Indiana Pacers Take Game 1, Wright Thompson, Mike Florio Talking NFL, Aaron Rodgers Is A Steeler + Fyre Fest Of The Week

Summary

Pardon My Take - Episode Summary

Release Date: June 6, 2025
Episode: Indiana Pacers Take Game 1, Wright Thompson, Mike Florio Talking NFL, Aaron Rodgers Is A Steeler + Fyre Fest Of The Week
Host/Author: Barstool Sports

On this episode of "Pardon My Take," hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter delve into a whirlwind of sports discussions, ranging from the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals to the NFL offseason. The episode also features insightful interviews with renowned author Wright Thompson and NFL insider Mike Florio. Here's a detailed breakdown of the key segments and discussions from the show.

---

1. Indiana Pacers Steal Game 1 in the NBA Finals

The episode kicks off with a heated discussion about the Indiana Pacers' unexpected victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

• Big Cat ([04:16]): "These Pacers, they just keep doing it. PFT. It's insane."

• Hank ([06:16]): "Tyrese Halliburton has five last-second game-winning shots in the playoffs since 1997."

The hosts highlight the Pacers' resilience, noting their ability to overcome significant deficits, especially in the fourth quarter where they outscored the Thunder 32-16 to secure the win. Tyrese Halliburton's clutch performances are particularly praised, establishing him as a pivotal player in the series.

2. Critique of NBA Finals Broadcast

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the quality of ESPN's NBA Finals coverage.

• Big Cat ([11:01]): "There is not a single thing on the court that will tell you that it's the NBA Finals."

• Hank ([12:58]): "At least put the words NBA Finals on the courts. That’s the minimum."

The hosts express their frustration with the lack of distinctive Finals branding during the broadcast, arguing that it diminishes the event's iconic status and fails to commemorate the significance of the matchup.

3. Stanley Cup Final Game 1 Recap

Switching gears to hockey, the hosts analyze the thrilling Game 1 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers.

• Big Cat ([34:17]): "Oilers come back down three-one in the second, winning in overtime with David Draisaitl's decisive goal."

• Hank ([35:04]): "It's like we pulled a major upset, swinging the pressure off Edmonton now."

The game is celebrated for its intense comeback and the electric atmosphere in Edmonton. The hosts commend the Oilers' tenacity and the Panthers' struggles to maintain their lead, setting the stage for an exciting Stanley Cup Finals series.

4. NFL Offseason Updates with Mike Florio

NFL insider Mike Florio joins the conversation to discuss key offseason happenings, including Aaron Rodgers' signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

• Mike Florio ([25:37]): "Aaron Rodgers is back with the Steelers, ending their long national nightmare."

• Big Cat ([23:07]): "Aaron Rodgers agreeing to a one-year deal with the Steelers is a game-changer."

The segment covers the implications of Rodgers' move, including the revitalization of the Steelers' quarterback position and the broader impact on the NFL landscape. Florio provides expert insights into team strategies and quarterback dynamics, offering listeners a deep dive into the offseason's complexities.

5. White Sox Ownership Change

The hosts discuss the sale of the Chicago White Sox to Justin Ishbia, marking a significant change in the team's leadership.

• Big Cat ([40:19]): "The agreement ensures a transition from Jerry Reinsdorf to Ishbia by 2033, ending long-term uncertainty for White Sox fans."

This segment emphasizes the importance of ownership stability and its potential effects on the team's future performance and organizational culture.

6. Interview with Wright Thompson

Acclaimed author Wright Thompson joins the show to discuss his in-depth profiles of sports legends like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

• Big Cat ([50:42]): "Wright has some incredible books... talk about stories behind Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan."

• Wright Thompson ([55:57]): "The mask eats the face... star athletes cannot express their loneliness."

Thompson delves into the psychological pressures faced by top athletes, exploring the dichotomy between their public personas and private struggles. His insights provide a profound understanding of the human side of sports icons.

7. Interview with Mike Florio

Returning to his discussion, Mike Florio offers further analysis on NFL topics, including the Cleveland Browns' quarterback situation and the Minnesota Vikings' prospects.

• Mike Florio ([104:03]): "The Browns have five quarterbacks. They're the Browns."

• Big Cat ([121:08]): "How are the Lions going to adjust to Ragnow's retirement?"

Florio examines team strategies, quarterback dynamics, and the challenges faced by franchises in maintaining competitive edges. His expert commentary sheds light on the evolving nature of team rosters and the strategic decisions behind them.

8. Fire Fest of the Week

Concluding the episode, the hosts present the "Fire Fest of the Week," highlighting humorous and entertaining events happening in the sports world.

• Hank ([141:50]): "I've got a plan, but I need you to follow through on the plan."

This recurring segment encapsulates the show's signature blend of humor and sports commentary, offering listeners a lighthearted end to the episode.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "They always believe that they can win until the very last second." – Big Cat ([07:50])

• "The mask eats the face." – Wright Thompson ([55:57])

• "If you have five quarterbacks, you're the Browns." – Mike Florio ([104:58])

• "Nothing stops him from saying I intend to play for the Steelers." – Mike Florio ([25:37])

Conclusion:

This episode of "Pardon My Take" offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of current sports events, enriched by expert interviews and the hosts' dynamic banter. From the Indiana Pacers' remarkable start in the NBA Finals to the intricate dynamics of NFL team strategies and the psychological depths of sports legends, listeners are treated to a rich tapestry of sports discourse. Whether you're a casual fan or a dedicated sports enthusiast, this episode provides valuable insights and plenty of entertainment, ensuring it remains a favorite among listeners.

Transcript

[Big Cat]

Hey, pardon my take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Golf season is in full swing and getting out there to work on your game is bound to make any day even better. And if you're looking to improve your drive, Chevy Equinox EV is the smartest choice you can make. Bold athletic styling, a commanding presence, award.

[PFT Commenter]

Winning tech, and an impressive range, all.

[Big Cat]

With an affordable msrp, Chevy Equinox EV will put a smile on your face no matter how your scorecard shakes out. On today's part of my take, we have a twofer for the people. We have an awesome interview with Wright Thompson, incredible author. Talking about stories about Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, all the books he's written. Really, really cool guy. Awesome to talk to him. And then we have our good friend Mike Florio to Talk a little OTAs, talk a little football. We're also got a lot of news to talk about. The Indiana Pacers Steel Game one in Oklahoma City. Incredible start to the NBA Finals. We're going to talk about the Stanley Cup Final Game 1. We're going to talk about Aaron Rodgers to Pittsburgh. We have Fyre Fest of the Week, a great show sending you into the weekend and it's all brought to you by our friends at DraftKings in a sequel better than the original, we're going to find out at UFC 3. 16. It's a rematch nine months in the making. Get in on all the action. DraftKings Sportsbook the official sports betting partner of UFC. It's a huge night of fights headlined by a rematch between Devolish Villi and o' Malley as o' Malley looks to avenge the unanimous decision that saw Devolish Villi take the bantamweight title back in September. First time betting on UFC at DraftKings. It's easier than you think. Just pick something simple like a fighter to win and make your pick. That's all there is to it. And if you're new to DraftKings, here's your shot at cashing in right now. New customers bet $5 to get $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. USC 316 and DraftKings one night only for a shot to win some cash, download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use code TAKE. That's code TAKE for for new customers to get $300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text Hopeny at 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and.

[PFT Commenter]

Resort in Kansas, 21 and over.

[Big Cat]

Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward. Minimum minus 500 bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG Co Audio. Okay, let's go. Yeah. Welcome to part of my take presented by DraftKings, UFC 316 and DraftKings. One night only. For a shot to win some cash, download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use code TAKE. That's code TAKE for new customers to get 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Today is Friday, June 6, and the Indiana Pacers have done it again. They stole game one in Oklahoma City. These Pacers, they just keep doing it. Pft. It's insane. They have come back from 15 points down or more five times in these playoffs. That's the single most in a playoff since 1997. It's just the Pacers game plan is to lull you to sleep being giving you a 10 point lead and then in the last three minutes your world up and that's what they did to the OKC Thunder again.

[Hank]

You should let the Pacers take a lead. You should go into the fourth quarter losing by six points against the Indiana Pacers. And I bet you'd win like 75% of those games. It's crazy what they've done these playoffs. Just like Ryan Rossillo said, don't count the Pacers out. He liked the Pacers. So credit to Ryan for, for being the only one aboard that train. It was crazy at the, I think when, when Halliburton got the ball, I thought it was going to go in. At that point it's just like, okay, same story. But up until that point I was still like, surely they can't do this again. They didn't read until 0.3 seconds left in the entire game. If NBA playoff, if NBA games were 45 minutes long, the Pacers would be a lottery team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it was, it was, it was. I mean we shouldn't be shocked because they, they've done this so many times, but it still is shocking because the competition keeps going up a level and it's like, no, this isn't going to happen for Game 1, Oklahoma City. Like the Thunder were in control of this game for pretty much the entirety for 45 minutes. It was not like, yeah, it was. There would be a run here, run there, but it just felt like they were always in that 10 point range. But they never got the kill shot. And with 932 left in the game, they had their largest lead of the game, which was 15 points. And then the Pacers outscored them 32 to 16 in the last 932. Incredible fourth quarter from them. Hal Burton is an absolute. Just ice and ice in the veins. Killer does it time and time and time again. I just, I don't know what to say. Like, the paces are so much fun. There's been an incredible run this, this finals obviously had going into it. There's a lot of talk about, you know, is OKC going to kill him, you know, the ratings, whatever, blah, blah, blah. And then the Pacers just show up and they're like, hey, you know, you want some fun games? Let's make it an incredible game one and everyone buckle up because you're never safe with the Indiana Pacers.

[Hank]

How many players do you think have more last second game winning shots than Tyrese Halliburton in the course of the playoffs? I believe this is since the year 2000.

[Big Cat]

Probably. Like, I mean, is it none since.

[Hank]

Excuse me. Since 1997. Final five seconds of fourth quarter in overtime. Since 1997. In the playoffs. There's one guy, how many. It's LeBron James. He has eight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Tyrese Halliburton has five.

[Big Cat]

It's crazy.

[Hank]

It's.

[Big Cat]

And how many does he have in this, in this playoffs alone? Three?

[Hank]

Yeah, I think three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's. It's nuts. And they're just like, the Thunder. SGA was awesome tonight. Lou Dort was awesome tonight. Their defense, what were the, what was the turnovers in the first half? Was it 18 turnovers?

[Hank]

19, I think 19 turnovers. Were you like when you saw like the halftime lead? What was it, 10 points?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it was. No, it was 12 points.

[Hank]

12 points at halftime. And it felt like the Thunder could have been up. Like the Thunder didn't play that great offensively in the first half. They were just incredible on defense and it felt like the lead was way bigger than 12 points even at that point. So I, I don't know. I don't know what the Pacers are doing. I don't know what Rick Carlisle is doing. I don't know what. What makes them so different other than the fact that they just. They. They always believe that they can win until the very last second. But this must be the best thing ever to be an Indianapolis Pacers fan. It must be. It must be the best time. These playoffs have to just feel like crack. Just hit after hit after hit of crack.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And it's. I mean, I think it's a testament to their conditioning, their pace. Like, they just. And Richard Jefferson actually made a really good point in the first half, where you could see it in the first quarter, where the Pacers pace, which they like to play at, they needed to dial it down a little bit because they were just playing too frenetic. The Thunder were in every single passing lane, and once they kind of got in a little bit of a rhythm and in control in that second half, and especially the fourth quarter where they scored 35 points against the best defense in the league, it just. It's. You just give Halberton a chance at the end, and that's all that matters. The. The. The. The. The pacers led for 0.3 seconds of this game. Yeah, 0.3 seconds of this game. It was insane. They're so fucking fun, and I don't really know what else to say then. They're so much fun to watch. And, like, they always get. The thing that you. That I love watching about the. This Pacers team is they just. It feels like they always have guys stepping up. Like, Obi Toppin was incredible tonight. He was five for eight from three. They. You know, they had six guys in. In double figures. Like, it just feels like they get something from everyone, and, like. And T.J. mcConnell had not. You know what I mean? Like, they. They have so many guys, and they're so deep that they get something from everyone and they all pick up each other. Like, Tyrese Halberton looked very passive in the first half, and it's not like he was. It's not like he lit the world on fire in terms of, like, the overall game. He. He was. He was very good rebounding the ball, but, like, it doesn't matter because other guys will step up. Like, Nemhard hit a big three. That's like. They just have guys that step up in big moments, and they're so much fun to watch.

[Hank]

Yeah, Nemhard, he didn't play that well. He shot not. Not great, really. But in the fourth quarter, he made. He always, like, when it comes time to actually do something important, Nimhard is always there making shots.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it was it was not. Can we talk? So, I don't really know. I mean, I. I want to say the Thunder are going to kill him in Game two, because that just feels like how these things go where it's like, hey, now there's, you know, you. If you're the Pacers, you went down to Oklahoma City, you stole game one. The little bit of the pressure's off OKC on the other sides. Like, we really blew this badly, so it feels like there'll be an adjustment there. But no matter what, like, there was a lot of people who thought this would. Serious series would be very quick. I think the Pacers are, like, it's going to be hard to beat the Pacers in Indianapolis. So what? You know, the Indiana Pacers are for real. I don't know. It's crazy. I know that it's, like, crazy to say even though they're already in the NBA Finals, but they were that big of an underdogs, and this game just at some point, what they're doing is. Is not fluke. It's just this is how they do it. They. They. They just had they step up in big moments while other teams kind of crumble down the stretch. And I think it does speak to, like, SGA is incredible. Mvp. When you need a bucket at the end, it's kind of like he's just gonna. He's gonna try to do it himself. When the Pacers need a bucket at the end, anyone could get it for him.

[Hank]

Yeah, I don't know. I think we're all confused. Nobody saw this coming. Literally.

[Big Cat]

I'm not even confused. I'm just like, this is awesome. It was awesome.

[Hank]

It's great. I just. Every time I watch it, it's. It is the same thing that happens over and over again. And every time I'm like, how the hell did they do that?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

It's crazy. So, yeah. Congrats to the Pacers.

[Zach]

Congrats.

[Hank]

And you did it without Caitlin Clark in the building.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Which they have two games coming up with Caitlin Clark. So if they win those, they hold serve with Kate and Clark, it's at least going seven. Yeah. And we still got to figure out the Valkyrie situation. The. Can we talk real quick about the abomination of ESPN and their broadcast of the. Of the NBA Finals?

[Hank]

You didn't like it saying. Saying that Halliburton was shooting tour dates out there.

[Big Cat]

No, that actually was kind of a funny line. I actually like that. No, I'm talking about the fact that we didn't get, like, a True NBA Finals Game one intro video. We didn't get to see the player introductions. And there is not a single thing on the court that will tell you that it's the NBA Finals. And listen, I know people were like, hey, what would they do with the big Larry O' Brien? The big Larry O' Brien hasn't been around for like 10 plus years. But I look back and there's been some years where there hasn't been anything. Maybe it's because in this maybe isn't. This isn't fair because it's Oklahoma City. And it just looks weird because it's not like, not like watching an NBA Finals where it's the Lakers or the Celtics or, you know, a court or the warriors or the Heat where you've seen a bunch of them. How do you not have just like a script NBA Finals? How do you not have anything maybe even on the baseline there? It's the same argument I make with the, with the throwback jerseys or the alternate jerseys. When I watch a highlight of a, of this game ten years from now, I want to know it was the NBA Finals and there's nothing on the fucking court except YouTube TV. It's crazy. So I was, Good job. YouTube TV. You gave us the fucking fast forward that has Larry o' Brien on it. Nice touch. Put it on the court. I know I'm gonna sound like an old man right now, but it really bothered me. I would like, I want it to feel different.

[Hank]

I would like there to be NBA Finals and script on the baseline at the minimum. That's the, that's the minimum. Minimum, minimum. And then what? Ideally you should have is a little logo on the wood where the, you know, the sign that says Paycore Arena. Maybe on the other side of the court from that, put the NBA Finals and have the word Finals in elegant cursive. And maybe NBA is in block letters and then the year and have us.

[Big Cat]

And have us give us an intro. Give us an intro that makes us feel something like, this is the NBA Finals. You should get us people. This is the one game, especially game one is like the one game year where you should be wanting to sit at your TV 15 minutes early to see, you know, the intros, the player, the players being introduced, the, the intro graphics, everything. They didn't do shit. I don't understand. And guess what? If it's the NBA cup in the middle of December, they do all this shit with the court. So I don't know what. Listen, I like Adam Silver as your current guest when he Comes on, we can tell him this to his face. You have to make the NBA Finals feel special. It has to feel special. And it has to feel like when I watch it, when I watch back clips 20 years from now, I have to be like, that was the NBA Finals. Not. That was just a great game the Pacers and Thunder played, you know, in the middle of February.

[Hank]

I'll be honest, I don't really care as much about the intro videos. I. I don't spend a lot of time watching the pregame. That part's not important to me.

[Mike Florio]

But the part.

[Hank]

I mean, here's. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Here's where I think the intro videos play. Game one kind of plays.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Hank]

And then in a closeout game kind of play. Besides that, like, I don't really give a shit about the intro videos, but it should.

[Big Cat]

I wouldn't say. I wouldn't care about if it was game three. They didn't play it. I wouldn't care. But game one should have an intro video of how they got there.

[Hank]

At least. At least put the words NBA Finals on the courts. That I know that the game's important because sometimes my brain is dumb and I'm seeing the Thunder and the Pacers playing on tv and I forget in the middle of it, oh, yeah, this is the NBA Finals. We're dumb. Put that on there. Remind us all the time of it. And the Larry o' Brien trophy would be nice to have. But what about this? What if the winner of the NBA Finals, what if they get to put the Larry o' Brien trophy on their court for the entire next season?

[Big Cat]

That'd be fine, but I just need something. I don't. I don't care about next season. I want the NBA Finals to feel special. It doesn't feel special. I just see YouTube TV. That's all I see. It pissed me off. I. Do I sound like an old man yelling at a cloud right now? I feel like a lot of people were with me.

[Hank]

No, I mean, listen, the fact that they didn't have it on the court did irritate me. Yes.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. And I know. I know that it hasn't been like, I went and looked back and there's some years that they just don't have anything but. And so it might be partially because it was just like, so large YouTube TV. And it is, again, OKC is not like the court. It just looks different because it's a different shade of blue than we're used to in the NBA Finals. So I'm not trying to Pick on okc. It's not their fault. Espn. I just wanted to feel special. I want to feel. I want to feel special, you know, like I'm watching something special.

[Hank]

You know what? I love Thunder. Recurring guest. He should have had the Larry o' Brien trophy on his body.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that. That feels like maybe a closeout game. Like, if they're up. If they. If they got up in the series and they were. And, like, they could win, but they also could like, not a game seven, like a game five or six where, like. Oh, yeah, they could.

[Memes]

It's.

[Big Cat]

It's in the building.

[Hank]

Have Adam Silver present Thunder to the owner.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Hank, you agree, right?

[Zach]

Yeah. I mean, they should definitely have the. The logo or something. Or even the jerseys. Don't look. Don't look the same.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, the script. The script is fine. I'd take the script.

[Zach]

It also, I think it was because the game felt like a blowout, and the series felt like a blowout, and people were just looking for something to talk about. And then all of a sudden, that changed. But, like, that felt like that was going to be the story of the Finals for the first, like, three quarters was just like, where is the logos?

[Big Cat]

I agree with that. And that was. That was definitely thought in the beginning of the game was like, oh, this is because I wanted to feel special, doesn't it? It's like, this series is going to be quick. And then I, like, came full circle and went all the way around where I was like, I just watched an incredible Game one, and now I'm even more mad that they don't have anything.

[Hank]

Special on the court to commemorate it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

If I'm a Thunder fan, I protest this. Like, how sovereign citizens, they get in court and they're like, that flag doesn't have the yellow tassels on it. I don't have to pay my speeding ticket. That game should not count as an NBA Finals loss. That was a. That was a mid February loss.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That was. Yeah, that. That. That eliminated us. No, see, that's the thing. The NBA cup has the craziest course.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Can't even say it was an NBA cup game. We would know what an NBA cup game is. Memes. Are you okay? I'm okay. That was a flashback for you. Flashback. I'm still shocked. Okay. I'm just meming over here. Okay, Max, we. We already talked about Villanova Pope without you and Jay Wright. So no one knows what it's going.

[Mike Florio]

To do for recruiting.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

No one.

[Hank]

That's.

[Mike Florio]

It's.

[Big Cat]

It's never been done before.

[Mike Florio]

No one knows.

[Big Cat]

We talked about.

[Mike Florio]

There's a lot of people getting.

[Hank]

Getting on me saying that a lot of high school basketball players aren't Catholics.

[Big Cat]

And it won't mean anything to them.

[PFT Commenter]

But you won't know.

[Big Cat]

You.

[Hank]

No, literally nobody knows.

[Big Cat]

Nobody knows. Not a single person knows.

[Hank]

Literally no one knows.

[Mike Florio]

It's never been done before.

[Hank]

We do a bad job by not bringing up. I mean, Max, we. Cover your ears, please. All right, so. So Jay Wright, like, that's. I like to talk about Jay Wright in front of Max. Do we do a bad job by not mentioning Dan Hurley's name? Because I've seen that. I've seen that a lot.

[Big Cat]

But that would actually be what Max wants.

[Hank]

I know, that's.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we don't want to say that.

[Hank]

Back me up by saying that Jay Wright never wants to coach again.

[Big Cat]

I'm sorry, I. I was listening.

[Hank]

We heard. Actually, we heard different reports later on in the show, so you'll have to listen that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we have. We have someone who's got an inside knowledge.

[Hank]

In fact, we might just cut these. Cut this entire part because we already discussed it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, more inside than John Fanta.

[Hank]

You don't trust John Fanta?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I'd say, buddy. I'd say more inside than John Fan. You'll. I guess you'll have to tune in to us talking about it because. Yeah, we got an insider. More inside than John Fanta.

[Hank]

Okay.

[Mike Florio]

Disrespect to John Fanta.

[Big Cat]

That's.

[Hank]

That's what kind of show.

[Big Cat]

No, no, no, no, no, no. John Fanta would agree. Our insider is more inside than John Fanta. No, he wasn't. Yeah, he would. Yes, he would. All right, let's look. You know what? Let's kick it to ourselves. Let's find out. Okay. Back in studio before we get to everything that's happening. Game time. Game time. Football is back. The 2025 NFL schedule is out. The only place you should be getting your tickets is Game Time. The official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports, we're planning our fall schedule and circling the games we want to go to with killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, and their lowest price guarantee. Game Time takes the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets. So Game Time makes scoring NFL tickets faster and easier. They have exclusive discounts and you can find seats for as low as a hundred dollars. A game Time guarantee means you can Trust you'll get 100 authentic NFL tickets on time and for the best price. Plus fees are Always included. So what you see is what you'll pay. We're looking at tickets, Hank.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

What do we got?

[Zach]

Looking at the Indianapolis Colts.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Titans at Colts. Sunday, October 26th.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You can get in for $38.

[Big Cat]

Love that.

[Hank]

Guess the spread.

[Big Cat]

Daniel Jones starting.

[Hank]

I think it's going to be Danny Jones.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I say Colts minus two and a half.

[PFT Commenter]

Whoa.

[Hank]

No. I think Cam Ward's going to set the world on fire. It's still home field in a good way. Yeah, but roof open or closed? That's a real question.

[Big Cat]

Roof open. Roof open. So what are you waiting for? Go buy those Colts Titans tickets now. Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Game time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code PMT for $20 off. Your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem code PMT for 20 off. Download the game Time app today. What time is it? Game time. We're also brought to you by our friends at McDonald's. This episode of Pardon My Take is brought to you by McDonald's. All new McCrispy strips. The new McCrispy strips are here. It's chicken made for dipping. Tender, juicy white meat chicken with a golden brown peppery breading. Look at this. Oh, my God. It is delicious. It's chicken so good. It deserves its own sauce. The creamy chili McCrispy strip dip. A sauce that's creamy, savory and sweet with a little heat. But it works with any of their sauces. We love these. I'm going to take a dip right now.

[Hank]

Peter, that looks golden.

[Big Cat]

I'm gonna dip.

[Hank]

Amazing.

[Big Cat]

I'm gonna dip. I'm gonna dip.

[Hank]

Juicy, man.

[Big Cat]

That is delicious. Do you love them while I chew?

[Hank]

Oh, I love them so much. And the new creamy dippy dipping sauce. That stuff is amazing.

[Big Cat]

So new McCrispy strips with a new creamy chili McCrispy strip dip. It's chicken made for dipping only at McDonald's. We love it so much. And seriously, the creamy chili McCrispy Unbelievable sauce. Unbelievable sauce. Maybe Mount Rushmore sauces. We should do it. Okay. Everything has happened. Everything has happened. We're back in studio. We already talked about NBA Finals game one. Everything has happened. All the news has happened all at once. We're going to get to Florio and Wright Thompson. Florio, we talked about this with him. Aaron Rodgers. When is he? Is he. Will he. What's going to happen? And then in the afternoon after we recorded with him, Aaron Rodgers has agreed to a one year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is back The Steelers long national nightmare of being like, yeah, Mason Rudolph, he might actually be okay is over. Because you know that there were Steelers fans and I love Steelers fans. I love the city of Pittsburgh. There were some yinzers out there that have spent a long time thinking about maybe Mason Rudolph is the guy.

[Hank]

No, they talk themselves into it, some of them. I think any fan base probably would. But yeah, we've gone into some. There have been some rough off seasons for us where we have to convince ourselves, oh yeah. Of certain guys over the next year. And it, it's shocking how easy it is to do so. I'm sure that Pittsburgh is. Now they get to be happy, excited about Aaron Rodgers, not worrying about, like, is he going to sign? How come he hasn't signed yet? What was your favorite part of the Mason Rudolph era?

[Big Cat]

No.

[Hank]

Well, in the most recent, as the starting quarterback, otas.

[Big Cat]

I'm sure he threw his nice spiral.

[Hank]

I think mine was how he handled the Steelers drafting Will Howard.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Hank]

As a starter. I thought that was a textbook example in class, being a welcoming teammate. Aaron Rodgers could learn a lot from that.

[Big Cat]

That's facts. Also this. The Steelers fans talking themselves in Mason Rudolph. It's weird because obviously we think Steelers, we think Ben Roethlisberger, how many years he was there, how great he was. Two Super Bowls. Bowls. The Steelers are kind of like a mini Colts right now on their run because 2022, week one starter was Mitch Trubisky. 2023 week one starter was Kenny Pickett. 2024, week one starter was Justin Fields. Obviously Russell Wilson played a lot in that season too. And then 2025, it is Aaron Rodgers. So four years, four different week one starters. I'm excited that Aaron Rodgers is going to be back in league just because it's something to talk about. I'm not excited about November 23rd when he comes to Chicago and if he wins that game, he's going to be like, still own you.

[Hank]

I own Chicago. I love Chicago. What? I. I love this place. They don't love me.

[Big Cat]

He does have like some juicy games because it's week one against the Jets.

[Hank]

So I was going to say, what, what do you think was going on behind the scenes? Do you think that the NFL secretly colluded to putting the jets as the Steelers Week 1 opponent to try to make Aaron Rodgers make his decision as soon as possible?

[Big Cat]

I think they just knew he was going to be the, the, the start. I, I always assumed with Aaron Rodgers that it was, you know, last year for minicamps, he went to Egypt. He wanted to see how this draft went, so there wasn't going to be any surprises. If they like draft Shador Sanders, you know, early or something like that, trade up for a quarterback. And then he also probably just didn't want to go to minicamp or OTAs, like, I think minicamp, Steelers minicamp. There's one next week. But OTAs, probably for a guy like Aaron Rodgers, suck. He didn't want to do it last year, he's not going to do it this year. He missed a bunch of it this year. So he was always going to do this. It's the late Farvian where it's like, you know, summer comes around. He's like, yeah, you know what? I will play.

[Hank]

Yeah. My favorite part, by the way, in the Farve documentary is right after they confronted him with the picture scandal and he was given a press conference and the first thing he said was, you know, my hands are full right now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

After his hands definitely were not full, he could have picture.

[Big Cat]

He could have had a. He could have actually had a hot dog and that.

[Hank]

Yeah, his hand. But yeah. Memes squaring off. Week one against the New York jets.

[Big Cat]

By the way, revenge.

[Hank]

Is this a revenge game? I. I don't think this is a revenge game. People are calling it a revenge game. I think every game is probably in one way or another revenge game for Aaron Rodgers. But I think it's a double revenge game. Double revenge. I. I'd say it's more of a revenge game for the jets against Aaron.

[Big Cat]

I. Yeah. Or Jussie.

[Hank]

Yeah, for Jussie.

[Big Cat]

But it'll be a revenge game for Aaron Rodgers because of the Aaron Glenn slight to him in that meeting.

[Hank]

Oh, yeah, the two minute meeting.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And he doesn't like Woody Johnson. The build up to the game will be Aaron Glenn versus Aaron Rodgers. Yeah. By the way, Max is out today. Zach is sitting in his seat. Zach, just through five minutes. You've done an incredible job with Google because he's like, he's almost like voice to text.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He had started Googling Brett Favre picture.

[Hank]

Oh, no, don't do that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And I was like, oh, no, this is not going to go well. And now he's on the schedule. So. Yeah, we have week one against the Jets.

[Hank]

Zach, I got a question for you real quick. Before we started taping, you said Chrome or Bing or what? I told you that I get seizures from Google Chrome and we're still using Google Chrome.

[Memes]

I thought that at first it was the color Chrome that was throwing you Seizures. Because that's really reflective.

[Hank]

Okay. Yeah.

[Memes]

I did do some Googling saying that dual chrome can't cause seizures to you directly, but if we pull a video that has, like, a lot of lights and everything on Chrome, it may give you a seizure.

[Hank]

Okay, now that's. That's a good point, because I was just making that up.

[Big Cat]

He made it up. It was. Hank actually bought it.

[Hank]

Yeah, Hank bought it. That was a. Zach.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Come on.

[Hank]

Hank was like, wait, you get seizures from Google Chrome? And Pickett was like, yeah, he hasn't got him in a while.

[Zach]

And then I knew I did. Initially, I was like, you get seizures? And PFD was like, yeah. And then I was like, oh.

[Hank]

Because I was ready to be like, zach, what the fuck, man? You. You're going to give me seizures using Chrome? But you took it one step further, and you found out that, in fact, it wouldn't unless you played an epilepsy video.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Yes. As long as we stay away from epileptic content, you should be good.

[Hank]

Well, the whole seizure thing was a lie, so don't worry about it.

[Zach]

Yeah, they get seizures. I think it's fair to be, like, a little concerned at first.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, of course. A little concerned. All right, so the. The. The Steelers schedule, we got some juicy ones. So it's. They play the entire NFC North.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

So that is all revenge games or the old rivalry games. So Steelers, Jets, Week 1. They play the Vikings in Week 4, and then the packers in Week 6, and then the Bears, like I said, November 23rd. It's going to be fun. I. I don't like Aaron Rodgers, but I do think he's more interesting than Mason Rudolph.

[Hank]

I think it's an upgrade.

[Big Cat]

The Steelers are probably going to be in some primetime games.

[Hank]

I think it's upgrade over last season.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it absolutely is an upgrade over last. Yeah. I'm looking right now. The Steelers are in a decent amount of primetime or standalone games, and I'd rather have it be Aaron Rodgers than, you know, Mason Rudolph or Will Howard might be fine.

[Hank]

Do you think that. That this is going to scratch Tomlin's itch for having a crazy guy in the locker room? Ooh, I think it might.

[Big Cat]

It could.

[Hank]

I think this is what he needed.

[Big Cat]

Dk, though.

[Hank]

Yeah, but TK is not. He's not as. He's just violent. I think there's a difference between crazy and violent.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. DK definitely is on the line of. Of crazy. We also had the state of Pennsylvania, It. Ayahuasca is banned.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So.

[Hank]

Yeah, that's okay. He can grow his own.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

It's victory.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Aaron Rodgers. Hank, any thoughts? Aaron Rodgers back.

[Zach]

I like Aaron Rodgers. I feel like you like Aaron Rodgers now too. Well, I'll be rooting. It's, it's.

[Big Cat]

I don't hate him as much as I used to.

[Hank]

I think he's an interesting guy.

[Big Cat]

He makes the NFL more interesting.

[Hank]

The league is. Is more interesting having a guy like that as like with a big spotlight.

[Big Cat]

And I would love.

[Zach]

I also think he's way over the hill, but I hope he proves me wrong. I feel like he's. He's not, he's trying. Like he's not working that hard in the off season and he's old.

[Big Cat]

I agree with that. I'm not scared of him like I used to be. And also he's in the afc. I would love if the Bears beat him for his last game ever. I mean, I assume this is last year, right?

[Hank]

If he's signing a one year contract, I would, I would think this is the last day.

[Big Cat]

We're just gonna do it again.

[Hank]

This is the last day. A full off season. Going to a different again.

[Big Cat]

We're just gonna do the whole thing again. Oh, Ayahuasca retreats in Pennsylvania. Good Googling. There you go. I don't know if they actually do it. They probably just. They probably just put that in, put it up there and they're like, oh, yeah, you can come here.

[Hank]

I think Aaron's probably moved on from Ayahuasca.

[Big Cat]

I think he should do it a couple times. You're like, good, right?

[Hank]

I think he wanted to blow it up and, and he, you know, he took his Ayahuasca trip. He's like, the world needs to know about this. Then he told the world about it. But now so many people are doing it that Aaron's like, this isn't cool anymore.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

So he's got to see Twoy. I don't think he's not toosy guy. I know when I see one guy.

[Big Cat]

But the funny.

[Hank]

Maybe ketamine could be ketamine.

[Big Cat]

So the funny thing about Aaron Rodgers and the timing of his, you know, big. Oh, I'm back. I'm back. This is going to be great. Everyone's going to talk about Aaron Rodgers is he had maybe what, 20 minutes. Was it 20 minutes before John Rostein tweeted that Iona and Fordham have a home and home scheduled for the next two years.

[Hank]

Completely took the news cycle away from him.

[Big Cat]

It's over. Like Rogers. Sorry, dude. I Home and home series November 14th.

[Hank]

Newer show I just want to say not we don't get political on the show, but as an empath, today is. Is a tough one for me. Check in on your friends.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Hank]

Alex Jones is having a real hard day. I've been watching his live streams. I just want to say, you know, no matter how strong somebody appears on the outside, you never know what's happening between those two years.

[Zach]

Why is he having a hard day?

[Hank]

He's just having a rough day.

[Big Cat]

Well, Elon and Trump have broken up and it is ugly. It's as ugly as we all expected.

[Hank]

Yeah. I was talking to Mad Dog about how to relate this to a high school girl breakup. Like when two friends break up, is there any chance that they get back together? I don't, I think that this would be the equivalent of like your, your buddy gets. Your buddy cheats on your friend with another girl who's also your friend, and he gets that girl pregnant.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay.

[Hank]

There's no coming back.

[Big Cat]

I was going to say once you hit the pedophile button, it's, it's hard to be like, hey, you know what, man? I didn't really mean all that I said.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I don't think you come back from that. That's not saying like, I think you don't listen to me.

[Hank]

The fun.

[Big Cat]

I don't think you, I don't think you care enough about me.

[Hank]

The funniest part about all this is that Elon was like, you know what? I'm. I'm not gonna say anything because he's being fiscally responsible.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

But then the second fiscal irresponsibility crept in, he was, I gotta, I, I have to, I have to speak my mind.

[Big Cat]

It's fireworks.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

And yeah. So that it was very funny that Aaron Rodgers had this big announcement and then boom. Like Trump and Elon are just going to be fighting. Probably non stop because those are two guys that are not going to back.

[Hank]

Down from each other. No. And I think this is probably a big day for Aaron Rodgers too. He's a guy that likes to read his own headlines. Right. But when this came out, he has to pencil in the next nine hours on YouTube.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

He's like, I gotta get, I gotta do my own research for a while.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right. Other things that are going on in the sports where we had Stanley Cup Final game one awesome game. Awesome, awesome game. Oilers come back down three one in the second winning overtime. David Draisaitl. I saw a stat. It's pretty crazy. The Panthers entered 310 over the past three playoffs since coach Paul Maurice took over when leading at the first or second intermission, they were leading at both. And the Oilers, this felt like. I know that it's obviously one game and it's a long series as we learned last year when it went 30 and then all the way to game seven. But this did feel like a little demons, you know, exercising a little bit of demons for the Oilers where they're down early. Stuart Skinnier looks shaky, although that goal was. They. They reviewed that. Was it first goal or second?

[Hank]

Second goal. That was questionable for interference, which I was watching it and I was like, I have no idea what they're going to call on this because in the playoffs and especially the Stanley cup finals, you know what by the letter of the law interference is, but you don't know what they're actually going to call during the course of the game.

[Big Cat]

Right. So. And that happens and you're like, oh man, is this going to be another thing where like the Panthers are just so much better. And then the Oilers fought back down three, one get to overtime. Winning overtime with, you know, 30 seconds left in the first overtime. That there's just something about the Stanley cup final in Canada that's just like the. Oh, Canada. The crowd just absolutely electric. They scored a minute into the game. It was awesome.

[Hank]

Multiple people dressed up as the Stanley cup in the crowd.

[PFT Commenter]

Yep.

[Hank]

Love to see that. And I thought Wayne Gretzky made a pretty good point after the game that Edmonton really couldn't lose that one. No, it was a. It was actually a can't lose for Edmonton in game one based on how last year went. And so now I almost feel like it swings. The. The pressure is off Edmonton so much right now.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Hank]

I feel like the Panthers might go out there win game too.

[Big Cat]

So our guy Yans pays to listen to. Pardon my take told us the over was a good play in game one. He has texted me and said that the under is his play for game two because he thinks that Bob is going to lock back in it. Also anytime we get into a big time playoff hockey game overtime. I don't know if you guys ever seen this tweet that always goes revital. That just makes me laugh because obviously it's not real.

[Hank]

The John Boyce tweet.

[Big Cat]

No, it's not the John Boyce tweet. It's the one that says that people don't realize that there's no rules for the eighth overtime in playoff hockey and that they are. See the rules for the eighth overtime are sealed in an envelope in Toronto and haven't been open since 1917. And people actually think that's real. It just makes me laugh every time that, like, imagine if we got to an eighth overtime, you're like, we got to go find out what the rules are. And it's just, you open the envelope, it's like, keep playing, boys.

[Hank]

It's like, no more skates. Yeah. You're just wearing shoes.

[Big Cat]

It happens all the time. When there's a big time overtime game. I laugh every time because it, it is a cool theory to be like, what if there's a rule that no one's seen for over a hundred years and we just, we haven't gotten to that point.

[Hank]

We saw it for the first time. Florio, who we're going to talk to, had a little bit of that today with the NFL. He was like, actually, a team can score one point in a game. Here's how it happens. Yeah, it could be a 241 game. Hank, you don't know that.

[Big Cat]

No. Yeah.

[Hank]

You don't know about the, the one point conversion.

[Zach]

Is it intercepting a two point conversion and running it back?

[Hank]

So it would be like if you're, if you're trying for a two point conversion and then it's fumbled and then returned.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Then it could be a 10 game.

[Zach]

But now it'd be 11 1.

[Hank]

1 6.

[Zach]

Right. 1 6.

[Hank]

1 6. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Scorgami, score me. Okay, so, yeah, hockey, awesome. We'll have Whitney on Sunday night, after which I'm happy that the Oilers won a game because Whitney was not going to show up on Sunday night if.

[Hank]

They went down O2. No, but it was great watching. I, I love overtime in the playoffs when it's not my team playing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

In the Sailor cup finals, it was, it was incredible. I was hoping for two. I was hoping for three overtime.

[Big Cat]

I don't know if you guys saw, but I, I said I would have stayed up for at least seven overtimes.

[Hank]

Seven.

[Zach]

Well, you would have had to stay up for the eighth.

[Big Cat]

Well, yeah, because I was. Wait. But yeah, that's true. So I guess it was eight. It was eight. But I, I, I wasn't trying to brag or anything, but I was ready to do it if it got to it. I was ready to go.

[Hank]

I'm unlimited over times, as many as it takes.

[Big Cat]

I'm, I'mma wait and see. You know, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta see how it goes. Cause if it's, if it's like 4 in the morning. I might have to just close my eyes for a second.

[Hank]

At some point, if it went to like, 10 overtimes, the team would quit, right?

[Big Cat]

Well, yeah, unless the rules say that.

[Hank]

You can't quit, that you're not in the eighth. That's only the eighth overtime.

[Big Cat]

But what?

[Hank]

Ninth throw overtime rules are one team has to quit.

[Big Cat]

Quit. The ninth overtime rules are written on the bottom of the Stanley Cup.

[Hank]

Yeah. One team has to quit. But if both teams quit, then they both lose. Yeah, but if one team quits, then it's only one team loses, Right?

[Big Cat]

Mutual quitting.

[Hank]

And if neither team quits, then it's Both teams lose two games each.

[Big Cat]

The 10th overtime is hidden behind Mount Rushmore.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Right next to the Declaration of Independence. What.

[Hank]

What pages are they looking for in the next National Treasure?

[Big Cat]

I don't know.

[Hank]

The lost pages. I can't wait for that movie to come out.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I mean, just. Just a. They got the system and they run it. They run the same play and it works every time.

[Hank]

Bruckheimer is going to do it again.

[Big Cat]

Brook Bruckheimer is in Michael Bay.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

They've never worked together.

[Hank]

Nope. It's going to be great. Most ambitious crossover of all time.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Anthony Richardson is hurt. Another shoulder injury to the quarterback ranks. So. C.J. stroud. Anthony Richardson. I feel like this is. I feel like it's gonna be Daniel Jones.

[Hank]

Yeah, I do, too. I think just spending three months with Kevin o' Connell, that room is enough.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Such a legendary room he was in.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

But maybe spin zone, if you're Colts fan. Maybe he'll stop overthrowing receivers if his shoulders a little bit hurt.

[Big Cat]

True, true. He takes a little off.

[Hank]

Yeah. Could be good for the deep ball.

[Big Cat]

I just feel like the Anthony Richardson experience might be over.

[Hank]

Third year bump.

[Big Cat]

Third year bump. I don't know. I don't know. Are there. Are there still people who believe in Anthony Machining? Because I, I. You do, Hank.

[Zach]

I'm in the camp always.

[Hank]

I'm in the camp of. I kind of like to watch him play because he's fun. Hank is in the camp.

[Big Cat]

Don't disagree on that.

[Hank]

Hank is in the camp of. I saw him play one time in college and he was electric, which is also fair. And I staked my reputation on him.

[Zach]

Although I. I can't after seeing that, I'll never not believe.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Zach]

Despite the fact that every other piece of evidence suggests other was right.

[Hank]

Yeah, I think it's fair.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I just wonder, are there Colts fit? Because I remember what last year started. There were Still a lot of Anthony Richardson fans who were like you, you don't understand. Well, that was box score, watching all that stuff. It's like I'm watching my eyes and then it's slowly as the year went on, they're like, yeah, maybe, maybe not.

[Hank]

Well, because you started and hot on them after like one week or two weeks. And that's after the Colts fans had a full summer of convincing that like the Mason Rudolph thing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

They just spent four months being like, anthony Richardson is the guy. He's going to step up this year.

[Zach]

I think the problem is even more.

[Big Cat]

The problem is you. If you watch both college and NFL, you have like, I didn't think he was great. He had a couple great moments in college, but he wasn't great in college. It's kind of like the Joe Milton where people like Joe Milton might be it. And I'm like, I don't know, man. Watched a lot of them, don't know.

[Hank]

I just want to enjoy Joe Milton.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Just let me enjoy Joe.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see what happens there. And then the other story I had was the White Sox are finally getting sold in like seven years to Ishbia.

[Hank]

Right.

[Big Cat]

Justin Ishbia.

[Hank]

Oh, the brother.

[Big Cat]

Brother.

[Hank]

How do we feel about him?

[Big Cat]

Well, Matt Ishbia is having some problems with the sun. I don't know if you saw, but he. The Suns are not being run very well. They have not done well on the court.

[Hank]

Not being raised.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they're not being raised correctly. And Matt Espia came out a couple days ago and he actually said, you know, I did the thing where you buy a team and then you put a lot of smart people in place and you listen to them and they screwed up. So I'm going to take control.

[Hank]

Yeah. No, this is the life cycle of a bad owner.

[Big Cat]

Usually it's the other way around.

[Hank]

No, but what happened? I think at first Mattish beer was like, awesome. I own an NBA team. I'm going to get all the best players on my team. And then he's like, I've learned that I'm. I need to rely on my basketball guys, so I'm putting them in charge. He didn't get immediate results from that. So now he's like, I need to just trust myself.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

It's got me this far in life. I need to go back. So he's just doing rapid flip flops.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he's flip flopping. So Justin, his brother, has a deal with Jerry Reinsdorf where basically the team is Justin Ishbias In 2027, I believe if Jerry wants to sell. And then in 2033, it's just officially. Jerry Reinzer basically just did like a clock on his own life. He's like, I think I'm going to live for about six or seven more years. I don't really want to give it up, but I also need to have something in place. So, yeah, it's going to be yours.

[Hank]

What are those things you can get tested that tells you your lifespan. You know what I'm saying? The. The one that like Dana White got, all those rich guys get, they test some level that you have in your body.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[Hank]

And then they're like, yeah, it looks like you have the body of a 40 year old right now. Yeah, you've got the body of a 60 year old. You have X amount of years. That's what Reinsdorf probably got. And he's like, okay, I need to get a term sheet in place.

[Big Cat]

I mean, he is like 90.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So he's. He's very old, but he. I'm happy for White Sox fans because as. As much as it's like, so. So the actual terms are, the agreement provides it from 2029 to 2033. Reinsorf will have the option to sell the controlling interest to ishbia after the 2034 season. Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest in the event of any future such future transaction. All limited partners of Socks would have the opportunity to sell to Ishba at that time. So it's basically set that Jerry Reinsdorf is not going to pass the team down to his son and his keeping his family. So I'm happy for White Sox fans because it's at least a light at the end of the tunnel. These are years and years away, but still, it's better than being like, who knows what's going to happen? Maybe at the last second he's like, you know, Michael Reinzorf, you run both teams. Teams.

[Hank]

I was gonna say tough break for. For his son.

[Big Cat]

Well, he's getting the Bulls.

[Hank]

Oh, that's okay.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Nice consolation.

[Hank]

But also, do you think that's. The timing of this has anything to do with the Chicago MLS team getting the site for the stadium that the White Sox wanted?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they got bodies.

[Hank]

And then the very next day, yeah, Reinsdorf being like, I'm gonna sell the team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Because where are the White Sox even gonna be playing at that point?

[Big Cat]

It's probably still in their. In the same scene, but they got. They got a little bit Bodied by the mls. The fire who are. Are privately funded.

[Hank]

Privately funded. A billionaire paid for his own state. Well, it's. It's a MLS owner. A hundred millionaire paid for his own stadium.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he's got. He's got some. Some change.

[Hank]

Yeah, he's got to memes. You sent something to the group chat. I. I wanted to dive into just a little bit. The Colorado Rockies to the All Star Game movement. Can you explain what this is about? I did.

[Big Cat]

I tweeted about it.

[Hank]

Yeah, we're just.

[Big Cat]

We're just getting the. We're getting the Rockies in the All Star Game. I love that.

[Hank]

So, yeah, what's the. The movement behind this is. It would be funny. It would be funny if people, because it's a fan, vote for the All Star Game, right? Yes. But doesn't every team have to have a player?

[Big Cat]

No, that was an old rule. Yeah.

[Hank]

Okay. So the premise behind this movement is it would be funny if the All Star roster was just comprised of Colorado Rockies in the National League despite the fact that they're the worst team in baseball history up to this point. Yes, but I'm in.

[Big Cat]

Somebody said it would be like the Gamestop movement, and I've been chasing that high for.

[Hank]

Ooh, Stonks.

[Big Cat]

I love that. By the way, they are still the worst team in mlb, but they did win three in a row. Yeah, they beat the Marlins, beat Scotty Sheffler, and if you wanted to do, like, if we did a power rankings, I think even though the A's are better on record, I think their power ranking would be ahead of the A's after this week because the A's. A's are about to win a game. But I think The A's were 1 in 21 in their last 22 games now. 1 in 20, 21. Or, sorry, 2 and 21 in their last 23 games.

[Hank]

There's so many bad teams in baseball, it's crazy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Like the Pirate dude, Paul Skeens. Poor Paul Skeens. I feel so bad for him. He's given up one.

[Hank]

I don't feel bad for Paul Ski.

[Zach]

No one sucks.

[Big Cat]

One runner. Pft. One run or less in each of his last five starts. And the Pirates are two and three in those starts. I understand why you wouldn't feel bad for Paul Skeens in other parts of his life, but being that good of a pitcher and just having your team suck around you would be maddening.

[Hank]

So I think it's. I think it's better now than it would have been if he was pitching at this level, let's say 30 years ago.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Or 35 years ago, when people just looked at wins, losses, and being like, oh, that guy's having a tough year.

[Big Cat]

That's true.

[Hank]

But now I feel like sports fans are smarter for the most part, for sure.

[Big Cat]

But it's still got to suck.

[Hank]

It does suck for him to be like, I'm pitching as well as almost any pitcher has ever pitched.

[Big Cat]

Like, it's hard to lose those games. Yeah, it's. It's. It's actually kind of impressive that the Pirates are like, oh, yeah, Paul Skeen's gonna do this for us, and then we're still gonna lose this game.

[Hank]

It's probably gonna get to hang out with Aaron Rodgers too.

[Big Cat]

True. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, there's. There's definitely. I don't. I. Feeling bad for Paul Skeens is really just on the baseball field.

[Hank]

Yeah. I feel bad for him off the field. Doing okay off the field.

[Big Cat]

He's. He's. He's living his life. Yeah. The. The. They played the Astros eight innings, pitched one earned run. They lost three. Nothing. He did against the Diamondbacks, 6.62. Oh, no. They won that game against the Phillies four starts ago, eight innings, pitched, one earned run, they lost one. Nothing.

[Hank]

Yeah, it's tough.

[Big Cat]

That's so brutal. That's so brutal. Gets the Mets six innings, pitch, one earned run, lost four, three. Just like, come on.

[Hank]

I feel bad for. For Pirates fans.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

More so than that.

[Big Cat]

Ownership is. They're next up because what do you do for us to yell at them in baseball?

[Hank]

What do you even do if you have a superstar player like that, a generational talent, and you know that you're not going to be able to win around them because your owners won't pay for good players.

[Big Cat]

They're just gonna hope to get a lot in a trade, and then those guys become like five Paul Skins all at the same time.

[Hank]

And then you trade those guys away.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

And then you get.

[Big Cat]

Well, you need all the Paul Skiings at the exact same time. And then you can make a run.

[Hank]

Then you can make a run.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. That's essentially small market baseball. It's shitty. Very shitty. Okay. Anything else before we get? We have two great interviews. Ray Thompson was awesome. Great stories. One of the best authors out there. And then Florio is. Just cracks me up because he's. He's just all. All football time. We had very, very fun time with our guy Mike.

[Hank]

He's gone. He's gone full Florio.

[Zach]

You're not getting taxed during that interview, by the way.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. Yeah, don't worry. Don't. Don't check your phone if you're driving. It's. It's not you who's getting the texts.

[Hank]

Yeah. But Florio. He's cooking right now. This is the time in the off season where Florio. The mind starts to wander. So it was. It was a treat to talk to him.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I have one last thing. Max is not here. Zach is sitting in his seat. Zach, would you like to give a statement about the Pope receiving a Villanova hat?

[Memes]

I think the Pope receiving a Villanova hat could mean that that was a gracious gift from the Pope to. Or from Villanova to the Pope, maybe. Possibly some guys that may have coached at Villanova before. Now the Pope is wearing Villanova's hat. Could be coaching somewhere else soon.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, that's good point.

[Hank]

Yeah. Even think about it again in New York.

[Memes]

Maybe in New York. I believe there's a vacancy. A couple of guys that.

[Hank]

A lot of Italian Catholics in New York.

[Zach]

There's actually been a lot of reports saying, like, it might happen.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Has there?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Either have.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

And we don't have anyone to shoot him down on the show.

[Zach]

He's interested.

[Hank]

Hank. Does he want to coach, though?

[Zach]

Yeah, they said he. He misses coaching and he wants to be. He loves New York.

[Big Cat]

Wow. Wow.

[Hank]

That's huge. Thanks for the update.

[Zach]

Yeah. Guys that work with him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Zach, I like how you rephrase every question. Like, it's like a writing prompt in 8th grade.

[Zach]

Zach.

[Hank]

Is this good for recruiting for Villanova?

[Memes]

I think it just. It depends on if there's a couple of Catholic guys that are a bucket, you know, over there.

[Big Cat]

True. You need to get the Venn diagram. Catholic guy bucket. Boom.

[Hank]

Church hitting up high schoolers again. You're back.

[Big Cat]

All right, let's. Let's get to our interviews. We got Wright Thompson and Mike Fleury, and then we'll finish with Fyre Fest.

[Hank]

Before we get to Wright Thompson, he's brought to you by truly hard seltzer and truly unruly lemonade. It combines the high elk fun of truly unruly with everyone's favorite lemonade. It's lemonade let loose. 8% ABV, 100% delicious. They've got four supercharged lemonade flavors, bumping Blue Razz, OG original lemonade, punched up pineapple and wild pink. Truly unruly lemonade is the best drink for the summertime. It's about to be an unruly boy summer with truly unruly lemonade. Like I said, 8% ABV. And it tastes great. Very refreshing. Great drink for the golf course drink. Great drink for just partying outside on a boat. Bring it to the lake, bring it to the beach. It's the official hard seltzer, a part of my take. Level up your lemonade with truly unruly Wright Thompson's also going to be brought to you by Chevy. Our great friends over at Chevy. For over a century, that's a hundred years Chevy has been building trucks that don't flinch and they never quit. Whether you're hauling lumber on the job or trying to get the smoker, the cooler, the cornhole boards, and the whole crew to the tailgate on time, Chevy gets you there. When Chevy says most dependable truck, they're not just speculating. Chevy trucks have earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand according to JD Power 2025. Sounds like they've got the stats to prove it. You can draft [e-mail] in every Chevy truck, dependability comes standard. For more on Chevy trucks, visit Chevy.com and visit JD Power.com Awards for more award details. And now here is Wright Thompson.

[Big Cat]

Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest, recurring guest. He's a very, very, very special guest. He was last on with Mickey Hart. It is writer, a very accomplished writer. Senior writer for espn, contributing writer for the Atlantic. He has some incredible books he should go buy right now, especially for Father's Day. The barn, pappy land, the cost of these dreams. It is Wright Thompson. Wright, thank you for joining us. My first question is how do you become a senior writer? And when that happened, was it like the biggest day of your life? Is there a ceremony being like you're going from junior to senior writer?

[PFT Commenter]

Well, I mean, it's funny because, yeah, there's a huge ceremony. You get the big pope hat. And you know, by the way, this is a total aside, but I just found this out. Do you know when they get down to like two or three possible popes, they go to this store in Rome, I think it's called Gamma Rally, and they get fitted, which means that there are two people who look at themselves in the mirror dressed like the pope, who don't get to be the pope.

[Hank]

And then you have to live the rest of your life with that image in your head of I could have been.

[PFT Commenter]

Yes. Yeah, like that. Think about being in triple A. Three of you go up, put on pinstripes, and then two of you are like, nah, you're gonna go sell insurance now.

[Big Cat]

Wow. I. I would imagine Darren Ravel is going to get his hands on some of those.

[PFT Commenter]

The.

[Big Cat]

The off Pope costumes. Or, you know, not a costume, but.

[Hank]

Hemingway wrote a story about that, right? Pope uniform never worn. That's.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Is it for sale? Baby shoes never worn.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So. Yeah. So how do you become a senior writer?

[PFT Commenter]

Well, they just sort of name it. I mean, it's pretty funny. You know, my oldest friend in the world is Seth Wickersham, and I worked at a bunch of newspapers. He started at ESPN magazine, like, as a fact checker, and we both ended up being named senior writers randomly on the same day. So that was fun. I don't know what that means. I think that means you're old and overpaid. Sort of like, you know, executive producer is a Latin phrase for taking credit. You know, I think it's some of that. Yeah.

[Hank]

It's a good place to be, though. Rick Riley anoints you with a pen, a tap on each shoulder. You may now rise.

[PFT Commenter]

And then some terrible cliche.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

About teeth, usually.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

So. So you're good friends with. With Seth Wickersham. That's interesting that. That you guys are. Are so close because I. When I think of, you know, the best modern sports writers, I think about you. And then Seth Wickersham, when he comes out with something, you can just pretty much stamp it as gold because he gets.

[Big Cat]

He.

[Hank]

He's kind of like you. He gets everybody to talk to him that probably shouldn't be talking to him.

[PFT Commenter]

Oh, they. Dude, if I worked in the NFL and I saw him come in, I would turn and run. Yeah, but like, no, I mean, he, like, I think, you know, I'm incredibly biased, but I think he's the best sports writer in America. But, yeah, we've known each other a really long time. And I mean, as you guys know, it's a lot easier to do this job with a tribe, you know, with people who sort of understand, you know, I'm in New York chasing Aaron judge right now, and I could call Seth and he completely understands. You know, it's just. It's just helpful because, I mean, this is otherwise a soulless, lonely place. So I'm. I'm super grateful.

[Big Cat]

So.

[Hank]

But before you jumped on, you mentioned that you had, you know, you followed around Tiger Jordan. You've gotten to know the two of them or kind of what makes them tick. On this show, we like to elevate the discourse a little bit. So I'll just ask You. Who's better, Tiger woods or Michael Jordan?

[PFT Commenter]

Michael Jordan.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Okay.

[Hank]

So he's the goat.

[PFT Commenter]

And, you know, it's interesting because, you know, I mean, I have one of the books you talked about called the Cost of these Dreams, which is a collection of my ESPN stories. You know that two of the sort of tentpole stories in that book are a profile of Michael Jordan and a profile of Tiger Woods. And I always thought it was. I mean, I feel really bad for Tiger woods because he comes along. They don't. They have a model for what to do with a star. It's the Michael Jordan Playbook. It's Nike and Phil Knight and Tiger's parents. And, you know, they did what they thought was best. And it's always astonishing that no one in that room at Nike, not Tinker Hatfield, not Phil Knight, nobody, it occurred to no one that the playbook had been built around Michael Jordan, who is an extreme, extreme extrovert. And they applied it to Tiger woods, who was an extreme introvert. And, like, honestly feels like they broke him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, but there's that great John Updike quote. I love. The mask eats the face. And that happens to so many people in public life. I mean, you know, it was happening to Jordan. I mean, one of the interesting things about Jordan in the last 10 or 15 years is that he's been doing real work on how to deal with the existential problem of you created yourself to be the perfect basketball killing machine. And every one of those traits that you elevated at the expense of some other trait or some other person you might have been, you basically prune the ability to enjoy having been Michael Jordan.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[PFT Commenter]

So I think these. Doing, like, real, real work on the. You know, on how to be happy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, even, like, when watching the Last dance, like, one of the things that. That I think struck out is like, even, like a simple moment where Steve Kerr was like, hey, he's our teammate, but he's kind of not attainable. Like, he's not. He. He lives in a different air than everyone else, and you're playing a team sport, but he's Michael Jordan and we're just the rest of the Bulls. And that has to feel incredibly lonely at some point. And Tiger, obviously, playing an individual sport, could you sense that when talking to both of them? Like, there is a. There's a loneliness that the regular audience does not realize because we just see athletes on the screen and we're like, those guys have it made. Their life is awesome. Women, money, fame. It's the best.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, it's so interesting. You go read Bill Russell talking about being a star, and it could be a modern guy talking, and he talks about the loneliness. You know, it's. I'm in New York right now doing Yankee stuff. I was. I was the one of the last people in the old Yankee Stadium. Like, to the point that Major League Baseball put one of those holograms on my notebook the night they closed it. And I'm wandering around during the game, and this guy sort of comes out of the shadows who works there and is like, come with me and don't tell anybody I showed you this. And he walks me down this hall into a room that is full of chairs that have been, like, unbolted from the. It's like a storage room. He's like, you know what this is? And I'm like, what? He goes, this used to be the Yankees clubhouse. Used to be down here. And this is the room where Lou Gehrig would sit by himself after he knew his diagnosis and no one else did. And, like, this is the room where Lou Gehrig would sit and get ready to die. And, you know, if you think if you're Aaron Judge, you're not just competing against Ohtani, you're competing against Ruth and Garrick, you're competing against DiMaggio and Mantle. I mean, the ghost that these guys have to wrestle with on the way to being the thing they want to be, I just find that incredibly compelling. And I also think that if I were in their shoes, and it would crush me. I mean, I would end up on Page Six doing dumb shit out in New York City. Like, the guys who. You know. I mean, the guys who do this, well, are really superhuman to me.

[Big Cat]

And I think the. It's not tragic, but the part that always strikes me with athletes is they cannot say, hey, I'm lonely. You know what I mean? Like, no one wants to hear that from a star athlete. They don't want to hear a star athlete be like, hey, there's parts of my life that. That kind of suck, because everyone wants to be them. So it's not only the lonely loneliness, but you're not going to get any sympathy for it either.

[PFT Commenter]

No. Like, yeah, go cry in your $300 million thing.

[Big Cat]

Right?

[PFT Commenter]

I mean, it is. You know, I mean, I've profiled a lot of athletes, and almost none of them are just happy. You know? I mean, like, the guy who. You know, the guy who was probably more. You guys remember Dale Murphy who played Atlanta Brave?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Like, time mvp so Murph is probably the happiest former athlete I've ever met. And it is because he, very intentionally, when he retired, set about killing the avatar of famous Dale Murphy. And most of these guys try to hang on to it. You know, he went and ran, like, a Mormon mission in Boston after he retired. Like, and not a ceremonial job, you know what I mean? Like a hard job dealing with young people and, you know, you're someone's parent, and there's a tremendous amount of responsibility. I think the guys who are happiest are the ones who understand what it means and what it doesn't mean and are able to, you know, cash their checks and walk away. And you're like, hey, whatever happened to that guy? I don't know, man. I think he's down at Key West. He has dinner at Manja. Manja every night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Like.

[PFT Commenter]

Like those are the. The ability to kill the avatar, not let the mask eat the face. Feels like. Like I don't have any special. I just have been around a lot of guys. That's the only sort of knowledge I have. It's not like, you know, but it. It does feel, you know, like when you go through that collection, the cost of these streams, that collection of stories, and if you're looking for a through line, I mean, that's what, you know, the song's named after, the book is named after Drive By Truckers lyric that I really like. And it's because, you know, when I went and read those stories for the first time, they spoke to each other in a way that I certainly didn't intend for them to. You know, I mean, I'm not nearly that smart, but, yeah, I read them and I was like, oh, shit. Like, this is. This makes sense as a through line.

[Big Cat]

Go ahead.

[Hank]

I was going to say Jake Plummer is that way. Jake Plummer started a mushroom farm out in Colorado. Kind of moved on immediately and became, you know, next phase in life completely different from the last phase. And I know that you spent some time around. Around Coach K. Dear friend of ours, Coachefsky. Is he like that in this next phase of life? I know he's still got the office at the building.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, one of my favorite details is that, you know, people have to be protected from themselves. If you've ever been in the Duke basketball office, the. All of the coaches in the team meeting rooms are on the fifth floor of that building. And Coach Cade's office was on the sixth floor. And if you walk out of his office, like, around there, there was A stairway that led down to the fifth floor so he could sort of pop in and pop out. And it's my understanding they bricked up that stairway. So if he wants to go to the fifth floor, he has to take the elevator like everybody else. I think these guys have a hard time letting go. You know, sport, there's a scoreboard. It's, you know, it's hard for me to know. Like I'm going to have a story come out next week and some people might really like it and some people might really hate it. I'm going to have like a definite point of view and some people might agree, some people might think I'm an idiot, but there is no binary zero sum way to be like, this story is a success or a failure. You guys do a show, you know, shows probably what, five days a week and you get metrics. But like, sometimes I bet your sense of how a show went is very different than the audience's sense. And with sports, there's a scoreboard. And I think people get addicted to the simplicity of it that like, I know whether I won or lost today, I got two kids. I feel like every day I'm taking L's, you know what I mean? Four to seven year old. I just got a text message. The seven year old asked about makeup. I just wanted to kill myself.

[Big Cat]

Oh. Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

So yeah, like I was just like, what? That's starting already. Like, you know, you know, not to one up.

[Big Cat]

Not to one up you. But I watch. I took my two oldest to school today and my. We like were late because my 6 year old son was putting on the fake earrings on my four year old daughter. And I was like, this is, this is too much. They were like standing there waiting to get in the car, just pressing the little like fake earrings on. I was like, come on, we can't be doing this yet.

[PFT Commenter]

No, it's funny. Like, I had a book that's out called Pappyland about the history of Pappy Van Winkle. And you know, my wife jokingly calls it Eat Pray Love for Dads. I used to think this book is like, it's full of parenting advice. And I realize it is, but just not what I meant. The advice is just start drinking in the morning.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Wait, so I got a question about the scoreboard thing because like we do it is relatable to, you know, we're kind of in the same field where we will walk out and be like, that was a great show and there will be people like, we hated that show. It's like. But we've. I think what we've done and has the longevity of what we've done is it's kind of like all about the people in the room. If we can make ourselves laugh and we can make each other laugh, then what happens out once it's out there, it's like that's kind of out of our hands. We're going to trust ourselves. Do you have something like that when you're writing? It's like, hey, if I'm interested in this, I can't control if it's going to be a hit. I can't control if people are going to like it. But I can trust my inner self that what I'm writing about is interesting.

[PFT Commenter]

And compelling, you know? Yes. And I mean you have to be careful with that because you don't want to be totally self indulgent. But you know, the longer you do this, the more you want it to be something you're interested in.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Like I've gone down this crazy rabbit hole in the last two weeks of. I can tell you about a 300 year history of the land beneath what is now Yankee Stadium. I don't know what I'm do with it, but it used. There was a creek there called Cromwell's Creek that ran down into the. What's that? The Harlem River, I guess and. Or the Bronx. I don't know, man. My New York geography. I'm from Mississippi. What do you want?

[Hank]

Like.

[PFT Commenter]

Like I've gotten really interested in the idea that there were worlds and worlds and worlds that are now just in the dust beneath this thing that feels like it's always been there. One of the two of them sort of between like 157th and 164th and river, that whole sort of complex of the old in the new Yankee Stadium. So like I'm just really into the fact that there is this whole other history of this square of land. I have no idea if anyone else is going to be interested in it. I have no idea how that's going to fit into a story about the Yankees Red Sox if it will. Other than it's the thing I'm most interested in. And so I've been way down a rabbit hole. So it's some of that. It's like, well, I just hope that there's someone else who thinks this is interesting and not just like totally out of left field.

[Hank]

Yeah, that stuff, that stuff is fascinating. One thing I'll give you credit for that you're very good at is you make. If I It's men and women. But I. I'd say from my perspective as a man, you make men think about complex themes in life, whether it be family, where you're from, legacy, all that. But you do it through a vein of, like, whiskey. I'm going to write about whiskey. I'm going to write about sports. So you're, like, tricking us into becoming more emotional as human beings. Yeah, which I appreciate.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, you know, I mean, the hardest thing in the world, I'm told, is to sell books to men. And so that's what I'm trying to do, which is odd, you know, but I mean, it's. These are the. You know, I think about the conversations with my father and the things we bonded over, and it was baseball games and college football games and whiskey and James Bond movies and the Guns of Navarone and. And those things, to me, the way I feel about the movie, the guns in Avarone, and the way that I feel about an Atlanta Braves game, I feel like, come from very much the same place. And, you know, all of these things were taught. When you're talking about sports, you're always talking about tribe and community and inheritance and, you know, it's that great Jerry Seinfeld thing. You know, you're cheering for laundry, and it's sort of like, you know, I don't. My relationship with the. Like, I have Ole Miss football season tickets. They were my father's season tickets. He and I have the same name, so when he died, I just kept paying for him. And. And now. Now I've been grandfathered in, I think. But if they. They were. Ole Miss was talking about tearing down that grandstand and building a new one, and they were going to move the seats, and I wasn't going to renew them. I don't give a shit about going to the games. I want to go to the games and sit in those seats.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[PFT Commenter]

And if I had to move one row, I'm not interested in writing that check anymore. And I think a lot of people feel that way about. Look, man, going to a game of a team, you really care about that your father cared about, that your older brother cared about that your grandfather cared about. It's communion. You know, I love that thing in the liturgy, the Catholic or Episcopal liturgy. It's like, we do this in remembrance of you. Like, that feels very real to me.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I have a question about a piece you wrote. You spent a year with the Celtics, and then obviously, Jason Tatum gets hurt at the end of the season. And I saw an interview you did where you had the conversation with him about, like, hey, if you actually figure it out, like, you have a finite amount of books that you're going to write, he has a finite amount of, you know, games he's going to play. And that, that feeling of like you could feel like you're in the middle of it, like you are in the pinnacle of it, but there's an end point and it's hard to, to, to kind of conceptualize that. Have you talked to him since his injury? Because it is as, as. As much as like, injuries have become a part of sports, where it's like, oh, he'll be back. You know, a knee injury 30 years ago was like, that guy's career's over now. It's like, oh, he'll be back in 12 months. But still a major part of his prime is going to be taken. And dealing with that has to be so, so heavy.

[PFT Commenter]

I have not talked to him. I really liked him. I thought he was really smart and thoughtful. You know, that story was written before he got hurt, basically.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[PFT Commenter]

And sort of had to redo huge swaths of it. You know, I, I met, you know, I don't know if you ever met Wick, the owner of the Celtics, but he. During all those Dead and Company shows last year in Vegas, I started doing these lunches at like, in the Venetian every day at 4:30. And so everybody was in town. Come to Smith and Wolinsky or wherever we were, and like, we're gonna eat a steak and drink a great bottle of wine and we're gonna go on over and that's awesome. And interface with Jake Plummer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

And so the. I'm just confident my mom is not listening to, pardon my take, so you'd be surprised.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, well, if your mom is listening, just let her know I've eaten a lot of mushrooms in the sphere, so. Sorry, Ms. Thompson.

[PFT Commenter]

Yeah, the. And so at one of those, Wick came, was like the guest of a friend. And I was so utterly charmed by the way he talked about the Celtics. Because if I owned a sports team that I grew up caring about, this is exactly how I would want to talk about it. He was so pumped to tell me, sort of. You know, he bought Bob Cousy a championship ring just like the one for the current players. And he was pumped that in 08, when they won, he engraved Red Arabic's name on the inside of all the rings. And like he, you know, just. If I owned a team, that's how I would want to be about it. And so it really pulled like, you know, I spent a lot of time around the Celtics. You know, I grew up a Lakers fan. I don't know about, like, if this was true where y' all grew up, but, you know, Lakers, Celtics in the 80s was very much a code, especially in the rural south, for whether you were racist or not. And, you know, like, the. The things people use to describe why they liked Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson were like, super dog whistle. So, like, I always grew up kind of hating the Celtics and then found myself just utterly charmed by their culture and by the way that they are, like, so proactive about making sure that the. The ghost and the legends feel welcome in a way that, like, you know, a lot of other teams don't. And so I don't. I had a great time running around with the Celtics for a season.

[Big Cat]

And. And our. Our friend Joe Missoula. I'm sure you got some good time with him. He's a psycho. And we love that about him. He's a complete psycho.

[PFT Commenter]

I walked into a press conference, and the guy next to me was like, he comes in, and the guy. It's clear I don't know anything. And the guy looks at me, goes, watch this shit. And it was like. Like I was watching. I was like, this is like, oh, my God, this guy is the head coach. Like, oh, my God. Yeah, I love. I was totally insane. I mean, like, just in a flat monotone, you know, almost like, sped up, like, outfit in the chipmunk, speed talking. And I was like, this is great. I love this guy.

[Big Cat]

So a question about your process, because, like, I'm sure it's intimidating to interview Michael Jordan and Tiger woods and Lionel Messi. How do you, like, start that process? How do you get. How do you ingratiate yourself where you can get their trust, where you're like, hey, I'm not here to do some kind of takedown. I'm here to learn more about you and get inside of your head, so to speak.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, it doesn't always work. I mean, you know, Tiger woods just would never, ever, ever talk to me, sort of other than in, like, group settings, you know, I think, like, you wanna. I think you want to end. I mean, I'll tell you, like, with Jason Tatum, I wanted to find. You got to find some tiny postage stamp of common ground. I mean, I think if you go read the stories in the Cost of these dreams, they all sort of have that starting place of here is something that me, human being on planet Earth. And you, human being on planet Earth, despite the fact that our jobs are very different, here is something that we share in common on, like, an existential level. And, you know, so for Jason, with Jason Tatum, it was this idea of there is a window and it's closing.

[Big Cat]

Right?

[PFT Commenter]

And I think everybody has that. And so I just try to find a way to connect with people. It doesn't always work. I mean, they're, you know, I've walked out of interviews and, like, that guy hated me or thought I was insane or you also, like, I don't know if you got, like, you reach a certain age, you just don't care. Yeah, I don't particularly care if Jason Tatum likes me. Yeah, like, at all. And so that's how. That's a helpful energy of, you know, I'm respectful, I'm in awe of your work. I don't particularly care about your weird modern celebrity. And I have a bunch of questions that either will or won't be interesting.

[Hank]

And I think most of the time, from what I've read from you, it usually works. You usually find some level of common ground. You get access that nobody else would ever be able to to get. You get answers to questions that nobody would even ask, and it turns out great. But then I would have to imagine that there's a. There's a second phase to that relationship. Sometimes when, you know, you're on good terms with the person, have great interviews, they trust you, the story comes out. And maybe there's some things in the story that they said to you that they're very upset with themselves, that they said, do you. Is there a plan? Like, do you give a phone call afterwards being like, hey, just let you know the story came out. If you have any questions, let's talk. Or is it. Is it just always dicey afterwards when you write those types of stories?

[PFT Commenter]

Well, I don't. I like to let people. You don't want to hide. That's chicken shit.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

I mean, you know, here's the story. It's a weird move because I don't want anybody to think I'm, A, fishing for compliments or B, trying to sort of lead the witness. I mean, one thing that is interesting, why I want them to have the story, is most people hear from people who've read it, and it's like that game of telephone, like their description of it, you know, But, I mean, I've had somebody call me furious after a story ran because their wife took the hard copy of ESPN Magazine into their regularly scourged Scheduled marriage counseling session. Threw it down on the desk and said, see, I told you.

[Hank]

It's like, here's the evidence right here.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Like, got the receipts.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, I mean, like. Like, so I don't know. It's a weird thing, and I'm not trying to be buddies with anybody. I sort of think the thing I owe you after being this invasive is that if you don't ever want to see me again, you don't have to. You know, like, maybe the only person I keep in touch with that I've written about is Pat Riley.

[Big Cat]

Oh, interesting.

[PFT Commenter]

Who I just love. I think Pat is hilarious and insane and. But mostly I don't like. I sort of, you know, slide in and slide out.

[Big Cat]

So Pat Riley, that's. That's an interesting one that you keep. I mean, Pat Riley is. Is one of those guys who, when you actually stack it up, it's like he has been an integral part of NBA history for 40 years, 50 years. Like, it's. It's actually insane to look at whether it being coach of the Lakers, coach of the Knicks. You know, front office with the coach of the Heat, then front office with the Heat. His fingerprints are all over the NBA.

[PFT Commenter]

What.

[Big Cat]

What is it? What's the secret sauce with Pat Riley? We hear Heat culture from afar, but what is it that, like, that makes him so unique and be able to last this long, being this successful in a very competitive league?

[PFT Commenter]

I mean, I think the origin story. I mean, you guys have all obviously seen Hoosiers where Dennis Hopper sort of stumbles drunk out onto the court. That really happened to Pat. And Schenectady, New York, his father, who was a failed Major League baseball player, he had four bats, I think, and almost hated his son for his success. And Pat. Pat was shooting free throws, and he heard something behind him, and, you know, you can tell. And he turned around, and his dad was drunk on the court, screaming at the official. And Pat's high school basketball coach, a guy named Walt Pris below, who Pat just idolized, got Pat's dad off the court and got him on the bench and let the game continue. And, you know, I think one of Walt Prisbolo sons was a Miami Heat scout for a long time. I mean, Pat's one of those guys. When his first Kentucky teammate died.

[Hank]

I.

[PFT Commenter]

Forget who it was. Might have been Frank Ramsey. I forget who it was. The. The Heater on the road playing, and the family goes into whatever the Catholic Church is in Kentucky, where the mass is going to be, and the only people in the church, when they walk in are the priest and Pat Riley. And he has gotten on an airplane somewhere out in the American darkness and flown into Kentucky like that. You know, he's the guy who shows up. And so I think when you know that about him, everything starts to line up. I mean, this is a guy for whom basketball was a family. You know, I love this story. He grew up in a real Italian neighborhood in Schenectady, and there was a big upstate New York mob. And so these guys would just feed Pat, you know, like the. He would eat as a guest in their kitchens and in and out of the back door and played with their sons. And after, I think, his freshman year at Kentucky, one of these guys who was a big mob boss said, patrick, you can't come here anymore. And he was like, what do you mean? And he was sort of like, where you're going, you don't want to be associated with me. We love you very much. You'll be family forever, but you can't come here anymore. And, you know, so he just grew up surrounded by a very strict. I mean, this is. You know, there's a story in the book on Pat, but, like, a really strict code about how a man behaves in the world, and you just, I think, see that play out in weird public ways with him over and over and over.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

What do you think it is about Pat that he's been able to, you know, he's. He's evolved over the years. He's, you know, went from being a successful head coach to giving up the reins and moving kind of behind the scenes. But by. By most measures, he's been pretty successful as that. Even as he gets older, has he changed how he operates, or is he just going to be Pat until he's not Pat anymore? And at that point, he's out of basketball.

[PFT Commenter]

I think he'll die in that job. I mean, we had this thing where he was talking so much to me while I was reporting the story about retiring that one day I just called him. I'm like, hey, you're not trying to tell me you're retiring, are you? Because I don't want to have just missed all the signals. And he laughed. And then they got eliminated from the playoffs on the last day of the season. I was down in Miami, and he texted me the next day, and we went to, like, that Smith and Wolinsky down on South Beach. He lives in that big tower next to it. And he was like, you want to get a drink? And I was like, yes. And we sat there, had a couple of drinks, and he's like, you know, you want to know what the greatest lie ever told is? And I'm like, what? He goes, that I'm going to retire to Malibu. And he just started. And I'm like, oh, that's it. You're never, ever going away. You know, his wife Chris is great. And the way she describes it, she's also a professional therapist. I don't think it's an accident that he married a therapist, but she's like, you know, Pat grew up needing to get his, you know, his cookies or praise, and he needs it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Hank]

I think it's fascinating because you've, you spent so much time around people that have excelled that, you know, they share, they share the common bond of excellence. How much time do you think, how much time do you spend thinking about the commonalities of dysfunction when it comes to leadership specifically?

[PFT Commenter]

I mean, most of the time, you know, it's like that post hoc ergo propter hawk, like, you know, Bill Belichick without Tom Brady is, is a sub 500 coach. I mean, I just sometimes wonder like, all a coach is is somebody who either lucks into a star player or gets a star player and doesn't ruin it. You know, there's that idea of like, you know, how many super bowl titles would the Bears have won if it had been anyone other than Ditka is the head coach. You know what I mean? Like, as opposed to he won a Super bowl, is there a narrative where, like, actually he lost four of them?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you know, Andy Reid, Andy Reid's a perfect example. Andy Reid was, was known as a choker. Couldn't win the big one. Patrick Mahomes, now he's being talked about as, could he be the best of all time?

[PFT Commenter]

That's right. And those things are like, it's lucky, you know, I mean, I think about, you know, my career is probably very different if Michael Jordan doesn't say yes. Yeah, that has nothing to do with me. You know what I mean? Like, it was. I got him on the right day. And so you, you know, and you think about that all the time, about how much luck is involved in all of this. So, yeah, I mean, I, you know, there are teams that have cultures and then there are teams that just have three really, really great players.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, the, the Michael Jordan, like, there's all, there's so many stories. It's. I'm actually very fascinated to see him on, you know, doing TV next year and seeing how, how he'll talk and if he will give us all these stories. But when you spent time with him, my favorite are, like, just the little competitive stories that come out where he can't help himself. Did you have that? Did you see that? In just following him and like, hey, this guy. There might not be another person on earth who wants to compete to the level. He wants to compete in everything.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, I mean, you know, this is a guy who, like, will be in the Bahamas and send staff down to the gift shop to get four Sudoku books so they can all race. This is a guy very, very, very good at the iPad game Bejeweled. It's almost sad. It's a long fucking way down from game six to Bejewel Jewel.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, I mean, like, so, you know, there is these guys. Don't you don't turn it off. Nobody who's great at anything is normal. Like, just some people hide it. But, you know, I find, you know, he's a very, very serious marlin fisherman. I mean, I think a really great comp is Michael Jordan and Ted Williams, you know, because Ted Williams was an excellent fisherman. His family let me go down into his files. He has a huge. That is a huge room full of filing cabinets. And in those are all of his fishing logs that he. It's his diary, though. I mean, he. And. And you go through Ted Williams diary, and, you know, you think about. Here's your fun Ted Williams fact. Ted Williams mother, who was insane, literally lived through his entire professional baseball career, never went to a single one of his games. And when she died, after he retired, he flew home to San Diego like a dutiful, wealthy son. He paid for a very nice funeral. He then went to her house. He got every single family photograph, and he burned them.

[Big Cat]

Wow. Wow.

[Hank]

He probably should have married a therapist.

[Big Cat]

Wow.

[PFT Commenter]

Ted Williams could have used some Chris Riley. I mean, the. And so you. You know, the. Like. There's a story in the cost of these dreams about Ted Williams and his mother and his son and daughter. And the idea is, like, to try to understand. You want to create a logical framework where freezing someone's detached head makes sense. Challenge is like, to try. How did. How does this happen? And, you know, hurt people. Hurt people. And Ted Williams grew up in a terrible situation and was an awful father. Like, truly awful father. And then he got really sick at the end of his life. And suddenly he and his kids had this relationship that they had all sort of wanted and didn't know how to have. And the moment that they got that relationship, he started dying. And now you understand, like, these desperate kids who had wanted this iconic father their whole lives, and then in the last 18 months of his life, they get it, and now they'll do anything for even the prayer of another day. And, like, so things that are totally batshit crazy start to make sense.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

This is fascinating.

[Big Cat]

One thing that you do, you're the executive producer of a series called True south, which I have to say is. Is one of those shows, if you haven't seen it, they played on SEC Network a lot. It's fantastic because it's one of those shows where you'll start. They'll run like, 10 of them in a row. You'll start watching one with no intention of staying there and watching, like, a show after show. And you're like, I could watch Southerners go and find local spots to eat and, like, talk about the land forever. And you just wake up, you're like, oh, my God, I just watched four hours of this. So it's fantastic. It's. I love it.

[PFT Commenter]

I appreciate.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. My question, though, is, being from the south, knowing the south like you do, do you think there's any tides changing with what's happening with college football and, like, because college football is religion in the south, and it is such an important part of culture in the South, Are you. Do you see it from afar or even up close where you're like this in this entire nil, the big power conferences, Are we losing something? Or do you think, hey, this is going to be here no matter what for years and years and years?

[PFT Commenter]

Well, I mean, you know, I'm from Mississippi, which is one of, if not the only state in the country that doesn't have a Fortune 500 company. And so at some point, like, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are going to run out of money. Yeah, the pool is just smaller. You know, I'm one of those people who, like. Like, if the SEC just broke off and played its own thing, that would be fine with me. Like, I don't particularly like, you know, I watch whatever the SEC game is. Like, I understand I'm part of the problem. So I don't. It's always sort of been this way. But look, the south is changing tremendously, and the, you know, people, like, all the little. I'm from a little farming town in Mississippi. And, you know, our farm, 50 years ago, we needed 400 families living on it to farm it, and now we farm it with. I think we have 18 people. And that's because the tractors can't turn themselves around. The tractors are GPS controlled, but you have to have a person in them to turn them around. On the pads at the end of the roads. Rose. We're 10 years away from that being gone. And so now you can farm enormous swaths of land with four people. So, like, the rural south, which is in many ways been the heartbeat of SEC football fandom, is totally emptying out in a way that sort of. No one's really talking about the farm economy. I don't know if you guys have been following this, but the price of cotton and soybeans, I mean, might be destroyed for a generation. It's going to be a really, really hard time. Mississippi and parts of Louisiana and Alabama and Georgia. And so, you know, there is a. At a time when the only thing that matters in college football is how much money you can raise. That's a scary thing if you live in the poorest part of the country.

[Hank]

Yeah, it is. Yeah. And. And going back to. To your childhood growing up, I read that you got kicked out of school. School, is that right?

[PFT Commenter]

I did get kicked out of school.

[Hank]

I like that. I. I like a little bit of edge to you.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, you know, shout out to the Woodbury Forest School. The. You know, I just went and spoke there. It was really interesting because they asked me to come talk, and I was like, you guys know, you. Are you sure? Like, you know what I mean? Like, you're gonna give me access to your student body. At one point, you decided that wasn't a great idea, but it was really, you know, it was a fun night. So a lot of people. But, yeah, man, I. It's interesting. I read a book by a writer named Willie Morris called North Toward Home after I got kicked out of school. And it really. I didn't know. Well, two things. One, I didn't know that being a magazine writer was a job until I read this book. And two, he talked about the south and the way that I felt about it, which is very much a, you know, the. What Patterson Hood calls the duality of the Southern thing. If you only hate the south, you're kind of a jackass. And if you only love the south, you're kind of a jackass. And, I mean, it had better be both. And in the conflict of that and in the inability to sort of separate those feelings, lies the experience. And so, you know, it's sort of like being a Catholic convert. Like, if you didn't go to a Catholic school and your parents didn't beat guilt into you, you're not Catholic. I don't care if you take Communion, you know? And so, like, it's a tribal thing. And so I read that book, and before then, I just was totally lost. And that book really clarified a lot of things for me. Like, you know, I sort of thought, you know, I'm going to run this farm and never leave this town. And that book really opened a world to me.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So we've bonded, you and I, over our love for the Grateful Dead. You're going to the concert in August in San Francisco, which I'm very jealous. Jealous of. Have you thought about writing a story? Because I would love to read a story. And maybe. I think it's fascinating, this iteration of the Dead, too, because John Mayer has taken such great care with it, and even watching him interact with Bob Weir on the stage, I think he deserves way more credit than he gets in terms of taking something that's so special and making it alive again in a way that I didn't think was possible.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, look, man, I mean, every time people start bitching about him, it makes my head want to explode. Same like when the greatest guitar player in the world not named Derek Trucks, falls in love with your favorite band and devotes himself to learning it note for note, you should be nothing but grateful. I mean, the only appropriate response to John Mayer is thank you.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, I. I would. Look, I don't really want to write a story so much as I want to write a book that no one else seems to want me to write, which is I want to just randomly pick 25 bootlegs out of my tape collection and then write a memoir about listening to them over and over again and call it Nakamichi.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I love that. I love that.

[PFT Commenter]

Like, after my tape deck.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

So, like, I got a great Nakamichi tape deck in my office, and I have all of my old tapes. And, like, you know, so, like, in my car, I just go to re. Listen and, like, whatever the day show is, like, today, Legacy, today, the show on what is. I'm pulling it up. Here we go. So today, the current Grateful Dead played 6593 at Giant Stadium, 6580 in Tempe. 6575. Rehearsal 6578, the Fillmore West. 6569 at the Fillmore West.

[Big Cat]

And that's so. Yeah. What you just described is when I try to explain to people the love of the band, because I never. I'm too young to have seen the actual Grateful Dead. It's like, how can you Be a fan of this.

[PFT Commenter]

The song one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. The amount of shows and like, it's. It's the ocean.

[PFT Commenter]

You.

[Big Cat]

Basically, I feel like. I feel like I'm in James Cameron Submarine in the Ocean, where it's like I can go anywhere. And every day I see something new. And every day I hear a song that's like, oh, now this is my favorite song. This is my favorite version of the song. And this is my favorite year. Like, it just. It's endless. And that's my love for them, you know, that they've given us just so much, so many things we can explore on our own.

[PFT Commenter]

And they're also different. And you kind of go through phases, like, I'm very much right now and have been for a while on like a late brent phase.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

80. 89 into early 90. Like, to me, that's my favorite iteration of the band. My friend David Ray Morris would slap me and be like, no, it's 74, moron. Go listen to those five nights at the Winterland. And so, like, I love the fact that 1. There is no right answer. But you kind of go through phases like. I like that. 87, 88, 89, 90. Brent dead. That is my. That my favorite. Like the. Without a net era. Like, I love that shit.

[Big Cat]

I'm with you. The Crimson, White and indigo that everyone can go listen to on Spotify.

[PFT Commenter]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. It's like the. The. Yeah, Brent. There's something about Brent. The. The. Just the idea of him being in the Grateful Dead to wearing like a. A nice button down in a Rolex watch and just. Just jamming the fuck out of everything.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, you know, I mean, those guys got really rich really quick.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

The. You know, and I love the idea of, you know, they're just like. There's so many great. Like, I just did all these voiceovers for the PGA Championship and the number of Grateful Dead lyrics I snuck into those things.

[Big Cat]

Yep, I noticed.

[PFT Commenter]

You know. Yeah, we got a we. You used to play for Silver. Now we play for life. I got a. I got a totally apropos of nothing. Moses came riding in on a quasar or something. Like, I'm talking about sand traps. And I did Dark Star. Like, there's just. I'm not even trying to make it work. I'm just like, no, this is. This is what we're doing now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

And like, you know, I'm turning this enormous sporting event into my own weird sort of Deadhead insider crossword puzzle.

[Big Cat]

That's why I love Shout out the producer, Jolly who Works for Fox where he just, he's a huge deadhead. And you'll just be watching.

[PFT Commenter]

Oh, sorry, the hotel, they're trying to call me.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Huge dead.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, jolly. And you'll just be watching like Seahawks, Cardinals. And it'll just be like, oh, was that estimated profit going into the commercial break? Look.

[PFT Commenter]

No, I email with him all the time. Yeah, he's like, he's, he's one of the great unsung heroes in sports journalism. Like that guy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

We should, you know what we should do? We should go sell T shirts with his face on it with no explanation.

[Big Cat]

I buy it. I buy it.

[PFT Commenter]

I would. 100 buy or like if the. Like if somebody could turn the robot into Bertha. Like the fox.

[Hank]

Cletus. Yeah, yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Still exist. I don't understand.

[Hank]

Yeah, yeah.

[Big Cat]

Pft is the number one Cletus fan.

[Hank]

I got a Cletus mascot uniform. Yeah, It's a football playing robot. I don't know what there's not to understand about it. It's a robot and it plays football.

[PFT Commenter]

You know, I know I work for the competition, but that might be the dumbest goddamn thing in the history of civilization. Like, there's a football playing. Yeah, all right.

[Big Cat]

It works.

[Hank]

And his name's Cletus and it's spelled C, L, E A T U S. Like a football cleat.

[PFT Commenter]

Get it?

[Hank]

You might not. You might not understand. That's okay. It's not for everybody.

[PFT Commenter]

These are complicated things.

[Hank]

You know the way you felt when you first heard Althea? That's the way that I felt when I first saw Cletus.

[PFT Commenter]

Well, I'm in. I would in no way disrespect your deep love for Cletus. I would say, I hope you don't get burned.

[Hank]

Yeah, I don't think so. There's not. No, there's. If something comes out about Cletus and it's like, you got to cancel Cletus now. Like it's problematic. I, I might be done with. With sports, not just football.

[PFT Commenter]

I just can't wait for the Cletus trial. They got this footage of Cletus in the hallway of a hotel. It's really bad.

[Big Cat]

Cletus was the guest of honor at a D. Diddy party. Oh.

[Hank]

He got oiled up and short circuited. Electrocuted. 3 yard singers.

[PFT Commenter]

Robots require a great deal of oil.

[Big Cat]

That's true. That's a good.

[Hank]

I might have to write. I might have to write a fan fiction about the downfall of Cletus. It sounds like a great story.

[PFT Commenter]

Look, I, I, I. Look, I love you guys. If you write fanfiction about Cletus that is even remotely psychosexual, our thing is over. Like, you can't. You can't do that.

[Hank]

Oh, wait. Just wait. I'll do it. Yeah. In terms of just you as a writer, I mentioned earlier how you're able to bond so closely with some people. They trust you, all that stuff. Have you thought about if there's the next Wright Thompson? Next. Next. You know, young reporter able to do some of the things that you're able to do. And he calls you and he says, I'd like to write a profile about Wright Thompson. Would you do that?

[Big Cat]

No.

[PFT Commenter]

No. I've done this to way too many people to let somebody do it to me. Hard pass. No, I mean, like, I got asked a couple years ago by someone who I won't name, and I was like, no, man, absolutely not. Like, no, that's. We're not doing that. It's funny because I reached out to Gary Smith to profile Gary, and Gary was like, nah. Yeah, Yeah. I was like, well, that makes, that's fair. That makes sense.

[Hank]

You get it. Yep.

[Big Cat]

Well. Right? This has been awesome, everyone. Like I said, his books are incredible. Perfect Father's Day gift. The cost of these dreams, Pappy Land. There's a ton of books. All his articles are incredible. Go watch True South. I got one last question for you. It's a Roback question. Rhobac.com promo code, take 20% off your first purchase. Q, zips, polos, hoodies, shorts. Promo code, take. We got to do this again because you're a great storyteller. I have one question. It's a weird question because we started by mentioning Seth Wickersham, who you're friends with, we mentioned. So when Seth wrote his. He's writing that book that's coming out about QBs. And there was article. Yeah, yeah. There was an article about Caleb Williams, and I'm a Bears fan. And it was like, you know, obviously we talked about it on the show, and the next day, I got a text from a random number being like, hey, this is Seth Wickersham. I was like, damn, this guy's good. He's a journalist. No one gave me a heads up. Were you the person who gave him my number?

[PFT Commenter]

I was not the person, but I would have had he asked.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[PFT Commenter]

And I would not have asked your permission.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. So it was like, I just saw it pop up, and I was like, this is why he's such a good journalist. He Just no one asked. He just. I had a text from him being like, hey, if you ever want. Want to talk about any of the books, like, I'd love to. Come on. It's like, all right, we'll have you on for sure. And also, how the fuck did you get my number?

[PFT Commenter]

Let me tell you. Let me tell you. If he ever calls you and says he's doing a story about you, you should just tell him every shitty thing you've ever done. And maybe he'll be in a good mood when he cuts your arms and legs off.

[Hank]

You know what I was gonna find out? Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

It's that great, like, Robert Penn Warren line from his sort of book about the governor who's based on Huey Long. And it's like, man is conceived in evil and born into filth and passeth from the stink of the DY to the stench of the shroud. There is always something.

[Hank]

Yeah, I mean, that's a. That's a great way to put it. I. I would read a book that, if you and Seth collaborated on, a book about the life and times of Jim Ursay. I think that would be incredibly fascinating.

[PFT Commenter]

Because I want that guitar.

[Hank]

Yeah. The guitar collection that he had is absolutely amazing. He turned down a billion dollars for his guitar collection. Collection.

[Big Cat]

He has the Jerry Tiger guitar.

[PFT Commenter]

I think he has the Jerry. You know what else he has? He has Jerry Tiger. No, he's got the original manuscript of on the Road.

[Big Cat]

Oh, wow.

[Hank]

No, like, that's crazy.

[PFT Commenter]

Like the Kerouac. You know that it was all taped. Like, he has that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

Or, well, he doesn't anymore, but you know what I mean? And I would like that. And I'd like Jerry's tiger guitar.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[PFT Commenter]

If someone's trying to find a good home for it.

[Big Cat]

You'Re first in line.

[Hank]

I'll take the. I'll take the Hendrix Strat that he has. Maybe David Gilmore's black Strat. Yeah. If anyone out there is listening, just looking to get rid of the guitars, I think we could find good homes for.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. We're ready for it, right? You're the best. Thank you so much, man. And everyone go buy a book, because your books are incredible. And again, they're like, buying that book for Father's Day is a great gift. Tell you right now, it's a plus gift.

[Hank]

Wright Thompson was brought to you by Mountain Dew. Baseball season's heating up. Chicago in the summertime is in full swing. And the best thing to drink while hanging with your friends during warm weather is an ice cold mountain Dew. We had him at Camp Barstool last year. Nothing took the edge off a sweltery day. Playing sports, hanging out, hitting the lake. Nothing took that, that hot edge off the day. Like an ice cold Mountain Dew. We toss them around at the bonfire, have them with dinner. Mountain Dew is the best soda. It is the start of golf season too. You can grab a do while you're out on the course. If you're hanging on a boat, going to the river, maybe going fishing, bring the Dew with you. And it's also great to drink while you're watching the playoffs. NBA, NHL playoffs, Stanley cup finals have been great so far. NBA finals going on. Grab a do while you're watching the game. Nothing goes better with playoff sports and hanging with your friends than the refreshing citrusy kick of Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew. Plus they've got the new graphics on the cans, the retro ones. The retro cans, retro bottles, beautiful graphic. Grab a Dew and the new packaging and enjoy the refreshing citrus kick with Mountain Dew. Before we get to Mike Florio, he's brought to you by State Farm. In basketball, the great players don't just go it alone. They have teammates, coaches, and a solid support system behind them. It's kind of like insurance because let's face it, a lot of us probably aren't great at doing that alone either. And that's where State Farm comes in. State Farm is a teammate, always ready to assist, help you find the coverage you need and help you recover from the unexpected. From fender benders to storm damage or even just a question about your policy, State Farm is there to help provide an assist when you need it. Through State Farm mobile app. It's a network of 19, 000 local agents and online@state farm.com so don't just go it alone. When you need help protecting what matters most, State Farm is there. State Farm with the assistance. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability and eligibility vary by state. And now here's Mike Florio. And now for something completely different.

[Big Cat]

Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest and a very dear, dear friend. It is Mike Florio. Pro Football Talk. You know what? We were thinking two things, Mike. It's getting to the point of the year where we're like under 100 days and we're like, we just want to talk some ball. We want to talk some ball. We love football. We're kind of not tired of talking about NBA and NHL, but like, we want to talk some football. And also, Ryan Whitney had to move to Sunday. So we're like, let's have Mike Florio on. Thanks, but no, we really did want to talk ball because we, because it feels like you're, you're getting ready for your sabbatical, you're about to go on your little, you know, month off. We're getting towards the end of OTAs, so we want to have you on, talk about OTAs, talk about what's going on. So let's start with that. Give us the top three stories from OTAs so far and how they're kind of developing.

[Mike Florio]

Well, I would say number one, if and when Aaron Rodgers is ever going to show up in Pittsburgh, that's the thing that has had Steelers fans in a tizzy because the Steelers are acting in a way they've never acted before. To be in this voluntary holding pattern while they wait for Rodgers to make a decision. As Cam Hayward said a couple of months ago, and this really resonated with Steelers fans, you either want to be a Steeler or you don't. And I think Steelers fans are dismayed that Rodgers has yet to accept that's still pending. To what's going to happen with Kirk Cousins in Atlanta that's hovering over the NFL right now, although there's no spot for him with another team to be a starter. I think this plays out, and if anybody gets injured, that may be the first call that gets made. And third, as they say, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none of the. If you have five quarterbacks, you're the Browns. And how in the hell are the Browns going to take this cluster of quarterbacks they have and carve it down into one guy who's going to be ready to go when the season starts?

[Big Cat]

All right, so let's unpack them. Gun to your head, Aaron Rodgers plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers this year.

[Mike Florio]

I think he does, but I'd be concerned that ultimately he doesn't because why hasn't he done it yet? Why hasn't he just told people so I'm doing it now. People think that the Steelers have been privately informed he's going to do it, but at some point he just needs to say, this is what I'm going to do. It becomes exhausting while we play this guessing game and he's at the Mike Stud concert Orever Mike Stud is answering.

[Big Cat]

Question put on Hank's mic. Hank has a problem with that. Hank has a problem with that. Go ahead, Hank.

[Mike Florio]

Hi, Hank.

[Zach]

It's just Mike now and he's great, great artist.

[Big Cat]

It's just Mike.

[Hank]

His name's Mike.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's just Mike, formerly artist, Formerly known as Mike Stud. Great artist.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

That was a ricochet.

[Hank]

That was an unnecessary ricochet.

[Big Cat]

Wait, wait.

[Mike Florio]

Heck, why did he drop the stud?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he's, yeah, he's grew up.

[Zach]

Literally just Mike now.

[Hank]

Is he no longer a stud?

[Zach]

No, he still is.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

I don't know.

[Big Cat]

Mike out to pasture.

[Hank]

You should be Mike student.

[Big Cat]

You are Mike.

[Hank]

Our own Mike Studs.

[Mike Florio]

You need to distinguish Mike.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

And Mike Stud is a good way to do it, I guess, if it's available.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You heard Mike.

[Hank]

So you think that Aaron Rodgers at some point should tell somebody whether or not he plans to play? I agree with that.

[Mike Florio]

I, I, I understand his reasons and I'm not going to question the idea that he's got personal issues, people close to him are ill. He recently told Joe rogan in a 184 minute podcast about nothing that, that he. I don't get it, guys. I don't get it. I love your show. I don't consume a lot of content. I watch the those three hours and I don't know what I heard. I think my ears were bleeding by the time it was over. But, but anyway, he mentioned he's got some people. What a right turn. He's got people close to him who are fighting cancer. If that's the reason, that's fine. But you can let the world know I intend to play for the Steelers. He told everyone that two years ago, I intend to play for the Jets. Months before the jets traded for him, he said, I intend to play for the Jets. Nothing stops him from saying I intend to play for the Steelers. And at some point he just needs to do it.

[Hank]

So back to the Browns real quick. You said, yeah, if you have five quarterbacks, you're the Browns. That is, that is accurate right now. If you had a gun to your head on this, I'm not going to pull the gun back out. But hypothetically, gun to your head. If you were to pick one person that's going to start week one for the Cleveland Browns, who would that be?

[Mike Florio]

Probably Joe Flacco.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Mike Florio]

Just that's the guy who you can get ready with fewer first team reps in August. See, that's the problem. If you take four guys to camp. Now let's set desean Watson aside because they've basically moved on from him. It gets very interesting if Watson shows up with a piece of paper saying, I've been cleared to practice and play, then the Browns have have a variety of problems, but let's set him aside. I believe And I don't know, but I believe that they're going to try to move Kenny Pickett before the training camp opens. He was the insurance policy they traded for before they made any of these other moves. Flacco is the fan favorite. They couldn't bring Flacco back last year because they would have had to bench DeSean Watson for Flacco. Now he's back, the fans are going to want him. You can get him ready easily and you can focus your efforts on trying to figure out between Dylan Gabriel and Chadur Sanders, which guy's the most likely to emerge as your long term answer. So I think they're going to go to camp with three guys. I think it's going to be Flacco, Gabriel and Sanders. Flacco will start week one and then once one of the other two guys is ready, they'll put that guy out there. It could be Sanders, it could be Gabriel.

[Big Cat]

We'll see who's starting for the Giants. Is it going to be Russ? Is that just. Is that just decided?

[Mike Florio]

Well, you know, Russ is the guy who back in 2012 when he was the third round draft pick at the Seahawks supplanted Matt Flynn because he was superior to him in training camp. I think based upon where Russell Wilson is now, and Russell Wilson's done great things in the NFL, but based upon where he is right now, the Steelers wanted nothing to do with him. Remember the Steelers were saying before free agency, we want to bring back Justin Fields or Russell Wilson field signs with the Jets. Never mind, never mind. We'll figure out something else. And Wilson was out there for a few weeks before he landed with the Giants. So the Steelers did not want him back. I think his best days are fading into the rearview mirror. I think in a fair competition, Jackson Dart will beat him out. Otherwise, why the hell did you trade back into round one to get Jackson Dart if he's not good enough to beat out a 36 year old quarterback who can't play like he used to because he can't run away from pressure like he used to? So I think that Dart should be able to beat out Russ. The question is, do they want that to happen? Are they willing to do that? Do they want to throw Dart to the Wolves week one? You look at their schedule this year. I mean, last year was bad for the Giants. Holy shit. Look at their schedule this year. Look at the team they currently have. I know they're better, but it's going to be a long year.

[Big Cat]

Are we just pretending Jameis doesn't exist. What about Jackson Dart beating out Jameis Winston? Jameis Winston, I think, is better than Russell Wilson right now.

[Mike Florio]

I agree with you on that. And Jameis Winston's a hell of a lot more fun. And it was just weird. You know, these teams get desperate to get a quarterback, and they start doing crazy things. When you sign Jameis Winston and then you turn around a few days later and you sign Russell Wilson, that just. That makes no sense to me. From the standpoint of the vibe in the locker room, you're either all in with the Jameis Winston experience or you're all in with the Russell Wilson experience. They're two very different things.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Mike Florio]

I think Winston is a guy who could be traded before the start of training camp. Wouldn't the Saints love to have him?

[Hank]

Yeah, you would think so.

[Mike Florio]

I mean, I think there are teams out there that would say Winston is a better number two than what we currently have, and maybe he could make things interesting and be the number one.

[Big Cat]

Is. By the way, you mentioned the Saints. This. This is a perfect Florio fan fiction. Is Derek Carr fully retired? Is he. Was he just trying to get rid of away from the Saints?

[Mike Florio]

Well, I think the Saints were trying to get away from him.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Mike Florio]

It was an awkward, weird situation because he had that shoulder injury that nobody knew about. And I don't want to get too deep into the contractual weeds, but the Saints owed him 40 million this year, and they weren't able to get out from under the contract before for the full 40 million locked in because of the injury. So they were stuck. And at the end of the day, he didn't want to have the surgery and rehab and then come back and play for the Saints. He didn't want to not have the surgery and try to play it less than 100%. So they worked out a deal where he keeps 10 million that he's already gotten, he gives up 30 million in pay that he would have gotten if he'd had the surgery and. And gone through the motions of being on injured reserve and whatnot. You got to respect a guy walking away from 30 million. Now he's made more than 200 million, but he walked away from $30 million. All he had to have was surgery and go through rehab, and he gets the 30 million from the Saints. I just feel like they didn't want him. He knew they didn't want him, and it was a good point to break apart. The question is next year, and I'm told it's highly unlikely he ever comes back next year. If he doesn't have the surgery. Will he be healthy enough to play? Will that shorter heel with a year off, will he want to come back? He's only 34, which, for quarterbacks, you know, you still got five, six, seven years left, so I don't completely rule it out, but the way he's talking and the way he's acting, it sounds like he's done. I think he wants to try to get into the media. Him and his brother have something going on now, and I think he. He's hoping to maybe get someone's attention and get a gig with NFL Network or somewhere. So I think that's his next play. To try to get into the media.

[Hank]

Is that you, or is that us?

[Mike Florio]

I'm sorry. I don't know how to turn it off.

[Hank]

Okay. All good. It's probably something important. Who is it? Who's texting you?

[Mike Florio]

No, it's. It's proprietary.

[Hank]

Oh. Oh, interesting. Bill Belichick to the Bucks. Is that what it is? I did.

[Mike Florio]

I wrote that this morning.

[Hank]

Yeah, I read it.

[Mike Florio]

Because that is ultimate fan fiction. Yes, but if it happens. If it happens, remember where you heard it.

[Hank]

All right, so tell me about your theory. Bill Belichick coaching the Buccaneers. How. How does this happen? Would Jordan approve?

[Mike Florio]

Well, that. That's one of the wild cards that we'd have to take into account, but, you know, last season.

[Big Cat]

Mike, you got to figure out how to turn off this.

[PFT Commenter]

Texas.

[Mike Florio]

I'm sorry.

[Big Cat]

You could silence it, I think.

[Mike Florio]

I don't know that. Let me try that. I don't know how to use this fucking thing.

[Hank]

Yeah. Tell Jason Light you'll call him back.

[Mike Florio]

Hang on.

[Big Cat]

What if Jordan was texting him?

[Mike Florio]

How do I turn off this thing? I'll just exit. I'll exit the messages. I, I. Yeah, quit it.

[Big Cat]

You do it on. On the top, it says, like, file quit. Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

All right. It's gone, hopefully.

[Hank]

All right, so that was.

[Big Cat]

I don't. Mike, I. I love you. That was a very old move by you to have your text messages going off.

[Mike Florio]

Listen, listen. I brought my nice laptop down to the barn, so the camera.

[Big Cat]

You're right.

[Mike Florio]

I shouldn't factor in the text messages.

[Big Cat]

Yes, please continue.

[Mike Florio]

Allow me to weave my fan fiction. Belichick's consiglieri, Mike Lombardi, who is basically his unofficial mouthpiece and has been very quiet since all of the Jordan Hudson stuff hit the fan, which is hilarious. Lombardi wouldn't shut up until this Hudson stuff happens, and now you can't find him anywhere. But he was putting out this idea that Todd Bowles would retire possibly after the 2024 season. It was like, what the fuck? Bulls isn't going to retire. Bulls gallon said, what the fuck? I'm not going to retire. So I feel like Belichick has been eyeballing the Bucks. Maybe Lombardi was trying to speak it into existence that there'd be a vacancy there because that's one of the teams where they've got the talent. Belichick needs the talent. You give him talent. The he's the best gameday coach that football has ever seen. He'll take that talent, he'll get them ready and they'll go out there and they'll find a way to win games. He's not so good at developing and drafting and acquiring talent, but if you give him talent, he can make it happen. And the Bucks have done some crazy ass shit when it comes to head coaches over the years. They fire Jon Gruden abruptly. They elevate Raheem Morris, who nobody had ever heard of. He was a defensive backs coach who goes all the way up to head coach. They hired Greg Shiano, for crying out loud. In 2012, he was on no one's radar screen as a potential head coach. They fired Lovey Smith and promoted Dirk Cutter because they were afraid Cutter was going to parlay his one season with Jameis Winston into a head coaching job somewhere else. And then when Tom Brady unretired, they kind of gave Bruce Arians the. The unofficial nudge out the door. So the Buccaneers are willing to do kooky things if they think it's going to make them better. And there was already some noise that, hey, maybe if they're looking for a coach, they would go in that direction. At a time when you would think all the teams are saying no. The Bucks have a history of doing unconventional things, and it would definitely be unconventional at this point for the Buccaneers to go after Belichick, but it would make sense if you can hand him a talented team in a weak division where he could cobble together enough wins to get to the playoffs. And we know he wants to be back in the NFL. He can say he doesn't want that. All he all he would like. He wants to catch Don Shula in the worst way. And the bucks are the one team that would make sense out of all 32 franchises for next year.

[Hank]

It is a good point and I haven't really considered it. The Bucs, yeah, they have a very extremely chaotic record when it comes to how they handle their head coaches. So talk to me about the June 1 thing with Belichick, because we've seen the. The date June 1. That's about the extent of my knowledge about it. Does it make it. It makes it. It easier for Bill to leave or makes it easier for UNC to part ways?

[Mike Florio]

Now UNC would still have to buy out whatever's guaranteed in his contract. And I think he got three years, 10 million per year, so 30 million total. Now he's made about six months of it, but they'd owe him the balance of the guaranteed money if they would pull the plug. The buyout is important because that's his price tag to walk away. And when he first signed the contract, it was a $10 million buyout. But then as of June 1st, just five months later, it drops all the way to 1 million. And I remember when Lombardi was trying to sell the idea that Bill's committed, he's not leaving North Carolina. And the easy response is, well, then take out the buyout clause. Why do you have a buyout clause in there that lets somebody write a check for a million bucks for one of these owners if they really want to hire Bill Belichick? What's a million dollars? It's nothing. They spend less than that for a week of maintenance on their super yachts, for crying out loud. It's a write off. It's gone. It's over. You get him now. As the opportunities for the NFL seem to fade, it shifted into whether or not this gives Bill power over UNC because he can say to them, hey, bring back my girlfriend. Idea mill. Creative. Muse. Handler. Publicist.

[Big Cat]

We're team Jordan. Inspiration Jordan. So be careful. You're getting into deep water here.

[Mike Florio]

Fine. That's fine. But let her be in the building. And if you don't, if you don't give me what I want, I'll just write the million dollars myself and I'll say, see you later. And I. I'll leave you high and dry without a head coach. So he's got more power in the relationship because he can walk away now for a million bucks. But any NFL team that wants him, if they truly want him, the buyout is no impediment whatsoever. It's a million dollar check. You write it, you move on.

[Hank]

It is good fan fiction, though. I appreciated reading that this morning. And then your team. So all those who accuse Mike of being biased, just remember he's biased. He loves the Minnesota Vikings, and he will say bad things about your favorite team in service to them. How are you feeling personally about going in this season with JJ McCarthy, I.

[Mike Florio]

Have no expectations whatsoever. The Vikings for the past 20 years, it seems, have been on this roller coaster where every good year is followed by a bad year. Every bad year is followed by a good year. So I fully expect them to not be very good this year. But I do agree with the approach of giving J.J. mcCarthy a chance to fully develop. There was some weirdness happening right around the start of free agency with Sam Darnold. Are they going to bring him back? Are they going to bring back Daniel Jones? I talked to people who were dealing with the Vikings and the sense I was getting is nobody really knows who's calling the shots or who's making the decisions. Is it Kevin o' Connell? Is it Quesia Dofamensa? Is it ownership who's making these big picture decisions about who the quarterback's going to be? And they did talk to Aaron Rodgers. They admit that Adolfo Mensah didn't close the door on Aaron Rodgers when he talked about it a couple of months ago. It could be Rodgers is still waiting to see if they look at the film from the OTA practices and mandatory minicamp and decide, you know what? Let's just go all in with Aaron Rodgers for a year, make it like Brett Favre in 2009, and try to get back to the super bowl for the first time in 49 years. I like the idea, though, of giving McCarthy his opportunity to reach his ceiling. They haven't had a true franchise quarterback, at least since Dante Culpepper, who's who? Who had a promising career cut short by injury before him, France Arkinton. Maybe McCarthy can be the guy. It's the highest they've ever drafted a quarterback, I believe. I'd have to look. It's the highest in years, at a minimum, that they've drafted a quarterback at 10th overall. Let's see what this guy can do. And so far, so good. He throws it well, he moves well. If he can stay healthy, you know, they could. They could win some game. The schedule is going to be harder this year, though. It's one of the things that gets overlooked. Last year, eight games played by the teams in the NFC north were against the AFC south and the NFC west in a season when the NFC west was down. This year they play all four teams of the AFC north and all four teams of the NFC East. That's eight games swapped out much harder for the Lions, the Vikings, the packers and the Bears this year. So I think all those teams, the top teams could have a lesser record and still be better than they were last year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And I, I mean, I think the Vikings did a lot this offseason. Like, it's a good setup for J.J. mcCarthy. I mean, he, the offensive line, they did some good things with that in free agency. They obviously still have the best. If not, you know, if you, whatever you want to rank the receivers and Justin Jefferson, like, they are a talented team that it feels like it's a good place for J.J. mcCarthy, who's, who was, obviously didn't want to sit a year, but sat a year because of injury to be put into. And I also think Kevin o' Connell is, I mean, that he's, he's one of the best QB coaches in the league. Like I, I, you got to think that that is a big plus when it comes to JJ McCarthy and what you're going to find out about him.

[Mike Florio]

Absolutely. And they need to complement the passing game, which is run to perfection by o' Connell with a running game that, that can balance things out a little better. And the moves they made at the interior offensive line are critical. Two Colts were signed. They used their first round pick on the Ohio State interior offensive lineman, Donovan Jackson. They need an edge. They need, you know, I mean, yes, there's a lot of finesse that happens in pro football, but you still need some guys that'll punch you in the mouth. When someone needs to be punched in the mouth, it'll stand up to a defensive lineman who's giving him grief or whatever and be physical. Pass blocking, run blocking, two different things. They need to work on their run blocking. They need to have tougher, harder nosed guys on the offensive line, and they're trying to do that this year. And Jordan Mason, the guy they picked up in a trade with the 49ers, that could be one of those sneaky great acquisitions where he can come in and just explode for the Vikings in the running game. And if they start getting 5, 6, 7 yards a clip, all of a sudden a passing game gets even more wide open. I'm getting excited now. Maybe I'm starting to believe.

[Big Cat]

And you know, the edge thing is, is, is very true. You look at the Eagles and their offensive line, so it's good segue. The Lions Frank Ragnow retires Was this a shock at all to people in the building? Or is it something that, hey, they kind of felt like this could happen and then what, what, what, what is the fallout here? Because he's obviously a very, he was a very talented center. That offensive line was the strength of their team. What do we like? How are the Lions going to adjust to this? They've had a lot of turnover this year.

[Mike Florio]

They've got the rookie they picked in round two who's already taken the snaps at center. I think that Ragnar. Yeah, I think they knew Ragnar was transparent, and he did him a favor by not retiring before the draft. Because if he retires before the draft, then every time the lines are on the clock or approaching being on the clock, there's a blinking red light. They're going to draft an interior offensive lineman. By not knowing that Ragnow was out, it allowed them to not worry about getting jumped by somebody who tries to predict, hey, you know, we kind of like that guy. Maybe the lines are going to take him. Let's cut the line in front of the Lions and get the guy they may be looking at. So I think they knew. And this is just another example of the adversity that they're having to deal with this year. Both coordinators gone, much tougher schedule. Seven games outdoors this year. They play all those teams from the. From the AFC north, all the teams from the nfc. So there's gonna be some great games this year with the Lions. But when you look at their schedule like we were looking at the first seven games before the bye week the other day, 5 and 2 is the best case scenario. A team that went 15, 2 last year, 5 and 2 through seven games, they should be thrilled with. So they've got to forget about last year. They can't make excuses. They can't say, oh, woe is us. We've got new offensive coordinator. We've got new defensive coordinator, and I think Dan Campbell's the right guy to set that tone and get them to forget about last year and focus on this year.

[Big Cat]

This is why I love Mike, because his show, which I was lucky enough to do with you many times, like in this part of the season, they'll be like, all right, it's Wednesday, may, you know, 22nd. What are we going to do? We're going to just break down the lion schedule.

[Hank]

I'm looking at that right now.

[Big Cat]

I love it. It's just ball all the time.

[Hank]

Go through it, Mike. So, Lions, you're living the dream lines at Packers Week one.

[Mike Florio]

Well, I, I, I feel like I give the edge of the home team in that one. I hate to do the Mike and the Mad Dog. There's a win, there's a loss.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, no, it's the best. That's what this time of year is for Mike. That's Why we do it.

[Mike Florio]

Hey, packers win that game. Lions are 0 and 1.

[Hank]

Okay. Bears at Lions.

[Mike Florio]

Well, hey, what. What an intriguing week, too, with Ben Johnson.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

I'll give the Lions on a late field goal.

[Hank]

Okay. Late field goal, three points. Okay. My metrics have it five and a half for the Lions, but that's fine. Lions at the Ravens.

[Mike Florio]

You know, we've seen road teams go into Baltimore and surprise them from time to time. It's usually like, if it's a bad team, they can go in and surprise the Ravens.

[Hank]

Raiders.

[Mike Florio]

The Ravens will kick the crap out of them like they did the Lions a couple of years ago. I'll give that one to the Ravens.

[Hank]

Okay. Browns at home in Detroit.

[Mike Florio]

I think the. If the Lions lose that one, they have a very big problem.

[Hank]

Then they're going to Cincy. Now, we know that the Bengals struggle at the start of years.

[Mike Florio]

Yeah, but that's deep enough into the season, right?

[Hank]

Okay.

[Mike Florio]

I'll still give that one to the Lions. I'll give that one to the Lions. What's that have them now, 4 and 2 or 3 and 2?

[Hank]

You got him at 4 and 2 right now. Yeah, because you have. You have Pennsylvania. Well, no, wait. No, the only. You had the Packers. You had the Ravens as losses.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Hank]

And then the Chiefs going to Arrowhead.

[Mike Florio]

Okay.

[Hank]

Columbus Day.

[Mike Florio]

The Lions did win there to start the 2023 season.

[Hank]

Your text message sound is like a. A hearing aid that's struggling to find the frequency. It's not the normal. It's like a sharper sound.

[Mike Florio]

Yeah, it doesn't interfere with my hearing aid frequency. I'll say The Chiefs are gonna. We're gonna rectify the week one loss from a couple of years ago. So that's three losses there for the Lions, it's more losses in the first six weeks than they had all of last year. That's all the more reason to forget about last year. The late Vikings coach Dennis Green used to call it the valley of 0 and 0. And I think that's the hardest thing for a team that had a great season. Number one seed. You got to forget about that because now you're back at 0 and 0 with all of the other teams. And, you know, if you start 1 and 3 the year after the Vikings went 15 and 1, they started like 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. You just got to forget about last year. Last year's gone. You got to focus on this year. So these first seven games, I think, will give the Lions the idea that they need to. To wake it Up. I'm going to. Most of these are coming from. Yeah, thanks. Now you're sending them through.

[Big Cat]

Please, Mike, I want to do this rapid fire. Ready? You ready for this? Rapid fire?

[Mike Florio]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Okay. First five weeks, rapid fire. Just, just. No, no. Just give me the winner. Panthers. Jaguars.

[Mike Florio]

Oh, really? You're going to do that?

[Big Cat]

Panthers. Jaguars. Come on.

[Mike Florio]

I don't know. Panthers.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Panthers. Cardinals.

[Mike Florio]

Panthers.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Falcons at Panthers.

[Mike Florio]

Falcons.

[Big Cat]

Panthers. At Patriots.

[Mike Florio]

Patriots.

[Big Cat]

Dolphins at Panthers.

[Mike Florio]

Panthers.

[Big Cat]

All right, so three and two. That's not bad.

[Hank]

Even with the Lions.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Panthers gonna make the super bowl this year. Mike.

[Mike Florio]

I knew what you were doing. That's okay. How many teams. And this is what the NFL loves this time of year, between free agency and the draft, you can convince yourself, yep, no matter how bad your team was last year, that you can turn it around. And we've had examples. The Texans were as dysfunctional and God awful as any team we've seen over the last 20 years. And boom, in come C.J. stroud and Will Anderson and D' Amico Ryan's, and they win the freaking division in the first year. The Bengals, the year that they went to the super bowl, they were the one team in the AFC I'd look at and say they got no chance to make it to the playoffs. So some of these teams that have been traditionally bad or recently bad, the Panthers, the Jets, the Jaguars, you can turn it all around in one year. It really is amazing. And I think that's one of the things that makes the NFL special. You don't have fan bases that check out before the season begins like you do in baseball or basketball there.

[Big Cat]

Are we. Are we concerned about CJ Stroud? What's going on there?

[Mike Florio]

Well, I don't know. Soreness in your arm that keeps you from throwing in OTAs. Like, what the hell did you do to get your arm to the point where you can't throw in the off season. And Sims and I were talking about it the other day and it's great to have a former quarterback on the show because he said, you know, you can go out there and overdo it. And you do get to a point where your elbow or your shoulder or something isn't right and you just have to rest it. But you're missing reps with a new offense, new players, you're missing the closest thing you're going to have to live reps until training camp. And this is the opportunity to get up to speed with the new offense they're installing. So it's a little concerning. But if he's able to go when training camp rolls around. It's nothing to really be worried about.

[Hank]

I wasn't concerned until d' Amico Ryan said three times, we're not worried.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

And then. And then I got worried.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

Hey, I love watching those press conferences, too. And you always got to watch the hands. And he did a good job. He was doing the Superman Hercules stance with his hands on his hips. Trying not to like, because you always gotta. Because it's the, you know, and it's amazing how it works when the guy is lying through his teeth. Inevitably the hand will stray up at the key moment and kind of like. And that's the ultimate. That's the ultimate control of your body. If you can avoid scratching or touching your face when you're selling the. Then you've got it figured out.

[Hank]

Yeah, I appreciate that. So when it comes to teams, you mentioned a couple that, you know, went from worst to first, not expected to make the playoffs, ended up surprising everybody. Give us a team this year that did not make the playoffs last year that you think will make the playoffs this year. A surprise team.

[Mike Florio]

Well, I like what the jets are doing, and I can't believe I'm saying that. I don't think I've said that at any point in the 25 years I've been covering the NFL. But they're trying to do what the Lions did. And the key is going to be the owner has to stay the hell out of the way. He was way too involved last year, fired Robert Sala earlier than he should have got involved in things he shouldn't have been involved in. Trust Darren Muji, the new gm. Trust Aaron Glenn, the new head coach with that Parcells streak in him. Put the team above the individuals. They didn't have a big, splashy off season where they're in the middle of all sorts of discussion and hype and talk about the Jets. And look at what the jets are doing. It was a very meat and potatoes approach. They believe in Justin Fields. Justin Fields reunited with Garrett Wilson from their time together at Ohio State. I think that's a huge positive. They they were in favor of keeping the Tush push, and there's a thought that maybe they're going to use it. Justin Fields, ESPN Research had a nugget. Since 2021, Justin Fields has converted 11 of 12 push sneak plays. That is the highest rate between him and Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen. And Fields is number three in the league behind Hertz and Allen. Now hurts did it 100 times. Allen's done it 55 times. Fields only did it 12. But I think they may be thinking about using it because, look, if you can make it work, you don't have first and 10 anymore. You got first and nine or first and eight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

You get an automatic yard or two when you get within the. The range of the sticks.

[Hank]

Yeah, I like that. Take Memes. Loves it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Memes are. Are produced.

[Hank]

Did you demote. Did you demote him as, like, he's no longer top Florio?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Memes. Memes has a very, like, sour relationship with you online. But this is. This is going. This is big for you guys. Memes, what do you think?

[Hank]

Yeah, that was really good.

[Big Cat]

I'm waiting for, like, the. The gotcha.

[Hank]

Oh, is there a gotcha?

[Mike Florio]

There's no gotcha. No, no, it's. It's not a setup. It's not a setup. I didn't do it to pander to you. I did the fan fiction thing. Thing to pander to Hank. I didn't do that. I don't think of you.

[Big Cat]

Oh, Mike. I have a couple last questions. First of all, Mike is an author. Father's Day is coming up. Everyone please go buy Mike's books. Can we buy them on Amazon?

[Mike Florio]

You get them on Amazon 14.99 for the print editions, but because I've got a fairly momentous weekend coming up where I'm gonna turn 60, I.

[Hank]

Mike.

[Big Cat]

Whoa.

[Zach]

That's why we had him on Mike.

[Big Cat]

What?

[Hank]

You look great for 60, Mike stud.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Mike stud. He can't.

[Hank]

Congrats, Mike.

[Mike Florio]

I'm just trying to keep up with. You're 50 now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I'm 40. That was me texting you. Happy birthday, by the way.

[Mike Florio]

Yeah, thank you. Anyway, this weekend. This weekend, the ebooks for Father of Mine, Father of Mine, and Son of Mine, the sequel. I'm making them free both days. I do. I'm trying to promote reading, like, because. Because people hate to read because they grew up having to read in school and I hated having to read. And as an adult, it takes a while to come back to it. But I'm telling you, and I'm going to keep working on you because I'm going to get you guys, especially you, big cat, to read my book. Yeah, I'm going to get you read it. I know it's up there on the shelf. I'm going to get you to pull it down and fucking read it.

[Big Cat]

Do you know what I did, Mike? It's right up there. I bought a reading lamp for, like, you know, the little clip that you can put on your book. So at night you can. Yeah. Haven't.

[Mike Florio]

Like a birthday gift from your son.

[Big Cat]

No, haven't. Haven't used it. But I'm. That's a, that's the first step.

[Mike Florio]

All right. But anyway, they're usually. I made them $0.99 on Amazon for the ebook for this year just because I want people to buy them and read them and enjoy them. Because people surprisingly, do buy them and read them and enjoy them. But this weekend, they're free. Just for the E book. The print book is not free. 1499. You can get it now, and you can give it to dad or grandpa or your uncle or your cousin or whoever for Father's Day.

[Big Cat]

I love it. We need the AWS to go out and buy that because we do love Mike. He's. He's been ride or die with us from the very beginning. All right, a couple last questions. This is a random one. Fan fiction, maybe that you can do an article. What's the next NFL team to be sold?

[Mike Florio]

Well, I think it'll be the Seahawks.

[Big Cat]

Okay. All right. So not the Seahawks, then next after that.

[Mike Florio]

You know, one of these owners is eventually going to wake up and say, I'll take 10, 11, $12 billion.

[Big Cat]

Right?

[Mike Florio]

I've had enough. I've done it. And, and I hear different rumors from time to time, and I don't want to compromise any sources, but there could be, like, a guy that believes, hey, you know, I've done everything I can in this league, and they're this, these teams are worth 10, 11, 12 billion. Now I'm cashing out, baby. Now, they have a hard time finding people who have the money to buy teams. But, but, you know, they're trying to change the rules and soften it and make it a little bit easier, but these franchise values keep going up and up. I, I, I will not be surprised if somebody that we didn't expect to sell his or her team decides, I'm, I'm out. I'm good. We're moving forward and we're taking the money.

[Hank]

Yeah, Mike. I think, Hank, Mike might have a last question.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, let me do. Oh, he doesn't. He, he didn't respond. He doesn't.

[Hank]

Oh, okay.

[Big Cat]

I have a last question. Rollback question. Well, we, I texted you asking, do you have a question for Florio? You were on your phone and you didn't see that text. What have you been doing?

[Hank]

Where did you text me that?

[Big Cat]

I texted.

[Hank]

You texted the group.

[Big Cat]

Pardon my take, full group. You didn't See it.

[Hank]

Mike, do you have a last question for Hank?

[Big Cat]

Wait, wait. Rollback question. R, H, O, B, A, C, K.com promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase. Q, zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code, take. Sounds like Hank doesn't. Can't work his cell phone either.

[Mike Florio]

Mike, Hank's getting old too.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he is. He actually is.

[Zach]

My birthday's coming up.

[Big Cat]

His birthday's in.

[Zach]

This must be a separate group text you guys have.

[Big Cat]

No, it's the full group.

[Mike Florio]

Are you 30?

[Zach]

I'm 31. About to be 32.

[Big Cat]

He's about to be 32. Hank, do you have a question for our good friend Mike?

[Hank]

Big Cat removed Hank from the conversation.

[Big Cat]

How?

[Hank]

I don't know. It says today 1102. Thanks, dude. Big Cat removed Hank Locke.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I did it for my computer. Okay.

[Mike Florio]

That didn't know how to use his computer.

[Big Cat]

Now we're all. Yeah, we're all. I find is fucked. I. I myself. You know what? It's. I fucked myself. I look like.

[Hank]

Last question.

[Big Cat]

I look like an idiot because Mike couldn't. You know what? I blame the. The stupid chime that keeps going on.

[Zach]

Mike, you. You're as. As a father.

[Big Cat]

What I'm peppering.

[Mike Florio]

Stop it.

[Hank]

I'm.

[Big Cat]

I'm trying to change the subject so it's back on you.

[Zach]

Mike, what are your. What are your thoughts on eating ice cream at 9am I. I saw the.

[Mike Florio]

Picture of Big Cat with the ice cream cone at 9:15 in the morning. I. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to eat ice cream whenever you want ice cream. I mean, if you're hungry, it's. It's one of the food groups. It's dairy, right?

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

Put stuff on it to, like, expand the horizon. I got no problem with ice cream at 9 in the morning.

[Big Cat]

You still got to come up to our office in Chicago. We got the machine now, so free ice cream on us.

[Mike Florio]

I'm waiting for a real invitation, not the phony. While he's on the air, we'll invite him up. I'm waiting for the real. Hey, would you come up and hang out with us in the studio?

[Hank]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

We should.

[Hank]

You know what, Mike? You know what, Mike? I don't want to speak out of turn. We have a fantasy team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Jerry o' Connell helps to manage it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Would you like to co. Manage the team with Jerry? Okay. No, it's not your team.

[Big Cat]

You wouldn't have to pay for anything. No, no, no, Mike, I know We've, We've. We've battered you mentally. And, you know, there's years of therapy. You got to go through with the fantasy story arc with us.

[Hank]

We've moved on from that.

[Big Cat]

We've moved on from that. Jerry o' Connell is our manager. Would you be. Would you be interested in being the team general manager? So you would be. So he's kind of the coach. You're the general manager, we're the owners. You don't have to pay anything. You got to just be the go between. So we don't have to talk to Jerry o' Connell.

[Mike Florio]

Yeah. How does Jerry o' Connor feel about that?

[Hank]

He's fine with it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. He's actually pumped. He's like, I need someone who's hovering over me and micromanaging because tell you.

[Hank]

What, he really doesn't want Adam Schefter to co own the team with him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Mike Florio]

So this would be you if this is real.

[Hank]

Yes.

[Mike Florio]

And this isn't just part of one of your fucking bits to try to get me to step into it so you can say nobody gives a shit about your fantasy team. I'm happy to help out.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

All right. We're in.

[Big Cat]

All right.

[Hank]

But Mike, the way you just said it right there, just know that, like, it made me want to say it in the moment that nobody. But I'm not going to.

[Big Cat]

Because it was.

[Hank]

Because it's not. This is not a bit. This Jerry, he needs a little bit of help sometimes. And I think that you are the person that can help him.

[Big Cat]

This is going to be the greatest test of our friendship.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Because the whole time.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

If you're involved in this the entire time. PFT and I will just be like, literally trying to hold ourselves back of. No one gives a fuck about your fancy. But it's our fantasy team.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Mike Florio]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So, Mike, you're the best. We love you. Love talking ball. Enjoy your vacation. When is vacation start?

[Mike Florio]

It's not vacation. The show is off from July, from June 13th until, I think July 28th. But profootball talk.com is updated every day. And I'll be doing videos every day from either my Olive Garden set at my house or down here or wherever. I happen to have a computer. I mean, it never. There's always something. We're just shutting down PFT Live for a few weeks. We do it every year. But there'll be plenty of pro football talk. Content. No days off.

[Big Cat]

What's the Olive Garden set? What do you mean?

[Mike Florio]

You know, it's. You guys have busted my balls about it.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah. When Italians get money, they basically become the trashiest version of themselves. Yeah, that's.

[Hank]

That's also everyone.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Don't give Italians money. They'll just make an olive garden in their kitchen.

[Mike Florio]

Great note to finish on.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right.

[Mike Florio]

Very proud.

[Big Cat]

Hey, listen, proud Italian father here, you know that. My little kids. All right, Mike, you're the best. We love you.

[Mike Florio]

Thanks, guys.

[Hank]

Florio was brought to you by Morgan and Morgan and fire fest is presented by. By Morgan and Morgan. This week's fire fest is brought to you by our great friends. We all know that life comes at you fast. One minute you're having a great time out on the lake. The next day you're back at the office trying to figure out how to repair your boat because you steered it into some rocks. When you find yourself in the middle of your very own fire Fest, you just might need America's largest injury law firm in your corner. Morgan and Morgan has been fighting for the people and helping with your fire festival for over 35 years. With Morgan and Morgan, it's easy to get started. Their fee is free unless they win. You can check them [e-mail] pmt that's f the people.com pmt, folks.

[PFT Commenter]

It's the foreplay, guys.

[Big Cat]

Let's talk truly unruly. When you spend every day following the countless laws of golf like us, it's refreshing to get a little unruly. Whether that means using the old handle wedge to escape the bunker or just cracking open a hard seltzer that breaks all the rules, few things feel better. Truly unruly is the first high alk seltzer that actually tastes good. It's hard hitting, but still light and refreshing, making it perfect for everything from the front nine to the clubhouse. Find it near you at trulyhardceltzer.com locations. That's trulyhardselter.com locations. Hard Seltzer Beverage Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

[PFT Commenter]

Please drink responsibly.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Fyre fest of the week. Time, Henry. Fire fest.

[Zach]

I don't. I don't really. I had a good week.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I'm busy being PFT's golf CEO. It's.

[Big Cat]

It's.

[Zach]

It's got me back in the busy, busy. But good week. Summertime.

[Hank]

Hank pulled me aside today. He's like, just so you know, I've got a plan, but I need you to follow through on the plan.

[Big Cat]

I mean, that's fair.

[Hank]

He's putting. Yeah, he's putting some pressure on.

[Mike Florio]

On me.

[Big Cat]

It's gonna be hard work.

[Hank]

He's putting together a massive plan.

[Zach]

Like, me and PFT have a very friendly, friendly relationship. And it's like, I don't want to be in a spot where I kind of have to, you know, push him, but that's what it's gonna have to take.

[Hank]

And, Hank, if you have to play golf as CEO of PFT Enterprises, if you have to supervise, then you have to supervise. That's part of your job.

[Zach]

Simulation.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Simulate competition.

[Big Cat]

You got to get out there.

[Hank]

But nothing bad happened this week. I'm curious.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, we're just checking in on you.

[Hank]

Check in on your friends.

[Big Cat]

You're just having fun. Just having a good time, living life. Yeah.

[Zach]

It was a good week. Quick week. It's foggy. This can't go outside in Chicago.

[Hank]

Yeah. What's up with the smog?

[Zach]

I think it's Canadian today. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Bad smog. Oh, I didn't even. I haven't been outside today.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Whoops.

[Zach]

I think it's the Canadian wildfires again.

[Big Cat]

They're doing that again to us. What the. Oh, man.

[Hank]

Blame Canada.

[Big Cat]

Is it like bat? Is it bad? Is it bad? Real bad. Unhealthy. Oh, we're in red zone.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Oh, Canada's elected a new pope.

[Big Cat]

Oh, red zone.

[Zach]

Different.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay, so you're good.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't. I can't force. I can't force one.

[Big Cat]

Okay, great. Don't force one. You got this, man. You do a great job, Hank.

[Hank]

Kind of stole my fire fest of doing nothing. I've had a pretty good week. It's been. It's been excellent across the board. I don't really have too much to complain about. I guess. The only thing is softball has been canceled now for three weeks in a row.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

It only rains on Wednesdays here in Chicago.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

So I guess we're just going to finish the season out with the standings as is, and that's that.

[Big Cat]

I have no idea.

[Hank]

I don't know, but it's kind of a bummer. I miss playing ball.

[Big Cat]

I do, too.

[Hank]

The great boys.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it is very weird that we've had three straight rain outs.

[Hank]

Yeah. I guess the other fire fest, it's an impending fire fest that I'm working on with with Nick and Brandon to buy the. The 20 seat stretch H2 limousine. And then we're gonna figure out how to monetize that later.

[Big Cat]

But which I'm in on for silent investor.

[Hank]

Yeah, you're silent investor in the project.

[Big Cat]

Because I know it's gonna make money.

[Hank]

It's gonna make so much Money. I just don't know where I'm gonna park it or what I'm gonna do with it. But besides, that sounds like my.

[Big Cat]

It looks sick.

[Hank]

And by my best idea, I mean shout out to Nick for presenting me with the investment opportunity, because he was like, pft's got money, so I should just ask him to pay for it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we'll figure out. Yeah, make money later. Buy Hummer limo. Limos are getting. Going extinct.

[Hank]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Big Cat]

They have been going extinct for a while. They've become trashy. I think it's the. I think it's like the Suburban has kind of taken over, you know, black car has taken over for limos.

[Hank]

When I see limo, I'm just like, oh, is it prom season?

[Big Cat]

Right. You don't think like, it's like the vans.

[Zach]

It's like the party van.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Like 20 years ago you see a limo, you're like, what famous person is in there that doesn't exist anymore?

[Hank]

Yeah. Now it's. Yeah, you're right.

[Big Cat]

It's a fleet of black Suburbans.

[Hank]

It's the giant Suburbans, the convoy, those.

[Big Cat]

The Tahoes.

[Hank]

You got the Tahoes, and then you've got the like open air party buses that people take around Nashville.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

And those are the three genres of. Of. Of going out with a bunch of friends these days.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So let's bring limos back.

[Hank]

Yeah, let's do it.

[Big Cat]

Zach would make a great limo driver.

[Hank]

By the way, with the cap and the driving gloves.

[Big Cat]

Yep, yep.

[Hank]

You ever worn driving gloves?

[Memes]

Never the gloves, but pretty decent driving record.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

What's that? What?

[Big Cat]

You're driving pretty decent.

[Memes]

Everybody's got a couple. Couple tickets, some. Some stop signs, couple accidents.

[Big Cat]

Crazy. Oh, wait. A couple accidents. But how many accidents?

[Memes]

Only four.

[Big Cat]

That's a lot of accidents. But I was a lot of accumulating.

[Memes]

The accidents in two of the four.

[Hank]

How old are you?

[Memes]

27.

[Hank]

That's a decent amount of accidents.

[Big Cat]

What were the other two?

[Memes]

There was a. I mean, there was a hydroplane, there was a. Somebody ran a stop sign. One was a rear end. That was hand up. That was my bad. That one was me. And then the fourth one, I was passenger, so it doesn't count.

[Big Cat]

Oh, that doesn't count. Zach used to sell cars.

[Hank]

Oh, yeah? Me too.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

What kind of cars do you sell?

[Memes]

We did a newest Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram used as just whatever we got. What about you?

[Hank]

I use cars.

[Memes]

You enjoyed it?

[Hank]

Actually, I kind of did for a little bit. Did like selling cars.

[Big Cat]

Or trees.

[Hank]

Definitely better. Dogs number one, trees number two. Cars number three. I'm not really. I don't know if you know this about me or not, Hank, but I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to cars.

[Zach]

I watch you put bring the El Camino back to life last night.

[Big Cat]

Camino looks good.

[Hank]

It does.

[Big Cat]

I watched PFT we. We got wings last night. Little guy date and I watched PFT pull up and I was like, that thing looks sick.

[Hank]

Yeah, it's nice and loud. Yeah, it's pretty sweet.

[Zach]

And then when he left, he. The it got in, didn't turned on. I was like, oh, but you opened the hood, got it going.

[Big Cat]

No problem.

[Hank]

I know how to do like three things now with the car, which is a massive. I'm becoming a man.

[Big Cat]

That's huge. All right. My fire fest is. I don't really have one either. I mean, I guess it's that we got the ice cream machine. It's. It's. It's up operational, delicious, Incredible. I guess a future fire fest. Like, I don't know if it's sustainable to do 9, 15 ice cream every morning, but I did find today that I doing, you know, like the, like Joe Rogan's big into the sauna cold tub. I found that I did two cups of coffee and ice cream and it was basically sauna cold tub for my brain and.

[Hank]

And your stomach.

[Big Cat]

And my stomach. But I like, I had a little bit of a pep to me that I didn't have just from the call. Like it was. I don't know, maybe it was. It was just the hot and cold back to back that just had me feeling good.

[Hank]

I mean.

[Big Cat]

Shocks. Did you crash? No.

[Hank]

It makes sense.

[Big Cat]

No, because that's the beauty of the ice cream machine. The minute you think you're gonna crash, just get more ice cream.

[Hank]

Think about big cat. What did we have for dinner last night?

[Big Cat]

Wings.

[Hank]

Hot wings.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Cold beer. Yeah, there's some. And you feel great while you're doing it.

[Big Cat]

I did.

[Hank]

It's the same thing except for breakfast.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Although I going yesterday was. Was five ice cream cones and then wings for dinner. And you just gotta wonder, how do these kidney stones keep happening?

[Hank]

No. I don't know. It's a mystery to me. But it is something that If I was 9 years old and you told me, yeah, you're gonna. You're gonna eat ice cream for lunch and then you're gonna have wings for dinner. I'd be like, yeah, being an adult rock.

[Zach]

And then ice cream for breakfast.

[Big Cat]

It is I mean, you gotta admit, Hank, you, you've been kind of a hater on the ice cream machine.

[Zach]

I'm just concerned. Walking in today and seeing a line of people not even close to noon.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Zach]

10:00Am and there was a big group of people eating ice cream. Like, it was, like it was a coffee machine. It's the water cooler. Water co. Water cooler.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Which I love. It's a place where we can get together and talk and, and share stories as, as office mates.

[Zach]

Imagine being the guy that had the under. In the hockey game last night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

At the ice cream machine.

[Big Cat]

At the ice cream machine. I've been doing little. If you do littler cones, you can do more of them so you don't go all the way to the top.

[Hank]

I made a mistake yesterday, though, last night. I, I. Because people were tweeting at me and I googled listeria.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

We also had a professional chef in here.

[Big Cat]

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Correct them on what? We don't use that word. I should not have zaggled it.

[Memes]

Refrain from that, if that's cool to you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Moving forward on the cream team, just so you know. Pft. They refer to it as the L word.

[Hank]

Okay. Moving forward. I will not, I will try not to refer to it, but I'm, I'm recounting a story of what I did last night, and last night I did, in fact, Google the L word.

[Memes]

You know, you can get. You started getting on WebMD and stuff like that. You trick yourself into having, like, stage four cancer the next day. Like, you got. You gotta be careful Googling stuff like that.

[Big Cat]

That's true.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Memes]

You just start spiraling.

[Hank]

That's a good point. Anxiety.

[Big Cat]

Shit's clean. They're gonna clean it once a week, maybe twice a week.

[Memes]

We're gonna make sure it's clean for you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Appreciate that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Zach, you got a fire fest before we do numbers?

[Memes]

I've got a super quick one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Do you have two?

[Memes]

So my, My firefighter the week is that the developers of Marvel Rivals was a video game that I like to frequent to play with my friends and my brother. Because we don't live in the same areas, they're taking the game, so they're, they're allowing these guys do, if you're not familiar, a Smurf account, which is like in the Rank system. So what's going on here is like.

[Zach]

A burner for video games.

[Memes]

100%. They're doing burner accounts and they're coming down in the trenches of, like, Lower levels and just pub stomping. So they're coming. They can't compete in their current ranking, so they like to go alternate account, come down, bully the guys who aren't to their standards. And it just.

[PFT Commenter]

That.

[Memes]

That's.

[Big Cat]

So are you getting pub stomped every night?

[Memes]

I'm getting pub stomped right now.

[PFT Commenter]

In rank.

[Memes]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Why don't you go Smurf?

[Memes]

I got. I got integrity in the game, man.

[Hank]

Oh, yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay. That actually sucks. So they're just playing down a level and pub stomping the out of you?

[Memes]

Yes, because they don't want to compete with the guys that are at their current standing. So that's plain scare.

[Big Cat]

Is that.

[Zach]

Is there any. Is that a little bit. Are you just mad you're getting beat?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. It sounds like you're just getting straight up stomped.

[Memes]

That's one of the aspects. But they said they'd address the smurfing in the newest update.

[Big Cat]

That.

[Memes]

That is terrible. In the update. And the latter part of the update is that they changed the team ups, and now there's a Sharknado that you can light on fire. And the Sharknado is ruining the game. It's bad.

[Hank]

The Sharknado is too powerful.

[Zach]

They got a nerf, the Smurfs.

[Memes]

So Jeff is a shark. Jeff has an ability to swoop everybody up. Storm is another character in the game. She does tornadoes. They can collab. Now Sharknado, the third guy comes in with this fire tornadoes. Now we got a flame Sharknado going. And it's. What was once a nice escape for me, my friends, is like an existence that I don't enjoy.

[Zach]

You're just going to your players act. I feel like that's a big. That says a lot about you. Who do you play with?

[Memes]

I'm either going Invisible Woman or I'm going Bucky Barnes. So I'll do heels and a little bit of a dps. No tank, though.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so. So. So every night, Zach, what you're saying is you're basically going to like, literal war, where you're just dying constantly and it's just not fun anymore.

[Memes]

Depending on the night.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Memes]

Last couple nights, we just began. Destroyed.

[Big Cat]

Damn.

[Memes]

It's no longer any fun. It's not like before. It was a great time. Now it's not really in existence.

[Big Cat]

Is morale low?

[Memes]

All time low?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

A couple guys are just like, I'm not doing it.

[Big Cat]

Oh, no.

[Hank]

Do you guys have, like a squad name or anything?

[Memes]

No, no squad name.

[Hank]

Just you, your brother, your boy, me.

[Memes]

My brother, and then some interchangeable homies. I swap through.

[Big Cat]

Nice. Your homie swapping.

[Memes]

They're swapping through.

[Big Cat]

Okay. This Sharknado sounds. It just destroys everything.

[Memes]

Yeah, Just picks everybody off the point. You know, you're trying to hold down the point, and then the sharknado sweeps him up. It's really unfair.

[Big Cat]

What game is this again?

[Memes]

Marvel Rivals. A PvP 5v5. Marvel theme.

[Hank]

And who's the developer?

[Memes]

Chinese developer. If I was going to pronounce it, I would pronounce it incorrectly, but it was.

[Big Cat]

This sounds brutal.

[Hank]

Because.

[Memes]

I thought it was.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. I mean, at first Call of Duty, it's like that.

[Big Cat]

You get pub stomp. Oh, yeah.

[Hank]

I've been getting pub stomped recently, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my squadron members really, like, went into the DMS on a popular team, started roasting them. So now they've got some developers that are on that team now. They're just amping up the difficulty level of the bots that I play against. That can't be true. I'm getting pub stomped.

[Big Cat]

All right, so who's. What's the Chinese N word that you can't pronounce?

[Memes]

It's Net Ease. So not as Chinese as I first thought.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, not as games.

[Hank]

All right, listen to me very clearly. Nettie's game. Get the out of here with the Sharknado. You're ruining the game. My boy's getting pub stopped, and he's about to quit entirely. It's bad for his mentals.

[Big Cat]

And figure out the Smurfs.

[Memes]

Thank you guys for doing that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, appreciate it that he's rescind the new update awl. Let's fight for Zach. Like, I don't know, tweet at Nettie's Games. Like, figure out the Smurfs. No more pub stomping. And fuck the Sharknado.

[Memes]

And if you guys see anybody smurfing, feel free to report, man. Hit that report button. Get them gone.

[Big Cat]

Have you been reporting?

[Memes]

I report.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

I get them out of there. I pack them up. I hate to say it, but I'll do it.

[Hank]

I mean, hypothetically, if you were to tweet at them, it would be at net. Net Ease Games underscore en. That's at Net Ease Games underscore en.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, so. Or. Or just. Oh, no tweet yet. Tweet at Marvel Rivals. That's perfect. That's the. That's the account that gets a lot of.

[Hank]

Yeah, okay.

[Big Cat]

Treat at Marvel Rivals. Tell them no more more pub stomping, no more smurfing, no more Sharknado. You had another one.

[Memes]

That was it. We I.

[Big Cat]

There's a second memes is saying, yes, you have another one.

[Memes]

I have a second one. Super quick get to it.

[Zach]

Call of Duty update. Also bad.

[Memes]

Was it bad?

[Zach]

I don't know. I was leading you.

[Memes]

I thought you had some game on the COD update. My bad. So I guess second one super fast is some of the recent clips about. I know we've talked about a couple eating habits here. These circle back to my mom and she. I. We mentioned that maybe I don't tell her the full truth about what it means sometimes. And then we do group face times at the end of the night. Right. So family FaceTimes.

[Big Cat]

Oh, that's sweet.

[Memes]

That is super enjoyable. It is. Because everybody's in different areas. You know, catch up on our days. Really a highlight of my day. It's kind of taking a turn. She's now having me report back, like what I'm eating for dinner. Like, you lied to me. What's going on?

[Zach]

That's good though.

[Hank]

Yeah. She cares.

[Big Cat]

Can you. Have you thought about try this tonight? So what time you do the FaceTime?

[Memes]

It just, it just depends what time they get my grandpa to bed. Usually around like anywhere from six to nine.

[Big Cat]

That's, that's really sweet. I think maybe tonight you just be like, hey, mom, listen, I'm getting the fucking pub stomped every fucking night. The last thing I need is you smurfing my ass with a sharknado. She's like, what is he going inside saying? So what is she, what is she. Is she what she's concerned with? Because you're, you're doing your thing.

[Memes]

She, she just wants to invest for me, make sure I'm healthy. You know, she didn't want me to keep. She knows I'm, I'm real easy at habit forming. So if I start the habit forms and I'm just going to keep ripping the fast food for eternity.

[Hank]

So.

[Memes]

But I, so I did, I did get ahead of it in the grocery order. I had some ground beef, I had some rice, avocado. I did show her the ingredients on the counter dinner, but that was on Monday and I ended up getting that pizza.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Memes]

So I had to shamefully walk the ground beef to the trash chute because it, that was the last day it was good for.

[Big Cat]

But guess what?

[Memes]

You showed the ingredients.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, she saw the ingredients. Now what if she sees this clip?

[Memes]

This is why I only want to do the first one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Zach's. I, I've been also asking Zach for, for his dinners. And he sent me just a large pepperoni pizza that he ate the whole thing of. And he said, but I did not get any knots. No garlic knots.

[Hank]

Good work, Good work.

[Big Cat]

But he actually then followed up saying he kind of regretted because he could have used a couple knots maybe.

[Hank]

Would it make your mom feel better if you just got vitamins, too? So you're like, hey, Mom, I took my vitamins today.

[Memes]

I think we start at the. The beginning builder blocks. I think we got to have the food pyramid down right before we start going to supplements.

[Hank]

No, I think you can go supplements, and then you can eat whatever you want.

[Big Cat]

Start working out here at the office. She's like, mom, I'm playing basketball for 10 hours a day, so lie more.

[Memes]

You think?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's how we got here. I think you gotta lie your way out of this.

[Memes]

That's. That's not good.

[Hank]

Well, tell your mom. What if you said, you know what, Mom, I'm just not eating dinner at all anymore. And then she'd be like, no, you have to eat something. Okay, yeah, good point. I'll eat dinner.

[Memes]

I thought it's a fast.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you could also do this. Zach, this is real quick. Why don't you start eating big lunches? And then when she asks what's for dinner, you'd be like a cucumber.

[Memes]

Not hungry. Just go with something.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Because then you're not actually lying.

[Memes]

I like that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. You're telling her the truth. You say what your dinner is, but.

[Memes]

A big lunch, you go sluggish in the middle of the day.

[Big Cat]

It's very safe. I think if you ate what you eat in the middle of the day, we wouldn't see you for the rest of the day.

[Memes]

That wouldn't be good for production.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Or you could just eat lunch and at 7pm that's super fair.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Memes]

We'll just move around the. The time of day where the eating is at.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Lunch is a state of mind.

[Memes]

I like that.

[Big Cat]

All right, good show. We'll have Ryan Whitney on Monday to recap the weekend and do a little US Open preview memes. Have you had any time to think about how you didn't really congratulate me enough for my var first ever V. Congrats.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Okay, let's do number three.

[Hank]

That was memes.

[Big Cat]

That was Memes. That was unfortunately Memes.

[Zach]

I thought you were going to wait till he was talking.

[Big Cat]

Sorry.

[Hank]

I also thought that.

[Zach]

77, 65, 56.

[Hank]

I'm going to get it today.

[Big Cat]

No, you're not. 21. Yeah, pop in 99p.

[Memes]

52. 55.

[Big Cat]

Oh, you're right on me. I have 56. I gotta remember my number. Now you're 65. 44. 44. Love you guys. It.

[Hank]

Sa.