PMS 2.0 1570 - College Baseball World Series, Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Recap, Rich Rodriguez, PK Suban, Karl Ravech, Rich Paul, Randy Mazey

19:55Pat McAfee:I like everything about what you're saying there. You think Connor would have been a good shortstop? He'll look good in his shirt, maybe. Okay. I like that. He called you handsome. I'll take that all day. Connor and Rod have a good relationship brewing. You have been so good to all of them. Yeah, he sucker punched me a little bit. I jacked him up a little bit yesterday, right? Right when we got off the van, he wasn't paying attention. And now he shot him. His knuckles are sore. Yeah, I saw a little swollen. last night obviously the stanley cup finals continued as the carolina hurricanes at home moved to a one victory away placement of lord stanley cup heading down to raleigh joining us now who man was in the building ladies and gentlemen pk chupin pk good to see you man thank you for making the time i know it's been crazy trying to connect with you vegas had you now carolina has you you dress like aladdin at one point you're having a hell of a finals pal you're doing it out there pk you know what it's been probably the best final it's the best final i've ever seen i've never seen a final better than this one um both teams like guys are banged up playing hurt playing through whatever they're playing through and we're getting some of the best performances now we're seeing guys step up that haven't stepped up earlier in the series it's just turning out to be just an insane series.

21:16People thought this was going to be one of the worst, and it's literally the best final I've ever seen. It's insane.

21:22Pat McAfee:Tell me about Bussie going in there, obviously having a massive moment for himself whenever he gets subbed in in game four. Now he gets to start game five. Obviously, I think he gets the three-star, whatever it is, from the place, and he's potentially going to win this for the Canes while on the flip side, Carter Hart becomes the first goalie ever to let up four goals. Yeah, add another one. In the first five games of the Stanley Cup final. The over-under went to six and a half, so the under hit for the first time this year after massive goals being everywhere. Tell me about the goalie situation, both on Bussey and Carter Hart.

22:01Well, I'm going to tell you something. Before I even address Carter Hart, I got to address the biggest Golden Knights for the facts. They have not been good. Like, they have made a lot of mistakes. And you know what? These guys are expected to play better. Anderson's got to play better. Some of these guys just got to make better decisions. It's decision-making. Like, Mets said it, you know, two games ago. He said, this time of the year, it's about brains. It's not about brawn. So you got to be thinking the game. And Vegas has a really good defense core. That's the foundation of their team. Those guys have to play better.

22:38Like, their penalty kill has to be a lot better than that. And if they clean that up, oh, they'll be in Game 7. But you can't go into a Game 6 situation or a Game 5 and have a penalty kill like that. You know, it's just not going to, you're not going to get it done. Like, Carolina's playing way too well. They've got no weaknesses right now. So for Vegas, they've got to clean that up.

23:00Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's talk about, okay, so everybody that knows hockey, including Wayne Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky was on yesterday, and he's like, Carter Hart's playing great. And then Ty, who's a Vegas Golden Knights fan, goes like, the only goalie ever that has let up four goals through four Stanley Cup finals every single game. And then Waino and Moose and you now, everybody's like, not his fault. They're wide open. EJ Oshie was like, not his fault. Like, is Carter Hart feeling as if he's playing ass? Or does everybody in hockey know that it's not him, even though the fans are saying, can we get a change?

23:32Pat McAfee:Because Carolina changes it. They were down 4-0. Or make some changes defensively because we've been saying this for three games now. It's not on Carter Hart. The defense needs to be better. It's like, okay, well, it is the Stanley Cup finals. We're just going to keep playing the same way every single game and conceding five goals. It makes no sense. So let's talk about Carolina and Bussey. That's a huge decision, obviously. And I don't know who told us that. It might have been EJ or you or TJ or somebody in the hockey world said he was probably pulling Anderson just to give him a breather. Okay, he's down 4-0.

24:04Pat McAfee:and let's get this guy kind of to the bench, maybe get a water, take a nap maybe. Like, let's not get this guy embarrassed. And then Bussie stands on his head. Then they win. Now they win again. Now Bussie's going to be talked about as the guy potentially that can lead Carolina other than Stalzy, who's just outrageous. But the Bussie story is a big one, PK. It feels like that was a hard decision, a big decision. It wasn't a hard decision because a lot of people had him pegged as the number one goalie during the regular season. Like, a lot of people thought he was capable of playing this way. So this is not a secret.

24:39When he came in, I said this guy's got a certain style. He can play, can make second and third saves. Like, anybody that, a goaltender that can do that is a special guy. And he's as cool as a cucumber. This guy's not stressed at all. He's happy to be in this situation. So it's a dangerous situation because that was a weakness for Carolina coming into this series. Everybody had question marks about Freddie Anderson. whether the goals are his fault or not. With Carter Hart, we haven't seen him let in a bad goal at a bad time yet. Every single time he's had to make the saves, he's made them. So you can't look at the goaltender.

25:14I look at the turnovers. I look at the lackluster play in your own zone, the not blocking shots. That can't happen. And Torch knows it. That's why he's saying they'll be back for Game 7 because they're going to clean those things up in Game 6. If they don't, they'll be going home.

25:30Pat McAfee:You're the man. Safe travels for you wherever you're headed. We appreciate the hell out of you, PK. Let's go. That's right. He's still feeling Vegas. Bussie improved to 20-2 at home, which is the best record by any goaltender in a 20-plus start season across the last 80 years. My God. It's good to have two goalies. It's good to have one. That's all you really need. If you have none in the playoffs, you're what we like to call F-Uct. Yeah.

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26:48Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who is so smooth on a microphone, his brain so deep with knowledge a guy who's synonymous with Omaha who I have a lot of questions about since we've been here for about 12 hours ladies and gentlemen a friend of the program voice of baseball Carl Rabbit here we go Pat welcome to Omaha feel the vibe baby thank you for a welcome that's very kind of you we had not felt the vibe here at all we had thought to ourselves. McAfee's in Omaha. Come on, people. No, Rabi, Rabi. We don't want to feel welcomed. We would like everybody to feel the buzz. Last night, it felt like maybe there was still just like a build-up for the event that's about to.

27:27Pat McAfee:Calm before the storm. Yeah, that's what it felt like. And we'll have a storm. I mean, A, the field is great. These eight teams are unique. You got, you know, the West Virginia team that's wearing slippers. You got Troy that's wearing a glass slipper. And then you got some real blue bloods. And yeah, no, this and by the way, Thank you. The weather usually isn't 80 degrees, 78 with the wind blowing out. Usually it's 104. It's blowing in. We've had series where you don't get any homers. We're going to have a bunch. There will be a lot of fireworks. You'll feel it. So you think because the wind has flipped and it's blowing?

28:02Pat McAfee:No doubt. It's the opposite of what Rich Rod last night, you should have heard him. He didn't know about the wind. I didn't know about the wind. How do you control the wind? Figure it out. Fans, ask certain ballparks about how you control the wind. Here, wind blows out, you'll get balls leaving the yard. Okay, so West Virginia, 29 runs, I think, throughout the two shows or whatever. It was like the top five in the history of the scores that we put. Morgantown, obviously, alive. Our first time here, you talk about the glass slipper. Randy's Ridge, baby. Let's go. Randy's Ridge, unbelievable. They're going to have to figure that out for next year because five people ended up getting injured, I think.

28:37Pat McAfee:But they should have been there. They were told to leave because of the storms. But nonetheless, Mountaineers will take care of Mountaineers. but West Virginia Mountaineers rallying behind this baseball team. Feels like a lot of the mainstays aren't here, right? Is that an accurate depiction of this year's field? And what is your thought? We have five teams from the SEC. We don't have Vanderbilt, of course. A couple years ago with Dansby Swanson and company, they were winning all the time. Tennessee's been great lately, and now their former coach is managing the Giants. So there are some of the blue bloods.

29:03Heck, we thought Georgia Tech and UCLA were going to be here. UCLA's the number one team all year. Find me a sport where the number one team all year doesn't end up playing at its premier event, whether it's a national championship or anything else. UCLA was the number one team the entire season. Didn't lose a series all year. That's impossible. And they're not here. They get knocked out. Again, you know this as well as anybody. It's the beauty of this sport. It doesn't matter if the talent level is better than the team that you're playing that day. Chance and Cole could go out there and absolutely shove.

29:35And the game will be over and West Virginia will win. And he's done that a lot this year. Boom. There's a lot of other guys. Wait till you see the arms tonight. They're very different teams that do many different things, but all of them were good enough to get here, and that's what makes a College World Series so good.

29:52Pat McAfee:I ran into a North Carolina center fielder. Owen Hull. Owen Hull. Ridiculous. Phenomenal. Good kid. He's a great player, right? Stud. Yeah, it was obvious. It was very obvious by talking to him. He was so big. Stud. The way he talked was like a professional, and you could tell just by looking at him, like, this guy's a guy. the way he carried himself at all. We were just walking in a hotel, ran into him. He said, man, great to see you. And I was like, you too. Clearly young, big, strong, strong, strong dude. And he's a junior, I believe, for UNC. I think he said something along the lines of they were here in 24, right?

30:26The only team that's been here twice in the last three years. Other than that, you know, think about college basketball and the Blue Bloods or college football, where you tend to have the same schools. We've had 23 different schools here the last three years. That's really hard to do. Carolina is the only team that's been here twice in the last three years. It speaks to a little bit of the parody of the game. It speaks to NIL. It speaks to the portal. All of those subjects, the boxes get checked. And that dude, he's a major league player. He is a major league player, Owen Hall.

30:57Pat McAfee:Happy we got a photo because he took a photo with us. I also. Let me steal one of those. Ty has a question for you, Ravi. Yeah, Ravi, speaking of like NIL and the way it's kind of changing, do you think the SEC kind of needs to win this year to kind of put that stranglehold back on college? Because for the longest time it was, hey, a team from the SEC is probably going to win, but now you see, especially with teams like UCLA and Oregon and USC going to the Big Ten, you know, West Virginia and the Big 12, like the playing field seems like it's kind of evened out a little. Well, I think the fact that we've had all these different teams here, but you have five teams from the SEC.

31:29One entire bracket is SEC, meaning you're going to have an SEC team in the final. You know that already. Now, whether one comes out of this side that's playing today remains to be seen. That would be seven years in a row that the SEC has won the College World Series. Damn. I think that they have, obviously, certain advantages that other schools don't.

31:50Pat McAfee:Like what? Warm weather all year round? They have warm weather. They have history. They have facilities. I will say this, though. You were there. West Virginia's facilities now, especially the biomechanics lab, like that stuff is top level. And Kendrick's contributing. But schools have figured out what we need to be competitive. The problem that many of them face, they develop pitching. Like Wake Forest for a few years, and Nick Kurtz is killing it in Major League Baseball. They had pitching labs. They were the best at pitching. West Virginia's going to be great at pitching. Can you then round it out by having great defense and great offense?

32:26And the SEC tends to have all three of those things covered.

32:30Pat McAfee:Here's what you're talking about with the biomechanics lab that has been placed in Morgansound, West Virginia. Quote comes, for Courtney Semkouik, it was kind of a no-brainer. She's a unicorn. PhD in biomechanics. That's a baseball rat that wants to be in a dugout and be at practice all day and grind. You can't just go create that person or system. I believe Skeeno was training down there as well in the offseason. Yeah, a lot of guys are going down there. But for years, Vanderbilt's had facilities like that. You mentioned Wake Forest has had facilities like that. Florida State, we were there this year, just put in a facility that's got more cameras than you have by dozens to shoot every aspect of every pitcher, every pitch he throws.

33:08There are numbers attached to everything they do. It's a scientific world.

33:14Pat McAfee:Tell me about the numbers at this Rocko's thing. Because I walked in there last night and none of it made sense to me. None of it made sense. And he was telling me, this money's not going towards jello shots in Omaha. This money's going towards a linebacker for the West Virginia Mountaineers. Can you tell me about the Roccos thing? The Roccos challenge. We didn't get it. I'm going to be honest. We went in there as a person that was going to write a check for probably$100 ,000 to$150 ,000. Just break all the records. No,$330 ,000 would be the record, which he doesn't even like that I know that number.

33:44Pat McAfee:He has been disgusted with me in bringing it up. I walked in there, three checks in my thing. So I was going to – first time I've had checks on me. I couldn't leave his side because I was afraid what would happen if I went to the restroom. So I was ready to do it. And then I got in there, and I'm like, this just isn't what I thought it was going to be. It was just an interesting little thing. I think it sort of speaks to the, let's say, the way that baseball operates. Baseball is not a sprint. It is a marathon. So in Rocco's case, and I have no idea. I'm kind of making this shit up right now. In Rocco's case, if you spread it out over the course of the entire College World Series, 10 days you get to big big numbers they i don't think that they're after let's just scratch a big check we said you don't think that's what they're up yeah that is what they're up for the lsu guy gives 68 000 i believe you said you're just making this up as you go i've looked into this because this guy publicly told me i need to come give hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy shots at this guy's bar basically and i come in there and the guy told me that my check was going to bounce and then did this entire thing and people were buying these shots and there was zero celebration it felt like i'm telling you i was very bummed out i was like super excited when's the last time a mcafee check bounced well well said i don't know if this guy knew that i was it was i think he had no idea that it was me had to have not benefited the doubt which is okay like give the benefit of the doubt happens all the time let's try again let's see what happens i'd rather do it here at blatt with uh hitchcock's bar here yeah i'd much rather do it here at the Many people will agree with you.

35:16I don't look. A, I don't do shots. I got a game tonight. I ain't doing shots. But I will say this, that maybe it is the whole concept of let's just go marathon, keep accumulating. Hopefully we give some money to charities and things like that. I mean, that's what we should be doing.

35:33Pat McAfee:It is beautiful. It is wonderful to be a part of. But I'm telling you, that was a bummed out start to our world. Super bummed out. And we're all bummed out. We are very bummed out. We walk back to our hotel. Bummed out. The vibe's flying over here. Can't wait. Oh, my God. Can't wait. Best sporting event of all time, we've been told. Yeah, and it is. You got off to a rocky start. Rock-o start. We got to pick it up here. Come on. West Virginia is going to hit them out because the wind's going. We're going to celebrate. Everybody else we've ran into. Yeah, I mean, this place has been alive. We are ready for it.

36:03Pat McAfee:How long are you here? Another six hours. Ten days. Oh. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. I love you guys. We appreciate you. Thanks for having me on here. Paul Ravage. This will be a one and done thing for us, I think. No, no, no. If West Virginia's back here, you're back here. Make that promise. I'll definitely talk about it. Final four, you know, let's see if they get to next weekend. All of a sudden, we might be thinking, hey. They're playing for a title in the finals. You're here. I don't know. I got a three-week-old, you know, daughter. Baby's in baseball, baby. Let's go. Yeah, maybe McKenzie needs to come out here.

36:39Pat McAfee:There you go. Daughter McKenzie needs to come out here to experience this. Nice. I'll tell you what, I live in a Midwestern state. We host a lot of things. I'm not judging. Omaha's great. So are you, ladies and gentlemen. Call a rabbit. Call a rabbit. Call a rabbit. Let's go. I'm not starting an entire war. This is our first-sized thing. It's been here for 76 years. Plus, Blatt, we're going to bury the ball. We're burying the Rocko's ball. Okay, we're at Blatt now. Blatt, David Blatt is freaking amazing. Hey, we're not giving them a swing D-lineman either, though. We're not giving Blatt. No, no, no.

37:11No, that's West Virginia football only. That's it. You are hilarious. I'm staying by your side till you leave town. I'm telling you. I'll leave town.

37:18Pat McAfee:Joining us now is a man who I think will have a lot of questions about me potentially walking into that place I've never been before and write a$150 ,000 check like I was going to do last night. Founder of the Clutch Agency. Ladies and gentlemen, he was once selling jerseys out of the trunk of his car. Now he's one of the most influential people on earth. Rich Paul. Hey, Rich. What's up, fellas? Rich, do you know much about the College World Series or no? Yes, I do. I love the College World Series. Me too. I love watching it. It's absolutely electrifying. The West Virginia Mountaineers are a part of it this year.

37:50Pat McAfee:So you have a team to cheer for. Congratulations. Okay, let's go Mountaineers. Let's get in there. Hey, my guy, Mike Gansey, who is now the president of the Sixers. I played against him in high school. We went to West Virginia. And Bob Huggins is my guy. So I'm West Virginia. I have some West Virginia ties. Okay. I like Gansey gave you buckets, too. I know it's not your fault. Gansey got beat and put out the playoffs. Now, he was a lot better of a player than I was. My team was better than his. Who was your team? Who was your team? The Benedictine Bengals. We went on to win the state championship that year.

38:23What position were you? Point guard or you power forward? I was a guard, but I was really the best practice player you ever saw in your life, Pat. It's okay. It worked out.

38:33Pat McAfee:Yeah, yes, you certainly did. I think your knowledge of the game helps. I think you being a grinder obviously helps. I think the way you approach being a representative of these players as if you're an older brother slash dad of theirs is a good thing, and obviously you've had a lot of success. Congrats on that. Let's dive into what your world is right now. Obviously the NBA Finals are spectacular. You rep people all over the league. What's going on right now other than trying to put out fires about where LeBron James is going? Well, you know, the Finals, I've been back and forth. I was at Games 1 and 2.

39:02I'll be at Game 5. And obviously I have guys on the Knicks and Jordan Clarkson representing the Spurs. We have everything from coach in front office to players, De 'Aaron, Kelton, Lindy. So, you know, the finals is the finals. Like every year I'm at the finals in some capacity, even if I don't have someone playing, I like to be there. And so it's just this series has been insane, you know, up and down, roller coaster. This could easily be 3-1 the other way. It could be 2-2. Both teams are pretty exciting. But the Garden, as you can see, exploded the other day. And, you know, game five, we'll see what happens.

39:43I've been here before, so nothing surprises me in the playoffs. That's for sure. But it's been great. It's been really great.

39:50Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think the league is in a great place right now, Rich. Unbelievable. You did a podcast this year. Congratulations. Ruffled a lot of feathers. Thank you, boy, Rich. Ruffled a lot of feathers as one of the most influential people in the league who reps a lot of the players. Whenever you say things from a pundit standpoint, as opposed to insider standpoint, people are going to go crazy. How has the year been? How many fires do you think you kind of got into? And did you enjoy the ride while doing that? Yes. Look, I just shot the show just now, Max and I. You know whose feathers I didn't ruffle?

40:22Yours. Amen. One of the few people to call and say, Rich, this is the right thing for you to do. content is king obviously uh but you know look i think there's a world where you do things and they don't do it the way someone else would like you to do it or just because it hasn't been done yet doesn't mean isn't the right thing to do and so uh our show is about insight um you know giving perspective in in only ways that i can and so um i enjoy it i will continue to do so and i enjoy coming on your show as well, so thanks for having me again. But it's great, man. It's great, you know. I thought it would be a lot harder, to be honest with you, but then now Max and I have a rhythm, and so it is a lot of prep, but it's good, and it doesn't interfere with my work day.

41:07I'm in the office every day. I was the first one in the office yesterday. I even beat my assistant to the office, who said she was there. I saw evidence of her bag, but I didn't see her, so therefore I was the first one there. Okay, I like that

41:19Pat McAfee:you're still working hard for your clients. I like that you're able to be in a content game and put out any opinion or narrative that you need. And I am a big fan of you getting your voice out there. And the reason why you say it might be easier is because you get attention with everything you say because you're Rich Paul. Okay, so if you were Richard Paul in high school still selling those jerseys out of your trunk, I think nobody's going to listen to it. But now, because you have insight and power, I think everything's going to matter. Speaking of power, okay, what you two have built is special.

41:49Pat McAfee:I think every athlete is going to try to follow in the same footsteps of you guys. Obviously, you, Mav, LeBron, the entire team have built an empire over there. I forgot somebody. Randy. Randy. Shout out Randy. Shout out Randy. Shout out Randy. We love Randy. Obviously, he doesn't get enough. But now we're at a critical time, it feels like, for that entire business where the face of the NBA has a real option. And it feels like he's falling in love with retirement right in front of our eyes with this golf thing. It feels like that is real. Oh, God. Yes. How should we view the LeBron James situation right now?

42:22Pat McAfee:We all just assume he's going to play again because he's in such great shape. But it does look like he's loving life off the court. It feels like there's real questions right now for the first time on whether or not he's going to play. I'll finish this. A lot of people who are in the know say they think he's going back to the Lakers. This would be a crazy move for him to go somewhere else. Then there's people fantasizing. Maybe he goes back to Cleveland because that would be maybe the one final ride. Golden State, him and Steph Curry are in love. I've heard the Indiana Pacers. Sure. Because him and Tyrese Halliburton are good friends, obviously.

42:55Pat McAfee:Why wouldn't he want to go play with Wendy, maybe pass the baton actually to the next generation? Like all these things are kind of just going into the world right now. From your standpoint, what's a realistic conversation about LeBron James, the 41-year-old man who's entering year 55 potentially or retiring to a golf course? Here's what I'll say to you, Pat. believe nothing that's out there because I haven't had one conversation with him at the end of the season. I made it clear that I would respect he and the family because this is going to be a family decision for him. This is not look, you know, I went on to build a business that will do great long after LeBron retires.

43:33And so that's I'm not dependent of that at all. And Maverick has done the same thing you know he's done a tremendous amount for everyone he's ever uh encountered with ex-teammates coaches executives etc i don't think there's a player that has done more for not just the game but people in the game that has benefited throughout his 23 years and so whatever decision he decides to make that is his decision he doesn't need to make a decision for anybody but himself in this regard. And so, but there's been no conversation. I have not had one conversation with him. We played a couple rounds of golf. I don't mention it.

44:16When he comes to me and wants to sit down, I am more than prepared for every scenario that there could be. But when you think about numbers that's being thrown out, what we're asking about and all these things, that's all false. We haven't had one conversation with anybody about anything. and so I'll continue to give him his time and when he's ready to talk, we'll talk.

44:37Pat McAfee:That's crazy to say that none of those numbers are real because what was it like? He was going to play for$3 million or something at Cleveland? I thought that was something you would tell people, Rich. You'd be the one. None of those numbers are real. You know, here's what happened. Oh,$500 ,000. He played for$500 ,000. That's very nice of you, Rich. $50 million, too. Yeah, free. Here's what happens. People speculate and there's certain situations like if you're talking to a Bobby Martin, He knows what teams can pay, what they can't pay, et cetera. If you're talking to a Brian Wunhurst, who knows me forever, knows us forever, he's speaking from a place of understanding how these guys do their business, right?

45:17But there's nobody that can say to you they know what we're planning to do or what LeBron's planning to do because I don't even know what he's planning to do. I literally do not know. And I said to him, and I will repeat this, take your time. Take as much time as you need and want That's it And when you're ready to talk Whatever that conversation may be I'll be here

45:39Pat McAfee:It's just that simple Are you guys going to set fire to the rain still or no? What do you think? Are we in a deep end? Are we rolling still? Yeah, we might be Rumor has it Are we still doing that? Listen, me personally Again, I think he said it in this Time Magazine article Which congrats to him on that as well that is based upon, you know, where he's at mentally, you know, the approach. He goes into everything with so much detail. So he doesn't have like an hour day where he's preparing. You know, if he's going into a practice, he's probably working out twice before practice even starts. And so, you know, that's the thing that I know that for a fact, because if I had to meet with him before practice, I would have to meet him somewhere 5.30 or 6 in the morning before he starts off doing whatever he's going to do.

46:33And so there's a lot that comes with that, being away from home, et cetera. And, again, we can all see he still loves the game. He loves golf as well. Yeah, he loves golf. But, you know, like I said, I don't have anything. I wish I had something for you guys. I wish I had something for the basketball industry. But the only thing I have is the respect for him and his family to take the time, enjoy his time off, and whenever he decides that he wants to talk about things, all I can do is prepare. I'm prepared. I'm ready to go. All right, well, Rich. I can tell you this, Pat. I can tell you this. I tell you guys this.

47:10There are, there has been incoming calls from every team with the excitement of possibly him playing for them. And so at 41 years of age going on 42, I think that's something to be extremely proud about. And, you know, just it's one of those things where it's like, wow, even at 42, I'm still wanted. That's admirable.

47:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, certainly is. If you had to put a number on that, and obviously you rep him as well, so the higher the number would be better for your leverage, but everybody understands everything. Would you say five to ten teams have called him or like the teams that could potentially get him? Would you be able to put a number on that? Like the Pacers called, obviously. I would say without naming names, I would say, yeah, about 10 to 12. Five, 10 to 12. Okay, all right, we appreciate that number. And you know what would make everybody's life easier? What? If Adele put out another album. Certainly. That would help.

48:13Pat McAfee:That would help all of us. Yeah. That would help me. Absolutely. That would help me. Yeah, well, you know what? I think it would help a lot of people. She's pretty great at what she does, right? Yeah. Yeah, she is. Tell her we need something about... Nope, not going to say it. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. Rich Paul, thank you, buddy. Yeah, Rich. See you, dude. We need another Adela. Yeah, big time. Maybe that's what Braun's waiting on. Could be. Could be, actually, yeah. He's got four years of eligibility left in football. NIL. Oh, you weigh more than 300 grand. I'm not giving any money.

48:52Just a tad more. All you need is a local judge, coach. He can be on yours. I can tell you. It's the way we're going. Let's do it.

48:59Pat McAfee:It is crazy, right? I'm not going to put you on the spot to have to talk about that, because all you care about is getting what? Money. First downs, coach. First downs. I want to move it this much. Can we move it this much? What are your first downs? And wins. And money. And money. If you'd like to support a college football team, We have the right team for you. We have it. Are you buying shots at this place? Okay, with$1.50. Way to go. Sure. Very good. Very good. Donation. Or maybe we get a player. Maybe we get a player. Free technique. Let's see. If West Virginia wins this game, like excited, maybe we roll over there.

49:33You never know. I think so.

49:35Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, it's Friday, and we have a shorter show today because of the chaos that's happening here. Shout out to Blatt, by the way, for allowing us to set up in here. We didn't know what the setup was going to be. It all came together very late. We got people downstairs and outside. We appreciate you all so much. We'll see you over at the stadium there at the Charles Schwab field here at Omaha. But we like to round up kind of the weak sport that was good and it was bad. Let's start with the good, shall we? With five things that aren't ass. Rich Rodring, let's do five things that are not ass.

50:08Pat McAfee:Do something sweet. We'll raise our hands.

50:15You ever hear that song? I hope not to hear it again. Just wait. It's coming at the end of this.

50:21Pat McAfee:Come on. Not ass. Let's go out to Vegas. First game for the athletics out there. Chris Angel was chosen to throw out the opening pitch. Yes. Obviously, we've seen this man take somebody's upper body and mix it with somebody else's lower body in a park. He put Shaq up over a hotel. Chris Angel has done all things, including throw an absolute seed for the Las Vegas athlete. Hey! Way to go, Chris. Magic trick. Put that in the glove. Didn't even throw a ball. Chris Angel. It's Chris Angel. Shout out to him. Remember, he dropped down from the Las Vegas Allegiant Stadium in a football pack. Yeah, I'm surprised he's not wearing baseball pants.

51:00Pat McAfee:Let's go to Jacob Mizorowski of the Brewers. He shakes off manager Pat Murphy who wanted to pull him out. Nope. Nope. We're not doing that, pal. It was a seventh inning. What did he go on to do? Yeah, I'm going to finish this thing, Pat. Pat was the manager of the year, I do believe. great coach obviously Mizorowski good fan he said I don't think so let me close this out strikes out the guy that's not asked at all time not asked at all and that's kind of the next level of his maturation because every pitcher wants to keep going but most of the time the manager will be like hey tough shit pal you're coming out but when you throw 102 miles an hour you let it eat all right let's go to a more another baseball game that only happens once a year oh yeah ladies and gentlemen when the Republicans and the Democrats take each other on in baseball there's a chance some magic could happen.

51:43Pat McAfee:How about Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt diving play, breaks his nose, loses his hat. What a catch. The Republicans will go on to win 11-2. If he didn't make that catch, 11-3. So that was a big-time play for the Republicans out there. Yeah, I mean, well worth the strawberry all over his face and probably his elbows, and we didn't even get a view of what he did at the plate because I believe he was the MVP of the game. So you would normally just think, like, ages for both these teams and who would who would it bode well for i wonder what the overall record is from the modern history here it's a good question for ball and not ball just to see who would maybe that would help us understand politics a little bit yeah maybe let's go talk to uh we just talked to rich paul let's talk about a guy who's uh enjoying retirement lebron for birdie rich rodriguez he's Six foot nine.

52:37Pat McAfee:Obviously, his clubs are as long as a hockey stick. Uh-huh. On the other side of a sand trap. Could have to land it short. Don't go in the sand. Boy likes it. Tiger vision. Staring it down. Yes, he is. Track it. No way. And count it. Little guy on the green jumping for joy. Love everything about that. That's certainly not ass. Let's go to the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. Second horse to win two triple crown races since just. Oh, we're skipping that one. We don't have that. Okay. Let's go to women's soccer as this World Cup is obviously happening. The women's soccer team certainly selling out stadiums as well.

53:13Pat McAfee:Trini Rodman, absolute dog, right in the face, takes a shot. Yup, that's not ass at all. There was, I think, 11 cards in this game. Yeah, a ton of them. Okay, between USA and Brazil. Trini Rodman was not one of them. Yeah, she's pumped about it. But she was certainly in the middle of all of it. She's our superstar, and I love the fact that our women's team, bunch of dogs, and we're beating Brazil's ass. I like everything about that, Todd. Yeah, hard not to like that. And listen, you know, if you come mess with the bull, you're going to get the horns. You should know that. Con man, there's a chance that Trinity could, our women's team could beat some of these men's team in the World Cup.

53:47Pat McAfee:But we're certain for gold when this women's team takes the big stage. Yeah, exactly. And I love that they did that before USA takes the pitch tonight. Maybe the men kind of see this and they say, you know what, we are also going to go to war. All right, let's go to soccer. Anthony Robinson in a lead-up game against Germany and Chicago as we prepare for Paraguay tonight. An absolute ripper. Coach, look at this one. He might be able to kick a ball for you. Oh, hey. Firecracker. NIL money for a kicker. How about that? See that backflip. $25 ,000,$50 ,000. I think Anthony might be more. And then let's go to the game of all games from Madison Square Garden.

54:21Pat McAfee:Things that aren't ass. OG Ananobi put back. Ah, Indiana Hoosier legend. Insane. What a comeback. They were down 29, Rich Rodriguez. guess. 29, they come back and win.

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55:37Pat McAfee:Speaking of coming back and winning, doing something special, there's a man that has this West Virginia baseball team in the national conversation. He was hired in 2012. He passed on to Steve Sabins. Ladies and gentlemen, the godfather, Randy Macy. Yeah, Randy! Coach, we appreciate you, Coach. Thank you so much. Coach Macy. What's up, Coach? How we doing? coach. I should have known. I don't know what baseball is. Is baseball more this one? A lot of high fives. Randy, can you please tell me about the amount of pride as we have about four or five minutes here left. This is my dream to sit in this chair, by the way.

56:15Thank you. I'll tell you what.

56:18Pat McAfee:It's an honor to have you on. It's an honor to have you sing a song with my name in it. I heard that. Okay. Shout out Saban's amazing. I know, right? I tried to return the favor. I'm trying to think there ain't shit that rhymes with McAfee. Oh, yeah. I can't come up with anything. Just try Pat. Try Pat. Yeah, that one. There's a lot. How about from my old Britney Spears days? Pat's not that innocent. Okay, I like that. I'm not that innocent. Pat and hot. Pat. I mean, we can get going. McAfee. You're the godfather of this West Virginia baseball team. Legitimately would like to get into this because what you did for our university is special.

56:56Pat McAfee:Obviously, massive donation from Ken Kendricks, but what you were able to piece together big 12 baseball in morgantown is special and it's kind of all happening right now obviously you're not the coach of the team that's here guy that was assistant coach for you sabins is in charge like you tell me about how this has been for you from like day one to where we're at now proud papa feeling is that kind of how i can well you make me sound old at calling me the god well you are retired bro it's on you amen but yeah you know we celebrated the 14 year anniversary of my press conference last week during the regional.

57:27So in those 14 years, I had a vision. Oliver Luck hired me, and we had a vision for this day to come. People have been waiting for over 100 years for this day to come, and I always wanted to do it. I've been to Omaha a bunch of times with other teams, so I never wanted to do it for myself. I wanted to do it for the people you see around here, the university, the fans, Coach Sabans and his staff and the players, because I knew what it was like, and I knew I wanted them to experience it because they never have. So this is fun for me just to see the people just like you are. You've become a West Virginia baseball fan.

58:06Yeah, hell yeah.

58:06Pat McAfee:Hell yeah, I'm a big fan. That was the most fun I've had at baseball. That's the first time in my life I've stayed for an entire baseball game. Yeah, World Baseball Classic. Oh, no, World Baseball Classic, I was there. Country Roads, yeah. Yeah, we had a great time. The tradition, the pageantry, the environment, it's come out of nowhere for the baseball team. It's come out of nowhere, and, you know, if I can put an administrator hat on right now, stuff like this really helps enrollment, as you guys know. I mean, there's probably some junior in high school who lives in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, right now that watched what's going on and be like, hey, man, I'd love to go to school there.

58:40So this is so far outreaching what's happened here, and just congratulations to the players and coaches.

58:47Pat McAfee:Hell, yeah. We cannot wait to go watch the team play here at 2 o 'clock. Our show's wrapping here on ESPN in five. We'll see you on Monday. Have the greatest weekend of all time. Goodbye. Okay. We're still live. We're still live. We're still live. We are still live. Let's remember that. Still live. Still live. Why do you point to me? Still all everybody. He did everybody. Everybody. I know I make him nervous. No, but you talk about enrollment. You talk about enrollment. We experienced that whenever our first run. No doubt. Whenever he was here. And we had plaques around the building. That was like Thursday night football.

59:18Pat McAfee:We had the highest rated, three highest rated games ESPN had had before the NFL got in there. I think it was a Wednesday night game. Obviously, the amount of bowl games we win. We were everywhere. The West Virginia brand was everywhere. Enrollment went up. School went up. Sports has the capability of doing that. No doubt. And your baseball team is certainly fantastic. So, we've enjoyed watching the rise. And what Steve said is, can you tell me a little bit about him, why he's the perfect guy? He looks like he's a sawed-off baseball player. Yeah, he does. I mean, he is a stout fellow. He's a no-nonsense, work ethic kind of guy.

59:50And that's what, when I retired, I didn't want somebody coming in from the outside to coach the Mountaineers because you've got to kind of know the West Virginia way if you're going to have success here. And he was with me for nine years. And when I made the decision to retire, I knew the guy was in place that could do what's doing right now. So this has been a win-win for everybody. And I think he just got named National Coach of the Year. Is that accurate? Yeah. How about that? Unbelievable what's happening. And the favorite part for me is going to be I think Omaha has adopted the Mountaineers because of what's been happening.

1:00:25I think a lot of people, if we have a lead late in the game today, I think a lot of bipartisan people are going to stay just to sing with us. I think so. That would be cool. Country roads. That would be cool.

1:00:37Pat McAfee:So, in 2002, I believe you were the one that said, hey, we're singing country roads. I'm sick of it. And then. If we win. If we win. Obviously, if we win. It started. It's become now a full thing. And global. I mean, Country Roads is sung everywhere. But I think it's actually like West Virginia's song, too. I think West Virginia has, like, the right. They do. I think West Virginia University has the rights to Country Roads. And the fact that it's caught on so much is a beautiful thing. Now, you, as a godfather of that tradition, are you crying a little tear the other day as we were pretty boozed up watching that baseball team go to win singing Country Roads with, what, 5 ,000, 6 ,000 Mountaineers around us?

1:01:13Pat McAfee:That was an awesome moment. What was really neat is that, as Coach would tell you, they stay. A lot of them stay. Even though they know you're going to win, they'll stay to the end just to sing that song. It's amazing. And everybody's embracing each other. And it is amazing all over the world how people know that song. And now they're associated with our great university. And we're aligned right. We've got President Benson here, Ren Baker. Mr. President, appreciate you, Mr. President. We've got so much great support in all of our sports that it's fun to watch our baseball team that's got really good players but also has that West Virginia attitude.

1:01:44You know, that grit, hard-nosed, blue-collar kind of thing, the things that you had and your teammates had when you played at West Virginia. So I'm honored to be part of it. You know, Coach, we don't push people that far in baseball. If you do that in baseball, you get thrown out of the game. It's a whole different deal.

1:01:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, but I think your team would win that if we had to. I think we had some dogs in that dugout, I think. I mean, that's the kind of guys you recruit here, as you know, and you played here, and that's how we win, blue-collar work ethic, man. And that's how we roll. Tone has a question for you. Yeah, I do, Coach. The MLB, it feels like now it's basically all strikeouts and home runs. College World Series, for someone who doesn't pay attention to the college game as much as the MLB, is it more of a small ball or is it team-based? What is the winning formula for a College World Series? You know, we always had to play according to the players we had.

1:02:32We would steal a lot of bases because we had fast guys. Yeah. If you have powerful guys, you try and hit a lot of homers. So it's different. Recruiting is such a crapshoot sometimes. As we were building this thing, you kind of get the players you get. And then once you start winning, it kind of feeds off of itself. We were stealing a lot of bases. All of a sudden, all the fast kids in the country wanted to come to West Virginia. If we start hitting homers, now all the big, strong kids will want to come. So it's a little bit different depending on the team that you have.

1:03:02Pat McAfee:You're buying shots at this Rocco's place because Rich Rod wants me to spend no money in there. I embarrassed the shit out of myself yesterday. I don't know if you saw the tweet, but it's not a regular shot glass. No. You've got to be a damn engineer to figure it out. Push up from the bottom. Sucky, sucky. Yeah, I'm struggling with this thing, and I'm like, I'll do one just to say I did one. I got the whole show started. That's what we did. Everybody's kind of doing something. We'll come do it. Okay. We tried. I did my part, baby. I did my part. So did we. I've never chewed a shot before. That's different.

1:03:35It is. You have to chew. It's kind of chewy. That's a little different. I'll tell you what.

1:03:40Pat McAfee:Okay. Sustainable here? Very sustainable. Is this what we're thinking? Four years ago, I don't know how to say that, but now very sustainable. Just because of all the national attention, and like I say, kids all over the country now are going to look at what's happened the last two weeks and say, hey, I want to be a mountaineer. So very sustainable. Ty, go ahead, pal. Yeah, so you guys have been to three super regionals in a row and couldn't quite get over the hump. Did you know this was on the precipice or was it within the last year and a half or so that you were like, okay, we're right on the doorstep and we are going to knock it down?

1:04:17Yeah, you know, the evolution of a program, if you look back on what's happened, it's kind of gone the way it's supposed to go. You know, in 2017, we got an at-large bid to a regional for the first time in 100 years or whatever. And in 2019, we hosted for the first time in 100 years. but it's hard to win the first time you host a regional. It's hard to win a super regional the first time you play in it because you have no experience. But all of a sudden you're playing three of them and you end up winning one. It's hard to win in Omaha the first time you come because our kids aren't used to seeing this.

1:04:51So sustainability is going to be the key. I think we have a chance to win this thing. We've got a good enough team to win the whole thing. But experience in these championship environments goes a long way. So the evolution of the program on the front end, it's you're looking at. It's like, let's do it now. We got to do it now. But on the back end, looking back at it, it's gone about the way it's supposed to go.

1:05:14Pat McAfee:That's awesome. Well, we appreciate the hell out of your service to the university, to sport. And thanks for stopping by. We're going to try to make our way in there. Hey, I'm a man of the people, man. I love West Virginia. I love this state. My wife and I and my daughter are ingrained in this state. Couldn't be happier right now, brother. All right, we're going to go have, I guess, 10, 15 beers. No jello shots. No, I'm not doing that. It's a perfect day for it. I am very, just what I had in my mind. Bury the ball. There's no clouds out. West Virginia's about to fly. It's going to be awesome in there.

1:05:51And we had fun. Great times. Let's not get it twisted.

1:05:55Pat McAfee:Fun hanging out, walking around. Could do that literally in any city we found out last night. That's true. But not at all. We're in Omaha. We're in Omaha, baby. We are in Omaha. Come on. Look at that. It's beautiful. Let's go. Come on, Nears. Omanears. Omanears. Hate it. Hate everything. My better memory of you is when you came to the Super at West Virginia, and I came down to see you. I literally had to step over all the empty beer cans to get next to you. It really wasn't that many. For some reason, it looked that way. They're pounders. Oh, yeah. And I got recruits in tonight, so I can't. I'm gonna watch the game, but I can't.

1:06:33Of course. I can't do what you guys do. Sure, sure. Shut up. Yeah. Same level.

1:06:38Pat McAfee:Hey, little soft edge. I didn't know we had that. Come on, coach. Cruiser moment. I got a little pizzazz, is what you're saying? Yeah. Sounds like it. You do have a lot of pizzazz. I think that's a good thing. No, no. You're the man. No, no. No, you are, brother. No. Pat's not innocent, right? My new song. Yep. He's not innocent. Pat and bats too. Yeah. Yeah, we can go. McAfee, Flea, Bumblebee. I'm trying to think of more now. Oh, boy. C. Should leave. Yeah. It smells like P. Good idea. Good idea. All right, Randy, you're the man. Let's do this. Thank you all so much for watching this show. Thank you to Blatt, piecing this together.

1:07:19Pat McAfee:We're supposed to be off. Then we're able to get on. They give it to us. Shout out to the production crew. Shout out to Michael Foss, obviously. Hey, Foss. He's been driving for five hours this morning to get here. Obviously, there's storms around, so we appreciate that. Shout out to the president. You're the man. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Not in the United States. West Virginia University. Now, speaking of that, big fight on Sunday. Seemingly all coming together. Big fight. Looks great. Looks great. Angers crossed. T-storms in the area. Come on. We're being positive.

1:07:52It's fine. I'm just saying. What's all this negativity?

1:07:56Pat McAfee:It's not negative. It's most nature. Be your friends. Tell the friends something. The Stanley Cup Final on ABC is more than a quest for the cup. It's 134 years of putting it all on the line and the heaviest 35 pounds ever lifted. It's broken curses and broken hearts. But for those chasing it, it's everything. The only question is, who will take it? You just have to watch the Stanley Cup Final presented by GEICO on ABC and the ESPN app. Nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Coach, anything to say as we get out of here? Let's go, baby. Let's go. Let's win this thing. Boom.

1:08:37Thanks for having us. Well said, Coach.

1:08:39Pat McAfee:Coach, how about you? Anything to say to the team here? Hard edge. Going to win out. Hard edge. On Weneers, baby. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team! Goodbye!

1:08:58Thank you.