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Speaker 2: All right, off a week vacation. Nice to be back
Speaker 2: in the saddle. Flew cross country. Just landed about an
Speaker 2: hour ago. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, going to the
Speaker 2: NFL Combine here this week. Also three and out his
Speaker 2: podcast Go Low as his golf podcast. Yeah, so I
Speaker 2: got a first of all, I usually flight Delta. I
Speaker 2: flew American Airlines back. I told my wife that's the
Speaker 2: best meal I've ever had in a flight in my life.
Speaker 1: Would you eat?
Speaker 2: Is incredible? So they start with fresh olives, you know,
Speaker 2: heated almonds, pistachios, and then they go into this peach salad,
Speaker 2: and then they have ahi tuna, and then they go
Speaker 2: into tortilla soup, and then they go into green beans,
Speaker 2: grain bread, olive oil, piece of chicken with like a
Speaker 2: salce on it. That's what I chose and then I
Speaker 2: waited about an hour and a half, took about a
Speaker 2: half hour and anup, woke up and had like this
Speaker 2: ginger and vanilla ice cream dessert. I told my wife,
Speaker 2: I'm like that some thing's being experimented, like either profits
Speaker 2: are through the roof of American Airlines, So tip of
Speaker 2: the calf to American Airlines. I'm like, honey, I ate
Speaker 2: better than you. And I was at thirty three thousand feet.
Speaker 2: I can't help you.
Speaker 1: People complaining about flies a lot, and listen, I don't.
Speaker 1: Everyone's had a bad experience here and there. But I
Speaker 1: think for the most part, I mean, if you're not
Speaker 1: flying Spirit Airlines, it's pretty darn good. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's pretty darn good what we have in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: especially in this country, if you live in major airports,
Speaker 1: the ability to get around it can't be ever been
Speaker 1: as easy as it is right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I you know, one of the things years
Speaker 2: ago I started doing well, I told my wife, just
Speaker 2: we'll fly first class this point forward. Let's just do it.
Speaker 2: They had a pod, so I watched, you know, I
Speaker 2: downloaded a couple of Netflix and Apple TV shows. I downloaded,
Speaker 2: you know, four or five episodes of stuff. All of
Speaker 2: it was really really good. But I you know, I
Speaker 2: think sometimes like I've been on planes. I've had three
Speaker 2: or four people on planes that were crazy, like disruptive,
Speaker 2: by and large, you know, most people just sit down quiet,
Speaker 2: really good people. I've said this for years. I've been
Speaker 2: a Delta flyer forever, forever. I think what our industry does,
Speaker 2: commercial aviation, for how many people are at airports. And
Speaker 2: for the record, I don't care what you think about
Speaker 2: the economy. It can't be that bad because every flight
Speaker 2: I've been on for six years is packed. And I
Speaker 2: know what I'm paying for these seats, and they ain't
Speaker 2: giving them away. There's no discounts here. My flight today, packed,
Speaker 2: flight out packed. I don't I'm not a guy that
Speaker 2: loves private, especially in the winter. I'm not gonna fly it.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: If I can get a first class seat on a
Speaker 2: three and a half hour flight, there's no need for
Speaker 2: me to go private. I don't care. Most of the
Speaker 2: flights are on time. Now you're taking off at Lagordia
Speaker 2: at five point thirty on a Friday night, no shit,
Speaker 2: you're gonna sit on the tarmac for a while. But
Speaker 2: I just think I think sometimes in America we forget
Speaker 2: how good our grocery stores are, Like we forget how
Speaker 2: good an efficient our country is. I went to London
Speaker 2: about six seven years ago, went to Wimbledon maybe eight
Speaker 2: years ago. My hotel didn't have air conditioning, a high
Speaker 2: end hotel, and the toilets were inconsistent. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: if you went to a Marriotte, you'd go to complain
Speaker 2: to management. In this country, I think sometimes we just
Speaker 2: complained to complain.
Speaker 1: I know multiple people, one that flies for United, one
Speaker 1: that flies for American. They both flew fighter jets in
Speaker 1: the Air Force. How does it get any better than that?
Speaker 1: That guy's overqualified to fly us around the country. That's
Speaker 1: like having Trent Williams as my personal security guard. I mean,
Speaker 1: it doesn't get any better than that, right, And that's
Speaker 1: who a lot of these pilots are. They served in
Speaker 1: the military, flying a lot more expensive, a lot more
Speaker 1: difficult aircrafts. And those are the guys that fly us
Speaker 1: around for forty years from basically their age thirty till
Speaker 1: when they retire.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I couldn't even tell you the last
Speaker 2: flight I was on that had really bad turbulence, and
Speaker 2: there's always bumps. Couldn't couldn't tell you. I mean, I
Speaker 2: just thought, I'm sitting on that American Airlines flight today
Speaker 2: and I'm thinking this living I am. And they even
Speaker 2: had this little app or something on the TV you
Speaker 2: could download, and I'm watching where we're flying and it's
Speaker 2: like I can monitor the flight. I'm sitting there watching
Speaker 2: a Netflix show. I want to pivot to this though,
Speaker 2: because one of the things I downloaded was episodes three
Speaker 2: and four of Dynasty. You know, off the Jeff Benedict book.
Speaker 2: He's on my show in about two weeks. Episode four, John,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you saw it is one of
Speaker 2: the best episodes of a documentary sports documentary I've ever
Speaker 2: seen in my life. The Randy moss arrival, the Spige
Speaker 2: losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. I mean
Speaker 2: it was Robert Kraft's son said he walked into the
Speaker 2: locker room and grown men were vomiting and bawling, And
Speaker 2: you forget the two things so far through four episodes
Speaker 2: that you forget how big that upset of Kurt Warner
Speaker 2: in the rams was. They Yeah, we're offensively ahead of
Speaker 2: their time. I mean they had a Niners feel like,
Speaker 2: can anybody stop them to win that game? They, by
Speaker 2: the way, it was fourteen three and a half, the
Speaker 2: completely shut them down.
Speaker 1: They'd already won a Super Bowl a couple of years previously.
Speaker 1: I mean, that team was pretty special, Hall of famers.
Speaker 2: Everywhere, and then you forget how historic that eighteen and
Speaker 2: oh team going for nineteen and oh. You know, as
Speaker 2: I watched it, I was I thought if I was
Speaker 2: interviewing Tom Brady and I said, Tom, take one play
Speaker 2: out of your career, I guarantee you, he'd say the
Speaker 2: David Tyree catch. And when I watched it, I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh my god. Teddy Bruski's like, yeah, we've done that
Speaker 2: to people. We did that to the Saint Louis Rams.
Speaker 2: He goes, I know what they were feeling. They believe
Speaker 2: now they were the better team.
Speaker 1: You know, I haven't seen I've seen the three episodes.
Speaker 1: I watched three of them on Friday night. I think
Speaker 1: we also forget and it really kind of puts into
Speaker 1: context how big a balls Bill had when he made
Speaker 1: that move. The guy who was one hundred million dollar
Speaker 1: contract with one hundred million.
Speaker 2: Dollars, oh yeah, Drew Bledsoe, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Number one overall pick. And this is where I think
Speaker 1: football coaches they just have more juice than the other
Speaker 1: coaches in basketball and definitely in baseball, because such more
Speaker 1: of a management league when their gut tells them something.
Speaker 1: I mean, we see it all the time in football,
Speaker 1: right college, and pro to know that, Like, yeah, Drew
Speaker 1: doesn't move around as well anymore, right, he's been hit
Speaker 1: too much. And you watch the other thing. I'm watching
Speaker 1: it with my girlfriend. She's like, God, these guys look
Speaker 1: bigger back then. I'm like, yeah, Marie, these quarterbacks back
Speaker 1: in the day were all six ' six. They were
Speaker 1: all huge. When Tom and Drew are standing next to
Speaker 1: each other, Caleb's coming out, he's barely six ' one.
Speaker 1: These guys have him by five inches. I mean, Drew
Speaker 1: Bledsoe is a strapping individual. That's the old school quarterback.
Speaker 1: And you're watching when Drew runs and get hit by
Speaker 1: moel Lewis, I'm thinking, like most quarterbacks now get out
Speaker 1: of bounds, even Brock perties faster right there there, and
Speaker 1: the difference in style. And You've been saying this forever
Speaker 1: about Belichick. He was perfectly set up for that old
Speaker 1: school football, right, and this is where Tom benefits. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he took a lot in his control and was really good.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna talk a lot about draft picks over
Speaker 1: the next couple months. If you go to a team
Speaker 1: that sucks you, unless you're an all time transcendent talent,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very, very difficult. Tom did get to
Speaker 1: begin starting on a team full of really good defensive
Speaker 1: players and clearly a really good coaching staff, and he'd
Speaker 1: be the first to tell you, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of these Patriot guys are kind of in a weird
Speaker 1: way offended by everyone talking about Belichick because it almost
Speaker 1: diminishes a little bit. Like what they had as a
Speaker 1: group was pretty special, and you watch all these guys,
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, it was a pretty high level group
Speaker 1: of individuals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very Omerita. It's very much secrets kept in
Speaker 2: the family. That's why Mangenie I was told. Mangini called
Speaker 2: Bill and said, Bill, I know what should do. Don't
Speaker 2: tape the Jets.
Speaker 1: Don't do it.
Speaker 2: Bill just said, whatever, I'm gonna tape the Jets. Bill
Speaker 2: thought like, it's Omerita, it's the family, their secrets. You
Speaker 2: got a job because of me and it burned him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Speaking of folks, if you haven't watched them on Apple TV,
Speaker 2: you should Dynasty. The book's great as well by Jeff Foot.
Speaker 1: The footage they have, it's just it's remarkable.
Speaker 2: But Ernie Adams, and it made me think, So Ernie
Speaker 2: Adams is just fantastic. So he is Bills basically, and
Speaker 2: I I mean he is, you know, a CFO kind
Speaker 2: of like you could. I mean, there's nothing he's I
Speaker 2: would say the valet, but he's his caddie and you're like, no, no,
Speaker 2: he was often he was often his brains. And I
Speaker 2: was thinking about this, and so years and years ago
Speaker 2: when I worked at ESPN, George Bodenheimer was the CEO,
Speaker 2: and George was really sharp. But when you're the CEO
Speaker 2: of a major company, you need it to somebody that
Speaker 2: can can call you out, somebody they can watch the
Speaker 2: minutia you're doing all these meetings after meetings, I mean.
Speaker 2: And George was as smart a guy that I've ever
Speaker 2: had the honor or privilege to work under. And his
Speaker 2: two was like John Skipper who became the president. And
Speaker 2: I remember when Skipper got the job, he didn't have
Speaker 2: a strong two and it really cost him. And I
Speaker 2: can remember somebody in the company saying to me, John
Speaker 2: doesn't have he doesn't have a John. And it's always
Speaker 2: made me think about this, whether it's Andy Reid with
Speaker 2: maybe it's a Spags, maybe there's somebody on the staff
Speaker 2: is most great. I mean, let's be honest, Dave wantsd
Speaker 2: at Jimmy Johnson. They just really trusted each other, Parcels
Speaker 2: and Belichick, where Belichick's like, Bill, you gotta trust me
Speaker 2: on this, and they battle on this stuff. Saban has
Speaker 2: done a remarkable job in college to keep the turnstile
Speaker 2: of coordinators coming in. But you know, and you could
Speaker 2: say since Kirby Smart left, the defense hasn't been quite
Speaker 2: as good. You know, he went to Georgia. But when
Speaker 2: you watch this special Ernie Adams, I don't even know
Speaker 2: there are moments and Damian Woody pointed this out. He
Speaker 2: was considered a genius in the building. Bill often you
Speaker 2: can just see him. He'd walk off the podium at
Speaker 2: practice when Ernie retired about you know, and then years
Speaker 2: later Dante's Karnakia. I think that's undervalued. We all talked Brady,
Speaker 2: but it's Bill had people that he just he just
Speaker 2: leaned on and they all in a short period of
Speaker 2: time left and watched this for Ernie Adams, who, by
Speaker 2: the way, is a funny guy. Like if there's anybody
Speaker 2: you've ever wanted to sit and have a beer with
Speaker 2: in football, it's Ernie Adams.
Speaker 1: I heard when they were out of football. Well, Bill wasn't.
Speaker 1: When they got fired in Cleveland and Bill went to
Speaker 1: work for parcels, Ernie was out for a little bit.
Speaker 1: That Ernie made Bill millions in the stock market because
Speaker 1: Ernie was just, you know, so brilliant. He just started
Speaker 1: working on finance till they get back in the league.
Speaker 1: When Bill got the head coach in New England, so
Speaker 1: he if you think about it as a head coach,
Speaker 1: especially when you get of his level of fame and wealth.
Speaker 1: The hierarchy in a building is a lot like the military,
Speaker 1: where everyone kind of is intimidated by you, and even
Speaker 1: when you're having a one on one conversation, there's a
Speaker 1: level of I'm here here there. It's just a natural
Speaker 1: hierarchy of the building where a coach needs a guy
Speaker 1: that he can go in, close the door and have
Speaker 1: a normal human one on one conversation where anything can
Speaker 1: be said, and that was always what Bill had in Ernie, Right,
Speaker 1: a guy that he had known since high school. Think
Speaker 1: about that in that two thousand and one Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: he was the guy, Ernie, what do you think we
Speaker 1: should do with a minute thirty left? As John Maddens
Speaker 1: kneel the ball, kneel the ball, and Ernie's like, I
Speaker 1: think we're gas Bill, Let's put the pedal to the
Speaker 1: medal and go for it. Right. But that's who he asked,
Speaker 1: not Charlie Weiss, not Romeo Crenell, not these other coaches
Speaker 1: that he's known for a long time as well. So
Speaker 1: I've always thought this about Bill. Bill is a very
Speaker 1: very good talent evaluator at coach Right, he found Josh McDaniels,
Speaker 1: Brian Flores, Adam Peters, Jason Light, all these guys, Casario.
Speaker 1: But eventually you run out of it. And that's what
Speaker 1: it felt like these last couple of years, is he
Speaker 1: just ran out of guys. Yeah, he could not replenish
Speaker 1: the well and obviously the quarterback situation. But I you know,
Speaker 1: I told you I think like a month ago, I
Speaker 1: think Bill should do Amazon TV and show his personality
Speaker 1: a little bit and just kind of rebrand himself a
Speaker 1: little bit, because right now the NFL owners look at
Speaker 1: him like this curmudgeon, negative guy, power hungary. They all
Speaker 1: know he's a good coach. But you rebrand yourself a
Speaker 1: little bit. A year later, you got three guys begging
Speaker 1: you for their job, and let's face it, right now,
Speaker 1: that just was not the case, which is crazy. He
Speaker 1: couldn't get a head coaching job. He just couldn't know no.
Speaker 2: One wanted him. And I also think, so I think
Speaker 2: about this all the time in life, that no is
Speaker 2: a really powerful word that people don't use enough, and
Speaker 2: sometimes missing on a job is the best thing ever.
Speaker 2: There was one great job opening this year, Chargers, Yeah,
Speaker 2: next year, and this is not even unlikely. Josh Allen,
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott. You start going to Derek Carr.
Speaker 2: There could be I wrote the oh, Trevor Lawrence. There
Speaker 2: could be like five six high end quarterbacks who need coaches.
Speaker 2: You can't win in this league. I mean, Belichick's proof.
Speaker 2: You can't win big in this league without the quarterback.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of these jobs. I mean, Williams
Speaker 2: absolutely so. In a weird way, Rabel and Bill built
Speaker 2: out for a year you made a ton of money,
Speaker 2: golf a little bit watch games. By the way, Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 2: not at that level, ended up getting the cowboy gig.
Speaker 2: It's a remarkable I mean, and I think about this
Speaker 2: all the time. I mean, you're as a euro former scout.
Speaker 2: You know this. There's an insecurity among even great coaches.
Speaker 2: Once you're out, you've got to get back in. And
Speaker 2: I've thought about this before, like even in my profession.
Speaker 2: It's like, if you're talented, just sit back and watch
Speaker 2: shows implode, watch managers get you know, act. Stuff opens
Speaker 2: up really fast in big money businesses, Silicon Valley football media,
Speaker 2: blah blah, whatever it is law. And I think coaches
Speaker 2: sometimes feel like I've got to get a gig. But
Speaker 2: I mean, if if the Charger's job wasn't open, the
Speaker 2: only other job I would have left Michigan for if
Speaker 2: I was Hardbaugh is Washington because they have like eighty
Speaker 2: million dollars cap space, And I actually think if they
Speaker 2: get Drake May, I think I think he's going to
Speaker 2: be okay. I mean, what did you make this week
Speaker 2: of everybody getting more cap space? Because the NFL came
Speaker 2: out and announced the revenues were higher than expected. The
Speaker 2: rams now have like forty three million, forty two million
Speaker 2: dollars in cap space.
Speaker 1: Called it. It doesn't feel like that long ago that
Speaker 1: the NFL salary cap was like one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars, does it. I mean, this thing is, this
Speaker 1: thing has gone up at rapids speed. Two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty five million dollars a lot of money. And if
Speaker 1: you think about it, it's actually easier to set yourself
Speaker 1: up for the next several years because what's two fifty
Speaker 1: five in five years three forty, I mean it's going
Speaker 1: to go up substantially. So signing some of these contracts,
Speaker 1: I do think we need to look at them a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. Right when you extend the guy the
Speaker 1: way they can manipulate the money on the salary cap
Speaker 1: to add up to two hundred and fifty five million dollars,
Speaker 1: you need a lot of cap hits at twenty thirty
Speaker 1: forty million dollars. So it definitely makes it a lot
Speaker 1: more easy. Now here's the problem salary cap space in baseball.
Speaker 1: If Sho heo Tani and and even though they don't
Speaker 1: have a salary cap, but you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: If a baseball player is hitting free agency. Show Heyo
Speaker 1: Tani's hitting free agency. If Kevin Durant's a free agent,
Speaker 1: he's hitting free agency. Well you just t Higgins franchised.
Speaker 1: You're going to see that list of like the top
Speaker 1: ten free agents. Franchise franchise, franchise, franchise. That's what makes
Speaker 1: football a little unique is having a lot of cap
Speaker 1: space in this sport. Most of the best quote unquote
Speaker 1: free agents never hit the open market. And then to
Speaker 1: get that next here B player, I think you pay
Speaker 1: like a twenty five thirty percent premium. Look at last year,
Speaker 1: the best tackle on the market, McGlinchey, you had to
Speaker 1: give him almost sixty million guaranteed. The forty nine Ers
Speaker 1: his third contract, Hardgrave, he gets eighty million dollars forty
Speaker 1: million dollars guaranteed. So you pay an ultimately, it's like
Speaker 1: you know, beachfront real estate, because not that many guys
Speaker 1: hit it. So if it's a starter, a good starter,
Speaker 1: a guy that you know is a plug and play starter,
Speaker 1: you pay for it, right And even some of these
Speaker 1: guys that are franchised, maybe they're quote unquote available through
Speaker 1: a trade. It's like, oh, you know, we'd be open
Speaker 1: to trading t Higgins, but we need your one in
Speaker 1: the twenties, and then you have to pay him twenty
Speaker 1: three million dollars a year. So it's if you want
Speaker 1: to dabble in, that market is very, very expensive. It's
Speaker 1: why to me, the Washingtons of the world, I would
Speaker 1: just take a deep breath, kind of let things play out.
Speaker 1: The Texans are a better example. Okay, you already see
Speaker 1: you got some stuff. If I got to overpay a
Speaker 1: guard and overpay a linebacker that I really like, who cares. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got seventy million dollars if I if I invest
Speaker 1: thirty five and those two guys, I feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about it. But I already know what I got. Like
Speaker 1: with Washington and some of these teams, let's just try
Speaker 1: to walk before we run. Let's just see how the
Speaker 1: quarterback is because yeah, Drake may or Jayden Daniels, whoever
Speaker 1: they end up taking. I mean, how often do we
Speaker 1: see these guys be overwhelmed or whatever. Then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you got to kind of you want flexibility
Speaker 1: as much as possible. To me, the Texans are a
Speaker 1: good example. Like I'd be pretty aggressive here, Like could
Speaker 1: I go get a T. Higgins. Could I make a
Speaker 1: trade right and then pay a guy like I'd be
Speaker 1: open to a lot of different options.
Speaker 2: You know. One of the things you're going to the combine.
Speaker 2: One of the things that's great about the draft is
Speaker 2: it really has you know, the NBA Draft is fun,
Speaker 2: but there's two rounds and these guys coming at nineteen
Speaker 2: and they go to bad teams. So and the hit
Speaker 2: rate's pretty low because you don't have as much video.
Speaker 2: It's hard. In the NBA NFL college draft you have
Speaker 2: minimum three years of film. A lot of these guys
Speaker 2: come from two or three major conferences. They're playing against
Speaker 2: NFL guys, So misses, but there's a lot of hits
Speaker 2: as well. You know. Now, I was thinking about one
Speaker 2: of the things in the draft that I was reading
Speaker 2: a story and I forget God. I want to give
Speaker 2: credit to whoever did it. They went back and looked
Speaker 2: at last year's draft and graded it, and again it's
Speaker 2: not so Houston had the most successful draft. So when C. J.
Speaker 2: Stroud comes in and crushes some of it is very explainable.
Speaker 2: They hit like on five draft picks number two. I
Speaker 2: know the Rams and the Seahawks were up there. The
Speaker 2: Packers were at three, and I got to tell you something.
Speaker 2: I said this, I like both the Packers' last two drafts.
Speaker 2: Is I sometimes wonder about this, but by the way
Speaker 2: the Jets and the Giants terrible. Is that I sometimes wonder?
Speaker 2: And you worked in the building because Philadelphia, where you worked,
Speaker 2: it's a wealthy franchise. There are a lot of money here.
Speaker 2: Green Bay could argue over the last twenty five years
Speaker 2: has done a better job than anybody in this league
Speaker 2: drafting and developing and when you were in the league.
Speaker 2: And my take is, is a lack of an owner helpful.
Speaker 2: The guys run at it are just all football guys.
Speaker 2: But the Packers, they went to last year's draft and
Speaker 2: the receivers hit and the tight ends hit. And I
Speaker 2: just when I look at Green Bay, I think, Okay,
Speaker 2: They've had different gms, different coaches, They nail quarterbacks, great o' line,
Speaker 2: they always always find receivers and tight ends when you
Speaker 2: were in the league. Is it one of those classic
Speaker 2: the millionaire next door that if you're on a school
Speaker 2: teacher salary, you're just not going to waste as much money.
Speaker 2: You're going to be smarter than a stockbroker, who's got
Speaker 2: money to right? Are the Packers seen as frugal because
Speaker 2: they don't have the game day revenue? But when I
Speaker 2: saw that list, and again I apologize for not crediting
Speaker 2: who it was, I saw it on the plane. It
Speaker 2: was best draft. Last year Packers were a third and
Speaker 2: I thought, God, when is the last bad draft the
Speaker 2: Packers had.
Speaker 1: I think a lot has to do with, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of cultures. When I get rid of everyone, right,
Speaker 1: a GM and A and a coach, the owner gets
Speaker 1: to hire everybody, and he's always the boss. He's always
Speaker 1: hovering over everybody. It goes back to Ron Wolf and Holmgren.
Speaker 1: Ron taught all these guys right from Ted Thompson. Gudakins
Speaker 1: had worked there forever. So they've had the same culture
Speaker 1: in terms of management since Ron Wolf showed up in
Speaker 1: the early nineties. So the way they look at players,
Speaker 1: they've always been obsessed with high weight speed. I don't
Speaker 1: think it has to do as much with like pinchion
Speaker 1: pennies and not being able to like, you know, you're
Speaker 1: the Rays, they're the Yankee, so you have to outthink them.
Speaker 1: I just think that they've taught and streamlined it from
Speaker 1: generation to generation very very well. They have a like
Speaker 1: a company culture there that I think has transcended general
Speaker 1: managers from Ron Wolf to Ted Thompson and Gudakins, and
Speaker 1: I think they've been pretty consistent. Back to what you're
Speaker 1: saying with the draft of like they all know what
Speaker 1: they're looking for because they've been looking for the same
Speaker 1: thing now for thirty years. Helps a lot when you
Speaker 1: have a quarterback, right, they have a quarterback and they
Speaker 1: know how to surround the guy, and they've always done
Speaker 1: an incredible job of surrounding the guy on offense. I
Speaker 1: think the Ravens are a pretty good example of how
Speaker 1: they transitioned from Ossni to Da Costa because the Costa
Speaker 1: was his right hand man forever. Yes, So it's like
Speaker 1: the point when you have the cohesion, like why are
Speaker 1: the Chiefs so strong right now? Because Andy has Spags
Speaker 1: who's never leaving, I mean, and who has goes back
Speaker 1: for twenty years beating Belichick and Brady. It's very unique
Speaker 1: to have that. Kyle or McVeigh get a good coordinator, Boom,
Speaker 1: the guy's gone. They can't hold on to their defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: So I think having the cohesion the Packers is a
Speaker 1: great place to work. I remember when we were there.
Speaker 1: When I worked in the league, everyone was always kind
Speaker 1: of envious of like cause it was like this chill vibe,
Speaker 1: but they were winning big and it was just through
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers. There was like the pressure we
Speaker 1: had in Philadelphia, felt it every day when you went
Speaker 1: in the building. They definitely don't have that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think the Chiefs really have that going on right now,
Speaker 1: but a lot has to do with winning. I just
Speaker 1: think it's a very unique organization. But I do think
Speaker 1: it gets back to the streamline vision from generation to generation,
Speaker 1: and they've all crossed, you know, like John Schneider hires
Speaker 1: Mike McDonald. They don't know each other. They're hoping this
Speaker 1: chemistry works because he's good coach with the Ravens, and
Speaker 1: you know he knows, but it's like you're kind of
Speaker 1: keeping your fingers crossed. You look at Harball goes to
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Who do they hire as his general manager?
Speaker 1: A guy he knows, A guy he's comfortable with from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: So you're like, yeah, it's probably gonna work out. He
Speaker 1: knows John there, it's all in the family that matters,
Speaker 1: Like Shanahan's had a lot of success with people he knows.
Speaker 1: He's worked with Robert Solid he coached, Tamiko Ryans, Brian Greasy,
Speaker 1: he worked with when he was young in Tampa's dad
Speaker 1: knows him. We're all comfortable with people we know, right,
Speaker 1: who do you hire the volume like to run your
Speaker 1: management people that you're comfortable people with, You know, it helps.
Speaker 1: Now they have to be talented, but like when you're
Speaker 1: all on the same page, it's a lot easier to operate.
Speaker 1: And I think for thirty plus years the packers have
Speaker 1: just had a lot of cohesion. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: people leave their coaches, do you know, But there their scouts.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they pay top notch relative to
Speaker 1: the NFL executives, but I sure know when they're winning
Speaker 1: things are having success, people like working there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can also buy a hell of a house
Speaker 2: in Milwaukee, live like a king four hundred and ninety
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. You know, It's it's just it was when
Speaker 2: I saw the list, it was like, God, Green Bay
Speaker 2: knows what they're doing and to your point, quarterbacks kind
Speaker 2: of make it all work. You can, I mean, listen
Speaker 2: Brett Veach in Kansas City's had some misses. You forget
Speaker 2: sky Moore, you forget them really quickly. Malmes makes you
Speaker 2: forget shit really quickly.
Speaker 1: Well, it's like someone told me with the Jets a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. They're like they had all those
Speaker 1: picks in the top whatever, the first couple of rounds
Speaker 1: for two straight years, we could go seven of eight.
Speaker 1: They all could be Pro bowlers. If Zach's a whiff,
Speaker 1: were in trouble, we'd go one of eight. If Zach's
Speaker 1: a hit. Contract extensions, Well what happened? They went seven eight,
Speaker 1: Maybe not seven eight, but five or six of eight.
Speaker 1: And Zach's the problem and they got issues that quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean, if Jordan Love and we're all gonna pencil
Speaker 1: him in, I do think there's a difference of kind
Speaker 1: of They got to fly him too the radar a
Speaker 1: little bit. This year. They started slow, then they came on.
Speaker 1: Everyone next year is gonna be looking at them like
Speaker 1: double digit wins playoff team. It is a different pressure.
Speaker 1: That's why I give a lot of credit to the Lions.
Speaker 1: Everyone took the Lions seriously this year coming in and
Speaker 1: they handled it well like it's it's a it's another.
Speaker 1: Now Lafleur has success. Now he's been a part of
Speaker 1: those type teams with Aaron, so he's I feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with it. But sustaining high level play year in year out,
Speaker 1: that's hard. So you know there's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of tangible pressure on Jordan Love next year.
Speaker 2: So it's it's interesting when I this is kind of
Speaker 2: a vague topic, but I know I've always kind of
Speaker 2: measured how often I talk football. I don't work at
Speaker 2: the NFL network, nor do I want to. I like
Speaker 2: the NBA. I like, you know, an October September baseball series.
Speaker 2: I like the World Cup, a good UFC fight, I
Speaker 2: like March Madness. I could never just talk football, and
Speaker 2: I've always kept the number around sixty five percent of
Speaker 2: the show. But I was talking to a TV exec.
Speaker 2: I had a meeting about ten twelve days ago with
Speaker 2: a really smart guy, and we were talking about the
Speaker 2: Big Ten, and he said, those ratings are going to
Speaker 2: go up fifteen to twenty percent. And I had given
Speaker 2: college football about an eight year break a hiatus on
Speaker 2: my show because it got very regional and very southern.
Speaker 2: And I'm not anti SEC, but if it was all it.
Speaker 1: Was Alabama, Georgia every in Clemson every year for seven
Speaker 1: straight years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so it just like listen, once baseball became
Speaker 2: very local. Nobody in Minnesota is going to watch the Mariners.
Speaker 2: Nobody in Seattle gives a rip about Tampa Bay. Yet
Speaker 2: a Seahawk fan would watch the Buccaneer in Baker Mayfield play.
Speaker 2: So once baseball about ten twelve years ago, I felt
Speaker 2: it really got local. I just didn't talk about it.
Speaker 2: College basketball is a turnstile now between the transfer portal
Speaker 2: one and done. You can't name the starters on Duke,
Speaker 2: but it is sort of interesting. I was talking to
Speaker 2: this executive about the growth of college football. He goes,
Speaker 2: you're not going to believe the numbers are going to explode.
Speaker 2: And me started talking about the Big Ten schedule and
Speaker 2: he's like, you're gonna get Washington, Oregon or Washington, Michigan,
Speaker 2: Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC You're gonna have three
Speaker 2: and four games in a row all day. And it
Speaker 2: did make me think as I was off this week,
Speaker 2: and I you know, I kind of shut it down.
Speaker 2: When I'm off, I don't watch sports. I just leave
Speaker 2: and there was nothing going on anyway. I'm watching the
Speaker 2: Warriors Nuggets today.
Speaker 1: Crappy year.
Speaker 2: But the biggest story in baseball last week as the
Speaker 2: season starts uniforms. You know, they're kind of sheer see through.
Speaker 2: Biggest story in the NBA was how bad the All
Speaker 2: Star Game was. The biggest story in college basketball was
Speaker 2: storming the court. Yet, the NFL is the sport we
Speaker 2: talk about because we watch the games. Listen, if you're
Speaker 2: a fan, listen to what we talk about when people, sportscasters,
Speaker 2: podcasters talk football. We actually talk about strategy in the
Speaker 2: games that the NFL. With the growth of college football,
Speaker 2: which by the way, between the draft and the combine,
Speaker 2: they're really starting to go hand in hand. College basketball
Speaker 2: in the NBA are the Grand Canyon. They have nothing
Speaker 2: in common. Most of the great players don't even want
Speaker 2: to play in college basketball college baseball, but Major League baseball,
Speaker 2: college hockey, they don't connect. You know, college soccer and
Speaker 2: the MLS they don't connect. College football connects with the
Speaker 2: NFL more and more. And I was sitting there this
Speaker 2: week watching people talk about sports, and I thought, am
Speaker 2: I going to do an eighty percent football show? Based
Speaker 2: on the audience. As I've said, the audience drives the
Speaker 2: show what they want. I follow ratings and I'm sitting
Speaker 2: there thinking, I don't want to work at the NFL network.
Speaker 2: But John, between legalized gambling, people now stick through bad games.
Speaker 2: This massive Big Ten SCC explosion, where now the two
Speaker 2: conferences are going to have all the games we watch,
Speaker 2: the ratings are going to skyrocket the twelve team playoff.
Speaker 2: I was sitting there this week and I thought, Jesus,
Speaker 2: you're talking about see through pants in baseball? Is that
Speaker 2: amongst your friends when you go golf, does anybody talk
Speaker 2: about anything other?
Speaker 1: Football is the other thing that it comes up consistently.
Speaker 1: Even and I know a couple of guys and play
Speaker 1: golf with some former Major League Baseball players. They talk football.
Speaker 1: I mean the Bill's fan, a Packer fan. That's all
Speaker 1: they want to talk about. And during the fall, I
Speaker 1: think college football, like you said, think about next year Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, LSU,
Speaker 1: the SEC and the Big Ten get it's gonna feel
Speaker 1: like NFL light. I think the NFL. I've said this forever.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's gonna last forever my entire life.
Speaker 1: Like I'm almost forty does that forty years dominating When
Speaker 1: I was growing up. Baseball was huge the nineties with
Speaker 1: the Yankees basketball with Michael Jordan. But for the foreseeable future,
Speaker 1: I don't see how that gap. I'm the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: guys actively talk like why would we even try to participate?
Speaker 1: Anthony Rendon, who's making two hundred and forty five million
Speaker 1: dollars to that story, He's like, yeah, baseball is not
Speaker 1: even a priority. It's like, well, I think for two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars, probably probably don't want to
Speaker 1: say that, buddy. You know, it's like, can you imagine
Speaker 1: an NFL play? I think the relatability sometimes with you
Speaker 1: and I don't even blame these guys cause you're getting
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty million dollars guaranteed. Some of these basketball
Speaker 1: players I played. I played golf last week during the
Speaker 1: All Star break with a guy that calls NBA games,
Speaker 1: and he was saying, one problem is, and he's on
Speaker 1: a pretty high level team, but he just sees it
Speaker 1: around the league, is it's always like you have to
Speaker 1: max everybody out. Well, you can't lose them. Well, is
Speaker 1: the guy a max player? Like we had the max Zion,
Speaker 1: Did you or I mean, did you have to? Because
Speaker 1: in the NFL you don't have to, and you would not,
Speaker 1: And so everyone's making all this money. If I don't
Speaker 1: care who you are, if you're twenty five years old
Speaker 1: and you're basically guaranteed to get an astronomical amount of money,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be jaded in the way you think about everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're in football.
Speaker 1: It still has this old school meritocracy that if you
Speaker 1: do not produce within two years. I've seen it forever.
Speaker 1: It's why when I used to go to Niners camp
Speaker 1: a lot like I'm not gonna make it too big
Speaker 1: a deal about a third or fourth round pick, because
Speaker 1: every year I've seen that third fourth round pick by
Speaker 1: the time training camp ends, the undrafted free agents beating
Speaker 1: him out and might even beat out the starter, And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, two undrafted free agents are starting.
Speaker 1: Guys are coming from everywhere, every team, I don't care
Speaker 1: if you're a playoff team or a shitty team, and
Speaker 1: they're It's kind of like relates to our life. You
Speaker 1: gotta produce whatever you do. You either generate revenue, get
Speaker 1: your job done, or you gotta get replaced. Where I
Speaker 1: think in basketball and baseball, it's kind of like scholarship
Speaker 1: once you get paid, Like, I can't what am I
Speaker 1: gonna do with you? Even in football, you're gonna see
Speaker 1: so many names this week. You're like, got it. I
Speaker 1: thought that guy was under a long term contract. They're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're thinking about cutting him if you won't take a
Speaker 1: pay cut, well, thinking about trading him. So basically every guy,
Speaker 1: I mean, we could probably name thirty guys like untouchable
Speaker 1: in the NFL. A lot of them are quarterbacks and
Speaker 1: then a lot of like high level Trent Williams, Travis Kelce,
Speaker 1: like those type guys. But basically every other name you
Speaker 1: go half the Pro Bowl roster, you're like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we could move on from that guy.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: And I think basketball and baseball used to have an
Speaker 1: element of that. And definitely their guys were wired. Like
Speaker 1: working in like local television in the Bay Area and
Speaker 1: meeting a lot of guys that played in the eighties
Speaker 1: and nineties, they had that attitude in baseball and basketball,
Speaker 1: I can be replaced, I could be cut. They were
Speaker 1: very relatable individuals. It's why Charles Barkley is like one
Speaker 1: of the biggest TV stars of all time. He's relatable.
Speaker 1: I think it's much more difficult for the modern guy
Speaker 1: in that sport to be relatable because you're making one
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars guaranteed whether you're good or bad. No
Speaker 1: one has a problem when you're good getting paid. But
Speaker 1: he's like, is this guy, even Jordan Poole's making one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty million dollars, he's like the worst in
Speaker 1: the NBA.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and I've talked to a handful of execs
Speaker 2: and I've brought this up before. They laugh at the
Speaker 2: NBA structure. They're like, what a joke they make fun
Speaker 2: NFL guys. I remember having this conversation a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago when the CTE thing came down, and a
Speaker 2: lot of these Northeast media types who don't understand the
Speaker 2: passion for football in the Midwest or college football, they're like,
Speaker 2: it's the end of the NFL. Like you've been in
Speaker 2: the Northeast way too long, where baseball still talked about
Speaker 2: on sports radio a lot. I'm like, football's not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: It's way too big to fail. There's way too much money,
Speaker 2: and they've cleaned it up that nobody hits at practice
Speaker 2: anymore once the season starts. By the way, you get
Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl, usually the teams that get to
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl are missing maybe one starter. Like everybody's
Speaker 2: got the I mean, guys are healthy.
Speaker 1: Miners and Chiefs were healthy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's a you know the Chiefs a few
Speaker 2: years ago missing their tackles, and it was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's what happens. But one of the things the structure
Speaker 2: of the NFL is the structure of most of our lives.
Speaker 2: You're tradeable, cuttable, fireable. And I never understand fans like
Speaker 2: this is like we're fans. I look at fans and
Speaker 2: I just think you guys are in your mind this idea.
Speaker 2: I want my guy to get the bag.
Speaker 1: Fuck that.
Speaker 2: I don't want many players to get the bag because
Speaker 2: it limits my flexibility. I am always rooting for the
Speaker 2: team to sign a reasonable contract so it gives the
Speaker 2: team flexibility. I mean this idea like Dack's got a
Speaker 2: three hundred million dollars net worth after his next contract,
Speaker 2: He's fine, but you're you're not fine if you overpay players.
Speaker 2: But it is interesting. The NFL is the only sport
Speaker 2: and I will say the MLS and hockey are the closest.
Speaker 2: NBA Baseball are a mess that it's like you just.
Speaker 1: I turned to a former hockey guy that played fifteen years.
Speaker 1: I didn't know who he was, but we started BS
Speaker 1: and he was one of the most relatable individuals. I
Speaker 1: had to google him after God, this guy played. They
Speaker 1: have a relatability to the way they talk and the
Speaker 1: way they interact. They're actually I'm like, this guy could
Speaker 1: have talked to anyone in here and could have gotten along.
Speaker 1: It was very impressive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I met a guy at a bar in Naples
Speaker 2: one time. NHL guy was a Bruin. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: I'm google them same. But I also think they have
Speaker 2: a very tight cap and stars get paid. Everybody else
Speaker 2: makes a good living, not an insane living. And I'm
Speaker 2: not anti I always said this. I'm not anti players
Speaker 2: making money. I'm not anti mobility. But in any business,
Speaker 2: if you're paying B and C employees a money, you're
Speaker 2: going to have a problem. And I do think and again,
Speaker 2: I love NBA playoff basketball, I really do. It's one
Speaker 2: of my favorite things. But I NFL guys they look executives, owners,
Speaker 2: they look at the NBA and baseball and they just
Speaker 2: laugh at their structure.
Speaker 1: Well, I think one power of the NFL, like you
Speaker 1: said about a random fan will watch not his team
Speaker 1: and know their players. I also think because the power listen,
Speaker 1: we can argue over the franchise tag, whether it's fair
Speaker 1: or not. It's one of the healthiest things for the
Speaker 1: business by a mile, because when Kevin Durant or Aaron
Speaker 1: Judge or Shoheo Tani when they hit free agency, there
Speaker 1: is no mechanism to keep them, and in those leagues,
Speaker 1: guys turn over a lot, which is not great for
Speaker 1: the league. If I'm the Kansa Chiefs, I would imagine
Speaker 1: bottom ten market in the NFL. If I want to
Speaker 1: keep Patrick Mahomes his entire career, or the Packers with
Speaker 1: Rogers Afar, I can until I choose to get rid
Speaker 1: of them, and that's healthy for my organization for the league.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs were just in a Super Bowl and they're
Speaker 1: easily now I would say one of the most recognizable
Speaker 1: brands in the NFL because of Patrick, and that's not
Speaker 1: really possible. Like in the NBA, if the Nuggets make
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, it's not great. They would much rather
Speaker 1: have Steph Curry or Lebron in the NBA Finals. We're
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It helps to have the Niners there,
Speaker 1: But if it had been the Lions, maybe it's not
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty What is one hundred and fifteen
Speaker 1: million people still watch the enter It doesn't impact. And
Speaker 1: that's where I think the NFL has dwarfed everyone that
Speaker 1: they're no longer dependent on markets. The brands. Yeah, their
Speaker 1: brands changed by the player, by the quarterback. Who you know,
Speaker 1: if Josh Allen's healthy is going to be on the
Speaker 1: bill for fifteen years and it's all you didn't like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you go back ten years, the CTE check
Speaker 2: whenever it was. It was remarkable to listen to so
Speaker 2: many sports writers. It was like, guys, your tone deaf.
Speaker 2: Don't you have never lived in the South. You don't
Speaker 2: get Texas. It was a lot of Northeast sports writers.
Speaker 2: It was a lot of this high minded Remember Sports
Speaker 2: Illustrated started out covering fencing, had to be like persuaded
Speaker 2: to cover football. There is this sort of high minded
Speaker 2: view of you know, college football and football, and it's like, guys,
Speaker 2: it's it's the best run sport.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: There was a great moment in the Dynasty series with
Speaker 2: Roger Goodell. Remember when they got rid of the tapes
Speaker 2: put a hammer to him, got rid of the Spygate tapes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and there was this media guy, why'd you get rid
Speaker 2: of the tape? And he said, well, because the punishment
Speaker 2: had been handed out. Well, but what about and he said, no,
Speaker 2: the punishment had been handed out, there was no need
Speaker 2: for the tapes. Well, I mean why Goodell said, tapes
Speaker 2: get out? He goes, like these got out? He goes,
Speaker 2: we destroyed them, and it shut the reporter up. But
Speaker 2: the reporter he wanted so badly. Goodell got hammered for
Speaker 2: that that he destroyed the tapes. And the point was
Speaker 2: there was no value in those tapes once the spines
Speaker 2: and suspensions were handed out. Belichick was fine half a
Speaker 2: million dollars at the time anytime, a lot of money.
Speaker 2: But at the time he wasn't making what he's making now.
Speaker 2: And so Goodell gets a lot of crap because I
Speaker 2: think by and large, the media doesn't like power. But
Speaker 2: like Dana White and Goodell, i'd argue are the two
Speaker 2: best commissioner CEOs of their sport. They're both Dana's highly
Speaker 2: defiant and Goodell. Think about how big that industry is.
Speaker 2: What's the last look at how leagues have dealt with
Speaker 2: societal changes, cultural changes, strikes. I've always thought Goodell, mostly
Speaker 2: because Goodell doesn't pander to the media. I've had dinner
Speaker 2: with him and drinks. You can ask Roger anything. He
Speaker 2: literally I asked him on the air one time he
Speaker 2: came on my show and I said, Roger, I love
Speaker 2: your sport. I don't know what it catches. My friends
Speaker 2: don't know what it catches. He acknowledged live on the ear.
Speaker 2: He goes, it's Colin. It's a problem. That year they
Speaker 2: changed it in the Super Bowl Eagles. Remember in that
Speaker 2: Super Bowl the ball was juggled and they allowed it.
Speaker 2: What commissioner would have done that? I think when I
Speaker 2: watched The Dynasty, it was another reminder that the NFL
Speaker 2: is incredibly well run and Goodell really has his shit
Speaker 2: buttoned up.
Speaker 1: How about the part when Robert Craft bought the Patriots
Speaker 1: that he bought the surrounding area because he knew the
Speaker 1: value in that that. No, I was like, what a genius.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the level of business savviness that it
Speaker 1: takes to even because he's thinking that before he even
Speaker 1: has the money and the level of no wonder, he's
Speaker 1: one of the better owners in the NFL. No wonder
Speaker 1: his you know, he's being talked about like he is
Speaker 1: to be able to make a move like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So for people wondering the stadium wasn't great, but.
Speaker 1: I think historically it was like the worst in the NFL.
Speaker 2: One I thought, yeah, it was. In fact, they threatened
Speaker 2: to go to Hertford at one point, and so he
Speaker 2: bought the Craft, bought the he bought the land around
Speaker 2: the stadium. So if you bought the stadium, he was
Speaker 2: gonna you know, he would be making all the money
Speaker 2: around it with shops and restaurants. No. I think I
Speaker 2: think what I appreciated about all that is that, you know,
Speaker 2: Kraft was a Patriot fan. That's all he was. He
Speaker 2: was a Patriot fan. Yeah, and all these owners when
Speaker 2: they buy the team. When Jerry Jones bought the team,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Johnson told me, for the first year, financially, Jerry
Speaker 2: was like going to card dealers and try to get ads.
Speaker 2: Like He's like, we do it. We weren't the Cowboys.
Speaker 2: It's like you had to overpay Craft. By the way,
Speaker 2: the first couple of years, they were not rolling.
Speaker 1: In it, no one thing. And I said this on
Speaker 1: the podcast last week. You might not have seen because
Speaker 1: you were vacationing, but Drod Mayo, they clearly have a
Speaker 1: huge push from the Patriots to be like, we love
Speaker 1: the media. Now you guys who are our friends, our
Speaker 1: assistant coaches, know your importance. And I don't even And
Speaker 1: I've heard good things. He's an impressive guy. I don't
Speaker 1: even necessarily blame him for saying that because it's clearly
Speaker 1: coming from Jonathan and Robert. I think they are too obsessed, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: Bill could be an asshole who cares no one the
Speaker 1: media does, has no pull in the narrative. Once you
Speaker 1: start playing games, if you win, it doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: he is. If you lose, it doesn't none of it matters.
Speaker 1: He's only gonna be So yeah, they could write great
Speaker 1: articles for the next six months. The moment he starts
Speaker 1: zero and four and Jade Daniels has throwing seven interceptions
Speaker 1: in one touchdown, you got a problem on your hands.
Speaker 1: No matter how much they like the guy, they will
Speaker 1: turn on you every time. So I understand the crafts.
Speaker 1: They just want some. They want more smiles. It's all bullshit.
Speaker 1: The reason Belichick got run out of time he started
Speaker 1: losing it wasn't because his press conferences. And I just
Speaker 1: think it's a human you know, it's natural reaction to
Speaker 1: want to pivot off what you just had. In relationships
Speaker 1: with coaches, we see it all the time. The Craft
Speaker 1: parcels a hole Pete nice guy, Belichick like parcels now,
Speaker 1: jirod Mao like a Pete Carroll happy. And I think
Speaker 1: they're obsessed with the wrong thing right now in New England,
Speaker 1: and I do wonder if they got something coming their way,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a lot more difficult than they realize.
Speaker 2: You know, I've had people ask me this before, why
Speaker 2: the athletes come on your show, And I think, well,
Speaker 2: I got a bigger each And I'm not Mike Wallace.
Speaker 2: I can ask a tough question. But by and large,
Speaker 2: most athletes have secondary incomes or you know, projects or charities,
Speaker 2: and we always mention them. But I think the reality
Speaker 2: of athletes and sports is they largely don't need the media.
Speaker 2: That's why I've always appreciated let's pivot to the NBA here,
Speaker 2: It's why I've always appreciated Lebron James. It doesn't matter
Speaker 2: if it's a local, regional, telecaster, national. Lebron always stops
Speaker 2: to talk to the press always. Michael did this too.
Speaker 2: Jordan was great, Kobe was really good at this stuff.
Speaker 2: Some guys aren't. But you know, as Lebron season winds down,
Speaker 2: I think the Lakers have championship length. Lebron ad I
Speaker 2: don't think their championship team. I think Boston and Denver
Speaker 2: just feel like better than everybody. But I do want
Speaker 2: to talk about the Warriors for second, because generally, speaking
Speaker 2: as I was, you know, they've gone on a bit
Speaker 2: of a heater. I think they've won eight of ten,
Speaker 2: played really really well. They put Clay Thompson on the bench,
Speaker 2: and they brought this rookie and who they drafted to
Speaker 2: be the next Clay, the Pods kid, Brandon Podds like
Speaker 2: and he is frankly, he's got I mean even during
Speaker 2: draft night, you're like, he kind of plays like Clay.
Speaker 2: He's got an edge to him. He's a little salty,
Speaker 2: and then cominga now has become like a pretty consistently
Speaker 2: good performer. Wiggins is playing a little better now. Generally,
Speaker 2: you know, Shaq and Kobe breaks up. The Heatles break
Speaker 2: up Michael Jordan. You can get really bad, really fast.
Speaker 2: But I'm sitting watching I'm sitting watching the Warriors over
Speaker 2: the last two weeks, and I'm like, okay, that's the
Speaker 2: last dynasty and I'm like, now Cominga's Cominga's a real player,
Speaker 2: and Clay's off the bench. Clay's, by the way, he
Speaker 2: had a heater playing the Nuggets. Clay off the bench
Speaker 2: is a totally different expectation than Clay starting. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: I know they have a rookie, but I watch them
Speaker 2: and I'm like, okay, they don't match up well with Denver.
Speaker 2: Almost nobody does. Lakers do a little because Ad can
Speaker 2: defend Jokich, but you know the Bay Area very well.
Speaker 2: Are we gonna have because it doesn't work this way.
Speaker 2: When dynasty's end, they go into the freaking tank. Durant left,
Speaker 2: they want another one. Then they step back and I
Speaker 2: watched them in the last two weeks and I'm like,
Speaker 2: you know what, Steph's still a top five six player,
Speaker 2: Draymond's still a catalyst, offensively excellent defensive player, Clay off
Speaker 2: the bench, two young guys that can actually score pods
Speaker 2: can score, Coaminga can score. Kurzys Wiggins has played much better.
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, John the West outside of Denver,
Speaker 2: everybody's got an issue. Like everybody.
Speaker 1: I think one thing the Warriors have is they're a throwback.
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys have played together forever. I mean
Speaker 1: you watch the Phoenix Suns. They've been together for ten minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how can you have any faith in most of these
Speaker 1: teams beside Denver that they've been put together over the
Speaker 1: last eighteen months. The Warriors are much more like a
Speaker 1: nineties or eighties teams where the group has played together forever.
Speaker 1: How about Steve kurz contract right, Like he's not in
Speaker 1: it for the rest of his life, but as long
Speaker 1: as step is there and Draymond is there and now
Speaker 1: they have some young players, So yeah, I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: any part of these guys in a big length I
Speaker 1: mean last year the Lakers annihilated him in that series
Speaker 1: length play and Clay was terrible. So to me, if
Speaker 1: Clay is the day and age of fourteen through eighteen,
Speaker 1: is gone right ace. But if he is just a
Speaker 1: solid I can trust six out of the seven games
Speaker 1: to be in the high teens in one of those
Speaker 1: games he gets.
Speaker 2: It's like when westbrookoff the bench for the Clippers is
Speaker 2: a mister energy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, Draymond said on his podcast. He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you we can compete for a championship this year.
Speaker 1: Like they're cohesion their group. They got Chris Paul coming back,
Speaker 1: Cary Peyton's healthy now, and Steph is one of the
Speaker 1: most remarkable players in the history of sports and still
Speaker 1: like when he's going, is one of the best players
Speaker 1: in the NBA. The key to them, though, is Draymond,
Speaker 1: who's playing really well in Clay because Steph last year,
Speaker 1: like what else do you want to do against the Lakers?
Speaker 1: It was everybody else. So they just need Clay to
Speaker 1: meet Clay. If he can be like a B for
Speaker 1: them and then at moments a B plus a minus
Speaker 1: against good teams in the first or second round, then yeah,
Speaker 1: hell yeah they could make a run. Yeah you know it,
Speaker 1: Steve Kirk about you see their value when Steph showed up,
Speaker 1: it was like three hundred and twenty five million dollars.
Speaker 1: That's what lake A bought the team for. Now. I
Speaker 1: don't think they would sell for this because so much
Speaker 1: is dependent on Steph who's thirty six, thirty seven years old.
Speaker 1: Ford valued them at over eight billion dollars.
Speaker 2: Oh, I think. So the arena is the arena.
Speaker 1: It's a cash cow. It's one of the only cash cows. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And also that they own, so that's that's a huge thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a huge component to it. It's interesting.
Speaker 2: So I covered Steve Kirk a couple years in Portland,
Speaker 2: and that team also had the governor of Oregon, like
Speaker 2: Chris Dudley. So it was a team that had like
Speaker 2: problem guys and then two of the smart guys like mayors,
Speaker 2: and it just was a fast bonus. Was a fascinating
Speaker 2: player to cover Damien's Damon Stodemeyer Pippen. But Kerr's remarkable.
Speaker 2: So Kerr is part of the greatest NBA team ever
Speaker 2: and hit some of the biggest shots. He's now one
Speaker 2: of the best coaches. He's largely considered sort of it's
Speaker 2: got kind of a Phil Jackson field where there's a psychology,
Speaker 2: a psychological impact, an expertise beyond just x's no's. So
Speaker 2: he's on the greatest team created, one of the best
Speaker 2: coaches of all time. As a general manager. It's first
Speaker 2: of all, it's it's impossible. This list league is. If
Speaker 2: you don't have great players, you know you're not a
Speaker 2: great GM. He was. He was clearly capable. He was
Speaker 2: a tremendous broadcaster. I mean I thought he was. I
Speaker 2: think he's one of the best analysts in any sport.
Speaker 2: I thought Kerr was a riot. He was quick, he
Speaker 2: was nimble, he was funny player, broadcaster, coach like Kerr.
Speaker 2: In my lifetime, Phil played marginal player, Phil coach, great GM,
Speaker 2: disaster broadcaster. No like Steve, Kerr has moved into an area.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know what the compass broadcaster, coach, player.
Speaker 2: He is one of the most significant people in league history.
Speaker 2: I think just people have taken him for granted because
Speaker 2: he looks so young. People forget that he's an older guy.
Speaker 2: Now he's moving into a pat riley stage where I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is an all time top five guy in league history.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't he part. I mean, he was one
Speaker 1: of the key guys in some of those great teams
Speaker 1: at Arizona. I mean, he's been basketball royalty for since
Speaker 1: the moment he was eighteen nineteen years old. I think
Speaker 1: we say this a lot of times in scouting, like
Speaker 1: this guy could do whatever he wants, could run a bank,
Speaker 1: could start his own company, could be a football player.
Speaker 1: And it's usually with famous you know, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees usually fall under that. I think we look
Speaker 1: at Steve a little different because he was a role player,
Speaker 1: but like that was really the the like his lowest
Speaker 1: level of accomplishment in terms of his ability right everything
Speaker 1: else he's been Michael Jordan at like, he's clearly one
Speaker 1: of the best coaches in the NBA's he's now the
Speaker 1: highest paid guy. He was, he was an elite, he
Speaker 1: was an all time great shooter. He just wasn't very big.
Speaker 1: He just had physical limitations. But Michael trusted him. I
Speaker 1: mean the last dance is like, Steve, I'm coming to you, right,
Speaker 1: trust him that way. Phil swore by him. Phil begged
Speaker 1: him to take the next job under The media loves
Speaker 1: to call Phil the village idiot, but for a long
Speaker 1: time in my life, Phil was the cream of the crop.
Speaker 1: And Joe lacub who was an old school kind of
Speaker 1: just like George Steinbrenner killer, i mean, refuses like has
Speaker 1: gone all in on this guy now for a decade.
Speaker 1: So he went there, and Steph Curry basically went to
Speaker 1: the Warriors like I'm not playing for anybody else. So
Speaker 1: one of the greatest players in the history of the
Speaker 1: sport basically looked at management like you better figure this out.
Speaker 1: He told Marcus Thompson Athletic like I wanted Steve to
Speaker 1: stay and put our contracts together. That's the guy like
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's going, you know, on Kobe, the way they
Speaker 1: talked about Phil that's the way they talk about Steve Kerr.
Speaker 1: So I think he's just one of those rare guys.
Speaker 1: He could have been a politician, he could have been
Speaker 1: an executive. He was, but in any other industry, obviously,
Speaker 1: he's just a basketball addict. And I think basketball got
Speaker 1: lucky that how many guys of his level would have
Speaker 1: because the last thing that came was coaching. He did
Speaker 1: everything else right, He broadcasting, general manager, business stuff. It's
Speaker 1: like I really want to coach. It's usually the other
Speaker 1: way around. The guy coaches first kind of gets burned
Speaker 1: out and does all the other stuff. He actually did
Speaker 1: the hardest thing last. Now he got lucky. Lucky. He's
Speaker 1: the wrong word. He made the right decision because he
Speaker 1: had options. Instead of going to the Knicks, he went
Speaker 1: to the Warriors, and obviously it changed the trajectory of
Speaker 1: his basketball life. But when you just think like basketball
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers, he's got three rings with the Bulls,
Speaker 1: he's got two rings with the Spurs. He's got four
Speaker 1: rings with the Warriors. And they've lost a couple of finals. Right,
Speaker 1: how many finals the guy have been to? Probably like fifteen.
Speaker 2: The we'll wrap it up here, we've been we've been
Speaker 2: going fifty minutes. We'll wrap it up. So I go.
Speaker 2: My wife and I John bought a place in Rhode
Speaker 2: Island because I went there for ten years when I
Speaker 2: worked at the other place, and we vacation took our
Speaker 2: kids there. So we sold our house in la in
Speaker 2: like July and we bought a place in August next
Speaker 2: to a beach in Rhode Island. So it's always been
Speaker 2: one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: It showed me the picks of the party. It looked good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's nice, and that's that's where I'll retire in
Speaker 2: the summer and fall in about twelve years, ten twelve
Speaker 2: years whatever. And so Friday night we go out with
Speaker 2: friends and We come home at nine thirty and we
Speaker 2: pull into the driveway, my wife and I, and there's
Speaker 2: a car parked in my driveway. Now gotta remember this
Speaker 2: is a summer, summer town. There's nobody's lights you're on
Speaker 2: except ours. So I'm like, what's going on? So I
Speaker 2: pull in behind the car and I walk up to
Speaker 2: it with my phone. You know, I don't know what's
Speaker 2: going on about lights in the house. Is somebody robbing
Speaker 2: my house? So I go up there and I asked
Speaker 2: this young girl. She rolls her window down and her
Speaker 2: dog starts barking. I said, can I ask why you're here?
Speaker 2: And she says, she pauses, Well, I uh yeah. I
Speaker 2: was just wondering if your house is for sale. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I'm getting robbed. It's nine thirty, there's
Speaker 2: no for sale sign. I'm getting robbed. Her boyfriend's in
Speaker 2: the house. So I called nine one one, given the address. Well,
Speaker 2: the Westerly Rhode Island Police fantastic, like three dudes, three cars.
Speaker 2: Wasn't a lot of action, And apparently they came flying
Speaker 2: down the street. And we're kind of on a point
Speaker 2: so it's not easy to get to so and they
Speaker 2: were great guys. I mean, they were just total pros.
Speaker 2: It really made me feel good about this town. I'm like,
Speaker 2: these guys really are buttoned up. They were young, fit.
Speaker 2: Look you're right in the eye. They were to take
Speaker 2: names on the guys. Yeah, they weren't effing around. And
Speaker 2: I was in the house.
Speaker 1: What's that was someone in the house.
Speaker 2: Well, so the guy goes there cars running. First of all,
Speaker 2: shouldn't be here cars running, And I said, there's no
Speaker 2: lights on. So my takeaway was, either she thinks because
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift lives ten houses away, I said, much bigger
Speaker 2: than my house. Obviously, I said, does she think this
Speaker 2: is Taylor Swift's house is a mental health issue? So
Speaker 2: they talked to her and it was she was very confused,
Speaker 2: you know, made certain claims that didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: So then you feel sympathy. You're like, okay, Then I
Speaker 2: had to Then the cops would the house, three of them,
Speaker 2: you know, they were ready to go. And then I
Speaker 2: followed in and in this house is one hundred years old.
Speaker 2: My basement has ten doors, I mean it's it's a
Speaker 2: maze of doors. And we've been fixing it up for
Speaker 2: five six months. So and so I tried to eat.
Speaker 2: I tried to email the Westwardly police the next day.
Speaker 2: It was so damn hard to find an email. I
Speaker 2: just was going to email a sergeant and say, hey,
Speaker 2: your guys are great. You got good dudes there, man,
Speaker 2: they were total pros. But you know, it's so I
Speaker 2: guess my point is when we discovered that Taylor Swift
Speaker 2: was ten houses away, I was like, that doesn't hurt
Speaker 2: property value now.
Speaker 1: I was like, do you think she was looking for
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift or she's just kind of off on her eye?
Speaker 2: I just said, I because there's been stories of multiple
Speaker 2: people like being around the property. I mean, Taylor Swift's
Speaker 2: the biggest star in the world, the biggest star, beautiful, talented.
Speaker 2: So it really did make me think, oh my god,
Speaker 2: because this this young lady had no idea who I was.
Speaker 2: I mean, she didn't care, But my god, I got
Speaker 2: my wife in the car. I'm here to protect my wife,
Speaker 2: like right, like, I'm go out of the car. I
Speaker 2: got the phone. I'm like, you know, but so that's
Speaker 2: want to hear.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on Baker Mayfield's next contract.
Speaker 2: Nah, wasn't really interested in the combine breakdown, not so Anyway,
Speaker 2: the point was I had a great week off. I
Speaker 2: love where I went. It's unbelievable, but there was a
Speaker 2: little drama there. And also that I love Rhode Island.
Speaker 2: But Rhode Island's got a neat unique history, very unique
Speaker 2: history that you know. Buddy Seance was a mayor of Providence.
Speaker 2: Providence Federal Hill, it's where the mob bumb out. So
Speaker 2: you know, Rhode Island's the wild wild West in government.
Speaker 2: I almost I have a wine store business in Connecticut
Speaker 2: with my friend Brian. You know, we thought about moving
Speaker 2: into Rhode Island and it was like, Okay.
Speaker 1: No thanks, you gotta pay. I'm on twenty percent off
Speaker 1: the top just to operate.
Speaker 2: Oh John, you don't know the half of it. Twenty percent.
Speaker 2: So and by the way, I love Rhode Island because
Speaker 2: of its history. It's so unique. It's a little wild
Speaker 2: wild West. They do their own thing. But earlier that night,
Speaker 2: the place I was at I went and I it
Speaker 2: was a very interesting place. I won't give the name out,
Speaker 2: but I asked the people that took me there, I'm like,
Speaker 2: they got thirty people in this area. There's twelve people
Speaker 2: in the restaurant. How the hell do they fund it.
Speaker 2: My friend goes, oh, yeah, it's run by the mob,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, so between I went to a place
Speaker 2: run by the mob. I mean they had like thirty
Speaker 2: people and I'm like, there's eight people having dinner. This
Speaker 2: doesn't make any sense. I mean it was just and
Speaker 2: then between that and the young lady who I think
Speaker 2: thought I was Taylor Swift, my Friday was it was full.
Speaker 2: It was full.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of John Gottie call on Coward
Speaker 1: and Taylor Swift on the same street.
Speaker 2: Crazy ass Friday for me. Glad I'm home in quiet
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. John Middlcoff enjoy the combine, Buddy.
Speaker 1: I will take it easy.
Speaker 2: Volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
Speaker 2: take a moment, rate and review.