Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Why Knicks’ NBA Playoffs dominance looks like Seahawks Super Bowl Run + NFL Offseason Mailbag

Transcript

Why Knicks’ NBA Playoffs dominance looks like Seahawks Super Bowl Run + NFL Offseason Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume. What is going on? My friends? I'm John.
0:19
Speaker 1: This is three and Out podcast. Let's see if my
0:21
Speaker 1: microphone still works. Let's see if my brain and voice
0:26
Speaker 1: can collaborate and work in tandem to do a podcast.
0:30
Speaker 1: Spend a couple of days. See if I'm still throwing fastballs.
0:32
Speaker 1: I don't know, not much going on. I actually was
0:35
Speaker 1: on the phone all morning working on some guests around
0:38
Speaker 1: the National Football League to try to get on over
0:42
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks. Mix it up a little
0:45
Speaker 1: bit here on the show. But yeah, we'll talk some
0:48
Speaker 1: football today. The New York Knicks headed to the NBA Finals.
0:51
Speaker 1: I actually think there's I think there's some parallels there
0:55
Speaker 1: with the NFL. We had Abdul Carter and Jackson Dart Cousins.
1:01
Speaker 1: Craziness on the internet. Does that even matter? We'll dive
1:05
Speaker 1: into it as well as uh Middlecoff mailbag at John
1:08
Speaker 1: Middcoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those
1:11
Speaker 1: dms and get your questions answered here on the show.
1:15
Speaker 1: You guys know the Joe. If you listen on Collins Feed,
1:16
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to Three and Out if you
1:18
Speaker 1: guys want to watch us, We're up on Netflix. Go
1:21
Speaker 1: check it out, send a little alert button. But I
1:24
Speaker 1: definitely wanted to start with the Knicks. Congratulations who almost
1:29
Speaker 1: thirty years since they've been in the NBA Finals, and
1:32
Speaker 1: I actually think they serve as a really good example
1:35
Speaker 1: some parallels with the Seattle Seahawks. When you're running a
1:39
Speaker 1: team as a GM, as a coach, sometimes making a
1:44
Speaker 1: decision is gonna get you criticized. Sometimes making a decision
1:49
Speaker 1: that you believe in is you have to believe it's
1:53
Speaker 1: irrelevant what the outside is gonna think, what the media
1:57
Speaker 1: is gonna portray as that's a moronic move, remember you
2:01
Speaker 1: know years ago. I mean it happens every year when
2:04
Speaker 1: people grade drafts or people grade the off season coaching hires.
2:09
Speaker 1: Remember Doug Peterson got an f from the Eagles, like
2:12
Speaker 1: two years later he won the Super Bowl. You know,
2:14
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, Bill Pollion might have lost
2:18
Speaker 1: his fastball in his older age. Think he swinging a
2:21
Speaker 1: miss on the Lamar Jackson take. And in fairness, I
2:24
Speaker 1: wasn't the biggest Lamar Jackson guy at Louisville. Based on
2:28
Speaker 1: the Mississippi State Bowl Game is last year, I was like,
2:30
Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna work, And clearly it did
2:33
Speaker 1: and is continuing to work. But he used to say,
2:37
Speaker 1: and maybe he stole this from somewhere, that if you
2:39
Speaker 1: listen to the fans, you will be sitting with them,
2:43
Speaker 1: and people often, you know, get critical, like if I
2:46
Speaker 1: make a mistake like middlecuff, what are you going to
2:48
Speaker 1: take accountability? My job's not to take accountability. My accountability
2:51
Speaker 1: is like, am I entertaining? Are we driving revenue through
2:55
Speaker 1: people advertising on us or with us? Or are we
2:58
Speaker 1: getting a lot of people to listen like that? That's
3:00
Speaker 1: my job. Howie Roseman's job is to acquire good players
3:04
Speaker 1: and put together a team that fits. And when you
3:08
Speaker 1: fire a coach, when you fire a coordinator, people are
3:10
Speaker 1: gonna have opinions. They're gonna say that's a bad move,
3:13
Speaker 1: that's a good move. I thought the Knicks were crazy
3:16
Speaker 1: when they fired Tips. Turns out they were right. He's
3:19
Speaker 1: an unmarried basketball junkie who refuses to change. He can't adapt.
3:24
Speaker 1: Then they hired Mike Brown and Boom. A year later,
3:27
Speaker 1: they're in the NBA Finals. Why because he's willing to change.
3:31
Speaker 1: He changed the team as they got into the playoffs.
3:34
Speaker 1: He plays his bench, but most Importantly, it goes back
3:39
Speaker 1: to sometimes when you star Chase, you know, it happens
3:43
Speaker 1: more in basketball because stars in the NFL aren't typically available.
3:48
Speaker 1: You know, in the NBA we've been talking about Giannis
3:50
Speaker 1: getting traded for years, right, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar
3:54
Speaker 1: Jacks aren't available. But in the NBA, these guys trained
3:57
Speaker 1: teams much more than they do in fotball. And I've
4:00
Speaker 1: always said basketball has more. If we just look at
4:03
Speaker 1: the three big team sports in America, Baseball, basketball, and football,
4:08
Speaker 1: Basketball is much closer to football in terms of the
4:12
Speaker 1: intangible stuff and the chemistry than it is the baseball,
4:15
Speaker 1: which honestly is much closer to an individual sport. I
4:20
Speaker 1: can just pick and choose players put together a team.
4:22
Speaker 1: It's like my third baseman doesn't need to have chemistry
4:25
Speaker 1: with my second basement. If I can just plug and
4:27
Speaker 1: play my right fielder, bat and third every single day,
4:30
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter. We're in basketball. Like Michael Jordan
4:34
Speaker 1: is probably part of the most famous team of my lifetime,
4:37
Speaker 1: the nineties Bulls. Well, like a huge part of their
4:41
Speaker 1: runs where Steve Kurr and John Paxson hitting game winning
4:44
Speaker 1: shots in the playoffs in the NBA Finals, we're Ron
4:48
Speaker 1: Harper and Horace Grant and bj Armstrong, Like, you can't
4:53
Speaker 1: win a title by yourself, you need help and playing together.
4:58
Speaker 1: Anyone that's played pick up basketball or anyone that's played
5:01
Speaker 1: high level basketball, it's no different than football. You have
5:04
Speaker 1: to have chemistry with your teammates and making decisions with
5:08
Speaker 1: moves aren't always going to be viewed, especially in the
5:11
Speaker 1: pro level, as the right one. And it's not that
5:15
Speaker 1: long ago, and it's like, hey, they're signing Jalen Brunson,
5:18
Speaker 1: a little guy, to one hundred million dollar contract, probably
5:21
Speaker 1: one of the greatest signings in the history of the franchise.
5:25
Speaker 1: Even a couple of years ago, you're trading for Carl
5:27
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns. You're trading Deontae de Vincenzo and Julius Randall
5:33
Speaker 1: for Carl Anthony Towns. I'm watching Carl Anthony Towns. My
5:36
Speaker 1: personal opinion, I think he's like underrated at this point. Wait,
5:39
Speaker 1: you're just trading for Bridges because he played on the
5:42
Speaker 1: Villanova team with these guys. He's trading all these picks.
5:44
Speaker 1: I'm watching him is like, are they making this run
5:46
Speaker 1: without that guy? And I think when you look at
5:49
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks and congrats to the Knicks, it's an
5:51
Speaker 1: awesome story. And I actually threw a little cash on
5:54
Speaker 1: him rooting for him in the NBA Finals. I think
5:57
Speaker 1: it's just it's really cool. There's something that feel in
6:00
Speaker 1: a weird way. All these players were acquired in trades
6:03
Speaker 1: and signings, but I don't know there's some like organic
6:05
Speaker 1: field because all these guys have known each other so long.
6:09
Speaker 1: And I think in football you have to do the
6:12
Speaker 1: same thing sometimes you know, like my coach isn't good enough,
6:17
Speaker 1: or this has run its course. It's like when Steve
6:20
Speaker 1: Bushatti was asked, what if he wouldn't have missed that
6:23
Speaker 1: field goal and you would have made the playoffs, would
6:26
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh still have a job? He's like, well, he
6:29
Speaker 1: probably would have been fired a week later. Then he
6:31
Speaker 1: already knew why, because the chemistry with a coach with
6:36
Speaker 1: a team is pretty evident for the people behind closed doors.
6:40
Speaker 1: We all can see a bad team when you watch
6:42
Speaker 1: the Jets, when you watch the Wizards, my mom can
6:45
Speaker 1: tell it's like this is a fucking nightmare, right, But
6:49
Speaker 1: sometimes the good teams winning can band aid issues. No
6:54
Speaker 1: different than in business, making money doesn't mean you're headed
6:59
Speaker 1: in the right direction always, and sometimes success can put
7:03
Speaker 1: a cloud over, Like we got some problems. It happens
7:06
Speaker 1: in football, it happens in real life. But when I
7:10
Speaker 1: watch the Knicks, they got a lot of stuff right
7:14
Speaker 1: in all their moves, some on the margins, some big
7:18
Speaker 1: ones worked out, and I feel like the majority of
7:22
Speaker 1: them were heavily criticized. And that's part of being good
7:27
Speaker 1: at your job, willing to take the shit. Especially in
7:30
Speaker 1: this social media age. Everyone has an opinion, and listen,
7:35
Speaker 1: a lot of people have opinion on sports because they care,
7:37
Speaker 1: because they're interested. That's a good thing. Sometimes I hear
7:40
Speaker 1: like everyone has an opinion, like what I see on politics,
7:43
Speaker 1: Like you don't know anything about international fucking diplomacy. Who
7:49
Speaker 1: does a tiny, tiny percentage? But we all can have
7:51
Speaker 1: an opinion on the small forward for the Chicago Bulls.
7:54
Speaker 1: We all can have an opinion on like Ty Simpson
7:56
Speaker 1: that draft pick was kind of crazy. We all watch football,
7:59
Speaker 1: whether we know as much as we think we do.
8:02
Speaker 1: It's fun to talk about because we watched, we consume it,
8:06
Speaker 1: and I think when he comes to football, like look
8:08
Speaker 1: at last year, sometimes doing the sexy thing that's gonna
8:12
Speaker 1: get you the most credit doesn't work. Some of you
8:17
Speaker 1: aren't old enough to remember. Dan Snyder used to sign
8:21
Speaker 1: the biggest names in football every single offseason. He was
8:26
Speaker 1: breaking the bank constantly in free agency, and their teams
8:30
Speaker 1: always sucked. I was part of the quote dream team
8:36
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. It was a disaster, you know. One of
8:40
Speaker 1: the greatest moves Howie Roseman's ever made, signing Saquon Barkley
8:44
Speaker 1: to do a three year, twenty seven million dollar contract
8:47
Speaker 1: when the entire league could have had him. Every single
8:49
Speaker 1: team in the league should have been interested or a
8:52
Speaker 1: large percentage of him at the price point in which
8:55
Speaker 1: he acquired him for, no one really was. In A
8:59
Speaker 1: year later, Saquon goes on to have one of the
9:00
Speaker 1: greatest seasons in the history of the league and they
9:02
Speaker 1: win the title. Even going back to when he drafted
9:06
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, I thought it was fucking nuts, Like, wait,
9:10
Speaker 1: you're taking this guy in the second round? Will enable
9:13
Speaker 1: them to get rid of Carson Wentz and go to
9:14
Speaker 1: two Super Bowls in three years with him as the
9:16
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. John Schneider traded dk Metcalf, Who's gotta be
9:21
Speaker 1: one of his best, if not his best. I guess
9:24
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson would be offensive draft pick of his career.
9:28
Speaker 1: I think DK had twenty seven touchdowns for his first
9:30
Speaker 1: three years. He's like, yeah, I'm out of this business.
9:33
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Gino Smith who helped us win nine and
9:36
Speaker 1: ten games and back to back years, we're getting rid
9:39
Speaker 1: of him too, And we're signing Sam Darnold to one
9:41
Speaker 1: hundred million dollar contract, which sounds like a lot, but
9:44
Speaker 1: relative to NFL quarterbacks obviously isn't much. You're like, you're
9:47
Speaker 1: really doing this, You're really betting on he's had one
9:50
Speaker 1: good season, and you're you're gonna go all in on
9:53
Speaker 1: this guy. Six months later, I guess eight nine months later,
9:59
Speaker 1: they win the Super Bowl, and I think part I
10:03
Speaker 1: thought John Schneider, I didn't know him at the time
10:06
Speaker 1: when he traded Russell Wilson, like, this thing is gonna backfire.
10:09
Speaker 1: This thing is not gonna go well. It's gonna go
10:13
Speaker 1: down as one of the great trades in the history.
10:14
Speaker 1: League got rid of all that money. Russell Wilson was
10:17
Speaker 1: a disaster everywhere he went after that, because Denver had
10:21
Speaker 1: an awful season that led them to get Witherspoon, who
10:24
Speaker 1: was a huge key for their success over the last
10:26
Speaker 1: several years and obviously one of their best players on
10:28
Speaker 1: Super Bowl team. So, sometimes when you make decisions, and
10:34
Speaker 1: it's harder now than ever because you can always find
10:38
Speaker 1: someone with an opinion in sports of what you're doing,
10:41
Speaker 1: and most of the time it's gonna be negative and
10:44
Speaker 1: it's easy to do. Like if you trade for Gianni's
10:46
Speaker 1: be like, oh, look at that. He's traded for a
10:49
Speaker 1: thirty two to thirty three year old guy who's been
10:51
Speaker 1: injured a lot AND's gonna need three hundred million dollars.
10:53
Speaker 1: Godspeed on that move. Some moves is pretty obvious. It's like, eamn,
11:00
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray to Minnesota, Like, I don't see it, but
11:04
Speaker 1: some of you do. Some of you think it might work,
11:07
Speaker 1: and we can argue till we're blue in the face.
11:08
Speaker 1: That's why they play the games. I think we would
11:12
Speaker 1: most agree, or most of us would agree. It's like, yeah,
11:15
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be in the James Harden business. You get
11:18
Speaker 1: it for nothing. I don't care. I'm not in the business.
11:21
Speaker 1: You know why? Because team chemistry, everyone pulling in the
11:24
Speaker 1: same direction, people willing to do things where you might
11:28
Speaker 1: not get the credit because you're just part of the team. Sometimes,
11:31
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver, you're not gonna catch a touchdown.
11:34
Speaker 1: You have to block. You know what is more fun
11:37
Speaker 1: catching touchdowns than blocking. But if we want to win
11:40
Speaker 1: this game, we're gonna need you to lay some wood,
11:44
Speaker 1: put your shoulder pads into linebackers in safeties. It's not
11:47
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. No problem, coach, I'll do it. Speaking
11:50
Speaker 1: of baseball, which I do believe is much more of
11:52
Speaker 1: an individual sport, Kevin Euclus, who obviously played for the
11:57
Speaker 1: Red Sox forever. Mary tom Brady's sister told me one
12:00
Speaker 1: when I was hosting a radio show. We used to
12:01
Speaker 1: do a Baseball hour. Baseball's big in the bar area.
12:05
Speaker 1: The best quality his Red Sox team had with Manny Ramirez,
12:09
Speaker 1: David Ortiz all those guys, was the first thing anyone
12:15
Speaker 1: on that team would say all year long. Yes, coach, Yes, Tito.
12:21
Speaker 1: What do you need? Sure, I'll do it. You need
12:24
Speaker 1: me to play right field today instead of left field,
12:26
Speaker 1: I'm in. You need to me about fifth instead of second,
12:28
Speaker 1: I'm in. And that's part of building a team, and
12:32
Speaker 1: that's the job of all these guys. And you watch
12:35
Speaker 1: the Knicks, and you can say they had a pretty
12:37
Speaker 1: easy road. I don't think Cleveland's very good. Clearly the
12:40
Speaker 1: Sixers were in shambles once and beats like in and
12:43
Speaker 1: out of the lineup. But I'm watching them thinking like
12:47
Speaker 1: they got something pretty special going. I think they have
12:49
Speaker 1: a very very good chance to win the NBA Finals
12:52
Speaker 1: against whoever they end up playing that comes out of
12:54
Speaker 1: the West because team chemistry, building an actual roster part
12:58
Speaker 1: of the reason. And I was there at a front
13:00
Speaker 1: row seat for it when before Kevin Durant got there.
13:04
Speaker 1: The Warriors fit together Steph Curry, Lay Thompson, Andrea Guidala,
13:09
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, like the piece is fit and football is
13:14
Speaker 1: no different. It's like when you draft, what do all
13:17
Speaker 1: these general managers talk about? Does this guy fit our culture?
13:21
Speaker 1: Does this guy fit our locker room? And you never
13:23
Speaker 1: truly know until you get him in the building, but
13:26
Speaker 1: you can do a pretty good job vetting him throughout
13:29
Speaker 1: the process of knowing. We think it's gonna work. We
13:33
Speaker 1: think he's wired the right way, We think he cares
13:37
Speaker 1: about the right things. Why do these guys in the
13:41
Speaker 1: with the raiders its stories coming out left and right
13:43
Speaker 1: think so highly of Fernando Mendoza because he throws it
13:47
Speaker 1: like John Elway, because he can run like Lamar Jackson. No,
13:52
Speaker 1: because they see him every day and we go, we
13:54
Speaker 1: believe in this guy. I saw Kyle Shanahan talking about
13:58
Speaker 1: brock Purty brought with Tom Tolbert did a long interview
14:04
Speaker 1: the other day with John Lynch and and they sat
14:06
Speaker 1: down and they had some cocktails, nbs. And the thing
14:10
Speaker 1: that always stood out to me about brock Purty was,
14:13
Speaker 1: you know, his two biggest proponents in the locker room
14:16
Speaker 1: were Fred Warner and Trent Williams. So when you can
14:21
Speaker 1: impress your two best players and they can go to
14:25
Speaker 1: bat for you early on in your career and go,
14:27
Speaker 1: I believe in this guy. I think this guy can
14:29
Speaker 1: play well. Why do you think so, Fred? Because I
14:31
Speaker 1: saw him every day in scout team and he fucking
14:33
Speaker 1: sliced and diced us. I think this guy's pretty good.
14:36
Speaker 1: And I see the quarterbacks every single week as the
14:38
Speaker 1: middle linebacker and Trent Williams grabbing brock Purty and going,
14:42
Speaker 1: do you know how impressive it is as the last
14:44
Speaker 1: pick in the draft to make the fifty three man
14:47
Speaker 1: roster as a Rookie Brock's like, no, I don't really know.
14:50
Speaker 1: He's like, I've been around this league a long time.
14:52
Speaker 1: I've never that that's insane. And I think part of
14:57
Speaker 1: building a team is not always going for the move
15:00
Speaker 1: that's gonna get you the most headlines that's gonna get
15:03
Speaker 1: you the most retweets and people like blowing you on
15:07
Speaker 1: the internet. Sometimes you have to do what you believe
15:09
Speaker 1: in because you running the franchise as the GM, as
15:13
Speaker 1: the coach, as the personnel. People need to know your
15:17
Speaker 1: team better than everyone else. And it's not always about
15:21
Speaker 1: the superstars or the sexiest names. It's just about getting
15:25
Speaker 1: it right. And clearly the Knicks got it right with
15:28
Speaker 1: Mike Brown, the Karl Anthony Towns to Jalen Brunston to
15:32
Speaker 1: it all. And I think Seattle was a great example
15:36
Speaker 1: this year in football, even the Rams who are right
15:39
Speaker 1: there with them, Like the Stafford move is a move
15:42
Speaker 1: that most people would have made. The Jared Goff trade,
15:45
Speaker 1: but like the Heartbeat, if you remove the quarterback of
15:48
Speaker 1: their squad is like Puka Nakua in the fifth you
15:53
Speaker 1: know was Jared Verse in the late teens, who I
15:58
Speaker 1: think it's easy to say now it's like, no brain
15:59
Speaker 1: or pick came from Albany before he went to Florida State,
16:04
Speaker 1: not exactly some five star, can't miss all time prospect.
16:09
Speaker 1: And then they took his other teammate, Braden Fisk, like
16:11
Speaker 1: twenty picks later, who actually was much more productive than
16:15
Speaker 1: him as a rookie. You know why, because they understand
16:19
Speaker 1: it's about building a team, and they know how to
16:22
Speaker 1: build a team. You know, that's a huge part of football.
16:27
Speaker 1: So it's a huge part of basketball, and it's the
16:29
Speaker 1: thing that I like still to this day. Kind of
16:32
Speaker 1: the most about sports is like you see the teams
16:35
Speaker 1: that have no clue what they're doing, and then you
16:37
Speaker 1: see the teams. It's like, why the Ravens are pretty
16:39
Speaker 1: consistently good. Now, I'm gonna bet probably against them a
16:42
Speaker 1: little bit this year. It's all relative. You know. I
16:46
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna win four games, but I could
16:48
Speaker 1: see them winning eight or nine right now if you
16:50
Speaker 1: tell me Lamar is healthy. One thing I know about
16:53
Speaker 1: Eric Tacosta knows what he's doing in terms of player
16:56
Speaker 1: acquisition and getting the right type of guys in that
16:59
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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Speaking of Ota, Lamar Jackson,
19:02
Speaker 1: I do think I remember when I got hired by
19:05
Speaker 1: the Eagles in twenty ten and for the next several
19:07
Speaker 1: years going too OTA's and offseason practices. I think it
19:11
Speaker 1: was pretty intense. You had practice every day, you were
19:14
Speaker 1: on the field for a couple hours. We used to
19:17
Speaker 1: do like periods against divisional opponents. It was just a
19:20
Speaker 1: really serious atmosphere that has changed dramatically because of the
19:26
Speaker 1: new offseason rules, because of the money these guys are
19:31
Speaker 1: making people are so afraid of getting anyone injured. I
19:34
Speaker 1: think a lot of the off season now has turned
19:38
Speaker 1: to mental reps, working out, and some film room with
19:43
Speaker 1: your coordinators, and a lot of younger guide development. So
19:47
Speaker 1: I would say, ten twenty thirty years ago, if you
19:50
Speaker 1: weren't at some of these practices, I would understand it
19:54
Speaker 1: being a headline. To me, it's a non story. Like
19:58
Speaker 1: the funniest one is Miles Garrett who just never shows up,
20:01
Speaker 1: and Todd Munkin hasn't even met the guy. What the
20:05
Speaker 1: fuck is Todd Munkin and his staff gonna show Miles Garrett.
20:09
Speaker 1: I don't blame him at all now. I would also
20:13
Speaker 1: if I had something in my contract that was gonna
20:16
Speaker 1: pay me five hundred eight hundred a million dollars in
20:19
Speaker 1: the off season to attend a month worse of work
20:24
Speaker 1: worth of practices, I would attend. You know, I think
20:29
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, Lamar Jackson basically didn't
20:32
Speaker 1: get one point five million dollars in bonuses. I understand
20:35
Speaker 1: he makes a lot of money, but that like you're
20:38
Speaker 1: training anyway, like you're working out, so you might as
20:42
Speaker 1: well get paid to do it, and I think when
20:44
Speaker 1: you'll look back, you'll be like, that's the easiest money
20:46
Speaker 1: I ever could have made. I also understand, like I
20:48
Speaker 1: don't want like I wouldn't live here or be here
20:51
Speaker 1: if this team hadn't drafted me. I only get a
20:53
Speaker 1: percentage of the year to be where I want to be. Like,
20:56
Speaker 1: I understand, But Lamar Jackson, who missed practice last week's
21:00
Speaker 1: back at practice to day Herbert misspractice, I don't think
21:03
Speaker 1: any of it matters. I think we're out of point
21:06
Speaker 1: now in the offseason with veteran players, it has much
21:11
Speaker 1: to do about nothing. And so when I see a
21:13
Speaker 1: headline about so and so did not make it to
21:16
Speaker 1: voluntary OTAs, I just scrolled to the next article or
21:23
Speaker 1: next whatever else is going on. So to me, it
21:26
Speaker 1: used to have some validity to like, is there something there?
21:31
Speaker 1: I just I'm sorry at this point in time, which
21:34
Speaker 1: all these people I talked to that attend these practices
21:37
Speaker 1: as scouts, as assistant coaches, they'll be the first tell
21:40
Speaker 1: you it's kind of stupid now because of the rules.
21:43
Speaker 1: So I think none of these guys are missing anything
21:46
Speaker 1: of value. I want to talk controversies because there was
21:54
Speaker 1: something on the internet this weekend, Jackson Dart I saw
21:58
Speaker 1: introduced Trump at a rally I'm pretty sure in New
22:01
Speaker 1: York City. I paid no attention. I saw the highlight
22:03
Speaker 1: of him doing it, just scrolled by. The Next day,
22:06
Speaker 1: I guess Abdua Carter had tweeted out. Thought it was AI,
22:09
Speaker 1: what are we doing? Then he tweeted. I talked to him,
22:13
Speaker 1: We're all good non controversy. And the media, who, let's
22:17
Speaker 1: face it, lean left would be an understatement, despises the president,
22:23
Speaker 1: so they would love this to be controversy. I saw this.
22:26
Speaker 1: It's gonna rip their locker room. Apart. As someone who
22:32
Speaker 1: used to spend a lot more time on social media
22:35
Speaker 1: interacting and arguing with other people, especially on Twitter ten
22:38
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. When I first got into the business,
22:41
Speaker 1: it was constant just arguing. I look back and go,
22:44
Speaker 1: how many hours of my life have I wasted with
22:47
Speaker 1: people I don't know, arguing where our opinions will never change.
22:52
Speaker 1: What a waste of all of our time? Do you know?
22:56
Speaker 1: I don't argue with on social media, even when I
22:59
Speaker 1: see something I disagree with people. I know why, because
23:04
Speaker 1: the Internet is not reality. When you have a relationship
23:07
Speaker 1: with someone else, I like many of you have different
23:12
Speaker 1: opinions on different things. And there are people in my
23:15
Speaker 1: life where we don't always see eyed eye. But in
23:19
Speaker 1: a situation like this, and in a locker room situation
23:22
Speaker 1: where people are coming from all over the fucking place,
23:25
Speaker 1: poor kids, rich kids, you name it, small schools, big schools,
23:30
Speaker 1: everyone has different opinions. It is a great um, just
23:37
Speaker 1: kind of collection of thoughts, of backgrounds, of different human beings.
23:44
Speaker 1: It's called a workplace. And the difference between an NFL
23:48
Speaker 1: locker room and maybe a normal office setting is like,
23:53
Speaker 1: it's a pretty big deal to be in that locker room.
23:55
Speaker 1: Pays a lot of money, comes with a lot of
23:58
Speaker 1: fame and fortune, and if you do well, comes with
24:02
Speaker 1: a lot of adulation. Pretty good gig to have. It's
24:05
Speaker 1: why a lot of people, if physically they can do it,
24:07
Speaker 1: they don't stop doing it. There's a reason Aaron Rodgers
24:10
Speaker 1: playing at forty two pays twenty five million, and if
24:13
Speaker 1: it goes well, it's pretty fucking fun. And I saw
24:17
Speaker 1: this is gonna rip the team apart. No, guys, they
24:21
Speaker 1: know each other. They can just have an actual conversation
24:24
Speaker 1: in person. These aren't two faceless people arguing on Twitter.
24:30
Speaker 1: And I just think sometimes so many people in the
24:35
Speaker 1: sports media, I think want this to be a story
24:38
Speaker 1: and want this. My first take was, this is nothing.
24:44
Speaker 1: You do understand. John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh took a
24:49
Speaker 1: picture with Trump like within the last six months. I
24:51
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say they're both Republicans. Guess what
24:56
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh has done for the last eighteen years coach
25:00
Speaker 1: people who probably were not That's part of a locker room.
25:05
Speaker 1: And I think football could serve as a great example
25:10
Speaker 1: to the rest of society. When you're all pulling in
25:13
Speaker 1: the same direction. You don't need to agree on everything
25:16
Speaker 1: in life. You know, what's a controversy in a pr
25:19
Speaker 1: nightmare because I don't believe this is anything, and I
25:22
Speaker 1: believe after these guys, I'm sure we'll talk to the
25:24
Speaker 1: media this week, it'll go away. I saw today headline
25:29
Speaker 1: that Josh Jacobs has or was arrested this morning for
25:34
Speaker 1: an incident that happened on May twenty third. Now he's
25:38
Speaker 1: denying it person lawyers. That's what Adam Chefter tweeted. The
25:42
Speaker 1: charges are domestic battery, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct,
25:48
Speaker 1: domestic dispute, and strangulation. Now I always struggle, like I'm
25:53
Speaker 1: not pointing the finger. Only he and whoever else was
25:56
Speaker 1: involved know the truth. That's a PR nightmare. That's a
26:00
Speaker 1: PR problem. Abdua Carter tweeting two things? Is this real
26:07
Speaker 1: and we talked? It's all good? Is not? I also
26:10
Speaker 1: think the political climate of like twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen,
26:16
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two kind of a different time. Most of
26:19
Speaker 1: us humans in real life don't have that much time
26:23
Speaker 1: getting obsessed with things like now, this probably isn't the
26:26
Speaker 1: end of the world, Like I've lived long enough to know. Yeah,
26:29
Speaker 1: probably not, because you told me that like seven years ago,
26:32
Speaker 1: you told me that ten years ago, You'll tell me
26:33
Speaker 1: that five years from now. Oh, some will probably come
26:36
Speaker 1: up tomorrow. Maybe one day we all blow up, but
26:39
Speaker 1: not today. So I just think these stories, uh, people
26:43
Speaker 1: want them to be something a lot bigger than they are.
26:48
Speaker 1: I personally give zero shits about the tweets and about him.
26:55
Speaker 1: You can introduce anyone you want now. I think most
26:58
Speaker 1: people would say, do you need to tweet about your teammate?
27:02
Speaker 1: What if you want it? It's like you're young, I
27:04
Speaker 1: would say, Abduel Carter, is shown not the best decision maker.
27:07
Speaker 1: I think you can all say, Jackson, you haven't really
27:09
Speaker 1: proven much. Do you want to introduce this guy and
27:11
Speaker 1: take the heat. Maybe he doesn't give a shit, but
27:14
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they know each other.
27:17
Speaker 1: I guess my guess would be everything will be fine.
27:19
Speaker 1: Leazusa mailback questions at John Midlecoff at John Midlecoff is
27:22
Speaker 1: the Instagram fire in those dms? Get your questions answered
27:26
Speaker 1: here on the show. Big Charger fan just moved to Chandler, Arizona.
27:32
Speaker 1: My wife used to live there first. I've seen people
27:35
Speaker 1: say this is a make or break year for Jim Harbaugh.
27:38
Speaker 1: I feel like he is already over delivered. The Chargers
27:41
Speaker 1: picked fifth overall and went five and twelve before he arrived.
27:46
Speaker 1: We're on the verge of three straight playoff years. Is
27:49
Speaker 1: that not already a major win for the franchise? I
27:52
Speaker 1: thought I saw a headline recently that they're negotiating a
27:55
Speaker 1: second contract make or break year for Jim Harbaugh. Jim
28:01
Speaker 1: brought some of it on himself, I would say at
28:04
Speaker 1: the end of the forty nine er thing and then
28:06
Speaker 1: early on in Michigan. But I would say the majority
28:10
Speaker 1: of his resume says you want to be in the
28:12
Speaker 1: Jim Harball business. What he did in Michigan National Championship,
28:17
Speaker 1: what he did with the forty nine Ers took him
28:18
Speaker 1: to three NFC championships and a Super Bowl. Like you said,
28:22
Speaker 1: he took the Chargers team that had the fifth overall
28:24
Speaker 1: pick and they have been back to back playoffs. Now
28:29
Speaker 1: do we need to get some more playoff experience? The
28:32
Speaker 1: difference of him and some guys who have just been
28:35
Speaker 1: one and done in the playoffs. I've seen him win
28:37
Speaker 1: playoff games before, beat Aaron Rodgers, beat the Atlanta Falcons,
28:42
Speaker 1: and Matt Ryan. He I'm trying to think of some
28:45
Speaker 1: of the games. He beat the Carolina Panthers with Cam Newton.
28:48
Speaker 1: You know, it's like he's won playoff games before, like
28:52
Speaker 1: that actually happened. You know, he was successful in January.
28:57
Speaker 1: It's not one of those. Can he actually get it done? No,
29:00
Speaker 1: I've seen him win playoff games. Now. I think there's
29:03
Speaker 1: some pressure on this team to take that next step.
29:06
Speaker 1: That's fair, But I'm with you. I believe there is
29:10
Speaker 1: zero pressure on Jim Harbaugh in terms of like his
29:14
Speaker 1: job status. I feel this guy gets underrated when we
29:18
Speaker 1: talk about all time running backs. But among Hall of
29:20
Speaker 1: Fame backs, where do you place Tomlinson. What aspect of
29:25
Speaker 1: his game was your favorite? Well, Lorenzo O'Neil, good friend,
29:30
Speaker 1: former Doug. Lorenzo's a badass. I mean, he's just you
29:35
Speaker 1: want that guy fucking meeting the middle linebacker in the
29:38
Speaker 1: hole if you're a running back. Eddie George Lt. I
29:41
Speaker 1: think he had like nine straight years of a thousand
29:43
Speaker 1: yard rusher that he was the lead full back for.
29:48
Speaker 1: He loves Elt swears my m I would say, in
29:51
Speaker 1: my lifetime, I can't speak. I didn't really watch Walter Payton,
29:54
Speaker 1: obviously Jim Brown before my time. Guys in the seventies
29:59
Speaker 1: watched m who was awesome. I would say, of the
30:04
Speaker 1: Internet era Marshall Falk, Ladanian, Tomlinson, and then kind of
30:09
Speaker 1: this crew now of like McCaffrey, Bijon Sakwan, you know,
30:16
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson, Marshawn. I would have LT near the top.
30:22
Speaker 1: I'd say my favorite part of his game was I mean,
30:25
Speaker 1: had to be one of the most versatile players in
30:27
Speaker 1: the league. You know, they always said this about Christian
30:30
Speaker 1: and I think Bijeon would fall into this, like you
30:32
Speaker 1: could just make him a receiver. Lt could have just
30:35
Speaker 1: been a slot receiver and would kind of hundred balls
30:38
Speaker 1: a year. He was. He played on awesome teams and
30:42
Speaker 1: he was their best player. The Rams are getting a
30:46
Speaker 1: lot of praise for keeping the Ty Simpson meeting quiet?
30:49
Speaker 1: How do you secret meet with the thirty visits? Don't
30:53
Speaker 1: all player meetups before the draft need to be accounted for?
30:56
Speaker 1: Otherwise what's the point of thirty visits? Now? Any team
31:00
Speaker 1: can just go secretly meet with players. Also, listen to
31:04
Speaker 1: your Fragazi Friday on draft grades might be a fun
31:07
Speaker 1: segment in the off season. Take the twenty two and
31:09
Speaker 1: twenty three draft classes grades walk through. Folks were at
31:15
Speaker 1: the time love the show. I'd have to go back
31:18
Speaker 1: and really research what McVeigh said. You can go fly
31:22
Speaker 1: to somebody. You don't have to announce I'm pretty sure.
31:28
Speaker 1: Oh Like, if I go to your pro day and
31:31
Speaker 1: I eat with you the night before the pro day
31:36
Speaker 1: or the day after and we just go to lunch,
31:38
Speaker 1: I don't have to announce that. I'm pretty sure. If
31:42
Speaker 1: I put you through a private workout, I don't have
31:45
Speaker 1: to announce that either. I could be wrong, not quite
31:48
Speaker 1: up to date with all my rules. But if I
31:51
Speaker 1: bring you to my facility, I do have to announce.
31:54
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure on the exact semantics of the
31:58
Speaker 1: ty Simpson rams connect with McVeigh. If they brought him
32:02
Speaker 1: to LA, the entire league would have seen it. But
32:07
Speaker 1: based on what you're saying in the way that it
32:09
Speaker 1: was described by McVeigh and less Snead, I'm pretty sure
32:13
Speaker 1: they might have gone to him, or you can zoom
32:16
Speaker 1: him right like the Chiefs they zoomed delay a couple
32:24
Speaker 1: days before the draft. You don't have to make that public.
32:28
Speaker 1: So if you zoom ty Simpson right or put him on,
32:32
Speaker 1: I'm sure they even have something better. You don't have
32:35
Speaker 1: to tell everyone that that's happening. That would be my guess,
32:39
Speaker 1: is the way that was actually orchestrated, not him flying
32:43
Speaker 1: to LA could be wrong. I've got a fugazi for you.
32:48
Speaker 1: Stores having a pass code for the restroom work. You
32:52
Speaker 1: walk into a store and need to use the bathroom.
32:55
Speaker 1: You finally locate the restroom, sometimes all the way at
32:57
Speaker 1: the back of the store, only to find a keep
32:59
Speaker 1: out on the and a sign saying ask an associate
33:03
Speaker 1: for the code. What could possibly be the point of that? Well?
33:07
Speaker 1: Having lived in the Bay Area for a long time.
33:11
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly where you are, Like, I don't
33:14
Speaker 1: really see that at all in Arizona, where definitely where
33:17
Speaker 1: I live. But in the Bay Area, when you have
33:19
Speaker 1: people living on the street, it's actually much nicer to
33:23
Speaker 1: make it to the bathroom right in terms of like
33:25
Speaker 1: you could just sleep there. That they don't want the
33:29
Speaker 1: riff raft getting to the bathroom. So ideally, just the customers.
33:34
Speaker 1: I always have an issue of you know, if you
33:36
Speaker 1: go somewhere and they're like, are you buying something? It
33:38
Speaker 1: doesn't happen very often, but they won't let use a
33:40
Speaker 1: restroom if you're not like a customer. I've always thought
33:43
Speaker 1: a hack if you want a great, great restroom, especially
33:46
Speaker 1: if you're on a drive, go to a hotel. It
33:50
Speaker 1: doesn't even need a nice one. It can just be
33:52
Speaker 1: like a spring Hill suits or something pull off. Just
33:55
Speaker 1: walk in. You don't even stop at the counter, you
33:58
Speaker 1: just go right to the restroom. Always, but I understand,
34:03
Speaker 1: like I remember in in downtown San Francisco, every single
34:07
Speaker 1: bathroom had a passcote or a key. Happens a lot
34:11
Speaker 1: of gas stations. I think it's a lot They just
34:13
Speaker 1: don't want random people making their way into it and
34:16
Speaker 1: just locking the door and just kind of like being
34:18
Speaker 1: in there and living in there. Do you think Seattle
34:21
Speaker 1: wins the Super Bowl if they kept DK Metcalf, I don't.
34:27
Speaker 1: I think that was you know, talking about team chemistry,
34:31
Speaker 1: talking about building a squad, talking about getting everyone on
34:35
Speaker 1: the same page. You know, I think DK, you know,
34:40
Speaker 1: I would say one of their defining characteristics was like
34:44
Speaker 1: they didn't have a quote unquote star I mean, JSN
34:47
Speaker 1: kind of became that as the season went on, but
34:49
Speaker 1: it was just like a really really good team. You know,
34:53
Speaker 1: in their heyday, they were pretty star driven. Marshawn, Richard,
34:58
Speaker 1: Earl Thomas, cam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, Bennett Cliff, Avril Russell,
35:06
Speaker 1: that they had huge names. This team, it just kind
35:11
Speaker 1: of everyone fit in. It's like Witherspoon even Worry, all
35:16
Speaker 1: the pass rushers, you know, the young guys, the veterans,
35:20
Speaker 1: the rookie guard from North Dakota State, Sam Darnold, just like,
35:26
Speaker 1: I don't know, they they had a very very low
35:29
Speaker 1: key team who was obviously really talented, and I think
35:33
Speaker 1: DK was just almost too famous, you know, and clearly
35:39
Speaker 1: they didn't want to pay him can you summarize your
35:42
Speaker 1: view on the ideal NFL structure. I think you have
35:45
Speaker 1: said the Eagles are one end of the spectrum with
35:48
Speaker 1: an all powerful GM, the Niners in the Broncos at
35:51
Speaker 1: the other end in the sweet spot, the Ravens and
35:54
Speaker 1: the chiefs of the last five and seven years, with
35:56
Speaker 1: a coach with the chops to demand power but willing
35:59
Speaker 1: to collabse. And if that is the case, does it
36:02
Speaker 1: ultimately indicate the Bashati and hunt or the cream of
36:05
Speaker 1: the crop as owners. I think it depends who you
36:09
Speaker 1: have working for you. So if I have Howie Roseman
36:13
Speaker 1: or John Schneider, the coach would have to be high
36:17
Speaker 1: on cocaine to'm just like get out of the way, right.
36:21
Speaker 1: If I have Andy Reid or John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh,
36:26
Speaker 1: if they want to be involved or have some Sean McVay,
36:30
Speaker 1: I understand it. I think part of it with Kyle
36:33
Speaker 1: is when Kyle was hired, he hired a guy who
36:37
Speaker 1: had never worked in the NFL. He played in the NFL,
36:40
Speaker 1: but he had not had a resume of working in
36:45
Speaker 1: front offices. So of course Kyle's gonna have all the juice.
36:49
Speaker 1: And then once you win you and I listen. I'm
36:52
Speaker 1: not saying that Kyle demands things in the draft, but
36:56
Speaker 1: it's much closer to that way. He's much more involved.
37:00
Speaker 1: Different Sean Payton, no different than if we just kind
37:04
Speaker 1: of go around the league. You know, Mike Vrabel before
37:06
Speaker 1: the Russini thing, it's like, yeah, what they want, they're
37:08
Speaker 1: gonna get. And I think, you know, Andy's a good
37:12
Speaker 1: example of it's just not worth his energy in time.
37:17
Speaker 1: If he can trust his general manager, going back to
37:21
Speaker 1: John Dorsey through Brett Veetz, it's like he can be
37:25
Speaker 1: much more. He can utilize his energy and his mental
37:32
Speaker 1: willpower in other places. So I think it just depends
37:36
Speaker 1: on who you have. If I have Belichick and Tom
37:39
Speaker 1: Brady's like, yeah's at Bill do it. If I have
37:43
Speaker 1: Howie Roseman, I'm just gonna I'm gonna want him picking
37:45
Speaker 1: my players, right. But how he'd be the first to
37:48
Speaker 1: tell you, like, it's not like he's just going rogue
37:50
Speaker 1: on everything. He's working with Fangio, he's working with Sirianni,
37:55
Speaker 1: he's working with the coaches. It's it's all a give
37:57
Speaker 1: and take. You have to work together because you can't
38:01
Speaker 1: just pick a player that you liked. It's like, Wow,
38:04
Speaker 1: this guy's not really gonna fit the scheme, or my
38:06
Speaker 1: coach fucking hates him. It's like that's kind of a waste.
38:10
Speaker 1: You all got to be pulling in the right direction.
38:12
Speaker 1: So it's like Kyle and John Lynch just always pulling
38:15
Speaker 1: the right direction. I didn't think this was gonna work out,
38:18
Speaker 1: but it clearly has. Patten and Sean Payton have clearly
38:22
Speaker 1: worked together. So I think the number one key is
38:26
Speaker 1: Howard loves Sirianni, John Schneider loves Mike McDonald. It's like,
38:30
Speaker 1: if you work hand in hand with the head coach,
38:33
Speaker 1: your staff and their staff, it's just gotta be collaborative.
38:36
Speaker 1: I think that's the most important. Ultimately, one guy is
38:40
Speaker 1: making the decision, but like, is everyone in rowing in
38:46
Speaker 1: the same direction in the boat? And I think when
38:49
Speaker 1: you get that, you just have successful organizations. Hardbob Bashatti,
38:54
Speaker 1: Eric Tacosta, Ozzie Newsome like they've always Obviously these guys
38:58
Speaker 1: probably argue all the time during free agency and during
39:01
Speaker 1: the draft and leading up to it, but when you
39:04
Speaker 1: make decisions, you go full speed and if it doesn't work,
39:06
Speaker 1: you pivot. So I don't think there is an ideal structure,
39:10
Speaker 1: because yeah, I would love to have an elite GM.
39:13
Speaker 1: But if I could have Kyle Shanahan, I take fucking
39:16
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan. So it's like, and I'll deal with some
39:21
Speaker 1: of the stuff that he wants to do. No different
39:24
Speaker 1: if I get Howie Rosen, I'll take Hali Roseman. I mean,
39:28
Speaker 1: who's available. So I don't think there is. It's like
39:33
Speaker 1: in business that there's not just one way to do something.
39:37
Speaker 1: There are a lot of different avenues to get things done.
39:41
Speaker 1: Previous year Eagles won the Super Bowl. The previous year,
39:44
Speaker 1: the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. This year Seattle won
39:46
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. So I it's a good question, but
39:51
Speaker 1: I don't think there is just a one all, be
39:54
Speaker 1: all way to operate. I just think you have it's
39:57
Speaker 1: the way. The number one thing all these guys talk
40:00
Speaker 1: about it is like we gotta be on the same page.
40:01
Speaker 1: We got to be on the same page. And I
40:04
Speaker 1: got no problem being on the same page as my
40:06
Speaker 1: coach as long as he's legit. If he's legit, I
40:10
Speaker 1: probably gotta deal with some stuff. Andy Reid also in
40:14
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, is a lot different than when I
40:17
Speaker 1: was with the Eagles. He was the boss, Howie was
40:19
Speaker 1: the GM, but Andy was in control. Why'd he change
40:23
Speaker 1: because he realized, like it's not worth his time. Maybe
40:27
Speaker 1: one day Kyle would be like that too. Maybe one
40:29
Speaker 1: I don't know. So I have a ton of respect
40:34
Speaker 1: for the way the Ravens do it. I have a
40:35
Speaker 1: ton of respect for the way the Eagles do it.
40:37
Speaker 1: I have a ton of respect for the way Kyle
40:38
Speaker 1: does it. I don't have to agree with everything these
40:41
Speaker 1: guys are doing. Like I thought, it was kind of
40:43
Speaker 1: chicken shit the way they handled the Crosby thing. The
40:45
Speaker 1: Ravens are clearly one of the best organizations in the league,
40:49
Speaker 1: but they also like blatantly lied the moment Crosby showed up,
40:53
Speaker 1: they were out. It was a dog and pony show.
40:56
Speaker 1: For the physical doesn't mean they're not a well run,
41:01
Speaker 1: high level organization. You also gotta be cutthroat. Players love
41:06
Speaker 1: Andy Reid. He sure gets rid of a lot of them.
41:09
Speaker 1: You know, Trade Trent McDuffie, trade it for Joe Toney.
41:11
Speaker 1: It's like part of the gig, part of the job.
41:15
Speaker 1: Is it me or to the Jets have a serious
41:17
Speaker 1: shot at winning the AFC East, it's you. They have
41:20
Speaker 1: no shot. You cannot win the division. Would you know?
41:25
Speaker 1: Smith is your quarterback? Not gonna happen. So they definitely
41:30
Speaker 1: are way better. But you're not gonna win a division
41:34
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41:38
Speaker 1: gonna happen. So it feels like you've got a better roster.
41:43
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43:12
Speaker 1: and out. Seems like a year after year, the NFL
43:21
Speaker 1: is to fight against politics being involved in the product
43:24
Speaker 1: when it comes to bad Bunny, Dart and Carter. Do
43:27
Speaker 1: you think that political divide and political chatter in the
43:30
Speaker 1: NFL will continue to get worse or plateau? I feel
43:35
Speaker 1: like it plateaued years ago. Years ago. I think they
43:39
Speaker 1: have incidents where creates a lot of controversy or talking
43:45
Speaker 1: points or social media buzz. What a social media buzz
43:50
Speaker 1: even mean? Everyone onse social is okay? Cool? What does
43:54
Speaker 1: that mean? Is my question? Like, what what's the impact?
43:59
Speaker 1: My impact is? Like? If I walk in society, will
44:02
Speaker 1: people talk about this? Or no? Like are people talking
44:05
Speaker 1: about this? If they're not, then like I think that
44:10
Speaker 1: happens a lot on social media. I also think this
44:14
Speaker 1: Bad Bunny like they want to go international. I think
44:17
Speaker 1: they will keep hiring international acts. My guess would be
44:22
Speaker 1: I don't even know. I didn't even know who Bad
44:24
Speaker 1: Bunny was until I watched Happy Gilmore too, I don't
44:29
Speaker 1: think you're gonna see American acts anymore. Like the Doctor,
44:32
Speaker 1: Dre Snoop Dogg, fifty Cent M and M thing could
44:36
Speaker 1: be the last because they care about the international audience,
44:40
Speaker 1: like it's all business to me. The I just don't
44:45
Speaker 1: think the Jalen or the not Jalen Carter, the abdual
44:49
Speaker 1: Carter and Jackson Dart thing is actually anything. I honestly,
44:53
Speaker 1: I think it will turn out to be nothing, Like
44:56
Speaker 1: it has zero impact, zero. It will be talk throughout
45:00
Speaker 1: this week, I'm sure when they're asked at press conferences.
45:04
Speaker 1: But then I think it's just dead. Could be wrong,
45:07
Speaker 1: Maybe it comes back up. Politics is now with social media.
45:12
Speaker 1: It's never going away. It's just not in terms of
45:15
Speaker 1: like everyone is the biggest deal ever, end of the
45:18
Speaker 1: fucking world. It's like I've lived forty years. I've been
45:20
Speaker 1: hearing this for since I can remember. You know, now
45:23
Speaker 1: it's gotten crazier over the last ten but it's like,
45:26
Speaker 1: give me a fucking break. My dad used to say
45:29
Speaker 1: this all the time. There's always been crazy shit that happened.
45:33
Speaker 1: Dad was in Vietnam, his brother died. People got back
45:37
Speaker 1: from that war. They were like spit on and pissed
45:39
Speaker 1: on when they got off the plane, like my grandparents
45:44
Speaker 1: were in World War Two. I mean, we've seen some
45:48
Speaker 1: crazy shit happen in this world, and I think that
45:53
Speaker 1: stories that like Abdul Carter had two tweets like, oh
45:58
Speaker 1: my God, a nightmare. So I I don't think there's
46:07
Speaker 1: any avoiding it. That'll always be a little intertwined, especially
46:12
Speaker 1: you know, players social media have bigger voices now than ever,
46:15
Speaker 1: Like they don't need a newspaper article or you know,
46:17
Speaker 1: radio and everything. These guys have their own podcasts so
46:20
Speaker 1: you can just say whatever you want, whenever you want.
46:23
Speaker 1: But I personally think it's kind of I think the
46:26
Speaker 1: consumers just kind of numb to it now, much more
46:29
Speaker 1: numb to it than they used to be. Obviously, there
46:33
Speaker 1: are individual situations that are more polarizing than others, but like,
46:41
Speaker 1: think how numb we come to just oh, Josh Jacobs
46:45
Speaker 1: turn himself in for five counts of different felonies. It's like,
46:50
Speaker 1: see that like last week where she Rice turned. You
46:53
Speaker 1: just kind of become numb to all these I think
46:55
Speaker 1: that's what happens in politics, and we go through ebb
46:58
Speaker 1: and flow of different eras. I don't know question for
47:05
Speaker 1: the pod with what it seems like an inevitable movement
47:08
Speaker 1: to eighteen games and maybe even a twenty game schedule.
47:13
Speaker 1: I saw a report today that twenty seven, So it's
47:16
Speaker 1: obviously not happening this year. It's not gonna happen in
47:19
Speaker 1: twenty seven. I think we're still several years away from eighteen.
47:23
Speaker 1: I don't think we'll go to twenty. But you know,
47:26
Speaker 1: if they go to eighteen, who's to say they won't
47:28
Speaker 1: go to twenty. I guess I'd be crazy if I
47:31
Speaker 1: just discounted like that. What about if we start entering
47:36
Speaker 1: the term load management into the conversation, could you envision
47:39
Speaker 1: a future where we could see teams sitting out healthy
47:43
Speaker 1: starters for the sake of keeping them fresh for the postseason.
47:47
Speaker 1: A twenty game season is potentially eighteen percent more snaps.
47:52
Speaker 1: I think you'd have to know you were in the playoffs.
47:55
Speaker 1: I think You would have to know that because think
48:02
Speaker 1: about now, when people rest people, you rest someone week
48:06
Speaker 1: eighteen when your seed is already set. No one rests
48:10
Speaker 1: anyone that's not like legitimately injured that needs a week
48:12
Speaker 1: off randomly throughout the season. So I I'd be a
48:18
Speaker 1: little stunned. Now, maybe you'd be more inclined to not
48:21
Speaker 1: push a guy, but this is not basketball or baseball.
48:25
Speaker 1: People do not sit out if they can play. The
48:27
Speaker 1: games are the fun part, ray Lewis, you pay me
48:30
Speaker 1: Monday through Saturday. Sundays are for free. You know why?
48:33
Speaker 1: Because Sundays are fun. Football is not that fun lifting,
48:38
Speaker 1: practicing meetings. It's it's a grind. The games are enjoyable
48:44
Speaker 1: for these guys. So I have a hard time seeing
48:50
Speaker 1: it because players want to play. How do you think
48:54
Speaker 1: Sean Payton will be remembered as a coach if he
48:57
Speaker 1: only winnings the one Super Bowl? Will he be if
49:00
Speaker 1: you to someone who underachieved, or will he be viewed
49:02
Speaker 1: at first and foremost as an offensive wizard? I think
49:06
Speaker 1: his stories kind of unwritten. I think these next couple
49:09
Speaker 1: of years are big. If he's able to win another
49:11
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, multiple Super Bowls, multiple franchises. I think he'd
49:16
Speaker 1: have a pretty legendary career. I'd say he's already kind
49:20
Speaker 1: of accomplished. He resurrected the Broncos. The franchise was in shambles.
49:25
Speaker 1: A couple of years later, he has them as the
49:27
Speaker 1: number one seed and you know, hosting an AFC Championship game,
49:31
Speaker 1: and if his quarterback doesn't break his ankle, I think
49:33
Speaker 1: we all agree he's probably in the super Bowl. So
49:36
Speaker 1: it's fair to say this year they're gonna be pretty good.
49:38
Speaker 1: So I think it's pretty key last year and this
49:41
Speaker 1: year to kind of add to that resume, because what
49:43
Speaker 1: he did with the same is pretty impressive. Hall of
49:46
Speaker 1: Fame quarterback record numbers, incredible offenses. Now he's kind of
49:51
Speaker 1: building a much more well rounded team. Now, obviously bo
49:54
Speaker 1: Nix isn't nearly as good as Drew Brees, but I
49:58
Speaker 1: would say the story's pretty un written right now, and
50:01
Speaker 1: it's if his career ended tomorrow, He's had a fucking
50:04
Speaker 1: hell of a career. Question for the mailbag, I've seen
50:08
Speaker 1: you talk about the NFL getting more games on streaming
50:12
Speaker 1: services is just the future and everyone will have to
50:15
Speaker 1: get used to it. Well, when I was a kid.
50:18
Speaker 1: I'm fifty nine now, we were pretty poor. Even though
50:22
Speaker 1: those tough times, I could watch an NFL game on
50:25
Speaker 1: a shitty twelve inch TV, then Rabbit ears on a
50:29
Speaker 1: Sunday or Monday night. You always say you don't know
50:33
Speaker 1: anyone who doesn't have Amazon Prime or Netflix, which just
50:35
Speaker 1: means you don't know poor people. Amazon and Netflix have
50:39
Speaker 1: commercials during their broadcast, so they are making ad revenue
50:43
Speaker 1: like the broadcast stations, So why shouldn't they show the
50:47
Speaker 1: games for free? Conversely, if you pay these streaming services
50:51
Speaker 1: to watch the NFL, why should you have to pay
50:53
Speaker 1: to watch commercials? Best of wishes to your wife and
50:57
Speaker 1: baby Jack. A lot of poor people have Netflix. I
51:02
Speaker 1: would push back on that one hard. You know, I
51:06
Speaker 1: would push back on that one hard. I would say
51:09
Speaker 1: Amazon Prime too, Like have you noticed, like if you're
51:12
Speaker 1: a shopped there, their shit's cheaper than everywhere else. So
51:16
Speaker 1: I can't speak to the demos on Amazon Prime, but
51:19
Speaker 1: I'm pretty confident on Netflix. I would say this, When
51:26
Speaker 1: you were a kid and you were watching games, like
51:29
Speaker 1: you don't have any options, you watched a local game. Hell,
51:32
Speaker 1: up until like thirty years ago, local games were the
51:35
Speaker 1: only thing we got. So if I was in Northern California,
51:38
Speaker 1: I got the forty nine Er game and I got
51:39
Speaker 1: the Raider game, and there were periods where the Raider
51:42
Speaker 1: games were blacked out. Now, I can't speak to the
51:45
Speaker 1: business models of putting ads. That's people are always gonna
51:48
Speaker 1: do that you can make more revenue. But I would
51:52
Speaker 1: say that the broadcast networks got the access to the
52:01
Speaker 1: football games because they had the biggest reach. Well now
52:06
Speaker 1: the reach for Amazon Netflix whoever, might not be at
52:12
Speaker 1: their level yet, but it is gaining more and more traction. So, yeah,
52:16
Speaker 1: is there gonna be someone with no Internet, some poor
52:19
Speaker 1: guy not being able to watch a game? Sure, will
52:22
Speaker 1: the NFL lose sleep If it's three x the revenue
52:26
Speaker 1: and still millions of people have access, You're not talking
52:30
Speaker 1: about like some top five percent niche group of people
52:34
Speaker 1: with access to Amazon Prime in Netflix. If that was
52:38
Speaker 1: the case, then this would be a different conversation. It
52:41
Speaker 1: clearly isn't, because we see the numbers of these people
52:43
Speaker 1: watching Netflix games on Christmas and these Amazon Black Friday games,
52:49
Speaker 1: which I remember last year was a huge fucking number
52:52
Speaker 1: Eagles and the Packers. So if millions upon millions of
52:56
Speaker 1: people have access, especially worldwide, which means somebody the NFL
53:02
Speaker 1: the day and age, and I get it. You're a
53:03
Speaker 1: little older than me. Those days are done. Okay. It
53:08
Speaker 1: was simpler times. I grew up without cable even when
53:12
Speaker 1: we had cable, and I had cable up until probably
53:15
Speaker 1: five six years ago. It was there was a simplicity
53:20
Speaker 1: to it, but cable was also a scam. Other people
53:25
Speaker 1: were subsidizing my ability to watch sports because that's what
53:29
Speaker 1: cost the most money, even though a smaller percentage of
53:32
Speaker 1: people actually watched the games. People didn't, but they were
53:35
Speaker 1: subsidizing by the cable packages. Now it wasn't easier for everyone.
53:39
Speaker 1: There's an argument to be made, but you could also
53:42
Speaker 1: argue it was not a Ponzi scheme, but financially it
53:46
Speaker 1: didn't make as much sense. Mark Cuban went on this
53:50
Speaker 1: rant the other day that subscriptions are the new TV
53:55
Speaker 1: ratings for these other partners, and there might be truth
53:57
Speaker 1: to that, there might not be, only you'd have to
53:59
Speaker 1: talk to the CEOs and the people doing these deals
54:02
Speaker 1: to truly know what they value and what they don't
54:04
Speaker 1: value depending on their ad sales. That wouldn't be true
54:08
Speaker 1: if it was simply no ads, Like you said, only
54:10
Speaker 1: subscriptions then, yeah, But to think that only a subset
54:16
Speaker 1: of society has access to it, I just don't believe it.
54:19
Speaker 1: Now does everybody? Do more people have Fox than Netflix
54:25
Speaker 1: in America? Some truth to that, But over the course,
54:29
Speaker 1: like things change, right, way more people used to listen
54:34
Speaker 1: to the radio in nineteen sixty eight than in two
54:37
Speaker 1: thousand and four, and obviously way less people listen now
54:41
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six than two thousand and four. It's
54:44
Speaker 1: like a lot more people watch broadcast television twenty years
54:48
Speaker 1: ago than they do now. Way more people watch Netflix
54:53
Speaker 1: then CBS, ABC, and NBC in twenty twenty six. So
54:59
Speaker 1: as things change and companies change and people's access to
55:03
Speaker 1: those things change, so do companies and so does the consumer.
55:10
Speaker 1: So I don't have starlink, but which is supposed to
55:15
Speaker 1: potentially become public relatively soon. My brother has it. I
55:19
Speaker 1: remember using a couple of years ago, thinking like, this
55:21
Speaker 1: is the most powerful thing I've ever seen, And I think,
55:25
Speaker 1: right now the user base is relatively small. Well what
55:28
Speaker 1: if that thing dramatically changes over the next ten years,
55:31
Speaker 1: So the access to the Internet, I don't know, becomes
55:34
Speaker 1: way easier for some of those people that have less
55:38
Speaker 1: access because they live in rural communities, right, because that's
55:41
Speaker 1: always an argument I've heard. You know, I don't have
55:44
Speaker 1: the ability to stream something because my upload speed I
55:46
Speaker 1: got shitty Internet. I would imagine over the course of
55:50
Speaker 1: the future, those things will change. So as things change,
55:54
Speaker 1: we have to change too. And I don't blame these
55:57
Speaker 1: companies for constantly adapting to change with the times, but
56:02
Speaker 1: we're never going backwards. And as someone who's adapted to
56:06
Speaker 1: this world, I enjoy it. The volume m HM