Speaker 1: The volume, all right, welcome in. I'm off vaka and
Speaker 1: uh I don't. I can't remember the last two days
Speaker 1: of a golf tournament where I was more emotionally vested
Speaker 1: in a golfer than Rory McElroy. And I wasn't rooting
Speaker 1: against Justin Rose or Bryson Deshambeau, who I think has
Speaker 1: done an incredible one eighty rehab of his brand where
Speaker 1: he was unlikable and now is incredibly likable or at
Speaker 1: least more likable. But I was thinking about this John
Speaker 1: John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout three and out part of
Speaker 1: the volume is that what makes Rory we know he's
Speaker 1: a sensational talent, but he's got a phil Mickelson quality
Speaker 1: where you can you can see him buckle, you can
Speaker 1: see I mean when he takes that wedge from a
Speaker 1: buck twenty five out and puts it in the water
Speaker 1: in the creek, You're like, bro, I hit my irons
Speaker 1: great Saturday at Skokie Country Club in Chicago suburb, Like
Speaker 1: I what is going on? And I think what finds him,
Speaker 1: what makes Rory so likable is that he is vulnerable
Speaker 1: and he just has you know, four double bogies short
Speaker 1: wed shot in the creek. I think that just makes
Speaker 1: him incredibly watchable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, uh, you know, I think every great golfer,
Speaker 2: definitely in my life, which I've been watching for almost
Speaker 2: thirty years now, So like the Tiger, Phil era is
Speaker 2: kind of defined by their greatness or disasters in majors.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, when I was a kid, Greg Norman, it
Speaker 2: was a big deal to like have a shark polo
Speaker 2: when I was a kid, wear him to school.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: When you think Greg Norman, you think a guy that
Speaker 2: unravels and fails. You know, Phil is weird because he's
Speaker 2: one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
Speaker 2: He's won six majors, he's won the Masters three times,
Speaker 2: he's won forty five tournaments. But you remember him a
Speaker 2: lot of times for finishing second. Yes to Payne Stewart,
Speaker 2: he blasted out of bounds at wing foot in the
Speaker 2: mid two thousand.
Speaker 1: Taking big risks. He doesn't need to.
Speaker 2: And he's like that in life. Right when he made
Speaker 2: the comments about the Saudis after he took their two
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars. You know, Rory's this kind of enigma
Speaker 2: because and I thought today, actually symbolized his entire career. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean he had a couple shots that are like
Speaker 2: the most incredible shots in the history of Masters. He
Speaker 2: hooked a seven iron around a tree to five feet
Speaker 2: on fifteen, and then he missed the putt, and then
Speaker 2: he missed the putt. You know, and I can't you know,
Speaker 2: Tiger's got this torn achilles. He's like, he's like a
Speaker 2: nineteen seventies NFL player on his on his bed with
Speaker 2: eighteen million injuries. Can you imagine Tiger watching this tournament
Speaker 2: and thinking, You know, Tiger was actually pretty boring as
Speaker 2: a champion because he didn't screw up. What was the
Speaker 2: famous quote, like dumb loses more than smart wins. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Tiger was very conservative. You know, Rory dunks into the water,
Speaker 2: he Bogei's eighteen to end it to a playoff after
Speaker 2: he's right in the middle of the fairway three hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty yards. Yeah, I don't know where you stood.
Speaker 2: I thought, the emotional roller coaster of that three and
Speaker 2: a half hours, how could he win in well, in
Speaker 2: extra hole, I thought he was gonna lose Colin I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't have any faith he was going to win
Speaker 2: in extra holes because emotionally put yourself in his shoes.
Speaker 2: He had to be gutted to try to gather himself
Speaker 2: and keep his heart rate down. He probably wanted to cry.
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny because Phil Mickelson got himself into trouble
Speaker 1: because he was overly aggressive. But and he would buckle,
Speaker 1: but it was a different kind. Rory loses confidence. You
Speaker 1: can see it. And there are times on that wedge
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, he just lost confidence. He said it
Speaker 1: a little bit on the green jacket in ceremony in
Speaker 1: the room, which I thought was really emotional. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I think, you know, Tiger was such a
Speaker 1: great leader, like he never lost leeds. If Tiger led
Speaker 1: by five strokes going into Sunday, it was over. There
Speaker 1: was one US Open against Rocco medi eight, which I
Speaker 1: found that was stirring with Tiger. Also his last Master's
Speaker 1: win where he was an older golfer, was stirring and
Speaker 1: really emotional.
Speaker 2: Well, colin O eight was stirring with Roco because he
Speaker 2: had a torn acl and a broken leg. He was healthy.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I just thought the whole spectacle
Speaker 1: it was perfect weather amend corner. Just the galleries or
Speaker 1: the patrons, the intensity, you know, I kept thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: So Bryson de Shambeau was to shambles his I mean,
Speaker 1: he had a distance issue all weekend, but he was
Speaker 1: putting great until Sunday. And it was interesting when they
Speaker 1: interviewed him afterwards. He took a little shot, a little
Speaker 1: projection when he said, you know, I don't remember the
Speaker 1: Sunday greens being that fast because he was really off.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: He all weekend had sort of a distance issue, like
Speaker 1: he was long or short, but his putting kept him close,
Speaker 1: whereas Rory's wedge and Rory's irons were either remarkable or mediocre.
Speaker 1: Rory today, frankly, think about that, how good Rory is.
Speaker 1: He had one of the worst shots ever the wedge
Speaker 1: end of the creek. Yeah, he blew a four stroke lead.
Speaker 1: He hit a couple of putts, but he was hit
Speaker 1: and miss off the tee. You didn't know exactly what
Speaker 1: you were getting from Rory off the tee, and yet
Speaker 1: he won. I mean, how damn good do you have
Speaker 1: to be if you just if I just told you
Speaker 1: what his round was rough off the tee, one of
Speaker 1: the worst shots ever. GAG's a lead, you wouldn't think
Speaker 1: he'd win.
Speaker 2: Well, I thought, I mean Colin he blew a. He
Speaker 2: had a two shot lead coming in today. He was
Speaker 2: down one shot after two holes. I mean it felt like,
Speaker 2: is this going to be Greg Norman John Vandervelt Immediately, honestly,
Speaker 2: you felt bad for him, like how can this happen?
Speaker 2: But he had a couple shots today that I would
Speaker 2: say were phil like over trees. Yeah, I mean he
Speaker 2: had one ender over a tree, ah, the bender around
Speaker 2: the tree, another shot over a tree from the left side.
Speaker 2: He had another shot on the right side. He did
Speaker 2: get a little lucky. I mean, one thing with Augusta,
Speaker 2: you can't really hit it out of bounds. You just
Speaker 2: there's tree trouble, but it's not. There's no rough so
Speaker 2: you can spray it a little bit and there's just
Speaker 2: the golf gods are on your side. You're still gonna
Speaker 2: be okay, So the golf gods are on your side.
Speaker 2: Through the first three rounds, he was the best player
Speaker 2: in the tournament by a mile. I mean Bryce and
Speaker 2: yesterday hit that like one hundred foot putt to instead
Speaker 2: of being down three, down two and eighteen but he
Speaker 2: didn't even play that well yesterday where Rory shot sixty six,
Speaker 2: sixty six Friday and Saturday and on front and on
Speaker 2: Thursday Rory's four under heading into fifteen hits it on
Speaker 2: two chips, it into the water, so he kind of
Speaker 2: unravels at the end, but he had played brilliantly and
Speaker 2: it just shows you that, Like, to me, one thing
Speaker 2: that's fascinating about Rory, and I always admire the Michael Jordan's,
Speaker 2: the Brady's, even the young version of Mahomes. When you win,
Speaker 2: you win big, you make all the money and you
Speaker 2: just keep grinding because you're addicted to the competition. That
Speaker 2: Tiger was notorious for this right. Stevie Williams's caddy would
Speaker 2: be like, you know, we'd win, and Tiger would call
Speaker 2: me two days later and be like, I'll meet you
Speaker 2: at the range of six in the morning. He'd be like,
Speaker 2: take the week off and now that this gets the
Speaker 2: Monkey office. And Roy had already won twice this year.
Speaker 2: He won a Pebble and he won the Players. Now
Speaker 2: he's won the Masters. He's playing by far the best
Speaker 2: in the world. He's better in scott He's off you know, Bryson. Really,
Speaker 2: he's outplayed Bryson twice. He screwed up last year in
Speaker 2: the putts at Pinehurst. If Rory keeps the pedal of
Speaker 2: the medal, he might not win every major, but he
Speaker 2: could win like six seven times. He could have a
Speaker 2: historic year. You do wonder watch the way he broke down.
Speaker 2: Is he just gonna take like a month to just
Speaker 2: like not do anything. He wouldn't blame him. But if
Speaker 2: he keeps it down like Jordan or Tiger or though
Speaker 2: you know, Brady would he He's the best player in
Speaker 2: the world right now by a pretty wide margin.
Speaker 1: I think yeah, And I thought Bryce, and to shamble
Speaker 1: his game is just you know, listen, I like golf.
Speaker 1: I played it this weekend.
Speaker 2: I'm how'd you play?
Speaker 1: But I am hitting my irons the last year as
Speaker 1: well as I can hit him, just as well as
Speaker 1: I can hit him.
Speaker 2: You need to give Bryson a lesson.
Speaker 1: His game feels loose, Bryce, I mean he didn't. He
Speaker 1: was struggling getting the ball in the fair way, his
Speaker 1: wedges were hitting miss. He got it in the drink
Speaker 1: twice today. Now, his putting saved him over the weekend,
Speaker 1: but today when his putting went. It really unveiled. The
Speaker 1: truth about his game is the putting kept him around.
Speaker 1: His gay mentioned it after the round. His game is
Speaker 1: just not right.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the old adage is you can talk
Speaker 2: to a fade, a drawer hook doesn't listen, and when
Speaker 2: you play that drawer hook one, it goes farther and
Speaker 2: it goes harder. And I know he's like all the
Speaker 2: greens were harder, Bryce, and the greens at the Masters
Speaker 2: been the same since you know, Arnold Palmer was playing
Speaker 2: in the fifties. They're hard, they're firm. Your irons weren't
Speaker 2: even close. And he plays this power draw which today
Speaker 2: turned into last couple of days turned into a hook.
Speaker 2: He is you know the thing with Bryson, he's clearly
Speaker 2: mellowed out and the YouTube thing has changed his world.
Speaker 2: If he was a football player, I mean, this guy
Speaker 2: is a blue chip out of high school, out of college,
Speaker 2: like he has an elite talent, but he is he
Speaker 2: messes with all sorts of weird shit. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: got special made club He's a different cat.
Speaker 1: Wikipedia Bryson Deshambo's clubs and I was reading it over
Speaker 1: the weekend. It called three D I mean he doesn't.
Speaker 1: He uses stuff nobody else has used. He has been
Speaker 1: very contrariant. I mean, I thought it was funny when
Speaker 1: they came out today. The build up was like a
Speaker 1: Tyson fight. So Deshambo comes out, he's all gladiator and
Speaker 1: you know they're both power players. But Rory plays fast
Speaker 1: and Deshambo has more pace, and you know they Jim
Speaker 1: Man's talked about this. He said, you know, putting these
Speaker 1: two together is an advantage maybe for Bryson because he'll
Speaker 1: try to slow. You know, the slower player can irk
Speaker 1: the faster player, and Rory likes to get up, hit
Speaker 1: and go. I find Rory very easy to watch. He's
Speaker 1: the antithesis of like Sergio Garcia in his prime, where
Speaker 1: you just it was irritating to watch him. So Bryson's
Speaker 1: not that slow, but Rory just gets up, hits it,
Speaker 1: and again. The thing with Rory is just how remarkable
Speaker 1: he is as a talent to win today. I mean
Speaker 1: he is. I think he had four double bogies.
Speaker 2: I don't know, it's never happened before in the history
Speaker 2: of the Masters. Okay, Tony Craig Stadler had three once
Speaker 2: and one at in eighty two. That was the only
Speaker 2: time anyone had three. The double bogee for normal human
Speaker 2: beings happens a lot. For pro golfers, it does not
Speaker 2: happen very often, especially in a major. One can sink you.
Speaker 1: The I thought it was interesting on eighteen, which is
Speaker 1: the narrowest t shot. So here was Rory. He put
Speaker 1: himself in a position That's where I was on So
Speaker 1: I flew in. So I watched every shot the last
Speaker 1: two days and I was watching, you know, my plane
Speaker 1: landed basically as that it at lax as the tournament ended.
Speaker 1: So Master's app is amazing. I watched every shot, just fantastic,
Speaker 1: but that I found myself on the eighteenth because there
Speaker 1: was a lot of tension during the last two days.
Speaker 1: But on Saturday, it's kind of like, Okay, you can
Speaker 1: miss shots, it's fine. When he stepped up on eighteen
Speaker 1: and he delivered a beauty, I mean he just crashed it,
Speaker 1: and I felt like, okay, it's his. And then, in
Speaker 1: typical Rory fashion, he ends up going, you know, to
Speaker 1: a playoff. Going into the playoff, I kind of felt
Speaker 1: like Justin Rose was going to win it.
Speaker 2: Do you get nervous anymore? Anything you do? In life,
Speaker 2: like as often you get nervous, I don't what would
Speaker 2: it take for you to get nervous. You think like
Speaker 2: calling you're calling the super Bowl or I mean something
Speaker 2: that you but it'd have to be something that you
Speaker 2: can actually, you know, feel comfortable doing.
Speaker 1: Right Like not I get nervous for my kids. I
Speaker 1: get nervous. It's the only sport that I get nervous
Speaker 1: is golf. And I felt that because like I loved
Speaker 1: Phil Mickelson and and there's something about the vulnerability of
Speaker 1: Rory that just connects with me. I've been rooting for
Speaker 1: him and this is not anti anybody else. I was
Speaker 1: rooting for him all weekend.
Speaker 2: Well once once Rose basically split the fairway in extra holes,
Speaker 2: You're looking at Rory and you're thinking, how can you
Speaker 2: control your heart rate right now? Because you know he's
Speaker 2: Rose has no pressure on him. If I crumble, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be viewed as Honestly, it would have felt
Speaker 2: bigger than Greg Norman because you had unraveled, taken the lead, unraveled,
Speaker 2: taking the lead, unraveled, taking the lead. It's I would
Speaker 2: say it was kind of an unlike a situation. I've
Speaker 2: been watching golf for a long time. I don't ever
Speaker 2: remember around where a guy unravels, takes the lead, unravels
Speaker 2: takes the lead and then has a chance to win
Speaker 2: it and then bui, he's eighteen, Like he did. I thought,
Speaker 2: if Rory snaps it into the trees or overcuts it
Speaker 2: into the trees, it's very understandable. And then the moment
Speaker 2: he split the fairway, I thought, okay, this he does have.
Speaker 2: Obviously Phil as well. I mean Phil on a major
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago as a fifty one year old.
Speaker 2: These guys have I think we underrate, especially Phil and Rory,
Speaker 2: because Tiger suck so much of the energy out, like
Speaker 2: I think Brady did this with Peyton, like Peyton's got
Speaker 2: a lot of resolved to him as well, you know,
Speaker 2: Rory and Phil. And then when he won it, he
Speaker 2: almost felt like usually guys raised their hands up or whatever.
Speaker 2: Roy's hit the ground and cried almost like clearly a
Speaker 2: weight had been lifted off his entire career. That's where
Speaker 2: I get a little nervous that, like, does he maintain this,
Speaker 2: because how could the same drive because of the pressure,
Speaker 2: and this has been a decade running and think of
Speaker 2: the situations that have happened. I mean, just last year,
Speaker 2: losing to Bryson like he did. Now you just wonder
Speaker 2: like can he sustain this? And like you talked about
Speaker 2: the Bryson Rory thing, I think what's pretty special about
Speaker 2: football is if you're in the same conference as your foe.
Speaker 2: You know Peyton and Brady were both in the AFC. Well,
Speaker 2: if you both win the division, you're gonna automatically play
Speaker 2: each other every year, and if the teams are good,
Speaker 2: you're gonna playach other in the playoffs every lot. We
Speaker 2: get that with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in golf,
Speaker 2: how often we never really got Tiger Phil. It just
Speaker 2: never happened right in the biggest tournaments. Yet we've got
Speaker 2: Rory Bryson twice in six months. It's now. It didn't
Speaker 2: quite play out as good as the last time, but
Speaker 2: it does feel like I would expect this wouldn't shock
Speaker 2: me if we got this a couple more times. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is it was just really cool, even if it
Speaker 2: didn't live up to the billing. Like you said, it
Speaker 2: felt like like Dana White should have been walking right
Speaker 2: behind him right the hype and then and then Bryson
Speaker 2: fell off, but Rory, you just felt like the fight
Speaker 2: was still going. He's just fighting some other guy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was I mean, I think we've seen some crazy masters.
Speaker 2: Colin That's that's gotta be one of the more riveting
Speaker 2: multiple stretches of a couple hours we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Well a year ago, I mean, we saw John Rahm
Speaker 1: really struggle. He you know, he took that live money,
Speaker 1: and which is fine. I defended live guys forever. I
Speaker 1: mean again, our government is in bed with the Saudi's.
Speaker 1: Everybody is. It's there's a difference between blaming and judging.
Speaker 1: I didn't blame any of the guys. If you want
Speaker 1: to be judge on them, go for it. But you'd
Speaker 1: have taken the money too. It's like Chris Rock's joke manner,
Speaker 1: as loyal as their options. If somebody offers one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty million and you can play half the tournaments,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do it. I didn't think it was interesting.
Speaker 1: On like Thursday and Friday, you couldn't find Bryson to Shambo.
Speaker 1: It was like, are you guys gonna put them on television?
Speaker 1: And it was like, come on, guys, there is still
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about this sort of division between you know,
Speaker 1: the Masters and CBS. It's the longest running broadcast partnership
Speaker 1: in sports. It's like NBC in the Olympics, CBS and
Speaker 1: the Masters. How intense do you think the division is? Obviously,
Speaker 1: like on Thursday and Friday it was like, can we
Speaker 1: can we show Bryson to Shambo here? Folks? This is
Speaker 1: getting ridiculous. How intense do you think and ugly do
Speaker 1: you think the division is between the PGA and Live Still?
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty bad. And I think you know,
Speaker 2: CBS and NBC, they're loyalty to the PGA Tour. I
Speaker 2: mean they've been in business with them forever, right, I
Speaker 2: mean specifically the PGA Tour. Obviously CBS has the Masters,
Speaker 2: but CBS calls. I don't know how many PGA Tour
Speaker 2: events during the year. I'd guess fifteen, you know. And
Speaker 2: I think the problem is you're dealing with a group
Speaker 2: that I mean, Yostra has a access to a piggy
Speaker 2: bank that's bigger than any piggy bank in the history
Speaker 2: of the world. I mean, they got trillions of dollars
Speaker 2: and so yeah, it's like they can lose a billion dollars.
Speaker 2: They don't even notice it. It'd be like someone losing
Speaker 2: ten bucks. And I think the PGA Tour, you know,
Speaker 2: Tiger's very involved, Well, where's his ego and his pride
Speaker 2: is based on the history of the PGA Tour. That's
Speaker 2: what made him a billionaire and famous. And I think
Speaker 2: they're just a lot of egos, a lot of money
Speaker 2: on the line, and I think the tour could get
Speaker 2: very lucky that some of these guys like no One,
Speaker 2: you know, Fock just did business with Live and they're
Speaker 2: on Fox Sports one, and I think they put the
Speaker 2: Duru Tournament. But people just aren't watching because anytime you
Speaker 2: start something new, it's hard to get people to gravitate.
Speaker 2: I don't care who you bring over. I mean, Bryson
Speaker 2: gets more people watching on YouTube. And I just think
Speaker 2: there's a lot of bitterness. There's a lot of money
Speaker 2: on the line. Some of the guys on the tour
Speaker 2: that didn't leave are bitter because those guys, you know,
Speaker 2: Bryson got two hundred million dollars and I didn't get any.
Speaker 2: So I don't think they're any closer. I mean, I've
Speaker 2: heard them talk about this for two years now and
Speaker 2: there's no light at the end of the tunnel because
Speaker 2: they're both balking and balking and balking, and I think
Speaker 2: Live goes well, we have some demands if you're going
Speaker 2: to take our money, and I don't blame them. I
Speaker 2: think LIV wants to do a deal with the PGA Tour,
Speaker 2: but they also don't want their idea that was live
Speaker 2: in this team golf, which golf is an individual sport,
Speaker 2: just like tennis. It doesn't mean occasionally there's a tennis tournament.
Speaker 2: I forget the Davis Cup where you play doubles, just
Speaker 2: like there's a Ryder Cup. We like watching golf to
Speaker 2: watch Pete Sampers play Andre Agassi, to watch Tiger Woods play,
Speaker 2: Ernie Els and Phil Micholson on one, that's what golf is.
Speaker 2: And I think Live and their money loves their idea,
Speaker 2: which again I understand sticking to an idea. The PGA
Speaker 2: Tour wants no part of it, and their players aren't
Speaker 2: going to agree to a deal that like, well, we
Speaker 2: got to play in seven team tournaments. What they got
Speaker 2: going for them is I do think you know, at
Speaker 2: least there have been articles and rumors that guys like
Speaker 2: Bryson and Brooks miss being in the bright light, sure,
Speaker 2: and there's something that Live can't bring to the table.
Speaker 2: So when their contracts end and they've made hundreds of men,
Speaker 2: they could just come back right And let's face it,
Speaker 2: if you could do a draft right of the pg Tour,
Speaker 2: could pick one person, and one person only, they wouldn't
Speaker 2: even hesitate. It'd be Bryson. And if none of the
Speaker 2: other guys ever came back rom multiple time major champion
Speaker 2: Dustin Johnson, Brooks kept them, I don't think it would
Speaker 2: be that big a deal. But Bryson is. I think
Speaker 2: they would take him. And you can't convince me that Bryson.
Speaker 2: You gotta let him keep doing his YouTube stuff. Just
Speaker 2: acquiesce the world's changed. Let him do his YouTube stuff,
Speaker 2: let him play on the PGA Tour, and I think
Speaker 2: everything would be fine. I think he's the key pretty clearly,
Speaker 2: because he's not going away. He loves golf.
Speaker 1: Well, there's only at any one point in my life.
Speaker 1: You know, I've said this about all sports, baseball especially,
Speaker 1: don't listen to purists. You got them, don't listen to purists.
Speaker 1: Speed the game up, you know, make the bases larger,
Speaker 1: take away the defensive shift. Don't become analytic, you know,
Speaker 1: dependent like like yeah, so, and I feel like golf
Speaker 1: and any one time in my life there have been
Speaker 1: three golfers I was really interested in. And right now
Speaker 1: the four guys, if they're on that I'm really interested
Speaker 1: in are Rory Kopka, bryceon Neshambau and Dustin Johnson. There's
Speaker 1: a bunch of Scotti. Scheffler doesn't do it for me.
Speaker 1: I know, he's great, doesn't do anything. You know, Bubba
Speaker 1: Watson had a role. He doesn't do anything for me.
Speaker 1: So it's just there. Very It's always been about three guys,
Speaker 1: four guys. Even in the Arnie and Jack days, there
Speaker 1: was you know, there were a couple of players, uh
Speaker 1: maybe Lee Trevino mixed in there, Johnny Miller for a
Speaker 1: few years, but Tom wise Coough, you know, Tom Kite
Speaker 1: weren't moving the needle. So I kind of look at
Speaker 1: it like I thought, this weekend was the very best
Speaker 1: of golf. You got the Masters and the undulating course,
Speaker 1: which is just and it's a picture. It's literally, it's
Speaker 1: literally a picture, it's a postcard. And then you had,
Speaker 1: as Jim Nance said, this is a journey in an
Speaker 1: odyssey in one day for Rory mcelright. I just thought
Speaker 1: it gave you everything. I thought it gave you bad shots,
Speaker 1: blown leads, buckling, picturesque tradition. And I will say this,
Speaker 1: bryceon de Shambeau, his mood changed by about the fifth hole.
Speaker 1: You I mean, honestly, you could see him and he
Speaker 1: started hurrying up and he tends to have a slower pace,
Speaker 1: like he started to It was at one point one
Speaker 1: of the announcers said, like, he's just he sort of
Speaker 1: lost his personality. He's lost it. You could just he
Speaker 1: was getting really frustrated. And I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: thought it was the best final round I can remember.
Speaker 1: I kept thinking about rock O Media eight, Tiger Woods
Speaker 1: US Open. That's what kept flashing in my head.
Speaker 2: I actually think the Masters has really really benefited the
Speaker 2: last couple of years from Live because these guys only
Speaker 2: get back together four times a year, and because of
Speaker 2: the calendar, it's the first time they get back together,
Speaker 2: and this is by far the biggest tournament of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's the perfect combination. And like you said, I mean,
Speaker 2: the weather the last couple of days just look picturesque.
Speaker 2: Having the superstars the leader board was incredible. I just
Speaker 2: think that this tournament in a weird way, I hate
Speaker 2: live because it's just it's made my life as just
Speaker 2: someone that wants to watch all these guys play together.
Speaker 2: Like you said, I don't care that who makes what.
Speaker 2: I just want to see all these guys play together.
Speaker 2: And it's separated them. But it's made this weekend, specifically
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. I would say it's it's
Speaker 2: put it on steroids. And it's hard even for the
Speaker 2: other majors to quite feel like this one, because one
Speaker 2: is just The Masters has always been big. It's you know,
Speaker 2: every human being, whether you don't even like golf, knows
Speaker 2: the green jacket. Tiger took it to another level. I
Speaker 2: do think though the last couple of years, with them
Speaker 2: all getting back together, it feels like there's now Bryson
Speaker 2: is kind of I mean last year he had the
Speaker 2: lead after a couple of rounds. He's been a major
Speaker 2: factor of these last couple of years at the Masters.
Speaker 2: Has added an element to this tournament that, you know,
Speaker 2: without Tiger, it's just hard. I mean the golf, this
Speaker 2: isn't football. I mean football wouldn't be big enough. I
Speaker 2: remember being a kid, USFL tried to take away Steve
Speaker 2: Young and Bruce Smith and Jim Kelly, like you need
Speaker 2: you only have ten to fifteen to twenty guys that
Speaker 2: really matter in golf. You probably only got five or six. Yes,
Speaker 2: I can't lose two of them, right, And tennis was
Speaker 2: very dependent on Federer, Joker and nat All for basically
Speaker 2: fifteen twenty years. Yeah, when I was a kid, it
Speaker 2: was Samperston agacy and that was kind of it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And it's like golf is not big enough to handle
Speaker 2: this divide, but the majors don't really care because they're
Speaker 2: masters in business with the Masters's it works for them.
Speaker 1: Have you ever seen what you win when you win
Speaker 1: the Masters? So the purse this year was four point
Speaker 1: two million. You get the jacket, lifetime membership, invitation forever,
Speaker 1: You get all these exclusive places you know that you
Speaker 1: can you know, only a handful of You got to
Speaker 1: use the locker room of Champions, which is just all
Speaker 1: time great, but it's one of the it's it's I
Speaker 1: think the only thing to me that compares to the
Speaker 1: Masters is when the US Open is at Pebble Beach,
Speaker 1: where I'm literally watching for the course and Pinehurst is great,
Speaker 1: but I'm not watching for Pinehurst. Pebble Beach. US Opens
Speaker 1: feel different, British Open feels different. St Andrews, and I
Speaker 1: think the Masters, those three tournament PGA Championship to me
Speaker 1: just doesn't you know again if I'm around, But it
Speaker 1: was interesting. So I'm watching Thursday and Friday on vacation
Speaker 1: and I went and golf Saturday. I was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm into this beautiful day by the way, fifty degrees. Oh,
Speaker 1: it was just beautiful day in the suburbs of Chicago.
Speaker 1: But it was just one of those things where I
Speaker 1: think golf, even though you would argue it's not in
Speaker 1: a good place, it's got a lot of alphas. There's
Speaker 1: a little tension between all of them. They, I mean, Kepka, Bryson,
Speaker 1: de Shamble aren't tight that you can sense. It's pretty palpable.
Speaker 1: You can sense the tension between some of these guys
Speaker 1: because they're all really guys, guys. They're all very male, right,
Speaker 1: And I think, I don't know, I just watched this
Speaker 1: weekend and I thought to myself, golf's in a really
Speaker 1: good place at these Masters, at these majors.
Speaker 2: Well, I know, you know, living in Arizona, a lot
Speaker 2: of pros live here, and you know, I play golf
Speaker 2: at TBC where a lot of these guys practice. The
Speaker 2: live financial boom for the PGA Tour and these guys
Speaker 2: has been pretty incredible for the business. I mean, the
Speaker 2: top guys have always been rich, from Arnold Palmer to
Speaker 2: Jack to Tiger. But you know, my wife was showing
Speaker 2: an open house a couple of weeks ago with one
Speaker 2: of her colleagues. There was like four or five million
Speaker 2: dollars and the people looking at the open house and
Speaker 2: the guy was showing it is in the golf world
Speaker 2: and knows these people, introduces himself and realizes it's the
Speaker 2: wife of one of the caddies and she was looking
Speaker 2: for another caddies wife. These are four or five million
Speaker 2: dollar house the caddies. And this is not you know,
Speaker 2: Rory's caddy. This is a guy probably somewhere forty to
Speaker 2: sixty in the world. These guys I mean Bryson or
Speaker 2: Rory NetJets. You see. Yeah, the sixtieth guy ain't going
Speaker 2: to the commercial airport. So the wealth on the golf
Speaker 2: tour right now has never been top down, and it's
Speaker 2: an incredible time to be involved as a high end
Speaker 2: top one hundred golfer. You are an immediate millionaire and
Speaker 2: your Caddi's doing well, coll your caddy.
Speaker 1: And also with Bryson being a YouTube sensation, Oh, everybody
Speaker 1: now understands there's influencer potential putting your stuff on YouTube,
Speaker 1: So showing a little personality is okay. So I think
Speaker 1: it's it's you know, they call him influencers. I think
Speaker 1: Bryson's an influencer, like he has the ability like a
Speaker 1: Connor McGregor in his prime, that if Connor was on
Speaker 1: the card, I would just go to I took my
Speaker 1: wife to two UFC cards, so I thought it was
Speaker 1: a great weekend. Stephanie's Places is a new series on
Speaker 1: ESPN Plus gives you all the access to some of
Speaker 1: the biggest WWE superstars. Stephanie McMahon does a great job,
Speaker 1: and I know Stephanie great job of bringing out the
Speaker 1: best stories from Cmpunk, Cody Rhodes, Triple H who's a
Speaker 1: great guy, and many more so. In this week's episode,
Speaker 1: comes out Wednesday, Stephanie sits down with Steve Austin and
Speaker 1: his ranch in Nevada and talk about his post WWE life.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't checked out this episode of Stephanie's
Speaker 1: Places yet, you can find this series on ESPN Plus
Speaker 1: streaming right now. The episodes are fast, they're fun, you
Speaker 1: really get inside stuff you've never seen before. It's some
Speaker 1: of the biggest stars from the WWE. Three episodes are
Speaker 1: out right now. Seven more episodes are coming up. John Middlecoff,
Speaker 1: former NFL scout, All right, let's let's let's do a
Speaker 1: little NFL. The draft is coming up in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. So I was I was sitting with a
Speaker 1: Packer fan the other night having dinner. My wife and
Speaker 1: I were with some acquaintances in Chicago, and they were
Speaker 1: talking about Aaron Rodgers and two people at the table said, well,
Speaker 1: why hasn't he signed, And I said, well, I think
Speaker 1: Aaron deep down knows Pittsburgh's fools, gold dk Metcalf, George Pickens,
Speaker 1: a lot of drama. They can't get their O line right,
Speaker 1: they lost Nausea Harris and their left tackle. I don't
Speaker 1: know if the offensive coordinator is Aaron's type of guy.
Speaker 1: So I think Aaron, if he thought Pittsburgh was the deal,
Speaker 1: he would sign with Pittsburgh and My take on Aaron
Speaker 1: is he really wants to sign with Minnesota, and Minnesota
Speaker 1: right now has kind of bounced around and it made
Speaker 1: me a little ambiguous with with JJ McCarthy injury wise.
Speaker 1: But I'll just ask you, is I think if Aaron
Speaker 1: wanted to sign, he would, And I think he knows
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's fraught with isshoes, you know, defensive culture, defensive spending,
Speaker 1: two high maintenance receivers, left tackle gone, They've had a
Speaker 1: battle line for seven years. Why do you think he
Speaker 1: hasn't signed?
Speaker 2: You know, I remember you had Danny Parkins on probably
Speaker 2: a month ago, and he thought that Aaron was gonna
Speaker 2: sign it at Pat McAfee's deal in Pittsburgh, And at
Speaker 2: first I thought he was crazy, and then the closer
Speaker 2: we got him like, yeah, maybe it's gonna happen. So
Speaker 2: I kind of expected him just to announce at that thing,
Speaker 2: and then it doesn't happen, and you're like, well, maybe
Speaker 2: this is not inevitable. And like you said, Kevin O'Connell,
Speaker 2: I think he said at the owners meetings that two
Speaker 2: things can be true. We believe in JJ McCarthy, and
Speaker 2: we'd also not be doing our job if we weren't
Speaker 2: showing an interest in Aaron Rodgers. Well, they get a
Speaker 2: tryout period at least physically how it's gonna look with
Speaker 2: JJ McCarthy in Ota. So if you're Rogers, it's like, well,
Speaker 2: what is Pittsburgh gonna do? And if they shoudre Sanders
Speaker 2: falls of them, they still wouldn't be interested in bringing
Speaker 2: me in that they want to win next year. Schador
Speaker 2: doesn't guarantee that, right, So he actually has a weird
Speaker 2: amount of leverage over Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh. I mean,
Speaker 2: that can't feel great if you're a Steelers like Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 2: but he has no leverage in Minnesota, which is clearly
Speaker 2: his best spot unless OTA's you know, the coach goes.
Speaker 2: I don't know, he still looks skinny, maybe the offense
Speaker 2: doesn't look as smooth. Maybe physically he just doesn't look
Speaker 2: right right right, So I think he can gauge if
Speaker 2: there are reports after you know, a couple of those
Speaker 2: Ota practices, which again I'm not acting like those are
Speaker 2: the end all be all, but from a physical standpoint,
Speaker 2: we saw him walk the sideline against the Lions. He
Speaker 2: looked like he weighed one hundred and seventy five pounds. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he had needed multiple knee surgeries. I understand and listen,
Speaker 2: I like the player as well, but you can't go
Speaker 2: off just one good experience in a preseason game for
Speaker 2: a team that if you just removed the quarterback for
Speaker 2: every team in the NFL, Minnesota und out of believe
Speaker 2: would be a top five pick of roster team, right.
Speaker 2: You would take them probably above like the Chiefs or
Speaker 2: the Bills.
Speaker 1: Well, they just revamped the I mean the Bears and
Speaker 1: the Vikings both real upgrades on our O line, so
Speaker 1: we know we like Minnesota's coach and running back and
Speaker 1: wide receivers and tight end. They went and shored up
Speaker 1: their offensive line. So I think it's one of the
Speaker 1: more attractive places in the league for a quarterback for sure.
Speaker 2: So to me, if if you have any reservations, I
Speaker 2: also think if I'm Kevin O'Connell, I go aarin. We
Speaker 2: want you, and I'd even do it before OTAs. But
Speaker 2: we're offering you a veteran minimum, no guaranteed, like you've
Speaker 2: already made five hundred and four hundred million dollars on
Speaker 2: and off the field. Who knows how much you've made,
Speaker 2: but We're not guaranteeing you anything, So if things ever
Speaker 2: get weird or it doesn't fit, we can both move on,
Speaker 2: you know, cause if you really want this, because you're
Speaker 2: no dummy, you know this is by far your best opportunity.
Speaker 2: But like, I don't know what Pittsburgh has even offered
Speaker 2: them one year twenty million dollars or something like the
Speaker 2: Minnesota wouldn't even entertain something like that one year a
Speaker 2: couple million. And if things don't work after training camp,
Speaker 2: we can both go our separate ways. But we're not
Speaker 2: being stuck. But I wouldn't fault them for being interested,
Speaker 2: just because we have seen enough now with you know,
Speaker 2: most of these rookie quarterbacks go to really shitty teams, right,
Speaker 2: so it's like even if you have a bad year whatever,
Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence's first year with Irvin Meyer, he got like
Speaker 2: a pass. It's happened twice now, a guy's been drafted
Speaker 2: really high and gone to a team with like legit
Speaker 2: playoff expectations. Trey Lance was higher than Caleb, but Caleb
Speaker 2: had pretty big expectation and then it was just it's
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure, a lot of stuff going on
Speaker 2: that is JJ McCarthy. I know he's a second year player,
Speaker 2: but he's technically like you know, like Blake Griffin. Right,
Speaker 2: he didn't play his rookie year because he tore his
Speaker 2: eight knee. You're a rookie, you know, on the field
Speaker 2: like that. You can't have much more pressure as a
Speaker 2: first time starting quarterback that's twenty two years old that's
Speaker 2: never played. Kevin O'Connell is not Kyle shanahan. You watch
Speaker 2: him in those the game against Detroit and the playoff game.
Speaker 2: He's calling pass place. Yeah, he wants to He's McVeigh.
Speaker 2: He wants to and Andy he wants to pass. JJ
Speaker 2: played in a running office trying to beat Penn State
Speaker 2: and they didn't hand the they didn't pass the ball
Speaker 2: in the second half like the Michigan handoff, handoff, handoff
Speaker 2: play d that's what he's used to doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's real concerns there, and I think
Speaker 1: Aaron's smart to just I would wait till the drafts over.
Speaker 1: I want to see where the chips fall. I don't
Speaker 1: want to get burner like Kirk Cousins. And I'm going
Speaker 1: to sit around if I'm Aaron and if I don't
Speaker 1: get the right offer, I got a two hundred million
Speaker 1: bucks in the bank. I'm done.
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota definitely is still on the table.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to talk about this because this got
Speaker 1: a lot of pushback this weekend. So Tennessee is a
Speaker 1: very young quarterback and he was making about two million dollars.
Speaker 1: They were paying him two million dollars when he was
Speaker 1: red shirting as a freshman to not play. And his
Speaker 1: name is and I'll just call him Nico. He's got
Speaker 1: a long last name and I don't want to butcher it.
Speaker 1: So I watched him play three or four No, I
Speaker 1: probably watched him play four or five times last year
Speaker 1: against the better teams. He was young quarterback, not overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: but not a missus open receivers. He's not should do
Speaker 1: or accurate. But he's also not draft eligible right now.
Speaker 1: He's going to grow. But he's a really nice talent.
Speaker 1: He's slender, he moves well, he's got a decent arm.
Speaker 1: And my take is, so he comes out this weekend
Speaker 1: and basically doesn't show up to practice and says I
Speaker 1: want four million, and Tennessee, to their credit, is like, listen,
Speaker 1: we're not going to play that game. We're gonna let
Speaker 1: him go, and I thought it would have been very
Speaker 1: difficult to hold out, not show up to practice, and
Speaker 1: come back. So I think the volunteers made the right
Speaker 1: decision as a program to say, listen, this isn't gonna work,
Speaker 1: this is a bad vibe, this is bad locker room smell. Here,
Speaker 1: we're moving on. I totally agree with that, But I
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily bothered by the move because it is April
Speaker 1: and coaches now are fetching twelve to thirteen million dollars
Speaker 1: in college football. So if a top quarterback wants four,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not going to hate the player. You
Speaker 1: can hate the system, you can hate nil, but I
Speaker 1: think this is I think this is what we're gonna
Speaker 1: see this, this is the way the game works now.
Speaker 1: I don't think it'll hurt him in the NFL. I
Speaker 1: think eventually, if he has a great year, people draft him.
Speaker 1: Everybody needs quarterbacks. Nobody care. I mean, Cayleb Williams had
Speaker 1: some emotional stuff, people didn't like, Johnny Manziel had all
Speaker 1: sorts of it. There'll be a team that'll draft him
Speaker 1: that needs a quarterback. What do you make What do
Speaker 1: you make of the kid doing it. What do you
Speaker 1: make in Tennessee's reaction, I.
Speaker 2: Forget the kid's name, but there's a pass rusher on
Speaker 2: South Carolina the Game Cocks who's like looks like a
Speaker 2: clowney or just like a you know, Miles Garrett that
Speaker 2: in the middle of the season, they're like they had
Speaker 2: to up what they were going to pay him. And again,
Speaker 2: true freshman. He looks like he's got a chance to
Speaker 2: be like a number one overall pick. I have no
Speaker 2: problem when you're an elite player. Renegotiating happens in pro
Speaker 2: sports all the time. What happened? Who holds out in
Speaker 2: the NFL? Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa? Right, Justin Jefferson, Jordan,
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase. This guy did not have a good year.
Speaker 2: I'm with you. I watched a lot of them last
Speaker 2: year because Tennessee was good and they were in the mix.
Speaker 2: Have you heard of him in high school? Like he
Speaker 2: was one of the highly talented guys in la oh.
Speaker 1: I think he was the number one quarterback I believe
Speaker 1: out of Los Angeles. So I watch all those guys
Speaker 1: tape on YouTube. Again, moves well lively, arm I thought
Speaker 1: as a college quarterback, his accuracy was against and again
Speaker 1: I only watched the Tennessee games against the better teams.
Speaker 1: Very hit and miss down the field, very hit and miss.
Speaker 1: But again my takeaway is, okay, it's like a red
Speaker 1: shirt freshman. I'm okay with it.
Speaker 2: Well, here's my issue with the whole thing is all
Speaker 2: reports have it it's his dad. You know, they say
Speaker 2: pigs get fed, hawks gets slaughtered. Like you said, he
Speaker 2: got four years, eight million dollars without ever playing a snap,
Speaker 2: where a lot of coaches, Kirby Smart does not give
Speaker 2: those type contracts to high school kids, right, a lot
Speaker 2: of the top coach because it's not good business. Tennessee
Speaker 2: did because I think he was like second or third
Speaker 2: overall recruit in the class. Arch was one. So I
Speaker 2: mean the hot, the hypes, the hype was was big,
Speaker 2: and that he got paid for it. I think he
Speaker 2: threw twenty touchdowns last year and only nine of them
Speaker 2: came in the SEC. He was not good in the
Speaker 2: SECN against good teams. Yeah, So to try to renegotiate
Speaker 2: off a bad year, to me, he's bad business.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And Dan Lanning turned him in essentially like, hey, you're
Speaker 2: getting played. And I think some of these coaches because again,
Speaker 2: he's not that good if he was viewed as a
Speaker 2: camp if he was draft eligible. Right now, he's not
Speaker 2: getting drafted in the top one hundred picks. It's all
Speaker 2: projection and potential but not off actual play. And his
Speaker 2: dad again two and I think it was like two
Speaker 2: point two he was scheduled to make this upcoming year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what if this is one of those I forget the
Speaker 2: NBA player, but he like opted out and he thought
Speaker 2: he could get like eighty million dollars and ended up
Speaker 2: getting like a one year eight million dollars. What if
Speaker 2: he can't even get a million dollars in the transfer
Speaker 2: portal Because some of these coaches are gonna go, well,
Speaker 2: he's a little overhyped one, and we're going to try
Speaker 2: to make a statement for our big business. That's why
Speaker 2: Dan Lanny called them right this is because they're like,
Speaker 2: this is insane. It'd be one thing if he was
Speaker 2: making one hundred thousand dollars in like, hey, the going
Speaker 2: rates of million dollars, A couple of million dollars would
Speaker 2: totally get it. His dad, by all accounts, leading the charge.
Speaker 2: If someone needs to give that guy some business advice,
Speaker 2: get Dre Rosenhouse because I think it's bad business. No
Speaker 2: issue if you're an elite player, if it's Drake May
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago or ashing genty guys that
Speaker 2: could transfer and totally get it. This guy was completely
Speaker 2: underwhelming Colin, this guy was It's why I think Tennessee
Speaker 2: and most people universe, they are like, this is nuts.
Speaker 2: This is just dumb business. Two and a half million
Speaker 2: dollars to play average football in the SEC. They were
Speaker 2: a defensive team last year, which is ironic because Joshipel's
Speaker 2: their coach, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if josh Hipel's the coach, you would think
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where like when Shanahan couldn't
Speaker 1: make Trey Lance work and the Cowboys gave up before,
Speaker 1: it's like that's bad gmming. Josh Hipel you would think
Speaker 1: would be able to get the most out of this kid.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things the NBA. I never
Speaker 1: understood this about the G League. So let's not pretend
Speaker 1: this is the fifties, sixties or seventies where basketball players
Speaker 1: are all starving coming into college basketball. They're not. It's
Speaker 1: a suburb sport aau kids. The good players are all
Speaker 1: getting taken care of. Even before nil kids were getting
Speaker 1: swag chefs. They're getting treated great.
Speaker 2: I am yeah.
Speaker 1: So I never understood kids that went to the G
Speaker 1: League instead of going and playing for a top six
Speaker 1: program where you're on television twenty five times. I know
Speaker 1: Zion because he went to Duke. Would you rather take
Speaker 1: four hundred thousand dollars for the G League or three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars or take thirty five million dollars of
Speaker 1: free marketing and advertising for Duke? And people say, well,
Speaker 1: they didn't grow up with a lot of money. Again,
Speaker 1: it's a year. You're not asking him to take a
Speaker 1: seven eight year hiatus away from money. This is not like,
Speaker 1: this is not I mean again, great AU basketball players
Speaker 1: are getting taken care of. So I kind of feel
Speaker 1: the same way about the dad here. I don't blame
Speaker 1: the kid, but it's like, if you have one good year,
Speaker 1: if you come back to Tennessee and have thirty touchdowns,
Speaker 1: eight picks, and you move well, you will be a
Speaker 1: first or an early second round pick next year. Because
Speaker 1: there's arch Manning will go number one. After that, there's
Speaker 1: about five guys and they're all in the same class.
Speaker 1: It depends how the season goes. I just think the
Speaker 1: dad lacks a certain self awareness.
Speaker 2: Which is understandable. A lot of these dads, a lot
Speaker 2: of human beings, would not have any clue or knowledge
Speaker 2: what to do in this situation. If I was one
Speaker 2: of these people that had the opportunity to make a
Speaker 2: million dollars and now in this world where I can
Speaker 2: get real representation, I would have Tennessee, Hey, could we
Speaker 2: get in contact with either CAAA Rosenhaus. I'd want someone
Speaker 2: real negotiating my thing, and I would imagine they're like, well,
Speaker 2: Carson Beck just got four million dollars. Well, two years ago,
Speaker 2: when Carson Beck had Lad McConkey and brock Bauers, a
Speaker 2: lot of us thought like, this guy could be a
Speaker 2: first round pick. He had a really, really good year.
Speaker 2: Now I think most of us also thought Miami's kind
Speaker 2: of crazy. But some of these numbers that get thrown around,
Speaker 2: no one truly knows what's real or not. It's pretty
Speaker 2: clear like it was concrete. This guy signed an eight
Speaker 2: million dollar four year deal and if he came back
Speaker 2: in three years, he will have banked over six million
Speaker 2: dollars in a no state income to state at I
Speaker 2: don't know where Tennessee like, I don't have a great
Speaker 2: feel for their roster right now. In April, I would
Speaker 2: guess it's a top ten roster in college football and
Speaker 2: he got a pretty good chance to compete. So we'll
Speaker 2: have to see where this guy ends up. But it
Speaker 2: doesn't feel like Oregon, Ohio State are just lined up
Speaker 2: for the kid. So if he ends up losing money,
Speaker 2: not only would it be a bad business saho a
Speaker 2: football decision, the Tennessee's got to be on the short
Speaker 2: list of great places to be a young quarterback playing
Speaker 2: football in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Listen, I've learned over the course of my life, is
Speaker 1: the young media oh as sides with the player. Oh,
Speaker 1: because it's a good story and all the narrative. They
Speaker 1: don't come from anything. We don't know that. Again, if
Speaker 1: you're the number one or two or three high school
Speaker 1: football quarterback in the country, you're getting taken care of
Speaker 1: by a lot of people. So I just think it's
Speaker 1: one of those situations. I don't blame the kid, And
Speaker 1: I think when I watched him, I thought, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can see it. I mean, he's got talent, but
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Will feel he's got no fuel for the pocket. He doesn't.
Speaker 1: That's the when you watch, like, you can say what
Speaker 1: you want about Shadoor Sanders. He has a feel. He's
Speaker 1: an accurate thrower of the football under duress, Like you
Speaker 1: can tell he's quarterbacked a lot. And also Shor is
Speaker 1: not a great enough athlete to make extra yards running around.
Speaker 1: He's had to make hey in the pocket. And by
Speaker 1: the way, his dad Dion Smart. He's told that kid, kid,
Speaker 1: you want to get rich, don't be a run around guy,
Speaker 1: sit in the pocket and throw darts. I mean, Dion
Speaker 1: knows what the hell's going on. So when you watch
Speaker 1: Shadoor Sanders, you can clearly tell that he can see
Speaker 1: the field. He's super accurate. This kid's just talented. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I you know, I I do think they're the
Speaker 1: family needs to take a deep breath because I mean,
Speaker 1: if he's great, he'll get drafted. I don't think he's great.
Speaker 1: I just think he's talented. Okay, NFL story here, so
Speaker 1: the people are talking about, you know, standards. It's not
Speaker 1: a very sexy draft. But there was a Derek Carr
Speaker 1: story this weekend and I'm thinking, Okay, that's where Chador
Speaker 1: is gonna go. So Derek Carr apparently may not play
Speaker 1: this season? Did I miss the injury? Did I did?
Speaker 2: Was this?
Speaker 1: I read the story and.
Speaker 2: I thought did I watched their.
Speaker 1: Games last year? I know he was banged up. Were
Speaker 1: you surprised at all by that story?
Speaker 2: I saw some of the Saints guys saying that that
Speaker 2: they didn't think it was as serious as being played
Speaker 2: out and he just had injured his shoulder. And I
Speaker 2: think either last year or two years ago. Did I
Speaker 2: wonder if this is a classic week or two before
Speaker 2: the draft, you're trying to get some information out there
Speaker 2: so someone jumps you, right, so players fall to you.
Speaker 2: I would be a little shocked again if, like I'm
Speaker 2: with you, if something that happened that we don't know
Speaker 2: because immediately like, that's a pretty big deal if you
Speaker 2: The other thing is they kept him on the roster
Speaker 2: when they could have cut him for forty million dollars,
Speaker 2: You would think that they would add a pretty good
Speaker 2: idea the health status. I just think a lot of
Speaker 2: times the two weeks before the draft, you just got
Speaker 2: to be very very careful with the uh, with the
Speaker 2: shenanigans going on on, stories being leaked about It's why
Speaker 2: I never have an issue, and I know, you know,
Speaker 2: former players get really worked up. Like when an anonymous
Speaker 2: GM says thing about a player, It's like, guys, there's
Speaker 2: no love and war here. This is an absolute war
Speaker 2: zone to try to do whatever you have to do
Speaker 2: to get the player you want. No one remembers this
Speaker 2: stuff in a couple months.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Most of this stuff is all just kind of bs anyway.
Speaker 2: It's part of the game that's played in this business
Speaker 2: that everyone's getting richer than they ever thought, players included,
Speaker 2: So it's like nothing's that bad shador Like. Everyone knows
Speaker 2: he's not a bad guy or anything. So when it's
Speaker 2: like he acted a little weird in the combine things
Speaker 2: like that get said every single year, and the overreaction rinse, wash, repeat,
Speaker 2: it's like everyone just calmed down. The Derek Carr thing
Speaker 2: felt a little like a draft story being thrown out
Speaker 2: there to try to get people to manipulate spots that
Speaker 2: maybe the Saints leak it out to try to get
Speaker 2: someone to throw them. I don't believe much that's happening
Speaker 2: right now over this last week now. I also think
Speaker 2: I think that the NFL is very turned off by
Speaker 2: this crop, you know, because typically you feel really good
Speaker 2: about ten to fifteen guys in a draft, and listen,
Speaker 2: I like Ashton gent. People think I'm being critical when
Speaker 2: a five to eight running back from Boise State is
Speaker 2: considered the third best talent in your draft. You got problems, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you got And listen, I really like the player. I
Speaker 2: think taking a five eight running back when it's one
Speaker 2: of the deeper drafts at that position would be insane
Speaker 2: for any team in like the top twenty, that includes
Speaker 2: the Raiders the Cowboys taking He also played at Boise
Speaker 2: State where we saw him against Penn State. Not all
Speaker 2: his fault It's hard to like his greatness, you know,
Speaker 2: is he Barry Sanders? Well, if you're gonna take him
Speaker 2: in the top ten, he better be Barry Sanders. Or's
Speaker 2: disaster because the last couple guys get drafted high, Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley, b John Robinson are not five eight kids
Speaker 2: from Boise State. And again, really good player. His year
Speaker 2: was awesome. I do think the hype on this guy
Speaker 2: to draft him really high speaks to two things. One,
Speaker 2: it's just I think teams are like, well, all these
Speaker 2: players we don't think any of them are good, so
Speaker 2: we might as well take this little guy who is
Speaker 2: least good. But historically a five eight running back honestly
Speaker 2: going in the first round is pretty it'd be borderline
Speaker 2: on precedent, and it does not happen very often.
Speaker 1: No. I think I've theorized John that about ten years ago,
Speaker 1: when there was the CTE stories and the concussion stories
Speaker 1: that the media had just pounced on and they were
Speaker 1: certainly worthy stories, is that the NFL had a real
Speaker 1: concern on their hands that they started targeting moms. Remember
Speaker 1: that about ten years ago when the NFL started targeting women,
Speaker 1: and it's really helped. They've increased their female audience significantly,
Speaker 1: and that's great. That means, you know, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: like more people that love football, the better for you
Speaker 1: and me. But during the CTE, when they wrote that
Speaker 1: almost billion dollar check, the NFL had a mom problem.
Speaker 1: And that was about ten years ago. I know I'm imprecise,
Speaker 1: but it was it was around there, yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 1: I've talked to youth coaches and turnout has been down now,
Speaker 1: not in Texas, maybe Georgia, Florida, Ohio, but turnout is
Speaker 1: down and I'll throw this out there. This is the
Speaker 1: first draft because kids would have been Remember they would
Speaker 1: have been eight, moms, kids would have been eight. Now
Speaker 1: they're eighteen or no. Kids would have been twelve when
Speaker 1: you start playing football. Now now they're twenty two outside
Speaker 1: of college. Right, So if you go ten years ago,
Speaker 1: the twenty two year old is getting drafted twenty months
Speaker 1: would have been eleven and twelve when you start playing
Speaker 1: tackle football for most kids, and moms are like, nope, nope.
Speaker 1: Now some may have been convinced. Over the last decade,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of rule changes. There's fewer concussions,
Speaker 1: the game is safer, there's less hitting. But if you
Speaker 1: look at when that story started ten years ago, the
Speaker 1: kids in this class were eleven and twelve years old.
Speaker 1: And this is a casualty of that CTE two year story.
Speaker 1: Is that a lot of moms just said, we're not
Speaker 1: doing it. My son's not playing football. And now there
Speaker 1: may have been fathers as well. But I have friends
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. I have a friend that lives west
Speaker 1: of the four or five, which is kind of the
Speaker 1: nicer area of La the Ritzier area, and he's like,
Speaker 1: he goes, I'm rare. I want my kids to play football.
Speaker 1: They transfer out of here, they go to school out
Speaker 1: of our zip code to go play football. He goes.
Speaker 1: But I can almost find no parents where I live
Speaker 1: in Brentwood. My friend where the kids play football, they
Speaker 1: all play something else, golf, tennis, basketball, baseball, something else.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to theorize that this is not going
Speaker 1: to be normal. We're not going to have bad drafts constantly,
Speaker 1: but will it become a little bit more like the
Speaker 1: NBA or about every third or fourth draft you look
Speaker 1: up and go, yeah, there's about seven eight great. I
Speaker 1: mean the NBA last year's draft was weak, I mean bad.
Speaker 1: If I asked you, and you're a sports guy, name
Speaker 1: five guys.
Speaker 2: In the truck.
Speaker 1: No, No, I mean the WNBA draft was more memorable
Speaker 1: than the NBA draft. So I just think I don't
Speaker 1: remember in my lifetime a draft with this level of
Speaker 1: star power that it has, like three. If it not
Speaker 1: for Shoe or Sanders, I wouldn't be it wouldn't make
Speaker 1: my show very often.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna need a little more data before I agree
Speaker 2: that that. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I do think, like,
Speaker 2: look at this draft, it's gonna be There are a
Speaker 2: lot of offensive and defensive linemen. They're gonna go in
Speaker 2: the first round. Yeah. Those human beings can only do
Speaker 2: so much athletically, right, They're not gonna play baseball. They're
Speaker 2: gonna gravitate towards football. Physically you can dominate, right, So
Speaker 2: it's not shocking. One thing that has I would say changed,
Speaker 2: and we're never going back. I know they say sports
Speaker 2: ebbs and flows, but forever, I remember we did something
Speaker 2: probably like seven eight years ago in Newport like a
Speaker 2: Fox iHeart get together. I remember coming down there and
Speaker 2: Carson Palmer was there, and you look up and you
Speaker 2: realize that. And I remember going to a out of
Speaker 2: radio games when I got in the radio and that
Speaker 2: the quarterbacks of his generation, Philip Rivers, Eli Roethlisberger was
Speaker 2: on the higher end of athleticism, but most of them
Speaker 2: were NBA looking human beings six five to sixty six
Speaker 2: but couldn't move. And Tom Brady said this, I could
Speaker 2: only play one position in a high school football game.
Speaker 2: I couldn't play any other position in the prime of
Speaker 2: my career. And Carson Palmer, like those guys can't beat
Speaker 2: any human in a foot race. On the field, including
Speaker 2: the linement, not even close. Those guys don't exist in
Speaker 2: the draft anymore. All the players at quarterback. So as
Speaker 2: that guy is he now playing golf and pitching in baseball,
Speaker 2: where for a while maybe he gravitated toward football, and
Speaker 2: now he realizes the coach only wants to Nico Emioala
Speaker 2: because he can move around, even though he can't play right.
Speaker 2: But he's a good athlete. And you look at all
Speaker 2: these college quarterbacks. I remember going through Arch's class. Jack Arnold,
Speaker 2: I think he transferred from Oklahoma. He's at Auburn now.
Speaker 2: But the whole group were athletes. None of them were
Speaker 2: like Jared Goff. Is really the last of a dying breeze.
Speaker 2: When you look at the top quarterbacks in the NFL,
Speaker 2: obviously the top dudes are all athletes. Lamar and Josh
Speaker 2: are better, but Mahomes Herbert can all move Then the
Speaker 2: Jalen hurts that even Party can move around. There is
Speaker 2: not a golf even Baker, now that he's slimmed down
Speaker 2: and got older, he's much more of a movie.
Speaker 1: Stafford and Goff for the last two pocket quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: But staffordhen Stafford was younger, he had much more mobility.
Speaker 2: He would have been on a better athlete than like
Speaker 2: a Palmer or an Eli. Right, that's human. That was
Speaker 2: always a number one pick or a Philip Rivers a
Speaker 2: top five pick. He just doesn't exist in football. But
Speaker 2: that athlete still exists. They're still going to be the
Speaker 2: six five seventeen year old kid. Is he just throwing
Speaker 2: ninety eight and going to Florida to pitch or is
Speaker 2: he going to Arizona State to play golf? Maybe he is,
Speaker 2: but he's not playing quarterback anymore. And for you just
Speaker 2: look at the history for my entire life, eighties, nineties,
Speaker 2: two thousand's, that guy littered the top ten in drafts,
Speaker 2: the six' five quarterback from school acts that couldn't really
Speaker 2: run but had a big, arm and not just the
Speaker 2: first round like he got drafted throughout the. Draft he
Speaker 2: just doesn't exist playing. Football you AND i watch a
Speaker 2: lot of college. Football who on a good team in
Speaker 2: college football are a good, prospect can't move Even Drew,
Speaker 2: aller who's questionable prospect but can, move, yeah right a little,
Speaker 2: Bit and he's on the lower end of athleticism for college.
Speaker 1: CANS i, mean A usc has a young quarterback that
Speaker 1: got FROM unlv AND i mean his greatest asset is
Speaker 1: that he. Moves he's not a guy that to this
Speaker 1: point in his, career he's very hit and. Message i'm
Speaker 1: kind of surprised how Loyal lincoln And riley's been to.
Speaker 1: Him but he does move the, pocket AND i think
Speaker 1: that does give these smart offensive coaches about twenty five
Speaker 1: percent more playbook AND i think it's an absolute. Advait
Speaker 1: that's Why stafford is so good because he doesn't get
Speaker 1: those he doesn't get movement, Right, like you have to
Speaker 1: win from the pocket And matt can do. It Jared
Speaker 1: goff has to win from the. Pocket that's. WHY i,
Speaker 1: mean if you asked every coach in the league right,
Speaker 1: NOW i know it's only one, Year, john if you
Speaker 1: asked every coach in the league next ten, years pick a,
Speaker 1: QUARTERBACK i THINK i think that'll Take jade And. DANIELS
Speaker 1: i think that's the kid they look at and, go,
Speaker 1: well five of the, YEARS i don't have to pay.
Speaker 1: Him he moves exceptionally. Well he's, scary bizarrely poised and
Speaker 1: accuracy LIKE i watched this year and my take is
Speaker 1: this is not recency. Bias this kid in fourth down
Speaker 1: high leverage over, time last drive of the. Game this
Speaker 1: shit is. In he's just, intuitive like he just understands
Speaker 1: it's innate that you can't teach some of that stuff
Speaker 1: that kid does.
Speaker 2: WELL i think what's Made lamar such an awesome player
Speaker 2: is he was a mobile guy that is morphed into this.
Speaker 2: Hybrid he can play in the pocket and kill. You
Speaker 2: but he wasn't like that early and he's become.
Speaker 1: That.
Speaker 2: JADEN i think a lot of people, thought, like this
Speaker 2: athlete immediately is like awesome pocket passer who also can
Speaker 2: just take off and move. Around not quite Like, lamar but.
Speaker 2: Kinda and, YEAH i just you're always gonna have to
Speaker 2: win from with in the. Pocket BUT i think now
Speaker 2: college you only get to pick you, Know parcels used to,
Speaker 2: say like the grocery store is college, football that that's
Speaker 2: where we pick the. Ingredients, well college is only giving
Speaker 2: you look at The National championship, historically when you Think
Speaker 2: Ohio state And Notre, dame you think like pocket. Quarterbacks
Speaker 2: both those guys were sprinting. Around Will howard had one
Speaker 2: of the biggest runs in the. Game, Yeah Will howard
Speaker 2: can play a little bit from the pocket, too but
Speaker 2: he's an athletic. Guy that's why when they got him
Speaker 2: From Kansas, State you're, like this is this gonna. Work chip wants
Speaker 2: a mobile, guy and then by the playoff, run he's
Speaker 2: like really throwing well from the. Pocket but that's that's
Speaker 2: all college football is the, mobility which is. Good Like
Speaker 2: i'm not no one's being LIKE i wouldn't Want Patrick,
Speaker 2: mahomes but like it still works With Jared Goff and
Speaker 2: like if you Put Peyton manning Or Tom brady at
Speaker 2: thirty years old in this, league they would be just
Speaker 2: fine because they get rid of the football really. Quick
Speaker 2: but you watch college, football no one plays like that.
Speaker 2: Anymore SO i do wonder if that is morphing into
Speaker 2: the kids that play football in high, school because if
Speaker 2: you're a high school. COACH i don't watch much high school,
Speaker 2: football but it does feel like all the top recruits
Speaker 2: are all like moving.
Speaker 1: Around, yep they are. Indisputable have you gone on your honeymoon?
Speaker 2: YET i have. Not we kind Of we were In
Speaker 2: nashville for like a, week SO i just took a deep.
Speaker 1: Breath. YEAH i went to The bahamas for six days
Speaker 1: and it was. Nice it was not too, hot not too.
Speaker 1: Crowded it was. Nice BUT i told my wife, this
Speaker 1: we like walking in our neighborhood In. Chicago, YEAH i,
Speaker 1: said this sounds crazy to, say BUT i grew up
Speaker 1: in The Pacific northwest AND i currently reside in Southern
Speaker 1: california most of the. Time AND i, SAID i know
Speaker 1: everybody's dream is to live In hawaii and The. BAHAMAS
Speaker 1: i couldn't do. It the foods too, inconsistent the transportation
Speaker 1: is hit and. Miss it was really an eye. OPENER
Speaker 1: i really had a good, time And anzo was. Fun
Speaker 1: BUT i told, HER i, said, like, look if you
Speaker 1: had that your condo redone or your house, redone where
Speaker 1: are you getting high end tile? Work? Like because SO
Speaker 1: i asked a lady that was in the, business and she, goes,
Speaker 1: well when we built this, hotel we you, know we
Speaker 1: shipped in we shipped in. Workers that that's and it
Speaker 1: was just funny being and again it's. Gorgeous The bahamians
Speaker 1: are wonderful. People it's. SAFE i, mean go. There BUT
Speaker 1: i told my, WIFE i, SAID i get tired of aqua,
Speaker 1: water like after about four to five, Days i'm, LIKE
Speaker 1: i need cloudy skies and fifty seven degrees AND i
Speaker 1: know that sounds crazy for a guy that lives In,
Speaker 1: arizona BUT i SAID i could never live down, here
Speaker 1: AND i have great, respect But i'm, like it's just
Speaker 1: it's not quite organized enough for. ME i need my big,
Speaker 1: CITY i need MY a plus. Transportation AND i learned
Speaker 1: that about. Myself that's.
Speaker 2: Vacation, yeah you, Know maria Thinks i'm kind of, Crazy
Speaker 2: LIKE i love to work because my, Work i'm not
Speaker 2: digging ditches, here LIKE i could do it seven days a,
Speaker 2: WEEK i don't, know three sixty. Five, yeah But i'm,
Speaker 2: LIKE i view myself Like i'm forty years, old like what.
Speaker 2: ELSE i watched, football talk about sports LIKE i could
Speaker 2: do this.
Speaker 1: NonStop i Told anne after four, Days i'm ready to talk. Again.
Speaker 2: YEAH i really really enjoy WHAT i And i've always
Speaker 2: kind of been like that WHATEVER i was, doing BECAUSE
Speaker 2: i just kind of followed WHAT i like to. Do
Speaker 2: we Love, nashville and there is a pace though with
Speaker 2: The south that is a little. Different like, Listen i'm
Speaker 2: not there are things with the wiring of people that
Speaker 2: are from The northeast that are a little different than.
Speaker 2: Me BUT i did like the way they, pace which
Speaker 2: is one hundred miles an. Hour everywhere, same and there's
Speaker 2: there's always elements of, that like of there's A california
Speaker 2: cool to the west, coast but there is like you
Speaker 2: better be, quick like WHEN i want the, CHECK i
Speaker 2: want the, check LIKE i need. This we like things.
Speaker 2: Quick and there are parts of the country like the word.
Speaker 2: RETIREMENT i love. GOLF i MEAN i enjoy playing. IT
Speaker 2: i LIKE i love watching like talking about. IT i
Speaker 2: can play two days in a. Row it's LIKE i.
Speaker 2: Can't i'm, Done Like i'm. Good, yeah you know some
Speaker 2: of these people like they can just play golf over and.
Speaker 1: Over i'm, Not LIKE i can't those, people AND i
Speaker 1: LOVE i had so much Fun. SATURDAY i played with
Speaker 1: uh in. LAWS i had a ball AND i could
Speaker 1: have played the next, day but THEN i would want
Speaker 1: to get you, know it sounds. Wed i'm. NOT i
Speaker 1: don't consider myself a. Workaholic but it was really interesting
Speaker 1: being The bahamas and we went to two different. Hotels
Speaker 1: the people were, wonderful but that there Is AND i
Speaker 1: went To turks And keikos about four or five years
Speaker 1: ago with my kids and it was more fun then
Speaker 1: because the kids were all there and watching them enjoy.
Speaker 1: It but it is. INTERESTING i do think there's people
Speaker 1: down it listening to us, think, oh you didn't.
Speaker 2: Have a good.
Speaker 1: TIME i had a great. Time but it was really
Speaker 1: an eye opener to me AS i. Now i'm, sixty, Right,
Speaker 1: so LIKE i think about stuff like, this And i'm, like,
Speaker 1: No i'm going to retire in a cold weather climate
Speaker 1: and then cherry pick occasionally gorgeous beaches and. Resorts But
Speaker 1: i'm like. YOU i like the pace Of. CHICAGO i
Speaker 1: like the pace Of. BOSTON i like cold weather. Cities
Speaker 1: there is A i don't, know like getting up walking
Speaker 1: in forty eight degree, weather putting a cap on is
Speaker 1: SOMETHING i really enjoy doing and with a coffee in my.
Speaker 1: Hand AND i JUST i really discovered it about myself this.
Speaker 2: Week i'm probably. Opposite the cold is something THAT i
Speaker 2: like the pace of The. Northeast hate the, cold BUT
Speaker 2: i don't mind the.
Speaker 1: Heat.
Speaker 2: YEAH i can go on a walk in one hundred
Speaker 2: and ten degrees no problem here In. Arizona and like you,
Speaker 2: SAID i live in a desert now for several. Years the,
Speaker 2: water even WHEN i lived in The Bay, AREA i
Speaker 2: wouldn't really call that the. Ocean you. Know it's like
Speaker 2: you go to the. Beach, honestly for, me like one
Speaker 2: thing golf's been really good for me in this area
Speaker 2: is like meeting people and social. Life And i've met
Speaker 2: a lot of like just high level people THAT i
Speaker 2: would not have met without. It that value to me
Speaker 2: in a place where WHEN i moved, HERE i don't
Speaker 2: know anyone here besides like Through maria has been really.
Speaker 2: Valuable so many people that have listened to the podcast
Speaker 2: reach out and bte me to their club or just
Speaker 2: just meet normal. People and it's it's a very comfortable, situation, Like,
Speaker 2: hey you want to come play. Golf never met a
Speaker 2: human you show, Up you typically have a pretty normal
Speaker 2: interaction to someone that spends a lot of time by
Speaker 2: himself in an office watching and talking about. Sports it's
Speaker 2: good to, socialize But i'm with. YOU i don't you.
Speaker 2: KNOW i Like hawaii as much as the next. Guy
Speaker 2: but IF i don't go for five, YEARS i don't
Speaker 2: spend that much time thinking about.
Speaker 1: It John, middlecoff FORMER nfl, Scout good to talk, again,
Speaker 1: buddy you two calling see it