Hour 2: ‘4-Downs’ Ravens Season Preview, plus Mike Golic Jr. & Sr. In-Studio

24:35Rich Eisen:I don't want to top you, but Chris Brockman is currently wearing a Rich Eisen show branded diaper right now. Wow. And usually when he's silent, it's because he's making a boom boom. I don't know if this is too out there. Is this TMI? Is it waterproof? Is that a swim diaper, too? Is it a swim diaper? You good for the ocean? I have a pool at home. That's all I'll say. There is your business. The pond is good for me. Well, there you go. All right. Too much information. You're probably correct. Yeah. That happened. When was the last? What was the first time you guys ever did anything together? um after mike and mike uh ended in 17 from 18 to 20 it was myself trey wingo yes sir and mike was there was a trio but never like as a kid or anything like that no i mean i i went on you know it back in the in the day like when mike and mike was going on i was committing to notre dame yes i went and signed my national letter of intent on the show it was a blank piece of paper i'd faxed the actual NLI earlier that morning.

25:38Rich Eisen:Oh, yeah. You recreated the actual. He did. To Notre Dame, not Michigan. To Notre Dame. Understood? Yeah. We'll get to that in a second. Oh, yeah. I figured I didn't break your model of the big house in the green room. It was already nuts. For some reason, it was already cracked. I don't. I need to get a new one of them. Gotcha. All right. I held off on that. All the kids had all signed their letters of intent. My son, Jake, did at Notre Dame. My daughter, Sydney, swam at Notre Dame. They all came on the show and signed. It's always been a family show. We always, always talk about the family. But it wasn't anything like you were a kid and you were talking into a microphone because you saw dad beginning to do that sort of stuff.

26:15So the funny thing is, we never had that moment together. I always knew, going back to high school when people would ask me what I wanted to do, I knew this was it. I was fortunate when I got to Notre Dame that behind-the-scenes media coverage, YouTube, digital media was in its infancy at that point. and me and one of my teammates, Brandon Newman, who's now also working in the industry, got to do a lot of the behind-the-scenes conference. That was really my first foray in front of the microphone, but Dad and I didn't really have that chance together in those said same ways. But I do remember, and you guys all get a kick out of this, very inside baseball, one of my first times going into ESPN's office in Bristol with Dad.

26:52He brought me in and was taking me around and kind of just showing me the actual work behind the scenes of things because I was now at the age where I'd seriously considered wanting to do this. and like one of the first things he had me do was he took me in one of the side rooms because he had to go and record live reads and he had me do read throughs of them so leave it to my father who i always say at radio row i put him up pound for pound with everyone in terms of slinging and selling product to the masses out at radio row the first thing he had me do was learn how to make sure the bills got paid you know what if my dad was a french teacher okay he he never gave me the

27:26Rich Eisen:ropes on a live read ever uh-huh you know what i mean yeah and then i was i was terrible at french too i just couldn't do that so you you you you're lucky i tried to help you know yeah you know but it's how you do a live read son at times he's a kid and thinks he knows more than me you know what he doesn't bend the knee enough why do you keep saying it like that who's by the way who has a radio show in the uh hall of fame well i mean i don't want to i don't want to boast you would think he might want to take some pointers you and green you together man that's in the hall of fame yeah that's in the hall of fame so good luck to you uh mike yeah hey listen i'm just trying to stick around like we've already got the bar set for dad you know what i mean listen much like my attempted nfl playing career i'm just trying to get to the building every day and have my id badge still work it failed there we'll see if it succeeds fantastic and by the way just started uh your show off together on the outset of football season i mean that's just what it's all about.

28:19Rich Eisen:Cannot beat it. We get to talk football. Phone lines light, man, when it's football season. We could see here on occasion there'll be a baseball story that'll pop or obviously the NBA will pop. But nothing beats the playing. You know that. Nothing beats football year-round. So the NFL story is what going into the season? Mike Sr., give it to me. I mean, you have obviously the quarterback competitions going on in Minnesota and in Atlanta. But just the overall regular season, the story is what? I would say it's kind of been in the news as of late because the AFC has always been about Kansas City, Buffalo, and I'm missing one of the teams.

29:11The Bengals generally in that mix. And Baltimore. And Baltimore. And last year it was New England, Denver, and the NFC, it was the Bears. So it's like, which one of those teams will keep going? Two of them were 14-3. The other was 11-6. The Bears were 11-6. Or which one is going to regress? Which one is going to take a step back? Because as a fan, you see your team in the Super Bowl and lose it. The next step is winning the Super Bowl. You see your team in the AFC title game. The next step is getting to the Super Bowl. So which team is going to regress and take a step back? What about you, Junior?

29:42Who's going to catch the Rams? I mean, we're dealing with the baseball version of this with the Dodgers right now after the trade deadline, like you mentioned. And for the Rams, they make an even more impactful move. You could argue with Miles Garrett and bringing him over. So they've got the defending Super Bowl champion in the division with them. It looks like the NFC West is going to be a juggernaut if the 49ers can keep anyone healthy right now as the substation folks get everything they could ever want to feast on and more in terms of that. But I do truly think it's, all right, the Rams have gone all in once again after drafting decently well in the limited window where they had a first-round pick.

30:15they're back to the bleep them picks model and it's i think can anyone go and crack the iron high to the team that's really right now looking like they're all in on 26 and then how does that

30:24Rich Eisen:reverberate amongst the locker rooms of the nfc um front runners as well including you know the defending super bowl champs and how that all works walk me through what it would be like in an offensive lineman meeting room leading up to a rams game if aaron donald comes back and plays alongside Myles Garrett. Well, he was the old lineman, so how would that meet? How would those meetings go? You're not going to sleep a lot that week would be my thought because I always say football at its core is a simple game where the best teams and the best units are ones where you have one guy that's equal to two.

31:00Yes, sir. And so if you've got Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald, well, now you've got two guys that are equal to four, and I'm starting to get into math that's not good for an offensive line that's only got five guys. And so it really is about picking your poison, you know, especially in the NFL. You look at the offensive response to great rushers and how many resources you have to allocate. Two hands, two sets of hands on any great rusher at once. And so now the fact that you can put those guys on the same side, put them on opposite sides. Are you keeping tight ends and are you trying to chip? Are you double teaming from inside?

31:32There are a lot of tools at your disposal, but ultimately you've got two of the best of all time and a host of other great young players. They're deep. Like Kobe Turner and Puda Ford on the inside of this line. You know, Byron Young on the other side. Like, you've got guys at all these different spots. You know what they want to do, though? If you're a guard, and Mike was a guard at Notre Dame and a center, is you want the sliding to go your way. You want the center to come your way to help with Aaron Donald. And you want a tight end to chip on Miles Garrett or a back to chip on Miles Garrett.

32:02That's why it's so— It's unreal.

32:04Rich Eisen:Right, and they got McDuffie for the back end to maybe give an extra beat. Is it? Is it the Rams and the field? It's kind of like when you're talking about Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods in the field. Yeah, I hear you. And that would be the general sense. But, you know, the NFL, like there's always injuries. And if you put the Rams schedule up, Mike Hoskins, it's on, man. I mean, it's not easy. And, you know, obviously the first game in Melbourne against San Francisco, then there's a Monday night against the Giants who a lot of folks are thinking is a sleeper team or you never know who they are at Denver at Philadelphia home for Buffalo on a Monday night three game stretch you know I mean there's that you take a look at after their bye week 12 home for Green Bay then there's the Kansas City Thursday nighter along with a visit to San Francisco before coming back and hosting Dallas and then two of their last three are against Seattle wrapped around a visit.

33:08I love when the scheduling does that when they put the top teams.

33:12Rich Eisen:You remember that that was born out of the Colts taking a knee on an undefeated season. By the way, letting the Jets into the playoff, almost having the Jets, you know, when the Jets returning to Indianapolis to only to lose. But bottom line is it makes sense to put all of the division games. We just were looking at the Lions schedule, putting the division games in late in the season. Lions finish their last two on the road in Chicago and Green Bay. So it's fun. It's always great. And so putting it all together, I'm only mentioning that because you're sitting here saying, OK, Rams, can they go 17-0?

33:52Rich Eisen:You look at that schedule. Come on now. No. I mean, undefeated is crazy to think. And it's the most off-injured sport. You can't prognosticate injuries. So someone's going to get hurt. It's just a matter of when in the season we have them healthy for the playoffs. How much time will they miss? Let's talk a little bit of Notre Dame football with you two goers. Is it okay? It's going to be fine. I mean, we had C.J. Carr on because, you know, he's the grandson of one of the best Michigan coaches. Oh, wait a minute. I'm being told C.J. Carr is also a Heisman favorite. And, you know, and it's funny because I said to him about how everything went down last season and not being invited to the tournament and how that's going to work out for them this year.

34:32Rich Eisen:And is coach going to use that in any way, shape or form? He goes, yeah, we're not talking about it that much. Then he mentions that coaches got a phrase for the year saying, leave no doubt. And I'm like, that's absolutely. You can't not bring up last year. You can't leave that out. Right. Right. I mean, it has to be part of the mentality going forward. Yeah. Yeah. With no doubt, just beat the crap out of everybody, and they're going to obviously have to let you in the tournament. They can afford one loss as an independent. Two, like we saw last year, would probably keep them out. They're not really independent.

35:09Rich Eisen:I mean, they play half a Big Ten and half an ACC schedule. Well, if you ask the public that hates them, they're independent, and they shouldn't be independent, and they should join a conference. Why not? They already do. They've got a foot in them both. Hey, ask the ACC if it feels like they have them as a full member. I can guarantee after what we saw in November of last year, that's not the case. They don't have to split the money with anybody either. I love the coach, though. Oh. As you know, I wake up trying to hate on Notre Dame in any way, shape, or form. I love this guy. Can't hate him.

35:39Rich Eisen:I even told him, I'm like, you make it tough to hate you. You really do. I mean, he's got it all. He really does. It was a situation where I was deeply uncomfortable in 2024 during Notre Dame's run-up to where they played Ohio State in the championship game. Yes. because Notre Dame had become a team that was liked by so many in no small part due to the fact that Marcus Freeman, the charisma, the story of the team was all there. And so it almost felt like home after the bull opt out last year when everyone started crashing down. This is more of what I'm used to. This feels like where we're supposed to be.

36:15Rich Eisen:You know, and it's funny that that that game against the Ohio State. Let's be respectful. OK, don't forget the V against the Ohio State. It It was just a month before then, or probably about a month and a half before then, when Michigan had beaten the Ohio State for a fourth consecutive time, that everyone wanted Ryan Day out and Freeman to go back to his alma mater. That's exactly right. And then, oh, nope, Ryan Day's just perfectly fine. You know, I love the Ohio State fans that are just all over the map. It must be nice. I'm amazed, though, at Ohio State and Michigan fans, and I'll ask you.

36:52Please. Because you hear some of them say, I'd rather win that Ohio State-Michigan matchup and not be the national champ than lose that game and be the national champ. It's ridiculous.

37:05Rich Eisen:Those are Ohio State fans, not me. Okay. Those are all not me. It makes no sense. Not at all. They're the ones who think about Michigan all the time. We don't think about them as much as they do think about us because we also have an in-state rival. They don't have an in-state rival. So you're Jon Hamm in the elevator. I don't think about you at all. I don't think about you at all. That's correct. That's exactly the scene. Ohio State, I mean, like, Ryan Day and Ohio State, pardon me, the Ohio State, you know, announced that they're putting a Chase logo on their chest, right? And Ryan Day is like, well, the Chase logo had blue in it, and I had to call them up and make sure we're not putting blue on there.

37:42Rich Eisen:Now we've got a new head coach at Michigan who's like Kyle Winningham, who's just like, yeah, the hatred in this rivalry, I don't get it. Love him. I love him, too. Love Kyle. But I told him he's got to wean himself off his Urban Meyer relationship. He can't be... Ooh, interesting. Sorry, so there is a limit to what you're willing to tolerate. Correct. Wow. Okay. Correct. We can't have, you know, we can't have Urban and them be... So they can just be cordial. Ooh. They can be cordial, but not back slapping. I'll give them a cordial plus. Right. I mean, he's been friends with the guy for a while.

38:09Rich Eisen:Yeah. You can't just, like, quit him cold turkey. I understand that. Well, I didn't think about that. They go way back to the, you know, Utah staff together. I get it. But, like... Urban coming to speak to the team this fall before a game. Oh, no. Because, you know, he'll be like the Manchurian candidate. Oh, that would be awful. That's an old pop culture. I was going to say, how many people do you think got that? No, I haven't seen that. How dare you. All right. And so let's just get right down to it, though. Rudy was offsides, right? He was offsides. You were there that day, were you not? Actually, my brother, Bob, was a freshman starting linebacker.

38:42So you were not there yet. I was at that. No, I was not there. Okay, Bob was the freshman. I got there in 81. Bob was a freshman. Okay.

38:49Rich Eisen:so what so would would bob tell me for real that he was off sides or what bob would probably tell you for real what when he he i know the term is he got a good jump um got speaking of jumping uh do you want to tell him about uh rudy rudiger okay so the real rudy the guy actual rudy rudiger right has heard how much rich hates him i don't hate him i don't hate him and the movie the movie the movie and the movie yeah right and he wishes director david ansbach told us yeah and he hopes that he pops a hammy every time he does that's true right yeah i do the real rudy wants to fight rich he wants to oh wow he really wants to have a fight with me according to david anspaugh the director of rudy and also hoosiers yeah and he also told me that hoosiers uh that rudy is a uh what he said it was a ken burns documentary compared to hoosiers hoosiers he says is totally made up out of whole cloth, except for the fact that Mylon High did win one time.

39:51Rich Eisen:I couldn't tell you I've never seen it. Well, he's never seen it. Rich, I have this fight with him all the time, and he won't see it. Holy heck. He won't see it. What I will say about Rudy is, and it's tough for me to say, there's a lot of Hollywood in it. I'm sure. That one I'm not surprised about. But I always say, you know, Rudy was off sides. I kind of have fun like that. And the real Rudy, he said what David said, that he lives next door to either Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather in Vegas. That's a big difference in terms of who's training him. Yeah, that really is. And by the way, in Rudy, Vince Vaughn threw a great halfback pass.

40:27Rich Eisen:Oh, my goodness. Incredible. I understand about the whole Rudy business. Yeah. But okay. I mean, you could tie that together, fight the Paul brothers, and you're good to go. Listen, I have no say in this, okay? Got it. Okay. I have no say in what I'm about to say. Oh, interesting. But, you know, I root for your success. because that also means success for the radio network and you lead into this show. But I don't know if I can have somebody host a show that leads into mine who's not watched Hoosiers. I can't. I don't know. I don't want to watch. I don't know what to do about this. Thank you. I've tried so hard.

41:02Risk fundamentals. What are we doing? Yeah, I mean, God, we're like one standard deviation point from that. You remember that commercial where the guy's like, coach, the ball went off me. That feels like if that commercial became a movie, I based that off nothing. I haven't even read the Wikipedia. Again, that's what I talk about. I try and parent him. I try and parent him the best I can, and he shuns me. I can't even look at him.

41:24Rich Eisen:I don't blame you. It's tough. I have to keep looking at you. I can't even look at Senior because that means I'd be even potentially looking in the direction. And I'm contractually obligated to look at him and talk with him. Or I would nullify this contract. It's horrible. And so is it reached the point now where it's being mentioned so many times that you're going to be adamant to not watch it? Oh, he's at that point. I think everyone's allowed to have one bit that defies logic in their life. My best friend in college, one of our quarterbacks, Dane Crist, maintains to this day, he's a 37-year-old father or two, that he's never chewed gum in his entire life.

42:00I find that completely farcical. What? But I can't prove that he's ever done it. And now it's gotten to the point where he's not going to chew gum just because it's a part of the lore. that's me with Hoosiers

42:10Rich Eisen:I've never had coffee you know what the flavor that I kind of understand the flavor of the gum is dentine that's it you see what I'm saying that's the line that's the line he doesn't get the line you get the line I get the line anybody who's watched this movie gets the line and Rudy was offsides okay got a good jump alright great jump do you want to stick around for the end of the hour because I got the I got the I got to take a break you know how it is about the radio if you want us here we'll stay I did but not I'm thinking. Do you want me to just say you want him to go, don't you? You want him to leave?

42:43Rich Eisen:Go make some salmon. I'll take a break, but the Goalics will return. We'll finish the hour with senior and junior coming up.

42:56Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. Their kids fighting cancer. Their families standing beside them. doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash hope on wheels. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters.

43:30Rich Eisen:A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. The Golicks are still here. Go ahead. Okay. If it's Floyd Mayweather or Mike Tyson.

44:07There's a difference. Floyd Mayweather trains him. He's going to be more defensive. Or if Tyson trains him, you're in trouble.

44:13Rich Eisen:I know if Floyd Mayweather trains Rudy, that gives me a chance to potentially go all 10 rounds. Yes, exactly. Mike Tyson. Tyson, you got two times. You were probably too young to watch Mike Tyson fight, right? I used to watch, so when I get to the Friday night in the hotel room when I was at college, me and one of my roommates at the time would always turn on like ESPN Classic and every couple of Fridays for one season they would have Mike Tyson's knockout reel on there. Watching that the night before a football game will get the juices flowing in the exact right ways. I have never seen anything like the power on uppercuts that missed from Tyson.

44:50Rich Eisen:There were Mike Tyson fights that lasted so short. They went so fast that a friend of mine went to the men's room at the touching of the gloves and by the time he came out, it was over. And the thing about it is it's such a physical sport where you have to have such confidence. The fear you would see in other fighters' eyes when he would come across the ring. They were done. I remember all that. But that said, he was still offsides. I don't care. Alright. Sorry. So when it all comes down to it, you guys are 10 a.m. to noon, then I'm noon to three is there anything i can i can do for you is there anything i can do for you to set you up for um even though you're setting me up i would i would say get some of your hollywood guests i mean oh my lord i would like to i would like access to the green room just for the snack selection there i live pretty close down the street if you guys want i'll offer this to you as a service okay i'll come in early for our show hang out here turn the lights on get it warmed up for you guys i'll get the coffee going how you like it you know just didn't let me come hang out here and if you leave whatever snacks were left over from yesterday there then everyone why would you do that for me it's fair see that see here's what we'll do though we'll reject his ability to have the snacks he wants on behalf of you at a solid day i appreciate that we're together here i know i can see that i'm not gonna i'm not gonna crack the iron hide of all these years of uh now you know what it is at least you know what my axe that i'm grinding against you is No, listen, all I appreciate is that you're straight up with me about it.

46:29Rich Eisen:See Hoosiers, which is an outrage. Now you're probably telling me Die Hard's a Christmas movie. Don't. I mean, don't. Don't. Hold on a minute. Hot dogs a sandwich, LeBron Jordan. What else do we want to throw out there? Okay, yeah, those are, by the way, football's back. We don't have to waste time with this. That's exactly right. Praise be. Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event 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. There's the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid.

47:02Rich Eisen:You want something loaded with the latest tech, there's the bold and stylish Elantra. Or all-electric, you can go with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So, get into your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. I felt like you were judging me doing my live read. No, it was great. Okay. Oh, no. Do you know how many live reads I've screwed up over the years? You can read. That's the biggest difference between you. Yeah, you read and it was smooth. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app.

47:41The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.