PMS 2.0 1573 - Pete Thamel, Mark Schlabach, USMNT Center Back Chris Richards, Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour, Wyndham Clark, Dana White, & AJ Hawk

20:49Pat McAfee:But also, he crossed the line, I think, that a lot of people are going to have a tough time letting him back up. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a guy who probably has a little bit more information on that. Plus, the July 10th pro day at Carroll High School. I keep saying combine. Basically, you know. They need that guy from Pittsburgh. Yeah, this guy. I can't remember his name. That's not good. You forget his name. You're a bad guy. You're a bad guy. Yeah. Nick, you're a bad guy, too. You don't remember his name in the back. That's from Pittsburgh. You, too, Foxy. You don't remember. Come on.

21:19Pat McAfee:I don't know who you're talking about. You're talking about Mark, bro. Who's Mark? Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is not the man who's going to know the official 40 starter for the NFL Combine, but a man who's going to know everything else around this Soarsby situation. Ladies and gentlemen, the authority for college sports, Pete Thamel. Yeah, Peter! Hello, Pete. Mark is the gentleman, DeYenzer, who starts the 40s in college. You got to be paused for a second there, sir. Just get back in there, get comfortable, fucking go ahead and get it. Now, Pete, let's talk about this Soresby workout July 10th.

21:51Pat McAfee:How many teams do we think will be represented there? What do we think this looks like? And how did we land on July 10th as the date for this workout? So, Pat, we'll start with the teams. I called a few teams today, and I'd expect all 32 to go. And every NFL team, because it's a quarterback, because there's some ambiguity around him, and because the supplemental draft is like a blind pick. So I think you'd be foolish if you didn't put everybody puts in a blind bid. So even if you have a quarterback, you may put in a fourth rounder for him. So everyone has skin in this. So I'd expect all 32 teams to be there.

22:30I talked to Ron Slavin from lift management, who's Sorsby's agent today. He said he's talked to 23 GMs already. He expects all 32 to be there. I talked to four or five teams. It's more of like, how many do we send? then are we going to send anyone to see Brendan Sorsby? Look, Pat, quarterbacks are the engine of a multi-billion dollar business, almost a trillion dollar business at this point. And look, how many NFL quarterbacks can win a Super Bowl who are starting on Sunday? And these teams have to determine, could this guy be one of those guys? And, you know, it's a huge franchise-altering decision if you're going to do this.

23:06So everyone is going to get every single last bit of recon they can on Brendan Sorsby.

23:11Pat McAfee:I appreciate the fact that teams are going to look into it. And also, I appreciate the fact that they're seemingly allowing him forgiveness for anything that had happened in the past and maybe allowing him an ability to rewrite his future or his football story as a whole. Have you heard from any teams that are maybe a tough pill to swallowing what's going on with him in college, if you will? If you will, Pete Thamel. If you will, Pat. Look, the NFL is a forgiving place. if you can play, right? We've seen it countless times, legal situations, et cetera. So there will certainly be a deep dive and a focus on what Brendan Soresby did.

23:52And look, these teams all have contracts through different security firms and stuff like that. They will get all the information. But I do think the focus is soon going to shift on what kind of player is he. Can he be a starting quarterback in the NFL? Can he be a franchise quarterback in the NFL? I have gotten no vibe that teams are like, well, we're not touching him. You know what I mean? I think all 32 are going to be there, and they're going to dig in to what they can do. The thought I got from calling some teams today, Pat, is it isn't just the teams that, you know, we know the four or five teams that need quarterbacks, right?

24:26But also what this Soresby situation does, if you have an aging quarterback, it gives you a chance to maybe, you know, use some draft capital on a guy if you don't normally pick in the top 10 to get a talent like this, right? Because I think if he stayed, there was a good chance he could have elevated himself into that top 10, top 15 conversation. So if you have an aging guy, can you redshirt him a little bit? Do the Jordan Love situation. Put him in your program. Get him up to speed. He does need to develop. I don't think there's any question about that. But the raw talent is real. So I just think this could go a lot different ways.

24:59I wouldn't niche his future to like, oh, these four teams need a quarterback. And we expect one of these four teams to. I think the conversation, people are going to have time to get a little bit creative with this. And look, the vibe around the league that I've gotten is that someone's likely going to use a two on him. And I would say this as we sit here in mid-June in this supplemental draft. Again, he's applied. He hasn't been accepted yet. They haven't set the date on it. But it's probably going to be about a month from today, maybe five weeks from today. And one thing in my history of just doing this for a long time and covering the draft is when there's a quarterback and people are like, oh, he's a second round pick in September.

25:39You know where he usually ends up going? He usually ends up going the first round. So just don't be surprised if this position gets overvalued if the background stuff clears because the talent is clearly the talent.

25:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, and the background stuff obviously pretty well known. But the human of Soresby, from our understanding, from everybody that has known him and met him, they love him. Like, that's why Texas Tech went to bat for him so much, because they enjoyed him as a human. I got a chance to meet his family at game day. They're a very humble, very kind group. And the way he plays ball is electrifying. And then you started talking about the Jordan Love situation. It was like, who was the older quarterback that was there? I believe it was Aaron Rodgers, Pat. Where's he at now? Where's he at now? He would be the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

26:23This is set to be his final season as an NFL quarterback from what he has said and what I've gleaned from our friend Adam Schefter and Brooke Pryor.

26:33Pat McAfee:So what you're saying is the Jordan Love situation could actually be the Jordan Love situation just in a team in the AFC that is kind of a similar situation. If that happens, I'll take Brennan under my wing. I'll make sure he stays on the straight and narrow. Got a drafting's hoodie on, sitting at a drafting's desk. They got their guy in Pittsburgh already. Will Hard. Yeah. We love Will Hard. What the heck? Drew Hard. All the boys. We love all the boys. See what sticks against the wall. Now, I will say the Rooney family certainly has a soft spot in their heart for the gambling gene. Yeah. Okay, I do believe that horse racing money, I believe, is really what started this entire thing.

27:11Pat McAfee:So I don't want to say that they would potentially enjoy the fact that they are maybe a part of a responsible gambling operation, which I think Sorsby is taking into the next level. I think that'll be something that he will always be attached to, which I think is good as this entire generation now is just growing up in the world where sports gambling is very accessible. I mean, that is just something that is different from nowadays versus what it was back in the day. But I think with the nowadays technology, and even though I guess it's because he was gambling so small, but the amount of bets he was making, I assume there was some alarm somewhere that were going off.

27:44Pat McAfee:But they can kind of save you from yourself. You save yourself from yourself as opposed to what it was in the past. but there certainly can become problematic gambling. And it's like Sorsby will always be able to kind of talk about his story. And the fact that he's seemingly, if they open up the supplemental draft, going to be able to change it all, I think is good news. I think it's good news. But I think everybody would have hated if he would have played at Texas Tech this year because of how it all went down. On that note, Connor has a final question for you, Pete. Yeah, Pete, when it comes to the other ADs banding together in the Big 12 and basically refusing to play Texas Tech, did that get any traction?

28:18Was that actually a realistic possibility, especially because, you know, sort of he was going back, then a week later he decides he's not going back? Was that something that other teams were considering and actually, you know, going to follow through with? Connor, I think that was discussed. I don't know if it was formally discussed. I think that was more like talk at the bar kind of stuff. You know what I mean? Like people were angry and they wanted to find a way to manifest that anger. And look, give Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark credit. They legally outmaneuvered Texas Tech and enforced their hand to get what they wanted, right?

28:50The ADs clearly and the coaches clearly didn't think Brendan Sorsby should play college football. The Big 12 president said that in the wake of their meeting on Monday. They didn't feel like someone who bet on his team's own games should play college football. And what the Big 12's legal filing in federal court in Dallas did late Sunday, early Monday, was it just created uncertainty around Sorsby and Texas Tech in his camp. And they decided ultimately that they couldn't push forward without the certainty that he'd be playing. And that aura of ambiguity that surrounded his future ultimately pushed him to the supplemental draft, which the deadline to apply for it was a week away from that filing.

29:33So that was the clear tenor shift, Connor, more than the threats to not play.

29:38Pat McAfee:The aura of ambiguity? Is that what you said? Aura of ambiguity. Ambiguity. Is that how you pronounce that word? Man, if I would have saw it right now. Because it's A-M-B-I-G-U-I-T-Y, right? I believe so. No ding right there. Mina Kimes.

29:59Pat McAfee:Ambiguity is how I, it's not, it's ambiguity. Ambiguity. What is it? Ambiguity. And what does he kind of have around him? Just an aura of, it's kind of an aura of an ambiguous nature. And if you had to describe what that meant, what would that exactly mean? There's really no way to know what's going to happen there. Could it happen? Sure. Could it happen? Maybe not. It's very ambiguous. We just don't know. So you think that was potentially the reason on why Sorsby was like, what do we do here? We got a deadline coming up? Is that what you kind of found himself in? Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I mean, Pete would like this, you know, an ode to Nathaniel Hawthorne.

30:34I was wondering, you know, would he have been maybe wearing a scarlet letter for the whole season regardless, you know, had he been able to play? I don't know. it's a fine ode to literature Ty I just really don't like the impression with the Yankee hat on sorry you guys are the Scottish Red Sox right now guys they actually were at Yankee Stadium last night too the Scots were they've learned their way down south and the Knicks fans jumped up too okay

31:01Pat McAfee:alright you're the man we appreciate you that's the authority Peter Tham I don't want that fight he did have an aura of ambiguity Wordsmith. Unbelievable. Of the highest order. Yes. So was he a writer? Yes, I believe so. Of the highest order. Peter Thamel was your writer? For who? Who was your writer? Penman Pete. I want to show you a movie like the Boston Herald, potentially. I think Pete has maybe won a Peabody Award. Peabody's a great movie. That dog takes his kid back in time. Have you ever seen that movie? I don't think I've heard. Pete has written for SI, the New York Times, ESPN. Jesus.

31:39Okay, I like that.

31:40Pat McAfee:We're just all getting our proper voices? Is that what we're doing? You talking about Mr. Peabody and Sherm? Ah, Peabody and Sherm, of course. That's a good movie. That's a good movie. That's very different than the Peabody, I think, that you're talking about. Yes, it is, but a great film nonetheless. Peabody's the award for writing? It's one of, I believe. Pulitzer. Pulitzer would be another one, yes. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's won both of those things. Guy who's been writing at ESPN for a long time, covering college sports, college football, and golf. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe he is the biggest writer at ESPN.

32:13Pat McAfee:A man that we found from... His Twitter's been deactivated since fucking 2023. I don't know if that's him or not. What's he do? He just writes on ESPN.com? Yeah. Let's have him on here. Who is he? Well, he's Go Dogs. What else? Seems to be pretty miserable and hilarious. Ladies and gentlemen, Mark Schlava. Yeah, Mark. What's going on? Boys, no ambiguity here. You're not an ambiguous guy at all. It feels like you tell us exactly how you feel. And I'll tell you, every time we talk to you, you're around a different group of rich folks. Hey, now you're in the Hamptons at Shinnecock. How's the vibes?

32:49Pat McAfee:And how do we feel going into this U.S. Open? Other than the traffic, I'd never pay$100 million to live here. It is absolutely glorious. You're going to get a lot of wind. The course is going to be the big story other than Scotty Shuffler trying to complete the career grand slam, but the USGA just had their press conference. Their course setup guys say they wanted to roll the greens about 11.5 or 12 on the step meter. They're going to have to go back to the 10s because of the wind on Thursday and Friday, 20 to 30 miles an hour. We saw what happened back in 2004 and 2018 when Phil Mickelson was swatting balls off the greens.

33:34He was so pissed off. guys this course can get away from the usga about as fast as the brendan soarsby situation got away from texas tech so they're going to be really really cautious about it hey that's that's

33:45Pat McAfee:why you're a peabody award winner right there you know that's a good time peabody's a dog peabody's a dog's thing by the way pat grady school of journalism go dog i did not know that i still don't know what you said there i still don't understand the situation but i assume you're a peabody award winner multiple times i i just assume that is something you do is it like an Emmys? Is a Peabody like an Emmys? It's an Emmys for journalism. It's a sports journalism. I've never been nominated for a Peabody. That is ridiculous. No, I don't believe in it, man. My alma mater. I'm a Grady Fellow, though.

34:18I will say that. Ooh-hoo-hoo! Which just means you're an old white guy.

34:22Pat McAfee:Okay, so you are an old white guy, Grady Fellow, or A, I guess you would add in there as an old white man who follows the game of golf. I couldn't even fathom the amount of smug you're supposed to have, but let's follow up with some of the words you said there. You talk about the stint meter. Can you explain that a little bit more? You said 12-11, they're dropping it down to 10, because Scottie said something about being able to work the greens a little bit, actually, and then I think he also said it looks like a Lynx course. It looks like a British-style Owls, but it's not playing like that. Is he talking about the greens, and is it because they're going to have to keep it soft so that the wind doesn't just kick everybody's ball off of the green?

34:55Yeah, I mean, the stint meter, it's just how fast they're rolling. I mean, most PGA Tour courses, 12, 13. I think the USGA guy said this is the first time since 1995 they're going to be rolling this slow in a U.S. Open. But, I mean, Scotty, you know, it's definitely a link style course. It's about as close as you're going to get to something you would see in Ireland or Scotland in the U.S. But the difference is there's elevated greens. There's a lot of false fronts. There's a lot of severe runoffs. There's very small landing areas on the greens. you know you go for the middle of the greens this week you can't get real aggressive coming off the fairways but um you know it's again it's one of the top five courses in america and it should be because it's in the hampton um but you know the putts here kind of like houses around here they're they're beautiful they're expensive and they're gone before you know it if you hit it too hard

35:52Pat McAfee:that's a grady fella right there that is an old white digging deep into his back pocket Okay, let's talk about the style of golf that you were referring to. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mark. Obviously, they talk about the – you get into the whiskers here, but the fairways, I believe they're the fourth widest in the last 20 years, maybe, or something like that. Who does that benefit? And are they so wide because they're so little rough before you get to the wispy stuff? They're wider than they were back in 18, but it's kind of deceiving because you've got some blind tee shots, But as you can see there, you've got the native area, too.

36:29The Fescue rough is about five inches, so it's penal to a real severe extent. Rory said, look, you should be able to hit these fairways. If you don't, you should be really penalized. The PGA, everybody came in saying we were going to shoot 20-under, which is why I said it was going to be a rip-and-grip course. The PGA of America heard that and made the greens diabolical. I mean, that's what you're going to get here, too. The holes are going to get harder the closer you get to the holes. So I think it's accuracy off the tee, you know, guys that can hit greens, guys around the greens, guys with soft hands that can be creative.

37:11Scotty Scheffler, who's my pick this week. Again, he's kind of like Kirby. Just keep picking him. Eventually you're going to be right. But, you know, those kind of guys. Matt Fitzpatrick, playing like one of the best iron players in the world again. He's a U.S. Open champion. Xander Schauffele has played in nine U.S. Opens. He's got nine top 25s, seven top 10s. His putting worries me a little bit. Tommy Fleetwood, golf Jesus, was the runner-up here back in 2018 behind Brooks. He doesn't have a win yet this year, but he's playing really good golf. Russell Henley, Pat, you know, really good chance to be low dog of the week.

37:49the UGA guy. He leads the tour in driving accuracy, number one in scrambling, picked up a win a couple weeks ago. And then P. Reid who's kind of been out there in golf purgatory, hadn't played since the PGA Championship because he's in timeout until August 25th I believe it is when he can come back. But he's another guy that has a really fantastic short game, has won twice in the Middle East earlier this year, has had some success in the U.S. Open. But look, if If Scotty dials in the irons just a little bit, I think he's the seventh guy to complete the career grand slam.

38:24Pat McAfee:All right, so it sounds like you will be on the same page as us as you rattled off the names. I think we're trusting the stars here, right? Is that what we're doing? I think we're trusting the stars here, especially because you know how hard the course is going to be. So we're putting this out. Okay, this is Foxy, Evan Fox, who runs a golf fantasy league and everything like that. He wanted to piece this together. Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, both to make top 20, minus 115. That's the best bet you're going to be able to get with Scotty and Rory whenever you're talking about straight up as opposed to each round scoring stuff.

38:54Pat McAfee:I think you like this, right? Because the good players are going to have to play great. I mean, that's basically what's going to have to happen this weekend in Shinnecock. Yeah. No, go ahead, Foxy. Oh, sorry. Yeah, 100%. And since 2020, Scotty, top 20 finishes is 20 of 24 in majors. Rory, 17 of 25. So they're They're going to do that pretty much every single time in these major events. But definitely, though. If you're 21 plus and you're responsible, you can certainly join us. But this is what we are riding with for the U.S. Open as a team ride. Go ahead, Mark. The only thing that worries me about Rory a little bit is the driver.

39:32He hasn't been as accurate with the driver. That's his big weapon. I don't think power is really going to be a big advantage here. You've got to hit the fairways. You've got to hit greens. But, you know, he's clearly one of the two best players in the world right now.

39:47Pat McAfee:So hopefully he'll figure that out. Foxy, I wish you good luck, sir. Good luck, Foxy. It's the first time Foxy's come out with like, hey, I know golf. Got a good one. It's the first time. It is a good one. Minus 115, good odds. You know what else is good odds? What's that? Then we'll see him again. Ladies and gentlemen, that's our golf expert. Go Dawgs. Hey, make sure you get yourself a frozen south side and go sit outside on terraces. How are you feeling about the Mountaineers tonight? Both all the moderns facing the eliminations games in Omaha. So I feel good about our team. I feel good about the Mountaineers answering.

40:16Pat McAfee:Now, I'll tell you this. UNC feels like a professional baseball team. Just like I was around that Owen Hall guy, and it was like this guy is clearly a professional, and then it turns out he was like the star of the team. So I like the way UNC has pieced together their squad, but I like the way the Mountaineers fight. You know, we're a – and Gavin Kelly, that felt like a big take the top off the lid there for him. He had been getting on base and obviously playing well, but he hadn't really had an explosion type thing. So yesterday against Troy, that's a big deal. He's the Yenzer from Central Catholic, now dominating for the Mountaineers.

40:44Pat McAfee:But I think the boys will answer. Win two in a row against UNC is obviously going to be tough, but we're in the Final Four. I love that. How about you guys, Georgia Bulldogs? You got some beasts on the mound. Yeah, got some beasts. I mean, they've relied on the home run all year. They need to get the rhino, Daniel Jackson, going a little bit. Trey Phelps picked it up last night. The pitching's been phenomenal, which is not a surprise, because their coach, Johnson, coached all schemes at LSU before he took the Georgia job. The only thing I know, Pat, is this Father's Day, as one of my buddies mentioned this morning, if Texas fans aren't sending happy Father's Day cards to Kirby Smart and Coach Johnson there, the baseball coach of Georgia, it's wrong.

41:22Pat McAfee:That's Mark Flauble, ladies and gentlemen. All right, we pivot from Mark to the World Cup. Ladies and gentlemen, one of our legends for the United States team, Chris Richards, joined us earlier today for a great convo. Hey, thank you for joining us. Obviously, we were very lucky to announce you as the U.S. soccer male player of the year. And I would like to let you know, since that moment until now, I have followed you very closely, everything that you do. And first of all, thank you for representing over there in England as Crystal Palace. Whenever we get a chance to see an American do great things over there, not only is it a great showcase of where we are as a country, but it's also good to see America, you know, doing it over there.

42:01Pat McAfee:Now let's talk about the American team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you guys did to Paraguay was beautiful. Did you know that was going to happen? Did we expect that? Because it felt like a completely different style of U.S. soccer on the field. As opposed to being defensive and scared, it felt like we were confident and attacking at all times. It felt like we had more talent on the field than ever before. Kind of your thoughts on the team that you have right now in the game against Paraguay that everybody is calling the greatest in the history of U.S. men's national team play.

42:32no i mean uh i wouldn't say that we expected necessarily that that kind of game but i think we wanted to go out there and show what we're a host nation and why this is a world cup we want to make a statement in so um no world cup you know tensions can be a bit higher performances can be different but we kind of set a baseline for ourselves and um you know hopefully we can we can follow that performance but i think everybody was happy with how it went obviously but we also feel like we have another gear that we can get that we can get into okay so you're

42:56Pat McAfee:not playing your your best soccer you guys don't think because this felt different did it not feel different than normal u.s soccer as somebody that just watches the u.s soccer team and used to play soccer so i understand yeah we're on 4-4-2 we got 3-5-3 maybe 4-3-3 and it's all that type of stuff conversation from whenever i was a child but it did feel like we were playing a completely different style of soccer is that punch that's bringing that in is that the style of player we now have why do you think the game looked the way it did for u.s from a casual fans perspective as opposed to what we are used to watching with the U.S.

43:28Pat McAfee:national team? I think we've got a team full of dogs. Everybody wants to go out there and win. Everybody wants to go out there and make a statement. And, you know, I think especially after how the game went in the fall, I think this is our chance to kind of have our get back. So me personally, you know, I wasn't involved in that game, but I just know that everybody who was on the field wanted to show that we're a host nation for a reason, that we're not here to just participate. We want to win games. I love how much talent we have. It feels like everybody can cook the other team. Like, we got guys that can cook people all over the field.

43:59Pat McAfee:Now, Reamer, I'm not going to say he can cook people, but he's got a good brain. There was a moment where he slipped, fell, hit you the ball, I think, and then you step up, and then you ping that thing back at him. I mean, it was – and he was still on his knees, I think. I think he was still on his knees. We happened to be at the game, shout out to Cameraman and FIFA for doing that. You ping this back. He was still on the ground. and the old dog hopped up, trap settled it, no problem, kept it moving. Can you tell me about working alongside Ream and what he means to your team as the captain? 30 what, 7 or something like that?

44:30Pat McAfee:I'm 39. We played kickabout yesterday. We did have a kickabout. Pulled my hamstring on my right side. Yeah, I'm 39. This guy's 37 and he was on the ground. That might have been a 70-mile-an-hour pass you hit to him while he was on the ground. He hops up and does that. Can you tell me about the Reamer and what maybe we should know about his leadership style for your team? Yeah, I mean, I think he's 38, if I'm not wrong. But he doesn't move like it. It's pretty impressive. He's like a coach on the field, but also off the field, we kind of call him the grandpa of the group because he's just a lot older than a lot of the guys.

45:03But he's a guy who has a lot of wisdom, obviously, but also on the field, he's a guy that you can look to for leadership. You can look to for making the right pass. You can look to for playing the smart pass. Maybe I fizzed into him a little bit faster than what I was expecting, but I knew that he still had a few legs in him. So I was glad he got up and received it.

45:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, perfect 83 for 83, especially whenever you're in the back. Obviously, one mistake is like a pick six late pass out to a corner going the other way. So unbelievable amount of pressure, incredible amount of talent and skill. Now, it's not just, you know, you mentioned the dogs and the skill that we have. It feels like Paunch is a little bit of a different creature than we've had at United States soccer, I think, for a long, long time. Here's what Berhalter had to say yesterday about one thing that really Ponchettino has tried to hammer home to your team. Yeah, I think one is that we're American, we don't take shit.

45:55And I think that's something that he really put in. And, you know, he's, even though he's Argentinian, he has that mindset of like, look, this is what we do, you know, and this is who we are, and this is what America's about.

46:04Dana White:So I think he just, you know, even from an outside perspective, he showed, you know, us Americans what we're about. And, you know, he really drills that into us. And I think that's something that, you know, has helped us this last cycle.

46:15Pat McAfee:Okay, can you tell me a little bit about that? Because Americans who watch soccer, you know, like football fans that are American football fans, don't want to disrespect you or your Crystal Palace lads or the soccer crowd that is watching us now. But football fans, whenever they see the flopping, it's what turns them off from basketball and it turns them off from soccer. We ain't doing that shit. It can't happen. Can't happen. Can't have that type of human doing anything. I think it does turn them off. So when the U.S. team, I think the last World Cup, did seemingly have a little bit of a flop fest happening on a regular basis, I think it did turn off some Americans.

46:45Pat McAfee:Then we're watching some of your guys' friendlies since Ponch comes on. We got some scruffs going up on his side. It does feel like we have a new attitude. Is that message something that has been like Ponch from day one? How does he kind of deliver it? And it feels like you guys have taken that home. And I want to let you know, we are thankful that your entire team is starting to represent for us like that because it makes us feel, even as dumb soccer fans, like, yeah, those are our dudes out there. So, like, thank you for doing all of it, Chris. No, of course. I mean, I think it's definitely something that when Posh came in, it's something that he mentioned.

47:19But I think also we've spoken about we want to be the team, like the American team, that people can relate to, that people can look at and see themselves in. So we go out there and, you know, we just do what we do best, which is be American. You know, that's all we know. So we go out there. If they want to scrap, it'll be a scrap. If they want a clean game, it'll be a clean game. But, you know, I think it's just something that we've taken on. We kind of like that bad boy kind of energy. But also, obviously, you can tell we're a team that has a lot of quality and that can play through teams as well.

47:46Pat McAfee:Tell me about Coach Ponch a little bit because Grela came on here and Grela started a lot of shit with Australia, which we'll certainly get into here in a little bit. And I know Grela as a child. Obviously, he does a lot for the sport of soccer with CBS Sports and Galazzo and everything like that. He loves the sport. But he said that, you know, the Ponchettino coaching mindset, and Ponch came on our show and said he did watch Miracle with Herb Brooks, is maybe a little bit of like, hey, I'm not trying to be friends with you guys. Like, I am your coach here. Can you describe Ponch's coaching style and how you guys have seemingly taken to it?

48:18Yeah, I mean, he's tough. He's intense. He demands a lot. But, you know, he demands a lot because he sees a lot. He wouldn't do it if he felt like we didn't have the quality for it. So he's definitely a guy who came in with a lot of, you know, a lot of, I guess, credit, but also he has a lot of aura to him. I mean, he's coached some big teams, he's coached some big names, and himself, he was also a big name. So he comes in with a very reputable kind of coaching status. So for us, you know, we're very grateful that he's here. We're happy that he's kind of instilled these policies in us, but ultimately it's up to us on the field to get it done.

48:52So, you know, he can do so much for us, but, you know, we've got to go out there and perform.

48:55Pat McAfee:We're not allowed to run any highlights. Okay, that's becoming a topic of discussion, especially with the timing of our show and when broadcast starts for the World Cup on Fox, which is his main. What is he showing you there? What is he showing the team there? And this feels new to soccer. The hydration breaks feel like you kind of got quarters now. I don't want to say that's what it's supposed to be. It's obviously for safety and health and all that. Also, let's get a commercial in or two. Yeah, a couple bucks. Let's get a little bit of this. And honestly, I, as casual soccer fan, don't mind it at all.

49:27Pat McAfee:And it feels like for you guys, maybe it saves the flopping, rolling around that was used as a break. You know, some of those rolling arounds was kind of used as like, hey, let's all breathe a little bit. So maybe the hydration break kind of gets rid of that. But what is he showing you here? And what are your thoughts on the hydration break, which seemingly is brand new to the sport? Yeah, I mean, it does kind of make it feel like it's four quarters now. um you know he's he's shown us just some ways that we could we could do better on uh you know in the build-up or or defending but no for me think i mean i i've lived in america almost my whole life so uh you know i know how hot it gets and uh for me i feel like it's a disadvantage for us because you know we're used to playing this kind of weather you know when you're playing european teams they're not used to playing in this kind of weather so you know sometimes it can be tough for them um but i mean ultimately i understand you know we're america we like commercial breaks we like things like that you know everything's everything's a business i get So I don't quite mind the hydration breaks.

50:21But, you know, I think sometimes when you have to flow the game, you just want to keep going.

50:25Pat McAfee:I like what you were saying. Yeah, we're the host nation, and we're being very hospitable to these people that might have a little bit of a problem with our air. Yeah, our air over here, a little thicker. Yeah, a little hotter than what they're used to. Because I think over – I mean, in England, they don't even have like – sorry, England. That's just one country. I don't want to take a shot at the country, and obviously you have to do your thing over there. But over there, I don't think there's a lot of air conditioning shit right now. No, no, no. Because, like, the weather – there's no air – I don't know.

50:51No AC. No AC. Yeah, people die when it's, like, 83 degrees there.

50:56Pat McAfee:Yeah. They have, like – yeah. And they're all traveling over for the games, which we are certainly welcoming. Yeah, love it. But if we get a heat wave through here, geez, we might see some of the most burnt skin that we have ever seen in the history of white people becoming tomato red. There's a chance that that's around the corner. Can I wait? Take it easy, dude. Okay, let's talk about the atmosphere and the environment. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Chris, I'm not sure if you guys know or have seen. I think it's like 28 million people in the U.S. watch the opening match against Paraguay, which is just an absolutely huge number.

51:27And then there's watch parties in literally every single city across the country, let alone all of the fans of other countries that have come in and taken over. It's been an awesome environment. Have you guys seen the support? And how much does that matter to, you know, a sport in the U.S. that isn't always the top sport? but right now it feels like everyone has world cup fever.

51:50Yeah. I mean, I'd say I'm chronically online, so I definitely saw a lot of the watch parties. It was cool to feel all the love, but I mean, even in the stadium, you know, I think I've never felt in a pro American crowd like I did the other night. And, you know, for me, it gave me goosebumps just walking out for the warmup. You know, it was, it was an amazing feeling. I'm glad that, you know, there's this buzz around the sport now in this country. I think it's overdue, but I'm glad it's come now. And, you know, for me, I want to be able to help inspire the next generation. And I know a lot of the guys on the team, that's our goal as well.

52:20So, if we can do it one game at a time and keep putting in performances that people are proud and happy to watch, then, you know, it'll be a successful summer.

52:29Pat McAfee:Yeah, I got to be in that SoFi Stadium after the first goal and the first one that was called back. So, I missed an own goal. Three quarters of it. That's fine. Yeah, but I saw all the other ones. Okay, got there, saw the other ones. saw Tom Cruise. Yeah, I know we do. Saw a luchador mask with America flag on it, cheering for America in Spanish. Love that. And I thought to myself, this is incredible. This is utopia here. This is everything that is awesome. And then you guys were just pummeling, just pummeling Paraguay. I mean, it was so cool to see. And it looked different. And then now Paraguay's coach has come out and said it was different.

53:07Pat McAfee:And we had no idea what to do. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Chris, Paraguay's manager base said, like, they had this Pentagon in the middle of the formation. And I don't know where the hell it came from, but we had no answer for it. What is this kind of paunch Pentagon? Is this something that's new? Did you guys master this during training? And how long did it take to kind of get to where you guys are? Because, like you said, you have a team of dogs. Was there a moment also in training where you looked around and realized, like, oh, we're getting this. And also, we got a real chance here? yeah i mean i think uh we looked around and no i think we really saw that you know we have a lot of guys playing at top teams playing in top competitions and so no i think uh one message that potsher really stressed to us is why not us so that's exactly the mindset we went into the game with and i think one thing he really gives us this fluidity you know able to do whatever we want on the field and um now maybe it felt like a pentagon but it was just guys moving you know everybody was finding finding the spot where they could uh so i think it made it really tough for them to kind of just man mark or to just stay in the same position because everybody was just moving so everybody's replaceable except for like you in the back in ream is that accurate you said it not me but yeah pretty much everybody everybody up front can move into any position that they want to so so did it take us a little bit to figure that out though like how we're going to play like that is that something that you like kind of have to learn about like in feel and kind of start to kind of get because i think the triangle offense right is chicago bulls and then But I think it takes a little bit to learn what you're supposed to do.

54:35Pat McAfee:Was there some growing pains, you think, for your team? And then do you guys think – was there like to Connor's point, like an aha moment where it was like, okay, now it feels like we do – and was it Paraguay? Was Paraguay the game where you're like, okay, it feels like we do kind of got this thing?

54:53Yeah, I think Paraguay was the game where we were really like, oh, this is smooth. This is how it should work. And I think it's just a matter of getting the right people on the pitch at the right time. You know, I think this was the first time in a long time that this 11 had been on the pitch, if not the first time. So, you know, I think we after that game, we really look at each other and say that everybody does their job right. You know, we're going to be a very tough team to play against. Hell yeah.

55:15Pat McAfee:Last question here for you, Chris. We can't thank you enough. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chris, obviously going in, you guys said, you know, hey, we don't want to be participants. We actually want to kind of make some waves in this thing. But after that first match, when it is that dominant and you have all these casual fans who the expectations have skyrocketed now, do you feel a little more pressure going into the next one or is it kind of just hey if we kind of repeat what we did against Paraguay like we're going to be just fine yeah I mean I think Australia is definitely a different opponent you know they're very good defensively and so we have to find a solution to that but ultimately you know we set a really high bar really high standard for ourselves and the world's finally being able to see that you know we've had those same standards for the last few years but it just felt like it just started to click so for us you know obviously we want to put in another good performance like we did the other night.

56:03And again, you know, if we can just keep setting the bar higher and higher and higher, you know, we're going to have a long summer.

56:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, we're nowhere near our best. Nope. Let's go. Nowhere near it. Nowhere near it. Wait until the next one. And then the next one. We're not worried about that right now. Let's win this one right now. No, I'm talking three feet, though. Oh, okay. Okay, sure. You know what I mean? I'm talking three feet. How old are you? How old are you? 26. Oh, yeah. J.O.B. Reamer. Two more. That's what I'm saying. He's got at least two more. Everybody else has four more. Three more. Everybody else has. In Pochettino, we need somebody to just donate a salary and say, nah, he ain't going. Come on. Hey, if this goes in, you'll give us an autographed World Cup jersey?

56:46Deal, deal.

56:50Get closer. Oh! Oh!

56:55Pat McAfee:Oh my. Yeah, hey. Hey, that was close. All right, good luck on Friday and the rest of the way. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. That's Chris Richards. Hey, Chris! Hey, baby, Chris Richards. He was incredible. Yeah. Genuinely phenomenal, and he said he's chronically online, so he sees all of us. I think he knows our show as well. Allegedly, he does watch it, so we appreciate him taking time. out of his life here in the middle of a World Cup. The biggest game and the biggest stage of his life coming up against Australia on Friday, 3 o 'clock Eastern in Seattle. And then the following Thursday night in Los Angeles against Turkey as the opening round, the Group D battle continues.

57:30Pat McAfee:The United States of America look like they can win the entire thing. Chris Richards is an absolute stud. There's been a lot made about the, hey, how much are we talking about the World Cup? And I think there's some shows that don't follow at all and don't get into it and everything like that. We've tried our best because we appreciate the hell out of what's going on. We know that the world is excited. We know that America is excited. We can't show anything. No, no, no, no. Just photos. Can't show anything. Cool photos. Good Ken Burns. We appreciate Ken Burns here doing a little documentary stuff.

57:59Pat McAfee:But we enjoy the hell out of it. We'll be back on the other side.

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58:33Dana White:Turn it up!

58:35Pat McAfee:Storm has zero sugar and 200 milligrams of caffeine, so you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.

58:49Pat McAfee:Storm are the greatest. We're so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about them for a living. And nobody could have guessed that college baseball and soccer would carry us through our day-to-day in the sports world, but they're certainly doing just that. West Virginia has made it to the Final Four in Omaha for the College World Series. Only problem is they're going to take on a team that did beat them just a couple days ago, but that is Omaha. That is baseball. They're going to have to beat them twice to get to the finals. Good luck to all the teams in Omaha that are still battling. Oklahoma and Georgia.

59:18Pat McAfee:Georgia, obviously, a knockout game as well. West Virginia backs against the wall. North Carolina and Oklahoma have the ability to kind of sit and have to lose two in a row before the finals happen to see who is the best in the country. Steve Saban's Mountaineers boys are A-OK. They bounce back after making mistakes because they're tough. They're from the hills of Morgantown, West Virginia, and they have absolutely lit a fire behind a fan base that I don't think was ready or knew that they were going to love baseball, but all of a sudden go, you know what? Yeah, we actually like the hell out of this.

59:50Pat McAfee:We like the way the boys play, and we like that West Virginia's on a big stage. Whenever they're facing elimination, these boys are tough. Steve Sabans? Coach Sabans. Every time they say it, it is tough. It is. It is very. You know, because it's very similar to. Yeah. You know, it sounds like there's multiple Nick Sabans. out there. Coach Saban's defense. But there is a chance that it's in the name, especially at West Virginia. Where's Coach Nick Saban from? I believe he's from West Virginia. Where's Coach Steve Saban's coaching? He's coaching at West Virginia. And that's the thing about it. Those country roads take them both home.

1:00:32Yeah, they do.

1:00:33Pat McAfee:And it's heavenly. Almost heaven. But it's actually turning into heaven quickly with this baseball team. So don't you worry about Coach Saban's bringing the boys back here against a UNC team that is packed and loaded and star-studded. Eric Church, obviously, is out there watching. How do you think the boys feel? Eric Church is just kind of hovering right over their left shoulder. They didn't deal with that the first game. Fresh out of what? A commencement speech that everybody says is one of the greatest of all time with a guitar. It's always been sitting there. Five strings of a guitar coming together for life.

1:01:01Just immediate

1:01:03Pat McAfee:sensation. He's sitting there with his sunglasses on, just staring at the boys chase rice probably up there too boom that's what i'm talking about and what the mvp finalists yep wonder if belichick makes the trip i think i saw coach malone yeah so the boys are ready the first time there might have been some lights there might have been some oh no you know some mistakes that they don't normally make but they live through it they callous through it they move on now they got unc again excited for that and then soccer world cup fever for sure the talks tables here at boston connor and at ty schmidt con man you're watching every minute of every soccer match that's taking place in the United States of America.

1:01:37Pat McAfee:I love that for you, but I also love that for soccer as a whole. Yeah, it's unbelievable. I mean, the beautiful game, truly, is something that feels like we're all ingratiated in. The other thing that has been talked about, we took the bet earlier in the tournament, and unfortunately it's not going to come home, but a goal in every game. There's only been one 0-0 a game. And that is kind of my... That's always been my biggest problem with soccer, is like, am I really going to sit here and watch an hour or 20 minutes of just nothing, just zeros? Hour 30 minutes. Yeah, yeah, but you know You know what I'm saying?

1:02:05With halftime, with the intros, like the game starts at 1 today, kicks off at 1-10. So, like, really, you got an hour and 20 minutes of what you're watching. But every single one of these, look at that. I mean, four goals total, five goals, three goals, and it's messy. So, you're going to watch that whether it's 1-0 or not. Four goals in the midnight game. Like, every single game has delivered huge moments. Like, we had the entire thing about those guys who scored multiple goals. Dude from New Zealand, I think, Timmy Just or something, and he's got arguably the goal of the tournament. Yeah, it was unbelievable, and that ended up being 2-2.

1:02:39On all fronts, this thing is coming home for us because we are all champions while we watch, and I'm just excited for it to get going. These are just the first games. When we really do get into the teeth of it, as Mr. Grela said the other day, when we're watching the United States take on Argentina in the quarterfinals.

1:02:57Pat McAfee:I wonder if Messi will bow out of that one. I don't know if his legs will still be available. I'm not talking about that. That is an American strategy that has been used in the past, and we are not necessarily proud of that, but that is certainly something that is in our history. Shout out, Tonya. Yeah, there is something. We don't like that. We do not like that that was part of our history. But we're not going to do that because we respect and appreciate Mr. Messi, especially for what he's done for the United States of America. He boosts the economy in every city that he goes to in the United States of America.

1:03:23Pat McAfee:We appreciate him, but I think we have showcased him. We appreciate him. Yeah. So maybe if it does turn into Argentina, USA, which I have no idea if that's possible, Messi says, I can't. I can't do this to my fellow countrymen. I'll tell you, if he's going to do what he did last night in every single game, Argentina's going to go back to play. He wouldn't even come close to doing that against the U.S. Yeah, Chris Richards in front of him. Try getting a shot off, bitch. Okay, I like that. You're right. I mean, what are we even talking about? Try it. Yesterday, Ty Schmidt said that Messi might not even get on the roster.

1:03:53Actually, if he tries that against the U.S., kick him out of the country forever.

1:03:56Pat McAfee:That's one half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys, AP 10. and let's remember that his opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of others that are on the mic. You guys rude for Argentina? No. No, we're not kicking him out of the country. Nuts. Dude, he would sell at Lucas Oil Stadium if he had a game right here. That's cool. Or just to kick him out. That doesn't bring us a World Cup. No, I agree. I don't think we have to kick him out of the country. So he would still be playing for Argentina. No, no, no. We deport him before the game. Oh, from our country as a whole. Or just put him in like a holding cell.

1:04:28That would work.

1:04:29Pat McAfee:put them in a shit box. I forgot we had the box because we're the host country. Yeah. We can kind of do whatever we want. We could hold himself for 48 hours. That's fine, too. Yeah, because they have to look into something. But he can do the whole thing in his house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, let him do it at his house. Sure. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. House arrest. House arrest. Yeah, that's fine. Bracelet and all. I don't think we're going to need that. Remember, we're good. We're very proud. We're very proud. But just in case. But Messi, you look at this picture right now. I don't know if you saw it or not.

1:04:53Pat McAfee:In real time, we cannot show you unless we do a thousand Getty images back to back to back to back, which we need them to potentially do. Would be awesome. It would be awesome if we saw an – Like a flip book? Let's get to the other – we'll get that for future times. But it would be awesome if we could show this to people that maybe didn't see it. Their numbers are gigantic, so we don't want to say it. But, like, maybe people just happen through, like, an airport right now because it's on ESPN, and ESPN is on every one of those TVs, which we're very thankful and lucky, and they did that long before we licensed our show to them.

1:05:23Pat McAfee:maybe somebody missed it and they just like could see it right now boom yeah and then another one and then a casual yeah right there and then people for oh my god messy's doing it it's like yeah but we can't do any of that okay that needs to be talked about i don't think that's being chatted about nearly enough that that uh that that is that's a huge part of it huge Huge. And the people that have the rights to it have sent us numerous. So many. Seasoned these. Before we got anywhere near it, it's been on our own video. Oh, yeah. On our video. That's not cookies and donuts. That's season assist.

1:06:00No.

1:06:01Pat McAfee:Cookies and donuts are pretty sick. Got donuts with Dad coming up first time. Super pumped up for that. Let's go, boys. Hell yeah. Your school does it in the morning. Mine does it in the afternoon. I don't like that. Morning would be nice. Oh, an afternoon dono? Okay. Sounds awful. Yeah. Hey, Dad. Let's go in there with some good vibes. But morning donuts is perceivingly a little bit more the rule. Joining us now is a man who's done a lot of donuts with dad. Doesn't eat them, though. He's actually in there batting them out of kids' hands. Which I respect. My daughter wanted ice cream at 7.30 a.m.

1:06:30Pat McAfee:I said, can't do it. That just cannot be how you start the day. That cannot be how you start the day. You've got to do that a little bit later. Donuts with dad with AJ turns into, let me tell you why you shouldn't have donuts with one dad. Ladies and gentlemen, a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawker. Yeah, Hawker. Boss, whether I eat it or not, you know, I think you guys would admit, I am never someone to tell other people what they should or shouldn't do. What about your kids, though? This is the next generation. Oh, yeah, my kids, though. They're young.

1:06:59The kids got to figure it out. You can't force them to eat healthy. I think they got to figure that out on their own. That's a journey. That's a journey for them.

1:07:06Pat McAfee:You're definitely giving nasty, disgusting. Donut. I order donuts. Do not eat that. I go to Tim Hortons on the way to tournaments, and they get donuts all the time. Eat two sprinkled donuts, go out there, and hopefully score some goals on the lacrosse field. Oh, I like that. A little bit of a sugar bump, and then, you know, afterwards probably pass out pretty good. That second half, late in the second half, there's a chance that thing starts bringing it down. That thing starts bringing it down with the modern science. We know that. Back in the day, I had a teammate. He was chugging Mountain Dew at halftime.

1:07:31Pat McAfee:Maybe he was ahead of the time, actually. Maybe he had it figured out. That was Augustine Dalla-Sala. That was the two-liter. He was chugging that thing. Now he makes pizzas and smokes. He was smoking then, too, so it's a pretty impressive fact. Okay, let's talk about the soccer, shall we, AJ? Are you just as impressed with the sport taking over the world as everybody else before we move into other topics of the day? Yeah, I was not expecting this whole World Cup fever. I wasn't expecting it to really catch the fever. And I tell you what, Messi, I started watching that game last night, and then all of a sudden Messi scores.

1:08:02What, a couple minutes into the game, it gets taken away for some garbage offside situation that I don't understand. I don't get it. They're using the technology to show it. Just let Messi have the goal. So he said, all right, I'm just going to go score three more for a total of four that they only give him credit for three. But, yes, this guy, yes, watching him walk around like you always talk about is just amazing. Then I saw one time he's all the way back, like, in front by his own goal, and he decides to challenge a dude for the ball. And how he, like, chopped his feet and went at the dude and just snaked it right out of bounds, it was crazy to see, like, whatever he wants to do, it seems like he can do.

1:08:35Pat McAfee:Never in a rush, never caught out of spot. Now, he did hack the hell out of a guy. He got the calf of a guy pretty good. And I didn't see that live. This was around, you know, McKenzie going to bedtime. I mean, there was a little bit that I missed. AJ was actually the one that texted into the group first and said, Messi just got screwed out of goal. It's like, AJ did not expect you to be the one that was kind of all in. But it's kind of done to all of us. I guess he hacked the hell out of somebody. Yeah, a lot of people saying it should have been a red card. Yeah, there was a lot of people saying that.

1:09:03Pat McAfee:And I would like to say to those people, get out of here. Wake up! Wake up! Get the hell out of here! Jeez, Louis and Messi. He deserves a little bit, please. He deserves a little bit. Does anyone else play like him? I'm sorry. Does anyone else walk around like he does and then just turn it on? So the amount of like, yeah, he's allowed to do that, that has had to happen, you know, by coaches. Because everybody, like if Ponchettino is his coach, I would have been excited to like see the first couple days if this wasn't already a made man, Leo Messi. You know, like if this was when he was in the middle of his run, wasn't known as the GOAT, but was just like, yeah, I'm going to walk.

1:09:41Pat McAfee:Listen, I know where this is all headed. I'm going to head there on my own pace. And then once I get it, I'm fresher than everybody all the time. And as soon as I get it, electricity is about to happen. It's so – because literally, I think I saw for a little bit, their goalie was running. So Argentina's entire team, including the goalie, running on the field. Leo walking by himself up at the top, just like kind of from one side to the other, kind of forcing a little bit, which is like, let me force you to pass the ball. But if it goes the other direction, who cares? It's unbelievable to watch how much control he has, too.

1:10:14Pat McAfee:It's just like never out of position, always seemingly around it, never sweating, seemingly never tired, and then it's just always making the right decision. Gumpy, this is the best of all – this is the greatest player of all time. Is that real or is that modern society talking about it? Yeah, without debate, people will argue for Cristiano Ronaldo. but like performances like that, like last night, you're never going to see this again, man. They called him, people were saying his World Cup career was over, and then he went to the last one and finally won it. And now that he's won it, this feels like the one where he's like, he's taken this in, he cried after his first goal.

1:10:51Like, he's really enjoying himself out there, and it's so awesome to see.

1:10:54Pat McAfee:He looked very cool leading the boys out. It was a topic of conversation. A photo was a topic of conversation. This is a pretty sick photo here. This has to feel. And then he goes and has four goals. At 38. Yeah, good for him, man. Congrats to soccer having a moment and their GOAT representing. Cristiano Ronaldo can answer today as Portugal kicks off their World Cup, his sixth World Cup. Now, to perform in six World Cups, you'd have to be in incredible shape. That's right. You'd be absolutely strapped. You know, AJ slapping donuts out of kids' hands. You know, he's going to get on the right path.

1:11:27Pat McAfee:You know, he is committed to fitness as well. There is a coach in the NHL that actually has a nickname, The Bot. People talk about him just being an absolute shredded warrior. And then you look at the team in which he coaches, you would say, well, are they taking on the personality of their coach? Yeah, they are. And what did it lead to? Oh, a Stanley Cup. The first one since, oh, this guy was the captain of the team 20-plus years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, leader of the Caniacs down in Raleigh, Stanley Cup champion two times, Rod Brindemar. Yeah, Rod! How are you, Rod?

1:12:07Thanks for having me, guys. I appreciate that intro. Pretty nice.

1:12:10Pat McAfee:Well, it was pretty real, too, and we saw you taking your shirt off and shit after a couple dubs. We appreciate the, yeah, oh, and a little more, yeah. Let them know. Let them know that it's still in there. I can respect that. Hockey guys' conditioning cardio is absolutely outrageous. This time with Stanley, Lordo, you decided to lift it overhead casual. First time you got it as coach, you took that thing, immediately said, just like the old days, flip that fucker, and then you in the air, boom, and then give it a big-time hug. What was it like as you grasped Lordo for the first time after achieving this goal, obviously, that you've been hunting since the last time you had it, coach, especially with this group of guys that I don't think anybody was expecting to go on and win this entire thing?

1:12:52well i was i was i can tell you that but it's uh it is you hear guys talk about this and it's hard to put into words but you know as a player you're showing that there when i won that thing 20 years ago it was super special something i dreamed about as a kid my whole life so i wanted it kind of for me uh the first time around but seeing it from a different view coaching these guys you just want it for them because you know it changes your life and uh that's what was so special about it and then when they kind of tapped me on the shoulder to grab the thing i just looking at all the players looking at me it was uh you could see how happy they were for me right here like that's what i'm looking at it's just uh it's hard to put into words to be honest there's just so much work that goes into this and that's why uh i'm just so happy for the group because they they deserved it if

1:13:40Pat McAfee:anyone deserved it these guys did a lot of games long playoffs into the stanley cup finals you guys were making quick work of a lot of teams. It seemed like it was a collision course between you and Colorado. How do you feel about your journey through the playoffs? Were you having some days off? We were wondering, is it going to be rust or is it going to be rest? How much were you managing that on a day-to-day with the boys, and how did you feel about the playoff run? Wow, it was great. I mean, listen, we were able to sweep a couple teams, and that's huge because playoffs is about this war of attrition, and we were able to stay healthy.

1:14:13I mean, we've done this a long time, had a real good group for a long time, but we've always hit a snag where guys are dropping. You know, like we would be getting to the conference finals and guys, oh, you can't get through that. Well, we're missing some key pieces. Like, that's just hard. And this time around, we missed one guy missed the game. Like, I can't even believe that when you think about how hard it is. And that's, you know, one of the big reasons why we were able to do what we did. and having all that time off just helped them. We had a week off between one series, then we had 12 days between another.

1:14:49That's never happened before. Credit to the guys. They took care of business. Why do we need to play extra games? I give the guys a lot of credit for that.

1:14:59Pat McAfee:Absolutely. I think rest is certainly something that can help everybody, especially in a grueling sport like hockey. Is it health, luck, or do you think it is the physical fitness of your team maybe continuing to develop and getting to a point where you can just dominate people and sweep people so late in the year? Well, it's a bit of both. You've got to have everything on your side to win this thing. You've got to have health. You've got to have some bounces. We've got some bounces, finally. You know, you can call it luck, but, you know, we always say you work for that. So we definitely, I think, combination of everything, but it was our time.

1:15:35And you talk about, you know, Warriors and this and that. Like, ours captain is an absolute beast. And, you know, I'm so happy for him that you guys that watched this got to see what I've seen for 14 years with this guy. An absolute warrior. And he was not going to be denied. And he just put the whole team on his back. And there he is right there. That's the kind of leader you want to have. I don't care what sport you're playing, this guy could do it.

1:16:03Pat McAfee:Stalsy. He did it for the Pens, too, in 2009. So we obviously appreciate the hell out of him for doing that. All the stats that were popping up about his old ass, and then him winning the Conn Smythe is spectacular for sports. Also, Raleigh and the Caniacs getting a chance to celebrate this with everything that you guys have built down there. Sports are special and bring incredible moments and tell incredible stories. Yours is going to be one of them. Gary Bettman, pop the stat in there. Oh, yeah. Drop the stat in there. Really did a good promo before the Lordo got passed over. But I appreciate you saying it was just our time.

1:16:32Pat McAfee:Like, maybe the Stanley Cup does choose whose time it is and when. What a time to be a Caniac. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Coach, I wanted to pivot to your physical fitness. Obviously, it's well talked about online and everything. What are some of your favorite foundational lifts, and how has that changed over the years? I've been watching you. I've been seeing clips of you doing these dumbbell side shoulder raises, and you kind of release the dumbbell at the top, and then catch it again, a little stability type stuff. What's that all about? How is your day-to-day physical fitness, and what are you doing?

1:17:01Well, I'm on the executive plan now. My workouts are not like that. I was training back then for a reason. I was trying to be badass. I had a job. Now I'm just trying to stay alive. I'm trying to hang with the boys. We do physical testing every year. We're pretty renowned for that. And if the old guy here can keep up and keep, you know, I'm not saying I'm the top of the food chain in testing, but if I can do it, there's no reason why these guys can't do it. And so that's been a big deal. and I just think it's a mental edge. I don't think it really – everybody's in shape. This is pro sports. Everybody works hard.

1:17:43But when you think that you're the top of the food chain in that department, it just gives you an edge. And I think that's kind of part of our group. And, like, you saw Jordan there. Like, that guy's 37 years old. You just had him talking about Messi being 38. Like, it's just a number. If you stick with it, and Jordan Stahl every day comes to work and just says, hey, I'm doing what the best I can, good things can happen. So I don't do anything special. To me, you get up in the morning, you start your day the right way, and that's get after it. That's kind of how I've been since probably 12 years old, and no reason to stop that.

1:18:24Because I know if you don't get up and do it, you're not doing it.

1:18:27Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, I need to adopt that. I'm getting closer. As I'm getting older, I'm finding myself getting more committed to not dying and trying to take care of myself. But there's still that laziness that pops in every once in a while. Because the snooze button is easier. To turn the alarm off, I've got to slide it. To hit the snooze, I've just got to touch it. And it's like, hey, you want nine more minutes right now? No, it's not an option. It's not an option. It probably doesn't know how it exists. It's right there. Do you have an iPhone? It's right above the thing. It says right there, it basically says to you, you're so comfortable right now.

1:19:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, right. You probably just got into your deep sleep. You need another nine. It's only nine minutes. It's right there. Can't do it. Can't do it. As soon as you do it, then you know what happens. You start. The next day, you do it again and again. So you just don't let it happen. That's kind of the mentality that I've had. And, you know, it's not slowing down farther time, but it's allowing you to enjoy the time you have a little better. I like the fact that you said it's just a mental edge. It's not an actual physical edge. Some guy was giving an interview. One of your members of your team got traded in there.

1:19:37Pat McAfee:He was in the middle of the season. He had played for somebody else. He was like, I thought I was in shape. It took me like two weeks to catch up to these guys. And I assume you were in practice skating around that. Hey, hey, I've been retired for 15 years. Let's go ahead and do this. It's a wonderful culture whenever you can get everybody working. Congrats to you being able to put that in. And congrats to the boys seemingly continuing. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Rod, speaking of the workouts, Can you tell us a little more about the cinder block? Because we saw this story about, you know, every day the guys coming in, either before or after the workout, raising the cinder block one time and just thinking about, you know, blue-collar jobs.

1:20:09Can you talk about that a little more? Can you talk about also how it was the same weight, basically, as the Stanley Cup, so they were practicing that as well? Yeah. Well, yeah, five years ago, my strength coach, I got the best strength coach in the league, Bill Bernstein, and our medical guy, Doug Bennett. they went into home depot and they were trying to figure out to do finish off your day you know with the lift and it they put it on a scale and it was it ended up being 35 pounds this cinder block and they just hit them that that was the same weight as the stanley cup so they sent me a picture of it and i'm like you got to bring that in bye there's bill burnison this guy that guy's the literally the the goat of strength coach so i you know we said we're gonna that's we're gonna I finish every day.

1:20:55We're a big detail team too. Like everything's details. Everything matters. And we prepare for everything. And so, you know, we didn't tell the guys. For five years, we had this thing sitting there. We finished every day. We lifted. They thought it was, you know, it is. It represents the blue collar worker, hard work. You know, remember somebody in your life that, you know, has put you here. That's what you're lifting it for. And I was kind of holding this back about it's also preparing you for the day that you raise the Stanley Cup. And so five years, we've had this thing sitting there. and I'm like, you know what, Billy?

1:21:24Billy comes to me and he says, you got to tell him the real reason. I was kind of going to wait until after we won, but we hadn't won. So I'm like, we got to throw the chips in the table here. And so I told the boys, you know, the real reason that we have this is because we prepare for everything. And so your day you're lifting that is because when your day comes, you'll know exactly what you're doing with it. And so that's kind of how that came about. And it got leaked out because, you know, you can't hide anything anymore these days. Especially when it's incredible.

1:21:53Pat McAfee:That's an incredible story. It's cool because now I can say that it actually worked, right? You wouldn't be talking about it if it didn't work. So, anyway, neat little story. Yeah, definitely a neat little story. And also the boys never find out that it's the same way as the Stanley Cup if it never works. So, you know, you had a pretty good feeling that it was going to work in the end. And I love the fact that from a player's perspective, becoming a coach, that's deep-level motivation storytelling that coaches have to have. Did you always know you were going to be a coach? Obviously captain of a team.

1:22:24Pat McAfee:Did you know you were going to – because that's deep coach shit, which you just did right there. That's like multiple layers of motivation and preparation and perspective. That's like a lot of coaching points there in one move. Is this something you always projected yourself to be? No, no. I didn't want to get into coaching. I had played 21 years in the National Hockey League. The grind wore me down, and I wanted to spend time with my family. You miss everything doing this job, right? You're on the weekends. You're missing the games. um you you get all that but uh so i wanted to do a management job and you know and then i did that for one year and and it was the best job i was i went to the practices with the guys helped them out and then coach my son right i just it was perfect i should have kept that job but but then you know then i became an assistant coach for like half the time i didn't have to travel that was great but the problem with that is you have no impact you know unless you're all in you're not all in so it kind of drug me back in and you know got into it and then you know it's the next best thing to playing so you talk about you know the body you obviously can't play forever but I mean you're behind there with the guys I'm not taking the blows but I I feel them for them so it's uh it's the next best thing being in the in the fight with these guys and um I'm really grateful to have the group I have I can tell you that yeah and they're grateful for you brother because I think they all obviously respect you, and now you're a Stanley Cup champion goffer in the NHL.

1:23:51Pat McAfee:Tone has a question for you about a big thing that took place this playoff run. Yeah, Coach, after game one, you kind of – I don't know if it's called out your top line, you know, Jarvie and Ajo and the boys, but you said, you know, they need to step up and play better. Is that something you can do just because you're in the fire with them all season long and you know they can handle that? Or how did they react to that? What was the behind all of that after game one? Well, to be honest, just keeping it real. That's nothing you guys weren't saying. It's pretty obvious. They're our best guys. Yeah, they're working hard and doing it, but if we want to win this thing, they've got to contribute.

1:24:31They're playing all the special times out there, and they love it. These guys, what's special is the good players want to be coached. They want to be pushed. They want to be told real stuff. not sugar coat stuff so that's just how we operate all every day on a daily basis which what makes our team special we don't have a 120 point guy we don't have you know i don't think we had a guy in the top 20 and points we didn't have an all-star we didn't have you go down the list there's nothing right like guess what we have is we got a team and hockey is the greatest team sport going because you rely on everyone and you know you know there's no knock on any other sport i'd say football is probably the next closest thing because the best players in football don't play the whole game They're playing half.

1:25:14Hockey, the best players are playing a third of the game. And so you need everybody if you want to win in hockey. And that's kind of the way we always do it. So we treat everyone the same. If you're dogging it, you're going to know about it. And everyone likes that because, you know, listen, that's just getting you better. And I think that's just how we roll here. And obviously it worked this year.

1:25:35Pat McAfee:It feels like the hockey culture is much more receptive to that. But it's also the goats seemingly are much more receptive to that. Everybody talks about Tom Brady. you know in Bill Belichick's relationship how Tom would get chewed out just like everybody else and that kind of set the tone for everybody if Tom's willing to take this and Tom wants to get coached you have to do it so when your best players are taking it I assume that helps out everywhere and you probably saw that as a player I would assume that was something you saw as a player you're right it is in the culture it's it's part of it but there are you know our top dogs I mean you talk about you know Jordan Stahl for me every day if a guy just comes in and he does it right and you know exactly what that means and it's hard to do that every day and i've never seen an athlete that i've been around do it right every day but when your leader does it right every day it's easy for a coach right i just every time we got like sebastian ajo shows up as a rookie we just sit him right beside you know jordan stall for the last whatever it is 10 years and the guy you just watch and they go okay well if he's doing it this way that's how i have to do it and so that's the kind of group that we have and the kind of culture that's been created but it all starts with you got to have those guys in place because if that leader's not doing that it's you got trouble you better out you better out score all those issues or whatever because it's not going to happen this is not the full size version okay i am not a eight foot tall person but i i have heard that inside the top of the full size one of these there is the fountain of youth they say they find they find the fountain of youth in the top of those things during the celebration So maybe Stalzy's got another five, ten years of leading the pack down there.

1:27:09Pat McAfee:Now, you talk about everybody contributing and everything like that and tough decisions having to be made and everybody buying in. You made a big one. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Coach, how difficult was the decision to go to Brandon Bussey after Freddie Anderson had been so good all year? And up until that point, you know, the Vegas, they looked like they had a lot of the momentum. And then once he gets inserted, the entire series kind of flipped on its head and you guys just dominated from there on out. How difficult was that, and why did you ultimately decide to go that way? Well, it's funny. I've been asked that a little bit, obviously, because that is probably the turning point of the whole thing.

1:27:46And, you know, Freddie played. Listen, during the year, he didn't play much, and he wasn't, like, great. Busty was our number one goalie. Like, I don't think he lost but six games. So it's like we started the playoffs, and we went with the guy that had the experience just because that's a big deal and it matters, and it did. Freddie played great. There was no reason to switch them. I was planning on kind of rotating them initially, and Freddie didn't give us a reason to. And then, you know, we made the move. It was mostly Freddie got nicked up. Freddie got a little bit hurt in whatever game that was.

1:28:21And so you're not going to put a guy in there that's not 100 % when you got this other guy that's been sitting here and, you know, ready to rock and roll. So it was an easy decision. You know, I'm not putting Freddie in there when he's not 100%. and then Buss just stole the rest of the way, made it easy.

1:28:36Pat McAfee:Good team win for the Hurricanes down there in Carolina. You're a great leader, brother. You should take that in sometime. And anytime you want to write a book about leadership, make sure you voice it over. Yeah. Okay, because I would like to hear it coming out of your mouth, which is how you are maybe the most deferent coach I've ever heard in my life in a – not an angry manner, but like a hard-edged manner. Stoic. Yeah, we appreciate you and how you operate and how your team operated all playoffs. Thank you so much, and good luck this offseason. Thanks for having me on, guys. Love your show.

1:29:10You're the best. Take care, guys. You guys watch our show in the hockey world? Oh, everybody watches your show. You know that. Come on.

1:29:18Pat McAfee:I don't know that, actually, because we say some dumb shit sometimes. Yeah, you say a lot of dumb shit. But, you know, you don't have a lot of hockey stuff, but you're good at what you do because you're real. To me, that's what it is. You say what you think, and most of the time you're right. Most of the time you're right. You're the best. I appreciate the hell out of you for watching. We are honored to hear that. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Stanley Cup champion two times, Rob Brendamore. Yeah, Rob. We do got to remember that. That is the thing. That is the thing. Yep. I tend to forget that.

1:29:52Pat McAfee:Yeah. And I think people get mad at us sometimes for some of the stuff, but it's like we are coming from a spot where it's like, come on, man. And we expecting that reaction? Like, we don't, come on. You know, like, there's no way. We are trying to get through this together through this entire thing. But it is crazy that people hear us. And that hockey, I mean, the ratings came out the best they've had. Highest ever, like 2.2 average. Yeah, so insane numbers for all of sports right now. And then the NBA playoffs, the most. 98. Yeah, which is, is that Bulls era? That's been, that's Michael Jordan era.

1:30:24Pat McAfee:That's peak, right, basketball. Yeah, 98 Bulls. Whenever they're talking about that. And Braves. So, and the Brazos, MAOB having a great run. But, yeah, they're talking about, like, golden era right now of sports. It's happening. We are in the middle of the golden era of sports. And I don't know what the ratings are for everything seemingly just bigger than ever. I don't know how this has kind of started to happen. But I do appreciate the fact that it might be accounting for digital streaming and people catching up and how this is working, maybe more modern technology and giving what people are actually watching.

1:30:55because on the internet, I mean, people do bought and buy views.

1:30:59Pat McAfee:I think it's pretty obvious whenever people do that, you can kind of see it happening in real time. But on the internet, there's like a scoreboard on how many things are watched. And linear television was always judged off this Nielsen rating with, if you have a cable box and then they project it out to how many people would be watching and say, well, who has that? Who is it? Nobody really ever knew. But then the internet was being judged off these numbers that are happening right in front of our eyes. And there's a set of rules on how it all happens. so now it feels like there is a combination of digital numbers who has to share what numbers with what when platforms have to do with linear television still being a real thing it feels like there is an evolution of reporting of the numbers uh as opposed to maybe i don't know because it feels like the numbers are all big for everything and it's like is that just a more accurate number for what it's been for like the last 10 years or is this actually right now a big time boom for sports so i think maybe big time boom for sports but also i think maybe a little bit more accurate accounting maybe of what's happening in around places or maybe a little bit easier to tell who's all watching where yeah i mean it's certainly a big time boom for sports but i also forget all the time like i have youtube tv and like that's not considered cable but i always like in my head when i turn it on it's like i'm watching cable you know but but it's not so it's like i don't know how yeah it's weird and i don't know how that's accounted for i just assume kind of everyone has YouTube TV at this point, but like you said, how many people are, we're watching, you know, the Stanley cup finals on like streaming it on ESPN or like on Hulu or on Disney.

1:32:28You know what I mean? There's just, you can watch it anywhere. So it is hard to kind of understand how they pull that all into one. If they're reported accurately, which is a big if, if people aren't fudging numbers, you would think it's a lot easier these days because of the technology. Like you would think YouTube TV knows exactly who's watching what at what times ESPN plus knows who's watching what at what time. And all these things, all these streaming services, like back in the day, you filling out a questionnaire, hey, do you watch this program? And then mailing it back in, I would assume things are a lot more accurate.

1:32:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I think there is a big sports boom, but I think also modern viewing experience is being accounted for, as opposed to maybe not being accounted for before. Whatever the case, sports is just holding up the entire torch for, hey, live things matter. We can still carry. And guess what, AJ? You know why those numbers are so big? Why is that? Because it unites people. There's people from all over watching, AJ. No bullshit. That's what it's all about, AJ. That's what sports are all about. It's happening in real time right in front of our faces, AJ. Yeah, it is. Quick question.

1:33:29Do you know or know of anybody that had one of those Nielsen boxes where they, you know, tracked what you watched? Has anyone ever heard of anybody that had one or knew anyone?

1:33:39Pat McAfee:I don't know. Tone was pointing to the back. I thought Nick did, maybe. I know that we were looking for the black box to steal pay-per-views. Sure. I know we were looking for that. Why? Yeah. And then I just watched a video of, what was his name, the commentator back in the day. He was with NWA. He was giving a speech to people before TNA. Sorry, not NWA, TNA. He was giving Mike Tenay. Tenay, yeah. Mike Tenay was giving a speech about how don't steal our pay-per-view. Sorry Okay This is from back in like 1998 or something He was looking directly at the camera He's like there's camera people There's producers There's hard worker people That just please don't steal our pay-per-view And I'm gonna be honest In real time I did not see that Because all we were trying to do Was just steal all that shit I get it It's still very clear that remember Stealing multiple WrestleManias Several years in a row Big parties too A lot of people coming to them Because one person had a black box Exactly Went to their house Boom Kenny's house right down the street In the basement They got it Shut up Mr.

1:34:41Fessick

1:34:41Pat McAfee:Yeah Exactly Exactly. Uncle Greg and Angela down there. We appreciate that down in the basement. Everybody kind of hustles in. We're all packed in there just watching Sable. Okay. This is an incredible time. Oh, my God. A lot more we're doing here. Yeah, we got two words for everybody. Yes, we do. We're having a time of our life. And then Mike Denae on the other side was dying. My kids can't eat because you're doing that. I was like, well, sorry. Yeah, sorry. We're actually in here because normally we can't either. So that's kind of a part of it. Was there anything else on those besides sports?

1:35:09Yeah, HBO and stuff like that too, yeah.

1:35:12Pat McAfee:Oh, I never did that. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who I would certainly try to steal an opportunity to watch him play. Former U.S. Open winner and a man who's not scared to stir the pot, especially whenever he's in Canada.

1:35:28Pat McAfee:Unbelievable. Just going up there. Good move. And then puts on a Jack Hughes jersey. He's tailing a bit. Just heeling a little bit. Walks in there. They boo him, obviously. And here goes Birdie. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who I would say is on fire as an American heading into the United States Open. He tees off Thursday at 1.36. Ladies and gentlemen, Wyndham Clark. Yeah, Wyndham! What's up, boys? Okay, tell me about the sweater, the decision to be made to do this, and the instant reaction, and then the understanding that I need to do something sweet here and not get a double or triple bogey on this particular hole for the good of my entire country.

1:36:08So it all started Wednesday. We're playing on that hole, and my manager is out there with me. I'm like, why don't we have a USA jersey? This would be perfect. So we tried to overnight a jersey and couldn't get it in. And so on Friday, I'm playing. So on my 12th hole, I look behind, and there's a guy with that jersey. So I finish out my putt. I beeline it to him and say, hey, can I buy that jersey off you and wear it on the rink? And he goes, hell yeah, man. I was like, all right, meet me after the round. So sure enough, he showed up, bought the jersey for$200, bucks, got his address, his name.

1:36:38I'm going to ship it back to him. We had it in the bag. We had a little tunnel before we get to 14. I put it on instant booze. They even got an FU Wyndham chant going. And my caddy goes, all right, you got to stuff it now. So we stuff it and we're like, hell yeah. And I put the Jersey back on. Well, we get up there and I have a five footer. So the most nervous I was, was on that five footer. Cause I'm like, if I miss this, it's going to be even worse.

1:37:02Pat McAfee:Oh yeah. Embarrassment for the entire country, window you know in canada would have slotted out as a big time dub back yeah to be clear yeah there would have been some questions asked i think certainly with freedom 250 around the corner you know with all the decision making that could be taking place there instead you get a birdie okay so let's talk about the confidence that you certainly have in your game if this is what you're willing to do in the middle of a pga tournament especially in the lead up to a major tell me about this weekend what we need to expect because we just talked to mark schwaubel who obviously is golf extraordinaire go dogs down there uh he said that the wind could obviously change this entire thing the stint meter what they're trying to do the greens might be softer because they're scared the winds will blow balls off the green what is your kind of read on the course and how should we be viewing you guys as you attempt to take this thing on well i just got off the course um and honestly it was like borderline benign just because the wind's not super bad today it's a little soft but i think they're prepping for you know 20 to 30 mile an hour winds tomorrow so i say that now and i'm in the afternoon who knows it could be absolutely miserable um but yeah i mean shinnecock's tough and the weather's supposed to be hardly any rain so if that's the case the usga can make it however they want it could be rock hard and firm and fast um so i i think the first two days is just kind of get yourself through it and battle the wind and then I think on the weekend, they'll let it go, and then you'll see Shinnecock really show his teeth.

1:38:30Pat McAfee:Okay, so if we make the cut this weekend, when everybody's watching Shinnecock and the U.S. Open and the U.S. PGA or whatever are going to try to let everybody know that we still got it. Yeah, we still got the opportunity to embarrass these golfers if we would like it. I think Brooks won a plus one in 2018 at Shinnecock. That was the winning score. Obviously, we very rarely see that. We all get reminded that the U.S. Open is trying to beat you guys when you're out there. And this is when we see the duffs. Oh, yeah. In the throws of the clubs. The potting. And a lot of potting. A lot of potting at U.S.

1:39:06Pat McAfee:Opens because you guys look like us for the first time. Now, granted, us on that course, 200. Yeah, minimal. Maybe 250. So I'm not saying, like, you guys get to our level, but it does. It is the most relatable tournament every single year, it feels like. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Wendell, we know the whole course is very difficult. We hear everyone talking about it. But can you point to one or two holes or an area of the course that us as fans watching can tune in to kind of see, you know, the people separate themselves for guys that have a chance and guys that probably aren't going to make that cut?

1:39:38Yeah, you know, this course you'll see guys miss greens and it almost sometimes could be intentional. Obviously, you want to hit every green. But if you get out of position, the guys that I think will really thrive is they miss in the correct spot, which is into the wind. You always want to have into the wind or putts or chips. And I think any guy that gets out of position, they're going to be downwind, and then they have to make the decision. Do they try to pull off a shot that could result in a double or triple, a couple slamming clubs, or do they just take their medicine, hit it far away from the hole, and try to get up and down?

1:40:15So that's one thing to look for. And then as far as holes to watch, there's two par threes that are just absolutely diabolical and epic out here, which is 7 and 11. And if a guy misses in the wrong spot, I mean, you could watch someone make a 7 on a par 3 like that. Really easy. Not you, not you. It could be a fun course to watch. Not you? No, no, no, no. Not me. I'd never do that. Oh, no.

1:40:40Pat McAfee:We don't want to be a part of it. Dump that. Dump that. Let's not have that out there anymore. Let's talk about the game and the scores that could come out of nowhere. That's why golf is so – You could have a great day and then one hole, par three. Yeah. Just completely everything for you. But that could also be a change in a gust for out of nowhere for a moment in time. Go ahead, Conv. Yeah, Wyndham, with the weather, how much does your game have to completely change depending on the time? Like if you're on the front nine and, you know, there's decent weather, 10-mile-an-hour winds or something, but then on the back it ramps up to 30-mile-an-hour winds.

1:41:15Like, do you have specific clubs that you have in your bag just in case that weather comes? Or, like, what is the strategy there just because we know, you know, weather is weather. No one knows what the hell is going on. So how do you kind of approach that? Yeah, so I typically play. I have a four-iron, and then I go five-wood, three-wood driver. Well, this week I'm putting in a two-iron. Yes. Especially for the first few days because we're going to have some dead into the wind. And if you hit it high, you never know what the wind is going to do to the golf ball. So you want to keep the ball really low.

1:41:50Fortunately, we play quite a bit of golf over in the U.K. in Lynx Golf, so you get used to the wind, you get used to hitting it low. So, yeah, that's one specific club. And then you've got to be able to hit your driver a little off the tee. You hit high shots. Let's say if you're normally hitting driver 300, it might go literally 270 or 260 into this kind of wind. So you've got to be able to fight the ball. And then the toughest thing, honestly, for us is downwind. Downwind, it's easier to hit straight, but it's way harder to hold the greens. So if you're coming in downwind, you've got to be really conservative and not get aggressive.

1:42:24Pat McAfee:Okay, so if it wasn't for the wind in my face, I wouldn't be able to fly, says the plane. Now, as a punter, I hated the wind in my face, but it made the ball turnover better, turnover easier. If I was able to get it to turnover, it would happen. Wind in my back, tail end, pushing it. couldn't really control it it would kind of uh get out of sorts is that what it is for you guys just it kind of just blows uh the control out of the ball basically yeah so into the wind if you miss hit it it it exaggerates your misses so yeah you can look stupid but you can hold the green so much easier so you can control where it's going then downwind you don't hit it offline as much because the wind just hits it and it goes straight but it's really hard to control your distance and And so that's, especially on greens like this in the U.S.

1:43:11Open when it's firm, you can land it on the front of the green and everyone goes, oh, that's a good shot, and it hits and then just goes over the back of the green. So that's the challenge.

1:43:20Pat McAfee:All right, so why don't you try not to do that? Put it in the hole. Yeah, just don't. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Why are we even doing more? Let's do less shots because it sounds like the shots are going to be harder. Simple game. Yeah, it's definitely not a simple game. Do less shots. Says who? It sounds like the problems are when you have to do shots, right? Yeah. Do less shots. So let's go for a whole more. Yeah, and also at bars. Okay, we could potentially do less shots. Okay, so it's just like the bar. You know, kind of do the same there, Wyndham, whenever you're living it. Now you talk about a lot of the weather and decision-making in the real moment.

1:43:58Pat McAfee:It's kind of becoming a discussion with top player in the world. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Wyndham, we saw a couple weeks ago, you know, Scotty and his caddy kind of had a mix-up with the win, and Scotty thought he hit the perfect club, perfect distance, ends up putting it in the water, and there was a, you know, a lot of people talked about it. When the conditions are like this, how important is your caddy going to be when you're kind of relying on him to have a lot of that stuff, you know, dialed, and you kind of just have to go out there and produce based on what he's telling you? so ty first off i gotta address the uh youtube tv and cable i am one of the very few souls that has cable still so not everyone has you old school there you go old school i never said i was gonna cut the cord old school i did um so yeah it's really important like my caddy will carry a compass and with the compass we'll you know let's say this week we're gonna have a predominantly southwest us win we'll find out exactly where it's coming from and let's i mean this is getting technical but it could be coming at like 220 i mean on the compass it'll have the degrees love that and every hole we'll point that where we're going and we know exactly where the wind's coming and then as i'm walking into the ball i'll still be talking to him and have him look to see if it's going to gust and so or if it stops so if he feels like it's stopping he'll he'll call me off and say hey back off wind change and so you'll have to wait and it's there is a lot of luck when it comes with wind i mean like what happened with scotty is he probably hit a great shot when you die down or or hit it and next you know you look stupid and it's it's not really the caddy's fault it's just wind doesn't always stay predominantly the same direction or the same pace every time yeah i hate it i hate it wind i hate it i hate it yeah me too yeah it's the absolute worst it's you know and in stadiums i don't know about for you guys uh stadiums you can normally try to find like where a jet stream will be but if it's like uh what's it called whenever they're uh the same on both sides something the same uh symmetrical yeah symmetrical when a stadium's symmetrical how the wind is at top it's the opposite on the bottom obviously but whenever there's an open in it then on one half of the field it's going you gotta like there's different winds on the field and then up in the sky there's different winds in football stadiums so when you're punting And you got to kind of like figure those out beforehand for golf.

1:46:20Is it, I don't know.

1:46:22Pat McAfee:I don't, how are you reading? Is there different wind gusts that, and are you trying to find where it is? Like, how do you kind of judge all of that shit? Yeah. So it's honestly the same thing in golf. Like if I look at a course that everyone would know at Augusta, like hole 12, the, because the trees cover the first hundred feet of the golf ball, it doesn't get hit by the wind and then it gets above it. And it could, the wind might be something different. A lot of times you know that the first half is not going to get hit by the wind, only the last half. The one good thing about Shinnecock is there's no trees on the golf course.

1:46:58It should be the same at all times. They have a huge American flag. I'm actually looking at it. Huge American flag right where the clubhouse is so you can see exactly the wind blowing at all times, which is quite nice.

1:47:09Pat McAfee:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, our God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Hey, good for us. Yeah. Good for us. Every day for a while. Hey, Wyndham, we went for a walk right there. We did not know if we knew. Golf tournaments need national anthems. That's what I just remembered. What's that? Golf tournaments need national anthems. And flyovers. Maybe just pledges of allegiance. And you know what? Wyndham, we'll do it up in Canada one weekend. Okay? We need it every other weekend everywhere else. Okay?

1:47:43Pat McAfee:Let's talk about the U.S. Open. and obviously third major of the year. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Wendham, obviously you've won this thing, so the highest of highs. And I don't want to say the lowest of lows, but obviously Oakmont is not what you wanted. Pat and I grew up in Plumboro, Pennsylvania, which 90 % of Oakmont is in. I caddied Oakmont. You destroyed our course, man. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But how excited are you to move past that because that was a story last year and just get Shinnecock, like do Shinnecock and then put that in your rearview mirror? Uh, the course destroyed me. So maybe it's just kidding.

1:48:19You know, yeah, I'm glad it's behind me. It was obviously a terrible moment for me, probably one of the low lights in my career. But you know, I've kind of turned the page. And now I'm on to this this season, I'm playing good golf. And I feel like, you know, maybe this is the last tournament where stuff will be brought up and I can kind of hopefully move forward. but yeah I mean every time I hear people chirp about the locker room I just it's a good reminder for me like hey I gotta realize where I'm at how fortunate I am don't let this game become too much and let it affect you know your temper and the things that you do on and off the golf course so definitely glad we're a year removed and I'm hoping I can kind of win back the hearts of the American fans that I had you know before that

1:49:07Pat McAfee:incident yeah I mean just the people in Plum I'm probably going to be the last one to jump on board, as you heard from Tone there. On that note, things like that can obviously change perspective and help and free you almost from everything. Because the worst thing that could happen is people say you're a terrible person, you're disrespecting the sport. Once you feel that, and it's on to like, let me get on the other side of this, let me right my wrongs. That could be a freeing feeling. Might be why you're playing such good golf right now. And we can't wait to watch you at Shinnecock, brother, legitimately.

1:49:33Pat McAfee:Nelly Corder told us that all golfers are psychopaths, too. So if you're going to freak out every once in a while, I think golf has done that to a lot of us. So don't you worry about a damn thing. We appreciate the hell out of the way you represent the United States of America and play golf. Good luck this weekend. And don't let this course beat the shit out of you because it sounds like that's going to potentially happen with the weather. It's going to be a Shinnecock jab and then Mother Nature going, yeah, boom-a-bang. And I think you're going to be able to dodge your weave in there. Good luck this weekend.

1:50:01Yeah. Thanks, boys. Appreciate it.

1:50:02Pat McAfee:You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. Wyndham Clark. Yeah, Wyndham. Tone. I mean, he messed up a locker. He didn't kill a kid. Like, it's not that big a deal. Tony used to loop in those locker rooms. It's basically like Wendham going into Tony's living room and taking a shit on his couch. Tony became a man. Basically slapped my mother in the face. Yeah. I don't think that's like – Miss Diane, if he did do that, I would certainly be okay with us reminding him forever, okay? Mrs. DiGiulio – It came up this week. I'm not the – I just – Way to go, Tony. You completely screwed us. Completely. Completely.

1:50:43He was having such a good time. But on that note. Thanks, man. Just reliving my worst day of my life. Okay. I guess actions don't have consequences around here.

1:50:52Pat McAfee:Nah, just there's no reason. There is. There was consequences. Everybody killed him. And now he's on a revenge tour for a good at golf. He's playing great golf. And then all of a sudden, 10's going to be like, just. You plan on sucking it up this year at Shinnecock like you did last year? Because where I fucking caddied, yeah, we have some thoughts about everything. You don't think the people that actually are at Oakmont had this conversation with him. Second week in a row, I've got to remind you guys, life's not all gumdrops and blowjobs.

1:51:21Pat McAfee:Thanks for being that perspective putter for us, Tone. You're certainly the one that we're looking forward to do that. Okay, as we wrap up today, I like Wyndham Clark. I like where his head's at. Yeah, he's got Wyndham in his name. That's got to help him a little bit. And Wyndham. I'm telling a big fan of two irons, I'm sorry. If anyone heard when we didn't sit out, put a two iron in play. I said, oh, yes. You can hear him. Yes. There's nothing I love more in golf than hitting a nice two iron stinger off the tee. I mean, we were talking the other day about Scotty. If his driver wasn't in control, get rid of that thing.

1:51:50Pat McAfee:Put a one iron in there. Yeah. Tiger did it. At Shinnecock. Just go ahead and start banging putters, maybe. You know, just get it out there. Get it in the fairway. If you're in the fairway, I think you're okay. If you're not in the fairway, it sounds like life is over. And we get reminded of that at U.S. Open every year. things that we did not talk about today. George Pickens says he's going to be playing basically on a franchise tag, and he's okay with everything. They're going to go off without a hitch. He gets a chance to chase another bag, and I think George fell in love with Dallas and the Dallas Cowboys last year.

1:52:17Pat McAfee:Certainly his favorite year in the NFL, his most productive year in the NFL. He said, yeah, they're going to be paying me a bunch of money. I'll do it, and then we'll figure it out after the year, basically. Now, this does not mean that a long-term deal doesn't get done, which could possibly happen, but I do think this is something that Jerry Jones will absolutely be appreciative of, A.J. Hawk, don't you think so? Oh, no question. I think they hope to keep him around a long time, but I think he, George Pickens, loves having Dak Prescott throw him the ball, and Dak obviously loves having him on the team there.

1:52:44They're going to, I think, do even better than they did last year.

1:52:46Pat McAfee:Shout out to GP, finding a home there, seemingly very happy about that. Today's FIFA World Cup games obviously will carry the show. Portugal and Congo 1-1. England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama, Uzbekistan taking on Colombia all throughout the day. Three-hour increments. We can't wait to catch up with it all. Remember, America plays on Friday. We're back tomorrow. On the other side of the break, we will have Dana White joining us digitally to chit-chat about Freedom 250 and also what's going on in Philadelphia. That should be great. We hope you will join us there. If not, you stay here on ESPN SportsCenter.

1:53:21Pat McAfee:We'll be taking it from here. Sports are the greatest. AJ, is that not accurate? That is absolutely true. And we are so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about it every single day. We couldn't do this without all of you. We love you. And we'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Feel like we nailed it. All right, let's take a break. On the other side, we got Dana White. Can't wait to catch up with him about Freedom 250 and his thoughts and all the other things happening around sports. Be your friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. See you in five.

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1:54:25Pat McAfee:And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC.

1:54:54Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to our Humble the Boat, the DraftKings Thunderdome. On this magical Sports Cup fever, June 17, 2026, Hour 3 of the program begins now. Sports are spectacular, and that's A.J. Hawk, ladies and gentlemen. Wow. College Football Hall of Fame nominee. Yeah. You got it. Woo! Got any updates on this? Have you done anything to solidify the fact you're going to get in there? I don't know anything. Yep. No, just hanging out. Has there been a Zoom call? Have you gotten a chance? There's not. There's not been a Zoom call. Who would be putting that together and why?

1:55:35Pat McAfee:I assume it would be all the heads of college football. They want to interview you and you've got to make your case. Is that how it works? I don't know. Have I been put on a referral list to talk to about maybe whether or not you should get in there? I don't know. If they ask me for referrals, I'll send them your number. Please do. And Bobby Carpenter and also the Talks at the Table. I have Boston comment. I have Ty Schmidt comment. man what would you say to the college football hall of fame people that say why does a.j. Hawk deserve to be in the college football hall of fame he deserves to be in the college football hall of fame because no one loves college football more than a.j.

1:56:05Hawk he lives breeze and dies with the Buckeyes when he is dead in the ground you know what they're going to say about a.j. Hawk he was a good Ohioan he was a damn good Buckeye really on his tombstone you know we

1:56:17Pat McAfee:can say that we know that for a fact because we're there with him when the Buckeyes are losing and I'll tell you shut up Gumpy shut up Shut up! It was halftime of Ohio State-Miami. I don't consent. I don't consent. Refused to be. Foxy. I was not pouting, but I don't want to have a camera stuck in my face at any behind-the-scenes moments, let alone when Ohio State's getting beat at halftime. He started sucking on those Buckeyes that he keeps in his pocket for good luck during the game. Remember that? Yeah, both of them. He was using his mind. He was using his tongue to slop them back and forth.

1:56:47Pat McAfee:Pass them. Bingo. One nut to the other. Popping them up in the air. Poof, poof, poof, poof. That's what he was trying to do. Doing a little spinner fidget. Yep. Spinner. That is a good reason for why he should go into the Hall of Fame. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP tone. You have an AP vote for NFL stuff, not for college stuff. But if you had to vote for the College Football Hall of Fame, why would you vote yes for A.J. Hawk? I mean, no one encapsulates the game like A.J. Hawk. So Dana's not connected yet? I assume we're just buying time for wait? Can you shut up? If Dana's connected right now, I am sorry, Dana.

1:57:20Don't be an asshole or we won't send you the really cool gift that was sent to this office, okay? Just let us. There was a very cool gift sent here,

1:57:27Pat McAfee:which could be a reason why you might get added to the College Football Hall of Fame, to be honest. I don't know if you know, somebody sent some wood to the Thunderdome, and it's for the Hawk Hives. I don't know if you have a name yet or not, but the Hawk Hives. We got a little deep brood box there? What do you got? A bee company sent that. They said they want you to look professional. You know what Hawk Hives sounds like? Huh. Buckeyes. What? And he is a damn good. He kind of does. Yeah, that's sweet. Buckeye running a damn good Hawkeye. You really are. In the Hawkeye house over here, they certainly cock-cawing in the morning.

1:58:02Pat McAfee:Okay, as we wait for Dana to join us, so thanks for being a hero, AJ. Sorry if you had to hear that, Dana. Sorry, man, we're wasting your time. This season wastes time. It's college football hall of fame, bro. Jackass. I'll call you after the show, and I'll tell you all the nice things I was about to say. Thank you. What were you going to say? Yeah, go ahead. Just that he encapsulates college football, bleeds scarlet and gray, was a leader of a program that, you know, kind of changed the sport. He was the face of the sport. Big face. Click-clack. Click-clack, yeah. On the all-time team in the college football NCAA 2K team for Ohio State, he's the middle linebacker.

1:58:43So if they're – do they know what they're doing? Let me think, yeah. You ever seen those like build a quarterback things where you use like Tom Brady's brain and someone's arm? Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, they did that for linebacker. A.J. Hawk everything. Really? Yeah. Especially heart. Miles and miles of heart.

1:59:00Pat McAfee:Okay, so I didn't see below the heart because to your point, I saw they said we'd like the hair. Bingo. Jaw. Boom. Cranium depth. Thickness. They said that for A.J. I'll take that one. You can give me that one. I'll take that one. Had that whole thing. And then the heart literally had A.J. popping out of it. I didn't see the rest. You said the rest was also just him? Except for somewhere like the groin section. Who did they use in the groin section? Whose dog did they pick? It's Antonio Holmes for some reason. Yeah, good choice, guys. I thought they used other fun guy legend Greg Holmes. It was a linebacker.

1:59:37It was a linebacker. It was a linebacker. Oh, joy. Everybody.

1:59:40Pat McAfee:That's why I'm so confused. All right. Tight. Good acting. Boom. Good acting. Yeah, that's what they put up there, actually. Hair as well. They put the hair up there, too. Of course, absolutely. And the swag. Always had good swag. For somebody that doesn't like all the nonsense, you know, did always have a little bit of swag on. Love this band. Had to do it. Had to do it. He's a good center of the elk, this guy. Oh, yeah. And we think he deserves to go into the College Football Hall of Fame. Way to go, A.J. There you go. Hawks. Do the right thing. That was A.J. Hawks of the College Football Hall of Fame segment that we had planned out for definitely weeks and weeks and weeks as we hit that from all different angles.

2:00:18Pat McAfee:We still await the president of the UFC, fresh off a Freedom 250 event that captivated an entire globe. Even a G7 summit. That was cool to see. Yeah. That was cool to see. Because I assume there's a lot of disagreeing going on in that room a lot. Especially with the world we're in right now with a lot of things happening all over the place. So for them all to be like, cool, right? Yeah. Yeah, pretty cool. Last two guys. You see that right hand from Sugar Land? Pretty good. Pretty good. I don't know where they're from. I wish they would have given us a little bit more info on who and how important this is.

2:00:58Pat McAfee:Because it could be the most important of all time. And they're like, that was awesome. Like, that was a good. And then, oh, wait, are we finding common ground in sports? Are we potentially changing world with sporting event happening in the front yard of the White House? Maybe. Maybe we're breaking the ice. Maybe we're finding common ground. Maybe we're doing spectacular things that are very, very expensive. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the UFC, a man that just put on a historic event in the White House lawn and also in the White House. Ladies and gentlemen, Freedom 250 brain and inspiration, Dana White.

2:01:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, Dana. How you doing, man? Good morning, boys. How are you? Hey, good morning to you as well. Thank you for joining us. We know you run a very busy life, so we appreciate you taking some time, especially fresh out of Freedom 250. Here we are. Expensive as shit, which I think is awesome that a publicly traded company has one part of its company, one of its biggest companies, president, coming out saying, lost our ass on this, okay? Absolutely lost our ass on this, but it was awesome. So shout out to you all, Corpo and business folks, being transparent about what you wanted it to be, what you wanted it to become.

2:02:07Pat McAfee:We saw your face, okay, as that was happening, standing next to the president on the front porch of the White House, and it was the biggest smile I've ever seen from a human. I think you understood. Yeah, look at that. Pause that. Pause that. Look at that. Look at that face. I mean, if they were to draw a caricature of somebody living their absolute best life next to the president at the White House watching an 11 fighter jet fly over as Zac Brown is singing the national anthem, 90 ,000 people are in a park across the street. You've got thousands of military members in the front yard. You got weather clear somehow, and everything that you thought it could be, it was.

2:02:47Pat McAfee:Was this the greatest moment outside of, obviously, family? Is this the greatest moment of your life? And in this moment, what is going through your mind that made you react this way?

2:02:54Dana White:Yeah, before this, the biggest thing in my career had been going through COVID. This is by far and away the – so there's so many things. So check this out. So we're – every year for the – I mean, for the last 20 years, we've gone on a Saturday. Saturday ends up being incredible, like the most perfect weather ever. And I'm like, Jesus, we should have went on Saturday. And at the weigh-ins, we have 60 ,000 people at the weigh-ins. It was just, it was, and the day before, the images from, you know, the Lincoln Memorial for the press conference. Look at this, right? There's lightning and a rainbow.

2:03:37Dana White:It's like, this shit was biblical. Like every day felt like biblical. People were thinking that that was AI, which it's not. That's real. Then, you know, we have every 15 minutes we're being updated by the weather on Sunday because it's absolutely positively going to rain from six to nine. So we had this reception that the president threw in the East Room of the White House, and everybody's in there and drinking and hanging. It's a great mood. Everybody's fired up for the event. And I'm getting up to the date weather. So what we're going to do is the rain's going to hit, and we got the team. They're going to go out there and clean everything up real quick, and we're going to get out there.

2:04:21Dana White:The flyover is canceled. The flyover is canceled because we can't go till 9, because it's going to be dark. They can't do it in the dark. The planes are too close together. So the planes are going to turn around and they're going to go back. And, you know, we're trying to figure out how to cut stuff out of the show. The storm, no bullshit. You can ask the media. The storm's coming. It breaks in half, goes around the White House in the ellipse and keeps going.

2:04:53Pat McAfee:Are you shitting me? Hold on, hold on, hold on. So outside in D.C. area, there was still a storm because we were watching along and we know that the weather was going to be a big part of the story. Too hot, too humid, too wet. And obviously the bugs that you learned about whenever you went out there was going to be a big deal. How's the wind going to affect everything? Obviously, that was the huge storyline, especially for people that were hoping that it didn't work out. They're like, this is going to be one big failure. The weather is going to come. That was the storyline. And now you're saying the weather still did come.

2:05:21Pat McAfee:It just kind of opened up for your event. That had to feel pretty fucking good.

2:05:24Dana White:Greg Borsari goes, you're not going to believe this. Oh, Moses. The storm came to the White House, broke apart, and went around the White House and the ellipse and kept going. Crazy. Yeah. Oh, you got it. You guys know what I'm talking about. That's the first time I've actually seen it on the radar. Yeah. So, you know, we had military meteorologists we were working with on this thing. so it breaks and craig says the storm just went around us what i said go get everybody out of the out of the white house get them in their seats and let's go ding ding ding so then we get up there just in time we had two minutes in two minutes the planes were going to turn around and go back to the uh airport wow so when you think about me up there smiling with everything i mean knowing what we just pulled off and that these planes are actually flying over you know the white house in the ellipse we were literally that close to it not happening and then just from then on out everything just came together and worked out perfectly now the weather the night before was a lot muggier it wasn't muggy that night and there was just enough of a breeze to cool you off and to keep the bugs away okay so it ended up being absolutely perfect yeah literally a perfect night

2:06:44Pat McAfee:a perfect environment for what the setting was and you staring at that flyover uh in the moment knowing that you were two minutes away from having to cancel that and having everybody set this whole entire thing up thinking to yourself holy shit we pulled it off we absolutely pulled it off little did you know at that point though it'd become the only card i think that you've ever had where every single fight ends in a knockout uh little did you know that the live band i assume you did know from rehearsal and the live singing would be spectacular little did you know that the shot of the fighters after winning going across the street to the stage to the ellipse park look like coachella for those guys coming out there and little did you know that even your biggest detractors will come out and say that was a pretty cool event that was a spectacle that was spectacular and i think it was both parties were like that was a pretty dope thing that that kind of took place i think you you heard that a lot more afterwards than before i assume that and you didn't even know that at the moment in which you got lucky as fuck with the flyover in that mode so good for you man you know You know, my guy, Gary Brecka, he was over here yesterday telling me to get my shit together.

2:07:49Dana White:I'm out of control and I got to get my eating and my everything back under control. I got yelled at yesterday, but he was telling me that when everybody was pouring out into the streets in D.C. after the event was over, he said it was this crazy vibe and feeling like people were hugging each other. And there was just this huge. I don't know. He said it's very hard to explain, but everybody who was there live at the event says, I mean, even, I don't know if you saw Volkanovsky's explanation. He's like, I'm not even an American. And there was just this feeling and this energy at this thing that was, you know, hard to explain.

2:08:30Dana White:And people, it was incredible. It's the most incredible thing I've ever been a part of.

2:08:35Pat McAfee:Well, congratulations to you, man. A lot of work. A lot of money. You were supposed to be there, too. You were supposed to be there. Hey, fucking A. If I would have went there, it would have rained, brother. I know that. So don't you worry about any of that. We are very lucky that we got a chance to chat with Ilya and Justin. That was spectacular. Sugar Sean was on yesterday. He's given himself the title. So once again, Sugar Sean is just like after his first loss where he said, well, that doesn't count. I'm still undefeated. He was forcing you and UFC to say he was undefeated. He's doing the same with the title now, so I don't know if you know that.

2:09:07Pat McAfee:But we love what your business has done, what you've continued to do, the opportunities that you create. And you are just always yourself. You know, you are never, what's that, unabashedly, I believe is the word, yourself and your company is like that. It's obviously very refreshing. You find yourself in a lot of shit. I think you understand that. But I think you're built for it. And no other person would have done this. no publicly traded company no company that has access to the funds that it costs to do this would do this so like shout to you for pulling it off and seemingly bringing everybody together around incredible fighting you know like that is a uh that's a really cool thing that you did dana you should you should take it in sometime maybe don't be continue to be a fat ass drunk you know gary breck is saying but you should take it in a little bit that you pulled off something spectacular in our nation's history thank you i appreciate it yeah it's good we're

2:10:00Dana White:We're going to have a great summer, man. Now's International Fight Week with McGregor and Max, and then we just keep running. Then, you know, we're coming to Philly. We got Islam Makachev and Ian Gary, and, you know, we got a great summer slated. So I'm looking forward to it. And, you know, one of the things that blows me away about this event and our fan base, our fan base is just so awesome, man. These people bought tickets, you know, plane tickets, hotel rooms and everything to go down, knowing they couldn't get into the event to stand in the lawn of the ellipse and watch it on, on big screens.

2:10:36And, and, you know,

2:10:37Dana White:even the ellipse was a huge success. And it was a lot of fun being there. When I went over there the day of the weigh-ins, everybody was just so fired up and you know, people came to celebrate America's 250th birthday and you could feel it. You could really feel it there. It was just, it was really something special.

2:10:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, and not to celebrate America's birthday. Obviously, yes, we're doing that. But your sport, man, you got a passionate group. That was like a festival. You guys had a festival for America's 250th birthday that had your sport in the middle of it, your league in the middle of it. Congratulations on that. It's hard to build something that impactful, that influential, and also that awesome for America to experience. We're all tuned in. It was late as shit, I must say. It was late as shit. And, you know, some of us have fucking day jobs. I understand. It was late out there.

2:11:28Dana White:Well, we would have gone earlier, but we thought we were going to get murdered with a rainstorm. Good call. The thing I wanted to point out, I forgot when you said it. The President's Own Band is the name of that band. They were so incredible that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would come on, and people thought it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Drake. One of the fighters walked out to Drake, and it was the band. It wasn't them. So we had an executive meeting yesterday, we're talking about putting together all of their music that they played at the at the white house and zach brown's rendition of of star spangled banner and putting it together and like uh you know an album format for freedom 250 yeah definitely i mean live from freedom 250 i

2:12:14Pat McAfee:assume you guys have all of that recorded into their own yes definitely need to well and leading

2:12:20Dana White:up to it when you were saying that you know you probably didn't know how good craig borsari was telling me, wait till you hear this band, wait till you hear this band. And the day that they're out there rehearsing, the first day I went out and listened to them sing Thunderstruck. And it was incredible. I mean, the band is so off the charts. I had to, the president leans over to me. I didn't tell him this yet. He's at the G7 summit. So he was calling me after the event, but I haven't talked to him since he landed in France. But I'll tell you this, the president leaned over to me and said, I'm going to give the band a fight bonus.

2:12:55Dana White:I'm going to give them a bonus tonight. And Mr. President, I'm going to match your bonus that you're going to give the band. Okay.

2:13:04Pat McAfee:I like that. I like people getting rewarded whenever they don't know that it's coming, you know, and just kicking ass without it. And then on the other side of it saying, hey, you did an incredible job. We appreciate the environment and the vibe that you set for the entire night. They were awesome. The live music intro was a great idea. I think it did feel classy. Yep. But also, if they were ass, like, that would have been terrible. They sounded. Superstar came on for Sugar Sean. It sounded, to your point, it sounded perfect through it all. It was spectacular. Good for you matching that bonus to the band into singing.

2:13:38Pat McAfee:Pipes. Yeah, top. Fantastic. Incredible. I mean, really good. Pipes. A wide range of songs had to be sung there. So, good for them. Good for America. And shout to the heroes that came alongside the fighters. It felt like every attention to detail was actually meant. So congratulations to you for that. Now, you said a couple things there. Islam and Ian Gary, UFC 330 in Philadelphia. That feels like a big – is that announced? Is that known or no? Is that something that we just learned? I don't know if I –

2:14:05Dana White:Yeah, we're coming back. This is the first time we're back in Philly since like 2019, I think. So I love – you know I'm a Celtics fan, right? Yeah. So everybody talks about the rivalries with New York and L.A. I love going to Celtics games in Philly. The Philly fans are awesome, man. Every time I go in there and I got my Celtics shit on, the Philly fans are like, you got some balls winning that in here. UFC sucks. That'd be the entire game. And the greatest thing that can happen for me is that the Celtics win in Philly. And then when I walk out, it's the greatest thing ever. I love Philly. I love Philly cheesesteaks.

2:14:45Dana White:steaks. You heard me, Gary Brecka. And I can't wait to get back there. The fans are the best.

2:14:52Pat McAfee:That's August 15th, Philadelphia, an incredible sports city. Incredible shit talking city as well, obviously. Very, very good. Very good. The best. Yeah, I assume the fight crowd is going to be... Oh, yeah. Oh, the amount of Johns and fucking... Oh, yeah, it's going to be electrifying. Great fight for a title. I think also on that Cardinal co-main event, Strawweight, UFC Women's Strawweight Championship, McKenzie Dern and Jillian Robertson. Jillian Robertson. As well. Yep, that's a fun one. Hey, Philly's coming alive. Can't wait for that. AJ has a question for you, Uncle Dana. Yeah, Dana, going back to UFC 250, the incredible stage you built, the claw, as you called it, and we heard you talk about where it's made and shipped and railroaded in, all this stuff trucked in.

2:15:34I guess, can you repurpose that? What happens to it now? Like, is it going to be a monument somewhere? Are you going to put it out there at Apex? Like, what happens?

2:15:41Dana White:We don't own it. It goes back to Belgium. But we actually, Philly, we flew it into Philly and we didn't fly it into Philly. We boated it over to Philly, however the hell that worked out. We built it in Philadelphia, tested it, then put it on tractor-trailer trucks and shipped it to D.C. But, no, that goes back to Belgium. So are they going to use it for something? I have no clue. So the U2 did use something like this structure, and Craig found out that U2 had done that. So he had that company build one for us. So my hotel is like two blocks from the White House. And every night I would go out in the middle of the street, and this thing is bigger than the White House.

2:16:27Dana White:It's above the White House. And when we would test it, it would light up the entire sky in D.C. And like I told everybody leading up to this thing, if you were a UFC fan and you'd never been to Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. is such a great city to walk around every day and everything that's there. Obviously, all the historical stuff. Georgetown is incredible. It's just it's it's it's it was an incredible experience in every way, shape and form.

2:16:56Pat McAfee:Yeah. All the drone shots, helicopter shots, the fireworks. I mean, it was a showcase, a spectacle of Washington, D.C. It was. And every time we go, we get captivated walking around because like so much shit has obviously happened there. I mean, so much stuff has happened there. But it is meant for you to be a visitor in the city. It is meant for you to do that. The happy hour is obviously incredible there because it's a working city. Obviously, people getting out of their office. It's a good vibe there. I like that D.C. was being showcased. I like that the White House being showcased, man. I didn't know you guys were going to be walking out of the fucking Oval Office right into the game.

2:17:26Pat McAfee:I had no idea that was an option in this entire thing. How's that come together?

2:17:29Dana White:how badass is that justin gaethje's walkout might be the greatest television moment ever and and when we go live to him in the oval office he's staring at the declaration of independence the president has the original declaration of independence hanging on the wall and it's got like curtains that you close so the sun doesn't hit it in the daytime and and and gaethje was just like staring at it before he walked out he said it was incredible he said he couldn't read a word

2:17:57Pat McAfee:different language he said i'll tell you what i don't know what fucking language that was we certainly are appreciative of that thing we certainly are appreciative of that thing all right dana we appreciate the hell out of you man thank you for taking the time love you boys thanks for having me hey connor back big deal congrats on that deal coming together yeah thanks international

2:18:14Dana White:fight week so uh yeah everything in vegas that week will be ufc you know it's going to be like you know doing dc over again it's going to be international fight week we have all kinds of things planned for fans um it's gonna be fun july power slap is that week too sold out already

2:18:32Pat McAfee:oh yeah power slap already sold out i i think you could sell that out at any ufc event the night before i know you know that joe rogan kind of did that at the beginning he was uh obviously trailblazer and so many things he was doing shows the night before ufc events in cities and selling out the fucking arena it's like jesus christ you're a genius joe you're an absolute genius speaking of joe being a genius he was in between max and connor obviously for a uh question press conference of sorts conor mcgregor's back on his shit fully does it feel like that does it feel

2:18:58Dana White:like oh yeah he's all the way yeah yeah he he's back he's ready to go and uh he's fired up love it so it's it's good to have him back and uh you know him versus max should be fireworks so we're

2:19:12Pat McAfee:excited you're the man ladies and gentlemen that's dana why yeah dana here's the photo guys thank you dana here's the photo of gaichi staring at the declaration of independence saying english that's what that is? Fascinating. Nah. I think when I'm speaking. AJ, you ever read through the Declaration of Independence just on a spare whim or a couple free moments of time? I mean, honestly, Gaethje kind of inspired me to want to do that, so I will probably eventually. I think maybe we should all kind of get a look at that. Yeah, absolutely. I saw a U.S. soccer fan took a copy of one to the England training ground and had them all sign it.

2:19:49Mocked the shit out of them. Great gimmick.

2:19:51Pat McAfee:Them signing it?

2:19:56they're basically signing the way they're stupid country okay that's the angle yeah because i was thinking the people that signed that pretty fucking notable yeah we're just letting every

2:20:07Pat McAfee:kind sign it and i know he's good on the pitch i don't know if we need him on the declaration because a different time obviously one if i land two if i see paul revere let us all know that's right that aj hawk's doing a college football thing Yes. All right, there's a tornado coming for Indianapolis, so we're going to go get our kids and get home. So everybody be safe out there. Obviously, we are in that time of year. Indiana, very flat place. This happens across the Midwest and obviously over in the west, southwest as well. T's and P's, everybody battling the weather. We'll be back tomorrow. We can't thank you all enough for allowing us to do this for a living.

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