Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave
Speaker 1: Pash Podcast. I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals announcer
Speaker 1: Dave Pash. My guest this week is Mike Golik, one
Speaker 1: of the top broadcasters of all time. He's in the
Speaker 1: Radio Broadcasting Hall of Fame for the terrific show that
Speaker 1: he did all those years for ESPN with Mike Greenberg,
Speaker 1: simply known as Mike and Mike. Golik is still going
Speaker 1: strong in broadcasting, whether it's calling games, hosting a podcast,
Speaker 1: appearing on television. We're going to get into that along
Speaker 1: with his thoughts on the Cardinals opponent this week, Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts. Jalen has been fantastic. Now, Jalen's not going
Speaker 1: to be a forty touchdown guy, but if he can
Speaker 1: get in like to the low twenties and touchdown to
Speaker 1: mid twenties and keep it at single digit interceptions with
Speaker 1: the running game they have going in the defense, they
Speaker 1: can go far. We are presented by bet MGM, the
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Speaker 1: problem called one eight hundred. Next step All right, Time
Speaker 1: to talk with former Philadelphia Eagle and a broadcasting legend,
Speaker 1: Mike Golick. Well, first of all, Mike, tell me what
Speaker 1: it's like to be a grandfather. Wow, let me tell
Speaker 1: you it's it's everybody says it's the greatest thing because
Speaker 1: you can just give the kid back, you know, if
Speaker 1: he throws up or if he messes up his diaper.
Speaker 1: And I found that to be the truth right now.
Speaker 1: Not I imagine at some point I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to change a diaper, But like I did all my kids,
Speaker 1: I change our diapers all the time, you know, all
Speaker 1: the all the things that go along with having a kid,
Speaker 1: I did. But with the grandkid, I feel it's my
Speaker 1: responsibility to let my son and daughter in law experience
Speaker 1: all the joys, ups and downs of parenthood, which includes
Speaker 1: cleaning up their throw up and their poop. So that's
Speaker 1: why I give the kid back to them all the time.
Speaker 1: I can't wait till my kids have to deal with
Speaker 1: the exploding diaper, the one where it comes up the
Speaker 1: back and goes all the way through the clothes exactly.
Speaker 1: And they both have they tell us, I mean, we
Speaker 1: have our group texts are like, oh, Jack's just exploded
Speaker 1: all the way up the back, and we're like, man,
Speaker 1: you remember those things. It's just a terrific It's like
Speaker 1: you just gotta douse him in the sink or something.
Speaker 1: But I'm glad they're experiencing it. I don't need to
Speaker 1: experience it anymore. Do you remind your son, Mike, who
Speaker 1: you work with now it's crazy and you worked with
Speaker 1: the ESPN. Do you remind him of those days? Does
Speaker 1: he have any memories of any of that stuff? No? No,
Speaker 1: I mean there was a time when both of them
Speaker 1: were still in diapers and they were playing and I
Speaker 1: was watching them, and obviously, as a dad watching two
Speaker 1: young kids, I was watching TV Moore, and they proceeded
Speaker 1: to take their diapers off, of which they filled up
Speaker 1: and finger paint one another with their poop. So it
Speaker 1: was it was an experience that I paid the price
Speaker 1: for because I wasn't watching them close enough. But now
Speaker 1: they don't, they don't remember all the way back to
Speaker 1: that stuff. Yeah. Hell, we're still trying to get mike
Speaker 1: a wife into the into fathered them as well. You know,
Speaker 1: he's our oldest. Jake and Sydney are both married. Jake
Speaker 1: as a kid. My wife is spending her days, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to get Mikey hooked up. Yeah. Mike is also
Speaker 1: the most active Golik on Twitter. I think based on
Speaker 1: yes all the go I follow most of the goliks, uh,
Speaker 1: and I think he's the most active. Um. I would
Speaker 1: ask you, Mike about your your career post ESPN. Not surprisingly,
Speaker 1: you are very busy and very successful. You are in
Speaker 1: the Broadcast Hall of Fame. You had arguably the greatest
Speaker 1: talk show in the history of talk radio, and you
Speaker 1: did it for more than two decades with Mike and
Speaker 1: Mike tell our listeners all the things that you are
Speaker 1: doing now post ESPN. Well, you know, last year was
Speaker 1: the first year out. You know, the last games I
Speaker 1: had done the ESPN were with you, you know, and
Speaker 1: I obviously enjoyed doing the games with you like that
Speaker 1: was when I finished at ESPN, and then we've we've
Speaker 1: done some subsequent to that as well. But now, you know,
Speaker 1: last year, my first year out of ESPN, I really
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to find out, Okay, what did I
Speaker 1: want to do. Somebody approached me about starting my own
Speaker 1: podcast company, and I thought, man, do I want to
Speaker 1: go down that road? You know, if I was ten
Speaker 1: fifteen years younger, maybe I would. So I hemmed in
Speaker 1: Hodd with that. I'm doing a little more with you know,
Speaker 1: lebo Charge Group, with Metal Arca, with Stugott, so I
Speaker 1: keep busy with that. I did college games for Learfield
Speaker 1: and NFL games for Westwood One, so I was kind
Speaker 1: of you know, double gaming and on the weekends, which
Speaker 1: turned out to be a little too much, but I
Speaker 1: was kind of seeing which direction I wanted to go.
Speaker 1: And then I signed the deal with DraftKings, like my
Speaker 1: son Mike did as well when he chose that over ESPN.
Speaker 1: Draft Games gave him a real nice deal, so we
Speaker 1: worked together there. So I just decided, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: do that, and then I have you know, half the
Speaker 1: year I live here in South Bend, you know, at
Speaker 1: Notre Dame that we have season tickets to the Notre
Speaker 1: Dame games, and my wife's like, why don't you enjoy that?
Speaker 1: You know, you worked a long time, you know you've
Speaker 1: been to weigh a lot of weekends. Why don't you
Speaker 1: enjoy the fact that we're here and can go to
Speaker 1: the game. So I did. I not call him a
Speaker 1: college game. So I'm just doing the Westwood One NFL games.
Speaker 1: I do a podcast for DraftKings, and I do a
Speaker 1: stupotty with two gods. God blessed football was two gods.
Speaker 1: And that's enough for me right now. If there's more
Speaker 1: down the line, I'll see, but right now I'm kind
Speaker 1: of good with it. I almost I almost Dave got
Speaker 1: back into morning radio, which would have been would have
Speaker 1: or actually would have been morning TV, but that that
Speaker 1: was an if the thing if I want to get
Speaker 1: up at early again. Can you share what it was
Speaker 1: or maybe you don't have to give all the details,
Speaker 1: but would that have been? I probably can't. I probably
Speaker 1: can't share for what it was, but I would have
Speaker 1: had I would have had to move. And it was
Speaker 1: it wasn't radio at all. It was a morning sports
Speaker 1: TV show that it just didn't work out. It was
Speaker 1: all amicable, and everything, but the toughest part about it.
Speaker 1: I've been talking to my wife. I was like, geez,
Speaker 1: she's goes you be able to get its four or
Speaker 1: fifteen again. Now obviously I'm almost sixty. It wouldn't have been,
Speaker 1: you know, for twenty years this time around. But I've
Speaker 1: kind of gotten used to sleep it until seven thirty
Speaker 1: eight o'clock, so that early wake up call would have
Speaker 1: been interesting. Yeah. Yeah, Well you mentioned that we have
Speaker 1: done some games together since twenty twenty. We did two
Speaker 1: games or three I think together for Westwood won last year,
Speaker 1: and you and I saw each other in person more
Speaker 1: then we did in twenty twenty when we worked together
Speaker 1: every week. It was insane. The first time we actually
Speaker 1: saw each other in person was at the festival. All
Speaker 1: the games we did during the college football season, and
Speaker 1: we were doing pretty big games Michigan, Penn State. We
Speaker 1: had Notre Dame a couple of times. And you're in
Speaker 1: the studio in Bristol and I'm in my house. I
Speaker 1: remember putting up a sign on Halloween outside our front door,
Speaker 1: which was next to my office where the broadcast studio was, saying,
Speaker 1: please do not ring the doorbell during these hours because
Speaker 1: I'm on the air, Like, if you need a trick
Speaker 1: or treat, just grab as much candy as you want.
Speaker 1: I left it out there so people wouldn't bang on
Speaker 1: the door and ring the doorbell. What was your biggest
Speaker 1: takeaway from that experience in that season? My biggest takeaway
Speaker 1: was the fear that your WiFi would go out, which
Speaker 1: I think it did one time for a short time,
Speaker 1: and I would be left alone to do like play
Speaker 1: by play and color. That was my fear. That was
Speaker 1: the biggest fear that I had. Was was because you
Speaker 1: were in your house. I was at least at the
Speaker 1: studios in Bristol, so I mean I had tons of monitors,
Speaker 1: I had everything that I needed outside of not being there.
Speaker 1: And we should say our sideline person was at the game.
Speaker 1: They got to be physically at the game. But that
Speaker 1: was probably that you doing it from your house and
Speaker 1: all the negative possibilities that could happen when you're trying
Speaker 1: to run a national broadcast TV broadcast from your house.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was that was pretty wild. But it
Speaker 1: was crazy that we worked the whole season together and
Speaker 1: the first time we saw each other was my last
Speaker 1: game at ESPN. But it was still a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, our job was to call it
Speaker 1: like we were there, and I think we did a
Speaker 1: pretty good job of that. Yeah, I think so a
Speaker 1: lot of people had no idea first of all, that
Speaker 1: we weren't there, and then second they had no idea
Speaker 1: that you and I one of us was in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: the other was in Bristol, Connecticut. And to your point,
Speaker 1: I'm using internet, so and I remember it went down
Speaker 1: and you had to do play by and I think
Speaker 1: it was not like Notre Dame Georgia Tech at like
Speaker 1: three thirty on ABC with five million people watching. Yep,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what it was. I remember a producer getting
Speaker 1: in my ear and say, with Dave lost his wife,
Speaker 1: I'm like no, I's like come on. So they said,
Speaker 1: you know, just go when we come back, and I
Speaker 1: just kind of did, and luckily it wasn't for long.
Speaker 1: But man, yeah, that that's something I would not have needed.
Speaker 1: But that that was again, I'm in a big studio,
Speaker 1: you're in your house, and God knows you can have
Speaker 1: issues in there, and because you did a lot out
Speaker 1: of your house, and I don't know how many times
Speaker 1: you had issues with it, but that was that was
Speaker 1: a wild, wild time trying to do games. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: did a ton of NBA and college basketball from my house.
Speaker 1: And as you know, Mike, I worked with Bill Walton
Speaker 1: in college basketball. And actually there was one time where
Speaker 1: he accidentally turned me down. So nothing can happened in
Speaker 1: my internet, but he thought it did, so he just
Speaker 1: started talking and didn't stop for like ten minutes. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get his attention, like my Mike's working, I'm
Speaker 1: on the air, but he couldn't hear me. So anyway,
Speaker 1: it was. It was quite the year. I'm glad that's
Speaker 1: over with. I'm glad we're back on site. I want
Speaker 1: to get into your thoughts on the Cardinals, on the Eagles,
Speaker 1: on the NFL, but I first want to go back
Speaker 1: to since the Cardinals are playing the Eagles. That's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons I wanted to get you on. You
Speaker 1: spent six years in Philadelphia, and I knew and I
Speaker 1: had talked about some of the stuff, just our rides
Speaker 1: to the stadium last year for Westwood and just chatting
Speaker 1: on the phone. What are you What are your fondest
Speaker 1: memories of being a Philadelphia Eagle? You know, I quite honest.
Speaker 1: I love the fans, and it was and I had
Speaker 1: a real stark contrast with the next team I went
Speaker 1: to that that I'll get to, But I mean, we
Speaker 1: know they're a little bit nuts. They know, we know
Speaker 1: they can get a little bit on a hand. Now.
Speaker 1: When I was there, it was the old VT where
Speaker 1: the people up in the seven hundred level they you know,
Speaker 1: they do some they could do some pretty crazy things.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they're not real nice to people who wear the
Speaker 1: other team's jersey when they come in and watch a game.
Speaker 1: So there are some things that they go a little
Speaker 1: too far. But I love their passion. They appreciate hard play.
Speaker 1: It's like a blue collar type situation. And as long
Speaker 1: as you're you're busting your butt for them, they'll appreciate that.
Speaker 1: And you know, this was before I was in Philly,
Speaker 1: before free agency. My last year in the league was
Speaker 1: the first year of free agency when I ended up
Speaker 1: in Miami, so players couldn't move as easily. So we
Speaker 1: had a we had a really great we had a
Speaker 1: great defense, but but we were together and nobody was
Speaker 1: really leaving, so we became really good friends as well
Speaker 1: as teammates, so that that was really a cool thing
Speaker 1: to me. Is a lot of times. You know, I
Speaker 1: played nine years and you have like people who were
Speaker 1: teammates with, you're associated with, but you're not really friends. Well,
Speaker 1: I had a good amount of friends that I still
Speaker 1: keep in touch with today that we're on the Eagles team,
Speaker 1: and and I think a lot of it is the
Speaker 1: time we spent together, the number of years we're all together.
Speaker 1: Because it was a lack you know, there was no
Speaker 1: free agency. And then that first year of free agency,
Speaker 1: eleven of us were free agents, and all eleven of
Speaker 1: us went somewhere else because Norman Brayman, the owner of
Speaker 1: the Eagles, didn't want to resign anybody. He was an
Speaker 1: absentee owner. He only cared about the bottom line. He
Speaker 1: was never in Philly, and that was here. If anybody
Speaker 1: remembers the biggest free agent, the first one was Reggie White,
Speaker 1: who went to Green Bay and they subsequently won a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl there. Think about that. This was ninety three.
Speaker 1: I think his deal was in total, I think seventeen
Speaker 1: million dollars in total for Reggie White. You know, put
Speaker 1: that obviously in today in what he would have made.
Speaker 1: But in Philly, I mean, no matter what I mean,
Speaker 1: they cheered hard, for us, and they booed you if
Speaker 1: you were if you weren't very good, and I understood that.
Speaker 1: I went to Miami Dave the next year ninety three.
Speaker 1: We were nine and two at one point had the
Speaker 1: best record at all of football, and we were blacked
Speaker 1: out locally because we couldn't sell the stadium out. So
Speaker 1: you know, there was there was a big difference in
Speaker 1: the heartfelt emotion in Philly and the apathy that was
Speaker 1: in Miami. You mentioned Reggie White. I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: go here, but I am curious your take on this.
Speaker 1: People talk about Aaron Donald being the best defensive player
Speaker 1: of all time, and Wolf, who I work with, played
Speaker 1: against Lawrence Taylor and he says it wasn't close. Nothing
Speaker 1: against Aaron Donald, but Lawrence Taylor, and I don't know
Speaker 1: that enough people remember how good Reggie White was. I mean,
Speaker 1: you played on the same defensive line with him. When
Speaker 1: people say Aaron Donald's the best defensive player of all time,
Speaker 1: what's your reaction. Well, my reaction is, listen, people are
Speaker 1: certainly certainly entitled of their opinion. Here's it because I've
Speaker 1: been asked this, and here's the way I put it.
Speaker 1: Reggie White's the greatest D lineman I've ever seen play.
Speaker 1: Lawrence Taylor is the greatest linebacker I've ever seen play
Speaker 1: one of the and Aaron Donald is certainly up up
Speaker 1: in that category. The thing about Reggie is you had
Speaker 1: a six six, three hundred fifteen pound free korana four
Speaker 1: six forty lifted all the weights in the world, and
Speaker 1: could line up anywhere on the defensive line. He could
Speaker 1: line up on an end, on a guard, on a center, anywhere,
Speaker 1: right side, left side, it didn't matter, and he would
Speaker 1: get the job done. He had a quick step Aaron Donald.
Speaker 1: So this is the way I put it. Even in
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, there are different rooms. There's the hierarchy.
Speaker 1: Even in the Hall of Fame, Reggie White and Lawrence
Speaker 1: Taylor are in a special room in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald will be in that room. Now, I still
Speaker 1: will say that, as from a D lineman standpoint, I
Speaker 1: would choose Reggie over Aaron Donald. But again, whenever you're
Speaker 1: saying that, people are like, oh, you don't like Aaron Donald.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald is one of the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: I think Reggie, you know, I would pick Reggie over
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald, but I put them in that same room
Speaker 1: as far as head and shoulders above a lot of
Speaker 1: the other greats that were in this game. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to remember. I mean, your people don't realize how tall
Speaker 1: you are until they see you in person. I think
Speaker 1: you're listed at six to five, but I feel like
Speaker 1: you're taller, and when you played, you were probably what
Speaker 1: two eighty five to ninety Yeah. I got in the
Speaker 1: league at two eighty and left it about three. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you had you and Reggie White standing next to
Speaker 1: each other, both basically at six six, three hundred pounds.
Speaker 1: That's that's pretty good. What's your favorite Reggie White story?
Speaker 1: I think you told me about one where an opposing
Speaker 1: player was mfing Reggie White at which guys didn't do,
Speaker 1: and I think his teammates warned him, don't do that.
Speaker 1: It's just going to get him going. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's the story. If you have another one you remember, no,
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was in a preseason game
Speaker 1: and the tackle after a play, you know, Reggie said
Speaker 1: quit hold me, you know, just in Reggie style, and
Speaker 1: the dude started mf at him, and Reggie was a
Speaker 1: people that they don't know was it ordained minister at
Speaker 1: seventeen years old, and he didn't mind you swearing, but
Speaker 1: don't swear at him. And everybody knew it. Nobody swore
Speaker 1: at him. But this guy was cussing him up and down.
Speaker 1: And it's a preseason game so it doesn't count. And
Speaker 1: we were all like, oh my god, what what is
Speaker 1: this guy? Even the guy's teammates were like, dude, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? So they both the huddle on the
Speaker 1: play and I looked at the guard across from me
Speaker 1: and I said, dude, I'm not doing nothing this play.
Speaker 1: I'm watching. He said, so are weak. He had the
Speaker 1: other four old lineman, me and my other compatriots on
Speaker 1: the d line. We basically got into stance where we
Speaker 1: could just look that way and just watch Reggie. Basically
Speaker 1: we call him putting him on skates, got his hands
Speaker 1: into the dude's chest and basically lifted him and took
Speaker 1: him back, and he sacked of the quarterback with the lineman.
Speaker 1: He threw the lineman into the quarterback and sacked him.
Speaker 1: As we were all standing there watching and just looked
Speaker 1: at the guy that said, don't you ever cuss me again.
Speaker 1: They're like, Wow, I mean, dude, that movie had you know,
Speaker 1: the ripping the hump where he rips and then brings
Speaker 1: the arm out and just kind of tosses players. It's
Speaker 1: unreal when you see an offensive lineman go horizontal because
Speaker 1: of the leverage and strength Reggie used to throw him.
Speaker 1: It's almost frightening. The Eagles right now, the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Philadelphia Eagles, based on what they look like, if
Speaker 1: not one of the best teams, the best team in
Speaker 1: the NFL through the first quarter of a season. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you've had a chance to watch,
Speaker 1: because I know you're working, but you do have to
Speaker 1: be abreast of what's going on with with other teams,
Speaker 1: and obviously the Eagles have a special place in your heart.
Speaker 1: Are they the best team right now in football? Yes?
Speaker 1: I think they are because they're the most balanced. I mean,
Speaker 1: we keep talking about Jalen Hurts and getting a j
Speaker 1: Brown and what DeVante Smith is doing, and that old
Speaker 1: line is one of the best in the league, and
Speaker 1: they have a great running game to go with it.
Speaker 1: Their defense is playing incredibly well. I think by yards,
Speaker 1: I think they're like top three. I think they're third.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why I think they're the best because
Speaker 1: they're balanced. The defense can help keep the in games,
Speaker 1: and the offense could control the ball. You know, there
Speaker 1: were two quarterbacks we talked about before the season, Jalen
Speaker 1: and Tua, you know, as to can these guys grab
Speaker 1: a hold of this team and be the quarterback of
Speaker 1: the future for these teams? And right now both have
Speaker 1: been proven like they can do it and Jalen. I
Speaker 1: know Twa is injured right now, but Jalen has been fantastic. Now,
Speaker 1: Jalen's not going to be a forty touchdown guy, but
Speaker 1: if he can get liked to the low twenties and
Speaker 1: touchdown to mid twenties and keep it at single digit
Speaker 1: interceptions with the running game they have going in the defense,
Speaker 1: they can go far. Their biggest thing, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: the fans are even understand, is that old line occasionally
Speaker 1: gets injured, and if that starts to happen, that could
Speaker 1: be trouble for them, because when they're healthy, that old
Speaker 1: line is damn good. I did a lot of Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts games when he was in college, did him when
Speaker 1: he played quarterback at Alabama and then when he got
Speaker 1: beat out by Twa and benched in the National Championship Game.
Speaker 1: The next year, he played some running back, and then
Speaker 1: he went to Oklahoma, following Kyler Murray who had followed
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. I don't know that anybody, including the Eagles,
Speaker 1: saw Jalen Hurts playing this well, and maybe to your
Speaker 1: point is because they're balanced. Did you see this coming
Speaker 1: from Jalen Hurtz? No, No, I did not. I was
Speaker 1: you know, we had talked about, you know, the best
Speaker 1: teams in the in the country and college. You know,
Speaker 1: as both have doing college, it's been like, you know, Alabama,
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Clemson and that, and when then we talk
Speaker 1: about the the quarterbacks that we're leaving or from Ohio
Speaker 1: State and Alabama going in in the NFL, and I
Speaker 1: brought up, you know, this is back even before these
Speaker 1: guys came out, when I actually was doing radio and TV,
Speaker 1: I was like, name me the last Ohio State quarterback
Speaker 1: or Alabama quarterback that went high in the draft and
Speaker 1: actually turned out to be great. I mean, you have
Speaker 1: to go back a long way. Now we have justin fields.
Speaker 1: We'll see where he goes. Still too early to tell,
Speaker 1: and that's a that's a bad offense right now. In Chicago,
Speaker 1: you have two, you have jail, and so let's see
Speaker 1: where these guys go. But for the longest time, some
Speaker 1: of the best teams in college that would bring quarterbacks
Speaker 1: into a you know, a high draft pick, we're not
Speaker 1: panning out at all in the NFL. And I definitely
Speaker 1: had my doubts about both Twa and Jayleen. I wasn't sure,
Speaker 1: you know. So it was like, Okay, how are they
Speaker 1: going to be coached in the NFL and what kind
Speaker 1: of weapons will you have around them? Will we see
Speaker 1: the weapons that both teams brought in both Miami and
Speaker 1: Philadelphia that have helped the quarterbacks, and they've helped themselves.
Speaker 1: So yes, it's it's been a little more surprising than
Speaker 1: I thought. But man, I'm a former player. I always
Speaker 1: want the player to succeed, even if in my opinion,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure they're going to help prove me wrong.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope you played great, and Jalen has
Speaker 1: certainly taken advantage of it. Kyler Murray against Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: this past week with Kyler beating the man that he replaced,
Speaker 1: and now Jalen Hurts, who replaced Kyler Murray against Kyler
Speaker 1: here this Sunday, Kyler against the Raiders almost single handily
Speaker 1: wins the game in overtime, played a great second half
Speaker 1: against Carolina. The Cardinals prior to the third quarter against
Speaker 1: Line had not led in regulation. Yet here they are
Speaker 1: at two and two. What's your take on the Cardinals
Speaker 1: through four games, and specifically, what's your take on Kyler Murray. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, Dave, I we you know, we talk
Speaker 1: obviously in the podcast that I do the other ones,
Speaker 1: I do talk a lot of NFL and I do
Speaker 1: an NFL preview show for Westwood once, so we talk
Speaker 1: about every team every week. They're one of the biggest enigmas.
Speaker 1: To me. I had the toughest time figuring them out.
Speaker 1: There are times Kyler Murray looks like he did last week,
Speaker 1: throwing for two, running for one, being the man, And
Speaker 1: there's other times you're like, what the hell is he doing?
Speaker 1: What is he looking at out there? I can't figure
Speaker 1: that out? And I know they gave him the big money,
Speaker 1: so you know, he he's the guy. I get it,
Speaker 1: but but they're they're a team. To me, I have
Speaker 1: a tough I guess I'll put it this way. I
Speaker 1: have a tough time trusting them to be the team
Speaker 1: I think they can be. I think they should be
Speaker 1: better than they are, and at times they look at
Speaker 1: and at times they don't. So when you do that,
Speaker 1: what do you end up? You end up five hundred,
Speaker 1: You end up a little light. No, you can't. Seventeen
Speaker 1: games a little over five hundred. And we've seen them.
Speaker 1: We've seen them in Plode at the end of the season,
Speaker 1: you know, those last handful of games just struggle. So
Speaker 1: when they came out of the gate struggle a little bit.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the fans are like, oh no, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: we do this at the end of the season. We're
Speaker 1: usually really good at the beginning of the season. So
Speaker 1: that's been my take on them, Dave. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get a grasp of what I think they
Speaker 1: are and I'm having a tough time. And it really
Speaker 1: starts with Kyler Murray because at times you're like wow,
Speaker 1: and then at times you're like, oh, oh boy. So
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where it's going to end up on
Speaker 1: a consistent level. The defense has played lights out and
Speaker 1: it wasn't that way early, but the last couple of games,
Speaker 1: in particular, Vance Joseph who's an excellent coordinator. I think
Speaker 1: is getting used to the pieces he has and where
Speaker 1: to put them to be successful. And one of those
Speaker 1: pieces is a guy that Cardinals drafted in the first
Speaker 1: round last year out of Tulsa, linebacker Zavian Collins. And
Speaker 1: it seems like he's making strides and starting to get
Speaker 1: more and more comfortable as someone that play defense in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And I know the era is different, but
Speaker 1: I mean, you have been watching football for a long
Speaker 1: time and you're watching multiple games every week. Is that
Speaker 1: normal for an inside linebacker who played at a small
Speaker 1: school now playing against elite athletes similar to himself. He's
Speaker 1: an elite athlete to two hundred and sixty five pounds
Speaker 1: in terms of growing to be more physical and understanding
Speaker 1: the game and the games slowing it down. Is this
Speaker 1: an abnormal path that it's taking to this point or
Speaker 1: is this something we need to probably just let go
Speaker 1: and let it play out for him? No, I think
Speaker 1: he needed to let go, let a playoff, because remember
Speaker 1: remember go all the way back to when players to
Speaker 1: go to college. There are different circumstances on why they
Speaker 1: end up in college and a certain college, and then
Speaker 1: things happen in college. Maybe your growth spurtd you know,
Speaker 1: put on a lot of weight. Maybe it clicks for
Speaker 1: them where it didn't and big time colleges saw that
Speaker 1: and didn't recruit them. There's a number of reasons. Sometimes
Speaker 1: players don't end up at the Power fives. We think
Speaker 1: they do because of the way they start to play
Speaker 1: in the NFL. They're like, oh my god, how did
Speaker 1: you miss that in college? You know, you grab, you
Speaker 1: grab this guy from Tulsa. You know, why was it
Speaker 1: he at Alabama or one of the you know, well,
Speaker 1: some things happen when you're seventeen, eighteen years old, you're
Speaker 1: getting recruited, and then more things happen when you go
Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty two. You know where from the mental,
Speaker 1: mental side, the physical side, you just pick it up.
Speaker 1: We've seen players forgetting even Division one, you know FCS
Speaker 1: schools come in and pick up the game incredibly. Well,
Speaker 1: it's just sometimes the path that they're on and when
Speaker 1: it clicks for them. I'm amazing at the size. You
Speaker 1: don't see backers this big much anymore, right, I Mean
Speaker 1: we see Ray Lewis, you know, was big like that,
Speaker 1: and others that were good sized when er Lacker went
Speaker 1: from safety then came to linebacker. He was a big library.
Speaker 1: Guys are smaller now so they can really run sideline
Speaker 1: to sidelines. So when you get a guy that's a
Speaker 1: little bigger and could do those type of things, man,
Speaker 1: that that is something. But back to your point, that's
Speaker 1: something you just let go. There are reasons things happen
Speaker 1: for college. You know sometimes who knows again, who knows
Speaker 1: what they are? But it doesn't surprise me. Not every
Speaker 1: guy that clicks in the NFL. You automatically think, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a qualified guy. All right, couple more
Speaker 1: related to you and then we'll get you out of here.
Speaker 1: Not many people realize you're in the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: You were an incredible wrestler growing up? Were you a
Speaker 1: better wrestler than football player? Meaning if champion state champion
Speaker 1: wrestlers in high school had the same opportunities to excel
Speaker 1: and you know, continue in their sport, could you have
Speaker 1: done that well. First, the the Wrestling Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: I'm in there as what they call a great American
Speaker 1: because I've staunchly defended wrestling all the time during my
Speaker 1: shows and such. I was a good wrestler, not a
Speaker 1: great wrestler. My brother Bob. My brother Bob was a
Speaker 1: was a great wrestler. I'll say this, I loved wrestling
Speaker 1: as much as football by far. And to answer your question,
Speaker 1: if there was the equivalent to go in wrestling, I
Speaker 1: don't know. There's a there's a chance I may have
Speaker 1: done that. I loved wrestling, loved it. Like I said,
Speaker 1: my brother Bob finished fourth in the nation, and we
Speaker 1: both wrestled at Notre Dame as well. He was fourth
Speaker 1: in the nation is sophomore year, third as junior year.
Speaker 1: He was wearing number one a senior year, but he
Speaker 1: heard his knee in the Cotton Bowl, the famous Chicken
Speaker 1: Soup game when Notre Dame played Houston at the Cotton
Speaker 1: Bowl when it was freezing cold out and he heard
Speaker 1: his knee in that game. So he didn't wrestle because
Speaker 1: he was getting ready for the draft and he wanted
Speaker 1: to try for the Olympics, the eighty Olympics, which it
Speaker 1: turns out we boycotted anyway. But he was drafted in
Speaker 1: seventy nine, and back then you couldn't be a two
Speaker 1: sport person and be in the Olympics. So he was
Speaker 1: a much better wrestler than I was. But I love
Speaker 1: wrestling easily as much as football, and I mean, i'll
Speaker 1: watch it when it's on TV. And so I don't
Speaker 1: know if I can really all out just say I
Speaker 1: would have chosen that over football, but I would have
Speaker 1: thought long and hard if there was an equivalent professional rank,
Speaker 1: you know, to kind of follow and in the wrestling pattern,
Speaker 1: because it is I mean, man, it's one on one game.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one on one. It's you and somebody else.
Speaker 1: There are no excuses, there are no teammates to help
Speaker 1: you out. It is you and that person you're wrestling.
Speaker 1: I mean, to me, it is the ultimate. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, you are a great American. So perhaps that
Speaker 1: just everybody knows you're great Americans automatically. That's the title
Speaker 1: you get when you go into the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Did you did you ever consider, you know, pro wrestling
Speaker 1: the way it is or does that cheapen high school
Speaker 1: and college wrestling, which is real wrestling as opposed to
Speaker 1: the theatrics. Oh no, no, no, it doesn't cheapen at all.
Speaker 1: It's different. It's not trying to say we're you know,
Speaker 1: a different or ancillary to wrestling. They're completely different. I
Speaker 1: mean it's I love you know, pro wrestling WW and
Speaker 1: all that. Hell, I remember watching the first wrestle Media
Speaker 1: way way way back when I was a huge fan
Speaker 1: of wrestling in all. Honestly, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: was athletic enough to do what they do, flying off
Speaker 1: the ropes, flipping off the ropes, jumping off ladders and cages.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's incredible athletically what they have to do.
Speaker 1: But no, I never I was. I always knew that
Speaker 1: was just completely different. They weren't trying to be regular wrestling,
Speaker 1: and regular wrestling wasn't trying to be them. And then
Speaker 1: you look at you know where it was a great
Speaker 1: outlet for wrestling. It's something I wouldn't have done because
Speaker 1: there's something about getting kicked in the face I don't
Speaker 1: really like. Wrestlers did really well in MMA, yeah, because
Speaker 1: they could go in and they could use their takedown skills,
Speaker 1: get a guy on the mat and then pubble them,
Speaker 1: you know, into submission. So the wrestlers that that became
Speaker 1: a pretty good outlet for them because they really didn't
Speaker 1: have any other outlet, you know, unless they had the theatrics,
Speaker 1: you know, to go into uh um uh wwe and
Speaker 1: that kind of wrestler. They'd go into MMA and they
Speaker 1: would perform really well. You mentioned your brother Bob. Did
Speaker 1: you consider acting at all because Bob was in well,
Speaker 1: he was in a lot of things. But one I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up in the eighties and nineties was
Speaker 1: saved by the Bell, although I think he was it
Speaker 1: was saved by the Bell the college years that he was.
Speaker 1: He was he was like the ra a right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: ironically his name was Mike in that it was Mike Hodgers. Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I never pursued and no, and not not like Bob,
Speaker 1: like Bob, because Bob finished with the Raiders when they
Speaker 1: were in La So Bob made a lot of contact
Speaker 1: out there, and he wanted to stay out there and
Speaker 1: give acting to try and he got that and then
Speaker 1: after that nothing really happened. He ended up going back
Speaker 1: to Cleveland. But I never really, never really looked at
Speaker 1: that and said I'm going to pursue this. Right when
Speaker 1: I got out of the NFL, I retired in ninety four,
Speaker 1: and the next year ninety five, I was doing college
Speaker 1: games for ESPN and ABC, and I was doing the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville just came into the league. I was there, uh
Speaker 1: TV analyst for preseason games, so I jumped right into that,
Speaker 1: you know, Greening. I ended up being on the Guiding
Speaker 1: Light an episode um estn had that What was that one?
Speaker 1: They had that one show players or something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for what it was called, we were We were in
Speaker 1: an episode of that. So I did it. We did.
Speaker 1: I did a few things here and there, but it
Speaker 1: was nothing. Nothing I really pursued. All right, last one,
Speaker 1: since you live in South Bend, give me your take
Speaker 1: on Notre Dame and what's going on there. They've had
Speaker 1: a couple of head scratchers this year, well they have,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, first Marcus Freeman is he's thirty six.
Speaker 1: I mean, my god, it's unbelievable. So it was a
Speaker 1: weird situation with Brian Kelly leaving. I don't know Roger
Speaker 1: guy for leaving. I mean, it's their right to do that.
Speaker 1: What was weird was that never happens at Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Usually a Notre Dame coaches fired or retires. Brian Kelly
Speaker 1: chose to leave for whatever his reasons were. Money certainly
Speaker 1: one of them, and he had the only thing mission
Speaker 1: from his resume as a national championship, and he felt
Speaker 1: he had a more consistent chance to get it there.
Speaker 1: We'll see at LSU. But Marcus Freeman is a phenomenal guy,
Speaker 1: a fantastic recruiter. All the players are buying in so
Speaker 1: everybody loves them. But even he knows we chat a
Speaker 1: decent amount, and even he knows it doesn't mean anything
Speaker 1: if I don't win. I mean, it's a big time
Speaker 1: college baller comes on the wins of losses. I think
Speaker 1: there may have been an over expectation, even maybe in
Speaker 1: the rankings when they were preseason number five. They had
Speaker 1: a quarterback who didn't play much last year. They didn't
Speaker 1: really have any veteran wide receivers who had done a ton.
Speaker 1: They had the best sight end in the game between
Speaker 1: him and Bowers, a kid from Georgia, they're the two best.
Speaker 1: The old line. You had a couple of young guys
Speaker 1: at tackles. But they did get Harry easton their old
Speaker 1: line coach back, but it was going to take some
Speaker 1: time defensively, you get out Goolden in. So it's a
Speaker 1: while it's somewhat similar, it's still a different scheme. So
Speaker 1: I think a mistake I made was I thought they
Speaker 1: would hit the ground running a lot faster than they
Speaker 1: did and learning, you know they have they have to
Speaker 1: grow a little bit and then what a two games
Speaker 1: and you lose your quarterback. Now you're in your backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: So I think it's going to take time to develop
Speaker 1: through the year, and hopefully by the time they get
Speaker 1: to the Cleansings and the uscs of the world that
Speaker 1: they're really hitting their stride later in the season. But
Speaker 1: I do think there's going to be some good things
Speaker 1: going for Marcus just because kids want to play for him.
Speaker 1: His recruiting classes the next couple have been number one,
Speaker 1: number two or number three. So you let those guys
Speaker 1: come in, get acclimated to the program and see where
Speaker 1: it can take it. We had them last year at Virginia.
Speaker 1: Obviously Brian Kelly was still the head coach, but in
Speaker 1: talking with Marcus Freeman and when he was at Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: same thing, whatever production meeting with a really impressive guy,
Speaker 1: excellent recruiter. I think it's just a matter of time.
Speaker 1: People got to give him some time. I was gonna
Speaker 1: I was gonna let you go, but I gotta ask
Speaker 1: you one more because I was just thinking about this
Speaker 1: because this movie was on. You know how they on
Speaker 1: some of the airlines they cycle through old movies and
Speaker 1: put them on and Rudy. Rudy is on one of
Speaker 1: the airlines. I can't remember which one it's on. But
Speaker 1: do people think about Rudy in South Bend the way
Speaker 1: US outsiders think about Rudy because it's a beloved movie
Speaker 1: for people that maybe aren't close to the program. What's
Speaker 1: it like for people in South Bend? Do they revere
Speaker 1: it the same way we do? I guess as my question, no,
Speaker 1: I no, I don't think they do. Listen, it's an
Speaker 1: inspirational story, but I think it's more, you know, people
Speaker 1: to hear and know the story. I think it's more
Speaker 1: for those that don't don't know the story and get
Speaker 1: moved by it. Now I will say it was Hollywood
Speaker 1: it up a little bit as well. So that's another thing.
Speaker 1: Because my brother Bob was a freshman, and my brother Bob,
Speaker 1: when he was a freshman, he was he was a
Speaker 1: starter on the defense. So Bob was here that year
Speaker 1: of Rudy, and while the story of him getting into
Speaker 1: school and all the work he did and gotten everything
Speaker 1: out on the football field. A lot of it obviously
Speaker 1: is true, but it was Hollywood it up a little bit,
Speaker 1: so some of us that know all that kind of
Speaker 1: went on, you know, you kind of say, well, okay,
Speaker 1: I get it. You know, it's Hollywood. They got to
Speaker 1: kind of spruce it up a little bit. But again,
Speaker 1: to your point, it's not as awe like while here
Speaker 1: as it is everywhere else when people see it for
Speaker 1: the first time, Well, listen, man, I knew I could
Speaker 1: ask you anything and you'd have a great answer. And
Speaker 1: for people that I think I understood after working with
Speaker 1: you for a year, even though again we didn't get
Speaker 1: to really see each other, but we talked a bunch
Speaker 1: and then spend some time together last year, I can
Speaker 1: understand why you were so successful and likable on the
Speaker 1: air and people just and I noticed that when I
Speaker 1: was with you on some of the Westwood games and
Speaker 1: also doing college games with you, like all the coaches
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you. Because I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why people have successful shows, because their
Speaker 1: personality gets to a point where real life comes through.
Speaker 1: And you saw that with you every day and your family,
Speaker 1: and it's just one of those things where I think
Speaker 1: when you're real on the air, people see that and
Speaker 1: they gravitate to you. And I noticed that just working
Speaker 1: with you, So I really appreciate that about you. Mike.
Speaker 1: You're great at what you do. And thanks so much
Speaker 1: for spending some time with us. Man, Oh my pleasure.
Speaker 1: And listen. I got to thank my kids and they're
Speaker 1: still trying to get money out of me because I
Speaker 1: told them at a young age when I did the
Speaker 1: radio and TV, I'm using them as content. They will
Speaker 1: be talked about, good and bad for laughs. So I
Speaker 1: made sure I did that. Oh it's great. Thanks again, Mike,
Speaker 1: Catch up soon, man. Thanks say. I knew we would
Speaker 1: be able to cover a variety of subjects with Mike
Speaker 1: and he would have a great take on all of them,
Speaker 1: including being a grandfather, not having to change diapers anymore.
Speaker 1: You could tell just listening to Mike his post ESPN life.
Speaker 1: Things are going great. Involved in a lot of different things,
Speaker 1: including calling Sunday night games for Westwood One. He did
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay game the other night, and also discussed
Speaker 1: his thoughts on his days with the Philadelphia Eagles, playing
Speaker 1: with Reggie White, his take on Jalen Hurts, and the
Speaker 1: current Eagles. Like me, he thinks right now, the Eagles
Speaker 1: are the best team in the NFL, and like me,
Speaker 1: he's not sure what to make of the Cardinals through
Speaker 1: four games. But the good news is the Cardinals are
Speaker 1: two and two. They haven't played their best football, Maybe
Speaker 1: the second half of the Carolina game as a springboard
Speaker 1: to starting to look like the team we saw the
Speaker 1: first half of twenty twenty one. We are presented by
Speaker 1: bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: and by Hila River Resorts and Casinos. Please go to
Speaker 1: your podcast platform and rate us. We'd also like to
Speaker 1: hear about future guests you'd like to hear from on
Speaker 1: the show. Give us your thoughts on your podcast platform.
Speaker 1: You can also follow us on Twitter at pash pod Our.
Speaker 1: Thanks to broadcasting legend Mike Golick for his time, and
Speaker 1: thanks again to you for listening to another edition of
Speaker 1: the Dave Pash Podcast. All Right,