PMS 2.0 1585 - The Open Championship Recap, World Cup Final Recap, Mike Grella, Chase Daniel, Pete Thamel, Tyrese Haliburton, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

23:52Pat McAfee:Right around the corner,$100 million somebody's going to make a year. That's probably five years out from now. Who knows who's going to be that person six years out, depending upon which streaming services come in, let alone all the other partners. But there's a lot of money going into these players and into these rosters. So they're wondering, at what point does it become cost effective to roll the dice with literally hundreds of millions of dollars of assets on something that you can control and can change? I like this initiative. I like this angle that they're doing because they're acknowledging, like, yeah, this is not a cheap thing to do.

24:26Pat McAfee:but we're not cheap either and losing us in the middle of the season is your biggest achilles heel no pun intended to continuing success in your ratings whenever you lose well how many quarterbacks went out what was that two years ago so 70 something like that yeah and then there was what four weeks of prime games that were like shit in a row it's like the players are your biggest assets your best assets they're wanting everybody to kind of invest a little bit more in what they're playing in. I respect this angle by the players. And coming through in the World Cup is clutch because they didn't say give us this grass either.

24:58Because now we've learned that the soccer grass. Well, you see. For light.

25:03Pat McAfee:Is bad grass. That's great. So you wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. Beautiful grass just looks like. It's just what we get told every single time the players come out and say, well, how come you can put the grass in for the soccer? And then the owners always come out and say, we can do that. Is this what you want to do? The soccer grass is. It's not meant for this It's not meant for this It's not meant for this It's not meant for this Can't roll great It's not meant for this Certainly not I see a lot of that out there Yeah but they're 150 pounds Yeah soaking wet He's not doing a lot of that He's doing a lot of this Yeah he's walking a lot Stalking his prey Zero jumping Zero Boom!

26:05That was absolutely filthy, mate. Unless he gets tired. Oh, shut up. Oh, would you? Come on.

26:11Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who became our soccer pundit throughout the World Cup, CBS Sports Galazzo legend, and also international soccer star. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Gorella. Hey, baby. Yeah, Gorella. Boys, what's going on? You guys are the funniest, man. I was just listening to that. So good. Where are we at? We're right, though. Everything we said was right. Amazing. On point. On point and fine. See, that's the thing. We've learned the soccer here through you. So we would like to say, real quick, hey, Gorella, thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you, Gorella. Great work, Mike.

26:42Grazie, Paizo. My pleasure. My pleasure, boys.

26:45Pat McAfee:I think you had a great World Cup with us. I think you had a great World Cup in general. And let's just get ready to it. I shared it on my story today because it was a hilarious parenting moment from you. My kid told me, my son said he wants to be an astronaut. And I said, yeah, right, kid. You could probably say it better than me. You said you're going to have to work like a dog and pay your taxes like the rest of us. Basically, what you were saying is a lot of people think they're going to be able to beat Spain and be special. And then Spain does what Spain does. Was this expected by you? And are they going to do this for the next five World Cups because of how young they are?

27:16Pat McAfee:Is that what we should expect going forward? It's possible. And listen, like in sports, we have storylines. That's what we love. We love to tell the story. I just don't like when we get too far away and we get to start and get into fantasy land about like these storylines of like, you know, one guy watching another guy in a bath, you know, 20 years apart. You know, the third place game and what it means for this guy and that guy. Like at some point, there's like this, there's sports, right? And we know, we all know well in this room is discipline is hard work is reality and doesn't get more real than than working every day and paying you taxes.

27:47So that's why I thought that analogy made a lot of sense. But, like, you know, ultimately, a lot of neutrals will say, well, that spin game was boring. It probably was. To, like, the untrained eye, it probably was a little bit boring. It was so boring. Yeah, we were pretty boring. It was brutal. Yeah, we were pretty boring. But, hey, when you guys go to the Mona Lisa, is that fun? I'm not going to be the Mona Lisa. Why would we do that? What are we talking about? I can't even take a picture of her. That's true. But I'm saying, like, the good things in life, like, are elite, you know? And I'll tell you a couple of stats just off the top of my head.

28:19Like Spain ran the most at the highest speeds, turned over the ball the most than any other team, offered in spaces the most. So it was the team that did things that were hard to see from the untrained eye but did them at the highest of levels. So for me, it was like watching one of the top teams in the world do their thing, and they kind of just nullify teams. You know, like, you know, we talk about Mbappe and Holland and Messi and all these players, and that's great, and that's awesome, and Bellingham and Kane. But you know what's cooler than that? Conceding 10 shots in the entire tournament.

28:55That's a lot cooler. You know how hard that is to do? 10 shots in eight games? You've only conceded 10 shots in eight games.

29:01Pat McAfee:Hold on. So that's 11 shots in total, right, because Belgium scored on him one time. So they faced him. No, that's counted in there, Pat. Oh, because I thought he had 10 saves. Oh, I don't know. It's whatever it is. It's close. Okay, so I think he had 10 saves. So that would mean there's one goal with Belgium. So that's 11 total shots, right? Is that what that means for the whole fucking World Cup? Eight games. Against them, there's 11 total World Cups. Go back to that passing thing, though, because let's talk about this. You said they just nullify people. I mean, Messi didn't even touch the ball for however long it was.

29:31Pat McAfee:He was nowhere near it and never going to get an opportunity. Spain had 763 passes in the final. And Argentina's third, okay, the final third, 215 of them, which led to 27 cross you know they're swinging it a lot swinging swinging swinging seeing who has the opportunity who doesn't have the opportunity oh yamal's over here with uh two guys he can kind of dice let's go ahead and try that oh let's swing it back over here okay argentina 41 passes in spain's final third there that led obviously only had seven crosses in there which you put in the mix it doesn't really matter because you can't get down there and then anytime martinez made which stood on his head world cup final record for the amount of saves that he had I got lucky on a couple.

30:09Pat McAfee:Who cares on it all? As soon as he got it, he had that big leg. I think he wanted to showcase to get the ball to Messi. And he just booted right back to him. And then it's like, all right, they got the ball for another 20 minutes. They did that to everybody. And is this what it's going to be for the next 10 years, 20 years with this group? Because they're so young, I've been told, too, Grillo. I've been told the Spain team's so young. And they just have pounded everybody that they've faced. It doesn't make much sense to me. Yeah, so there's a few factors at work with Spain. They have been playing this way for a very long time.

30:38It's in their culture. It kind of is birthed out of the Barcelona way of playing. A lot of the players obviously play for Barcelona as well, but it's ingrained in Spanish culture. And the thing is, the idea behind it is, at least from what I understand, is like they have the ball and they are not anxious to go and try and score. They're not like trying to play vertical all the time. They're happy to keep it. They're happy to wait until you get out of your spots and out of your shape and then slowly pick you apart. And I think a lot of people say, oh, the possession, they're so great with the ball.

31:07Yeah, that's one side of it. But because they're so good with the ball and the spacing is so good when they have the ball, they're able to easily press from those positions. So because they're in tight little triangles, when the ball turns over, they're able to go fast from those positions and get it back right away. So like when other players got the ball, opponents got the ball, it just felt like there was three, four, five waves of pressure that never seemed to go away. And then if you beat that pressure, the defensive transition from the rest of the guys was so good that it was like you didn't even get rewarded for going past two or three guys.

31:39So it was like they figured out a way to really control good teams. They made France look bang average. They made Argentina look like a Sunday league team yesterday. I mean, they made the best player of all time not even get a sniff in a game. It's really anticlimactic for large parts of that game because of how good Spain are. So, again, if you're the fan that wants to go and see 10 goals in a game and you want to watch a third-place match, that's great. There's a spot for you, but it's not in football. It's in something else, maybe in badminton or I don't know what else.

32:09Pat McAfee:No, I don't know if badminton is going to take people's attention away from soccer. I do think Messi, even if he scores there late where they get a couple chances, they get a couple chances there late, that would have been expected, I think, from Messi. I think I would have expected that. Just like when Yamal was lined up for that free kick and Martinez makes a big save, I'm like, holy shit. I feel like we're watching an actual crowning ceremony happening right now. Because hitting a nasty free kick in a World Cup final is a quick way to cement yourself as an icon forever. I mean, that is easy, easy stuff.

32:41Pat McAfee:Huge save out of Martinez, obviously. Him putting that on frame in general is just outrageous. Yeah, the goalie? Yeah. Yeah, unbelievable. Two best players of all time. Potentially, but then he gets a little bit too excited. I got a big leg, too. Right back to him. It's like, this is over. How about the spade player that Messi had that volley? If he didn't, he just ate it right in his face. Probably going in. That's hockey culture, by the way. I like that they're doing that. Look at that, Gorella. You soccer players. Just ate it right in the face. And Argentina was trying to tackle Yamal the whole time.

33:13Pat McAfee:Did we expect that much physicality? Is that what soccer is always like, or is this a recent event that we're very physical? And also, no bitching. Yamal didn't bitch one time. They were trying to tackle him. I didn't expect that out of him. He earned my respect yesterday in a huge way just because of the way he played, but also he was just walking away after they were clearly hacking the hell out of him and wasn't yelling about it, which I respect. Is this how soccer is now across the globe? Should we expect a little bit more physicality? I mean, after the whistle, after the final whistle, the fist of cuffs.

33:42Yeah, a little bit of a Carl Anthony Towns choke slam almost coming in there at the end. Is soccer a little bit more physical right now? Did we know that? I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something, Pat. In our golf group here in New York, we've got all hockey players, football players, NBA guys. And they're always on me every single day in the chat because, like, I'm the soccer guy, right? And we're, like, the weaklings. And we're, like, we, you know, we're all that, right? So they've come to watch me play in a couple games live. And the first thing they say after the game is, like, holy shit.

34:11Like, that was a lot more physical than we thought. Like, we can't believe the speeds and, like, the way you guys are hitting each other. I think also what's unique about soccer is, like, there's different angles. to the contact, which makes it really interesting. And I'm going to compare now the World Cup and how they reffed it to kind of what the NBA was and what it is now. And I think you could almost say, and correct me if I'm wrong, what the NBA playoffs are like versus what the regular season is like. So, like, fans want to see across the board a more physical game. Like, I think they want to see a more physical game in the NFL and the NBA and in every single sport, especially in soccer.

34:45And I thought the refs did a pretty good job of, like, letting guys play. and I think it was a big factor that Argentina took advantage of. They knew that that was going to be something that they could take away from other teams. I mean, the way they abused England physically, from a physical perspective, like after every crunching tackle, they just whisper in their ear and yell in their ear. Obviously, yesterday, look, didn't go their way, but they wanted to fight to the end, right? So I think Argentina a little bit known for that, like having that extra little bit of bite. But it was a great game.

35:14And listen, on the flip side for Argentina and Leo Messi and that group of guys, They were 13 minutes away from stealing that thing. They were 13 minutes away from getting into penalty shootout. And Spain had lost the last five of penalty shootouts. They've won one of five. So they lost four of the last five. Which means Argentina probably would have taken that away in penalties. So really close to getting the job done. In the end, I think the football won. And I think pure footballists or purists of the game appreciated it. Yeah, I enjoyed just soccer coming into America and doing its thing. It was awesome.

35:50Pat McAfee:It was nice to take a trip down memory lane for me. It was nice to get back into the soccer world as much. You know, TST was obviously a nice month down there in Cary. You know what I loved about it all? I loved that we did a great job. The United States did a great job putting this tournament on. It's the highest attendance. The last time that was happening was 94, also in the United States. I love that cultures came here and they blended and we celebrated so many different cultures. And at the end of it all, every single culture almost and every single fan base goes, yeah, that's the best one.

36:22The United States of America is the best it gets. Best restaurants, best infrastructure. I mean, I just really, I think it's a moment where the country should be pretty proud of the show that they put on and the way that people really enjoyed the whole event.

36:35Pat McAfee:Amen, brother. Good for us. Good for our country. Good for soccer. Good for sport. And we appreciate the hell out of you because we do know that, you know, New Jersey hosting the World Cup final is so abnormal. New Jersey has no good soccer players come from it. Never. None. Not one. Miola. Miola? Tim Hyde. Tony Miola. He's more of a football player. You know Miola played for the Jets, Pat? Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. Center. Yeah, right guard, yeah. I saw that. No. Yeah. He had a heart attack. No, no. Strong base. I mean, the legs on the guy. Jeez, you guys are bad guys. Squat 5-50. Tony Miole was a bull, man.

37:16Pat McAfee:Bingo. That's what we're saying. Hey, please tell Paisan we said grazie for everything. And to you, we say thank you so much. You've been great for us. And obviously, soccer as a whole. Hopefully, you get a chance to travel down to Australia, maybe just one at a time. Yeah. One at a time. Line him up. I don't think England's too happy with him either. I saw an Aussie yesterday where I was, Pat. I saw an Aussie yesterday. Did he know you? Oh, yeah. He had a lot to say. What did he say? What did it sound like? He was just going, I said, you can fuck right off you. I can't do it without you. To be fair, he goes, you were right.

37:53I said, I know. I've been saying it for three months. You guys are not very good.

37:57Pat McAfee:Garelli, you've been saying a lot of people aren't very good. I'll tell you what, it's going to work out. I didn't like what you said about Ponch last time you were on. That wasn't cool. We need to keep Ponchatina. Do you want to stick around for our 10 favorite goals? from the World Cup? Sure. Okay, now listen, Grella. Yeah. We only got 90 seconds of highlights. What? Keep it tight. That's it. This is a lot. Let's not. Whoa, whoa, whoa. We go over 90. This show's off air forever. Whole building blows up. Boom. Thunder boom. We use what they call it. Great with shot clock. 90 seconds is all we could show of the place.

38:34Do we even know if the highlights are less than 90 seconds?

38:37Pat McAfee:We had to check one of them that was sent in was 48 seconds. So that one's not – Beautiful goal. That was Jude Bellingham in the third place game fucking faking like six different shots. But the only way you can really see what he's doing is this close 8K zoom in slow motion one. It was sick. Because he does like this like three times. And the guy every time thinks he's going to get it. And Joke said, Gumpy's like, that's got to be on the top ten favorite goals. Yeah, get rid of it. Third place game. It's 48 seconds. Yeah, get rid of it. Jude. By Jude. 90 seconds of air time here, Grella. Okay?

39:09All right. Let's do it. But if you do have something to say, we would encourage you to say it because you know soccer better than anybody that has a microphone right now. Keep it short. Yeah, but what we're saying, though, is... There's a kid about to come through your window, too. I love it. He's just bouncing around in the background. Hey, tell me he ain't going to be an astronaut, kid. If I pause the video, does that count? You're going to play the top 10 goals in 90 seconds right now? Yeah. It's actually our favorite. Yeah, it's 13. Don't give away the gimmick. It's our favorite 10. Favorite 10.

39:36Okay, we only got 90 seconds in total. It's over-under. I say we get through five. No, we can't. We got to get to the end. You got to get five? I don't know if we're getting through the first group of three. We just got to zip it. Okay, ready? We got 90 seconds. Wait, Foxy said if he pauses it, the 90 stops? No way can that be. Last thing we need to be doing is pausing any of these clips. Although that is a pretty good loophole. No, no, it's not a loophole. No, I know, but you could argue. It wouldn't work, but I can see what Foxy's thinking there. No, because it's on the screen. So what we need to do is...

40:10Pause and remove from the screen. No, we need to go the other way. We need to fast forward these things.

40:17Pat McAfee:Let's not start fast forwarding yet. Bruce Brown has the clock. Bruce is on the clock back there. He has a stopwatch. We can make a call. If FIFA comes at us, a lot of calls being made to a guy these days. We can make a call. I don't know if we want to get into those waters. I don't know who owes what what. But, you know, anytime you're making a deal with anybody, there's always another end to that. No free shit. Rule number one, basically. I'll be at fatigues next week. Don't worry. McFist will crack skulls. All right, boys, we're wasting gruntless time. Yeah, sorry. Let's go.

40:51All right. Have to. I mean, come on. Allegedly, DeChambeau did think about calling the president. That's right. Made us immediately think of when, you know, Tiger was walking back from the knee that he was taking. All right. 90 seconds. Lock in, Grella. This is a lot on the line. This is a world problem. It is. Our 10 favorite goal moments from the entirety of the World Cup. Number 10, Mbappe rips an absolute screamer to become France's all-time leading World Cup goal scorer against Senegal! Well done, well done, well done. That was good. That was what, like three seconds? Yeah. Eight seconds there.

41:45Eight? That felt like less than eight seconds. Did you start it on? But we didn't show it. It's when it's on the screen, not just. Okay, so seven seconds. Seven seconds. Pissed. Seven seconds. What did you think about that? What a goal by Mbappe who wins the boot. Yeah, the golden boot. The golden boot there. Back to bat. Filthy, filthy. Long distance too, right? A lot of the strikers do it from close distance. That one was from long distance. So showing off all the tools, you know? All right, we're going to skip the second Mbappe one. Okay. Because I am a little bit worried about the clock. Number nine, our favorite Viking.

42:20Erling Haaland puts the exclamation point on Norway's win over Brazil with an absolute left-footed clapper. Blowing away. Side panel. I'll tell you what, this big Viking man, this big blonde beast from Norway, certainly took over the entire country. People loved him. He put his little cowboy hat on.

42:38Pat McAfee:That's right. Had his little cowboy boots on. He was super powerful. Was kind of dancing around. Took a raccoon home back to the land. Who does he play for? How can we follow him, Grella? Manchester City. He's a monster. You can watch him in the Champions League, obviously Premier League, the Carling Cup or Carabao Cup. Oh, the Carabao Cup. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, he's a monster, man. And by the way, for young kids out there, shoot through legs. He does it all the time. That one goes through the legs of the defender. Keeper doesn't account for that space. What a goal. Tree is 80 % air when you're golfing.

43:11Shoot for the legs.

43:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, especially it sounds like you get your ass beat out there on that golf course by all the other sports. Maybe start representing. We're only 15 seconds in, boy. We got a good pace here. This is pretty good pace, actually. We need to keep it up. Let's go to Eric Cain. When he gets an absolute banger to take the lead over Congo. Remember, a witch put a witchcraft curse on him. Eric! Touch your class. Sick. Sick dog. Touch your class. Feels like we've seen Eric Cain play soccer for about 40 years now. He's still in his early 30s. He's going to play in another World Cup. He's been good for so long, Gorilla.

43:50You're his finisher in the game of football around the box. Everyone will tell you that. So that goal is incredible. Just the angles, understanding that that one's going to go the near post. That goal is all him. And I don't know how many other strikers could score that quality of a goal. Also, great tan, good hand.

44:05Pat McAfee:He's going to the Kansas City Royals game. That's right. Great accent. Playing golf with the president. Yeah, he's a really good guy. How about his socks up over his knees? Classic Aerie. Way too much swag for... For Aerie. For what you... For a Brit? No, I'm not going to say that. Because there's another Brit we fell in love with. Let's get it. Hey, Jude. Second goal in less than two minutes to give England a 2-0 lead over Mexico. In Mexico City, you remember Jude Bellingham took over this game. Not only did he say, hi, how you doing? He said, hola, muchas gracias, mi amigo. Second goal against Mexico.

44:45Pat McAfee:It was a beautiful moment. They haven't lost in Azteca Stadium in like 100 years or something like that. obviously the night before the mexican fans who we all fell in love with during this real cup we're up all night doing fireworks outside the england uh hotel we love that you're here but also doesn't mean you get to sleep when you have to play us that's right a little home field advantage i enjoy that let's go pick the order here pat hmm who picked the order you know who gump kind of him and bruce actually yeah oh that's why that's not a great goal I told you about the other one, Grell It was 48 fucking seconds, alright Guy scored 7 goals And not one was from the spot Let's put some respect on Jude Bell Okay, alright Let's go to number 6, shall we This is Argentina's Latino Martinez As he eliminates England The sign used to never set on the Royal Empire And Martinez said Good night It's not coming home That's Fernandez Oh, fuck.

45:46Enzo Fernandez. What's the pick for doing, man? Come on, man. Fernandez is his name? I'm going to go back. That's Enzo, yeah. Latour had the next one. 24? The header. Goal two. He got the red card yesterday, Pat. He was the one who got the red card and put Argentina down to 10 men. Damn shame he got a red.

46:04Pat McAfee:I can't believe he got a yellow talking back to the ref. Yeah. I do like that they have this rule now. You can't do it anymore. Yeah, that's the immediate red. They got so sick. Everybody messaged. trying to get a teacher. This guy just did it. He comes in pretty hard. Okay, so what's old buddy's name right there that just put England to bed? Enzo Fernandez. Who? Enzo Fernandez. Enzo Fernandez. That's on me, Enzo. 100 % my fault. Let's stay in Argentina, shall we? How about when Messi says, give me that hat trick, this is the first of them all, to open the tourney. Hey, what's going to happen with Argentina this year?

46:36Pat McAfee:Has Messi still got it? Ah, yeah! He does! Outrageous. Let's stay with Messi, shall we? How about whenever he draws with Egypt 2-2? They were down 2-zip. Messi crosses it. Drops back to him.

46:56Firecracker. That's beautiful. People don't know how hard that goal is to score. They don't understand. It's on the half valley. It's on the half bounce. To keep that down and split the defenders is like... It's not normal.

47:09Pat McAfee:Okay, because you're trying to get it as it's either bouncing, coming down or immediately after the hop. Yeah, I mean, he didn't have the luxury of deciding when he was going to hit it. He had to hit it at that moment. So he had to do all the calculations. And then on the half hop, like, is it going to hop hard, soft? Is it going to take a skid? Like, so many variables there. And to flush it like that, he's a flusher, man. He flushes it all the time. The guy's a plumber out there, clearing pipes, flushing shit. No problem. Except for yesterday. Except for yesterday. Oh, you didn't get the ball.

47:40Pat McAfee:Okay, let's go to a country we learned of through Grella, who said, say it, what's her name? Cabo Verde. That looks nothing like how it's spelled. It sounds nothing like how it's spelled, by the way. What's the country's name again? Cabo Verde. Thank you. There it is. I mean, I can record that. That's it. Sidney Lopez Cabral. Nasty. Right foot. Hi. Yeah. That was against the number two team in the world there. Congrats to Copa 30. And now let's go to the number two goal of the moment in our eyes. Ferran Torres scores the World Cup winner. Incredible header back. How you doing? Keep it moving. Lefty blast right to the badge.

48:27Thought he should have scored that other one too. They called offsides because his shoulder was out there. He's just done. That's only good for number two, folks. Two. Yeah. How much time do we have left?

48:3827 seconds. 26 seconds. I can try it all. It won the whole game. Nah, it wasn't worth a damn in comparison to the threefer that we have at the number one. Oh. Flo Balagan scores his second goal opening night against Paraguay in L.A. Lefty. Lefty. Hey. We're going to win the World Cup at that moment. Then let's go to the end of that game. Gio Arena. Final goal in stoppage time. Swerve nasty. Blasty. Goal. USA's going to win the World Cup and then our favorite, obviously. Best goal of the tournament. In the knockout round, our best player. No questions asked. Hi. Down to 10. Tillman's our guy. That's a beautiful guy.

49:27Wow. We still got 10 more seconds. Go back to Messi. Go back to his first goal. We got 10 seconds. Go back. Yeah, this one. Ladies and gentlemen, the star of the World Cup, Messi, also known as Lou Messi, a native of Argentina, a citizen of Miami. Hey, go!

49:57Amazing. What a player. 39 years old. Crazy. He needs to run it back with the United States of America.

50:06Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, that's Michael Corrello. Thank you. That's baby Corrello. 89.4 seconds. Boom. Great work. Boom. Great job. Well done. So you're telling me Lou Messi is just going to go back and play the MLS now? Well, they've got a game on Wednesday. We'll certainly see that. Okay. We'll see how that goes. Might miss that one. Let's pivot away from soccer as the SEC media days are wrapping up down in Atlanta. Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay. Shit. I was thinking Atlanta immediately because that is the hub. SEC office. Of SEC, but no, no, it's down in Tampa Bay. Go Bolts, I saw in the back of some of the signs.

50:39Pat McAfee:Joining us is a man that was down there. Former M-I-Z-Z-O-U legend and NFL quarterback Chase Daniels. Yay, Chase! How you doing, Chase? What's going on, guys? How you doing? Sorry, we had to steal those 90 seconds. We got them. We didn't know we were going to get them. And then, obviously, you had to sit there. I loved it. Okay, good. Did you watch it? 89.4? That was cinema right there. Thank you, Chase. Thank you, Chase. And as you continue to grow in this TV world, I think hitting 89.4 seconds will be something later in life that you will say, I don't know how they – that's pretty good, especially when you've got Messi scoring.

51:14Goal! All right, I think they scored a goal whenever they hired you to cover the SEC for ESPN. Welcome to the team, Chase. Welcome to the team.

51:24Pat McAfee:All right, let's talk SEC Media Days. Big storyline is Michigan's AD is stepping down at the end of the year, or what did we really learn down there, Chase? Yeah, I mean, look, that was right in the middle of when media day started here for M-I-Z-Z-O-U. Coach Trinklage was there. But yeah, Ward Manuel stepping down into the calendar year. Pretty crazy news down here. Obviously, you know, SEC world and the Big Ten, you're not really following it too much right there. But that was definitely, I mean, we're right outside the hall with all the coaches, 80s. When that news dropped by Pete Thamel, everyone sort of stopped what they were doing, figured it out.

51:58Obviously, Thamel's one of the best in the business, But, yeah, just not great news for the Big Ten.

52:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, not great news for the Big Ten. And obviously Michigan has a national championship in football and a national championship in basketball over the last several years. And all of a sudden all that's going to be talked about is how it's riddled with controversy all over the place. I have no idea how he'll be judged as an AD legitimately. I have no idea. You would have to think it would be negative, but then you think about the national championships and the amount of development in buildings. What a crazy scene up there in Michigan. Are they ever going to be able to get back on track? And were they ever?

52:31Pat McAfee:You know, like what is goal up there? New coach, football from Utah, absolute legend. Winningham is, I didn't know if it was Winnington or Winningham. I apologize, Mr. Kyle. I'm a huge fan of yours. I think that's a great start. I think that guy is a stud. I think he's a beast. I can't wait to see what Michigan is under his leadership, and I'm excited to see what Michigan does next. That's a job that a lot of people are going to want. Let's talk about the SEC. You know, you said, I don't know if it was you or Jordan Rodgers. I think it was Jordan Rodgers that I saw a clip talking about Winadad being the most talented quarterback in the SEC.

53:05Pat McAfee:We got to see him live last year at his best game down there at the Fiesta Bowl, live in person. And we didn't know if he was going to be able to come back. My first thought after watching him was, that guy could play on Sunday. That guy will make a team with how talented he is. He throws the spots. He's wildly athletic. Like, nobody's really talking about him. Ole Miss has a chance, I think, because he's quarterback. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I totally agree with you, Pat. And that's what I said. As you see here, the SEC Network, we had our first show, SEC Nation, which I'm on this year. Super excited to do that.

53:39We're going to be visiting campuses. But I think he's the best and most talented returning quarterback in the SEC. I got a little traction because, well, what about Arch Manning? Look, I love what Arch did the last six games of the year. But when you look specifically at Trinidad Chambers' playoff run, Six touchdowns, no interceptions in those three games, and threw for over 300 yards. That really put him on the map. And then obviously covering the NFL a lot more than college football. When I saw his games, I started breaking them down from an NFL perspective. And I was with you, Pat. I'm like, this dude absolutely can play on Sundays.

54:10And so, look, I know they lost their entire offensive staff. But Pete Golding, I think he's under the most pressure this year in the SEC because he has to replace Lane Kiffin, because he has those big shoes to fill, and because they lost four of their five top pass catchers, but they have the best running back other than Ahmad Hardy coming back and Keon Lacey, I think the Ole Miss Reds are going to do some special stuff this year, man.

54:32Pat McAfee:It's crazy because I think Lane Kiffin was kind of inferring that Winadad was going to be traveling down to LSU. And if that would have been the case, I think we all would have been like LSU about to win a national championship. Tim! Oh! Tim! Tim! Love you, Tim. Patrick, how are we living? Hey, pretty good. I don't know if you've seen lately. I'm on a bunch of science. So, I mean, I guess you gotta talk about that. I'm pretty lean right now, dude. Large shirt, 34 pants, Tim. Can't say how proud I am of you, man. Just, it's amazing. Thank you. What a guy you're becoming. Thank you. I appreciate it.

55:06That means a lot, Tim.

55:07Pat McAfee:Any other, for the boys, anything? For anybody else, you want to kind of, any other words of thought before football season? We're close, Tim. Yeah, we're getting real close.

55:20definitely did not hear if they said something yeah what did you guys say okay all right love you tim hey we love you tim t-bow we love you tim congrats on the new deal tim thank you glad to be working with this guy hey we you know we were both 07 heisman trophy finalists he won it that year but tim and i go way back excited to be here newest contract extension he's pumped up about it yeah as he should be part of the glad to be part of the team hold on i didn't know ride your coattails, Pat. That's it.

55:47Pat McAfee:Yeah, right, Tim. ESPN's still riding coattails out of those 2007 years, and I'll tell you what, Chase, you had no shot if Tim Tebow was in there. I know. One of the best who I've ever done it. Are you kidding me? No, we agree, but the entire network that was kind of running the entire thing was kind of, you know, kind of living off of you, Tim. And let me tell you why they were living off of you, bud, because the way you played was the right way. The way you talked about life was the right thing. And then off the field, we would find out later, it's not how big you are, Gase. No gimmick. This is actually who Tim Tebow is.

56:15Pat McAfee:You're the man, brother. We've been so incredibly kind. I'm sorry. We've been so incredibly lucky that you've been kind to us, but also pumped that you got a new deal. We'll see you on the streets of SEC football this fall. I can't wait, man. It's going to be a fun season. Glad to be doing it with these guys and look forward to hanging with you soon. Okay, I'll see you out there, Tim. Hell yeah, Tim. Chase, do you still get excited whenever you see Tim? I get it like kind of. Isn't it kind of an interesting thing? Like our generation, he was literally put up there as like Jesus. He's the GOAT.

56:42Pat McAfee:He was like Jesus Christ. That's how we talk about him. Yeah, it's crazy. Yes. I mean, I'll tell you, we did the first live show at SEC Nation, right? Yesterday. It was like our preseason show or whatever. And there was tons of fans. Every single person from every school was there, and they all wanted Tim's autograph. Like, it was just like, it was unbelievable. Like, true living legend down here in SEC country. And so to be able to work with him, I mean, he's doing so many other things in football, right? But he didn't have to come back. He didn't have to come back to SEC Nation, ESPN, because he's saving the world in a good way.

57:14And it's just, it's amazing. Chase, you're a stud too.

57:18Pat McAfee:Let's not get it twisted. But it was, anybody that lived through that generation understood like, they were trying to make you hate Tim. Oh, yeah. They were trying to make you hate Tim Tebow, the way they were talking about him. Like, I think they would say, no, we were celebrating him. They're glorifying him. It's like, okay. It felt like you were trying to make people think that you guys think that he is actually like this. And I think after we met him, it's like, Like, T-Bell probably didn't love that he was getting all the attention that he was getting, but also didn't know what he was doing.

57:46Pat McAfee:And he is exactly who the fuck. Yeah. Amazing. He's salt of the earth human too, man. Like, the dude – and he still thinks he can play. Like, you see him spotting 600 pounds, all that stuff. It's unbelievable. That's the thing about it, Tim. That's the thing about it. I didn't like that they did the whole Jacksonville Jaguar tight end. Yeah. I didn't like it. No, I didn't like it. Should have made it. I didn't like it. What a quarterback. They screwed him. That's what I'm talking about. Okay, now let's get back some SEC quarterback talk, shall we? Go ahead, D-Bug. Yeah, our conversation is always about the quarterback as it should be, you know, the most important player on the field.

58:22But obviously you got play callers. You mentioned Ole Miss losing their top, I think you said, four or five pass catchers. In your opinion, going into this year with all the changes, new quarterbacks, new play callers, new places, who has the best, I guess, total offense in the SEC right now going into this year? Yeah, I mean, look, if it's not Texas, then something is tremendously wrong at the end of the year. You look at every position group, not just offensively, but for Texas, and they should have position groups, offensive line, receivers, quarterback. They should have the top one or two positions in all of sport.

58:58Forget about this, the SEC, and this is Arch Manning. I don't think he's as under much pressure this year as he was last year. He started off a difficult road, but how he's handled that, I think is a huge deal. And then you go out and you get Cam Coleman, the guy from Auburn. The dude is an absolute baller to go with Wingo. You hit the transfer portal for two really good running backs. Hollywood Smothers is going to be unbelievable on the ground. So the schedule, though, that's what I get into with this SEC schedule. The first year, they're going to nine games. It is very difficult to play week in and week out because you're getting everyone's best shot, but just offensively the weapons that Texas have, they should have the best offense in the SEC.

59:41Pat McAfee:Alright, last question here. We have about a minute. The big storyline, obviously for week one, college game day, going down there to Baton Rouge to see Lane Kiffin at LSU. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chase, you mentioned everything going on with LSU and all their coordinators from Ole Miss following Lane. What has the vibe been around LSU and kind of towards LSU and have Lane and Pete Golding had any kind of interactions or is all of that stuff kind of blown over? I feel like some of that stuff's blown over, right? But you look at week three, LSU, Ole Miss, when Lane goes back there, that's what it's all coming to a head, I believe.

1:00:13And you look at Lane and you look at what he's been able to do offensively with quarterbacks. Sam Levitt coming over from Arizona State. Sam Levitt got hurt a little bit last year, but you look back to 2024 at Arizona State, the quarterback that he was, that magical playoff run with Cam Scadaboo and Sam Levitt were there. Like that was a team, if they can pick up the offense, Lane's better than anyone in the nation to hit in the transfer portal, right? The offense isn't very difficult to pick up. It's going to take some time. Defensively, they're good, but you look at LSU's schedule. This is what I'm worried about.

1:00:46They could have two losses in September. They got Clemson to start the season and two other college football playoff opponents from last year. It's going to be a difficult road for Lane, but they got to start out quick. Blake Baker, the defensive coordinator, came from Missouri a couple years ago. Top 10 defense. Defense is going to have to carry on first. Ole Miss week three, A &M week four.

1:01:05Pat McAfee:That's what you're talking about. There you go. You out of the shoot. All in September, too. Everybody has so much faith in Clemson all the time. I'd like to be a part of college football when it happens because I'd like to see the full Dabo experience. Could that be this year? We shall see. Great run. Congrats to you, to Clemson and Dabo. It was a great run. If it's over. We don't know if it's over. Chase, we appreciate the hell out of you, man. We'll see you down the road. Appreciate you guys. Chase Daniel. a holder. Yeah. Down there in New Orleans, he was a holder. I think he won a Super Bowl like that.

1:01:35Oh, why'd you remind me? Come on, dude.

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1:02:57Sports! and then the Hall of Fame game is here. So it's amazing. Football season is shaping up to be pretty good. Oh, yeah. Can't wait. Especially if you have a good football team, which I shouldn't be pointing at you, but some of these guys, they got good football teams. I got a great football team. I got a great football team. Don't you worry about it. I'm from the town with the great football team. You ready for the Steelers this year?

1:03:22Pat McAfee:I always pull for the Steelers, except for when they're playing against the Colts. That goes well. Daniel Jones. What's Alec Pierce up to? Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler. Two teams. I like that. He's back, baby. I love that. How many teams you got this year? Have you decided? I'm still with my four. Are you hopping on? I thought you were hopping on the pass bandwagon. I thought you were back. I always root for the pass. I always pull for them. You know, that's where I started. That's what I'm saying. Took a chance on you. So five. It did. It gave me an opportunity. Yeah. Still root for Tom.

1:03:49Still root for Bill. You're still rooting for Tom? Always. How about him? A lot of people not rooting for Tom right now. A lot of people not rooting for Tom. That's my guy.

1:03:58Pat McAfee:He's got a little work going on right now with Logan Paul. How come everybody's upset? Because the guy's the greatest of all time in the biggest league in history, and he's got a$360 million deal with Fox to be a commentator, and he's also a Las Vegas Raiders owner. I think that's it. I think those two things you said at the end there is it. So people don't like that this guy can't go and have a WWE moment with Logan Paul, who was running his math about football players as a whole? I wouldn't mind seeing, like, Stan Kroenke show up at Goofball Fest and smack Bieber in the face, you know, just for the hell of it, and he can say the same thing.

1:04:28What do you mean? We're working here. I mean, that'd be cool. So maybe I should kind of reframe how I think about what Tom did. We don't know if it's a work, obviously. We have no idea. No, no, no, no. Of course. Of course. Genuine bad blood. It's real heat at the World Cup final. Real heat. Let's compete. Roy McIlroy, DeChambeau. Same type of stuff happening here. On that note, let the guy live his life. Exactly. Everybody wanted to be Undertaker and Eric Kidd. Yeah, you're right. I think that's what people were saying. He could just go live his life. He doesn't have to do all this. This is how he's living his life.

1:04:59Oh! He wouldn't do that. He's got white contacts in. No. Yeah. Commitment to bit.

1:05:08Pat McAfee:High. Very, very high. And I think he's enjoying the hell out of himself. You know, he's an influencer. He's literally doing everything. He's got to have a percentage of Ruben. I hope it's a large one. I would hope so. I don't know. He has to. You would think he has to. He's fucking key. I mean, he's all in. Yeah. This is just like Bill Belichick. used to say. When I could yell at Tom Brady, everybody else had to follow suit. When Tom Brady, the greatest of all time, is doing the entire Fanatics goofball Olympics, literally everybody else has to. I don't think that's what it's called. No, it is.

1:05:41Oh, chair shot. One word, gooflympics. It was awesome. Bieber came in there. He impressed me.

1:05:49Pat McAfee:We were going to put in a request for Biebs to do a college game day field goal kick, obviously, for charity. Would be honored if he was able to do such. I was incredibly impressed by Biebs. That's why I say goofball Olympics. I mean, they're having a good time. Roman Reigns hit a 50-yard field goal easily, too. John Cena delivered a headbutt. I saw that. Cody Rhodes. Cody Rhodes had a good onside kick. Yeah, he did. Wait, they had onside kick drills? I didn't see that one. And he nailed it. I think he was trying to make field goals, but, you know, it looked like he was attempting some onside kicks.

1:06:16Don't do what you're saying. It was just like yours. He probably would have pounced on it. I thought Shakira killed it there. Joining us now, ladies, that was at the halftime of the World Cup.

1:06:26Pat McAfee:And I do appreciate the fact that Scadaboo came in and said, I don't have rocks for brains. Okay? If that's what you guys want to believe, that's what you guys believe. Overrotates because he's so damn explosive. He's a deader himself. Let's assume that Scadaboo is currently sitting like platinum. You think this guy's going to get hurt on a stage? Have you seen what he's done to his body? No. On that note, I don't think I saw one Giants person affiliated that was pumped that this was happening. Now, he did the backflip at the softball game, landed it right before hitting home plate. So he did showcase that he was all the way back to being healthy.

1:07:02Pat McAfee:Right here, he's coming out as Triple H of games. Time to play the game. You see it back there? Yeah, hell yeah. It's hard not to get jacked up in there. So I want to wave it off. Let me go ahead and do a one-and-a-half backflip. I don't have rocks for brains. Is that what he said? Yeah. Well, he's asked if he had rocks for brains. And he said, I don't have rocks for brains. Thanks. Smart and funny. And then he made a promise that he wasn't going to hurt himself before football, not doing football. And I appreciate him doing that. Everybody's kind of – I don't like how everybody is so quickly out on the scataboo.

1:07:31Pat McAfee:What did you say, Daniel? Scataboo. Is that what he said? I didn't know we were doing that. Everybody kind of turning out on scataboo. I don't like that. Because all it's going to take is one time for fo-fo. It's six. I like scat. Me too. I love him. I like he's doing backflips right there. I don't like that. I also don't like Malik Nabors legging out a single in a softball game either. I thought Harbaugh was the adult coming over to run the show. What the hell is going on over there, Bruce? You know what? It's time to play the game. Harbaugh's going to be hard to talk Scadaboo out of not kind of wanting to lose his shit.

1:08:02Pat McAfee:Feeling that. I like that everybody's in over there. We do appreciate that. Thank you for the entertainment. Thank you for the clips. And I think a lot of fans had an incredible time. So congrats to them on all of it. Scadaboo's not hurt, though, Bruce. So maybe Giants fans need to sleep a little soundly at night and not worry that their not rock for brain having running back is going to be A-OK. Yeah, I mean, that's just Scadaboo football. Not worried about him at all. I will say we do not have a good enough offensive line to have a bunch of fat goofballs get dressed up as our offensive linemen.

1:08:32Where was this?

1:08:33Pat McAfee:Was this at Fanatics Fest? Yeah, it was. It was at Goofball Fest. They were Jackson Dart's bodyguards, I believe. I mean, look at that. Look at number 76. Who the hell is that guy? That man's going to get used a thousand times. That was at Fanatics Fest? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Great gimmick. That guy's jacked. 78? Oh. 76 is. 76ers are yoked up. Oh, my God. I thought that was somewhere off-site. These guys are at the goofball fest. Exactly. Tom, Gronk. I'm not, you know. Gronk is a king there. These guys? I mean, Gronk did great out there, too. He went into a big vat of cane sauce. Really? Tommy dunked him.

1:09:12With a football. You didn't see this clip.

1:09:16Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, live from Manatic in Ohio. He was there. That's what I'm about to say. A man who might be at boots on the ground, eyes on the prize. Ladies and gentlemen, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, A.J. Hawke. Hawker, how you doing, pal? I'm doing great after seeing the – I love that the Giants offensive line just travels with their quarterback in full uniform as well. So these guys are looking good. I didn't think that was the best look. You don't think that's the real – that's the starting offensive line, right? Yeah. Look at those pants.

1:09:44They fit perfectly. That looks like Plum High School's offensive line. No, it looks like the guys they hire for commercials to play offensive linemen in bad commercials.

1:09:52Pat McAfee:Yes, which I think is probably what – well, you might have just described what was actually happening in real time, but it would probably be a good commercial. We will say, though, it does feel like only negative comes out of Fanatics Fest for most people that participate. Those are things that go viral, except for Biebs. Yeah. Except for Biebs. What Biebs was able to accomplish, I think everybody had massive respect for. Casual run-up, a little bit of a kickoff run-up. Nice smooth swing, made all his kicks. I do believe he won the Olympics, sir. Yeah. Wow. Goofball title. I think he did. Okay.

1:10:25Pat McAfee:So I am incredibly pumped. There's a trophy for that. Oh, yeah. A title, I would assume there is. Yeah. He'll get it in six to seven months. All right. All right. If he's going to be spelled wrong. All right. All right. Let's move along. Let's move along. Let's move along. NFL players want grass, dude. Yeah, they do. Okay. There was a time. I forget what it was. It was like make the switch or super switch time. Yeah, Bakhtiari's thing. I forget what it was. Give us grass. Yeah, it was something. Super grass. No, I don't think hashtag super grass was dropped. Bakhtiari wanted it real fast. But it should be.

1:10:56Pat McAfee:Grass not ass. Everybody did. Yeah, I think it was. Turf is ass. We want grass potentially in the – whatever the case. I didn't think it was ever going to be successful just because what they were fighting for and what they were saying just had so many different counters from the NFL that they could just muddy it up and then just get to the next one. This angle of it being worth the cost is kind of like the angle that all the NFL players are kind of going for. I like that angle. I think that's not a bad angle because they're literally opening up the, yeah, it's going to cost money, but we think it's worth it.

1:11:28Pat McAfee:AJ, your thoughts on if this is ever going to happen and your thoughts on the fact that when soccer comes to town, somehow they're able to roll this grass. Now, this particular grass is nowhere near good enough for NFL football games, especially with the weight and explosivity and stuff like that. But what are your thoughts on the way the players are kind of angling for it? And the NFLPA released a survey that said 100 % of our players wanted it. There was like 2 % that said they didn't. Those are kickers that went onside kicks. There was 5 % of people that tell us they don't do surveys, basically.

1:12:00Pat McAfee:They're not interested. Everybody else said they want natural grass. How do you feel about this, AJ? And why do you think the players are so inspired by this particular narrative? It feels like this is one that the players are very, very, very passionate about. Yeah, they are, because they're the ones that have to practice and play on this stuff. And it's true. The older you get, the more you practice on field turf and play on it. They can say all they want with studies and all that. You definitely get injured more on field turf when your cleats stick in the ground, your foot doesn't come out, boom, you tear your ACL, you have other situations that pop up.

1:12:35I don't know the exact numbers. I don't think we'll ever get those. But I agree with the players. You should have natural grass. But I do not believe this will happen anytime soon for the NFL.

1:12:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, me neither. Just because the amount of decisions that would have to go in that construction that would have to take place. It's just like... And how does it hold up? I guess that's their argument, too, would be, hey, what about in November, December, cold weather? Like, how do we, what does it look like then? What were we told? Dr. Stills came on and told us that they got some AI robots scanning every single field. during every different climate and it turns out that actually at some times of the year there is some turf that is actually better for your joints than there is grass and this particular grass actually ends up being worse for your ankles because like they have all those with the ai robots they have them all remember every single time this has happened they have had oh yeah they've had a thousand different things about well which grass and then the grass in new york versus the grass in miami versus the grass in green bay which everybody's like well actually the grass and green bay is like a mix isn't it that's kind of what we want that's what everybody kind of wants and like oh so we do want some turf though then they're able to just you know it's like a never-ending it feels like dog chasing tail in this but i like the fact that the players have continued to maintain their passion so inevitably if there was some changes to be made potentially it'll take place but this is all like seeding obviously for a longer term plan i think by the players and i respect it and i don't care if you i don't know if you guys care about this or not because it's always about the injuries and stuff like that.

1:14:05But I saw there was a tweet going around last week about the temperature of artificial. There was like a picture of concrete, artificial turf, and natural grass on a 90-degree day. It was like 85 on natural grass, 140 on artificial turf, and like 130 on concrete. I don't know if that's part of it too. I assume players wouldn't want to be playing on 140-degree turf because, I mean, we did it in high school. Like, our turf field was insane because it was the black rubber pellets. But I don't know if that's part of it as well.

1:14:28Pat McAfee:Yeah, and inevitably, what do we know is going to happen here? Nothing. We'll talk about it. Who's the next CBA? Because if they do for the NFL, this would be a big... But then how do you, does the NFL then, would they mandate with people that own these stadiums, like, hey, you've got to put grass in if you don't have it? Yeah, and then who's the NFL? And what if you have scrubbed grass? What if you have terrible grass? Do you have to upgrade you to tear all that up and put new grass in? Yeah, so we found a quote from Stills on our particular show where he said, like, there's 30 different services, basically.

1:15:01Pat McAfee:Like, here we go. We got 30 different services because every single stadium is different. It's not just the material, but how you maintain it. There's a lot of research happening to get the safest surface necessary. So they can always say they're trying to get the information on it, which I think they are trying to do. But when push comes to shove, how much money they have to invest in it, worth the cost, I believe. You got hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts out there on the field. Okay, those are very important, very pricey, very expensive assets you have on there. You're just kind of rolling the dice with shitty surface every single week.

1:15:31Pat McAfee:why wouldn't you want to do it? It's worth the cost. And then they go, okay, yeah, sounds good. Can't use the stadium for six months. We're going to have to go play somewhere else. We've got to build this thing up. We've got to flip this thing out there. Who's doing all that? We are. How are we going to recoup the money? Can't host all those concerts and different things in the offseason. I guess you could, but it's going to be just a lot more work. And also, what about the places that don't have retractable roofs? I would assume we're going to continue to have turf there. They're not going to find a way to have grow lights inside these domes, are they?

1:16:01Pat McAfee:No, that's what I'm saying. So we would just like to say, we are on the player's side. Worth the cost. I agree. They are 1 ,000 % worth the cost, and we appreciate what they do for society and for us specifically. We are on the side. But we just fear that they'll be able to punt that thing around. Yeah, tough sell. They'll be able to kick that thing around. They'll be able to money. Or in the next CBA, be like, yeah, we'll put grass in all of them. You guys get 26 % of total revenue. and also how about this no pads in training camp at all and uh players are like no pads at all that'd be really nice and the owners say we don't give a fuck how you practice we don't get we don't care are the stadium still full yeah and then everybody gets hurt week one because they got no pads and it's over just like what happened with offensive line play whenever they change the offseason to you're not allowed to exercise around each other and then you're not allowed have a ball either so now quarterback developments you know there's always ripple effects for all these things but what the nfl normally gives up in the owner's eyes has nothing to do with sundays having to flip a stadium into a whole different that would certainly affect on sunday and very rare does that happen but i think they should we'd like to go on record all in favor of them flipping all their stadiums in a two to three week period deal okay so it doesn't take too long to the right super grass.

1:17:27All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? So on the record, we're on the record. Yeah, unanimous.

1:17:37Pat McAfee:Good. We're natural grass guys. All right, let's vote now. Do we think it's going to happen? No. Okay. Carry on. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who maybe knows a little bit more about something that might happen, actually, even though we think that it's probably never going to happen. There's a lot happening in Washington, D.C. right now to protect college sports, more specifically an act named after it. Will that be able to get through? Also, what's going on in Michigan? And from SEC Media Days, joining us now, the authority for college sports, college football in particular for this particular conversation, ladies and gentlemen, Pete Thamel.

1:18:14Yeah, Pete!

1:18:15Pat McAfee:How you doing, Pete? Bad, I've never been better. How about you? Golly. Wow, yes. you lift me up you know you lift me up you do whenever i uh get a chance to chat with you not only because that tie is perfect oh my god the winds are not pete what is that perhaps i wouldn't recommend wearing a tie in tampa in july if you're ever vacationing here pat i know you you have an affinity for ties but i'd stay away how about that maybe a sleeveless tank might be better fitting okay that's what i'll do if i'm ever down there in july i will certainly do that but I'll let the ties kind of remain in your particular field.

1:18:53Pat McAfee:Let's talk about your field. Big story out of SEC media days. Ward Manuel will step down at the end of the year, so he'll have another college football season, I do believe. We were chit-chatting about this. National championship in football, national championship in basketball. I think a lot of new facilities. I think a lot of development probably around not only the big sports but also Olympic sports. And then obviously riddled with controversy all over the place. How do you think his time at Michigan will be viewed and inevitably how did we get to this point right here? Well, Pat, two very different questions.

1:19:26I'll start with how we got here and then go to Legacy. We got here just for an accumulation of scandal. I think the surprise of today was that today didn't happen sooner for Ward Manuel when we look at, obviously, the Conor Stallion scandal, which Ty remembers fondly. Stallion, yes, Stallion. Really serious business, what happened there. You know, and then there's the obvious, you know, we could go through the whole the whole grand grand recounting of Michigan incidents, which was capped by Sharon Moore's firing and then arrest in the wake of his in the wake of his firing. You know, I believe Michigan's on four years probation in football for Stallions.

1:20:10There were a lot of show causes. He survived an unusual amount of reputational carnage because Michigan won. and this has felt inevitable for a while. There had been a Michigan presidential change that was expected to happen. The gentleman, Kent Severed, who came over from Syracuse, encountered a serious health problem. That was thought to be Ward Manuel's exit ramp, but he stuck around, and now they're kind of going to give him the rest of the season. And look, this$12 million internal report or internal, I guess, external investigation of Michigan's culture didn't really have any smoking guns in it, Pat.

1:20:44But, you know, which basically meant Michigan couldn't fire him for cause. So they tried to hold hands the best they could and find an exit that doesn't look like a firing. And that's where they ended up. You know, he will be still owed somewhere in the neighborhood of six million, at least by his contract. Now, there were obviously buyout discussions over the last week where they came to some sort of conclusion on that. They have not revealed what that is yet. And yeah, you know, Pat, look, the fans will remember the winning, right? That's what they remember. They'll remember Dusty May cutting down on the Nets and Indy, and they'll remember the conclusion of Ty's favorite college football season, 2023, which ended with Michigan winning the national championship in an undefeated season.

1:21:26In college sports, we've learned there's a high tolerance for shenanigans as long as the winning was there, and the winning was there for Ward-Manual, and that will definitely be part of its legacy. There is a high tolerance for shenanigans, isn't there? Really high tolerance There's also a high tolerance for cheating For some other discretionary Actually we don't really need to cover here right now We all remember them very well Why does that always seem to be the case you think Well I don't know I think they kind of hide under the guise Of being a Michigan man When really that's a flimsy bullshit expression For kind of saying you can do whatever the fuck you want If you go to Michigan

1:22:03Pat McAfee:That's not actually Pete Thamel saying that That is Please put the audio version There he goes again And there's Greasy Pete again. We don't need that. We don't need that. That was Ty Schmidt dabbling back with Connor Stallion. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, okay. All right. We are, just for the audio listeners, that was not actually Pete saying all of that. Okay? That needs to be said because we don't need him putting on his. Yeah, his big boy pants. Yeah. What are you? Yeah, great Pete. Hey, Pete, good for you, dude. Good for you. Good for you. I know that had to be absolute hell to deal with just day in while you're trying to lock in.

1:22:39Just doing his job.

1:22:40Pat McAfee:45 different conversations, trying to lock it in. Hey, we're thinking you should probably go through the back door here and not let anybody see you. Why is that? Well, don't you? We don't know what they're going to throw at. You need to just kind of go this way. Hey, Pete, we appreciate you doing that for journalism. Hello, baby, Pete. For journalism, Pete. Good work, Peter. Journalist. You want to hear a funny story, Pat, about that? Sure. Yeah. The day I did the report from the stadium, they assigned a police officer to me to walk with me. He was a very nice gentleman. He was from Dublin. I don't remember his name.

1:23:09But we were walking down the tunnel. And the stadium's completely empty. It's like 8.30 in the morning. We're just chit-chatting about Dublin and whatnot. And, you know, we were going to go there for game day the next year and everything. And a Michigan fan walks up the tunnel and has some very terse words for me that included a couple of, like, very pointed expletives. And this very pleasant police officer looks at me and goes, oh, they really don't like you here, do they?

1:23:33Oh, the Irish accent saying that, dude. Just in real time, that guy realizing, oh, I might have to actually do some stuff here.

1:23:40Pat McAfee:Okay. All right. I thought this was going to be a nice, pleasant walk. That's awesome. Pete, well, way to staying in there. And obviously, the fact that you continue to do so is why you are the authority. Now, you're fresh out of SEC Media Week. Go ahead there, Conman. Yeah, Pete, is there a feeling from the SEC schools like, hey, we've got to take football back from the Big Ten? Because it seems like every single year, the SEC just gets blown out of the water by the Big Ten. I know we had some sort of Hembo stats, and I think the last, boom, there it is, the last four meetings in the CFP between Big Ten and SEC has combined 135 to 54, and it feels as though the days where the SEC dominated football is completely done.

1:24:21So is that kind of a feeling over there at these meetings? Yeah, Connor, it's undeniable. There is an SEC slump at the highest levels of college football. The last three national title games have not included an SEC team. We've had a Pac-12 representative, Washington, in the national title game more recently than we've had an SEC team in there. So they will be quick to tell you that, you know, there's parity, 1-16. They're as deep as anybody. But really what may be more concerning for the SEC is they've lost a lot of those Iowa Vanderbilt-ish middle-class games. Brett Bielman was quick to point that out recently on Twitter.

1:25:00So what this modern era of college athletics has done, I call it the Panini effect, right? It's taken the top and pressed it closer to the bottom and taken the bottom and pressed it closer to the top. And that has not let the Nick Sabans and Kirby Smarts, as they did, stockpile five-star recruits. And, you know, if you have a very good recruit who's not playing going into his third year, he's going to go transfer to, you know, Arkansas, Illinois, somewhere else. Yeah, there you go, Pat, West Virginia. They're going to go get snaps, right? Snaps are the greatest currency right now, along with actual currency in college football.

1:25:34So the brand attraction of all these top recruits just doesn't have the consequence that it used to. And that has hurt the SEC in particular.

1:25:43Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think the SEC knows it. I think they understand what's going on. Nick Saban had been talking about it for a couple of years. Like, hey, listen, a lot of opportunity up north all of a sudden, especially with the way NIL is. Are they going to be able to continue to keep up? I'll be excited because I know the Big Ten, all they're thinking about is how do we get more money, more money, more money. Their schools are all thinking how do we get more money, more money. I assume the SEC is doing the same, but those business schools in the north, man, a couple hundred thousand. Can you give 20 ,000?

1:26:13Pat McAfee:Yeah. Can you give 30 ,000? Can you give 75 ,000? Can we pick up an offensive lineman here? Somebody just graduated from somewhere that just has a new finance job out of one of these schools. Oh, I want to help out my school get a cool parking spot at the games. Give 45 ,000 bucks. you put that together with another one of his friends all of a sudden you got a you got a guard now that's kind of top you're not too shit yeah it's like that is what the northern that's just from me witnessing this like actually witnessing this happening but a lot of the northern schools it's not just one or two of them it's like six of them seven of them they got this because the business schools are so good and i think the way that works is your networks are at worse so if you get into school you're kind of automatically getting into a job yeah i'm doing the entire i don't know the entire process but it feels like a lot of people have been getting because they don't know the people but the people that do know the people they do get jobs and they're able to kind of go ahead and do it that's kind of what's happening in big 10 right now yeah it is and i think big 10 has more depth like that but pete correct me if i'm wrong lsu and texas rumoredly reportedly the two most expensive rosters in college football this year yeah tone i think that any top five spender list would have to include uh would have to include those two texas probably pound for pound the most talented roster in the country and i think lsu and pat will certainly we'll certainly see this in week one, the most tantalizing roster, right?

1:27:32Certainly some high-end players, some stars, some questions. A coach who was – we're anxiously awaiting his presence here at SEC Media Days this week in Lake Hiff. And they are – it is in many ways LSU is the story of college football this season. So, yeah, they have been not afraid to spend at LSU. I think it's like$70 million just in dead buyout money between Brian Kelly, AD, basketball. They are all in. The governor said, we have a bad deal. Yeah, he did. The guy think we got to pay. I don't know how that works. That was awesome. That's some sort of fraud. Look at the coach with the deal with the agent.

1:28:13Go ahead and look at the guy. I mean, you start. We got to fucking pay this guy. This guy lose football game. A lot of them. This is your best one, by the way. I love him, man. I love that guy. Jeff Landry. The best. I want a tiger. I'm putting one out there. I grew up with the roar. He's the best. He is the best. But him coming out and going, we're a public school. I mean, we're paying this guy. Guys stink. It was unbelievable. And then all of a sudden, yeah, we're paying land again. remember because he was like we're not doing the guarantee yeah i'm not doing guarantee we can't we're bankrupt our state it's going to be based on how many wins they have yeah kind of a rolling contract three weeks later lane kiffin biggest contract in the industry

1:29:04Pat McAfee:oh i can't wait to get down there pete i think you should start your first hit of the year especially down there just go hey

1:29:14Pat McAfee:I will not do that, Pat. Pete, I think that would be awesome if you did it. Everybody's thinking I'm going to do it. As soon as I get up there, everybody's thinking that. What if I go, no, I'm not going to do it. New me, by the way. New me down here. And then all of a sudden, Pete Thamel. Let's go over to Pete Thamel. A little bit of an update going on. And Pete goes, well, first, hey-oh. That would be. All time. Pete, that would be. Have to do it, authority. All right, let's dump this. Let's dump this. Smart, yeah. Nobody will know it's coming. No. That's a part of the entirety of it. Oh, yeah.

1:29:49Could you imagine him? Suck that. No. Peace in. I mean, I wore the white suit last year. Wasn't that enough, Pat?

1:29:57Pat McAfee:It was good. It was a good start. Yeah, but remember, I mean, going back to Conor Stallion, one of our first ideas for you that was. Oh, man. That was a big-time miss. That could have been. You, Ed Reporter? With the full. Riot gear? Yeah. With the hard hat on. Bulletproof vest. Media. That was one of our best ideas. I think if that happens now, maybe we're listening to a little bit more. Maybe. Maybe in there. But the thought of you in the middle of that Michigan Wolverine crowd. Getting tomatoes thrown at him. Boom. Bang. Sucks for you. Great for TV, though, is what we're talking about. And what are we trying to do?

1:30:33Produce could tell. I mean, I already get it from the Oregon Duck. Isn't that enough? That's awesome. I love every time that happens.

1:30:38Pat McAfee:because that's early morning over there. So that's good. Hey, that gives me good juice. Yeah, and that's just the duck. The duck just wants to be on camera more than Big Dom. No. Watch this guy. You don't talk about Big Dom like that. He would have got me chicken cutlets at the home run site. Pete, we have to get to something that is big in college sports. Obviously, protecting College Sports Act is happening. There's a lot of things, kind of a part of it, that are rolling out that maybe we didn't know or are learning of in real time. Ty has a question for you. Yeah, Pete, it seems like one of the big sticking points on that was that the conferences now will be limited to 19 members being in.

1:31:16Why is this such a big sticking point? And, like, for the Big Ten and the SEC, every time we've kind of talked to whether it's been Petiti or Sankey, it doesn't seem like they're too keen on adding members anytime soon. But why is this such a big deal? Well, Ty, so I think any time the Protecting College Sports Act is discussed, it has to be discussed with the fact that it is still a Hail Mary to actually become ball, right? There are still myriad deal points that need to be negotiated, talked about, renegotiated. This is the focus, though, because realignment is the infrastructure and paradigms of a multibillion-dollar industry.

1:31:55And what has happened in college sports as they have invited Washington and courted Washington in some ways to help them with their issues because of antitrust is you get a lot of unsophisticated opinions that that come through. So we've seen a couple of iterations already of realignment and what it could look like here. And Maria Cantwell, who is the Democrat from Washington, she's obviously been a vocal proponent of Washington state, which got left out in the coal in the realignment. So she's been particularly invested in realignment. And the prior iteration to this said group of six teams wouldn't be able to move up.

1:32:32Well, that didn't sit well with Maria Cantwell's own constituents. So there's been another evolution. It was going to be 20, and then that got negotiated down to 19. The Big Ten has 18 teams. The Big Ten and SEC would obviously want to add Notre Dame, and they are the bell of the ball. Everybody else in realignment pales in comparison. So with what this is now, and it's just being discussed as this now, it hasn't been written in paper yet, but this is the latest evolution and iteration tie, would allow the SEC to then add three teams. The Big Ten would leave room for one. Both would certainly covet Notre Dame.

1:33:09And then there would be others, obviously, North Carolina high up on that list, Clemson, Miami, et cetera, who would who would all want to fall into place. The other aspect of this is that if you are in a power league and go to another one, you have to be independent for five years, which is a fairly wild thing to really like walk through. if you're going to be like, okay, what would it like to be an independent for five years? You'd have to operate on limited revenue. You'd have to find a schedule. That is a bad existence. You are operating in the netherworld of college athletics for a while to get to the other side.

1:33:42It seems particularly cruel. And I've already heard today, since we put that out this morning, from some places that do have the aspiration to move up that they would obviously push back strongly against that and they would get their senators and their congressmen. So I think what we've learned, Ty, from this bill is that we can all sit around and point out the problems in college athletics. That's very easy to do. The solutions are intricate and they're difficult and you have unsophisticated people addressing them. And that's why, like, hey, let's put a 19-team league in, which no one ever in college athletics would actually say because the math doesn't matter.

1:34:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, and this is always a part of the problem whenever you're looking for legislation is you're going to have to have people involved that obviously don't know ball. Now, with that being said, I think everybody understands that we need some sort of something to take place for college sports. And now the details are what are going to have to get kind of ironed out. When do you project something happening to kind of preserve the back end of college sports that we all can kind of see is not sustainable? Right. I think we all kind of understand that. Yes, Pat. And that's been, you know, a consistent line really since NIL started to take off.

1:34:48Now, what is it, five years ago? Right. A lot of skepticism around the industry that even if the Big Ten and the SEC align with the politicians and get something together, there's still a long, difficult road to get the bill passed. This is D.C. This is politics. Things can get kneecapped and sideswiped in an instant. It is a road fraught with peril when you rely on Washington for that. So if that doesn't happen, then, you know, the self-governance movement would obviously would obviously, you know, be the next thing up where these leagues have governed themselves in different aspects, even during my time covering college sports the last 25 years or so.

1:35:29So it's not a radical idea, but it would certainly be a shift. And the biggest shift would be those were done in days where everyone offered scholarships and things were relatively equal. Now it's the cap be here with the cap be there. It would cause a whole new set of issues and finger pointing and everything. So, look, problems apparent, future unsustainable solutions are going to be a very difficult high wire to navigate.

1:35:52Pat McAfee:All right. Well, hopefully you'll be the one up there like the Wallendas. Yeah, yeah. The Wallendas. Hopefully you'll be up there with that big stick. Maybe I'll come out with Red Panda at LSU, Pat. That'd be sick. You wish. Hey!

1:36:09I think that's what you need to do. Probably not. Probably not. Just do it, Pete. It was so awesome. Nobody would expect it from you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Pete Thamel. That's Pete Thamel. And Greece.

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1:37:55Yeah. Yeah.

1:37:56Pat McAfee:Welcome to Baton Rouge, and he does his entire thing, and then before we get started, Hey-oh! and then they say and he goes whoa it's gonna be that type of morning and right into the maybe saver leads off with oh anybody but me i'm telling you me walking onto that stage and four people telling me on the way up there hey we're trying not to promote that okay thank you hey nice to see you my name's blah blah blah i work with you've probably been told we're trying not to you know absolutely you got that thank you so much hey this is big time alumni Hey, what's up, man? I'm Pat. Nice to meet you. Thank you for hanging out with us.

1:38:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's going to be a wild morning. Yeah, they told you we're trying to. Yep, absolutely. Thank you so much. Promise. Herbie goes, how is it? I'm like, they really don't want that Tiger thing to really happen, huh? He goes, why? Why? You know? Yeah. Why? Why? You know, because Herbie does. I don't know. Like, three people just, like, stop me. We're like, don't do that. And Herbie goes, so. I go, we kind of have to. But then as you leave the morning with that, dude, you kind of sit up there. They're like, that's pretty aggressive. That's pretty aggressive. But they're fans. Also. I didn't create it.

1:39:08They're calling for it. You're kicking off college football season.

1:39:10Pat McAfee:Also, just showcasing. They are a great fan base to be showcasing. Top tier. Yeah. Come target fans. Saban said his favorite thing about it is if you stood at the 50 right in the middle of the field, you could actually smell the whiskey. He said that was his favorite part of it. He said it was great. I've never experienced that before. You could actually smell the whiskey. Take it in. Doesn't matter what time it is. Yeah, they get after it. And now with Lane, too, there's going to be a lot to celebrate. He's doing deep shots. They're going to be going fucking. Tossing clipboards. What a season we're going to have.

1:39:40Where's LeBron James going? LSU. Maybe. He might. Never played in college. Yeah, true. We do not know what the NIL is down there.

1:39:49Pat McAfee:Miami Heat have become the odds-on favorite. Wow. At the greatest sports book to exist, DraftKings, now available in all 50 states. If you are of age and agree to gamble responsibly or trade responsibly on the predictive market. We would love for you to join us at DraftKings. You can now bet a futures bet on where the hell LeBron James will end up at. Miami Heat, odds-on favorite. Obviously, he had to run there. Riley took his chocolate chip cookies. Is that something that he just forgot? Or maybe some people should remind him. Obviously, he had a lot of success down there. Some say he learned how to become a champion down there in Dade County.

1:40:26Pat McAfee:Cleveland Cavaliers, well, that's where he's from. Just a kid from Akron. Is he going to go back home and bring him another parade? Is he going to say, you know what? I left a couple times, came back home, won a few times. I think I did pretty good for my hometown. I think I did pretty good for my team that was so ass that they actually got to pick me. Yes. People forget that. That's how bad they were. Golden State Warriors or Steph Curry, this is where it makes sense to me that he would go. If he's leaving the Lakers. Me too. Team USA running, mate? I don't know how the Pacers got on this list.

1:40:57I don't know if you guys made this list or not, but I don't think the Pacers were supposed to be on there.

1:41:00Pat McAfee:Well, Tyrese Halliburton is the only one that's interviewed him publicly since this whole entire thing has happened, okay? And we forget, remember, chewing on gold medals together. Hi! Remember that whole thing? Said he would die for Tyrese. Yeah, and I think Tyrese said, ah, LeBron James poster actually in my room. That's how old this fucking guy is. He's still playing in there, so obviously he has massive respect. So maybe strictly because he knows, well, Coach Carlisle and the Pacers are about to bring next year. And if we did add a LeBron James to our team, Oh, man. All of a sudden, you know, we won the title.

1:41:32Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who is an Olympic gold medalist. He's an NBA all-star. He's the man who interviewed LeBron James last week, straight from goofball fest. Ladies and gentlemen, our favorite, Iowa State Cyclone, Indiana Pacer, Tyrese Halbert's here. Yeah, baby Tyrese! Ali! Ali! He is moving very good, isn't he? Yeah, you like the mismatch? Yeah! Hey, there we go. See, I told you, you get some adult versions, I'll wear them. I need some of those, too. Are those yours as well, or are those just other Pumas? No, these are just other Pumas. You started walking down here, I said he's wearing Nikes.

1:42:20Pat McAfee:That's why I said it in my head. I said this guy's wearing Nikes, so his shoes look good. I would never do something like that. I know, that's why I was so confused. That thing will get you. You don't have to move it. Okay, okay. It'll get you if you're out there. No problem, no problem. How are you doing, brother? You're looking incredible. You walked over here. There was no hitching your giddy-up at all. How's the Achilles feel? How's the body feel? I feel great. I feel great. Shingles is basically beyond me now. Hell yeah. Congratulations. For the most part, I've lost the weight. I feel great.

1:42:46It's the best I've felt in a long time.

1:42:47Pat McAfee:Okay, so Shingles coming in the middle of your rehab. I'd say at the tail end of your rehab right off your Achilles, you were starting to really get after it. Yep. And then Shingle said, why don't you go ahead and experience one of the worst things you could ever experience? You're going to have some nerve stuff. It's going to make you think you're itchy. You're not itchy, but you are itchy. And all day, every day, you're going to have to deal with it. Oh, yeah, it's going to get in your eyeball. Can't really sweat sometimes either, so the working out is going to have to pause for a bit. You're going to be uncomfortable.

1:43:09Pat McAfee:For you to fight through that, get to this side, how do you feel? And are we all systems go for next season? And LeBron James is going to be a teammate. You're with him. First part of the question, I feel great. Body feels great. I'd be lying if said all the shingles is gone. I still have some nerve stuff going on in my eye sometimes where I'm really itching my eye. But for the most part, everything else is gone. LeBron being my teammate, it's not looking good. It's not looking good. Damn. Did you not put on a game performance? I texted him before this. Not this. Before Fanatics Fest. And I said, hey, you should come be a pacer.

1:43:47and he responded with six laughing, crying faces. I thought it was two. I thought it was two. I said during our interview that it was two. Then I went back and looked at the text. It was six. Is that two lines or is that just one straight across? You know when you send one or two emojis, it becomes big, but when you send so many, it goes back to normal size. It was six in a line. So it took up a majority of the screen of him just laughing in your face. Yeah, yeah. Or is he laughing like obviously? Yeah, dude. Yeah. And did you not interview him good over there at New York? At Goofball Fest. It's not called that.

1:44:22It's called Fanatic Fest. I think I did a pretty good job. I like to think I did a pretty good job. Did he do good enough to sway him to play for the Pacers? Yeah, that didn't. No, I wouldn't say that. He tried to avoid every free agent question for the most part. But, you know, that was the first time I felt like he publicly acknowledged, like, I got a big decision. These are the things that I'm concerned about, and I will make it soon.

1:44:43Pat McAfee:Can you riddle me this? Every team would want LeBron James on their team? Like, if he was to come to the Pacers, obviously we'd be excited because you're a true point guard. So, and Spicy P, obviously A-OK with whatever the case is. The whole team, right? It feels like he would be a great match for our particular team. But are there certain teams that you look at and you're like, I don't think that would be a good play strictly because of play style, if that makes sense. No, I don't believe that. Everywhere. I think if he said he wanted to go to any of the 30 NBA teams that everybody would say, please.

1:45:12Are you sending him voice memos too? I saw Lou Cornett send him a voice memos. Yeah, great one. Cornette sent him a voice memo? He did, yeah. It was comedy. He posted the voice memo. Well, Bleacher Report did. I don't know who let it out, but somebody let it out, yeah. I have not seen it. Well, it's good. Well, for the good of the city, let's get into voice memos. Let's start recruiting here a little bit. You're going to have a good time. I was in person. One-on-one conversation.

1:45:34Pat McAfee:High five, and let's not talk about you coming to the Pacers. I like you being that hospitable, because maybe he'll appreciate that in the end. Let's talk about this Pacers team, shall we? How do we feel? because I saw you at Saturday night main event. Good appearance by you. Thank you. I appreciate that. You did really good. And I appreciated your angle in which you were talking. You said, you ain't beat me. Is that the way we're going all year? For sure. Is that a lot? For sure. That's our angle. I'm very thankful to WWE for continuing to allow me to show up. And it was pretty cool because I think there's some parallels between what Seth and Roman got going on and what me and Jalen got going on too at the same time.

1:46:10So I thought it was pretty cool. I had a lot of fun with it.

1:46:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, a couple Midwestern guys coming out there and just, you know, kind of stealing the big city guys, kind of limelight. I like what you're doing there. The angle, though, of you ain't beat me, I like that. We're saying that all year. Like, the Knicks didn't have to play the Pacers, though. Well, no, they won. You know, give them their flowers. Yeah, give them their flowers. Give them their flowers. Congratulations to them. But the team that did the gardening last year didn't have an opportunity to do it. Do you feel like we should be as confident in this Pacers team as we were two years ago?

1:46:38Pat McAfee:100%. If that makes sense. 100%. Okay, so we should blindly be coming in super-duper confident. You don't need to do it. Why are you blind? You don't have to do it blindly. I'm right here. I'm telling you, yes, you need to be very confident in us. Let's go, boys. Okay. I saw Tatum at the ESPYs. He's real tall. Oh, yeah. Look out. He's freaking jacked, too, bitch. We worked out together that—well, first of all, that was extreme. That was extreme. I'm going to let that slide because, you know, you got the shoes on. So that's love. Two different pairs. Yeah, that's fire. We worked out together that morning, actually.

1:47:10And, yes, he is very tall and very, very jacked. Why is he wearing a tank top? Do you see his shoulders? He's the size of a barn.

1:47:20Pat McAfee:Of course, that's why he's doing that. He was very kind, obviously very tall. His recovery from Achilles made us all excited about you. Is that an accurate thing? We should be thinking about that. Like, how are the workouts going in the gym? Are we making shots still? Are we missing shots? What's going on? How are we? Are we feeling explosive? I know you were thinking about putting on a little bit more weight. Is that still something we're thinking about at this moment? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I've lost all the – I mean, fully transparent here. From shingles, I probably gained like a cool 15, 20 pounds.

1:47:48We saw it. We saw it. Yeah. That's why you know the internet is a good place sometimes. Tyrese, howler. Tyrese, he's – Yep. Hollaburger. Yeah, you know, that's all part of it. But I've lost most of it, but I feel like I've gained – what I've gained before that, like the good weight, I feel like I still have, so I feel great. Yeah, because you're in bulking season. Yeah, and then bulking season came like bulking season. You know what I'm saying? Shingles on top of that. Yeah.

1:48:12Pat McAfee:And then now you're in cutting season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shredding season. Yep. Because you've got to get ready for a big softball game. Yep. Why didn't you invite Darius to play in a softball game? Darius, you can come to my softball game. You can come? Oh, yeah. Whoa. No, I want you to come to my softball game. No, no. See, it wasn't because you invited a toxic table out there. Yeah. And the boys are super excited. We are. And all D-Bot was doing is, why am I in all that? Yeah, I did shoot one up. D-Bud, you are more than welcome to come to my softball game. I want you to play in the softball game.

1:48:39Pat McAfee:Hey, here we go. Here we go. Hey, he's bringing back that softball game. Paul George or? Yeah, Roy Hibbert, Paul George, Robert Mathis. It hasn't been a thing since Paul was there, and then he got traded like a week later. So, yeah, I'm bringing it back. Okay, we love that. Who's all going to be a part of it? We're working on it right now. Obviously, a lot of Pacers and Fever members, of course, but we got some names in the works. I don't want to tell everything right now. It used to be Coltsverse. It was like – Oh, we got a lot of Colts guys coming too. But then we're just working on, you know, getting some more celebrities outside of Indiana.

1:49:14Pat McAfee:Oh, what are we doing? Home Run Derby? How's it kind of go? Just a game? I think just a game. I don't think we're doing a Home Run Derby. Should we? I don't know. It's still a work in progress right now. It's tough. The Home Run Derby does steal clips early. Like, J.J. Watt does a softball game, and I think he does a Home Run Derby before it. Who else? There was just one. The Bills and the Patriots in their own respective ones did a home run derby. Yeah, Drake May had a home run derby at his very recently here. Yeah, everybody does home run derby beforehand, I think. You obviously don't make everybody sign up, but it's just a moment to.

1:49:45Pat McAfee:Should Schwarbo be off that day? He's on the Colts team for sure, if that's going to happen. I don't think Schwarbo signed up to play in too many charity softball games in season. Yeah, but he's got to beat the Pacers, the Colts. Come on. Sure. Just give him a call. He's a football guy. That's up to Tyrese if he wants to put that call in. Are you the commissioner of the game or what are you? I'm the captain of my team. Nice. And I'm the host, yes. Are you playing? I am playing, yes, sir. We don't need you doing that. Are we on your team? I don't know yet. Shit. I kind of – do you guys have to be on the same team?

1:50:18Yeah. I would appreciate it if we were on the same team. Okay. I think you're drafting the toxic table to it. You're drafting them together. Yeah. As a tag team. Yeah, we'll be interviewing together. Duo. Okay. It's August 24th, so we got some time until we get there. August 24th. You know what's happening on August 14th? What's August 14th? It's coming. It's a big day. What's August 14th?

1:50:42Pat McAfee:Thanks for being a friend, dude. Just wait. Thanks for being a friend. When August 14th comes and it happens, you're going to think back to this moment. You're going to say, I'm the worst friend of all time. What's August 14th? He's just been in the lab working on it. Yeah, fill me in. He's been so much. No, because I've seen him over there. Goof Troop Fest? He was. No, fanatics fest. Everybody calm down. What's going on August 14th? Fill me in, please. No, don't worry about it. I've been zero. No, the boys got questions. You haven't been. We've seen you everywhere. You've seen you everywhere.

1:51:14Pat McAfee:You've been everywhere. You've been absolutely everywhere. It's unbelievable. Yeah, you have been. It's been cool. I have been everywhere, literally. All right, you're the man. Connor has a question for me. I have to ask you about the Jalen Brown trade. Yeah. Obviously, the way that whole thing panned out. like in LaMelo to Minnesota and Giannis to Miami, like things have changed. But how do you feel about that entire thing? Because people were pissed. Tatum didn't come out and say anything, and then eventually he did. And, like, people also acting like, why isn't Tatum, like, defending Jalen Brown, telling Brad Stevens how to do his job?

1:51:43Also a very interesting angle. What do you think about it? Is it more so like the second apron and how that works? Yeah, I think that's obviously a big part of it. The second apron is something that will have to be, I think, discussed when we get to our next CBA because I think that it's hurting good teams from continuing to be good. Obviously, the Celtics championship team comes back for one year and then they kind of go away. Even with the Knicks not being able to run back that same exact roster the following year. So I hope it's something that we fix eventually. But I think the idea of it was good, wanting to create parity and more teams can compete.

1:52:15But I think it's something that has to be discussed. I think as far as the JB trade, I think you saw Brad Stevens kind of say it had a lot to do with freeing up more money to keep adding depth to the team, which I think is important. I think it also creates more intrigue and more interest in the East. Like this is probably the first time in the last however long that the East has been just as, if not more interesting than the West. And I think that's exciting because we have a lot of teams that could come out of our conference, which I think is really exciting.

1:52:43Pat McAfee:You got traded. I did get traded. How do you find out about that? How do you feel about that? Because obviously you're a superstar. You go on to become Olympic gold medals, face of our city. We're very thankful for that and lead the Pacers to Game 7 of the NBA Finals where you're going to score 50 fucking points and win it all. In Sacramento, so get that guy out of here. So whenever you find out about it, probably the first time in your life you've been told in basketball that somebody didn't want you on their team before. How is that personally and professionally? And in NBA, I feel like it does happen.

1:53:12Yeah, I feel like it's a little different, though, because I got traded in the middle of my second year. You know, you're kind of young and naive to the business, and you still think it's like family on three, one, two, three, family. But you still kind of view it that way. But I feel like the more time that you're in, especially after that, it's allowed me to understand that this is a business. You kind of – everybody is like – you're competing, you're in the locker room, you're brothers, of course. But I think at the end of the day everybody understands the business. Anybody can be traded at any time.

1:53:38And in the case of Boston, like with Jalen, it kind of was talked about all summer. So it was something that I'm sure that he was aware that was a real possibility and ultimately did happen. So I think my viewpoint on it was very different at that time versus if I don't think I'm going to get traded anytime soon. But if I were to get traded today, my view on it would be a lot different than it was in year two.

1:54:00Pat McAfee:As we wrap up here on ESPN, we'll continue digitally. We can announce that Ryan Fox, open winner, will be joining us tomorrow at 1220. Oh, hell yeah. Let's go. Cannot wait to talk to this guy. Just an absolute hero of people who aren't supposed to be good at golf. Great accent. Just, hey, there's a guy. Ting-pong-pang-pong-pow. How we doing? You see this guy? No, you didn't hear it. Goofball fest. Yeah. This guy. Maddox fest. Sorry. World Cup yesterday. Awesome fest. And at the World Cup. It was the World Cup yesterday. Sick. It was pretty cool. Great vibes. Fall asleep. He'll be joining us tomorrow at 1220.

1:54:37Pat McAfee:That's Tyrese Halliburton. He continues on digitally on YouTube, ESPN Plus, and Disney Plus. We can't thank you all enough for allowing us to do this for a living. We'll be back tomorrow with a packed show. Pack. It's not just Ryan Fox. No. There's more. That huge guest. Oh, super. No, that was Fox. Tomorrow might suck. Don't watch. That was pretty good. That was no problem. That was good. People watching, oh, no, tomorrow's going to suck, and then cut off right to a commercial, right to SportsCenter. Yeah, no idea. Yeah. They were talking about something super serious, too, I assume, in SportsCenter right at the top.

1:55:12Pat McAfee:I assume something super serious happened. Is this it for Lou Messi? And Cody Rhodes tears Achilles on that kick. That onside kick. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you see the onside kick? Oh, my bad. My bad. Sorry, the A word, that's on me. It was more a joke because it was the way the kick went. How'd you perform at the Olympics over there? I didn't do the activities. Isn't that like a huge part of goofball fest? Yeah, you didn't run the... It's Fanatics Fest. The goof gauntlet? First of all... It's called the Fanatics Olympics. First of all, everybody take a breath over there. Second of all, I went on.

1:55:44I was there. I did, I had to do like the autographs and the pictures and everything. I didn't do, I didn't do the, I didn't get to do all the activities. Did anyone blow you up like they did Josh Hart? Where he stayed there for like four hours. He was right next to me. And then did you get that though on Twitter? Like where you stay for a long time and then like don't sign one guy's thing and then they make it out to like you're the biggest thing on the face of the earth. They create your, you know, your schedule is created, but like a line can be super long. So you kind of have to figure out how, but I got through my whole list, My whole group.

1:56:14And I was a little worried about going to New York. I was like, oh, this is going to be a bunch of, you know, people are going to be, you know, douchebags about it. But people were cool. No, but you were hoping. I think we were all kind of hoping that you would get that in New York. Oh, yeah. I got a little bit of that. That's all fun. The nicknames they were giving you.

1:56:35What were the nicknames? You remember. The Halliburton, man. Remember? You remember the memes? Photoscopping you like Bin Laden. Because you were doing this one here. You did this one. I do remember the memes. Yeah, the beard. I forgot about that. Yeah, it was a joke. It was everywhere.

1:56:54Pat McAfee:It was awesome. They hated you over there. That's why Saturday night's main event was so good. It was so awesome. When I walked out, the first dude who was recording put his phone down and he was like, Oh. The first guy made eye contact was like, I hate that it's you. It should have been anybody else. they were hoping maybe the rock would come pop in, you know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know what they expected. Well, they were expecting the Archive Destruction. Yeah, of course, they were expecting Seth. Yeah, they were expecting a revolutionary. Yep. A visionary. I wanted Seth to hit Jalen with the chair.

1:57:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, it was interesting. He kind of just, he didn't want to do it, it felt like. You know, it felt like he didn't want to make on it because he understood what was going on. And also, Jalen had that pretty big brace on that wrist there. I was yelling there on the outside. I was like, fuck Roman, hit him. Oh, really? Yeah, it didn't work. It didn't work. And what did Jalen say to you? Anything? Did he say, I'll tell you what, I'll give you one of these? Any of those? Well, when I was walking away? Yeah. When I was walking away, he was like, you have to see me. I can't wait for you to be back. Oh, is that what he said?

1:57:55Yeah. And then you said, you ain't beat me. Yeah. I like that. You guys are actually shit-talking in there. Yeah, that's some real. It was fun. It was fun. We had a good time with it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we had a good time with it.

1:58:06Pat McAfee:And Jalen would say, I told Tyrese the truth. He's going to have to come to me. And you said, I told the truth too, they didn't beat us on the way to the run. A lot of people did beat the Pacers this past year. Yeah. Basically. By a lot of points. It was a tough year. Groin paints. All part of it. And they still made a move and got Zubach. Or Zubat. I love the Pacers. He's a dope. You're going to love Zubach. He's a dope. You are going to love Zubach. I can already tell I love him. He's like a big T.J. McConnell, I've been told. He's a double, double machine. Because he's white. What makes him a big T.J.

1:58:36McConnell? Yeah. What makes him a big T.J. McConnell? He's just a big white guy. The way he plays. The way he plays. It's just kind of like, you know, put in a clone machine. Cat came out. He's got pressure on suitors. He bops wood. What's that? Just a lot of pressure because of the move that was made to get him. Should have had the fifth overall pick. Can I say something? Let's think about it, though, right? We don't need a guard. The fifth pick was a guard. The sixth pick was a guard. You could have used Mo Johnson. Mo Johnson? Morris Johnson, the guy that - Oh, the dude in Dallas. Yeah. Yeah, I like Zoo.

1:59:11We're trying to win right now. Double-double machine. What if it would have worked out that we got Zoo and a top four pick? Oh, yeah, genius. You guys are genius. It just didn't work out. We took a gamble. I guess we lost because we didn't get the pick, but we got Zoo, who was one of the best centers in the NBA. And we got you back. That's all that really matters. That seems like a pretty good offseason for the Pacers. It feels like a great offseason. We got Kelly Oubre coming. What? Kelly, he's got a jumper there. Great hair. He can guard. Canadian guy. He's not Canadian, is he? I think so. Kelly Oubre is not Canadian.

1:59:40Lefty, isn't he? That would make him Canadian. Because he's left-handed? I'm almost 100 % sure he's not Canadian. I'm pretty sure he's from the States. He's American. He's from New Orleans. You're thinking of Olenek, maybe? You are thinking of Kelly Olenek. Maybe. We don't have him? We do not have him. He plays for Spurs. God, it'd be great to get him on our team. I like him. Not that I don't like this other Kelly that certainly showed up in a great way. I love that he's here. I can't wait to watch. You'll like him, too. Trust me. Carlisle going to have you guys running or no? Of course. Spurs are going to be tough.

2:00:12Spurs are good. Thunder are good. Knicks are good. Thunder starting to feel right now. The NBA is in a great place right now. It's going to be fun. Yeah, but what if we get LeBron?

2:00:20Pat McAfee:Why don't you fire off another text? Can we craft one? Let's abuse your right time. I left my phone out there, but we could definitely craft up a text. Here, text me from my phone. Hey. All right, let's get to a break. We'll come back on the other side. Wrap up everything from the weekend. And also, Tyrus, what else should we have asked you about? Anything? Puma, got no shoes out? You excited to get married? I am excited to get married. I'll get married in a couple weeks. I signed Kelsey Mitchell to Puma. Congratulations. Oh, speaking of Kelsey Mitchell, she becomes all-time leading scorer for the Fever, I believe.

2:00:53Pat McAfee:Did she? I think maybe second highest scoring for the Fever. Yeah, probably that would make sense. And then Caitlin goes absolutely crazy. 45 points, 10 assists. I think that's the most that ever has happened for the entire league in history. First 40 and 10 ever in W history. There was people saying she shouldn't. It'd be better for a league she wasn't in a league. I'm still saying that. Come on. Well, you got to be a better Hooper. She wasn't, what, top 10 player? Top 10 guard or something like that? Yeah. You heard it. People talking about trading her. It's like, they can't do that. Foolishness.

2:01:23Pat McAfee:It's great that she is playing like that, though, I think, in the middle of this whole thing. Tells us a lot about not only her, but the fever. You're at every game. Are the fever going to win this thing? Are we got a team that can go on a run? Offensively, we're the best offense in the W. We can score on anybody. We're going to have to get some stops if we want to win big. Defensively, we've got to get a lot better. We're not smacking wood, though? We're not where we need to be right now, but that's okay. We've got some time to get there. What is it, effort or is it scheme or is it personnel?

2:01:51I don't know that answer. That's a great question. I think we just have to overall be better. We give up too many points right now. We're like first or second in the W in points per game, but probably the worst defense in basketball is probably a bad combination. Can't be the best at everything, you know. You know, but we started locking down on a defensive side. He held the Liberty to 88 on Saturday night. And we know the Libs are really good at scoring. Yeah, they put up a lot of points. When did he say the Liberty to 88? Yeah, held the Libs to 88. On a back-to-back, which is impressive.

2:02:25Pat McAfee:Yeah, especially with the way that Liberty team scores. Yeah, beast too. Because I watch them live. We're talking like no looks from Sabrina. You know? A good team. I didn't know Sophie Cunningham also scoring. I thought she was just there to fight people. No, she's got a jumper. She can shoot it. She does. Definitely. And she's in the middle of it all, you know, with this jumper here. She's taking photos with people. Oh, yeah. Good internet meme. That is how they're taking pictures now. Did you take one? I have not taken a picture doing that. That was probably actually just now my first point ever.

2:02:56That was a pretty cool point. You think about doing it maybe make a big time three just right to it. Oh bang pow boom in the bang you

2:03:09Be cool, you know the funny part about this where she's taking all the pictures with the kids doing the point is like You don't understand in the moment the things that you do that are gonna affect that kids are gonna think is the coolest thing ever

2:03:19Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah, what did you do that? Kids think I can't go anywhere without a kid being like oh Do they have like a turban Do it That thing go pretty big What they're talking about did go pretty big This one though did go big You knew it was going to go big though But I didn't think that kids would be doing it as much as they are I thought it would just be a moment in time Well the thing about time Just keeps on ticking That's all we got That's a great point Thank you Alright let's take a break Anything to say to the team, Tyrese? Team on me. Appreciate you guys having me. It's good to see you guys, man.

2:03:59Good to see you. Congratulations. Thank you.

2:04:02Pat McAfee:You stood the point right there. I did do the point again. Sorry. That was pretty cool. Take that back. Anything to say to people watching? Appreciate you guys tuning in to the Pat McAfee Show. We'll be back tomorrow. Or is this just a break or is this the end of the show? I don't know. I think it should be on this show. Okay. We'll see you guys tomorrow. What is it? Be a friend. You got it. You got it. Be a friend. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Be a good person. Hell yeah. There you go. What'd I miss? It might change your life here at the end, but you're close enough. Don't you worry about it.

2:04:30Pat McAfee:You put your own little... Yep. On that. I like that. You like that? I like what you did there. Perfect. Cheers to you, bro. Yeah, cheers. Appreciate it. Be your friend. Tell your friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. We'll see you tomorrow. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Most of us are one good deal away from finally replacing that worn-out rug, fixing up the backyard, or getting the bedroom we actually want. Good news, that deal's almost here. Wayfair's Black Friday in July sale. Get up to 80 % off area rugs and up to 60 % off outdoor and bedroom furniture.

2:05:02Shop Wayfair's huge selection of styles and find the piece to fit your style, budget, and space. Plus, free shipping. Black Friday in July ends July 27th. Shop today at Wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. You know when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. You're vision arrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.