Hour 1: LeBron Responds to Brockman’s Hot Take, plus ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt

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0:45Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

0:58Rich Eisen:Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. I think this is the last year of Joe Burrow's exemption for taking the Bengals to the Super Bowl. This is the Rich Eisen Show. You had one game to win. It's not a one-game season. Joe Burrow was your quarterback. Bingo, sir. Today's guest, ESPN SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt, three-time American Century Championship winner Marty Fish, ESPN NBA reporter Dave McMenamin, And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:58Rich Eisen:Hey there, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We welcome you into our Los Angeles-based studios, 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Whether you're listening to us coast to coast on ESPN Radio or Sirius XM, or you're watching us in our usual spots of Disney +, the ESPN app, or today, we welcome in the ESPN2 audience. I'm back on the deuce. It's very rare. My first ever appearance on ESPN2, I believe, was for hockey intermissions, maybe back in 1996. And I was the fill-in host for Kenny Mayne once on RPM tonight. That's about it. But here I am back here on ESPN2. And happy ESPY Day, everybody.

2:47Rich Eisen:It's ESPY Day. The ESPYs are tonight in New York City, where they used to be when I was hosting them with Stuart Scott, hosting the pre-show, pardon me. It was Norm MacDonald, who was one of the first hosts that I saw back in the day. And it's interesting that Norm's name is being mentioned since his very famous OJ joke that involved Charles Woodson is something we're still talking about today. that Norm and his memory and Norm, along with a whole bunch of other comedians, have gotten together to support the V Foundation in honor of their friend. And many of the items that you can actually go get on an auction to raise money for the V Foundation are in honor of Norm MacDonald.

3:35Rich Eisen:And that includes your ability this hour, Closing in about 28 minutes is your chance to win an outgoing voicemail from Larry David. Oh, wow. LD has agreed to give you, ladies and gentlemen, a voicemail message. So why wouldn't you want to have that basically from Larry David? And all you've got to do to get something like that is hop on to the eBay site, ebay.com slash ESPYs to get that. You can also, by the end of this hour, 1245 p.m. Eastern time, you can get a chance to announce an NFL draft pick as well. So go to ebay.com slash ESPYs if you want a Larry David voicemail or the ability to announce a pick at next year's draft in Washington, D.C.

4:28Rich Eisen:Those are just a handful of some great auction items. If you just want to straight up donate to the V Foundation, V.org slash donate 100 percent goes to cancer research through our friends at the V Foundation and ESPN together. It's SB Day. And so that's how we're going to get Scott Van Pelt on a Zoom to kick off today's program in terms of the guest list. Marty Fish, fresh off of drying off from jumping in Lake Tahoe after winning the American Century Championship for the third time. First time as a winner to receive the new garments that's given out to all winners of the American Century Championship.

5:10Rich Eisen:A lab coat, because 40 percent of the dividends from American Century go towards medical research. So today is all about fundraising and celebrating all of that. Marty's going to be in studio in hour number two. And Dave McMenamin is going to join us in hour number three because he's the perfect combination of somebody who can understand what's going on with LeBron James. And because he went to college with our friend Chris Brockman. That's how Dave McMenamin got booked on today's program. Good to see you over there, Chris. How are you? I'm great. Have an interesting Tuesday? Yeah, I just want to let everyone know, especially Austin Rivers, that I did tie my own shoes today.

5:52Okay, I don't know what you mean by that, but I can't wait to get to that. It's great. It's great. I'm doing awesome. In the meantime, hello, Jason. Hey, nice to see you're wearing shoes.

6:00Rich Eisen:Thanks. See you. TJ Jefferson, you had quite a Tuesday as well, did you not? Oh, you're opening the wedding. Oh, wow. Last night was amazing. The group chats between us were fantastic. Getting put on LeBron's Instagram story where I didn't look bad at all was just. That's pretty cool. It was great for me. I didn't look bad either. Because listen, we could lead with the Midsummer Classic, as it's known, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia. It was a Midsummer game. Or what the entire Globe watched on Tuesday, which is Spain dispatching France from the World Cup. Yeah. We could do that.

6:43Rich Eisen:And we will. Yeah. But, you know, why start the show with an international sporting event? when you can start the show with an international to-do created by this program. Because LeBron James only has 154 million Instagram followers. That's it? That's it. That's it. And the reason why we're bringing this up is because this program has been on the air for 11 plus years. Well over a decade. And listen, we feel what we say here is relevant. For sure. We feel what we say here is well thought out. Other times, we're spitballing. I'm not going to lie. Not going to lie. We have meetings. We have meetings.

7:45Rich Eisen:There is a rundown that Mike Hoskins creates. Yeah, absolutely. Our coordinating producer. And then there are times where we'll just come on the air and I'll just say, you know what? I just want to hit this. Or you know what? What Chris just said to TJ or TJ just said to Chris has inspired me to just go all in on something completely different than what we've planned or what we're going to talk about. Of course. and for some reason yesterday i don't know why i wanted to stir up jalen brown going from the celtics to the sixers again yeah because you are the celtic fan chris and you are the sixer fan tj just wanted to stir it up again so we got into it again and then you chris said that the celtics are going to have a better record than the Sixers next year.

8:35Rich Eisen:And then you took offense to that. And then me as the one who roots for the defending champs, who not only sit across the entire NBA landscape like a colossus now as the New York Knicks and the orange and blue skies of the planet on a nice day, I said, listen. You also sit between our two teams, too. I'm more concerned about your team, the Sixers, with Jalen Brown on it than the Celtics with Jalen Brown off it. And then you then brought up LeBron James. LeBron James. Which led to this exchange on Tuesday's Rich Eisen show. I think it's either Miami or Golden State. I have a feeling it's Miami.

9:21Rich Eisen:But although Golden State is, didn't Draymond basically did a direct-to-camera pitch? I mean, look, if he wants to stay on the West Coast. And that's the end of that. I mean, if he goes to Miami, enjoy the play-in tournament. You don't believe they're going to be in the play-in tournament if LeBron James is on the game. With Giannis. LeBron is going to be a non-factor this season. I think everyone needs to, like, ready themselves. How is 21 points a game a non-factor? You've been on fire since we came on the air. Getting married, I thought, would soften you a little bit. No, it hasn't. Take that for data.

9:54I just... You don't like LeBron, so you don't want to believe. Just living in the past. has LeBron been a factor in the playoffs in the last few seasons dude he just got the he just got

10:05Rich Eisen:the Lakers to a second round I understand that I get it is that going up next to the Taylor Swift banner for sold out concerts okay so um that exchange just off the cuff right that whole thing by the way any plans to discuss LeBron's future or a conversation we've had before right yeah okay so our friends at the espn on the nba on espn handle picked up a small portion of that snippet but the relevant portion of you saying that lebron we all need to prepare that lebron's gonna be a non-factor and the heater playing and that the heater are playing team if he goes to miami yeah that was the relevant portion right we're gonna just then finish the show go about our days yeah go about our days getting ready to watch soccer at which point in time you right around uh what would i say around six o 'clock eastern three o 'clock local you send a screen grab to the entire text chain or that we kind of uh reside on Lo and behold, LeBron James took that reel and popped it on his Instagram stories, ladies and gentlemen.

11:24Rich Eisen:And you want to put that up on the screen there? Go to Miami, enjoy the play-in tournament. You don't believe they're going to be in the play-in tournament if LeBron James is on the game. We're the honest. LeBron is going to be a non-factor this season. I think everyone needs to ready themselves. How is 21 points a game a non-factor? That's amazing. 22 crying emojis. You got a 22 emoji salute from LeBron. 11 crying emojis. And then 11 more crying emojis. And in case you're wondering what the crying emojis represent. Well, a lot of people have different interpretations of that. All you have to do is go into your iPhone and put in the letters L-M-A-O.

12:16Rich Eisen:And it pops up. So LeBron was laughing his ass off. A lot I can entertain the king. And the thing is, I saw this later on, and I'm like, oh, man, can you imagine LeBron's probably out golfing somewhere, and his boys hit him up, and then he has to go. He was golfing with Draymond Green and Kevin Hart yesterday. Oh, is that right? Yeah. So think about that. The three of them are on the golf course watching our clip laughing at us, laughing with us, and he reposted. And then all the ESPN different accounts started making their own version of it. So I must follow up. Now that you know you have the attention of the king.

12:55Rich Eisen:Sure, sure. Tread lightly. okay my point is this it comes to the miami being a playoff a play-in team if he if he goes there right let's look at can we look at last year's eastern conference standing oh you do you have production yeah so we i i haven't everybody make this up right he were the 10th seat okay so let's say lebron does go there but if you think about it next year tj look who are they jumping because we think so the obvious answer is oh the hawks are going to be out right but you think philadelphia is going to be better oh i know right so they're a top six team orlando by all accounts underachieved last year and they were the seventh seed uh sorry they were the eighth seed right the pacers are getting two years off of the finals they're getting tyrese halliburton back so you got to assume that they're going to be better the wizards i know they were the worst team in the nba but they have trey young anthony davis and a.j debonza looks like an absolute superstar through the summer league so far they're going to be better who does miami jump to get into the top six but even with lebron james the wizards would have to be what 36 games better i'm just i'm just pointing out the east is going to be better at the bottom sure and who are they jumping the toronto sure they just got kawaii leonard maybe we don't know that the calves are better then you got the defending champs a team that won 60 games and the celtics are going to be it's right there in the mix as well who is miami jumping let me may i jump in now and uh give my two cents that you can't consider concern yourself with any other entity you can only concern yourself with one and that is lebron james showing up to miami if he does so with yannis and bam out of bio who clearly has a chip on his shoulder and clearly, based on what you're reading, feels that potentially with this new trio and everybody else that would still be there, okay, would run things in a much better and professional and locked in way than what they were doing in the previous season.

15:12Rich Eisen:and the guy on the screen number 23 you just feel is now no longer the King James anymore and I think you can point that out obviously father time is undefeated but what I was saying last year is he did get the Lakers to the second round now you don't raise any banners on that sort of thing but without Luca and without Austin Reeves or half an Austin Reeves this guy was still one of the best players on the court and was a guy who Oklahoma City all said to a man he was at the top of their scouting sheet. Going into all of those games for the Lakers. No one else. And I don't know. He adds to the mix of the Miami Heat.

15:58Rich Eisen:Other teams are definitely going to get better, but the Heat are a hell of a lot damn better too. You know, at the end of the day. But if he's golfing with Draymond and Kevin Hart out here in California, don't you think he's going to the Warriors at the end of the day kind of wouldn't you I mean if your family's also going to still be based I would do that if I was him I'd play with Steph I'd play with Draymond I'd play for Steve Kerr I'd play with Chris Dafforzingis and Al Horford and it may be like you know what Cocoon 5 I get it Jimmy Butler hopefully comes back healthy at some point and you're off and running, man.

16:41Rich Eisen:I disagree. Yaxle? I know you're a Sixer fan and you want him, but I mean, Yaxle? You could teach the young buck? Yaxle? What's the next thing? It's Tyrese Max here. Okay. Just saying. I want him to come to Philly just to make me happy. That's just personally, you know. But I mean, the fact that you buzzed the tower. It was also funny that every Heat fan interpreted that as he's going to Miami now because he's laughing at the idea that Miami oh yeah Heat fans think that this is a sign that LeBron is choosing to go back to Miami because he's laughing at the notion that the Heat would be a play-in team with him and that's an indication that that's where he's going okay there's many different interpretations laughing his ass off that you thought he was to be get ready that he's going to be a non-factor a non-factor yeah ding responding that's what i thought the 22 emoji salute was what did austin reeves respond he responded he posted uh oh yeah yeah so tj and adam were sending me a lot of the comments underneath you weren't monitoring no because he stopped after i noticed it at the gym i was like oh the and so i sent a screenshot to jake and i was like man the espn nba account really did me dirty and uh they just quoted you yeah yeah but they have to put it out there and cut it the way they cut it i mean welcome to world of aggregation i know so was it like they made up words that came out after that i checked out and so these guys were sending me something oh austin reeves i was a non-ball knower who looks like i couldn't tie my own shoes oh really now i get it yeah yeah there are some great great great i wore shoes to prove i did not see austin reeves at the american century champion austin rivers austin rivers said that oh i thought it was austin rivers said that yeah okay okay so i saw austin i saw your dad there at the american century championship so with all due respect austin uh i can attest this man knows ball and you can tie your why wore shoes with laces today okay very good you actually ever seen him tie the shoes over um no but don't throw our social media partners under the the bus here i'm not but i'm just saying you know they didn't take you out of context nope at all um you were in context of saying that Hey, you all need to get ready for LeBron to be a non-factor next season.

19:03Rich Eisen:Yeah, and the Miami Heat is still a playing team. I understand that. You just got to own it, man. I mean, I do believe all of that. I'm not just doing it for shtick. No, that you do. So then how'd they do you dirty? That's right. Just putting it out there on a Tuesday. You put it out there. You put it out there the second the words leave your mouth into this microphone. A Tuesday in July? Would it be better if it was a Monday or whatever? I don't know. I mean, overreaction Monday. Look, all I know is I got a bunch of text messages that I was on LeBron's IG story. And like I said, it was fantastic.

19:32It was a great effort.

19:33Rich Eisen:Thank you, King James. Appreciate it. Hey, man. All I know is we very rarely lead shows just because we did something. While we're still waiting on LeBron's response to the rest of the National Basketball Association, waiting on where he's going to go. It was a glorious afternoon. Curious about LeBron's shot yesterday. They looked like they were playing a nice course. Was that right? Of course they're playing a nice course. They're not playing the par six in Los Feliz, that's for sure. They weren't on hole 14B in somebody's shambles. Yeah, right. Or is that a par three? Okay. Los Feliz is a par three.

20:11Rich Eisen:All right, so we're off and running here on today's program. Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event right now and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. Right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech. Or go all electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details.

20:46Rich Eisen:It is ESPY Day, and we wish happy ESPY Day to our next guest, Scott Van Pelt, right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

21:20We'll be right back. Auto Parts.

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22:32Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. The radio audience has returned ESPN coast to coast. You've got three and a half minutes left to go to ebay.com slash ESPYS to win a chance to get a Larry David voicemail for you and Scott Van Pelt, the face of his own sports center and podcasts and so much on ESPN, including Monday Night Countdown back here on the program. Good to see you, Scott, for our radio audience to say hello. Hello, radio audience. Good to be with you as well. All right, so let's jump into this, you know, and what SB Day is. And obviously, you know all about what's going on with the V Foundation as you've been with ESPN forever in a day.

23:13Rich Eisen:Scott, I'll give you the floor here, brother. it's it's a huge it's a huge uh day that means a lot to so many people and i've shared through the years when when i did radio uh and on this day we would auction our calls off whether it was me i see him freeze then if the wi-fi is bad i don't know why i apologize okay um but we had the good fortune of auctioning ourselves off for the greater good and the most wonderful thing is that I've met people shout to my guy Bart, go green, go white wherever he might be, out in Utah or wherever, like people become friends through this, people that have the means to support and us that have, you know hopefully the heart in the right place to say what can we do that we can sell ourselves off to try to help whether it's for our dear friend Stuart whether it's for anyone who's out there in the fight, this day is, frankly, the most important thing that we do.

24:16As much as the stuff that we love doing and talking about sports, if we help, if it's a slide, the money that you give leads to some breakthrough, what's more important?

24:32Will you go on with Rich? Well, I was in Europe, and they said, will you go on with Rich? Yes. I'm sorry the internet sucks, but here I am trying my best.

24:41Rich Eisen:That's all good, brother. And you're right. Obviously, you never know what dime can make the difference and put somebody over the top. And I'm glad you mentioned, Stuart. Not to turn this show into like another version of This Was SportsCenter, which, by the way, I've already told you I want you to be on when I do another season. But you got a good Stuart story, something from your time? because you did sports center commercials with him just like I did. And then after I left, you did a ton of shows with him. That's for sure. So you got a good Stewart story that might get somebody to donate to the V Foundation a little bit more easily today, Scott?

25:23When he was sick and he was truly in the –

25:36I can recall Stuart sitting on the set, and you probably have seen this. There's a zen-like state where he'd lean back, and he'd be gathering all of his energy to do the segment because he was a performer, and the performance requires energy, and that energy is being attacked by this cancer. And we all were torn.

26:07The medicine that the show provided was vital as well. and seeing him going from this giant jacked up dude to a guy that was still very, very, he was wiry and muscle bound, but he was shrinking in front of us, right? Because this disease was taking its toll. But to sit with him in the middle of that and see this guy still at the height of his craft and the peak of those powers, I think about that a lot now and recognize how lucky I was to share the stage with him and to share the set as you did so well for so many years and what the place gave what that hour gave him the diversion it was valuable to him and I'm grateful I got to share that time I think of something that's far lighter and funnier.

27:15Stewart and I are going to follow North Carolina Duke. And it's a game in Chapel Hill. Carolina's got it one. And then Austin Rivers at the buzzer hits a three.

27:34Carolina Astros. And then you know how this goes. Next counts to us. We're on in 20. They just lost. And I'm thinking I would have walked off the set if it's Maryland. But Stewart had the gumption to summon his courage and do the show. And there we were, you know, banging out an hour right after Duke beat Carolina at the buzzer because he loved his heels the way you love Go Blue, the way I love Maryland. You know, we're all from somewhere and everyone knows he was a tar heel.

28:07Rich Eisen:I love it. Scott Van Pelt here on the Rich Eisen Show. You want to take a bite at the Open Championship that's coming up this week? And who's a favorite and what you think? Scott? Just want to introduce Red. Red Head. That's Red's chair. Red's going to program. That's Red's chair. Whatever. Every single time. You know, I know Red's chair in your office. It used to be. Fox chair. And then we lost Otis. And when this guy showed up, I'm like, you're going to have to earn that chair. But it's Red's chair now, which is fine. I was texting with Justin Thomas just recently asking him about the condition of the place.