big promoter. Bring it. Listen, I understand that I might have to, you know, shorten down some of my antics on game day so that maybe these guys who are fucking Grammy award-winning singers can perform at 9 a.m. on a fucking college campus for the first time since maybe they're 20 years old or something like that.

2:20:01Pat McAfee:Like, that's okay with us. And Zac Brown's one of the ones that you can kind of look at. Like, hey, Zac Brown, top of the world. He's on game day, no problem at all. And I think he loved doing it. I was, like, pumped to do it. Guy loves ball, knows ball. Fresh off his honeymoon. I forgot about that. Legend. The fashion designer, right? Or the purse designer? Jewelry, yeah. Jewelry? Yeah. Congrats to him. Congrats to them. You know, love, as long as it's found, is the only thing that matters. So good for him. Can't wait for the next album after this one. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah, on the honeymoon, I assume there was.

2:20:31We've been spending a lot of time together now that it's pool season. He's got a lot of those summer hits. Knee deep in the water somewhere? Mm-hmm. God damn. Well, he's got good friends.

2:20:43Pat McAfee:He's singing the anthem at a playoff game, a Falcons playoff game back in the day. When you were there? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so cool. Whenever you're at a game and somebody's actually doing an anthem, you're like, yes, that's fucking sweet. It was the whole band. I think it was the whole band. Yeah, they're all super talented. ZB boys? Who's the guy with a super deep voice? Hmm. Long. Barry Manilow? Country musician. Michael Carden. Barry White? Colter Wall? No, I don't know. Barry White needs some country, right? What was that one more time? He's got a lot more to lose. Trace Atkins. Oh. Is that who it is?

2:21:13Trace does have that one. Yeah. Long hair. Very cowboy. Rest in peace? No, actually, no. That's Toby Keith, dickhead. No, no, yeah. Toby Keith. No, no, I know Toby. No, no. Trace is doing great.

2:21:24Pat McAfee:Okay, you did say, though, there for a second, we got to make sure we clear that up, okay? That's my bad. It's not me. I thought you said that for me. Trey says honky-tonk, but donk-tonk. That's him, and then he's got a bunch of others. Yeah, he's still very much a left. Yeah, and he's got an incredible. Yeah. Sultry. Yeah, he was on the field before the game. He was singing in Tennessee at the Titans, and I looked at him. It was just me and him on the field, basically. I was like, I'm going to go talk to him. And then I said, sir, I'm a big fan or whatever, because I didn't know who he was at the time.

2:21:51Pat McAfee:I would have been able to just say his name, which I did. And he came back with a, nice to meet you. And I'm like, holy shit. That's what I know. Yeah, this guy. His hair was down to the middle of his back. Cowboy hat. He's fucking in boots. I'm like, this guy. Real cowboy. This guy real ranching right now. I fucking loved it. But I was excited about that. Carrie Underwood did the National Anthem to the Super Bowl. I think that was a pretty sick time. You know where. You know the National Anthem wasn't. You know where Taylor got her start. Where's that? Pittsburgh Steelers National Anthem. Really?

2:22:18Pat McAfee:How old is she? 16, I think. Wow. Because she's from. She's Eagles family, right? Yeah. Her dad's a big Eagles fan. Obviously, she's Chiefs now, going to be married into that entire thing, but obviously Jason, obviously, and he was married into that as well. But, yeah, I did not know that. The national anthem wasn't always a big to-do. No. I think that's – do you remember a time when it wasn't? No. Really? I kind of always remember it being like, you know, at least for football. Okay, no. No, yeah, like I remember it being, you know, like the Super Bowl would have someone, but like even like playoff games, like there were really – And maybe that was just it wasn't on TV.

2:22:57Yeah, probably not on TV. That's what I'm saying.

2:22:59Pat McAfee:Like every game. Oh, yeah, yeah. It was like a – As a player, I just remember. Always did it for the games, yes. But I'm talking about it becoming like a part of the natural game. And I think for all sports, it has kind of happened over it. And I would assume with the 250th birthday that's coming up, it's probably only going to amplify that entire thing. But it's also a good place to learn about people. Who was Avery? Avery Wilson. That guy was fucking unbelievable. Oh, fucking unbelievable. Especially with all the people that were definitely in that room and him knowing that. There was a lot going on during it, too.

2:23:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, there's a lot of sounds and everything. Yeah, it was. It was an active national anthem. It was pretty active. Probably the most active I've been part of. Positive. They show Cat up there. Yeah! Show Wemby up there. Boo! There was a USA chain in there. President comes up. Obviously, there's a little bit of a... Booed the shit. A love. Was that a boo? That was loud. It was definitely a boo. I saw some people saying it was the loudest boos. I don't think it was the loudest boos. Because it was the national anthem. I think there were some people that were like not making noise during the national anthem.

2:24:01Pat McAfee:You know, like, which I think is kind of normal. So, you know, like, that's the. Usually you have teams that have their different things that may say. The home of the Chiefs. And there's a couple, I think the Stars have one. The Hurricanes, when it goes to the Rockets' red glare, They all scream red. Michigan, I think. Blue, when blue hits the house. Washington Capitals do it too. Yeah, the red. The red there, so they do that. So it's like there are moments in songs where arenas or stadiums do say stuff during the National Anthem. But normally that's a pretty – unless everybody's singing. Yeah.

2:24:38Pat McAfee:It is normally just like a pretty quiet – It was quiet for like the first maybe 15 seconds. That's it. Once it started, it just – I think they showed Cat. He did great. I think they showed Cat the first time. He did. And the place cheered. old buddy kept singing nothing and then they showed Wemby they're working right now a little bit and there was a little bit of a boo and I think they showed Jalen and then I think there was a cheer and then they put the president up there it was a little bit of a show and he nailed it now do we think he nailed it maybe because we weren't able to hear it no he was phenomenal but I did think that he's not looking at the Jumbotron I bet he doesn't know that they're showing Wemby and people just start booing I think you probably assume, like, oh, fuck, that's not for me, but you could see how it would be like, oh, Jesus Christ, I'm just going to stop.

2:25:25I'm just going to stop. Could you imagine if he – Yeah, fuck you guys. I'm out of here. Like Chris Paul said, that was one of the most hyped games. Obviously, we saw the prices. We know the president's going to be there first time in New York since 99. So it was one of my most hyped games. So for even him, Avery Wilson, I know him, but he's not like a – he's not Zach Brown or Taylor Swift or like a huge name like that. So I'm sure that was a huge spot for him. Something I always do, I'm a big fan of, too, is when the National Anthem is played by an instrument, like a saxophone or something. Guitar.

2:25:55Always, yeah, guitar. I love that type of shit.

2:25:58Pat McAfee:Avery was 6-0 as the anthem singer for the Knicks. Oh, yeah. That was his first loss. Him and Dan. Well, are they all with you? Yeah, Dan. I think they're both saying President Housen, right? Yeah, probably. Ace and all. It's not us. Is Dan Housen singing game four? National Anthem? I don't know how they feel about Housen. Is that what I heard? Blimp housing. A lot of human monies. So much human monies. Especially as the days roll on, his popularity grows. The human monies. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Just going up like this. Through the roof housing. It is through the roof housing. There's really no limit housing.

2:26:30Pat McAfee:No. No. Like Master P housing almost. Yeah. Exactly. Dan housing's a man. He is. Did you hear about the Omaneers? I did hear. I did see the Omaneers, actually. That was impressive. We're just trying to win tonight Hey! Just trying to throw some stride Hey! Maybe take some rock or shine Hey! Well, it's more than a lie Oh! We'll take all you got Hey! Two, three You're a little bit early on what you're doing There's still another ver Hey! Hey! Hey, my honey family Hey! Shout out to Sam and M-A-Z Hey! We ride where we belong Hey! Not sure what took so long Hey! Let's go hit some dawn Three. We're the opening drinking all the beers.

2:27:33Let's go play ball. We're the opening drinking all the beers. Let's go play ball. We had

2:27:45Pat McAfee:rehearsal. We did. Had rehearsal. Pulled off one time. That's all we were asked. You guys just completely flushing that from your system is impressive. I like you guys were able to do that. I had to make room for the rest. Back and forth, too, with the band. There's only so much room up here. Hey, it was AJ. AJ, there was some tensions a little bit. With JC? What happened? With the band. We're just trying to motivate everybody into success, baby. Who's we? We're all trying to motivate. Wherever the tension was. Just a bunch of buddies trying to get a song together. JC almost slid someone's throat for not getting his rider right.

2:28:23So that was interesting.

2:28:24Pat McAfee:Yeah. I'll tell you, I had to step away to chat about some other things that were happening at the exact same time this was all happening, which is great. Everything does and should just happen at the same time all the time. I do like that when that happens. That's a fun thing, just kind of knock everything out, but you're kind of like a little bit away. And then you come back, and all of a sudden you can feel the tension. It's like kind of palpable. Fuck, get it right. Wake up. That needed to be said. Yeah. Who was it? Whole motherfucking, hey.

2:28:55Pat McAfee:It is. It is not hey ho. No. It is ho motherfucking hey. And that point was made very aggressively, I would say. Here's a photo from the meeting. It's a video entirely, but this is what it kind of looked like. You might be able to see a right hand that is...

2:29:20Oh, man, that is awesome.

2:29:22Pat McAfee:All access. That is awesome. That is awesome. is awesome that is a little body scene what happened that was surveillance footage and what happened I was the very little we got a right out here and fucking yes we did the only person we didn't tell was camera person was you to be shooting sure no entire thing but I'll tell you what hey Scott jib man jib man good to see you baby Scott I guess there was a little color balance issue at the beginning there everybody saying we were looking different colors and we actually are wake up with the jib but Scott had to build that literally by hand today as he pieces together.

2:29:55Pat McAfee:This appears to be a 15-footer. Yep, okay. He's got 20, 30, 50, 60 footer to fuck you. Whatever you need. Second beater after the show. We're going to have to move our game. AJ? Keeps the upsets. You guys hitting only headers? What is it? What's the game? Sometimes. It depends what the round call is for. I will say as a person that has always been a part of these before i am trying to get the ball to head quickly because that's when the most exciting time is but we just one bounce hey just keep the thing up keep it alive you know but it once it gets to headers only that is when a time is really really good so i i think we've we've gotten much better over like the last week or so i think we're getting ready for the world cup in proper fashion and the lads are buzzing i must say whenever the world cup official soccer ball made its presence done yesterday.

2:30:49Pat McAfee:Gumpy, I think our group is one that you as the golfer could be proud of at this point. Yeah, we've really found our bearings. Yesterday was by far our best work and I'm just really proud of everybody going all in on the World Cup, getting started here. Even Bone, who had no touch at all as I aimed for Bailey's head right there. That is a part of the problem with me with this particular game throughout soccer, throughout your entire life. We're just trying to keep it up there. I want that ball up. I get bored too because you could just pass it, AJ. You can just easily pass it. Just one bounce.

2:31:20Pat McAfee:We'll just keep this thing going around in a circle. Sometimes you do need to settle. You do need to slow it down sometimes, but you're only slowing it down so you can fucking speed that thing right back up so we can get a little bit of chaos, and then we've got to slow it down a little bit. We've got some magical plays happening. Con man yesterday up against a brick wall, boots that thing over his head perfectly. Right at the Foxy, heads that thing, boom, perfectly. Gumpy comes in with a power knee. D-bone wearing Carhartt somehow. It was 100 degrees outside yesterday. Wearing the whole team boot-colored shoes.

2:31:48Pat McAfee:He goes with a straight-on toe. Boom. Somehow kicks it perfectly straight up in the air. Dirty comes over with a little hacky sack inside kick. Talk just dolphins ahead her. Like that right there. That's what he did. Off the top. It was a magical moment. Big motor on the camera. Boom. Bailey holding a real camera while he's in there because he's an artist with that thing. We're certainly appreciative of those particular shots. But we look around and we're just like, it's World Cup season. It is World Cup. Yes, it is. It's World Cup Eve. And we got a lot of soccer stuff, actually, that needs to be chit-chatted about.

2:32:22Pat McAfee:In the World Cup lead-up games, you know, everybody had their friendlies that were taking place. We had one in Chicago against Germany this past weekend. Gumpy went up there, packed out. Absolutely. This is Soldier Field. Absolutely packed out. Now, we don't know what all the World Cup games are going to be like because they're on the coast and far away, potentially, from a lot of people. but in this lead up to Anthony Robinson has maybe one of the best goals in the history of U.S. soccer, by the way. Against Germany, who's one of the favorites to win the entire World Cup in front of a sold-out stadium in Chicago.

2:32:54Pat McAfee:Gumpy was there. Obviously, it's good stuff. They weren't the only one. You go to stadiums around the country. Auburn was fucking filled up. Auburn was filled up. You got stadiums packed out for these soccer teams coming to town. Chattanooga, Tennessee, I think. Yamal got there. And Yamal is obviously the 18-year-old Spaniard who plays for Barcelona. There we go, Barcelona. He's a sensation. This dude's a stud. The entire city came out to welcome him. It feels like America is excited about the World Cup. And this is Texas A &M. 92 ,000 or 93 ,000 people filled up Kyle Field down at Texas A &M.

2:33:29Pat McAfee:So whenever you talk about a country embracing a sport that might not be our main one, it feels like the United States is representing right now for the World Cup. It feels like we are excited about it, even though people are saying that we're not and the tickets and yada, yada, yada. In the lead up in these friendlies, it has been nothing short of a spectacle everywhere that they have been. Last night, Argentina plays. Leo Messi gets on the pitch, and every city he's gone to has obviously gone crazy for him. He literally gets on, sets up a guy. Foul happens. Let me take a PK. Let me go ahead and bury this thing.

2:34:00Pat McAfee:Is this not what you came for? Yes, you did. You're welcome. I'm Messi. I fill up stadiums. I score goals. That's kind of what he has done for United States and soccer with Inter-Miami. So I think the country's buzzing for the World Cup. I don't think there was a lot of pre-hype for it. I think it's kind of shown up out of nowhere. We've tried to kind of get ready for it. But it kicks off tomorrow, 3 o 'clock and 9 o 'clock. Mexico takes on South Africa. And Azteca, I do believe, that should be an absurd, obviously. Absolute scene. It's going to be awesome. Yeah, so it's going to be special, man.

2:34:35Pat McAfee:We're all in over here. We are all in over here. Big news for the USA. Chris Richards is fully healthy. No limits on his minutes. He's ready to go for the opener. Center back stud. Center back stud. Okay, love that. Obviously, Pulithic just had one of his nastiest lead-ups into a World Cup. Feels like he's confident. Source says from within the team and around the team are saying there's a tight bunch. Yes. Ponch has got the boys very, very tight. That's Ponch football, baby. He was looking for dogs. He was looking for pride in USA. He was looking for fight. Now, granted, there were some rumors that he's potentially gone immediately after the World Cup to go coach somewhere else because he's such a good coach, and maybe that is the case, so I lost a little bit of hope.

2:35:13Pat McAfee:Turns out the boys are rallying around him. They cannot wait to kind of give it a go, especially on our home soil. That kicks off Friday, 9 Eastern time against Paraguay in Los Angeles. Now, there are some tickets, I think, available still for that, but I assume we're going to do well here. And the people that have come from other countries to America, especially the home-based teams, like where they're at, have been specced. How about Freddy from Germany? Freddy's a dog. Freddy from Germany might be an American who's acting as a German. We're not 100 % sure with the internet being real, but I do love the thought of a German coming over to America, experiencing America that isn't New York City, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles.

2:35:50Pat McAfee:So it's actually a part of America. Elza is this lady from Sweden, I do believe. Her team is in Indiana. She's been touring around Indiana and experiencing life out here. Obviously, if you're from another country and you're coming to visit America once or twice in your life. We don't think Indiana, let alone Anderson, Indiana, is going to be a place you're going to stop at. But they've come over to see where their teams are, learn a little bit about it, hang out around it, and then obviously they will go to the other cities that are hosting these games. It feels like America's killing it. I'm being honest.

2:36:19Pat McAfee:It feels like America is crushing it thus far. Tournament hasn't started, but the lead-up has certainly indicated that this is going to be a good tourney. Yeah, no, I would agree. Now we kind of just need to perform because just for me personally, if that's when my interest will kind of wane a little bit because it is very easy to be jacked. I mean, it doesn't happen very often. So when it does come around, you have to kind of meet it there and be like, okay, I like our team. I like our gaffer. I'm very excited. And now the boys need to go perform. We've got to win. It was a good scrimmage or exhibition against Jeremy.

2:36:53Super entertaining. A lot of chances. They looked good in both. The atmosphere was incredible at that game. And they went toe-to-toe with Jeremy. like that game was wide open that I was at Germany wins 2-1 but Germany's One of the best teams in the world. So they're very skilled. USA is a very skilled team.

2:37:08Pat McAfee:Here we go, boy. And Moxie. I don't think an American in the past would have had enough Moxie to take that shot. No. They're settling that, swinging it, getting it back outside. Let's go ahead and get another one. So Antony, great name. A-N-T-O-N-E-E. Antony. Taking that shot. I love the Moxie. Yeah. But I also appreciate the fact that it won in. Let's do a little bit more of that, boys. Whenever you have success doing those types of things, good shit happens. Gumpy, what's the realistic expectations we should have? You saw the odds. Yeah, but the odds makers don't fucking know. They weren't at the fucking game.

2:37:40Pat McAfee:Well, maybe they were, actually. They might have been at that game. They might have had boots on the ground. They're trying to feel it. But if they were at that game, they're seeing something. Gumpy says the boys might win the whole thing. Gumpy, right? Boys might win the whole damn thing? I think quarterfinals would be a very good spot to make it to. That's one win in the elimination round? You would win one because they added teams to the tournament, so you win a knockout game. then round to 16. You take your chances against Belgium. I know they're very skilled, but in these tournaments, when it's knockout like this, like Pochettino's won in massive tournaments.

2:38:09He took Tottenham to a Champions League final. Like he's played in massive tournaments where you need to win. They're even money to get to the Sweet 16, which is 32 now make it to the knockout stage. So that would be one win in the knockout stage. So they're even money plus one. Well, plus 110 to make it to the Sweet 16. Yeah. There's an incredible option on the opener too. Plus 275 to reach the court. If you bet USA Moneyline and they go up a goal, it's auto win for the opener. You can bet up to$100. They go up a goal, automatic win. You win your bet no matter what happens in the match.

2:38:42Pat McAfee:Yes, DraftKings. So that's DraftKings' promo for the World Cup? Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so what if we go up 2-1? Yeah, as long as you go up one goal, you win your bet auto no matter what the score is. Because I am a little bit worried that we might... Concede? Yeah, yeah. That's fine. Feels like we're a little bit more aggressive going forward, so I think coming back. Richard's back is huge for the back end. I do appreciate Richard's kind of bringing a little steadiness to it all. Might be time to put the new captain's band on someone else then, right? Isn't that kind of the word on the street?

2:39:13There is an old guard with the captain's band,

2:39:16Pat McAfee:and there's a chance. I don't know this. I am not judging the team. Me neither. This is coming from our gaffer and multiple gaffers that we've talked to. Our captain might not be anywhere near the best player at the position in which he has. There might be multiple people that be better than him at that position, but the C-band is for a reason. I think that's for off the field. I would assume, I'd be excited to see who's wearing it on the field. Because if the captain's not on the field or the captain subs off, he passes the captain band whenever he's subbed off. If he's on there, somebody else will wear it to represent.

2:39:49Pat McAfee:I will wonder what that is. Give it to Ponch. Can Ponch wear it? Can he be our captain? He was right in the mixer of that little dust up against Jeremy. He's jumping in there. Yeah, and we like that he's got the boys fighting. All right, so we're doing that. I'm doing that plus one. Shout out to DraftKings. Yes. Tonight we're doing the over, AJ. Do you like that or no? I like the over, yeah, for sure. Like that. Let's go. Anything we would have said there, he would have been on board because he gets it. Yeah, he gets it. Because the gambling gods are watching. They are. Let's stay hot. Let's stay over.

2:40:21Pat McAfee:I've found the crown a little bit here. Yeah, you have. I've found the crown a little bit. Tonight I did not really – I think tonight's a huge question mark. A huge question mark. Tough to pick. Because is Wemby going to continue after the whole thing? Is he just deciding that they're not going to lose this game? Because I think he could potentially do that alongside Castle, Vassell, Fox, the boys out there. They can certainly just decide, like, hey, we're going to do this. But then also the Knicks could do the same fucking thing. We haven't seen him in his position in, what, months? Are the fans going to be there to start the third quarter?

2:40:50Pat McAfee:Yeah. Schrag's not happy. Neither is Ben Stiller. Need more toilets. They do. Yeah, legit. We couldn't piss until the end of the game. Yeah, and the line for the pisser that we were at was four sections lost. They're saying it's casuals. Well, they're saying people that aren't Knicks fans. Yeah, because they got the nice little club down there, so it is different for Celeb Rowe. But a lot of times the whole lower bowl is borderline empty at the start of third quarter, and that's where the toilets are coming into play. Yeah, because people are trying to get back. Turns out they're about to piss their pants waiting in line to go piss.

2:41:24They should put Port-A-Johnson for the finals. The troughs. Bring back the troughs.

2:41:28Pat McAfee:Well, that was – I think the kid was from Centerville, Ohio, that dove into the trough. Yeah. What? I've heard that. I have never seen it. No. I've heard about it. Cleveland Browns, right? Wasn't it a Browns game? I think so. From Austria? Like body surfing through the trough? Had to be five years. Within the last – I would say within the last ten years. Oh. The internet has seen it. Yeah, I remember it. I remember when it happened. That's disgusting, obviously. It's right, but he's pissing, dude. But, you know, as we've learned, I guess, through society, that might be what he was looking for.

2:42:02Yeah, exactly. Just be happy, dude, whatever you got to do.

2:42:06Pat McAfee:Tomorrow's big day, program feud. AJ will be in the Thunderdome. NFL Live will be in the Thunderdome. The program feud set is one that has been really well put together. Oh, yeah. I mean, it is a beautiful thing, and we're excited for tomorrow's celebration of 1 ,372 sports fans getting pulled in a family feud clash. Survey says we shall see. The markets are saying that the boys are a little bit of a favorite. That means more people are trading on the McAfee Show crew than they are trading on the NFL Live crew. I don't know if that's the right move or the wrong move, but I do know that the moves that the boys are making behind the scenes are one of a group that is invested in getting a program feud dub.

2:42:53And we should feel disrespected about that right there. Way too fucking close.

2:42:57Pat McAfee:I do. Maybe you guys should go trade it. If you're 21 plus, I think some states it's 18 plus, especially for the free-to-play, responsibly want to get in. The boys are saying they're being disrespected. This might be the best you could trade them at going forward. Forever. But I think the NFL Live crew is saying, we're back-to-back fucking Emmy Award winners. Yeah? These guys never lose. Ever. Dan was on the Lions, so. And he's completely defeated. Yep. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Appreciate you guys. Great work today. Tomorrow's going to be a lot of fun.

2:43:32Pat McAfee:Historic. Hell yeah. We're on the over tonight. Yep. Let's stay hot. How'd Skeeno do yesterday? Skeeno did fine. Not his best, but he did fine. Bullpen is shite. Bullpen is shite. Classic Pirates. He gave up 10 in one inning? Yeah. Right after Scheno. That guy right after Scheno? Yeah, but the guy who came in, he had a 1-E-R-A in season. Yeah, but Scheno passed into baseball. Yeah. And then that guy gave up 10 runs in one inning? He gave up six, yeah. And the next guy gave up more. Freddie Freeman also passed a milestone, 2 ,500 hits. Yeah. What a beast. Well, it's because the Dodgers cheat. Get him out of the league.

2:44:11Pat McAfee:Might be changing the league because of it. I don't think it's called cheating if they're just doing more of what's allowed than everybody else. I've heard contracts. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're interesting together. Team on me. We appreciate all of you so much. We hope that you have a phenomenal night. And it's because of all the you that tomorrow we'll be playing program.

2:44:42Pat McAfee:Say something nice to somebody. Change your life. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.