Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast can't even get on NFL
Speaker 1: network in a pandemic. We welcome to another edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas
Speaker 1: and I'm coming to you from a city in a
Speaker 1: world filled with heroes and Bunker's Mark Seessler, Chris Westling
Speaker 1: and Greg Rostal. What's up boys, Hey Dn, and we
Speaker 1: have one more hero to introduce. Hit It Ricky. He's
Speaker 1: an NFL writer and reporter based in the u K.
Speaker 1: He's the host for Sky Sports DV Inside the Huddle podcast.
Speaker 1: He was a barefoot kicker and tight end for the
Speaker 1: Kent Exiles football team. Used to play catch in the
Speaker 1: storeroom at the NFL Europe office, wearing the head of
Speaker 1: the Scottish Claymore's mascot while doing it. He didn't try
Speaker 1: honey for the first time until two thousand and eight. Weirdo.
Speaker 1: He supports Liverpool and he is the host of the
Speaker 1: brand spanking new Neil Reynolds podcast Ladies and Gentlemen Neil
Speaker 1: Reynolds on intro. Welc that's any around the animal body?
Speaker 1: Thank you an anthem? Yeah, that will came from That
Speaker 1: will came from Handsome Hank right, all that information, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't reveal my sources ever, true journalists. Very good,
Speaker 1: very good, thanks for having me, guys. I mean, let's
Speaker 1: start with the honey thing. Come on, yeah, what's up
Speaker 1: with the honey now? He said, Now, my source said
Speaker 1: that you are famously have a very bland palette. But
Speaker 1: even if that's true, honey, two thousand and eight, that's
Speaker 1: a disgrace. Yeah, I am. I do have a very
Speaker 1: very bland palette. And exactly what you do with really
Speaker 1: really leaning into these cultural stereotypes. And I was at
Speaker 1: NFL UK and myself and who I'm guessing is your source,
Speaker 1: Dan Handsome, Hank Henry Hodgson. We were kind of known
Speaker 1: for making outlandish predictions and guarantees around NFL Europe games,
Speaker 1: around NFL games. I think I made some stupid guarantee
Speaker 1: which I failed on. And the forfeit was to do
Speaker 1: like a bush Tucker trial like you see in the
Speaker 1: I'm a Celebrity Show the jungle. I had to eat
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff which was supposed to be kind
Speaker 1: of really out there, but for me, because I was
Speaker 1: so bland, it was sushi, which was ridiculous, honey. But
Speaker 1: then I did eat some I think I ate some
Speaker 1: ants and some crickets, but most of it was just
Speaker 1: food that everyone really likes, but not for me. But Neil,
Speaker 1: I've gotta. I've gotta as as the person on this
Speaker 1: side of the ocean that is charged continuously with not
Speaker 1: being adventurous enough with their food choices. Um. For instance,
Speaker 1: I've never eaten cottage cheese, and I never I would
Speaker 1: rather be taken out by a female gunman than eat
Speaker 1: cottage cheese because it's like, why must I swallow what
Speaker 1: looks like chunky milk? Why must there be a female gunman? Well,
Speaker 1: because that would be an incredible way to go um.
Speaker 1: And I've thought about that probably once a day since,
Speaker 1: like a there's so many layers that I gotta ask, what,
Speaker 1: like that's a texture thing. I look at cottage cheese
Speaker 1: and it's just like, why would a human put that
Speaker 1: into their system? That's how I feel. But Honey, it
Speaker 1: feels unoffensive, um visually in any other way, and it's
Speaker 1: sort of like it goes back to even like biblical diets.
Speaker 1: Why would you why? What is the issue with with
Speaker 1: with honey, I'm clack, we're peeling this back. I have
Speaker 1: no idea, but I don't. I don't stick to just
Speaker 1: that texture. You know. I don't eat fish. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't really like Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: just a bit fussy and I don't know what honey.
Speaker 1: It's just a bit too full of itself, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I think we could be and I could be quarantine
Speaker 1: together and we'd be You guys are foodians. I mean, well,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a worldwide issue, the food Atarians. They
Speaker 1: should unite and uh push back against all the people
Speaker 1: that like food. Well we are, by the way, we're
Speaker 1: heading into food terian zones. So for those of you,
Speaker 1: I don't know every thing you need to eat like
Speaker 1: lamb chops with like eyeball on top of it, that's
Speaker 1: an option anymore for you. It's a bit of an
Speaker 1: aggressive tone forming here, so let's just move on. Neil,
Speaker 1: you are the rich eyes and of course famously of
Speaker 1: the UK when it comes to UH pro football coverage,
Speaker 1: NFL coverage, and uh we're so happy to have you
Speaker 1: on the show because this has been a great bond
Speaker 1: between our podcast and your your great studio show and
Speaker 1: live coverage of the NFL. Sky sports. So I know
Speaker 1: a lot of listeners have been listening for a long time.
Speaker 1: UM are aware that you've been on the show before,
Speaker 1: but you are very much a friend of the show
Speaker 1: at a high level. So it's great to have you back,
Speaker 1: especially at this time where you're launching a new podcast.
Speaker 1: You want to tell us about that. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's why I really appreciate you guys having me on UM. So. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm still hosting the Inside the Huddle podcast with Jeff
Speaker 1: Ryan Bold. Rob Bryan's on that with us as well.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to do something, uh, I think inspired
Speaker 1: by you guys. You know, you've had so many side
Speaker 1: projects and so many things off, you know, sid side podcasts,
Speaker 1: you know, and I do listen to the show a lot,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, you know, I should give it
Speaker 1: a go. And I don't want to do another kind
Speaker 1: of opinion based thing. You guys cover all of the
Speaker 1: news and opinion. You do it in a great way.
Speaker 1: Mike Florio does it, Peter King do it. Why would
Speaker 1: people want to hear me do that? You know, I
Speaker 1: actually we don't. We don't mention those names on this
Speaker 1: show ever. Sorry, you can you can probably bleep them
Speaker 1: out afterwards, I would guess. But so I thought, well,
Speaker 1: what can I do? I have great contacts, I have
Speaker 1: good access around the league. I've covered this sport for
Speaker 1: a long time. I do um get very fortunate with
Speaker 1: the NFL UK lives to spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: with players traveling around the UK. So while start telling
Speaker 1: their stories, and that's what I did with the first one.
Speaker 1: I decided I'm going to make a bit of a
Speaker 1: bit of an effort with the with the first one
Speaker 1: and try and go out to actually interview whoever the
Speaker 1: first one is in person. So drop Ryan Fitzpatrick a
Speaker 1: text and said, can I come and come to you
Speaker 1: somewhere in Tampa where you live and we'll do we'll
Speaker 1: do like a thirty minute interview. And he said, no,
Speaker 1: come and we'll go out fishing and then we'll do
Speaker 1: the interview. So we literally, wow, Yeah, we were fishing
Speaker 1: in the waterway. He's off the off the back of
Speaker 1: where he lives too. I did, yeah, and I'm not
Speaker 1: I mean, people can listen to the podcast when it
Speaker 1: when it drops, we put a lot of the fishing
Speaker 1: audio in there. I don't like eating fish, but I
Speaker 1: also don't like handling fish or being around any live fish.
Speaker 1: So you hear me kind of have a bit of
Speaker 1: a meltdown because he he literally we started, oh, you're
Speaker 1: ready for the apocalypse. Now I could tell yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go out there and hunter together. So we literally
Speaker 1: I threw the I cast it I think is the
Speaker 1: term cast it off the back of the boat. And
Speaker 1: then literally within five minutes, I had I had a bite,
Speaker 1: and then I was absolutely terrified. And then after so
Speaker 1: I caught that fish, but he had to land it,
Speaker 1: and then I sound embarrassing. Yeah, it was the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It was embarrassing. I'll tell you why. It was embarrassing
Speaker 1: as well, because I felt a little bit I think
Speaker 1: he did it on purpose, a little bit emasculated. So
Speaker 1: I'm in this kayak, but it was like a pedalo. Really,
Speaker 1: I'm in this pedal boat and fits looks like this
Speaker 1: some sort of god from an ancient past on a
Speaker 1: paddle board standing up strong, and I'm kind of flailing
Speaker 1: around in a pedal boat. Can't land this fish and
Speaker 1: he had to land it, and then I literally turned
Speaker 1: into five year old Neil Reynolds. It's a question every
Speaker 1: five seconds, fits that we're going to put it back.
Speaker 1: Is that him making that noise? Is he all right?
Speaker 1: Do you want me to drop him back in the water?
Speaker 1: How we hold his breath forall? Are throwing him back? Fits?
Speaker 1: And he was like, it's fine, he's fine, we're throwing
Speaker 1: him back. And so yeah, we did. We but we
Speaker 1: had a great time. And to be able to get
Speaker 1: that kind of access, that's what I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: with this podcast, is that that up close access, spending
Speaker 1: quality time with players. And so we did that on
Speaker 1: Sunday and then I spent the Monday with Bruce Arians.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that'll be episode two coming up in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Now this is this is Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: pretime Brady Right, Yeah, Actually I was so yeah. So
Speaker 1: about about five minutes before I was due to meet
Speaker 1: with coach, Arians were waiting in his office and then
Speaker 1: the PR guy for the Bucks said, actually, this way
Speaker 1: outside in the lobby. You don't want to be just
Speaker 1: camped up in coaches office. Um, he said, he's running
Speaker 1: a little bit late. He's just been called into an
Speaker 1: emergency meeting with Jason Light, the general manager. And I said,
Speaker 1: I'd love to be a fly on the wall with that.
Speaker 1: You know free agencies starting next week. The coach Coach
Speaker 1: comes in and then the very next day I'm flying
Speaker 1: home there was a headline saying the Bucks are apparently
Speaker 1: all in for for Tom Brady. So what were they
Speaker 1: discussing in that meeting? But he was a good one
Speaker 1: as well, And I think when you get people. The
Speaker 1: good thing about this podcast, I think and I hope,
Speaker 1: is that I'm not trying to break news. So I
Speaker 1: said to Coach Areans, I would like thirty minutes of
Speaker 1: your time, but I'm probably not going to ask you
Speaker 1: a question about Jameis Winston because it's about your life,
Speaker 1: it's about your stories. And he was I've interviewed him
Speaker 1: a couple of times before, but he was as open
Speaker 1: and as emotional as I've ever seen him. So hopefully
Speaker 1: that comes across. That's great. So yeah, Neil Reynolds podcast
Speaker 1: wherever podcasts are found. Is it up yet? Is it
Speaker 1: launched yet? What's the what's the date? So it launches
Speaker 1: tomorrow Thursday, seven am in the UK time, So yes,
Speaker 1: so by the time you guys like on Thursday it
Speaker 1: will be it will be up and running, and yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully get some good numbers. One quick question if so
Speaker 1: you and I and it's it is a slight humble brag,
Speaker 1: but I but you own it because you're a man
Speaker 1: who's deep and sources. You're texting back and forth with
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick, So I mean, I just want to know
Speaker 1: when you when he sends a long, chunky paragraph, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, capitalization, grammar, punctuation, is it totally what you'd
Speaker 1: expect from you know, we all know where he went
Speaker 1: to school. Is it Ivy Lee Livy League level texting
Speaker 1: or is he a typical athlete bro when it comes
Speaker 1: to communication. No, he's pretty good with with that. The
Speaker 1: only thing with and if you know Ryan Fitzpatrick, he's
Speaker 1: a bit of a joker. So when I met up
Speaker 1: with him at the Super Bowl, we we arranged to
Speaker 1: me through his agent, And when fitz was over in
Speaker 1: the UK, he made all these pictures of us that
Speaker 1: were on the stage show together, um, but superimposed our
Speaker 1: faces on the coyote ugly scene on the Spice Girls.
Speaker 1: And so he introduced me to He introduced me to
Speaker 1: his agent by saying, Kneel's the one in the bottom right.
Speaker 1: And I looked at the picture and it was me
Speaker 1: as baby Spice with the blonde hair and everything. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that humor comes through with him. But no, he's a
Speaker 1: he's a very intelligent man. He's actually, um the most
Speaker 1: unspoiled NFL player you could ever wish to meet. I mean,
Speaker 1: the last thing he said to me was like, you know, come,
Speaker 1: we'll come back and we'll do this again soon, but
Speaker 1: don't bring any recording equipment. You know, we'll just take
Speaker 1: a few beers out. It was, it was, it was
Speaker 1: a privilege to spend the time with him. It was
Speaker 1: a bit like being in that you know. It felt
Speaker 1: like a couple of characters in that big movie with
Speaker 1: Tom Hanks, because he sent the he said. We arrived
Speaker 1: at his house, knocked on the door and he said, oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go about half a mile down the street
Speaker 1: to record by the water's edge. And I said, okay,
Speaker 1: we're all going to jump in one car and he
Speaker 1: said no, no, that He sent the producer off, he
Speaker 1: sent the cameraman off, and he went me and you
Speaker 1: were going to go on these and walked into his
Speaker 1: garage and the two electric scooters and then he just
Speaker 1: races off down the road and I had to try
Speaker 1: and catch him up and that's just how he was.
Speaker 1: He seems like the guy that's he's figured out life.
Speaker 1: He's rich, he's a football player, he's the heart. He's
Speaker 1: got the Harvard Angle, he's got like forty seven kids,
Speaker 1: he's happily married, he's got scooters going down to the
Speaker 1: pond to go fishing. It just seems like the guy
Speaker 1: figured it out. Yep, he's ticked every every box. And yeah,
Speaker 1: very unspoiled by um. All right, Neil, So that's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. We're happy that you're sitting in on
Speaker 1: the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL Bunker Cast.
Speaker 1: How many bunker cats drink here, by the way, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: well there it is of course people that watch it is.
Speaker 1: It's wine thirty friendly where Neil is, no matter what
Speaker 1: the time is. And you'll know that from our Sky
Speaker 1: Sports appearances over the last couple of seasons that Neil,
Speaker 1: you know, he luks to get a little bit loose
Speaker 1: if you catch my drift well on air, off air,
Speaker 1: any time of day, sun's up, suns down, the winds out,
Speaker 1: yes or no, come on, we'll do with it, Ricky.
Speaker 1: What how many Bunker casts are we up to? Now?
Speaker 1: I think I know the number. Are we thirteen? She's
Speaker 1: I don't know. She's having There's two full weeks and
Speaker 1: a Friday. So now that's alright, Bunker Gust thirteen. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit some news. I hope. I hope Eric is okay.
Speaker 1: We're having some technical difficulties on her end. Um, we'll
Speaker 1: hit some news and then Neil, um, I hope you're
Speaker 1: comfortable of this. Usually, like if you're a pro, you
Speaker 1: clear it with the guests, but we didn't do that.
Speaker 1: We're gonna sit you on the hot seat and ask
Speaker 1: some questions and get some answers your live show. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure I'm happy about that, so just be just
Speaker 1: just be ready, not less in interrogation and more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: payback for you doing the same thing to us last
Speaker 1: time we were in England. All right, Before we do that, though,
Speaker 1: let's get to the news. Welcome to the Ryan Fitzpatrick Podcast.
Speaker 1: I said you help me launch my podcast, The Reynolds Podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Neil Reynolds Podcast. At special guest nonetheless
Speaker 1: soon all right, let's start with news that became official.
Speaker 1: We've talked about us on the podcast that it was
Speaker 1: something that was tied to the new cb A, which
Speaker 1: has since been ratified, but it will indeed start in
Speaker 1: the year this season hopefully. UH, the NFL expands the
Speaker 1: four team team fourteen teams UH in the playoffs, up
Speaker 1: from twelve. The big fallout from this, obviously it's one
Speaker 1: team in each conference added to the mix. Also, UH,
Speaker 1: there is no longer a number two seed that gets
Speaker 1: a by, so now you only have one team that
Speaker 1: gets a by straight into the divisional playoffs. You have
Speaker 1: an extra team in each division in each conference making
Speaker 1: the dance. And it happens right now. This season still
Speaker 1: six team game season, Greg Rosenthal, but the playoff expansion
Speaker 1: is immediate. Yeah, we we are still waiting to see
Speaker 1: how this NFL season goes, but I think it's a
Speaker 1: fairly safe bet. The NBC and CBS are both gonna
Speaker 1: be broadcasting extra games. That was what I was because
Speaker 1: we knew this was happening, but I was interested in
Speaker 1: how this was all going to play out. And basically
Speaker 1: NBC is getting a Sunday night game, which will be fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, those wild card weekends are gonna be packed
Speaker 1: days with three games on each day, and then CBS
Speaker 1: gets an extra game where they also have a simulcast
Speaker 1: on Nickelodeon, So uh, maybe that's a spot they can
Speaker 1: throw the old around the NFL podcast guys in Hey, Now,
Speaker 1: no they're gonna put like blip Be on that show.
Speaker 1: It would definitely be Uh. It's an interesting thought having
Speaker 1: a youthful slant to how you call the game, I imagine,
Speaker 1: and playing it up that way. Neil. This is bad
Speaker 1: news for you, of course, because um, it's always difficult
Speaker 1: Sunday night football with the time changes in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night over in the UK. Now you've got
Speaker 1: a playoff game going on at that time, rough, but
Speaker 1: I guess the super Bowl is even later. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the wild card weekend and divisional round of the
Speaker 1: toughest two weeks on the calendar over here in terms
Speaker 1: of hosting the shows, because we will come off air
Speaker 1: around about four thirty, get to a hotel or somewhere
Speaker 1: for five thirty in the morning. Then we're back in
Speaker 1: the studio about two thirty ready to go for the
Speaker 1: you know, the the one pm eastern kickoff time games
Speaker 1: for the Sunday. So you do that Saturday Sunday both weekends,
Speaker 1: and it does It does take a little bit of
Speaker 1: a toll. But as I often say, we're just sitting
Speaker 1: there watching TV for a living, So can't complain. Can't
Speaker 1: complain too hard? Mean I do, I do, but no
Speaker 1: one's really gonna listen. Yeah, absolutely to you, but no
Speaker 1: one's gonna listen. Hey, West, do you think that obviously
Speaker 1: now only one team getting to buy? Is that too
Speaker 1: much of an advantage for one team to have? That?
Speaker 1: Are you all? I know where as a group we're
Speaker 1: kind of a little on the fence or against the
Speaker 1: idea of letting in these mediocre teams into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: But what about at the top of this with only
Speaker 1: one team getting to buy? What's your thoughts on that.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to keep an open mind, and I think
Speaker 1: we'll have answers afterwards. But I don't think there's any
Speaker 1: need to think the sky is falling on on the
Speaker 1: level of competition in week sixteen or seventeen. Yet, I'd
Speaker 1: like to see a fairly big sample size before we
Speaker 1: draw any major conclusions about the competitiveness um and how
Speaker 1: much of an advantage that is. I think it's interesting
Speaker 1: because change is interesting. I don't know a couple of
Speaker 1: teams picked off in recent years and I, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting to add the seventh team where
Speaker 1: people are assuming that it's going to be some sort
Speaker 1: of seven and nine operation. And you know, if you
Speaker 1: go back to two thousand, none of these seven seeds
Speaker 1: that would have made the playoffs in a four teen
Speaker 1: team format would have had a losing record. So that
Speaker 1: for me, that kind of quells some of the fears.
Speaker 1: And I read an interesting um article on Cleveland dot com.
Speaker 1: It said, in quotes, the expanded playoff format increases Browns
Speaker 1: chances of making playoffs. Now that to me is cutting
Speaker 1: edge journalism. You have the analysis there is from the
Speaker 1: far reaches of space. I did see some advanced metrics
Speaker 1: kind of saying that the one seeds chances of going
Speaker 1: any further aren't any higher, which which kind of makes
Speaker 1: sense because they're in the same spot. It basically is
Speaker 1: just banging the two seed and like their chances of
Speaker 1: making the super Bowl now go down. Um a significant
Speaker 1: amountain that like you know, spreads out to the three,
Speaker 1: four or five six, But the way they did it, basically,
Speaker 1: I don't know if the one seeds getting an edge
Speaker 1: as much as just that two seed is now getting
Speaker 1: banged in comparison and to the crowd that says, why
Speaker 1: is that? Why is this happening? First of all, there's
Speaker 1: always been a shift going on. It's been a twelve
Speaker 1: team play field since nineteen ninety. It's been thirty years, obviously,
Speaker 1: but it was a ten team field from seventy eight
Speaker 1: to eighty nine. It was an eight team field from
Speaker 1: seventy to seventy seven. So the game is evolved over
Speaker 1: time in terms of how they handled the playoff structure
Speaker 1: just hadn't happened in a long time. Now, is it
Speaker 1: because you kind of we hit on the perfect structure?
Speaker 1: I kind of think yes. But then I had a
Speaker 1: teacher in um Junior High, Mrs Miller, her name was.
Speaker 1: She was our social studies teacher, and she she would
Speaker 1: teach us about what was going on, and she always
Speaker 1: pointed to one undefeated truth of the world. Money makes
Speaker 1: the world go around. And uh. The during the negotiations
Speaker 1: for the c B A UH, they projected this. The
Speaker 1: players Union in the NFL projected a hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: million and new annual revenues from broadcast rights and stadium
Speaker 1: revenue connected to adding these teams and just beefing it up.
Speaker 1: A little bit and that. I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: business and they're looking to make money. And as long
Speaker 1: as they don't destroy the prod duct, which I don't
Speaker 1: think they will, I'm kind of into it and going
Speaker 1: and circling back. Mark, if you're a fan of an
Speaker 1: eternally mediocre team, you know what I really miss and Mark,
Speaker 1: you miss it more than me because it's been longer.
Speaker 1: There's nothing more exciting than waking up on a Saturday
Speaker 1: or Sunday in January when your team's playing a playoff game. Uh,
Speaker 1: And how exciting that is. I don't care what their
Speaker 1: record was or how they got there. To give more
Speaker 1: fans that opportunity. I think that's a good thing too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean the last time I had that feeling was
Speaker 1: New Year's Day. So I was excited for a lot
Speaker 1: of other reasons. The future was bright. Um, I was young, vivacious, uh,
Speaker 1: physically fit, looking better than now. So I mean you're
Speaker 1: excited about the Empire records release. That was a that
Speaker 1: was a huge momentum all right. In other league news,
Speaker 1: the NFL UH and their executives. They're planning for the
Speaker 1: season to start on time with the fans in the stands.
Speaker 1: That is the hope here. With the of course the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic make in the coronavirus. UH, there's really
Speaker 1: no way to know how this is all going to
Speaker 1: play out. We all know that, But the NFL is
Speaker 1: going forward, you know, the way the schedule works greg
Speaker 1: For the NFL, they're different than all these other major
Speaker 1: sports in the US where they're having this opportunity to
Speaker 1: say to themselves, we have a window here where, since
Speaker 1: we don't have actual on field action, we could maybe,
Speaker 1: if everything works out, click into a situation where nothing
Speaker 1: is affected. And that's just what this is about. So
Speaker 1: they're planning for a reality, the best case reality where
Speaker 1: they're essentially unaffected other than you know, changes like they're
Speaker 1: not being a physical draft O T A S. Things
Speaker 1: like that could be out the window. But the actual
Speaker 1: season to come, I think they're holding out hope they
Speaker 1: can rock on here. I think the keyword there was hope,
Speaker 1: And I think they're going to move forward with planning
Speaker 1: for this season because why wouldn't you who knows what's
Speaker 1: happening behind closed doors In terms of contingencies. The biggest
Speaker 1: headline for me wasn't that they're saying publicly they're planning
Speaker 1: for the season. What else are you gonna do right now?
Speaker 1: It's the fact that they are putting a over under
Speaker 1: on the schedule release at May nine, which is it
Speaker 1: is an interesting um flag to kind of plant in
Speaker 1: the ground. Now. May nine is so far away that
Speaker 1: maybe they're thinking they'll have a better feel. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems like everything is fluid right now in the world,
Speaker 1: including uh, the NFL. Let's move on and talk a
Speaker 1: little player action UM or player news, I should say,
Speaker 1: NFL Networks. Mike Gara follow our Boy reported that quote.
Speaker 1: Multiple teams have expressed interest in acquiring the franchise, tagged
Speaker 1: Janik and Gockway, the young star defensive end of the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: We don't have any um known teams who have reached out,
Speaker 1: but the Eagles, Seahawks, Packers, and Jets all teams that
Speaker 1: have been LinkedIn Gockway. Um West as this guy, um
Speaker 1: that type of player that that a team that doesn't
Speaker 1: get him is gonna be kicking themselves for having that opportunity,
Speaker 1: uh and not taking advantage of it. At this time,
Speaker 1: I think the two the two strengths of his his game.
Speaker 1: What he's bringing the free agency. That that are most
Speaker 1: attractive are his age. I don't think he's even twenty
Speaker 1: five years old yet, and the fact that he comes
Speaker 1: off the edge and creates turnovers. The quarterback often doesn't
Speaker 1: see him coming. It leads to a lot of strip sacks,
Speaker 1: and I think those kinds of pass rushers are worth more.
Speaker 1: That's why he's getting a lot of love from from
Speaker 1: interested teams. And finally, in the news, here's something we
Speaker 1: had been tracking. Uh, Tom Brady, he's number twelve. He
Speaker 1: always has been number twelve. Signs with the Bucks, who
Speaker 1: just so happened to have a young star wide receiver
Speaker 1: named Chris Godwin who also wears number twelve. Perfect setup
Speaker 1: for Godwin, who has Brady over a barrel obviously, uh
Speaker 1: financially however, wanted to make this thing work, well, guess what.
Speaker 1: Godwin instead decided that he just gave the number away
Speaker 1: to Tom terrific quote unquote, Um Godwin, it will now
Speaker 1: be number fourteen moving forward, Brady twelve, No transaction, no compensation,
Speaker 1: just Godwin being a good guy. I guess so that
Speaker 1: you know that that that closes out that storyline, Neil,
Speaker 1: I feel like when you have leverage over us for
Speaker 1: certain things. You would not be as kind as Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin was. No, I feel like that's an opportunity missed,
Speaker 1: not even not even give me. I feel like there's
Speaker 1: a million dollars at least, and not even to a charity,
Speaker 1: like give it to me in my pocket. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin had an opportunity that's never coming again. It's
Speaker 1: TB twelve, it's Tom Brady. Um. Yeah, I feel I'm disappointed.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get Brady is going to give him something
Speaker 1: in the end when they meet up, he'll be He'll
Speaker 1: get something. That's the that's kind of guy that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is. Yeah. Dan mentioned ler a pickup truck. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Dan mentioned that Brady was not folded over a barrel.
Speaker 1: I would definitely fold Tom Brady over a barrel and
Speaker 1: get as much as you can. Um you've got you know,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin, how how long will the career girl on
Speaker 1: get some of this um TV twelve quarterback money and
Speaker 1: ensure that your children and nephews and nieces and other
Speaker 1: offspring that we don't know about don't work ever again.
Speaker 1: And I'll just add that I'm very happy that Brady
Speaker 1: is still number twelve. Hate it when iconic players changed
Speaker 1: their number. I mean, what what was worse than Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan's coming back to the NBA. And I know there
Speaker 1: were a circumstances involved with his father, and but when
Speaker 1: he was number forty five instead of the iconic twenty three. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's the reason an NBA team from Orlando knocked him
Speaker 1: out of the playoffs that year. And you can't convince
Speaker 1: me otherwise, Kobe, Kobe, that number was retired. He had
Speaker 1: to officially petition the NBA to get twenty three back
Speaker 1: again after Nick Aaron Anderson embarrassed him. Oh boy, can
Speaker 1: we cut through the red tape? Though? It's Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: getting his own number back? And uh, you know Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant got arrest his soul Uh going from eight to
Speaker 1: twenty four? Or is it eight? I can't remember. Uh.
Speaker 1: Let's let's calm down with all this stuff. Stick with
Speaker 1: the number that you became famous with. We all like
Speaker 1: it that that way. Come on now, end of rant.
Speaker 1: I mean that is that's gonna it's not gonna be
Speaker 1: a popular take out there. UM. I hope you're ready
Speaker 1: to deal with the backlash. It's gonna be some serious fallout.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening in the news. Neil. You know, I
Speaker 1: know you want to hang up right now, and you
Speaker 1: could because you have an easy out here where this
Speaker 1: is Transatlantic, there's the world is on fire. And if
Speaker 1: you were to magically disconnect right now, uh and say
Speaker 1: that technical difficulties brought up premature and to your appearance
Speaker 1: on today's episode, you know we would have to take
Speaker 1: you at your word. So this is your chance to
Speaker 1: get out now if you'd like to. I feel like
Speaker 1: that's some kind of challenge. I'm gonna stick around. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: then why don't we put the great Neil Reynolds on
Speaker 1: the hot seat. And before we do, Mark, can you
Speaker 1: remind uh listeners or teach listeners about what Neil has
Speaker 1: done to us when we've been on his show in
Speaker 1: the past. Yeah, I mean not only just on you know,
Speaker 1: one show, but in multiple platforms, be it in recorded
Speaker 1: fashion or in one occurrence in front of a live audience.
Speaker 1: I am not sure more than a certain percentage knew
Speaker 1: who we were, and uh Neil was just frying us
Speaker 1: with um some on point questions about not only our
Speaker 1: professional opinions, but our personal lives, and so it would
Speaker 1: be wrong of us not to go down both roads
Speaker 1: and multiple other roads with Neil and make him feel
Speaker 1: the heat. I know that his face is warming up
Speaker 1: with that glass of rose. You know he's feeling good.
Speaker 1: But we can change the vibe if we need to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I also remember Mark at the Super Bowl when
Speaker 1: you and I did a segment on Sky Sports from
Speaker 1: Radio Row. I remember him peppering you pretty hard with
Speaker 1: some Brown's bits where he was just taking trying to
Speaker 1: take the brown bits on sky Sports. Well, there was
Speaker 1: that down I actually I've completely missed the handoff here.
Speaker 1: You know our initial um, we were thrown by Neil
Speaker 1: and some other people onto a very ultra serious Sky
Speaker 1: news hit where um, and this was not sports, but
Speaker 1: it was like news professionals quizzin us about Colin Kaepernick's
Speaker 1: entanglement with society, and we did not fare well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's revenge, It's revenge time. Let's Mark. I don't think
Speaker 1: I was even in the building when you were doing something.
Speaker 1: It's undecided to blame at this point. You accountability, Neil accountability. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's do it. And and Mark, I'll I
Speaker 1: know you have a couple as well. Let's cueue it up, Ricky.
Speaker 1: Let let us put Neil get his butt a little hot,
Speaker 1: right now, Let's roll question number one. And not all
Speaker 1: these gonna be killers, Neil. Some are just questions, and
Speaker 1: I want your honest, uh take on it. Number one,
Speaker 1: would you give up your right pinky toe for an
Speaker 1: NFL team in London? Yes? Well, hang on, hang on?
Speaker 1: What I fall over? Is that the one that gives
Speaker 1: you balance? All right? Well, all right, you asked too
Speaker 1: many questions, so I'm upgrading it to the big toe.
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna do it. Yes, wow, very good. Number
Speaker 1: two of all the x NFL players Sky Sports has
Speaker 1: paid as analysts, who is the one individual that made
Speaker 1: you think to yourself? Wow? So we're basically paying this
Speaker 1: guy to go on holiday in Europe? Johnny Mitchell? Who
Speaker 1: he gave you an answer? And actually the pre thing
Speaker 1: that when I met Johnny Mitchell to talk about coming
Speaker 1: on Sky he beat into his burger and spilled barbecue
Speaker 1: sau sold down himself and time. Neil, I'm I'm involved
Speaker 1: with the new Neil Reynolds podcast and you and you
Speaker 1: just skewer Johnny Mitchell in a conversation we had, so
Speaker 1: there's a little tease for for my appearance on the
Speaker 1: Neil Reynolds podcast. Mark hit him with a question, Well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. You know, I think we're
Speaker 1: in a period where it's already starting to get buzzy that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, celebrities not doing well, they're attempting to, you know,
Speaker 1: make us feel good from their remote kingdoms and palaces
Speaker 1: and like eighteen sing kitchens celebrities. At some point we
Speaker 1: will be eating celebrities. That this goes on and on.
Speaker 1: What celebrity would you choose to if you had to
Speaker 1: eat the body of a celebrity, Give me a name,
Speaker 1: male or female or child? M Can I go abrote
Speaker 1: Brian celebrity? I don't know if he would be considered
Speaker 1: a ultra celebrity. I'm talking like you could just with
Speaker 1: a spoon and knife carve up and eat. Um. That's
Speaker 1: a tough one. That is a tough one. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go. I'm gonna go. Donald Trump cooked big answer,
Speaker 1: big answer. During your during your bachelor days in London,
Speaker 1: did you ever hit the town with Henry Hodgson Ak
Speaker 1: A handsome Hank AK, vice President of International NFL media
Speaker 1: as your wingman Hank of course, one of the great
Speaker 1: swordsmen in the history of your homeland. No, because you
Speaker 1: when you're when you're well. I was happily married by
Speaker 1: them when I met him. But also, you don't go
Speaker 1: out with somebody who's better looking than you, who looks
Speaker 1: like they've been chiseled out of rock, who got shoulders
Speaker 1: about eight foot wide. So no, I gave him. I
Speaker 1: gave him a wide berth. We didn't see that, so
Speaker 1: we did. During NFL Europe training camps, we would spend
Speaker 1: our nights. Everyone would go out on the town and
Speaker 1: me and Hen we would sit in our office and
Speaker 1: play Madden against each other online coaching mode. How sad?
Speaker 1: Is that? Very very sad? Actually, Mark hit him up
Speaker 1: with another one. All right, scale up. We know we
Speaker 1: have a we have a large UK audience and European audience,
Speaker 1: and you're someone they know and they trust your opinion.
Speaker 1: On a scale of wonder one hundred, how much do
Speaker 1: you trust Queen Elizabeth to Queen Elizabeth Part two, two
Speaker 1: point question, I'm gonna give a solid sort of eighty three.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's not aware of the political climate, so
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that's not surprising. That's how most feel. I
Speaker 1: think that's a good thing. That's a good great right
Speaker 1: Desert Island for six weeks. Who do you choose as
Speaker 1: a companion your wonderful wife Julie or your boyhood hero
Speaker 1: Dan Marino. Ah, now, my wife Julie is that? Does
Speaker 1: Dan Marino listen to the podcast? I don't think Dan
Speaker 1: Marino listens to the NFL podcast. Now, Okay, what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say is they say you should never meet your heroes,
Speaker 1: and it's true. Oh interesting, I would love more if
Speaker 1: you have it. Actually, I grew up hating Joe Montana
Speaker 1: and idolizing Dan Marino because Montana be Marino. In Super
Speaker 1: Bowl nineteen, I worked with both of them on stage
Speaker 1: at the fan rallies in Trofaugar Square. We did big
Speaker 1: sit down interviews for like thirty minutes with each of them.
Speaker 1: Give me Montana every day of the week. Montana was like,
Speaker 1: you can ask me whatever you like. Dan Marino backstage, Well,
Speaker 1: you're gonna ask me. You're not gonna make me look stupid.
Speaker 1: And Dan just chill out. I'm here for you. I'm
Speaker 1: going to make you look good. We're gonna ask you
Speaker 1: the questions to give you the answers. He couldn't have
Speaker 1: been more nervous about going on stage, or not nervous,
Speaker 1: more untrusting. Um, So yeah, that yeah, I was destroyed.
Speaker 1: Sorry piotherapy, Mark, Do you have any others? One last one?
Speaker 1: I like to ask our guests. You know, you've you've
Speaker 1: You've done a lot of work with the group. You know,
Speaker 1: all of us individually and in a in a collective sense,
Speaker 1: which one, and I want an honest answer, do you
Speaker 1: respect the most? Um? I think it's I think market
Speaker 1: it's going to be you because of the way you
Speaker 1: handled this whole coronavirus thing, you know, getting getting yourself
Speaker 1: some separate digs. I've actually bought the house next door
Speaker 1: and I've evicted the lady next door. She's living on
Speaker 1: the street. And it's all inspired by you, Mark, because
Speaker 1: I just gave yourself that space. And I was like,
Speaker 1: that's a man who takes no prisoners. He's just gonna
Speaker 1: You've got the kids at Hope. Now I'm going I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be over there then, And so that's sorry. It's
Speaker 1: it's you, Mark, And I think it should be you
Speaker 1: because I know I listened to the pod so many
Speaker 1: other people that come on this podcast, you know they
Speaker 1: don't respect you. Let's be honest, right, that feels entirely
Speaker 1: genuine to thank you. You've flattened the curve a little
Speaker 1: bit on that front. And uh, you know, I give
Speaker 1: you props for what I what I assumed to be
Speaker 1: a very honest answer right there. And and by the way,
Speaker 1: why that's all Stregor had to say. Way a bet
Speaker 1: with Marks Banana Crusade to find someone to respect him
Speaker 1: for a year now. Whoever asked the question who do
Speaker 1: you respect the most? Just say that, guys, you can
Speaker 1: get out of the question. Well, been Twitter messaging me
Speaker 1: as well while we while we're on there, we are
Speaker 1: so know who Neo respects the least. Um. But that
Speaker 1: that's related to the last time someone called in to
Speaker 1: this podcast from London and that was someone was me
Speaker 1: And finally last question that was a little loaded as well,
Speaker 1: that was some some hot but we said it was
Speaker 1: a hot seat. Greg. I'm actually worried. Let me just
Speaker 1: say I'm worried about you, Greg, because this situation with
Speaker 1: coronavirus is getting worse by the day and soon you're
Speaker 1: only gonna be able to go to the beach twice
Speaker 1: a day, and finally, Niel's got singers on the hot seat. Finally.
Speaker 1: Some listeners may be surprised to learn the national sport
Speaker 1: of England is not soccer but cricket. In thirty seconds
Speaker 1: or less, please explain the rules of that deeply esoteric game.
Speaker 1: So you someone takes a big run up, they walk
Speaker 1: fifty paces back, they run up, they throw the ball,
Speaker 1: you kind of bat it in front of you, and
Speaker 1: then they pick up and they run back and they
Speaker 1: do the same for five days and then most of
Speaker 1: the time it ends in a time. Wow. I'm not
Speaker 1: like Henry Holston. I'm not big on cricket into it.
Speaker 1: He supports Liverpool ladies and gentlemen. You're off, You're off
Speaker 1: the hot seat. But it's intact. Are we still friend?
Speaker 1: I mean you you've been waiting for a title for
Speaker 1: Liverpool for thirty years and then the season ends right
Speaker 1: right as you're about to win it. Thanks. Greg's pretty rough.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty that's a pretty rough, like cursed sports story.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know there's more important things in the world,
Speaker 1: but there I don't know if there's anything quite like
Speaker 1: that that you're two games away from winning your first
Speaker 1: title in thirty years and then the seasons over. What
Speaker 1: about Greg with the sneaky flex there that I'm plugged
Speaker 1: in on the Premier League? What's going on in the standings.
Speaker 1: It's it's not a FlexE about the most that's a
Speaker 1: nice time about you, Greggy. It was a flex and
Speaker 1: a little twist of the knife that Liverpool gonna get
Speaker 1: robbed at the title when the twenty five points clear. It.
Speaker 1: I had three Vodkas last night and stumbled across on
Speaker 1: YouTube the nineteen eighties six St. Louis Open, uh p
Speaker 1: b A the Pro Bowlers Association, what a what a showdown?
Speaker 1: And a young twenty three year old Pete Webber, uh
Speaker 1: he he just he dominated and uh really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: That's where we're at in society. Neil. You've said it all.
Speaker 1: You said it all, you did it, and I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what that British sensibility. I want to tell you something.
Speaker 1: I didn't really know any Brits personally until I met
Speaker 1: your good friend and former colleague Hank. The thing about
Speaker 1: you guys, you people, is that you're very it's unvarnished
Speaker 1: your takes. You're not afraid to rub rub people the
Speaker 1: wrong way, to ruffle some feathers. And that's why you're
Speaker 1: an ideal guy for the hot seat. Just now. You
Speaker 1: just you just call like it is and you're not
Speaker 1: afraid what it what it does in the carnate you
Speaker 1: leave in the wake. I'm college. I appreciate that, and
Speaker 1: I think you guys must have some of that deep
Speaker 1: in your owns as well, because I know how popular
Speaker 1: you you guys have to come over here and um,
Speaker 1: I think you're you're the tone you strike on on
Speaker 1: your pod, um it appeals to the British fans. That's
Speaker 1: why we wanted to get you on sky Sports. And
Speaker 1: you're talking to me specifically right now. Just your cameras
Speaker 1: the one that I'm seeing, so I'm logging done. Um again.
Speaker 1: We are part of the sky Sports NFL team every
Speaker 1: year and hopefully that will continue depending on how contract
Speaker 1: talks go with Neil and his people. Also, Neil of
Speaker 1: course has the Neil Reynolds podcast launching tomorrow, So if
Speaker 1: you're a fan of our show, uh, and I know
Speaker 1: we have a lot of UK listeners, check it out.
Speaker 1: If you're on this side of the pond, check it
Speaker 1: out because Neil obviously has put a lot of effort
Speaker 1: into it, and he's a grinder and he's very talented,
Speaker 1: and we're happy to have this relationship with you, Neil.
Speaker 1: So now get back to your wine, get back to
Speaker 1: Julie and UH and good luck getting through this absurd
Speaker 1: situation we all find ourselves in right now. Thank you, guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. All rights signing off for the
Speaker 1: Quiet Storm, the mail Man, the Old Boss Ricky Hollywood,
Speaker 1: and the great Neil Reynolds who loves Honey Until Thursday,