Lots to Say: Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell and Tennis Champ Andy Roddick

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show – "Lots to Say: Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell and Tennis Champ Andy Roddick"

Release Date: February 12, 2025

Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Bobby Bones Show, host Bobby Bones, alongside co-host Matt Castle, delves into insightful conversations with two distinguished guests: Kevin O'Connell, the Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and Andy Roddick, the former World No. 1 tennis champion. The episode, aptly titled "Lots to Say," offers listeners an engaging blend of sports expertise, personal anecdotes, and heartfelt camaraderie.

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Section 1: Interview with Kevin O'Connell

Timestamp: [02:09] – [30:06]

Celebrating Success and Surreal Moments

Bobby Bones opens the segment by expressing his excitement about having two close friends on the show. He reminisces about his friendship with Kevin O'Connell, highlighting their shared history as former teammates and the unique evolution of their relationship from players to coach and friend.

At [12:41], Matt Castle congratulates Kevin on being named the NFL Coach of the Year. Kevin responds with heartfelt gratitude, reflecting on the mentorship he received from legendary coach Bill Belichick. “[14:35] Kevin O'Connell: If you ain't first, you're last.”

Leadership and Philosophy

Kevin delves into his coaching philosophy, emphasizing authenticity and genuine care for his players. At [21:30], he states, “If you and I both know that's not true, Matt.” He discusses the importance of preparation, relationship-building, and creating a supportive environment that allows quarterbacks like Sam Darnold to thrive.

Quarterback Dynamics and Team Strategy

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the Vikings' quarterback situation. Kevin addresses the complexities of managing multiple QBs, including Sam Darnold and the newly drafted J.J. McCarthy. “[17:34] Kevin O'Connell: We have a quarterback now who's played himself into probably being the marquee quarterback in the free agent class...” He explains the strategic decisions behind player development and future planning, ensuring the team remains competitive.

Personal Anecdotes and Super Bowl Experience

Kevin shares memorable experiences from the Super Bowl, including interactions with peers and mentors. At [24:00], he recalls the honor of having Bill Belichick present him with the Coach of the Year award, signifying a full-circle moment in his career.

Communication and Coaching Style

Discussing the transition from player to coach, Kevin highlights the importance of authentic communication. “[24:41] Kevin O'Connell: ...you have to authentically be yourself first and foremost.” He underscores the balance between leading with competence and maintaining personal authenticity to inspire and motivate his team.

Final Thoughts and Future Aspirations

As the interview concludes, Kevin reflects on the continuous need for reinvention in the NFL. “[27:41] Matt Castle: He's done this before, has.” He expresses optimism about the future, both for the Vikings and his ongoing relationship with Bobby Bones.

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Section 2: Interview with Andy Roddick

Timestamp: [30:20] – [93:11]

Transition from Tennis to Pickleball

Andy Roddick joins the show, bringing his dynamic personality and a wealth of experience from his illustrious tennis career. Bobby Bones shares personal stories about their friendship and mutual support, including attending Super Bowls together. “[50:21] Bobby Bones: And the seat, the floor is very high, meaning anybody that able-bodied can get in and just play, right?”

Pickleball Adventures and Challenges

The conversation shifts to Andy's foray into pickleball, a sport he's enthusiastically embraced. At [60:56], Andy humorously describes his competitive spirit: “[61:20] Bobby Bones: What, what is it? Is it Flushing Meadows?” He discusses the nuances of pickleball compared to tennis, highlighting the learning curve and the differences in gameplay dynamics.

Handling Competition and Mentorship

Andy reflects on the competitive nature of individual sports and the stringent drug testing protocols he endured during his tennis career. “[73:07] Kevin O'Connell: Yes. So. Well, it's, it's.” He emphasizes the importance of integrity and the challenges athletes face in maintaining performance standards.

Personal Growth and Legacy

Bobby and Matt explore Andy's personal growth, his disciplined regimen during his tennis days, and the legacy he aims to leave behind. Andy shares anecdotes about balancing professional commitments with personal life, including his role as a groomsman in Bobby's wedding and their collaborative charity efforts.

Humorous Interactions and Future Plans

The segment is peppered with humor as Bobby challenges Andy to a friendly pickleball match, showcasing their playful rivalry. “[89:20] Bobby Bones: I never touched it. And if you actually returned one, it was then when.” Andy embraces the challenge, underscoring their mutual respect and camaraderie.

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Section 3: Closing Remarks

Timestamp: [93:11] – End

Bobby Bones wraps up the episode by highlighting upcoming events, including Roddick's participation in the Pickleball Slam 3: The Duel in the Desert at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He encourages listeners to subscribe to the podcast and stay tuned for more engaging content.

Notable Quotes:

• Kevin O'Connell [14:35]: “If you ain't first, you're last.”
• Kevin O'Connell [24:41]: “If you and I both know that's not true, Matt.”
• Kevin O'Connell [17:34]: “We have a quarterback now who's played himself into probably being the marquee quarterback in the free agent class...”

Conclusion

This episode of The Bobby Bones Show masterfully blends in-depth sports analysis with personal storytelling, offering listeners a nuanced perspective on leadership, competition, and the enduring bonds of friendship. Whether you're a football enthusiast or a tennis aficionado, the conversations between Bobby, Matt, Kevin, and Andy provide valuable insights and entertaining anecdotes that resonate long after the final serve.

Transcript

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[Matt Castle]

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[Bobby Bones]

Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts.

[Kevin O'Connell]

We got lots to say we got.

[Bobby Bones]

Lots to say we're beggar hope you say cause we got lots to say yeah we got lots to say. Now here's Bobby and that we have two individually of our very close friends on this show, which is pretty cool. So Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, will be up in just a few minutes who not only was your play teammate, but Teammate. Yeah, you guys are super close, right? That is super cool. I got to spend some time with them. With you. I was tagging along with you. And then this weekend on espn, there's the pickleball slam. And we'll talk to Andy Roddick, the former number one U.S. open champion. He's on later in the show, and him and I have been super close. He was a grooms in my wedding, so this would be a fun. A fun episode for that. He was why I went to the first two Super Bowls that I went to, because he needed friends and I was a friend. And so he. The weird thing about internationally that's not domestic is that he was never home. He's all into other countries, so he'd come in for just a couple months, and then we just go do stuff. And so it was super bowl time, and he was like, let's go. You want to go to Miami tomorrow? We went and watched the Colts and Saints. Drew Brees.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, Drew.

[Bobby Bones]

Crazy game. That was the game I think about.

[Matt Castle]

Great game.

[Bobby Bones]

With this kid with the.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, yeah. With the headphones on.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. And then we went to watch the Patriots lose to the Giants. The one that you were not.

[Matt Castle]

No, that was after we. We lost in 2007. That next one was, what, 20? 11? 12?

[Bobby Bones]

I. I don't know. Years.

[Matt Castle]

Something like that. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

I don't know. Years. Give me one moment. Because again, it. By the time people hear this this Wednesday, the last thing they want to hear is analysis on a game that happened three days ago. Give me one moment or takeaway from the game or the weekend that you think our audience would like to hear, and then I'll do the same.

[Matt Castle]

One takeaway from the game. I mean, when you watch Patrick Mahomes, he never got comfortable. I think it was just the dominance of that defensive line for the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean, anytime you're a quarterback and your sense of urgency has to go up because you're just getting pounded and you're feeling that. And that's exactly what happened. They controlled that game and took over that game. So that was one thing. This weekend, when we went down to the super bowl in New Orleans, it was awesome. I mean, the collection of people and talents and also legends of the game is always fun, but it's also those relationships that you have. Like, you know, we're there and. And you meet people and you. You saw Dion, and that was really cool to see you guys interact. But for me, it was guys like Kevin O'Connell, who was a teammate of mine and stuff. And then that night after we went to the commissioner's dinner, Going out with him, and he's like, come on, you're coming with me, Cass. I was like, where are you going? He's like, to meet. Meet up with Sean McVeigh. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I shouldn't be here with the meeting of the minds and all that stuff. But it was great because it didn't even matter. I. I felt maybe out of place at first.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you go?

[Matt Castle]

I went. I went. So I go over there, I'm hanging out with these guys, go to the DraftKings party, do all that, and it was just cool because you just pick up where you left off. And so it's all about relationships. And that was a cool moment for me to be able to reconnect with those guys.

[Bobby Bones]

That's cool.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, it was cool.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you know McVo?

[Matt Castle]

I didn't know that McVeigh. I've met him before, but on that type of level where we're just kind of hanging out, he's a great dude. And the energy that you see, like, in his interviews and on Sunday, I mean, he's got that same energy when he's just hanging out.

[Bobby Bones]

You're so much more normal of a human and, like, likable of a human than I am in real life, because before I give my one or two things, I take away from it. So we. You and I, we went to the commissioners. Is it a ball? What do they call that thing? A dinner?

[Matt Castle]

Commissioner's dinner. But it's really.

[Bobby Bones]

It's fancy because everybody's fancy.

[Matt Castle]

It's a massive event.

[Bobby Bones]

So we go. I immediately. I feel uncomfortable in my own skin all the time. And so we go. And I'm like, I don't know anybody. And you're. You're super kind. You're just a good dude. And so you are, like, making me feel comfortable. You're like, this is Bill Belichick, and I'm at Bill Belichick. But I already. This is just how I live my life. I'm like, I'm out of place. Nobody wants me here. I'm going to get out of here. So I escaped in, like, 20 minutes. I text you. I was like, hey, man. I felt awkward. I went home. Then I think that's the.

[Matt Castle]

You did?

[Bobby Bones]

I did. No, I literally did.

[Matt Castle]

I was looking for you.

[Bobby Bones]

I feel in the way.

[Matt Castle]

Ninja smoke.

[Bobby Bones]

I feel like I'm bothersome. Nobody wants me around. I have nothing to add, and. But I think that's super cool of you to just go, I'm going to go be a part of a Group, even if I'm not super close to everybody, because me, I just feel like everybody hates me and I'm going to go home.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, my God. Is that really how you view yourself?

[Bobby Bones]

Obviously.

[Matt Castle]

Obviously. You did leave 20 minutes in, and.

[Bobby Bones]

Then I didn't even text you until I got so far away I couldn't come back in case you did go. Like, no, where did you go? Like, I left. I just feel awkward all the time. And again, to your credit of being like. And I. I'm not just saying this because we're together. Like, Matt's a good, like, wholesome, good, friendly, looking out for people kind of dude. Because we'd be standing there and people would be like, who is this guy even here? And you would, like, say something to brag on me. So they'd be like, oh, that's cool to have something to talk about with me, because otherwise, why am I even in there? And then I would feel awkward at that and I would leave. Just go to a different part of the room.

[Matt Castle]

You're like, okay, enough about me.

[Bobby Bones]

I just disappear. So I. I appreciate the. The love that you showed me. I just am not really able to be loved very well because I am an situation in general. The. The thing was cool. The event was cool.

[Matt Castle]

It was cool.

[Bobby Bones]

The thing I. One of the takeaways was how massive Whitworth was.

[Matt Castle]

Dude, I thought the same thing.

[Bobby Bones]

I've talked. I've talked to him on Zoom. I've had him. I stood next to him. Yes, it's a basketball player. That's a monster lineman.

[Matt Castle]

He looks like a wrestler.

[Bobby Bones]

It's crazy how big he is.

[Matt Castle]

I. I met him for the first time this weekend, and I thought the same exact thing. I mean, when you walk up to me, he's probably all six, eight.

[Bobby Bones]

In a land of giants. He's the giantest of the giants.

[Matt Castle]

He's massive, and he's got a presence about himself. And even when he speaks, you're like, that's a dude. Right?

[Bobby Bones]

That's a dude. And a warm presence. Andrew. Warm guy. But he was a gladiator 200 years ago that nobody beat until he got so old.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. He either quit or he got his freedom. He got his freedom.

[Bobby Bones]

It was amazing. That, to me, that's what I think of how big Andrew Whitworth was.

[Matt Castle]

I know. And you think about him all those years he played with my buddy Carson Palmer, then he goes to the Rams. But, I mean, I guess I didn't realize it until you see him in person.

[Bobby Bones]

And again, a lot of People are big.

[Matt Castle]

A lot of people are big. But he was like a giant amongst giants. And you go, wow. Okay, now. Now I get it.

[Bobby Bones]

My current takeaway is I feel bad for the AFC because Mahomes is already competitive. Mahomes is already obviously a champion who is wired a bit different, but now he's embarrassed. And I think the difference is, if the Chiefs would have lost a close game, like they won the last one against the Eagles. I think you see the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, the organization go, Dan, that sucked. We're going to work hard. You got an embarrassed Mahomes now who's already got a screw loose, meaning he's so competitive right now. You have that same screw that has made him pro, the arguably the second greatest quarterback of all time, and he's embarrassed. That's a bad mix for everybody else.

[Matt Castle]

Bad combination. And then you look at, from an organizational viewpoint, right? From the front office to the coaching staff, they were able to watch that game and know, hey, this is exactly where we got to get better. Offensive line, we got to get more weapons, we got to get a running game going, whatever it might be. And they're going to diagnose that and attack it full.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, my God, full force.

[Matt Castle]

You know, let's take off the gloves. Patrick Mahomes is going to come back more motivated than ever. And I agree with you. I think that that's a big takeaway from that game.

[Bobby Bones]

Embarrassment is such a raw, nerved emotion. It's different than anger or sadness. That is, I have something to prove again. And he hasn't had anything to prove in a long time.

[Matt Castle]

Right?

[Bobby Bones]

Which is why his excellence is so rare for someone to stay at the top, because it's easy to continue as is while everybody else tries to get better or even relax. 5 to 7%. That's not going to happen. It's going to get ugly. Because I think he. He. When you're embarrassed, which he is, that's. That is a different nerve than any of the other negative or positive emotions that make you want to be better.

[Matt Castle]

Right. The motivational factor behind that, right.

[Bobby Bones]

Underdog again. And that's crazy.

[Matt Castle]

And. And that's the cool part for a lot of these guys is, as you said, seven straight AFC championship games. This is their fifth super bowl in four years or whatever it might be. They've won three of those things. And so now he gets embarrassed. And some of those guys, they just operate. Their mind operates differently, and they need just that extra motivation of a. They're doubting me. They're saying, oh, well, I can't get the Brady's thing. And in this. This occurrence right here is one of those that takes him once again to the next level.

[Bobby Bones]

It's going to be ugly for the AFC. Kevin O'Connell, before we get him on what kind of guy is he?

[Matt Castle]

Incredible person. And it starts with person, and then you take it to the professional side and that. That correlates with who he is as a coach and how he gets players to respond. He's motivational. He understands the locker room. He does all the things right. And then I heard him speak this last week, and the Vikings had an owner's dinner, like, or cocktail party, four to six. I went over there, I got invited, got to see him speak amongst this whole group of their support staff and everybody else. And I was like, dude, you should be on the public. Public speaking circuit. You're amazing. But his messaging, so crystal clear. And I'm just happy for him because I know the type of person he is and good things happen to good people and that he's a great example of it.

[Bobby Bones]

So Kevin OConnell, we want to break and go to him, or do we want to go to him now? Let's go straight to him. All right, here he is, the head coach of the Minnesota Viking, the coach of the year. Coach of the year. That's super cool. Former teammate of yours who. Who was first?

[Matt Castle]

I was first. He was the young buck. It was my fourth year when he came. He came in, really, to replace me, to be honest with you. They drafted him in, like, the second or third round. Come in and say, castle's on his last year of contract. He hasn't played. Okay, we got to get the next young guy in here. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

You still liked each other?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, it really worked out for me because Brady went down in the first game. Maybe if it was later in the season, they would have already switched to him. So I was like, thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[Bobby Bones]

Here he is, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell.

[Matt Castle]

All right, right now we've got a good friend of mine, Minnesota Vikings head coach and NFL coach of the year Kevin O'Connell, everybody. Yeah, baby.

[Bobby Bones]

First applause of the whole show.

[Matt Castle]

I mean, we needed that. Kev, you go to the honors, honors dinner and all that stuff, and the guy that presents the award to you for NFL coach a year is Coach Belichick. What did that mean to you? Was that a little surreal to have him up there and actually presenting for the award?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, you know, it was first and foremost, it's great to be on with you guys. Big fans, mainly of of you, Bobby, but Matt, but y. Talk about surreal. I mean, I did not know he was going to be there. 17 years ago this coming April, he called me and welcomed me into the National Football League. He also, you know, eventually told me I was no longer allowed to stay in New England, but not before. He taught me a lot of stuff and he's been one of the huge mentors of my career and he's told me multiple times how proud of me he is of being on the journey that I'm on. And he's always available anytime I need him. So to accept that award for him among some of those other coaches in the category was just, you know, remarkable for me and life coming full circle for sure.

[Matt Castle]

Now you check the box with the NFL coach a year. But does it have special meaning to you? Like, what's this award mean to you? And I don't want to hear this is an organization award. I want to hear the Ricky Bobby version of I piss excellence. I'm amazing. Like, talk to me. I mean, because it's a major achievement and you did it in such a short period of time.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, it's pretty simple, Matt. If you ain't first, your last.

[Matt Castle]

That's right.

[Kevin O'Connell]

It's very simple. No, in all, in all reality though, I know you, you don't want to hear that. But when you come to a place as a first time head coach, you're not thinking about coach of the year awards. You're just thinking about how do. How do I be the best possible coach I can be? And I interviewed. I'll never forget the first interview I had. It was with the Denver Broncos and I. It was six hours in person. It was long. And I remember walking out of that interview feeling like I really believed what I was saying. Like this wasn't an example of me having to kind of BS my way through something. I had been around great people. I'd learned a lot of football and I learned a lot of, you know, things about culture and, and team dynamics and what I thought would be the best way for me to authentically lead every day. And then I think there's always a part of it that the former player in me looks back on my failures as a player. And what better way to, you know, never. You're never going to get a second chance at that playing career. But I can certainly hopefully have an impact in prolonged careers of players that maybe are in my situation or at other positions that will respond to the Atmosphere we built here, the coaches that I've hired here and getting to, you know, be a part of a first class organization. So that's kind of the. What that award means is it's full circle to having people recognize, obviously from winning some games, but people recognizing what we've been able to build here in Minnesota. And now it's about no longer worrying about individual awards for me or Justin Jefferson winning offensive player of the year, or, you know, our guys making all pros or pro bowl teams like we had, I think seven of them this year make the Pro bowl team. Now it's about trying to play in that last game and what do we do to maintain what we've built. Doing it our way, which we're very proud of, but now we just got to do it in a championship way, bringing all those good things along with us.

[Bobby Bones]

Gigantic elephant. Let me just pet the elephant. What's up with the quarterback situation? Oh, oh, we lost him now.

[Kevin O'Connell]

I can't hear you.

[Bobby Bones]

It's a perfect question.

[Matt Castle]

Pet the elephant again. Pet the elephant again.

[Bobby Bones]

Gigantic. I know.

[Kevin O'Connell]

This is so. This was such a good question. There's no doubt in my mind.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, well, I'll be the one. What can you say about the quarterback situation?

[Kevin O'Connell]

You guys muted?

[Matt Castle]

Are we muted?

[Bobby Bones]

Man, this is what I do when people ask me questions.

[Matt Castle]

I think he's doing such a great job right now.

[Kevin O'Connell]

No, there we go. You're back. You're muted there for a second.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay, so the question is, what's up with the quarterback situation?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Oh, you're still muted.

[Matt Castle]

Yes.

[Kevin O'Connell]

No, you know, really what it is, is I was just down there at the super bowl answering this question a lot, and I was in a meeting, you know, with our full staff and personnel right before I jumped on here with you guys, and we're talking about some really good problems. And what I mean by that is we had a quarterback come to our organization in his first year and win 14 games and transitioning from Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold really stepping in and really trusting us with his career at this point in his quarterback journey to commit to what he committed to, working every single day and just trying to, you know, take advantage of what we tried to build, which is a pretty unique quarterback environment here. And I thought he made the most of it. I'm so proud of what Sam was able to do. And. And I've said this over the, you know, a couple other off season since I've been here, but we have a quarterback now who's played himself into probably being the marquee quarterback in the free agent class, which is significant. And we've got some conversations and some dialogue that will lead the way in regard to Sam. But I care about him greatly. I'm so proud of him, so happy for him. And we're going to work through that together with Sam to ultimately find the best outcome. But you guys are well aware that we drafted J.J. mcCarthy 10th overall for a reason. It was a very, you know, pretty historical in my mind, draft class last year. And I think those guys that were able to play last year demonstrated that across, across the board. And it just so happened that JJ McCarthy was off to an unbelievable start. So was Sam Darnold. It was very competitive. They, that competition really contributed to our team being a team worthy of winning 14 games because those two guys were battling it out. And then JJ gets hurt. Played great in the first preseason game, showing a lot of the things that we were excited about when we drafted him. And then I'll never forget the phone call that I got telling me as I was watching the tape the next day that he was going to go need to have his knee looked at because it was a little sore. And from then on, from there it turned into a season ending thing that we had to be ultimately smart with a young player who we feel has incredible upside. And he's healthy now. He's going to go through a full off season as he kind of completes the last phases of, of working through that injury from last season and can't wait to get to work with him. He's, he's around here all the time. He's a guy that just eats, sleeps and breathes football and loves everything about the possibility of being the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. And then we also, you know, brought in Daniel Jones late in the year, which is a former 6 pick in the draft and at a different point in his quarterback journey and can't speak highly enough about what it was like to be able to have that time with Daniel, who's also a free agent. So, you know, looking at it, I feel like we've got two pretty significant free agents that were in our building, in our quarterback room that we've got to work through what that all looks like. And those guys at the same time have to do what's, what's best for their careers and they're going to have plenty of opportunities because I feel like people think especially for Sam, having spent a year in this building, they could be getting the best version of him. And same with Daniel Jones, having spent time in this building. So we take a lot of pride in that. And those are, like I said, to start, good problems to have.

[Matt Castle]

You know, when you talk about the quarterback position, since you've been with the Minnesota Vikings, you've had a lot of different guys step in and have to play. Obviously, Kirk Cousins was there, but he's had some injuries. Other guys stepped in. But does that give you confidence moving forward with whoever's there? You're kind of the quarterback whisperer, so to speak, that you'll get these guys to play at a high level. And what do you contribute that to? Is it just your beautiful mind that you have?

[Kevin O'Connell]

No. You and I both know that's not true, Matt. I think what it really is is, you know, kind of a magnified version of what we try to do for all of our players here is figure out what they do really well, figure out how we can make them the most comfortable by preparation and a lot of work and time on task that there's no way to cheat it. It takes real work, it takes real time together. And ultimately, my favorite part about getting to be the head coach of this team is I also get to be the play caller. So I get to be in those guys ear on game day. I get to support them, I get to help uplift them. So that my goal each and every season, each and every game is regardless of who's playing quarterback, those guys think they have an edge because of the fact that they have the support of our entire organization, our great players, we've got great skill players, we've got, you know, Brian O'Neill and Christian Darasol on the offensive line, we've got Brian Flores running the defense with a whole lot of impact players. And then we've got an offensive system that I believe wholeheartedly in. As we continue to improve it and improve it, it's always going to be centered the quarterback position. And how do we help those guys have production, build confidence, and continue to layer upon the success they have early as hopefully it sustains to the end of the season and beyond. And I think Sam would be the first one to say that, you know, he enjoyed his time from the moment he arrived here, sitting in my office laying out a plan together collaboratively so that it was him and I every step of the way with Josh McCown as his position coach, Wes Phillips as the coordinator, and most importantly, his teammates. But make no mistake about it, Sam Darnold deserves the credit for what he was able to accomplish this year. And that's why I feel so fortunate to have had this time with them. And, and we do not know what the future holds at this point. That's the unique part of the NFL is it's, you know, things are, the rules are set up in a way that, that I think helps to contribute to year over year. You've got to reinvent yourself as a team. That's players, that's coaches, that's front office, that's everybody that supports the players. And that's why it's, you know, everybody's goal as of, you know, about 9:30 the other night, you know, Eastern time, that everybody now feels like it's a brand new journey to try to get right to that moment that we saw the Philadelphia Eagles experience.

[Bobby Bones]

Final two questions. You can tell a lot about somebody with how somebody talks about them when they're not around. And so Matt and I talking about you and you were not there. We hadn't even run into you yet. And Matt was talking about just like what kind of quality human you were not as a coach yet. He was just talking about you being like a guy like he trusted that had great values. And he talked about the difference in playing alongside you, but also then coming to see you coach and your communication style and how it had to change because you're now a coach. You're a leader of men instead of being one of the men. What was the learning process like in learning how to communicate different as a head coach versus a quarterback?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I think it's a great question. And the only real answer to it for me, Bobby, was I learned from some really good coaches that you had to authentically be yourself first and foremost. And who I am as a person is a person that cares about people. I care about people. I, I try to make sure that every interaction I have with folks, whether it's in this building and, or long before that, I want them to be positive interactions and I want, I want people to genuinely think that, that I'm a good person because it matters to me. It matters to me to wake up and be that same person every single day. So when you get into a leadership role, you better lead in an authentic way. So that's what is very natural to me now. There is an element to it where the other two factors are being competent in your abilities and other folks having confidence in you to be the guy in front of them. And I put a lot of time into, you know, how I talk to my team, the messaging, ultimately, how I want reflections of me amongst my coaching staff and really trying to get guys to understand that this is the most competitive, you know, industry in the world, the National Football League. I mean, it is the greatest professional league on the planet because I think fans love the fact that it is so competitive. And it is, you know, a league where your best is required on a week in and week out basis. Otherwise the results aren't going to come. And then you've got to go back to work and find a path to do that. But each and every year, fan bases and fans of the NFL know that it's going to be exciting. They know, you know, they know what they're. They're going to get each and every year. But I think for us on the leadership side of things, you've got to acknowledge that. But then you've got to figure out the way you want to operate. Does culture matter? And I'm talking real, like, real culture. Not the stuff where there's just a bunch of signs on the wall. Not the stuff where you, you know, you just try to, you know, you know, live within different sayings and things like that. I think that's part of it. And if that's authentically the way some people lead, I'm sure they're great at that. But for me, it's people. For me, it's building relationships. For me, it's when things get difficult, I want to be the guy. I want to be the first guy in the fight. Not because any other reason than I feel like I owe it to the people that I care about. And, and I hope when I'm done coaching that when people ask the first thing about me, that they enjoyed having me as a head coach was, I know that guy cared about me. I know he ultimately, in a very difficult world, a very competitive world, he still was able to make it about people. And, and, and the fact that every day we expected his best and we expected him to be able to get the best out of us and, and everybody around us because who he authentically was every day, that's probably the best way I can explain it. And it's sounds probably simple, but it's the only way. I know, man.

[Matt Castle]

He's done this before, has.

[Bobby Bones]

I know. I'm ready. I'm ready.

[Matt Castle]

I'm ready. I'm ready to run through the wall.

[Bobby Bones]

But I'm ready to vote and run through a wall.

[Matt Castle]

I'm just shocked that he's never called me to like, maybe to come up and help coach do anything. He's like, no, Cass, you're my buddy. You're definitely never coaching. Hey, you talk about people. You're at the super bowl this week. What was the coolest interaction or somebody that you met there that you're like, that was. That was pretty cool that I got to. Got to see him or her, whatever it might be.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Anybody, you know, outside of. Of seeing you and Bobby at Radio Row, where I didn't quite squeeze on your schedule. I know it was very. I know it was very packed, you know, so I got. I got penciled in for. For Tuesday afternoon here. Thankful for. But, you know, it was obviously great to see you, Matt. And all jokes aside, I do cherish the time we get to spend together. You got to be around, you know, maybe me and my. One of my greatest mentors, who's actually six months younger than I am in Sean McVay, somebody who I have so much respect for. We want a Super bowl together. That will ultimately be something that sticks with me forever. But, you know, I would. I would. You know, you know, I would probably say just all the countless players that came before us, you know, whether it's seeing at NFL honors, Deion Sanders or the players going into the hall of Fame, Ladanian Tomlinson, who is a teammate of mine, you know, seeing Jared Allen, a great Minnesota Viking go in, seeing. Seeing Terry Bradshaw's and Peyton Mannings and just these. These. These people that, you know, you looked up to for so long for your entire, you know, young, young life as you became a lover of football. To get to be in that environment on such a big stage. Although I wasn't fortunate enough to coach in the game, there's certainly a lot of things you can take away from being around so many great people. And I did really enjoy my experience down there, for sure.

[Bobby Bones]

Like, coach, we appreciate the time. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do in the draft, and congratulations on a great season. And great to spend some. That. That eight seconds that we spent together, I'll never forget it. I'll cherish it forever. Coach, over the weekend. Yeah. Go Vikings. Coach.

[Matt Castle]

Skull Vikings.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah. I appreciate you. And Bobby, best of luck as you continue to take on this challenge of sitting next to this guy.

[Matt Castle]

It is a challenge. It is a challenge.

[Bobby Bones]

All right, coach. Thank you.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Thanks, guys.

[Matt Castle]

You're the best, buddy. Thank you.

[Andy Roddick]

Who doesn't love Reese's peanut butter cups? They're just so good. Chocolate and peanut butter taste amazing together. It doesn't get any better. Or does it? You got to try the new Reese's chocolate lava big cup. A delicious twist on your favorite treat. Now, if you didn't think peanut butter cups needed a twist. That's totally understandable. But listen, you're absolutely going to love Reese's Chocolate Lava Big Cup. It's the perfect combination of creamy milk chocolate, delicious peanut butter and an ooey gooey chocolatey filling. It's just that little extra something that makes it extra delicious. Seriously, this is a major game changer. It's like the introduction of the west coast offense or RPOs. In case you missed it the first time, this Reese's Peanut Butter cup has an ooey gooey chocolatey filling. Because that cannot be stressed enough. Chocolate treats will never be the same. Shop Reese's Chocolate Lava Big cup now at a store near you found Wherever.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Candy is sold, It's T Mobile's critical.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Mission to provide unparalleled 5G coverage for when connectivity is mission critical. Introducing T Priority with the world's first network slice for public safety, T Priority delivers America's best 5G network experience for first responders even in times of congestion. For uninterrupted communication between more emergency response teams, T Priority has more capacity and faster speeds for real time. Actionable intelligence built with coverage that goes even farther for reliable connectivity in rural areas. From HD drone footage to real time body camera feeds. T Priority is ready for data intensive emergency technology. T Priority from T Mobile built for tomorrow's emergencies ready today. Discover more@t priority.com for qualifying organizations on eligible rate plans. Coverage not available in some areas and may be impacted by emergencies.

[Peter Schrager]

Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven layer dip, or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat in this football season. Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food no matter what you're craving. From two for one pizza. To buy one get one Wings. Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week all season long. Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now for game day. Terms and conditions apply. See app for details.

[Matt Castle]

It'll only take a minute, they said. But it took a minute to find the aisle with the cheese sauce, a minute to find the shelf with the cheese sauce, and a minute to text pictures of all the cheese sauces only to get the reply that no, none of those are the right cheese sauce. You know what actually takes a minute? Figuring out who's going to DD so no one drives impaired after the game. Take a minute, make a plan. Never drive impaired. Go to take a minute now.com from Diageo Mad Uber and the NFL. Please drink responsibly.

[Bobby Bones]

With the draft card coming up as a player, are you hoping they don't draft your position?

[Matt Castle]

Oh, it's always in the back of your mind. Like I was with the Minnesota Vikings and I'm coming off, they just resigned me to come back for a two year deal. And I'm sitting there going, okay, I'm, I know I'll pro. Maybe I'll be the bridge guy. But I was still young enough to where I thought, okay, they're going to give me the opportunity. I'm sitting there not expecting them in round one to take a quarterback. Nobody said anything. And the next thing you know, they draft Teddy Bridgewater, like 24, first overall, something like that. I remember sitting there going, what the. You know, you're sitting there because you, you're not anticipating it, but then, you know, it gives you this charge like, okay, I got to get ready to go. It's competition, I got to go earn my spot. And it just flips a switch in you that you got to get going again because every year you never know where you stand and the front office doesn't communicate with you. And, and especially even when I was in New England when we drafted Kevin O'Connell, you know, you don't know what, which direction they're going, what they're thinking in the background, what's being said about you behind closed doors. So especially for a guy that was a seventh round draft pick, no real standing with the team at that point, you're always going, man, they could take a quarterback. And when they do, it's a little nerve wracking because they could be drafting your replacement. And so it just again, you go one of two ways. Like you can get pissed off and some guys might say, well, I want to trade or whatever it might be. For me, it was always like, well, I'm on the cusp anyway, I gotta grind right now. And so it was just that extra motivational factor to go out and get myself in the right mindset.

[Bobby Bones]

My curiosity has always been, do they at all communicate that? It sounds like in your situation, they didn't. Either they didn't communicate it and they knew or they didn't communicate it. And like Bridgewater fell because.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

The most famous one in my mind is Aaron Rodgers when they drafted Jordan Love and he was somewhat openly pissed through his people, right, because he wanted a wide receiver and they drafted a quarterback to sit behind him a bit. But really there's not a lot of communication between the front office and the players at what they're aiming to do, do you think that's because their minds might change based on what's taken ahead of them or it's just not healthier to have those discussions?

[Matt Castle]

Well, I think in the back of their mind they probably have had their staff meetings, player personnel departments come in, gm, everybody's had these discussions. But again, when you're sitting at price, say 15 to 21 and even further back, you're looking at best available, you're looking at fit, you're looking at need. And so it's not always the need that you're looking at going, oh, well, we absolutely have to get a quarterback in the first round. Some of these teams, when you're drafting in the top 10, you're like, okay, we know we need a quarterback, we know we need a wide receiver. But I think that it's not communicated because they truly don't know. Well, if we get here at 18 and so and so's taken off the board who we thought is high value for us at the quarterback position, but now he's gone. Now we're going to transition to our next high value pick that at least we believe is this defensive end out of wherever it might be, we're going to go with him. So I, I understand why they don't always communicate because it's such, it's such a fluid process of picking the right player at the right time and then what happens before you in the draft.

[Bobby Bones]

I guess you could also be a liar pretty easily, unintentionally, because you are trying to communicate fluidity, which is almost impossible.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

And if you're like, we're going to do this and if this doesn't happen, we'll do this and this, but all three of those don't happen or there's an opportunity that presents itself. You did not see it could come across as disingenuous or dishonest when really it was just you making the best decision for the team that would make more sense than you just want to hide it. Because I think that's what I want to do. I just want to hide it and surprise everybody the night of.

[Matt Castle]

Right. Well, I always used to love the calls from like your quarterback coach, your offense coordinator, even sometimes the GM and like, hey, Maddie, we love you. This is not a reflection on you.

[Bobby Bones]

How long until they make that call?

[Matt Castle]

Do you have to bridge water pretty soon after, like within 10, 15 minutes where you're still kind of boiling a little bit like, honey, will you grab me a drink real quick? I need to calm myself down. But then they're they kind of try to reassure you, but at the same time they're very open. Like, we liked him coming out. We thought it was good value. Look, he's coming in, he's going to learn on you. But at the same time, you got to get ready to compete. So they set the standard and you understand the expectation level. And so from there you just kind of, you swallow your pride a little bit. You take a minute to digest it and then it's back to work.

[Bobby Bones]

Tennessee Titans have the number one overall pick. They just said they're open to shopping it. Not that they want to shop it, but they're open to shopping it. Which to me says they probably would lean towards shopping it.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

If you're advertising that. Right. The organization needs a lot of pieces.

[Matt Castle]

They do, they do. And quarterback, offensive line, alpha, wide receiver.

[Bobby Bones]

Would you trade the pick for the Titans?

[Matt Castle]

Well, that's the tricky part, I think being the number one overall pick is it takes a lot of draft capital to come up to that. Even if you're at say 4 or 5, maybe you don't give up as much.

[Bobby Bones]

Maybe you're the Raiders at six, maybe.

[Matt Castle]

You'Re the Raiders at six, but it's still going to take your six pick overall, maybe a number one next year, maybe a second. You know, it's, it's high value draft pick. So if anybody views that player that they see at number one as their guy, then they're going to have to give up a lot. And the Tennessee Titans know it. But I'm in favor of it because like you said, there's so many holes. And you also have, there's that evaluation process that goes through that GM in the front office mind, well, if we do go down to six, the guy that we really want to take, say it's an offensive tackle or somebody like that, will he still be there? Like, what are the needs of these other teams in front of us? So it's this cat and mouse game and also you're kind of rolling the dice because if you go to six and the real guy that you had your heart set on is not there, then you kind of blew your opportunity. But there's a lot of good value players at that point. But you've got to get a player anytime you're drafting the top 10, you got to get a game changer. You got to get a guy that's going to come in and be a dude on your team and be an impact player right away.

[Bobby Bones]

I was watching Cam Newton talk about when he was drafted Number one overall and not even sure if he saw the clip. But he was like, it's tough because you're number one and you go to the number one team not because, you know, selfishly because you're the best player, but really because the team sucks, right? And he was talking about going into a locker room with 52 other losers and losing culture. And he then talked about if you're, he was talking to Travis Hunter. If you're a wide receiver and heck, a wide receiver and a cornerback, you can only affect so much, right? A quarterback can affect a lot, but if you're a wide receiver or a cornerback, you can only affect so much because you're only one of six people who can get the ball, right? You're only one defensive player who's on a number one wide receiver. So if you're the number one overall pick and you're the Titans, I mean, you probably either get a quarterback or leave, right?

[Matt Castle]

You, you'd think so. It's also a draft class that's probably a little bit less valued than what the draft classes were even last year a few years ago. And so you've got to make that determination. Are we stretching right now? Are we reaching for this draft pick? Because we know we, we need a quarterback. But in any other draft class, if you, even if you can do your comparisons to last year's draft class, is he better than Drake May, Is he better than some of these guys that were taking Jaden Daniels, for instance, Caleb Williams, would we have put him in the same category if he was compared to those guys? And then you have to say, okay, we do believe that. We believe he is worthy of a number one pick. Because I think the problem for some of these organization is they know they need a quarterback, they desperately need a face of the franchise, but they reach for a guy that might be a 12 to 15 realistically versus the number one. If you're the number one overall, dude, you're a Trevor Lawrence of the world, you're a Jaden Daniels or Caleb Williams of the world. You're those first two draft picks. If you're a quarterback, you're a franchise changing player. That should be the face of that franchise. If you do what they expect you to do.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, it sucks. You're the best and you have to go to the worst.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, I think about that all the time. It's such a cool opportunity, right?

[Bobby Bones]

Because you want to be first.

[Matt Castle]

You want to be. You've got there, you've made it, you're the number one player in the draft. But then all of a sudden you go, oh, I'm going to Jacksonville or Chicago or whoever it might be, where, you know, wait, this team's won however many games over the last few seasons, maybe have a new coach, what. Whatever it might be, you're going into circumstances that are different from where you came because I guarantee you, where those guys have come from, they've had a tremendous amount of success, probably haven't ever faced the adversity that they're about to face in their first season of the NFL. And they've got a team that doesn't know how to win yet. And so when you're the quarterback also you're an extension of the coaching staff. How do you go and present yourself? It's going to, you're going to face more adversity probably in that first year than you've ever faced in your life. How do you deal with that? And are you used to dealing with that? Are you going to go into a shell? Are you going to continue to rise to the occasion? So there's all those different factors, particularly at the quarterback position, because you have a microscope on you the entire time that everybody's going to pass judgment on you too quickly.

[Bobby Bones]

What's interesting to me is for the Chiefs at 31 is that it's a very robust running back class. They need offensive linemen. Well, they need healthy offensive linemen and they, they need a number one running back, right? And I think we see the value again with the Saquon who totally changed the Eagle. Now he's a game changing player, but there were a few running backs this year that actually had a far greater impact, or at least we noticed it because for the last few years it's like running backs are a dime a dozen, right?

[Matt Castle]

They devalue the little running back position.

[Bobby Bones]

I think you saw, especially with Saquon, the revalue of the running back. At least it's safer to draft a running back earlier without being embarrassed if it doesn't work, right? And I wonder if Kansas City takes advantage of that first, second round and grabs one of the now the quarterback class. Meh. Get two or three second tier, you got three or four. There's about 14 good running backs, really good running in this year's class. If you were Kansas City, what's the focus?

[Matt Castle]

I think you got to look at your offensive side of the ball and say we've got to establish a game breaking running back. Somebody that puts fear in them. Because when, even when you watch that super bowl, they sat Back in too high defense. And a lot of that had to do with offensive line, the defensive front that they have for the Eagles. But they were 3.4 yards a carry or something like that versus no blitzing. It was a six man box and they couldn't get it done. They know that they have to be better in that area. So if you can go out and get a guy that not only is good in the run game, but obviously good in the past game as well, he's another threat and somebody that they have to worry about and that opens everything else up. When you start to run the football effectively well, they have to change their defensive structure. They can't sit in too high defense. They have to commit another guy to the run game. And now you get more one on one opportunity. So they, they understand it. I know Andy Reid understands that, but that's a huge value pick for them because they need to go out to get somebody at the running back position along with kind of shoring up that left, left offensive tackle for them.

[Bobby Bones]

I think they feel pretty good wide receiver this year too. I think Rushy Rice, although wasn't able to place her, I think there was, this was one of those years where you see a player really start to understand his role and then get a lot better in it. And I think Rashi Rice did that until he got hurt. Even Xavier Worthy, like he just, he got to, he actually ran routes near the end of the year.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, he was a flyer too. Yeah, he, he's one of those guys that just blows the top off the coverage because everywhere he is you have to account for him with your safety.

[Bobby Bones]

And at first that's really all you had to worry about was him just running as fast as he could. But as the season even before they had Hopkins, it was like two or three games before they had Hopkins. It was really their only option. Hollywood Brown wasn't back yet.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

And because of necessity he had to learn to be a bit of a better wide receiver.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

And I think his long term growth as a wide receiver, that couple in few weeks is going to help him tremendously moving forward. Because he's not just going to have to be the guy that runs. He's always going to be the guy that can, that they have to, they have to look out for like Tyreek.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

But he, because of a few really difficult weeks with only, I mean with really nobody else, he had to learn how to be a better wide receiver. I think that plays well for that offense in the Future as well.

[Matt Castle]

I 100% agree. Because there's no substitutes for speed, especially elite speed like you have. And then if you can double down and be a route runner, we talk about that. Understanding the nuances of different defense, how to get off. Because I think getting off press man, it's an art form for wide receivers. You learn your different releases, give them different looks and at the same time how to come out of your breaks. And different subtle changes of speed. That's what makes those guys special. And when you have elite speed, you're the DB's always fearful that you're going to run past them, so they try to stay on top of you. But then you change up those little, those little nuances. And how you run a comeback, you know, it might be a stutter at 5 yards and explode up thinking you're stop, go. And then you come out of your ring. That's what why Randy Moss was so incredibly effective. He wasn't the most refined route runner. He was a long strider. But they were so fearful that he was going to go right past them that they would back off. And then that makes everything else pitch and catch.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Who doesn't love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? They're just so good. Chocolate and peanut butter tastes amazing together. It doesn't get any better. Or does it? You gotta try the new Reese's Chocolate Lava Big Cup, a delicious twist on your favorite treat. Now if you didn't think peanut butter cups needed a twist, that's totally understandable. But listen, you're absolutely gonna love Reese's Chocolate Lava Big Cup. It's the perfect combination of creamy milk chocolate, delicious peanut butter and ooey gooey chocolatey filling. It's just that little extra something that makes it extra delicious. Seriously, this is a major game changer. It's like the introduction of the west coast offense or RPOs. And in case you missed it the first time, this Reese's Peanut Butter cup has ooey gooey chocolatey filling. Because that cannot be stressed enough. Chocolate treats will never be the same. Shop Reese's Chocolate Lava Big cup now at a store near you found wherever candy is sold, it's T Mobile's critical mission to provide unparalleled 5G coverage for when connectivity is mission critical. Introducing T Priority with the world's first network slice for public safety, T Priority delivers America's best 5G network experience for first responders even in times of congestion. For uninterrupted communication between more emergency response teams. T Priority has more capacity and faster speeds for real time actionable. Intelligence built with coverage that goes even farther for reliable connectivity in rural areas. From HD drone footage to real time body camera feeds. T Priority is ready for data intensive emergency technology. T Priority from T Mobile built for tomorrow's emergencies. Ready today. Discover more@t priority.com for qualifying organizations on eligible rate plans. Coverage not available in some areas and may be impacted by emergencies.

[Peter Schrager]

Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven layer dip, or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat in this football season. Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food no matter what you're craving. From two for one Pizza. To buy one get one Wings. Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week all season long. Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now for game day terms and conditions apply. See app for details.

[Matt Castle]

Come on, hurry up.

The stadium bathroom line. It's like TSA and the DMV merged in the waters of rush hour traffic and you're in it. No closer to the bathroom than you were five minutes ago. Just closer to. Well, going to the bathroom. You know what actually takes a minute? Figuring out who's going to dd so no one drives impaired after the game. Take a minute, make a plan. Never drive impaired. Go to takeaminutenow.com from Diageo Mad Uber in the NFL, please drink response Way.

[Bobby Bones]

We have Andy Roddick about to come on with us. Andy Roddick again, former number one tennis player in the world, major champion. A friend of mine for a long time went to, you know, I got to go to my first Super Bowls because of him. It was so cool. And then I got to do that this year with my guys. He's like the grandpa of my guys.

[Matt Castle]

That's pretty cool though.

[Bobby Bones]

He took me to the games and I took my guys to the games. He's like their grandpa.

[Matt Castle]

I mean, where's the smiles all around for the whole crew? I mean, it's pretty cool that you're in that position where you can rally the troops and be like, hey guys, let's go to a Super Bowl.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. I didn't have enough tickets at first. We were one ticket short.

[Matt Castle]

Odd man out.

[Bobby Bones]

But it turned out when I did NFL Honors the TV show that they were like, here, here's a couple extra tickets as they gave me two tickets for doing the show on Fox and because I was just going to buy Kevin one because he completed the scavenger hunt challenge to get.

[Matt Castle]

That was solid, by the way. Do you want to tell them about the scavenger hunt.

[Bobby Bones]

Sure. So we. I have five guys total that I. We travel around and shoot stuff. And so these are my guys that work on the radio show. And so at five total, but only four tickets. And so with the four tickets, I told all five of them, one of them is mine, so I'm not even in this. But between the four of you, there are three tickets left. And we competed, we played, and I wanted it to be even for everybody. We played Connect four, played Bop it, played Operation, and Reed, our video guy, who's video guy in this show, Eddie, who's my comedy partner. And we play music. Raging idiots. They won their games, and Kevin, our producer, kept losing.

[Matt Castle]

Come on, Kev.

[Bobby Bones]

He lost every game over and over. So. But he still had to work because we went and we. We did this show the days before the super bowl on Thursday and Friday. So he still had to go. So he was. The whole time. He didn't have a ticket. He's the only one that didn't have a ticket on the trip. So I ca. I was not. Because I had my word. I said, I'm not just going to give anybody a ticket. Like, this is going to be real. Because if I don't tell the truth, then why would they believe me later?

[Matt Castle]

Right? True. So got to make them earn it.

[Bobby Bones]

I said, one more option. You want to do a scavenger hunt? He goes, I'm in. So he had to like it, find a ball, get it signed by somebody. He had to have get a video made by somebody, make, you know, saying, listen to the podcast. He had to get somebody that we recognize with our own eyes, would walk up and do an interview. And so I didn't recognize Cam Hayward at first. Yeah, because he's a defensive lineman. I then did. But when he was walking up, it was just a massive dude.

[Matt Castle]

You're a massive dude. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Bobby Bones]

So we had, to be honest, we didn't give that to him.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, you did not?

[Bobby Bones]

No.

[Matt Castle]

That was okay.

[Bobby Bones]

The next day, though, in a gold jacket, Terrell Davis walks up.

[Matt Castle]

I was there when that happened.

[Bobby Bones]

Immediately, boom, boom, boom. So we went to the game.

[Matt Castle]

He got his golden ticket.

[Bobby Bones]

He got his golden ticket. And yeah, it was. It was. It was super cool. I'll tell you this. This game was different than the other ones, but just simply because of Eagles fans, really.

[Matt Castle]

Was it packed? Eagles fans.

[Bobby Bones]

It was loud and obnoxious, and Super Bowls, for the most part, are not extremely fan driven. It's a way expensive ticket.

[Matt Castle]

Yep. Like Very corporate.

[Bobby Bones]

Absolutely. And because most people who can afford a ticket like that, just, like that has a normal job, and so it's very corporate. But those Eagles fans, I don't know what they sold or who they beat up or who they stole from. They. It was packed. It was like, 75% Eagles fans, really. It felt like a real game.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because they were so loud. And that made it. That made it cool.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And so, yeah, we had a great time. And then we were trying to leave after the game, and so we go to the private airport to fly back because I got to be on the air the next morning at 5am so this is Sunday night into Monday morning, and this is going to be a champagne problem. I want everybody to know this is not a real problem, this champagne problem with the private airport. And you have to, like, reserve your slot. Who knew to get out, you can't just go.

[Matt Castle]

The planes are all leaving us because.

[Bobby Bones]

There are so many.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

And so we have a great slot. They opened airspace at, like, 10:30. Who knew they had to. Who knew they closed airspace?

[Matt Castle]

I had no idea.

[Bobby Bones]

I figured it would be limited over the city, but who knew they closed everything. But they did. They reopened at, like, 10 or 10:30. And so they start to slowly let people onto their planes. We had a good slot at 10:47. However, the Trump still hadn't left yet. Oh, and nothing moves.

[Matt Castle]

Brutal.

[Bobby Bones]

Nothing moves if Air Force One doesn't move. And I completely understand. And I agree.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

But it was annoying because we're just, like, sitting there. Like, we knew he wasn't at the game anymore. So, like, look, let's go.

[Matt Castle]

We need. Can we please go?

[Bobby Bones]

Can someone call them? They may have a cell phone number. We finally got home at, like. I got to bed about 2am champagne problem, and had to be up at, like, 5 to do the show. And we taped this on Tuesday. This the show we're doing now, Tuesday afternoon for a Wednesday morning release. So, I mean, I haven't had much sleep, and I'm not complaining about it, but overall, it was a great experience for me because I got to let my guys do it.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. I just love the competition and all that.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, me too.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. I just remember watching Kevin and I get there, and he's, like, got this look in his eyes, just pure determination. He's like, I gotta get a signature. I gotta get something else.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, you saw him in action?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, I saw him in action, like, scanning the crowd, walking up and down, talking to people, and I'm laughing. I'm going, what are you doing? He's like, dude, I got to get a ticket. The only way. Bobby said, if I get a signature, if I get somebody that they recognize to come on the show, I'm good to go. And so you were grinding it. It was the greatest thing.

[Kevin O'Connell]

The hardest part was trying to work while doing that. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because at the end of the day I was working, he was working, he was there working.

[Kevin O'Connell]

So it was like getting guests up.

[Bobby Bones]

There, making sure you guys are good.

[Kevin O'Connell]

And then as soon as the interview.

[Bobby Bones]

Would start, maybe I'd go run off for two seconds, come back, he doubled up.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, yeah, double down, baby.

[Bobby Bones]

So that was my favorite part. Like to see the game through my kids eyes and that. And that's what Andy was able to do for me. Because Andy grew up like a nor. His brother was this tennis star, his older brother.

[Matt Castle]

That's right, right.

[Bobby Bones]

John was the one that was supposed to be the tennis star. And so Andy was just a kid, his little brother and was around tennis a lot and then began to grow. And Andy's a crazy hard worker. You could tell that just grind it out. And so he would have access because his brother and then slowly started to be, oh, this guy's awesome. I mean he went pro at 17.

[Matt Castle]

See, that's the crazy part about tennis. You'll see a 15 year old or 17 year old, they're all phenoms if you're playing at that level.

[Bobby Bones]

Which is why he didn't go to college. He won the US Open at 19. He, you know, comes from a normal working class, middle class family. And he ended up moving down to Florida and you know, going to one of those academies because he was so good. They eat, sleep, breathe tennis.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

All the time. Him and Marty Fish, who's a player, they lived together. And Andy and I became really close in Austin. We did some charity stuff together and then we just became friends because both of us were are kind of private and pretty awkward. Ish.

[Matt Castle]

Really. I never look at you as awkward. You keep using that word awkward, but go ahead.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, I'm not awkward working you. We've had two per. So they the last couple times we've done something, I would say non professionally as like human beings. The last time, which we talked about earlier, I left because I was like, I feel weird.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, that was a moment for me when I got that text, I was like, you're already gone. I'm here like walking around looking at executives that cut me. This is like, hey, so nice to meet you. Oh yeah, you Cut me.

[Bobby Bones]

This is where I thrive, though. Like, put a freaking mic on. I'm imaginary, right? Real life. So I think there was a bond over us, so. And I would travel with them. You know, I go to some tennis tournaments with them. I went to the. He called me the day before he announced his retirement. He didn't really have a plan to retire. And he called me, he goes, I think I'm gonna retire tomorrow. I was like, from tennis in general? He's like, yeah. He said, it's US Open, you should just come up because this is my last tournament.

[Matt Castle]

How old was he when you retired?

[Bobby Bones]

If I were guessing, 30, 32, 30. I don't, I don't know.

[Matt Castle]

See, that's the crazy part about tennis players too, is because you have to look.

[Bobby Bones]

Would you guys look that up?

[Matt Castle]

You start younger, but then you're done. 30, 31. Kind of similar to football, I guess, in some ways. I was 36. I was lucky to play for as long as I did, but it's not like you got to go through college.

[Kevin O'Connell]

30.

[Bobby Bones]

He was 30.

[Matt Castle]

30 years old.

[Bobby Bones]

I remember. And then he's coming on. One second. He has a podcast called Served. You can check it out. And he's playing in this pickleball thing on ESPN this weekend. But he calls and, and I'm like, all right, well, I'm broke at the time. Yeah. And he's like, you just need to get up here. So I got a southwest flight the day before. I spent like 400 bucks on a one way ticket. And he's playing. Is it Flushing and that. I think that's the New York. It's Arthur Ashe Stadium, maybe. And it's outdoors and it's his last tournament. And he's one of my best friends. He, you know, when I got married, he's a groomsman. And so I go up and I'm having to work at the same time because everything I do, I always have to work that radio show. It has to happen. And so I would work all day and then I would go over and try to watch him and he. And he was supposed to play like once or twice and lose because he was at the end of. He kept freaking winning. And so I'm just. I'm in New York and it kept raining. I was. I felt like I was there for three months and a little bit.

[Matt Castle]

Those are long getting matches too, aren't they?

[Bobby Bones]

And if it rains, they cancel everything because it's outside. You can't play on a wet court.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, they don't have to Fight through the elements.

[Bobby Bones]

They don't. Or they don't have ripped up everything.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

In their legs and so. And then finally he loses. His career was over, but he just kept winning. And I was, like, torn. I was like, dude, I want you to keep winning all the way in. But I was like, I got to go home.

[Matt Castle]

I love you, man.

[Bobby Bones]

I got to go home.

[Matt Castle]

I really hope you win this.

[Bobby Bones]

So. And now he outwardly talks about people that claim pickleball is as hard as tennis and how big of losers they are because he's like, it's not the same. And he plays pickleball a little bit, but he definitely not much. And the first tournament he played, he won a, like, won the million dollar thing. It was so stupid.

[Matt Castle]

I mean, yeah, it's so stupid.

[Bobby Bones]

I just want to. It's so stupid.

[Matt Castle]

That's a pretty good deal right there. And if you're athletic enough, obviously tennis background helps a lot from hand eye coordination, what you're doing and how you do all those things. But when you go out and you're like, yeah, I don't play. I'll. But I'll play in this tournament.

[Bobby Bones]

So stupid.

[Matt Castle]

And goes out and wins. Yeah, it's a pretty good deal.

[Bobby Bones]

I love him. Here he is.

[Matt Castle]

Hey.

[Bobby Bones]

What, what is it? Is it Flushing Meadows?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Flushing, New York.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Arthur Ashe Stadium.

[Bobby Bones]

Went there like 72 times for six matches because we kept getting out there and it kept raining us out. I knew nothing about tennis growing up, but I was the guy with the best equipment. Even though I didn't play because I got all this free crap, I can't.

[Matt Castle]

Play tennis to save my life.

[Bobby Bones]

So legit. Here he is, former number one Andy Roddick.

[Matt Castle]

On.

[Bobby Bones]

Is Andy Roddick, who loves, loves pickleball.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, I played pickleball this morning. I'm not, I'm not going to lie.

[Bobby Bones]

He is the biggest advocate. Right? I mean, you, you stand for pickleball.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I do. I, I, I'm, I, I, I figured out that I'm kind of for anything where you improve every seven and a half minutes automatically.

[Bobby Bones]

So he makes fun of pickleball.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. I mean, he was the best tennis player in the world, so.

[Bobby Bones]

But he also. Okay, question. And I want to talk, talk about this event that's happening this weekend because I did not know you were playing in it again. I remember the first time. This is just a quick little story. I get a text from Andy going, hey, do you play pickleball? This is two years ago. I was like, yeah. He goes, something. Something goes cool. We just brief, and he goes, oh, by the way, I'm planning a tournament for a million dollars coming up in a couple days. Never played before in my life. That's literally what he said to me. I mean, that's a paraphrase. And then he goes and plays and wins the thing. And so my instant question was, is it so easy to. To play pickleball when you were so good at tennis?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I think. I think it translates, right? I mean, I think, like, yeah, it definitely translates. I mean, I'm playing other people this weekend who were also way better than me at tennis and way more accomplished. So, you know, they're also a little older, but. Yeah, I mean, I generally think if you ask someone, did you play college tennis? And they say yes, that they'll, you know, generally be better than my neighbor Bob at pickleball.

[Bobby Bones]

Don't use my name, because I feel like that was a shot at me.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Sorry. My neighbor Gregory.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay, fair enough.

[Matt Castle]

Fair, fair, fair. But pickleball, when you. When you started playing pickleball, how long did it take you to pick up on the roles? Because I'm still just completely messed up.

[Kevin O'Connell]

I still don't know them. The kitchen.

[Matt Castle]

The kitchen, all that stuff. I'm sitting there going, what the hell are you guys talking about?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, like, if I was commissioner for a day, it's like, the amount of stuff that they name a certain thing, you have to. You have to switch sides on return, depending on your evens and odds. It's like, bro, I didn't. I didn't go to college. I don't want to do. I didn't come out here to do, like, math. Right. I mean, it's just there's so much stuff that doesn't really make sense. You'll see me. I have to play this Sunday. And after every single point, which I did the first time we played two years ago, I will be looking at the ref saying, am I supposed to stand here right now?

[Bobby Bones]

See, I feel like you're downplaying a little bit because you enjoy it more than you. Because you were very. I think pickleball guy got on your nerves at first, which I can totally understand, because if I were a tennis guy, pickleball guy would get on my nerves. I'm pickleball guy. Yeah, that would get, like, with people comparing the two and now. But now I think you enjoy it, but you've committed so hard to being tennis guy who recreation plays pickleball, but like, talks about it. Like, I don't really know the rules, but you really want to be pickleball guy. Any truth to that?

[Kevin O'Connell]

No, there's zero truth to that. So I literally. So I played that deal two years ago, hadn't played again, which is how much I love it. I hadn't played again until about a month ago. And so now I have, you know, these practices scheduled and the whole thing. My thing is one part of what you said is absolutely right. Like comparing it in any way, shape or form to tennis. And also these statistics that drive me crazy are like, it's the fastest growing sport. I'm like, yeah, well, if you have seven people that play and then 21 people play, you're the fastest growing sport. Like, that doesn't really do much for sports that have been around for, you know, 100 years. But I listen, I get the, the value of it at a club level, like the, the real estate, the fact that there's not an intimidating barrier to entry. And I'm not saying that sarcastic, I really mean it. It has a lot going for it. Watching it on TV is, is this weird thing because it seems like the better you get, the slower the TV product becomes, which is not true for any other sport.

[Matt Castle]

So when you go to these tournaments and you play in this pickleball tournament, is it just your competitive, competitive juices start to go and you're like, okay, look, I know, I know I can go out there and dominate, but, like, at the end of the day, you want, you want to win, right?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yes, absolutely. I was legit when we did a thing 2 years ago I was on. So also, all of these things are kind of an excuse. And you'll understand this, I'm sure, in some way, shape or form. It's all an excuse to hang out with my idol, who's Andre Agassi. Right. If Andre wants to play pickle, I'm like, hell yeah, let's play pickleball. That sounds great. Like, I just completely sell. He could, he could want to, like, bake a cake and I'd be like, yeah, I just kind of want to spend time with my idol. But yeah, absolutely. Am I going to go out there? And I was legit nervous during the first one because I didn't want to lose to McEnroe, right? Like, who wants that guy trash talking you forever? So abs. Yes, yes, I can, I can kind of love, hate it and also want to win. When, when, when we get out there.

[Bobby Bones]

You ever jump into some pickup pickleball.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Is there. I can't tell if you're joking.

[Bobby Bones]

Well, okay, if I'm at the Y and all of a sudden Kobe shows up, I'm like, well that's kind of wild. Kobe Bryant is jumping into A, a 24 Hour Fitness basketball game.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Cena. That's so what you're. I know. I never have. And that's where I would fear someone's like grandfather beating my ass in pickleball like that. That, that, that what you just said scares me.

[Matt Castle]

You know what I'm always fascinated with is the journey for you guys in tennis. You guys start at much younger ages and other athletes, you become professional. Talk to me about your regimen of just when you started playing, playing tennis, right? And then you go to probably one of those academies or something like that. What did your daily routine look like? Because that, that fascinates me because you guys are some of the hardest working people I've ever seen.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, it's, it's a little weird and I just think individual sports are also a little bit weird, you know, just generally. But like high school, it was woke up. I would have a practice in before school at 7:30. So you'd wake up at like 5. You'd basically practice all day with school, then you'd go to bed at nine and then you'd wake up and do it again the next day, you know, so you're looking at six, seven, eight hours a day on court. It's not really a super like healthy existence, you know, for, for all the players that make it. I think there are, there are players that don't and are left with like, not a lot of life skill, not a lot of something to kind of look back on. So I'm not sure. It's kind of like the healthiest existence. You're pretty isolated and it's, it's feast or famine, right? You're either. There's a hundred jobs in the world basically where you make money, right? Because if you don't play in the Grand Slams, then you're not making money, right? There's no alternate tour, there's no secondary leagues. And so it's a, it's a bit of a weird deal. But yeah, you, you have to be a bit of a, kind of an isolated psychopath to do well almost if you're too easygoing. And that's what used to drive me crazy about losing to Roger all the time, is how balanced he seemed while the rest of us were like psychos. That, that was annoying.

[Bobby Bones]

How odd was it to be way more famous in other countries because tennis was much More popular than in America.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, that's true. It's like. It's like. It's like when NSYNC had a song in Germany first, and then they would come home to their quiet. Yeah, it's strange. I mean, it's, you know, you know, Matt can speak to. It was like the NFL here dominates everything. So if you're not, you know, NFL or NBA, you kind of aren't, you know, even an athlete. And then you go to, you know, Australia, where they're doing the national news from the tennis venue during. During the tournament, and where, you know, London, where people, you know, will wait for three days for an average ticket to the. To the stuff. So it actually was great. I think it was kind of like, best case scenario, you know, where you travel home to your piece as opposed to, you know, kind of traveling to your piece to work. I actually thought it was great.

[Matt Castle]

So when you win one of these major tournaments. Right. I'm used to that locker room. Right. You got a lot of people to celebrate with. But would you guys go out and rage with the group that you're with? Like, tell me you just. Beer showers, something. I don't know.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah. So I'll tell you this. When. When I won the US Open, I had also turned 21, like, five days earlier. So that was a mess. That was an absolute mess of a night. But, yeah, you're, you know, you're drinking out. Trouble in Tennessee is it's an individual sport, but your team still really matters, and maybe even more so because, you know, I'm assuming this wasn't the case for you in football, but, you know, I don't. I spent 250 nights a year with my PT and my coach. Right. Whether it's dinner, whether it's. All of our treatment is done, like, in a hotel room and not, you know, a venue or a practice facility. So it's kind of strange. I spent 70% of my. My life for 12 or 13 years with these people who were there specifically for my orbit. So the bonds are strong. But, yeah, it is. It is kind of weird. Celebrations aside, it's even weirder when you're about to go play, like, a Wimbledon final, and you're the only two people in a locker room, and you're only 10 yards away from each other for most of the day leading in. Right. So all your prep work is with a witness, and your witness is the person you're playing against. So that, at the time, it just seemed normal. And then as I have some space from it, I'M like that's, that's super weird.

[Bobby Bones]

The different kinds of courts you would play on in tennis, clay and clay, the ball didn't bounce as hard, which wasn't as advantageous to you because you were a power hitter. Grass and then hard courts and the hardcore. I think you probably prefer the most, right, because the harder you hit the, the faster the ball reacts.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, it's the way it bounces. So if you were to take a, if you had like a. And this will bore your football listeners to tears, if you, if you were to like throw a ball across like a wood laminated desk, it would skid, right? And so that's what I was looking for. I was looking for that skid. Whereas clay, because of, you know, the way it hits, it hits and checks. So it slows everything down a little bit. So I wanted a little bit of a skid to it. It's, I guess it's not dissimilar to like, you think of like the early aughts rams, right, where they're in a dome and they're going to run through you, but all of a sudden you give them some snow and you give them something else to deal with and it changes the dynamic of, of, of everything. You know that that's kind of the surface dependency that we, we deal with in tennis. I like grass the most. It just sucked that the guy that I was trying to beat also like grass the most.

[Matt Castle]

What was your favorite venue that you would compete at?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Our cathedral is our like Wrigley Field. Fenway is, is Wimbledon. It's, it's, it's, it's. They have all those traditions, but you don't feel like they're just for the sake of tradition. It's weird. Like every, every event, every major is kind of like a microcosm of where it's played. You know, you get to Australia, it's summertime there, everyone's in a good mood, just crushing beers around the grounds. Everyone's generally happy. You go to, you know, the French Open and there's just not quite enough room to move around. So everyone's kind of in a bad mood. You go to London, it's that way. US Open, it's like fireworks and music and it honestly looks like an NFL production a little bit, but it is kind of representative like that New York City of things. I'm always partial. Like you walk into this day, I'll walk into the All England Club and kind of lose my breath a little bit.

[Bobby Bones]

One of the things that one of the memories That I have of when you were home, because you'd be gone nine months of the year, you'd be home for two or three, and that's when we would actually spend time together. But I remember people would just come to your house and knock on the door and you'd have to pee in a cup like that. I remember the, the drug testing. And that's not even when you're on the road, because I wasn't with you. Very rarely was I with you on the road. But they would come to your house and not because in the drug testing was so stringent. Is that, is that still happen now? And is that Olympic drug testing you had to do then?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yes. So. Well, it's, it's. So we're involved in a lot of different stuff. And this is one of the things that sucks about playing in a million different countries. So you could land somewhere and this is on the road and I'll get to the home piece of it in a second, but you could land somewhere and you could be tested by, you know, the French Federation for whatever reason, just because you're playing at Roland Garros. You could be tested by the ioc, wada, ita, and that's before we get to the actual tour. And so. And they also weight it, right? So the, the better you are, the more you kind of get, get tested. But we are on the IOC program. You remember the gymnast got, got her medal taken away, you know, however many Olympics ago because she had Sudafed. And so that's what we're dealing with is like you can have, you know, athletes foot. Foot powder and test positive for it. And I actually make the argument on our, on our served that why are we testing for thresholds of things like Igus Vontech just got, she's now cleared, but she had a contaminated bottle of melatonin. And the, the levels that she tested positive, positive for were so low that, you know, every scientist in every tribunal said they didn't actually affect performance. And then. So I'm going, why are we testing for thresholds that don't actually affect performance, but it's twofold, right? Because you never really look across the person you're playing and say, you know, they' likely getting away with something, you know, because our drug testing is so stringent. And also it leads to a lot of kind of flimsy cases where it's, it, it kind of comes down to being unlucky, which I don't think should ever dictate the, the decision on penalties or suspension.

[Bobby Bones]

But they would just show up like, you again at your house at 5 in the morning.

[Kevin O'Connell]

We had to. Yeah. So we had to. Every single day. We had to have, like, an hour that we had to be available for testing. Now, that doesn't mean you got tested every day. It means on those 15 or 20 at home tests a year, you still had to be available for when they didn't come. So I would always choose 5 to 6 in the morning because that's the only time I could guarantee that I. I'd be home. But, yeah, they'd. They'd knock on your door, and then if you have, you know, I think it's three failed tests, then it's automatic suspension. Not failed test. Sorry. Absent. Absent tests. So if you weren't there. So to give, like, life context when I'm trying to explain it to people, I said if my wife and I wanted to go, we were in Austin at the time. If we wanted to go up to San Antonio to the Riverwalk, we would have to check in, get our room number. I would have to email our lady, who would then email the doping authorities just in case they wanted to stop by a room at 5 or 6 in the morning to. To test.

[Matt Castle]

And was it always the creepy guy that would come in and make you, like, face him and stare at you while you're going to the restroom? Like, where. It's a pretty invasive procedure.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There weren't a lot. There weren't a lot of secrets in that room.

[Bobby Bones]

Was it a, like, a part of your life, too, where you couldn't take certain things or supplements or medicine that had nothing to do with performance in any way, but because of what was in it? You were like, well, I'm not even gonna mess around with that.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yes, I. I was, like, kind of scared of supplements, honestly. And it was supplements through food and. And you have to understand that we call it aspirin. And on the legal forms that you're sending to your trainers or whatever, it's like aspirin is spelled with four X's, 27 vowels, a Y, and something else that you would never recognize. Right. So you actually have to have someone who's well versed and just generally kind of smarter than I have ever been. Take a look at these things. And so it's a pretty intimidating prospect all around. And it's gotten a little sideways now in tennis because you see the headlines where it's like, wotek fails doping tests. And it's like, well, yeah, she had melatonin, you know, which, like, I Went on a thing the next day, I'm like, I've had melatonin this week, you know, like four times. So it's a. It's a slippery slope. And in this culture where we kind of deal in headlines, it's. It's oftentimes a bad look for tennis. And then once you kind of get into the details of a given case, it's not like someone's just, like, smoking Balco and putting, like, anabolic steroids into their bodies. That would be caught immediately. Right. So the upside just isn't there. I just. I have a hard time believing that these athletes like Sinner and Shiontek would. Would take on these risks for minimal benefit.

[Matt Castle]

When I look at the environment of a tennis stadium, it's very traditional. It's stoic, it's quiet.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Do you think that you guys would still be able to perform the same way if the crowd was just into it Every. Every swing, every serve, you know, like, loud, rambunctious. Or do you think that that's got to be the environment that you guys play in?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah.

Well, so we have. It's. It's a question I get asked a lot, and I'm all for, like, I. I want crazier stuff in tennis. Right. I. I think it needs to change. The way we cover. It needs to change so I'm. I'm not stuck in the mud. The difference is, is if. If you're in baseball, you can't hear someone pitch, right? Someone doesn't hear you throw. You don't hear someone catch.

The.

[Matt Castle]

The.

[Kevin O'Connell]

The impact of the ball is my first clue as to what's coming. Right. Like, the way it's hit, whether it's, you know, underspin or top or flat or, like, I can tell instantly on a serve. And at that point, you have, you know, a quarter of a second to react. But my first tell is how it sounds coming off the racket. So, yeah, we could play, but I don't think the quality of product would be as good because you would be taking away, you know, basically our first clue as to. As to what's coming.

[Bobby Bones]

You think I could beat you a pickleball now?

[Kevin O'Connell]

No, And I think I actually. I actually. I'm glad you brought that up. I. I think. No, but I've also invited myself over to. To try to play many times, and I think that you just like being the best pickleball player in your group of friends. So you won't let me come.

[Matt Castle]

Are you the best?

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. No. Yeah.

[Kevin O'Connell]

He has, like, his pickle crew. But I, I don't know that he would want me to, to come in because I think he's established dominance inside of his group.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I think there's a bit of truth to that. However, someone that comes in for an exhibition doesn't count against my record. You know, if he's not like, part of the crew, that's just an exhibition match. But Andy and I have been friends for a long time. We have friends like that we're very close to separately, and that they, and even our very mutual close friend is like, I don't know, Bobby. I think you could really push them. So you think there's no. I don't know. I, I don't know. I don't know. You don't think there's any shot.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Listen, I don't. You, you play more than I do. You're more well versed in it. You know more stuff than I do. I, I don't know. I would take that bet.

[Matt Castle]

I would double down on that bet. I kind of want to see, I want to see this. I want to see this. I'm just gonna go with the professional.

[Bobby Bones]

I'm not even saying tennis player. I'm not even saying it's true. I don't know that it's true. I would, you know, you've got confidence.

[Matt Castle]

Probably. I like this.

[Bobby Bones]

I have irrational confidence.

[Kevin O'Connell]

This is the easiest thing ever, Bobby. Let's, let's, let's find a charity of a given choice and we'll just do it, no problem.

[Bobby Bones]

You're acting like I'm sitting here screaming, I'm going to beat you. I, I have not said that.

[Matt Castle]

No, but he just said, challenge accepted. He said, challenge accepted.

[Kevin O'Connell]

I said, I don't, I don't, I don't know either. But like, I, I, I think it's worth an afternoon of finding out because the curiosity is killing me at this point.

[Bobby Bones]

I think another thing that would be funny is if we hop in a little tournament and we don't say, I'm just like, hey, I'm gonna play in a little charity tournament. And I show up with a Randy Odgers and, and I think that would be fun.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I, I owe you. I owe you a million times for a million things. So say the word and I'm in.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you have a favorite NFL team growing up?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I mean, I was a, I was a Texas kid in, like, the early 90s. So, like, you know, you, you kind of watch the, the Cowboys and the Aikmans and the Smiths and The Urbans and you know, kind of those years of those teams versus and then kind of when the Niners came to eat their lunch, you know, 94, 95. That, that was kind of of my peak NFL fandom beyond like a fantasy self serving perspective.

[Bobby Bones]

Favorite player growing up as far in football.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Probably Emmett Smith. I, I think I feel like that's the only jersey that, that I ever had. I think that that favorite player has aged well too.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Like nothing weird has happened with him, which I think is good. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And that's, that's tough nowadays because everything now exists.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, everything exists. Did you actually watch the super bowl at all?

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah, I did. It was, I'm curious. Obviously you know this, this backwards, but it's just you kind of remember those moments where there are these like legendary, mythical players and teams and you remember the first time that they got beat, like really beat, right? Like not like close, but like beat. And I was, I was stunned and you know, I'm sure as many of us were but you know, you're the expert. I couldn't see one part of the game where, where, where they weren't beaten soundly. And it was, it was weird to see because, you know, they're, they're one of the best, you know, teams ever. And it just goes to show you, it's what makes sports beautiful. It doesn't matter what you've done, it matters what you're doing that day. And that's, that's, that's why I love sports. It's like the ultimate reality show.

[Bobby Bones]

Pickleball Slam 3 the Duel in the desert is happening Mandalay Bay in Vegas on Sunday. So ESPN will televise it. You can watch. I will be watching. I'll be rooting for you. And you win money, right? This is our thing. You're competing for prize money.

[Kevin O'Connell]

We. So this one is not the, the purse like last time, but the way that I understand it is that we get paid X, which is not nothing. And then if we win, we get the net. We basically become the champs and get another, get another payday. So we're basically playing for the next one. We get to kind of hold court if, if we win.

[Matt Castle]

Let's go. I know you're going to be doing your scouting.

[Bobby Bones]

I don't need. Guess I don't, I don't, I don't need to scout. I'm gonna play him on clay though. I'm gonna get a clay.

[Matt Castle]

He wanted to skip.

[Bobby Bones]

All right, good luck. Love you, buddy. Talk to you soon. And thanks for coming on with us.

[Kevin O'Connell]

All right, guys, Anytime. Thank you.

[Matt Castle]

Thanks.

[Bobby Bones]

By the way, his podcast is called Served. And if you're a tennis fan, check out Served. It really is a fantastic podcast. He's one of the smartest guys I know. He won't act like it, but he's one of the smartest guys I know. Period. In all forms. So check out Served with Andy Roddick.

[Andy Roddick]

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[Bobby Bones]

I'm Peter Schrager, host of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network and the Season with Peter Schrager Podcast. Whether you're ordering wings for the game or you're whipping up a seven layer dip or you're ordering a pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat. In this football season, UberEats has the best deals on game day food, no matter what you're craving. From two for one pizzas to buy one, get one wings to whatever it is you want. UberEats will be dropping new deals each week all season long. UberEats is the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now for game day terms and conditions apply and see the app for details.

[Matt Castle]

The stadium bathroom line. It's like TSA and the DMV merged in the waters of rush hour traffic. And you're in it. No closer to the bathroom than you were five minutes ago. Just closer to. Well, going to the bathroom. You know what actually takes a minute? Figuring out who's going to dd so no one drives impaired after the game. Take a minute, make a plan, Never drive impaired. Go to takeaminutenow.com from Diageo. Mad uber in the NFL. Please drink responsibly.

[Bobby Bones]

We just had Andy Roddick on. I think there's a little bit of static or something that gave him like a little list in the audio. He doesn't talk, but I don't even know how that went through. But if there was like a static did that. That's, you know. Yeah, I don't know who that's on. If he hears that, he's gonna think, we did it, we did it.

[Kevin O'Connell]

I swear.

[Bobby Bones]

It wasn't us. It wasn't us.

[Kevin O'Connell]

KOC was on and he was good, so.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. But then he. He got muted.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Oh, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

When I asked him the question about the quarterback, he's like, I can't hear.

[Matt Castle]

That was perfect. I thought. I thought he was doing it on purpose. And then he's like, no, really, I can't hear you. And then he finally came back on. That was great.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Perfect segment.

[Bobby Bones]

It's been a fun show. And, you know, up until the draft, we'll definitely stay in the mix here and talk NFL. We'll spread our wings a little bit, have some music. You know, we're kind of finding our legs as well. One quick note. Roddick had the world record for a long time for the fastest serve. It's like 1:58 or something. Whatever. It was.

[Matt Castle]

Something absurd.

[Bobby Bones]

It was. And I thought if he hits it to me 10 times, I can get one of them back over the net. That's the bet that made him just one. So I said, if you hit me 10.

[Matt Castle]

Yes. This already took place.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, it was in Sports Illustrated. Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Okay. Please.

[Bobby Bones]

And I do not fancy myself an incredible athlete. Not even an above average athlete. I think I'm an average athlete with A high IQ and a great work ethic. I think that's how I would define any success that I had. Because again, not super tall, not super fast. Pretty smart. High. High motor, high energy. Yeah, yeah. Big motor, high energy.

[Matt Castle]

Technician. Yes. You're a technician.

[Bobby Bones]

Very much so. So I freaking trained. And I thought I. It wasn't even that I had to, like, score a point on him. It was just get it back over the net and play.

[Matt Castle]

Okay, this is. That's it. 10 serves.

[Bobby Bones]

10 serves.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Hand, eye coordination, pretty good. Even though my right eye doesn't work at all. Like, it's never worked. So I've had to learn how to do everything. My left eye. But since I've never had a right eye, it doesn't matter. Like, it's not. Nothing hurt. I'm ready to go. And people are like, is that gonna be hard? I was like, I don't know the difference. So I'm not. I've not lost anything.

[Matt Castle]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

Let's go.

[Matt Castle]

Bring it.

[Bobby Bones]

Show up. How many serves do you think until I, A, touched it and B, did or didn't get it over.

[Matt Castle]

I think you touched the ball probably one out of ten times, but probably your eighth one.

[Bobby Bones]

You think I touched it at eight and you don't think there's any chance I got it back over the net?

[Matt Castle]

I'm going to be honest with you. Absolutely not.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, he could have hit a thousand at me. I wouldn't even touch it. I never touched it.

[Matt Castle]

I was trying to give you the best.

[Bobby Bones]

No, I know, and I appreciate that.

[Matt Castle]

I'm going to go with one out of ten, But I'm really. I can't wait to hear the results because it would have absolutely blown my mind.

[Bobby Bones]

I never touched it. And if you actually returned one, it was then when. And I would train with him a little bit and I would see. But I would do a really hard session with him, but then he'd have two more workouts that day. So absurd. But you're one of those guys, so I'm not gonna hear that from you because you're that guy, too. But it was when I then saw the work and the athleticism, because a lot of guys are great athletes that'll put in the work.

[Matt Castle]

Right?

[Bobby Bones]

A lot of guys work hard, and maybe they don't have that. The athleticism. I saw them together and I thought that I could have been here for 10 days. I would have never touched one. After the first four, which stunned me. They were so fast.

[Matt Castle]

Seriously, like, it scared 155 miles an hour.

[Bobby Bones]

It scared me. Then he. Then he knew I was so scared. It was like when you're throwing 103 mile an hour gas and then you hit somebody with a change up.

[Matt Castle]

Yep.

[Bobby Bones]

Then he started to hit cut serves at like half the speed. I don't. It was like an alien had landed. Then on 9 and 10, I was so frazzled, he just said. And I, dude, I was, I was gone.

[Matt Castle]

You're like, I'm done.

[Bobby Bones]

And so then Sports Illustrated, they covered it, did a story, and it was embarrassing because I didn't even get close.

[Matt Castle]

I mean, I can't even imagine. I mean, I think about that and you watch these professional tennis matches and you see these men and women alike serving the ball 120 to 135,155 in his case, or 58, and you go, that is absolutely absurd to even put the tennis racket on it, let alone return it and then create this volley back and forth. I thought the other fascinating part, listening to him, when I asked him about the crowd, you know, would you rather them be like boisterous and screaming in this? He said, I'd love that. But I didn't even realize how detail oriented they are with their mind of. I knew as soon as it came off the racket if it was a cut serve, if it was a power serve, that never even. I never processed that in my mind.

[Bobby Bones]

Can you play pickleball?

[Matt Castle]

I mean, I can play, but I'm not, I'm not good. I played this morning, went out there. Now we had a bunch of average Joes out there and we were all getting to know the game. But I've got enough hand eye coordination where I can, I can, I can hold my own a little bit. I wouldn't. I kind of want to come over here and get on the court with you, big fella.

[Bobby Bones]

I just wonder if you're sandbagging or not.

[Matt Castle]

No, I promise you, I'm not saying bagging because I'm competitive. I want to win.

[Bobby Bones]

I want to go pro.

[Matt Castle]

Do you? Well, I'm not there yet because every time the ball comes up in the air and it looks like that soft, like soft pitch softball, and I go to slam it and I just ricochet it 30 yards out of the court. And I'm so pissed at myself and I slam my, my paddle against my thigh, I'm just like, oh my gosh, this should be easier.

[Bobby Bones]

It should be easier. I don't think I am anywhere near going pro, but I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna do like Andy, work with a trainer.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, let's do this.

[Bobby Bones]

Let's. Why not? I got a whole freaking machine over there that. That shoots balls at you. But then it got winter, I bought it, and it got winter, and I have an outdoor court, so I never really got to play with it.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. The guy that really intimidates me is when they're up at the net, you know, you're serving, and then you got to get it back over. But they're already stand there like, okay, did bring it. And we played with somebody, my buddy Marcus today. He's 6 8, so his wingspan is here. So I was like, do I try to flop it over his head? Every time I try to flop it, it's gone in the next county. But it's a great game, great workout, a lot of fun.

[Bobby Bones]

And the seat, the floor is very high, meaning anybody that able bodied can get in and just play, right?

[Matt Castle]

It's like golf, but more active.

[Bobby Bones]

It's like golf, but way easier to start.

[Matt Castle]

It is. It's way easier than golf. That's a good point.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Like golf. Golf sucks for me because it's really hard. I like to play golf, but it's really hard. I feel like I could be okay at pickleball in a week. A day. A day. Just learning the rules, right?

[Matt Castle]

If you just have enough hand eye coordination because you. Your movement patterns aren't extreme unless you're, like, really hustling and your guy is being lazy or whatever it is. So you can get to balls in a small space. It's not like you're running all over a court. So you definitely could be competitive if you just give a little effort.

[Bobby Bones]

Kevin involved a little bit, played a little last year.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

I'm looking forward to it again. But like you said, the weather got bad, and right when you got good weather. Right when I got good, man, I.

[Kevin O'Connell]

Was moving up on the charts.

[Matt Castle]

Isn't that always the case?

[Bobby Bones]

We have a championship belt here. Do you.

[Matt Castle]

I'm guessing your name's on it.

[Bobby Bones]

No, I don't put my name on it. Just a winner. It's just a winners winner.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, it's kind of like I get a. I get a championship bell, but it says dad of the year. I get a plaque made, and I just put my name on it every year. My kids don't know the difference. Like, I've won five years in a row, guys. I'm the dad of the year.

[Bobby Bones]

Also the only dad in the house, but.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's why I'm always winning.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, Reed's getting pretty good, thanks to Kevin O'Connell. Coach of the year, thanks to Andy Roddick. Please hit subscribe. Go to the Lots to say podcast feed. Hit subscribe. That would be super cool if you did. We got big shows coming up in the next few weeks. I'm just saying that because I literally have no idea because everything from the super bowl burnt everybody out.

[Matt Castle]

Every show's big.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, good point.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Show of the Year on our feed. It's like dad of the year on our feed. We have show of the year. Thank you, guys. Executive producer Kevin O'Connell. Different Kevin O'Connell, by the way.

[Matt Castle]

Different Kevin O'Connor. Ko and Ko.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. Reed, head of Audio Video Video. That way you are. Who's better at pickleball, you two? Reed is to me and Reed. Yeah. Oh, no, I beat you last time. Yeah. Reed's got good, though. Reed's dropped about 20 pounds. All right. And gotten pretty good. Drop that winter weight. Yeah, Reed's had a visual. That's Matt Castle on Bobby Bones. We've had lots to say. See you guys next week. Bye, everybody.

[Matt Castle]

Foreign.

[Bobby Bones]

Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Peter Schrager]

Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven layer dip, or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat. And this football season, Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food, no matter what you're craving. From two for one pizza. To buy one, get one Wings. Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week all season long. Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now for game day. Terms and conditions apply. See app for details.

[Andy Roddick]

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[Matt Castle]

The stadium bathroom line. It's like tsa. The DMV merged in the waters of rush hour traffic and you're in it no closer to the bathroom than you were five minutes ago. Just closer to. Well, going to the bathroom. You know what actually takes a minute? Figuring out who's going to dd. So no one drives impaired after the game. Take a minute, Make a plan. Never drive impaired. Go to take a minute now.com from Diageo. Mad uber in the NFL. Please drink responsibly.