Hour 3: ESPN’s Josh Pate Talks Brendan Sorsby Debacle, plus ‘Toy Story 5’ Star Tony Hale In-Studio

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1:25Rich Eisen:This is The Rich Eisen Show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Wemby, catch and shoot, missed it off the back rim, and the Knicks survive! From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, ESPN basketball analyst Monica McNutt. ESPN play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler. Coming up, two-time Emmy Award winning actor Tony Hale. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, hour number three of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Just had a delightful chat with Tony Hale in the green room, and there's only one reason for it because he is delightful. Toy Story 5, soon to be in theaters near you on Friday, June 19th.

2:11Rich Eisen:And it's just a few days before that that we're going to have right here on the program. Kurt Signetti is going to be on the show. Dang. Because we've been after him since he's won his national championship. And then finally, we were able to nail down a date. This was back in May. He's like, June 16th. I go, all right. But there's one person that doesn't have to wait that long. And he's kind enough to join us right here on the show to make heads or tails of the Brendan Soresby News, the host of Josh Pate's college football show, ladies and gentlemen, the aforementioned Josh Pate. Good to see you, Josh.

2:41Rich Eisen:How are you? You know that I have long had a dream that you and I could just live in a world where we talk about Toy Story 19 and college football year round. That's it. And we've got one, kind of, and we've got the other sort of, this is just not how I envisioned it. This is not my path for talking college football year round. I hear you. I hear you. And we were just sitting here before the show, like, who can we get to come on to make heads or tails of all this? And you were the first name, and you were kind enough to say yes on short notice. What do you make of the Brendan Sorsby news that he's allowed to play this year in an injunction granted by a Lubbock judge, Josh?

3:20It's unbelievable. I was in Lubbock last week. The vibe there was not hopeful. And so it's unbelievable. I don't know how often you can really say that in college athletics because there's a varying degree of insanity every day. So very few things are unbelievable. But this headline slapped me in the face to the point where I was on a meeting this morning when the news broke. And I thought it was one of the satire accounts because there are a lot of those out there. So I didn't even think it was real, Rich. That's how that's how gobsmacked I was. So my first thought was, how foolish do you feel if you're a coach, an athletic director, a university president, a player, what have you, that ever just voluntarily succumbed to NFL or NCAA sanctions?

4:04If you self-reported violations in recent history, how foolish do you feel? The NCAA, you know, has been on a certain trajectory for a while, but this is the woodchipper moment. This is tossing it in and the rest of it just sprays out because there have been really, really big picture issues in the past. Large scale societal issues, domestic and sexual abuse in the past. They were matters that were huge, but they seemed so weighty and extended so far beyond sports that I almost looked at those and said, I kind of understand how this feels out of the NCAA's purview. Why would the NCAA of all entities be the governing or investigatory body for this?

4:48This feels better suited for someone else. I've said that a lot about matters that in the grand scheme of things are more important than betting on sports while you're an active player. However, the Rubicon, that one red line that you always looked at as a participant or a coach or a fan was betting on the sports as you're an active participant. Because, Rich, that feels like the one area where the matter is really weighty and consequential. But two, it feels like it's in the NCAA's lane. It feels like it's in the lane of any governing body. And to me, that's the ultimate test. If you cannot govern the matters that are in your lane, you don't exist.

5:25You're just four letters. The NCAA is just kind of four letters now. Maybe it always was. And it was a poodle that barked in the microphone and convinced everyone it was a Doberman for a long time. But it's done. It's over. And it's crazy we find this headline in the middle of, you know, this bigger mushroom cloud about Senate bills and who should and shouldn't have autonomy over college football. It's just kind of another log on the fire this week, I guess.

5:50Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, the attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, who has been very front and center for player rights and certainly in the NFL Players Association world from back in the day. He he was the lead attorney here, and he's quoted as saying, Brendan gets to devote himself to his team and the education of athletes on the dangers of gambling addiction. he will continue his treatment miss two games there's no injury to the competitive integrity of the ncaa it's what we proposed and what the ncaa should have accepted had it been true to its promises to prioritize the welfare of athletes the judge himself a retired tarrant county judge named ken curry who does by the way uh not hold any degrees from texas tech lubbock is 300 miles from where Texas Tech is located, said that Soresby's attorney demonstrated a probable right to the relief they're seeking for breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of fiduciary duty in their case against the NCAA.

6:55Rich Eisen:I know you're not a lawyer, but that's the reasoning here. I'll give you the floor after hearing all of that. Josh? Again, unbelievable. And since I've got that injunction order pulled up here, you want to know what the most, I don't know, fascinating, dumbfounding paragraph in all this was. It's the paragraph that I'm looking at that says, the athlete or the applicant rather demonstrated he'll suffer probable, imminent and irreparable injury if the court does not grant a temporary injunction. He won't benefit from coaching. He won't benefit from being able to play. And, Rich, up until five minutes ago, those were called consequences of making bad decisions or breaking rules.

7:42And now apparently it's justification for astroturfing everything. And by that logic, I'm left as a non-lawyer to ask, what was the threshold here? If your argument is, well, yeah, he bet on games, but, I mean, if we rule him ineligible, he's going to miss the season. if that's your logic well what could what could he have done that would have tilted the seesaw the other direction like how egregious would the offenses have to have been because i mean the guy could have could have looked at the spider cam and hit go on a bet and this would still apply this logic would still apply so i just really maybe there is no logic here or maybe it extends well beyond just us with racehorse blinders on looking at one matter and maybe it does extend to overall governance or lack thereof that the ncaa has and i know jeffrey kessler has his hands on multiple ongoing cases that relate to that this again i i use the log on the fire analogy again

8:44Rich Eisen:because this just feels like another one yeah it feels like if uh one of you have kids josh i do not okay so they're speaking as a dad here uh it's like if one of the kids that susie and i have and does something and we take their phone away right as punishment and they'll just go to a judge and say you know this denies me the right to scroll on instagram and it denies me the right to text my friends just when we're actually having something to do on the weekend and i will have irreparable harm if I don't hang with my friends you know what I mean like that's that's what it sounds like it sounds absurd but we're not but we're not we're not legal experts in that regard but as you pointed out that that um uh that reasoning would still apply if he just made a bet on the spider cam on his phone I mean you couldn't have crystallized it anymore so what's the fix charlie baker's congress needs to be targeted in passing some new law josh that that that smacks of unhelpful at the end of the day unless it unless you know a little bit more about whatever um legislation charlie baker is referring to josh well congruent to all this has been the ongoing bill that is coming out of the Senate.

10:10And just, I mean, to 30 second synopsis, all this for people who haven't been in the weeds on this for a long time, the people who run college athletics up to and including the NCAA, but also conference commissioners and presidents and chancellors, they have yelled a couple of things. They have yelled, help us. We've got rules we can't enforce because we keep getting sued. And that was called the SCORE Act. And it kept crashing and burning because you could not get bipartisan consensus on it because there was no revenue piece. It looked like you were just bailing out a bunch of people who screwed the ecosystem up, but that's all you were doing was bailing them out and with no revenue piece to speak of.

10:49And so then comes along the idea to amend the Sports Broadcasting Act, which provides theoretically the ability to pull media rights into a collective like the NFL's done, which in theory provides the revenue. And what has struck me as very ironic, Rich, before this news broke today is over the past week, the biggest story item in our world has been the very people who yelled for governance and that they were going broke have been pushing back on a bill from the Senate that provides governance and revenue mechanisms because really at the end of the day, it takes a little autonomy away from them.

11:24And this is a world where I think the adults in the room that screwed up for so long and turned blind eye to the obvious for so long, keep waiting on a perfect solution. And to them, the perfect solution is we want everything that we want and anything short of that, we're pushing back on. And that is long gone as a concept. And so now this happens. And so now it'll be just a fresh wave of people yelling towards Washington, D.C., help us out. They're telling us our rules are illegal. College athletics, they have a much greater societal importance, which by the way, I'm on board with conceptually, but you guys can't keep looking and saying we screwed it up for so long for which we take full responsibility.

12:09We still want to be in charge. We want to get our way on everything. We just want you to back us up, but we don't want to concede anything. Does that sound good? What, what, why not? And in a way it kind of makes them sound like a whinier version of the child that they feel just kind of got their way in this legal decision.

12:27Rich Eisen:yeah that's the problem i also have with you know charlie baker's statement is that leaves the ncaa still in charge so what is the fix josh pate i know i now give you a wand you may wave it what's the fix what do you think what does it look like how does it how is it constructed and i know that i only have a few minutes left with you to fix college football and athletics but go for it yeah two or three minutes that's all we've ever really needed that's all we've ever really asked for. We don't have central authority in college athletics. They do in major professional sports, and they have for a long time.

13:03And we are way, way down the road in college athletics. And short of powerful institutions voluntarily ceding a little bit of their autonomy, Rich, I don't know that we ever have that central authority, which means I'm not so sure that anyone is ever able to hold that magic wand. And so then the alternative path, there is one, they don't want anything to do with it, is a world that involves collective bargaining with the athletes and labeling them employees, which we've kind of done anyway, except we haven't put the white stick of athletic tape and written in Sharpie employee on their helmet. But in every other walk of college athletics, they kind of are that.

13:45They don't want to go down that road, they being the current powers that be. So you keep on this. This right here keeps on happening. So the idea of the theory of a commissioner in college football or college athletics has existed for a long time and they fought it. And I just I look at it and say, OK, if that's the problem, if that doesn't work, do you guys have any alternative solution that does work? Because what you can't do is just yell into the void, but then also shoot down any possible solution that someone has. Because what it makes it look like is you're just trying to run out the clock to some kind of inevitability.

14:21And a lot of people theorize that's what's happening right now. So the big boys can just take their ball and go do their own thing.

14:28Rich Eisen:Brother, I appreciate the time. I knew I said I'd get you out right around now because you've got stuff going on. And I appreciate you joining in advance of whatever you've got going on. josh appreciate it as always sir you be well thanks again josh yes sir that's josh pate everybody voice of reason he's got to go dude geez this is the thing right here okay let me get this part of the story this is pete famel uh in a two hour if you're wondering what what was the argument right in a two-hour hearing in Lubbock County District Court last week, Jeffrey Kessler, argued that the NCAA ignored its own rules by not considering Sorby's well-being when it ruled him ineligible, describing his gambling history as a mental health issue that the NCAA is obligated to support and not punish.

15:24Rich Eisen:NCAA attorney Taylor Askew said in the hearing that the organization did consider his mental health in its process of deeming him permanently ineligible and that those challenges do not excuse the consequences of his actions. Sowersby has acknowledged placing at least 2 ,900 bets, totaling more than$30 ,000 during his two years at Indiana, and at least 165 bets, totaling at least$38 ,000 during his two years at the starting quarterback at Cincinnati. He continued his sports betting after transferring to Texas Tech in January and has acknowledged sending more than$65 ,000 to friends to cover his bets made on behalf during his college career.

16:03Rich Eisen:Now, that is a sickness. I mean, that is 100 % a sickness. I'm just wondering, should Pete Rose have done that? Except there is a poster, placard, sign in every clubhouse in Major League Baseball saying, you do it, you're finished. Does the NCAA not have that on their walls? Is that what it is? it's just it's kind of crazy i'm not saying that the kids should be um i i guess if you apply the rule that you're permanently banned from college football let them go to the pros and let the pros handle it next i thought that was going to be the path that he was going to go i thought the ncaa would go yeah you're done here thank you i'm glad that at least whatever happened here caused you to go and get the counseling that you need clearly need and and then the nfl would be just like yeah we're just not going to draft him and figure that out from there talent over everything i heard this kid's got got a professional career waiting for him so i hope he did figure it out but it's just are we going to be in a world where just like your honor this young man clearly has got a sickness and the NCAA should help him, even though his actions have clearly called the integrity of the games in which he plays or the schools in which he plays into question, which is damaging to the sport and damaging to everything else that we try to accomplish here.

17:44Rich Eisen:Okay. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. a sofi personal loan is here to help you achieve something once thought impossible overcoming high interest credit card debt walk the tightrope of your finances with one low fixed rate monthly payment no fees required and as soon as the same day funding that's right pull off your own debt-defying stunt with a sofi personal loan visit sofi.com slash trick to learn more loans originated by SoFi Bank, NA, member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Speaking of numbers, the number's five. Toy Story 5. Tony Hale's in it.

18:29Rich Eisen:The man who voices Forky. Coming up next.

18:37Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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20:55actually did chris did you have a toy growing up that you absolutely loved sure i still have it

21:01Rich Eisen:no you don't really hold on a minute breaking news what in advance of toy story 5 you still have a toy from your childhood that you have two stuffed animals i still have oh this is this is the story of toy story 6 i'm just letting you know let me write this down what is the what are the First of all, what are they and what are their names? It's a tiny raccoon called Rocco. Oh. Rocco the raccoon. I was three. I've had that since I was three. Wow. And I have a stuffed dog named Sparky. Sparky the stuffed dog. That I've had since I was six. Where are these? That is deer. Do you sleep with them? They're near.

21:34I don't sleep with them anymore. I'm an adult. This explains a lot. Oh, man. I want to see a picture of you just cuddling. You're nearby. Have you passed? Do you have kids? Yes. Have you passed them down or are they just kind of like no touch because? Nope. No touch. Old, fragile. Don't want them to fall apart and break. But yes. Rocco and Sparky are like a glass case. Close. Close by. Yeah. So these are 42-year-old stuffies.

21:58Rich Eisen:Yeah. Oh, man. Your parents really held on to them for you. Or you held on to them. No, I've carried them. You've carried them for your, yeah. Yeah, I've carried them this whole way. Yeah, yeah. I took them to college. Did you want them in? I don't know. This is all I want to talk about. By the way, I think I turned the interview. You did? Yes, yes, yes. You did that? This is my mission. You brought them to college? You went to a college dorm. You're in Syracuse, and you brought your stuffed animals with you? I mean, I wasn't sleeping with them, but it was like a reminder of home. Yeah, I get it.

22:32Oh, you kidding? It's a comfort. Yeah. It's a pacifier that can kind of stay with you, and you're not maybe shamed for it until today. Gracious. Thank you, Tony.

22:43Rich Eisen:Appreciate that. TJ, do you still have any? any childhood toys? No, I mean, I used to way back in the day when I was a kid. Remember Winnie the Pooh? Yeah. Remember Tigger? So I used to have like Tigger dolls. That's why when Calvin and Hobbes came out, I really resonated because I was a kid who had this wild imagination with this stuffed tiger and then Calvin and Hobbes was the same thing. Yeah. So I don't know whatever happened to it, but for years, I used to carry that. What do you tell? Do you have childhood toys still, Tony? I don't still have them, but I was a fan of the Muppets and I had, my favorite was Scooter.

23:13Do you remember Scooter? he had the glasses and i i also had glasses as a kid and i was i was convinced scooter had asthma so i would put my inhaler in his hand and i'd be like you're one of me represent wow okay and beaker beaker i love because he was he reminded me actually of my character in veep because he also did not speak and gary was not allowed to speak he would just stand behind her and be like, meh, meh, meh, meh.

23:44Rich Eisen:I'll be honest with you. I would think Buster Bluth would be more Beaker. And Buster Bluth had a little Beaker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the hands would go back. Right. Did Beaker ever have a hook for a couple seasons on the Muppet Show? Oh, man, he should have. He should have. I'll put a hook in his arm like I had to be inhaler with a scooter. Did you have one? I did have a Mickey Mouse. Okay. Stuffed animal. Great. And my dad was a French teacher. so he would occasionally take his french class abroad for school which would leave me to um be uh move into my aunt and uncle's house for a couple days they would look after me and my brother while my parents were out of yeah i can't believe i'm telling the story on on the air i can't um my cousins who are older than me were wanted to haze their younger cousin sure so once upon a time i I did find Mickey Mouse hanging from a chinning.

24:40Rich Eisen:Yikes. Yep. That's dark. And that was, you know, quite the moment in my life. I lost my mind. As you should have. That's full PTSD. It's formative, right? That is. That reminds me. Is that Toy Story Never? That will never happen. That reminds me of when I saw Nightmare on Elm Street, my brother took Freddy's hand from a Halloween shop or something and hid under my bed. Oh, wow. and pulled that hand out and i have not seen a horror movie since it's it's so traumatized me it was absolutely terrifying oh let's talk about the polar opposite there's near you right absolutely uh on friday june 19th i love the concept of this yes iteration yes this version it's toys versus screen time yeah tech toys versus tech because Because the toys of the Toy Story days are losing out to kids sitting there on their iPads and tech.