PMS 2.0 1291 - Luka Dončić Introductory Lakers Press Conference, Shams Charania, Bill Belichick, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – PMS 2.0 1291

Episode Overview: In episode 1291 of "The Pat McAfee Show," released on February 4, 2025, host Pat McAfee and his panel delve into one of the most seismic trades in NBA history: the acquisition of Luka Dončić by the Los Angeles Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks. This trade has sent shockwaves through the sports world, positioning Dončić alongside LeBron James and reshaping the dynamics of both franchises. The episode features insights from ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, Lakers General Manager Darius Butler, former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and co-host AJ Hawk. Additionally, the show touches upon upcoming Super Bowl festivities and includes lighter segments showcasing Pat's ventures into acting for NFL commercials.

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1. The Monumental Luka Dončić Trade

Pat McAfee’s Initial Reaction ([00:00]-[03:46]): Pat McAfee opens the episode by expressing his eagerness to discuss the ongoing Super Bowl festivities but quickly shifts focus to the blockbuster NBA trade—the Los Angeles Lakers acquiring Luka Dončić. Pat underscores the trade's magnitude, hinting it might be the "biggest trade in the history of sports." He voices his disdain for the Dallas Mavericks' management, particularly criticizing their decision to part ways with a 25-year-old superstar in his prime. Pat humorously laments, "I hope the Mavs suck forever," showcasing his strong personal feelings against the trade.

Notable Quote:

Pat McAfee [02:30]: "There ain't nothing I hate more than a bunch of suits that think they matter."

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2. Breaking Down the Trade: Insights from Shams Charania

Shams Charania’s Analysis ([41:16]-[51:02]): Shams Charania provides an in-depth analysis of the trade, revealing that while the trade was initially shocking to the NBA community, underlying issues within the Mavericks—such as concerns over Dončić's conditioning and buy-in—played a crucial role. Shams notes that the Mavericks were seeking a change in direction, prioritizing Anthony Davis for immediate championship contention over Dončić's long-term potential.

Notable Quotes:

Shams Charania [42:08]: "The Lakers weren't trading Anthony Davis. They've never had a conversation to move him to shop him."

Shams Charania [45:27]: "LeBron James and Luka Doncic are going to be co-stars, of course. And I do think the aspect of mentorship can be learned."

Key Points:

• Motivations Behind the Trade: Mavericks were dissatisfied with Dončić's performance metrics and overall fit within the new organizational culture under Mark Cuban.
• Lakers' Strategy: The Lakers aim to build a team around Dončić, leveraging his prowess to complement LeBron James and usher in a new era post-Anthony Davis.
• Impact on the NBA: This trade signifies a strategic pivot for the Lakers, shifting from the Anthony Davis-centric model to one that embraces Luka Dončić's dynamic playmaking abilities.

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3. Press Conference Highlights: Luka Dončić’s Transition to the Lakers

Luka Dončić’s Statements ([06:11]-[22:13]): During the introductory press conference, Luka Dončić shares his excitement about joining the Lakers and collaborating with LeBron James. He reflects on his time with the Mavericks, acknowledging the support he received from teammates, coaches, and fans. Luka emphasizes his commitment to winning championships and expresses gratitude towards the Mavericks' GM, Nico Harrison, and Lakers' owner, Jeanie Buss.

Notable Quotes:

Luka Dončić [10:31]: "I'm just excited to be here for this opportunity. It's the Lakers. It's one of the best clubs in history, so I'm excited to be here."

Luka Dončić [11:51]: "Just like a dream come true. I always look up to [LeBron], there's so many things I can learn from him."

Key Points:

• Excitement for New Chapter: Luka is enthusiastic about starting his journey with the Lakers, seeing it as a fresh start and an opportunity to work alongside one of the greatest players, LeBron James.
• Commitment to Success: He underscores his dedication to winning championships, asserting that he has "everything left to prove."
• Gratitude and Professionalism: Luka thanks key figures involved in the trade, highlighting the professionalism and trust that facilitated the move.

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4. GM Darius Butler’s Vision for the Lakers

Darius Butler’s Insights ([05:16]-[27:45]): As the Lakers' GM, Darius Butler discusses the strategic importance of acquiring Luka Dončić. He outlines the Lakers' long-term vision, which focuses on building a roster that aligns with J.J. Redick's basketball philosophy. Butler explains that while the trade might have initially been challenging due to shifting priorities from Anthony Davis to Luka, it ultimately positions the Lakers as a powerhouse centered around Dončić’s talents.

Notable Quotes:

Darius Butler [14:01]: "Trust was at the center of all those discussions."

Darius Butler [27:45]: "It's a gift. We're talking about a 25-year-old that is a top three player in the universe."

Key Points:

• Building Around Luka: The Lakers intend to construct a team that maximizes Dončić's playmaking abilities, ensuring that the roster complements his strengths.
• Long-Term Strategy: Butler emphasizes the importance of Luka’s leadership and vision in shaping the Lakers' future, moving beyond the LeBron James era.
• Collaborative Approach: He highlights the collaborative efforts with the Mavericks’ management and the importance of maintaining trust throughout the negotiation process.

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5. Addressing Concerns: Luka’s Conditioning and Defensive Play

Discussion on Luka’s Fitness ([22:13]-[25:33], [41:03]-[48:40]): Pat McAfee and other panelists engage in a critical examination of Luka Dončić's physical conditioning and defensive capabilities. There are concerns regarding his weight management and defensive consistency. Luka responds by acknowledging the criticism and outlines his commitment to improving his defense and overall fitness.

Notable Quotes:

Pat McAfee [21:08]: "I hope Luka goes to LA and just goes bananas."

Luka Dončić [22:13]: "Win the championship. You don't come here for nothing else than championships."

Luka Dončić [25:09]: "For the first time, I took my time, got it to heal 100%."

Key Points:

• Criticism of Conditioning: Mavericks' management cited concerns about Luka's conditioning and durability, questioning his readiness for a supermax extension.
• Luka’s Response: Dončić admits to past conditioning issues but asserts his dedication to achieving optimal health and performance with the Lakers.
• Defensive Improvement: He recognizes the need to enhance his defensive play, committing to being more active and vocal on defense.

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6. Banter and Reactions: Pat McAfee’s Perspective

Pat McAfee’s Commentary ([03:46]-[04:12], [05:43]-[07:00], etc.): Throughout the episode, Pat McAfee interjects with his characteristic humor and candid opinions. He criticizes the Mavericks' decision to trade Luka, lauds the Lakers' strategic move, and engages in playful banter with the co-hosts. Pat also shares his thoughts on the evolving dynamics of the NBA and the implications of such a high-profile trade.

Notable Quotes:

Pat McAfee [03:46]: "I hope Luka goes to LA and just goes bananas. I don't like what they did to Luka at all."

Pat McAfee [05:43]: "Obviously, that is the product of the biggest trade in the history of the NBA."

Key Points:

• Strong Opinions: Pat is openly critical of the Mavericks' management for their handling of Luka Dončić, expressing a clear preference for the Lakers' approach.
• Humorous Critique: He uses humor to underscore his dissatisfaction, making the discussion engaging and relatable for listeners.
• Encouraging Growth: Pat supports Luka's move as a positive step for his career, anticipating significant changes and improvements.

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7. Bill Belichick’s Segment: Coaching Insights and Book Launch

Bill Belichick’s Discussion ([76:00]-[98:49]): In a unique crossover segment, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick joins the show to discuss his new book, "The Art of Winning: Lessons from a Life in Football." Belichick shares insights into his coaching philosophy, Super Bowl preparations, and the parallels between college football coaching at North Carolina and his NFL career.

Notable Quotes:

Bill Belichick [76:22]: "I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of great players, coaches, and people in and out of football."

Bill Belichick [82:09]: "Winning isn't a science. It's an art. And it can be learned."

Key Points:

• Book Launch: Belichick introduces his book, detailing his journey and the lessons he's learned throughout his illustrious coaching career.
• Coaching Philosophy: He emphasizes the importance of preparation, adaptability, and instilling a winning mindset within his teams.
• Super Bowl Preparations: Belichick outlines the meticulous planning involved in preparing for the Super Bowl, highlighting the significance of halftime strategies and maintaining team focus.

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8. Super Bowl Week and Upcoming Events

Super Bowl Preparations ([99:00]-[125:55]): The latter part of the episode shifts focus to Super Bowl preparations, with the panel discussing upcoming festivities, media coverage, and the unique challenges posed by high-profile events. Pat shares anecdotes about filming an NFL commercial promoting girls' flag football, blending humor with behind-the-scenes insights.

Notable Quotes:

Pat McAfee [99:54]: "We're putting on a big push for girls' flag football. It's a fantastic initiative."

Darius Butler [125:04]: "We're building a roster that fits J.J. Redick's basketball philosophy."

Key Points:

• Super Bowl Festivities: The panel anticipates a bustling Super Bowl week, discussing the influx of media, sponsorships, and fan interactions at Radio Row.
• Pat’s Acting Gig: Pat narrates his experience acting in an NFL commercial, highlighting the show's creative ventures beyond typical sports talk.
• Community Initiatives: Emphasis on promoting inclusivity in sports, particularly through initiatives like girls' flag football, showcasing the league's commitment to diversity and empowerment.

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9. Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook

Wrap-Up and Final Banter ([126:00]-[171:58]): As the show nears its end, the panelists engage in light-hearted banter, reflecting on the trade's implications and future prospects for both the Lakers and Mavericks. There is a mix of humor, personal anecdotes, and forward-looking statements as they transition towards celebrating the Super Bowl.

Notable Quotes:

Pat McAfee [168:03]: "Let's not make that a habit. It felt so weird, the amount of people."

Connor [170:07]: "Lakers' roster especially they just made another trade. Yeah, that was fantastic."

Key Points:

• Future of the Lakers: Optimism surrounds the Lakers' acquisition of Luka Dončić, with expectations of a transformative impact on the team's success.
• Mavericks' Strategy: The Mavericks are anticipated to recalibrate their strategy post-trade, possibly exploring new trades and team-building approaches.
• Super Bowl Excitement: The panel underscores their excitement for the upcoming Super Bowl, signaling a shift back to football-centric discussions.

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Conclusion:

Episode 1291 of "The Pat McAfee Show" offers an extensive exploration of Luka Dončić's historic trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, delving into the strategic motivations, fan reactions, and the potential reshaping of the NBA landscape. Through insightful analysis from key sports figures and the host's engaging commentary, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the trade's significance. The episode seamlessly blends serious sports discourse with entertaining segments, providing a well-rounded listening experience for both avid basketball fans and casual sports enthusiasts.

Final Notable Quote:

Pat McAfee [171:58]: "We're in this thing together. Team on three. We'll see you down, New Orleans. One, two, three. Goodbye."

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode. The Thunder Note on this Super Bowl Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. This program starts now. Football is wonderful and obviously tomorrow we head down to the bayou to New Orleans to join the festivities down at Radio Row for this particular super bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. The guests will be in abundance. The conversation should be ecstatic and the city, from what I'm hearing, is abuzz. We cannot wait to get down there. Obviously, that is tomorrow. Today is today. We will be running the show until Luka Doncic introductory press conference begins with the Los Angeles Lakers. We were told it will start at noon. These press conferences normally run late because you got a lot of people that you got to get aligned. Gotta have ownership, gotta have general manager, gotta have coach, gotta have star. Now all those people have people, all those people run into each other before they even get out to where the press conference is. So there's a lot of dapping, a lot of pleasantries, a lot of those things over under 12, 11 in my head, could be before, could be way after. As soon as that thing begins, we will send you right over to it because obviously this is the product of the biggest trade in the history of sports potentially. And Shamshirania, our guy, newest member of the ESPN NBA crew, broke this news in a record breaking Tweet that says 91 million. It's now way over 100 million views as the hours continue to roll on. This man's 25 years old and because he likes to eat some food, sure. Okay. Even though he balls out, led them to the NBA Finals, plays at half speed so he can operate a little bit overweight because that's how he's played his entire life. Just because a GM doesn't like the way he operates. And I guess they got rid of his like training staff, brought in some new crew in there and you know, they have new ownership in there now, if you do recall, and somehow they have all gotten online that they matter more than this guy. Okay, interesting. That is awesome. I hope the Mavs suck forever. Now, granted, I like Anthony Davis as well. We cannot kind of leave him out of his 32 years old. We were told that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to build around Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis was so comfortable in his locker just a few days ago, saying, you know, we get our point guard in here, getting our center here, I think we go on good run. And there was reason for him to be incredibly comfortable because everybody talking about the Lakers was talking about how he Was future of this entire organization. One of the most storied franchises in the history of sport. The Los Angeles Lakers are going to be led by Anthony Davis. After the LeBron James era, they need to start building his team around Unibrow. They need to start building this city around this guy. Well, he's going to Dallas and he's going to be a maverick. He said he can't wait for the next chapter down there to play for them. And I'm going to let you know. Ad I think. I hope. I hope they suck. I hope you suck down there. I hope they suck down there. I don't like what they did to Luka at all. I'm not even that big of a Luka fan. Sure. I just went to a Pacers Mavericks game here in Indiana and Pacers have a lot of fans. Pacers have a lot of basketball fans. Their tickets got bought by People wearing 77 jerseys for the Mavericks. He sold out our arena. I assume he sold out every other arena. He led their team to the freaking finals last year. He didn't do great. Finals. They got swept by the Celtics. Like, Celtics swept everybody. That's what the Celtics did last year. They were a phenomenal team. Well, he needs to get. Somehow they convince themselves that they're more important than this guy. And I'll tell you what, there ain't nothing I hate more than a bunch of suits that think they matter. And that is seemingly what's taking place down there in Dallas. Once again, Anthony Davis. Not your fault. We love Anthony Davis. But I hope Luka goes to LA and just goes bananas. Yeah, I hope it is the Luka Doncic revenge tour. I hope he gets an eight pack.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Ty Schmidt]

Actually, he might.

[Pat McAfee]

What if he does and he sucks? Then he's gonna say, I told you this is what I need. A little slobber on me. I need a little blubber. I need to be able to bounce. It actually helps me stay in slow motion, which is what I dribble in. Anyways, since he's got to the league, none of us who. I mean, I guess basketball people probably understand it more with the way his body positioning is, but as a kind of a spectator from a distance. Grew up in Pittsburgh, didn't have a basketball team, would watch the Lake show late at night because it was spectacular during my era of growing up. And I'm also kind of an insomniac, so I couldn't sleep. So their games are on. I'm going to watch it. But it's like that guy's Moving at the pace of molasses. That's never going to work. And then it just did. Then he just averages like 30 points a game and somehow he just is continuing to do it. And people know that he's going to move slow. People know exactly what he's gonna do. And he continues winning. He's like a 55 year old man out there as a 25 year old. And they're like, yeah, that's what we're betting on. He's not gonna be able to play for long. It's like, I don't know. I still see those 55 year olds at the YMCA doing the same old shit. Now granted it's the NBA, I get it. It's a different animal. And maybe he will eat himself out of the NBA. But what I think is probably gonna happen whenever he gets with LeBron James, I think they're probably gonna go. And this dude has led a team to the NBA Finals to win the Western Conference and Now he's got LeBron on team and a couple other exciting whites, I mean and JJ Redick who played with. I mean there is congrats to the Lakers. So I'm excited for this press conference. 1/2 of the Hammer Time Cowboys AP Town is here.

[AJ Hawk]

Are the sportsbooks always correct? No, but we always say they don't pay for those chandeliers on their own. The sportsbooks made the Mavs go from after this trade. Pre trade they were 16 to 1 to win the the championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

After the trade The Mavs went 40 to 1 to win the NBA championship. The Lakers Pre Trade were 40 to 1 to win the NBA championship. After the trade they are 16 to 1 to win the NBA championship. The odds, literally.

[Pat McAfee]

What do we know? We're just a bunch of football people, okay? We're just a bunch of football people who gamble. Okay, sure. But what do we know in this entire thing? Let's go to nine. Oh, D. Buch is here, talks to table is here. Bill Belichick will be joining us in a second hour. But now ladies and gentlemen, we send you to Los Angeles with the introductory press conference of the new superstar of the Lakers. 25 year old Slovenian man, formerly of.

[Darius Butler]

The Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic, Max Christie and Anthony Davis for their incredible service here. There's no player that played as big a role to our 17th championship than Anthony Davis, who's also a person of incredibly high character. So those three guys are Lakers for life. And just want to thank them before we start? No. So in thinking about today and what it means, I think Luka Doncic joining forces with the Los Angeles Lakers is a seismic event in NBA history. And the reason I say that is because we have a 25 year old global superstar that's going to get on the stage of the most popular and influential basketball brand on the globe. And I think when those two powerful forces come together, it brings basketball joy to the world. Because that's how Luka plays. He plays with joy. And if you think about kids in Barcelona or kids in Buenos Aires, or children in Shanghai or Sydney, they're going to be wearing a number 77 Luka Doncic Lakers jersey and bringing joy to basketball just like he does. And that's why it's powerful, I think the leadership of Adam Silver and the way he's bringing the game to the world. You see it in Europe, you see it in Africa, what the NBA is doing. And now we have one of the game's biggest superstars, an international player coming to join the Los Angeles Lakers. It's a convergence of all those forces and I think it's going to be something incredibly special that the NBA and basketball has never seen before. So to get to this place, there's a couple people I want to thank. First and foremost is Jeannie Buss. She's so supportive. I think her vision, which falls in line with the great and late Dr. Buss, to always make sure the brightest and best basketball superstars play for the Los Angeles Lakers. She's clearly carried that vision on from her dad, and I just want to thank her for her tremendous support and vision in helping this day become a reality. The second person I want to thank is anytime there's a trade or a transaction, there has to be a partner. And I want to thank the Dallas Mavericks, led by their GM Nico Harrison, who was also very instrumental in bringing this opportunity to us and then staying true to the negotiations throughout where it could be culminated with the trade being finalized and Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markief Morris becoming members of our team. So wanted to thank those two people. And now we'll start with questions.

[Gumpy]

Hey, Luka, there's the video the Lakers.

[Pat McAfee]

Put out the other day of you noticed somebody was talking to you in.

[Gumpy]

Slovenian during a game in 2019.

[Darius Butler]

It's Kobe.

[Pat McAfee]

And you turn around, you have the.

[Gumpy]

Moment with him after the game and.

[Pat McAfee]

Think of how do you go from.

[Gumpy]

That to then now joining the Lakers.

[Pat McAfee]

With LeBron James and just thinking of the legacies of those two players and you having the chance to be the next one.

[Lombo]

Well, first of all, I remember the exact moment that that happened. It would always stay, you know, in my mind. It was an amazing moment. Just for Colby to know my name was amazing for me. You know, I just wish Colby and JG were here to see this moment. And, you know, I'm excited about this new journey and happy to be here.

[Connor]

All of us here standing here waiting for you to come.

[Pat McAfee]

What's your.

[Connor]

I'm sorry, what's your reaction to seeing all of us here to welcome you to Los Angeles?

[Lombo]

Well, first of all, it's very nice. You know, there's a lot of people here. I don't think there's ever been so many people in my press conference, so I really appreciate all the, all the support.

[AJ Hawk]

Luca, welcome to Los Angeles. I'm curious, what's your reaction been the last 48 hours to some of the comments coming from Dallas on your way out the door to join the Lakers?

[Lombo]

I'm just excited, you know, to be here to start this new journey. Journey. And obviously at some point I knew this was going to happen, but I would say I always take the high road. You know, I had my amazing moments in Dallas with all my teammates, coaches, and most importantly, the fans. You know, they always supported me. And it was, it was an amazing journey.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Luca, Dan wieck with the LA Times. Welcome to LA.

[AJ Hawk]

You, in a podcast with JJ years.

[Pat McAfee]

Ago said that the one NBA player that you watched was LeBron James. What is your kind of reaction to being able to now play with him? And how do you think that's going to work for the two of you guys on the court?

[Lombo]

Just like a dream come true. You know, I always look up to him. There's so many learn, there's so many things I can learn from him and I'm just excited, you know, just to learn everything. And now I get to play with him. So it's an amazing feeling.

[Gumpy]

Zdrava, Luka, Jovan Buha with the Athletic. Just kind of following up on that.

[Pat McAfee]

How do you see you and LeBron specifically?

[Gumpy]

Just there's the two man game between you. You both can screen for each other, hit guys out of the short role, create playmaking opportunities.

[AJ Hawk]

Just how you guys both see the game.

[Gumpy]

Very few can see it that way. Like, how do you see that fit from a passing, playmaking and just two man game perspective?

[Lombo]

Yeah, I think we both make our teammates better. I think our IQ is very high, so I think that's going to help everybody, you know, but obviously I really haven't think about basketball much these days, but, you know, I'm just excited to work with him. I work every day here, so the day, every day that goes by is going to be better.

[Darius Butler]

Luka, Kobe, Price, SoCal News Group. Welcome to LA. Got one for both you guys. First for you, Luca. I think you even wrote in a.

[Pat McAfee]

Social media post that, you know, you.

[Darius Butler]

Thought that Dallas is going to be a place that you're looking forward, so win championships, staying for your career. Emotionally, what have the past 48 to 60 hours been for you in coming to LA?

[Lombo]

Well, it was. Honestly, it was hard. First. That first day was really hard. I felt like this last 48 hours was one month, like two days ago was one month ago. So emotionally was really hard. But every day that, like, today was much better. You know, I'm just very happy to be here for this opportunity. It's the Lakers. It's one of the best clubs in history, so I'm excited to be here.

[Darius Butler]

And for Rob, you, Nico was speaking with reporters, I believe, on Sunday after the trade. He praised you specifically for, you know, keeping the negotiations between you two up until, I imagine, the final moments.

[Pat McAfee]

At what point did you, I guess, introduce this trade idea to Jeannie and.

[Darius Butler]

What was her initial reaction when you told her about it? Yeah, so this all started with the coffee in Dallas where Nico approached us with the concept. And because there was a partnership and a history of traveling the world between Nico and myself, working around Kobe Bryant, there was a fabric of trust in the discussions. And these type of deals are incredibly intricate and complicated. And along the way, we knew there would be 204, 48 insurmountable snags to get to the end. And there were. And so over the course of three weeks, call it an issue would come up and we'd think there was no way to climb the mountain, and we'd figure out a way, then the next issue would come up and you just keep going and you stay committed to the work. You stay committed to trying to get the deal done in a partnership sense. I think a lot of people talk about negotiations in terms of who won and who lost. I try to approach a negotiation in the sense of how do we build a partnership where we can get to the end? And I think that was the lens that we worked and the premise we worked under. And when the concept was initially introduced to us, it was, hey, the only way we can even have these discussions was if it's between owner and GMs, and there was a commitment to that. And if we broke that commitment by Talking to anyone else, this day would never happen. So I think trust was at the center of all those discussions. And I called Jeannie after the coffee in Dallas and brought her in immediately, as I do with everything. Her and I have a really strong working relationship and the fabric of that is that we share things in real time. And she was extraordinarily excited and hopefully that we could get to the end, which we were able to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Luca and Rob, Melissa, roll on Fox Sports over here. I have a question for both of you guys. Obviously, from the league's biggest superstars to fans, people were shocked that the Mavericks were willing to deal a 25 year old superstar in his prime who has another 10 years at least ahead of him.

[AJ Hawk]

What was both of your guys?

[Pat McAfee]

I guess, Rob, what was your level of shock that this was even on the table? And Luka, what was your level of shock that Mavs were willing to deal you?

[Darius Butler]

I try to take everything in stride. I think, you know, it's interesting if all of us watch Luka play, he has a combination of basketball joy and killer instinct, which is really rare. That was number eight, number 24. And I think learning lessons from that mentality are stay in the moment. And so I don't think of it in terms of shock, surprise. I think of it in, okay, this is coming at me. It's like a game, you know, maybe a blitz is coming at Luka. He's not going to be shocked. He's going to stay in the moment, figure out the read and make the play. And so when the opportunity came to me, that was sort of my mindset is to, okay, this is coming. This is a concept that came to me. Now how do I process this mentally to get the deal completed? And right away, when it was brought up at the coffee, my mind started churning. There were so many complicated things we have. The Mavericks are hard capped at the first apron. You know, the Lakers are up against the second apron. There's trade kickers, there's going to be a third team that's going to have. So my gears were turning about the deal the same way his basketball mind is processing a play. And so I just tried to live in the moment. And I tried to carry that with me for three or four weeks as this was unfolding. And by staying in the moment, I think it helped us get to the end.

[Lombo]

I mean, everybody was surprised. So you can imagine how surprised I was. I was almost asleep. So when I got a call, I had to check, it was April 1st. I didn't really Believe it at first, and it was a big shock. It was hard moments for me. It was home. So it was really hard moments for me, especially the first day. As I said, I get to play in the greatest club in the world and I'm excited for this new journey.

[Pat McAfee]

Luca, over here on your left, Malika Andrews with ESPN. It's good to see you. Welcome to LA. You've been a fan of LeBron, you've talked about it for a long time, but he's also been a fan of you. He tried to work with you at various different times in the past, whether it be shoe deals or other things. I'm curious, what message did he reach out to you with? Was it a text, was it a call? What was that? And how did that fuel the way that you think about coming to LA as well?

[Lombo]

Yeah, he called me right away. He was in New York, so he called me right away and we didn't talk much because, you know, he said, I understand what you're feeling, but that was really nice of him just to call me right away and welcome me to la.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Luca, We've heard from so many other players across the league, Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, Giannis, talking about their shock at this and also what it means for how teams feel about players and how no one's really safe, quote, unquote, to use Steph's words. What have players said to you and what has it meant to you to have them speak out the way they have?

[Lombo]

I saw some comments. I wasn't really trying to be on social media these days, but I saw some comments and it really means a lot. You know, we are rivals and they speak about me this that nicely. So it really means a lot to me and sure. Oh, directly. I haven't talked to a lot of people, really.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Luca. Nikki K with Spectrum News right here. So emotionally, you go from thinking you're going to spend your career with one fan base, and now you arrive in a new city. First of all, impressions of Los Angeles and its fans from afar. And what does this opportunity to have another love story with LA go?

[Lombo]

Yeah, I would say, like I said, I thought I was going to spend my whole career there because I think loyalty is a big word for me, and I was trying to stay by that. But this, for me is a fresh start. I get to play in la, the fans are amazing, and I got the ocean here, so it's a really big thing for me. But really, I'm really excited to be here. I get to play for the Lakers. Not Everybody can say that. And many, many legends pass here. Many, many championships. So that's my goal.

[Darius Butler]

Luca. Brad Townes in Dallas Morning News. So you wrote a Dear Dallas letter to fans. It was, you know, very heartfelt, and you talked a little bit about your shock. How are your feelings toward the upper levels of the organization, Nico, in particular, the decision to trade you?

[Lombo]

Well, I mean, that's their decision, so I have no comment on that. They made the decision. I don't know why, but that's their decision, so I can't do nothing about it.

[Darius Butler]

And then one of the reasons it was given was that there was concern that, you know, beyond this summer or that you. There's a chance you might not agree to the supermax extension. Did anyone on. Did you or anyone on your inner circle indicate that that might be the case?

[Lombo]

Absolutely not.

[Darius Butler]

Luca, over here.

[Pat McAfee]

Bill Plasky, LA Times. Do you feel you have something to prove? Do you feel you have something to prove? Do you think you have something to prove?

[Lombo]

Oh, okay.

[Evan]

Sorry.

[Lombo]

Yeah, Obviously, yeah, that's it. Win the championship. You don't come here for nothing else than championships. So I have everything left to prove, so. And the goal is to win the championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Luca, good to see you. Mark Medina with Athlon Sports and sportskeeda. How do you address the criticism that that's followed you on your way out.

[Gumpy]

About concerns about conditioning and durability?

[Lombo]

It's a motive. I know it's not true. I know, but it's a motive. Like I say, you know, I came here, one of the biggest clubs in history of sports, so it's a big motive for a long run here.

[Darius Butler]

I'll just add to that one, Mark. I think. I think greatness is an evolution and a process. And I think if you're striving for perfection, as we are as an organization or as a player is, you're going to have challenges to make yourself better until you don't play anymore. And so I think that's just something to keep in mind. We're getting. I would assume the question will be fourth company. When is Luka going to play? I'd rather just take that one head on. Our sports performance department is led by Dr. Leroy Sims. Luka's got trusted sports performance folks that are going to become part of our family and Dr. Sims Circle, and they're working together as we speak about a return to play plan. We have five on five scheduled tomorrow for Luca, and we're going to take it one day at a time just to make sure that the Calf injury is in a good and safe place. So I would truly say at this point, he's day to day. We're going to take it one step at a time. But if all those days go well and Luca feels good and confident, he'll be in a game soon. But we're going to partner with him and I should mention too, his amazing team, who's now part of our family, led by Lara Beth and Bill Duffy and the rest of the folks that are here today when we make decisions around superstar players and we, we partner and collaborate with them. And that'll be our process with Lara Beth and Duff, who are incredible at what they do.

[Pat McAfee]

Jared Greenberg with tnt. Rob stole my question there. I was going to ask Luca, you know, I guess more about that, just hear from you what, you know, what this process has been like. You've gone through now four times with this calf. So what have you done to get back on the court? How are you feeling and how confident are you in that this won't be a reoccurring injury?

[Lombo]

Well, for the first time, I took my time, get it to heal 100%. You know, other times I think I just wanted to go back on court playing basketball and not really be healthy 100%. So this time I just took, took my time, which was normal amount of time to get back to 100%.

[Darius Butler]

Luka David Pingalore, KTLA.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, over the last couple days I talked about your conditioning, but maybe your lack of defense.

[AJ Hawk]

What is your commitment to being a better defender?

[Lombo]

Yeah, I think this year was really, I really stepped it out, stepped it up, honestly. And he's just being more active, more vocal and, you know, I think I did a step ahead this year, but I need to do more steps ahead. So that's what I'm planning on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Rob, just obviously make a blockbuster move like this.

[AJ Hawk]

What is your balance of thinking long.

[Ty Schmidt]

Term with 25 year old and then.

[Pat McAfee]

Also just the short term, knowing that.

[AJ Hawk]

The deadline's coming up on Thursday, just.

[Pat McAfee]

Balancing the long term vision with the short term.

[Darius Butler]

We know that our roster has continued work to do to become complete. And just to be clear around the vision for our roster, we're going to build a roster that fits J.J. redick's philosophy, his basketball philosophy. That's something that we believe in, that we support, that we want to lean into. So in terms of roster decisions, JJ and I collaborate extensively around that and fitting how he wants to play. We know we have a need for a big, the market for bigs right now. Leading into the last two or three days of the trade deadline is, is very dry. There's just not a lot available. So maybe we'll be able to do some stuff around the margins. I would say in terms of a big move for that position, it's probably more realistic that that would be something that comes in the off season. But Luka, as our will be at the center of that as we build for the long term, we want to format a team that fits JJ's coaching style and, and his strengths and his needs to help us win a championship with the other people that are also on our team right now who are going to be a big part of that winning as well. But your question was about long term, so I'm speaking more to long term.

[Pat McAfee]

Luka, I know you had about 13.

[Gumpy]

Games as a teammate with JJ in Dallas and just wondered what that was.

[Pat McAfee]

Like for you, the relationship that you formed and then your thoughts about playing.

[Gumpy]

For him as a coach.

[Lombo]

Yeah, I mean, first of all, he couldn't move at all, so it wasn't. No, but it was a great relationship. You know, I really respect him. You don't see me go on podcast. I went on his podcast twice, so you know how much respect I have for him. So I'm really excited that I can play for him.

[Pat McAfee]

Rob.

[AJ Hawk]

Rob, good to see you. Along the same lines, with the, the trade deadline and all of that, the window for Luka, 25 years old, coming off of finals appearance last year. LeBron, 22nd season, 40 years old. Like, what's the urgency level to have this team in the immediate future reach championship contender status? And whether that immediate future is between now and Thursday or the off season going into next year? Just kind of what is the view in terms of the timeline to get this team to be able to contend?

[Darius Butler]

The urgency is ever present from the first day I started taking this job till I sit in the chair right now. There's always an urgency to win championships. That's what the Lakers set out to do. That's the expectations of our fans, and we're going to put in the work to constantly try to do it. At the same time, you have to be realistic. And if there's not a championship big on the market right now, I can't wave a wand and create that opportunity. We'll continue to work and look for areas that we can complete and fill out the roster, but as we saw with this trade, it takes two teams, but we'll continue to build. Luke and I spent some time yesterday up in my office Just talking about, you know, the players on our roster he's played with and kind of what he sees as sort of short term and long term needs. And I think we'll continue to have those basketball discussions and get this roster to a championship level.

[Pat McAfee]

Luka, Mike mentioned JJ Redick, your former teammate. You've got Maxi and Markief over there. Dorian Finney Smith is a player you've spoken very highly about in the past. Greg St. Gene was a coach you've worked with. How is that going to help as you, you know, take on this crazy life change, having all these familiar faces be here for that transition?

[Lombo]

I think that's a really good thing, you know, to have to come to a new place but still know some people and I think that's mentally, I think that's a really good thing and they're going to just help me, you know, the guys that were here. It'll help me like learn new stuff about la, about the team and you know, just help helpful to see friendly faces.

[Ty Schmidt]

Edwin Garcia Silver screening roll. My question is for Palinka. Rob, when you're talking about a championship caliber, big and aligning with JJ Redick, what do you think the values in that position are required in the modern NBA?

[Darius Butler]

Versatility, mobility, a vertical lob threat. I think that's a key to the spacing that Luca likes to play with. Competitive. I think, you know, those are some of the core things there. Those players are hard to find, but we're going to will accomplish the tasks before us. We'll find a way. Rob, over, over here.

[Pat McAfee]

As far as just the future and.

[James]

The moves that you're going to be.

[Pat McAfee]

Making, designing the roster, planning, how beneficial and important is it for you just to know you have Luca, you have maybe a decade that you can use as a roadmap in terms of just every decision you're looking to make.

[Darius Butler]

It's a gift. We're Talking about a 25 year old that is top three player in the universe. I can't think of a more amazing starting point to build a roster for the next decade. And I know he has the drive to win that we have here. Our fans are going to see that every night on the court. I know up here he might seem calm and casual and quiet, but we know the alter ego comes out and we'll see [e-mail] soon and I can't wait for it. Thanks everyone.

[Pat McAfee]

As they get an official photo, JJ Redick comes in to dap up his newest player for his team, Luka Doncic. Officially announced as Los Angeles Laker. That 77 jersey. Kyle Hamilton of the Baltimore Ravens put out a great tweet about it. He said, you're about to see that in every single frat house across the entire country. And that is. That's a statement of fact right there. Lakers 77 with Doncic across the back. That's gonna move. And, you know, it's hard as you listen to that, to think it all started with a cup of coffee down there in Dallas and every answer that he gave. First of all, he looks pretty thin, looks pretty fit.

[Ty Schmidt]

He does.

[Pat McAfee]

He looks pretty fit. You know, every time JJ Redick was mentioned, Luka would smile. Really? The only time that he was smiling. I don't do podcasts. I do this twice, so you tell me.

[AJ Hawk]

I like that.

[Pat McAfee]

And he talked shit to him too. He said, good move. So, I mean, the same real thing. It's almost like a perfect situation here for the Los Angeles Lakers. I appreciate the fact that Pelinka had two zippers on his jacket.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

One in the attic, one in the basement. Yeah.

[Evan]

A little too much.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Just kind of give a little sauce. Is a big moment. Biggest trade in the history of the NBA. He should be incredibly proud of himself. I don't look at it as who won, who lost the trade. I look at it as a partnership to get the deal done. Okay. I'd be looking at it that way, too, if I was Rob Pelinka. Once again, Anthony Davis is a dog. But if we start thinking about the situation that got Luka to Los Angeles at the age of 25, five out of his first six years in the NBA.

[Evan]

First team, all NBA.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Last year, fresh off at NBA Finals.

[Evan]

First team, all NBA. Last year as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay? So all these things. Now he's joining LeBron and he has 15 more years if he wants to. They talked about the sports performance team, obviously, meeting up with Luca coming out of the calf injury. There's the two other gentlemen that got straight congratulations to all the boys. Morris is a dog.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, he is.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, that's a great p. I mean, there is a lot. Knock the Caucasian on the right there, who I do not know enough about.

[Connor]

About Max Cleaver.

[Evan]

Stroke it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so if he can stroke it, you got ball dominant. You got LeBron as well. So if you got a buddy in the corner, okay, all of a sudden we got Mike Miller. You know, all of a sudden we're doing what we got to do over there in the corner, and maybe JJ Even starts pointing up there and Just sits on the side and starts draining shots. Congrats to the Lakers and congrats to us. Having chance just there. Press conference for 30 minutes. Yeah, that was fantastic. I feel like I learned a lot. You know, Luca, not a man of many words. Not too many podcasts. No, he don't like those podcasts. I don't think I knew he had that strong of an accent. Don't think I had heard him talk much. But then whenever he talked about this is the most amount of media he's ever been at in front of for a press conference. You immediately said it. D But what a market for Luca to go into, especially at the age of 25.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's the. I think that's the biggest part of this. And I think, you know, his jersey is probably in the top 10 in sales. I would assume it'll be number one for the next probably decade or so because you're going out to that huge market. Like, I mean we were in the middle of watching this still. Like I can't believe this is real. Like a 25 year old. We would assume still at the peak of his career, fresh off of finals appearances. You know, first team all NBA pretty much every year. Like to be paired up. LeBron out in LA, I mean we were talking about the NBA not being as popular as, you know, and it's.

[Pat McAfee]

That's really been declining now.

[Connor]

Now we got the biggest trade in probably sports history. But man, this is. This is incredible, man. Luca in la. Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

And the in the trade happening, you know, just few days for the Super Bowl.

[Ty Schmidt]

Smart.

[Pat McAfee]

Just the NBA saying. Not that they did this. This wasn't a plan thing. This wasn't a work. No, obviously this will not work for the NBA for the good of the association as a whole. But it is nice to be like, hey, you guys, league end in how many days? Just, just remember, you know, we got Luca and LeBron now Luca and LeBron. We got dumbasses running teams, you know, down here. I still. Wow, cannot believe that. And maybe I have it wrong. Can you FaceTime chomps, please? We didn't cold call chums, so started with a coffee in Dallas. He said, and I don't know if I knew that. I guess we probably should have. Maybe we did. Where they approached us with this thing. The people at the Dallas Mavericks once again, new ownership. Remember Mark Cuban sold a majority way and there was a casino and there's a bunch of conversation. Everything new ownership, I guess new ad, new performance staff down and new everything. Somehow they convince themselves that they are more important to the Dallas Mavericks than Luka. Somehow they convince themselves that Luka needs to be like them. They don't need to be around Luka. Now we are NFL people, so we are a big, hey, player, get in where you fit in. You're lucky to be here in the NBA. That's not how it works. Especially if the guy is the guy. Which is what Luka has been literally since he got there. So I do hope that the suits in Dallas suffer terribly from this. I don't know if that's possible with Kyrie and AD on the same team. I don't know. You know, with all the things that could potentially happen with them, like I don't know their team well enough. I don't. I assume that they're gonna do okay in this entire thing. They had AD and Kyrie on the team, but it's like think about being in that meeting when they thought they had it all. They were the smartest people on earth. Whenever they're like, we don't need this guy. He didn't even listen to us. We tell him one uncrustable, he eats two.

[Evan]

It's ridiculous.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy, we tell him he needs pass the ball more. He does. And this guy continues to play like who? Like he's Luka Donch. Okay? Like them thinking and getting to that point where they're like, we got to get him out of here. Actually, we need to start calling people. Who should we call? How about the Los Angeles Lakers? Oh yeah, let's go get, let's get a coffee with Rob Polinka and let's pitch him on getting this problem, this five time all NBA player, this leader of our franchise, this top three player on earth, this 25 year old, this guy that led our team to a NBA finals, let's get him the hell out of here. Because we got it right and he's wrong. I love everything about that. I love that they were able to get to that point, you know, mentally. And I think that is. And this could be a freezing cool take. It's cool because we're not really basketball people. But if those people are able to do that, just think about all the other dumb shit that's possible. You know, just on a day to day down there, that entire thing. Now they might have a vision that's much better than us. Once again, we don't know basketball as well, but we do know that when superstars come around every once in a while you got a, hey, let's just get into the game. Pretty important. Let's go ahead and try. And he talked about having Rob Blinken, said, we got to build a team in JJ Redick's vision. You know, what do we need? We need some vertical. We need some physical. We need some mobility. We need some this. Yes. A lob threat down corner. He's like. He started talking about all these things, and it's like, I think they understand what they have, but they were going to build around Anthony Davis, so now they got to pivot completely to a very different style of ball, very different build. And I think that's why he said it takes a lot of pieces to get into this. And they didn't even address Danny Ainge at Utah, saying that I. What? I sent Luka to the Lakers. That's what Danny Ainge came out and said, who ran the Celtics for a long time. Now he's with the Utah Jazz with Ryan Smith. That was Ryan Smith's first. First hire. Whenever he got ownership of the team, he was like, bring me Danny Ainge. This guy knows who he's talking about. And he was on the record as saying, I had no. I had no idea that it was even. I didn't know we did that in the NBA. I didn't even know that was a decision. So it feels like everybody in the NBA is seeing it the same way we are, which makes me feel kind of good about sports people, because we're just human people as opposed to sport people.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And Danny has played for the Celtics during, like, the heat of the Celtics Lakers rivalry. So you'd assume he would never, ever in a million years try and help out the Lakers. But when you guys mentioned it being kind of a work like the NBA, basically saying, hey, we need to mix this league up, it's almost so stupid that even they couldn't kind of conjure up something this absurd like moving Luca La. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What's an idea? What's an idea? What's an idea? The Mavericks don't want Luca anymore, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's fat. Yeah.

[Connor]

That's dumb.

[Evan]

Nah, that won't work.

[Pat McAfee]

No, it's too absurd because he just made it to the Finals last year. Right. So that'd be a tough.

[Evan]

One of the greatest starts to the history of a career. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Let's go.

[Evan]

Hold on.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go to Orleans.

[Evan]

But like, it is that crazy. And I think Giannis, to what you guys were saying, kind of just about the ex, like the expansion and kind of the exposure Luca gets now, Giannis mentioned, like, this is the greatest Thing of all time for kind of like European basketball players for, you know, the entire global game. He, he actually said like, I hope Nicole Jokic gets traded to the Knicks because then like another, you know, prime time player in the biggest market in the entire country. And that's what Luka with the Lakers.

[Pat McAfee]

Is joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, senior NBA insider for espn. The man who broke this trade that we are still talking about a days later and probably will for decades. Ladies and gentlemen, Shamsranya Shams. We just watched press conference. We just aired the press conference. Rob Pelinka. Always wear double zips. Always wear double zips.

[Shams Charania]

Shout out to Rob Pelinka with the jackets. He's got some swag with those jackets. I gotta say.

[Pat McAfee]

We did a little research on him. Obviously he's a Rob Lowe looking son of a bitch. Okay. Very handsome, this guy. And then he played basketball at Michigan, was Kobe's business partner.

[Shams Charania]

He was Kobe's agent, agent, partner, business partner.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So as he's talking, we're learning more. And then he's talking about the deal. And it's not about who wins, it's about a partnership to get to the finish line. It all started with a coffee in Dallas where they presented it to him. Here we are a few days later. Later. We don't know basketball as well as you, obviously, nobody does. Nobody knows inside of basketball as good as Sean's, but everybody thinks this was dumb.

[Shams Charania]

I've heard what you guys have been saying. I, I've heard, I have some thoughts.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So please explain how I'm wrong because I am looking at this as like these suits think they're more important than Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks success.

[Shams Charania]

So when I first got wind and it was probably 3, 4, 5, I mean, by the end of it, five sources before, you know, I put out the trade in about a five to six minute time span. I was as shocked as anyone. I mean everyone in the NBA, every, I mean players, coaches, other professionals. I saw Patrick Mahomes was talking about it. He was shot. Like everyone was shocked at the magnitude of this trade. But then in the moment after that, you know, you, you peel back the curtains and, and you know, you know, when you're, when you, when I've done some research around Dallas over the last few years and some of it has been reported on is just this concern about conditioning, this concern about, you know, the buy in of Luka Doncic. And right or wrong, you know, over the last five years, you know, the same gripes or Whatever have been there. Luka Doncic has still led you to a finals run. He, he has been in the top running for mvp. He has been one of the best players in the world. But for whatever reason this season, the Mavericks felt that they needed to shift their direction of this organization. And in Anthony Davis, like we're not talking about a player that, that can't play the curtains after, after the trade went, happened after the sudden shock. And I put, you know, you put back the curtains. Nico Harrison, Jason Kidd, Kyrie Irving. There's a lot of relationships with Anthony Davis. Like they view Anthony Davis very highly. They think Anthony Davis can be a difference maker, a championship difference it for the Lakers. He, his last game for the lakers, he had 40 and 20 like this guy. This is not some slouch we're talking about. Of course Luka Doncic is Luka Doncic, but Anthony Davis is a piece that they feel is better for them to win a championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so AD is 32, right? ADs 32, Lucas 25. That was talked about a couple of times there by Rob Polinka. We're talking about 25 year old here.

[Shams Charania]

31 going on 32 for AD, 25 going on 26 for Luka.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, sweet. I'm 37, going on 38. What are you?

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm 34 going on 35.

[Pat McAfee]

What about you?

[Evan]

I'm 29 going on 30.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's interesting because I was thinking 29 going on 24 because look at you, buddy.

[Gumpy]

You look younger.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe I am. Maybe I am 24. You look younger than ever. Anthony Davis, stud. We agree completely. The Lakers were going to build around him. Do you think what the part that Rob Polinka was bringing up about it took a lot of things to get here is because he had to wrap his mind on now having to rebuild a team around Luka as opposed to the original plan, which is what Anthony Davis, they're going to build around him. Right?

[Shams Charania]

Both sides, they had to wrap their, their brains around it because it's, it's a trade of such magnitude. The Lakers weren't trading Anthony Davis. They've never had a conversation to move him to shop him. And, and the fact that they got offered Luka Doncic, they had to think about it. And when you get offered that, you do it. They formally got that offer last week. You can discuss concepts all you want, but the formal offer is a totally different beast. And once they got that formal offer, I think it was only days. It was only days before this deal got complete. So, yeah, I mean, they were never thinking about moving Anthony Davis until you get presented this, this decade long franchise player for you. And yes, it does mean that the Lakers are going to move into a younger period of time. And this is, this is Luka Doncic's team.

[Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

So LeBron is gonna not, he's gonna be, because we've talked about this for a while, right? Like Anthony Davis is supposed to be his team. Like when he was with Kyrie, Kyrie was going to be the point guard. He's gonna be the one in control. But then inevitably it always ends up with LeBron bringing it down the court and the whole thing happening. Now the goal is for, oh, change the background there. You look really cool in this entire thing. Now the goal is just for it to be Lucas team and LeBron's on Lucas court, basically. Right?

[Shams Charania]

Yeah. I mean, LeBron James and Luka Doncic are going to be co stars, of course. And I do think the aspect of, think about everything that's coming out of Dallas right now, the work ethic, the conditioning, leadership, body shape, type, everything like that. Like, yeah, what do they want?

[Pat McAfee]

They want him to have an 8. That's what they wanted. They wanted him to have an eight pack. They just didn't like the way it looked.

[Shams Charania]

I, I think I, I, I said this yesterday. There, there was some friction between Luka Doncic and that team's medical performance staff over the last year or so.

[Pat McAfee]

Can't get a new medical performance staff. You can get new Luca. Can't get a new medical performance staff. Yeah, never. Can't do that. Can't do that. Because they have a vision of what it looks like.

[Connor]

Sports science.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, this is what it's supposed to look like.

[Gumpy]

I mean, Joker, Joker's absolutely shredded. How many MVPs he won a championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Could you imagine what the medical sports science company down there with the Dallas Mavericks if they saw Joker in there? I need a little more pizzazz out of my guy. We need a little bit more, a little bit more moxie, a little bit there. Okay. Sports science. Sweet, exciting. Good luck to them. The defense always gets brought up for Luka. And I think Wendy, actually after game three, I believe of the finals last year, went on Scott Van Pelt and said, you know, this is the Mavericks tunnel here and that's the Celtics tunnel down there. The winners are walking through that tunnel over there. The losers are walking through this tunnel and Luka will walk through this one every single time if he doesn't become a better defender. Basically what he said yes. Hembo sent these stats over here about his defense. Okay, this is a big knock on him, right? He's out of shape and he can't play D or doesn't choose to play defense. That's kind of the. One of the talking points. Points choms just.

[Shams Charania]

There are many players in the NBA that are very lax when it comes to the defense, especially in the regular season.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so here's a Hembo stat. And I don't know how the stats work in the NBA. In the NFL, there's some stats that get sent over to us and we go, ah, that's not a real stat, you know, because they start putting like precursors in it. It's like can't. That's not expected. Blah, blah, blah above. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, whatever. Here's this, here's from Hembo, who we respect. Luka's opponents shot 39.9% with him as primary defender in the playoffs last year. 118 of 296. The Celtics shot 23 of 66. 34.8% With Luka as the primary defender in the NBA Finals, the league shot 46.2% in the playoffs. Luka allowed the lowest percentage among nine players in the Finals to defend 40 plus field goals. Now, I assume there is some context that's added to that. If you just get blown by and that's your guide scores, maybe they're not able to do that, but it's like, I think Hembo was able to find a stat, I don't know where the hell it was that says he's not a terrible defender. So is this all bullshit, Seams? Why do they hate this guy? Why do we hate this guy? Because he has an accent?

[Shams Charania]

No, I think a lot of it is, is what, what, whatever they felt from him and from conditioning, how, how he was behaving around the team. Like all of those things played a factor where they felt like we need someone who's going to be bought in differently. Someone that's going to bring a different tone, a different culture, bring a different environment here and a player that we. Again, I do think the Mavericks are looking the next three to four years in this window to try to win a championship. The Lakers with this move are shifting more to a longer term, younger, bigger picture. Thinking around Luka Doncic, it's two different methods. These, these teams are on different timelines, time trajectories. Now we will see in due time who ends up being right and who ends up being wrong. If, if Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks win a championship or two championships over the next three, four years. Did they make the right decision? Yeah, like time will tell. This is all the Mavericks feel. Anthony Davis at the 54 is a better fit to win a championship than Luka Doncic's got it.

[Pat McAfee]

And maybe Nico will bring in Seth Curry, right? Yeah. He has a history of calling Steph that, right. In that kind of the history of his gut. Yeah, allegedly. Allegedly. I wasn't in there, you know. Shout out to Under Armour, too. Those grass cutters ones. Oh, yeah, and those Nurse Curry twos. That's right. I mean, those things you say.

[Shams Charania]

I will say it takes a lot of. It takes a lot of balls. It takes a lot of moxie to make a move like this, because I think Nico Harrison even said in his press conference, if this doesn't work out, I'll be judged. If it does work out, we're looking at this in a different lens. I'm just saying.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed, Agreed. I understand completely. In the Atlanta Falcons, they paid $150 million to Kirk Cousins and he drafted Penix at number eight overall. A lot of people said, why'd you do that if you're going to do that? Then Penix ends up playing and they're still trying to make it in the playoffs. So I assume they sleep soundly at night for the decision they make. You have to make tough decisions in these roles. I just don't like that. It feels like these people think they're.

[Shams Charania]

More important to this one thing to make. There's one thing to make, a tough decision. This is an unprecedented. This is. This is the craziest decision I think anyone has ever seen. But that, you know, crazy can be good sometimes.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed, agreed. Okay. Okay. We got to continue. We got to continue. We only have a few minutes. Botch has a question about another massive piece of this.

[Connor]

Yeah, a piece of this. You talked about it being Luka's team now in LA. Have we heard from LeBron? Have you heard from LeBron directly? Like, how does LeBron feel about AD being shipped out and then bringing in, you know, superstar, obviously a great player. Luke Gadon in to be the face of the French or one of the faces of the franchise.

[Shams Charania]

DB. I haven't spoken to LeBron James directly, but my understanding around that situation is that there's been no indication that LeBron James doesn't want to be in Los Angeles. And, you know, I think he's. He's moving forward here with Luka Doncic on this team and I do think the Lakers having him around and, and, and having him be the co star for Luka Doncic right now and LeBron James at the end. Luka Doncic is 25, LeBron James is 40 years old. This should be Luka Doncic this team. If this was LeBron James's team at the age of 40 years old and LeBron James was the 1 option, the 1A to Luka Doncic, 1B there would be a problem. This is Luka Donches team from a franchise perspective over the next 10 years. But LeBron James is still LeBron James. I do think the mentorship component, the aspect of work ethic, how he leads, how you see how he handles his body, I do think that those are all traits people in la, people around the situation are looking at as something that can be learned.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course Rob Blank is at sports performance team ready to work alongside Luka and excited to get him to 5 on 5 to tomorrow to see how the cafe is whether he's going to play. There's that five on five.

[Shams Charania]

I didn't know that was, I can say this. There is optimism that Luka Doncic will be making his Lakers debut as soon as Saturday at home against your Indiana Pacers.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a hot team, Luca. Oh, maybe wait one, maybe wait one or two. Who they play the Pacers again the next game?

[Shams Charania]

I don't believe so. I think they play Saturday and then Monday.

[Connor]

I like how Lou goes straight to five on five. He doesn't do the two on two.

[Pat McAfee]

One, three on two, four Pelicans decision.

[AJ Hawk]

That's Pelican decision.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Saturday and then. And then Monday is the Utah Jazz.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Play against Ryan Smith's team which leads us to this. Actually, Connor's got a question for you.

[Evan]

Yeah, Sean. It was reported that Danny Ainge had no idea that this was the trade that he was involved in because obviously they were the third team in the Lakers mavs blockbuster. How is that possible? And with 30 minutes to go before the trade was finalized, did Danny Ains try and back out of it?

[Shams Charania]

I have no knowledge of Danny Ains trying to back out of it. But I will say if you can end up with Jalen Hufino and two draft assets, I think you have to make the best decision for your organization. The Utah Jazz being in it or not being in it, I don't think was going to impact this deal. The Lakers could have found another team if they, if they needed to, to, to do this deal. There would have been many other.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

There have been at least a handful of teams that would have helped them with this acquisition.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, last question here. Sean's. Before we have a hard out on this big time NBA press conference Tuesday.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How about us real journalists. I know had a press conference out there. Highest concurrence we've ever had on TikTok.

[Ty Schmidt]

Crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

Highest concurrence. We need a press conference every day. Sean's figure out how to make this type of thing happen. I know the NBA is happy. Almost feels like it's a work.

[Shams Charania]

Almost NBA trade deadline. Pat up to something season.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. Everybody seemingly. All right, we have one minute. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Shams Odds came out this morning that said, you know, Durant is like a +375 favorite to be traded to the Washington Wizards potentially. Is that just, you know, people going crazy right now because no one expected a guy like Luca to get traded. Is there any truth to that, or is that largely.

[Shams Charania]

I. I have heard multiple random BS reports. Not reports, rumors in. In the NBA space over the last couple days, but I think a lot of it does stem from this fact. The fact. The fact of this matter of Luka Doncic being traded in the middle of the night.

[Gumpy]

He's.

[Shams Charania]

He was considered untouchable, untradable. He was supposed to have a statue outside of the Mavs Arena. Mark Cuban at one point said he was going to get a divorce before they ever traded Luka Doncic. Like, all those factors made this trade so improbable that I think everyone in the NBA is like, shoot, if Luka dodges, I think Aunt Edwards just says that Luka Dodges can get traded. Anyone can get traded. And yeah, I do think we'll probably hear a lot of different rumors and reports, but we'll. We'll deliver pms, the facts when. When they happen.

[Pat McAfee]

What is your Twitter account that. Sean?

[Shams Charania]

I. I got to go. I got to go, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Go get it. Sh. Good luck.

[Connor]

KD to the Heat.

[Pat McAfee]

Good luck. Okay, that's not happening. I got to go. I got to go. I got to go. Oh, my God. I got. I got to tweet faster than everybody else. It's part of the business here, boys. My words per minute need to be higher than all these olds that are in this business alongside of me. Something big's happened that was pretty big to go.

[Evan]

That's Bluetooth Jimmy right there.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay? Now, he has been. This has been a pretty good little run here for Shams, the Jimmy Butler stuff. He had Pat Riley and Jimmy Butler's agent coming out, discrediting. Yeah, he's at this new place. Not everybody's happy he's there. Not everybody's happy he's in the position that he's in. Not everybody's happy just to give up the relationships that they have. Not everybody's just feeding. You know, he had to, like, earn it. So he comes out with this Jimmy Butler news, and all of a sudden, Jimmy Butler's agent publicly killing him, Pat Riley comes out, publicly kills him, and Seams just has to sit in the pocket, eat an oatmeal with a fork.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. That's what he had to do all day. And then, bang. Big heavy kicked out a walkthrough. And then boom. The biggest trade in the history of the NBA on a Saturday night at midnight. Go on, Seams. Go on. That's a Seams dunk. That was a good reference. Whoever tweeted that I should go back and find out who it was, because that's been there his whole time. The big game is almost here, and it's your last chance to get in on the action. Don't miss out on the final football game of the season with Prizepix, the best place to cash in on the big game. The app is really simple to use. Pick two or more players across any sport, pick more or less on their projection, and you can win up to a thousand times your money. Join prizepix, America's number one daily fantasy sports app, available to play in more than 40 states, including California and Texas. Join now because Prizepix is giving away a free pick for the big game, where a quarterback will only need to throw one yard to win. Prizepix, the best place to cash in on the big game. Download the prizepix app today and use code tpms. That's code tpms on prizepix and get $50 instantly when you play. $5. That's codetpms on prizepix to get $50 instantly when you play. $5. Prizepix, America's 1 daily fantasy sports app. Win or lose, you'll get $50 for just playing. Guaranteed Prizepix run. Your game must be present in certain states. Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details. Taxact knows you probably don't need help filing taxes, but if you get stuck, we have live experts you can talk to.

[Gumpy]

And who knows, you could hit it.

[Pat McAfee]

Off and become long term tax. Staying up late at night talking about deductions, refunds, personal exemptions. Heck, you could even fall in love and create a little dependent of your own one day. Or they can just answer your filing questions.

[Gumpy]

Tax act.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get them over with. Football. It's wonderful. The first hour we did basketball. Don't look now we got some depth. Don't look now we do the sports. Don't look now. It's super bowl week. Okay? And tomorrow we'll be live from the convention center down there in New Orleans at Radio Row alongside everybody else is going to be packed in there. Always a fun time cannot wait for the guests that show up. We have no idea who a lot of them are going to be. Obviously this is a time for every single partner of the NFL to get all this shit in, you know. So basically any commercial you've seen throughout the year, any company that has paid any amount of money to the NFL, they will have a station or a setup at Radio Rail. They will also utilize money to pay people to come represent their brands and walk around station to station. It's a big convention. And in there you'll see stars, superstars.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You'll see insufferability. Sure. Sure. You will see a mad house. Yeah. And we will see a bunch of media people that have certainly talked about us publicly and privately that we definitely know about. And it's a good time. Just kind of look at them and go, I know. Hey, goofball, I know you.

[Evan]

I see you.

[Pat McAfee]

I heard you. You do a lot of this and you suck at what? You suck at this and you know it. And that's all right. Have a good day. And then we just keep it moving. Radio Road is the greatest time we have all year.

[AJ Hawk]

Great time.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. I have a camera that I get to control that just kind of go ahead and shoot that thing out to the crowd. Who is that? Holy shit. That's Joe Montana. What? That's Joe Montana.

[Ty Schmidt]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Eyes on the other side of the room. I got Joe Montana, thin legs. Nobody understands how he was able to be that great. How did he grow up in western Pennsylvania with all those hills with those legs? Didn't matter. Joe Montana didn't need legs. All Joe Montana needed was that toughness, that pisan ability and he the competitive drive throw the ball. And willing to compete for his contract against Steve Young.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what Radio Row is. We can't wait to get down there now. Toxic tables here at Boss Connor at Ty Schmidt. I know you guys are handing out dinners to people down there.

[AJ Hawk]

Really?

[Pat McAfee]

In New Orleans. It's very nice if you the toxic table to give Back to society to give, back to the world. What are you looking forward to most down there in New Orleans? And is it just the game kicking off so we can finally find out who's the goddamn world champion this year?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. You know, the more and more we do this. We were actually talking this morning. It's crazy to think this is like the fifth radio row that we've done. We've come quite a long way since that first year. We were basically inside a shoe box in Miami.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like a tiny, tiny.

[AJ Hawk]

Punch you in the face.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, he did punch me in the face. He elbowed me in the back of the head incredibly hard. We, you know, sleeping dogs will lie on that one. That's. That's buried and done with. We're not worried about that anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

I hope to see Drew Brees this year.

[Ty Schmidt]

Me too. That's what happened, actually.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I didn't see him last time. Yeah, he was out of Periph. I'm in conversation, Pat.

[Ty Schmidt]

Need you, Pat. I get you, Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

And then I just. I exit screen.

[Ty Schmidt]

We were out of there.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm out. It didn't even. It looked like I. Big time to a breeze. I can promise. I know. I did not hear Drew Brees. I did not know Drew Brees was there, but I don't think we've talked to Drew Brees since then. Would be nice to see him.

[Ty Schmidt]

It would be.

[Pat McAfee]

And let him know, hey, listen, I didn't hear you or see. I'm in the middle of a thousand things. I'm so sorry. We love you, Purdue. Boiler up.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly right.

[Pat McAfee]

One for me. Five, six, seven. Again, again, again. Win again, win again. Yeah, we would like to do that.

[Ty Schmidt]

The whole deal. We want to do. Do it with him, obviously, but you mentioned it. I think I want to say either like last week on Thursday, or maybe it was Monday. Everything's kind of running together. You get to this point, it gets tough. Just basically repeating the same thing about the game every single day, every single day. Finding like one or two new nuggets and then trying to do like a two and a half hour show on the two new things that you have. Because it always. It comes back to the same thing every single time. Hey, Chiefs, you know, they're, They're. They're going for immortality. Can the Eagles do it? Maybe. Sirianni is not a big dumb dipshit. Jalen. Jalen. Hurts is starting to come on. So it's. It's kind of the same thing. But I think the game itself is going to be awesome. And then obviously seeing old friends, you know, like McQuaid down there and. And different things.

[Pat McAfee]

And Gabe Barenzi.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Morenci. Exactly. So there's like the. The couple stalwarts that you don't really see all year that you'll see at radio Row. I'm very excited for that as well.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm pumped to get down there. Nine year NFL vet Gary State ball.

[Connor]

Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

Another radio road gets a little panic or packed. I'm sorry. And frantic I shall say. But it is nice to see old teammates come walking through. You know, a lot of business is done in there. We try to avoid people in there.

[Connor]

It's good catch up with a lot of people. You know, obviously you're gonna run into your. Your goofball here and there, but it'll be a good time, a good place, great food down there to know you. So looking forward to that. And culmination of another great season.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it is a celebration.

[Connor]

Celebration. Obviously we love football and then it's the game we got to enjoy because we're staring down. Staring down another off season.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Wow, wow. Lucas. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

We got Luke not to a little.

[Evan]

Bit more of that.

[Connor]

Be excited for that for we got the late shows.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right.

[Connor]

You know, you're right.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right.

[Evan]

Celtics final.

[Pat McAfee]

Lucas, huh. So many times just. And then just like the slowest step back.

[Connor]

I mean we might get a Mavericks Laker. His matchup in the playoffs.

[Pat McAfee]

I. I don't know if the Mavericks are making playoffs. Tony is now live from an attic. I. I think they're dumb and I'm okay burning bridges over in that world and just saying what I'm saying.

[Connor]

I don't think you own an island there.

[Evan]

Bruce was just saying he likes the Maverick squad now actually in the bathroom.

[Pat McAfee]

Super Bruce of him. I mean that is very Bruce of him. I just say long, long term. Lakers obviously win with. With Luca but this year their roster especially they just made another trade.

[James]

That's why Sean hung up is pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Kyrie and A.D. i think great team. Philadelphia 76ers Caleb Martin.

[Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

To the Dallas Mavericks sources tell espn. All right, so the Mavs making moves. You know, they're trying to go all in this year.

[Gumpy]

We heard from Kyrie.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you going to hear from Kyrie though? Never. I don't think I believe in Kyrie.

[Gumpy]

So do I. But he was very good friends with Luca. Like I'm pretty sure he's not that happy about this.

[Pat McAfee]

And didn't I see him with Kai when he faked the call from the Lakers? Yeah. Felt like it was method act in real life.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

What if Kyrie says, get me out of here. Send me to the Lakers?

[Evan]

Him and ADR pals, too.

[Connor]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. There. Yeah. But what if Kyrie says this place is. I mean, what are we doing?

[Ty Schmidt]

They don't care about anybody.

[Pat McAfee]

They're.

[Evan]

They're kind of handing over the keys. Kyrie a little bit, though. Okay. This. This is you now. Now it's you and AD 1000% will.

[Pat McAfee]

Be fun to watch. I love watching Kyrie ball. Obviously, what he can do with a basketball is so much fun, even if you don't know basketball. Yeah. This guy's different right here. Artists and everything that went hap. That happened. It's like this guy's a dog too. This guy will say, so what? Right in the face of people. I love that type of. Anyway. I love that type of. But you got to be who you can afford to be. Yeah. And the reason why he was able to do that is because when he has that ball, it is unbelievable. Okay, Join us now as we pivot to some football on this big time NBA Tuesday is a Manning in an attic in Ohio. He's a college football national champion, super bowl champion. Rod a cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Law. AJ I know you're not a big basketball guy. Your thoughts on Lucas Presser in his situation.

[James]

I love Luca's disdain for the media. I would say, like, he.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[James]

He speaks to him, but he's like, why am I here? I don't want to do this. I want to do something else. Play some basketball. But going back to this whole situation, the presser was. Was fine. Is this the decision of just one dude on Dallas, this Nico guy, the gm? Because it sounds like he had to keep everyone else involved. But like, obviously this guy, whatever is going on behind the scenes day to day, he does not love.

[Pat McAfee]

We know that. So Lucas said that they're firing all the people I like in this building, basically. He has been on the record of saying that in the past, but I think it's this Nico guy. And then his sports performance team down in Dallas doesn't like the way this thing a little bit too milky. Right. Don't we? It's like 2% looks weird. We need skim. Yeah. Don't we think about all the greats in the past, what they look like? And somebody was like, well, what about Joker? Kind of similar area. You know, he's the best in the game.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's from Serbia, not Slovenia.

[Evan]

Yeah, he's seven feet.

[Pat McAfee]

Similar area. They're kind of the same. Don't we think he likes horses, though? But don't they kind of. Aren't they kind of doing the. No.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's seven feet tall. Luke is not. He's fat.

[Evan]

Have you seen.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but he's 6 7, though. Like, we keep saying, he's 270. What is a 6 foot?

[Ty Schmidt]

Are we sure he's not going to shrink? He's gaining weight like you wouldn't believe.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but he looks like he's in the best shape we've seen him. And actually both in a hoodie, traveling yesterday, which is hard to look like you're in shape with a hoodie on that's going to make you look fat no matter what. And then he's sitting down with a tight gray thing on.

[Ty Schmidt]

He looks great.

[Pat McAfee]

And he looked, like, so fit. And then even his legs look like it's like. Yeah, but he's in good shape now. But he's 25.

[Ty Schmidt]

He likes to eat. He's gonna get fat. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But Joker looks a little bigger, and he's doing okay. But once again, he's not from Slovenia.

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Evan]

Joker's brothers.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So, yeah, I think it was a couple people who think they're more important, have bigger brain than anybody, which is why I hate it so bad. That's why I hate. That's why I've gotten mad about something that I would never care less about, because this is once again, people being put in positions of power and then just thinking that they're smarter than, like, everybody. And maybe they are. Maybe they are. But I know you can replace those sports science people pretty quickly. Just scroll through Instagram a couple times. You can find somebody. Okay, you find somebody. I don't know if you could just. I mean, maybe you can.

[James]

Maybe one Luca. There is one Luca. No question about it. That's what. That's what is very surprising. Let's see if. I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Does.

[James]

Does Luca's game change? Let's say, does he go to the Lakers and all of a sudden the dude is like 15. He puts on 15 pounds of muscle. Like, do we see something like that? Like, what's going to happen?

[Pat McAfee]

I think. Yeah, I think there's a chance. I think he's going to be.

[James]

Should just as a. Just to. Just to stick it to Dallas. He should. He should gain 35 pounds of solid muscle and go out there just completely jacked and just 82 games everybody 82 games.

[Pat McAfee]

Smack the wood. I mean he said it's motive. It is motive. This is one biggest clubs in world sport. So it is motive. So he's got a lot of motives, you know. And thank you to Dallas for doing that because now we're going to get it even better. Luka, I think which was Luca good before? I don't remember. Yeah, he was very good. He was like best, best in the league.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, let's go to football, shall we? Big night last night. Not only with the super bowl media and Roger Goodell press conference but on Cooper Cup's Twitter account where he makes an official announcement telling him that the Rams less need. And Sean McVay just said we're going to try to trade your ass out of here as quick as possible. Okay? This is just how this business is. We don't love it. He was one of the first picks that Sean McVay era had in Cooper Cup. I believe he was the second pick that Sean McVay had whenever he started there. He's a triple crown winner. I think it's even four if you add yards after catch or something. Yards after something other. He had like the highest four stats a wide receiver could possibly had. He won a Super bowl championship. Him and Matthew Stafford's relationship very notable and massive. Puka Nakua came in and had a phenomenal run while Cooper cup was out. Now they're looking to get younger, I assume at a quarter wide receiver position. Maybe looking to get cheaper. And Cooper cup now is seemingly available for any team that's willing to make the right offer to the Los Angeles Rams. AJ Your thoughts? And also when this goes through, do you agree with the sentiment that we had in the office that there's a chance that Cooper cup goes for like a washing machine like Ed Monix did in semi pro. And I think there's gonna be a lot of teams that are gonna go, you could have got Cooper Cup 4 and it's gonna be like 5th rounder or like 4th rounder. Cause that's what it sounded like in the announcement that he made. A.J.

[James]

Yeah, it didn't. People are trying to claim that he's. Cooper is not requesting a trade.

[Pat McAfee]

Correct.

[James]

They came to him and said we're shopping you, we're gonna work with you. Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So the first sentence, you know, if you don't read it a couple of times or have a high reading level, you're going to think that he asked to be traded. But instead you read that first sentence I was informed that the team, them, not me, will be seeking a trade immediately and be working with me and my family to find the right place to continue to compete for championships. I don't agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in la. So he did not say this at all. This is them saying to Cooper Cup. Hey, what's up? What are you doing? Oh, hanging out with family. Just having a pretty good little Monday here. We're trading you. Okay. As soon as possible.

[Evan]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, we're trying like today. If something came through, we would. We'd move you. Love you, though. All right, Have a good look. That's.

[James]

Hey, what do you, what do you make of that? The, the last paragraph, 2024, began with one of the best training camps of my career. What's he trying to say there? Like, hey, I still have plenty left in the tank. Is that what he's doing?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. People are saying he's diminished after the injuries that he's had. And, you know, there's even. I saw people call him fragile and all this type of stuff. Like he's not the guy he once was. He's not going to be able to play once again. There's stats from Himbo that are like, when he's targeted, he catches the ball, his drop rates lower than anybody on third downs, he's still doing work and all that stuff debuts your thoughts on a current Cooper cup and what type of situation would be best for a Cooper Cup?

[Connor]

Yeah, I heard some of the stats and stats are hard to kind of paint a real picture with a wide receiver that's so, so dependent on, you know, protection, quarterback targets, all that other thing. And Cooper, not Cooper Puka became obviously the clear, clear cut, number one guy who that passing game was built off of. But Cooper, watching the film, Cooper cup still gets open. He still runs good routes. Health has been a concern, I guess, throughout the duration of his career. He did have the peak year. He won a triple crown, had the amazing run during the Super Bowl. I think he's still a really, really good wide receiver. He's a wide receiver, I think has to go into the right system and he's one of those guys that he's going to be open like at the right time, but you got to just hit him. He's not like a guy that you just put out an X and you say, hey, go win one on one. You know, all game long, every third down you got to put him in good situations. But he understand coverages he understands spacing. He'll make tough catches. He's a good, good player, I think, especially for if you're trying to bring a, a quarterback, a talented young quarterback along, I think he'll be a great veteran presence in that locker room.

[Pat McAfee]

So like a Shanahan, Kevin O'Connell, one of those types of.

[Connor]

Yeah, any good play caller that can put him in the right situation. But he, he still, I think, has a lot of good football left on him. Him talking about his health, you know, that's on the field. How productive and how healthy can you be? Down in, down out. And the right team, I think that thinks they're a couple pieces away. I think to take a chance on.

[Pat McAfee]

Them sounds very motivated.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Cooper Cup. And you know, that doesn't necessarily save you from getting injured. Wide receiver, obviously, a lot of running, a lot of miles. That is just what the position is.

[Connor]

He blocked his ass off too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And he buys in too everybody. I don't hear a single thing that's ever been negative about a wide receiver. One like Cooper Cup. Never been negative, never been a diva, seemingly. I think there's gonna be a lot of suitors for.

[Evan]

Yeah, absolutely. As a Patriots fan, I mean, that's one of the guys you kind of zero in on immediately. You know, the Miles Garrett conversation, of course, was just happening, so everyone's kind of looking at him. But Cooper cup, you know, when he does end up going for a third round, fourth round pick, like that is going to be one of those deals where if he gets in the right place and everything you've heard about him too. Like Stafford talks about when they go into the film room together at five in the morning and they're watching film. And the way he sees the game. Like I go back to that Bucs Rams playoff game in Tampa where he saw a blitz and he just took off and Stafford hit him downfield and they won on a last second field goal. And that only happens because he knows defenses inside and out. Like a guy like that is kind of rare. Of course, obviously he's not playing outside like a T. Higgins or any of the other guys that are getting that top, top money. But if you know what the defense is doing that's so valuable, think about this.

[Pat McAfee]

A.J. he goes to the Chargers. Him, lad, Monk. No.

[Evan]

Unfair. Unfair. No. Veto that.

[Pat McAfee]

That.

[Evan]

That's a vetoable offense. You cannot do that. You can't have two cool, smart white guys playing slot receiver.

[Pat McAfee]

Why not?

[Evan]

It's not allowed. You can't do that. It's not allowed in the league anymore. They said after the Patriots did it with Amendola and Edelman, they said, no, no, no. Sorry, guys, this isn't happening anymore. We're vetoing any type of situation where this could possibly happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Three quarterbacks on the field at the same time.

[Evan]

That's what I heard. Look, that's not. I think Goodell said at his press conference yesterday. I don't think. That's not like, from me.

[Pat McAfee]

Goodell did speak at his annual press conference yesterday. We'll have more about that later in the hour. Travis Kelsey and the Chief spoke as well. So did the Philadelphia Eagles. I'll tell you what, I like the group. Yeah, I like the group that's representing the Super Bowl. Representing us all year long on Mondays, normally. Has been bouncing around here now in the playoffs because things have gotten a little bit crazy. A man who is the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, greatest general manager as well. He's currently the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heel football team. Ladies and gentlemen, on May 6, be officially an author. Boom. Published the Art of Winning by Bill Belichick, the forward who wrote it. Oh, the greatest player of all time, Tom Brady.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Lessons from my life in football. Remember, he's been in ball forever. There was a photo that popped up whenever he went to North Carolina of him as a kid in the North Carolina stadium, obviously, at the Navy. And then you talk about going through the coaching ranks, starting with the Giants and then getting an opportunity forever. That's all he did.

[Ty Schmidt]

Ball, ball, ball.

[Pat McAfee]

And the other thing he did, fucking win. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, I assume a guy that's going to win for the Tar Heels as their head coach, Bill Belichick.

[Evan]

Yeah, Bill.

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, coach?

[Gumpy]

Good, Pat. A.J. how you guys doing? Crew, how we doing?

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Bill.

[Evan]

Hey, Bill.

[Pat McAfee]

Super bowl week. Super Bowl. It's a great week. Hell, yeah, it's a great week. Hey. Okay, so I know that you wrote this, didn't have a ghostwriter. Right. Is that accurate? I assume you're not gonna have somebody else, or did somebody else write this for you?

[Gumpy]

Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Gumpy]

No, it's my stuff. My story is my life in football.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So first of all, respect and appreciate you doing that. Okay. 295 pages here at the end for the index. How long have you been writing this book? And has this been a culmination of thoughts that you've gathered throughout the years, or did you sit down with a mission to piece this together? And obviously, we love the play on the Art of war, the Art of Winning. Should we call you Shinzu Belichick going forward?

[Gumpy]

No, I don't think that's necessary.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Gumpy]

No, it's just my story, Pat. Yeah, I've made notes through the years. This is something that I had thought about doing, you know, three or four years ago, but just kind of kept some notes and, you know, had the time to do it this year. So I decided to try to put it together and I'm glad it came together. So I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of great players, coaches and people in and out of football. And so just some of the lessons that I've learned.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, I'm sure this is going to be a New York Times bestseller, so congratulations on that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Comes out May 6th. I assume you can pre order it now, wherever you buy books. And what Tom Brady says in the quote here is, coach Belichick brought out the best in me. His book will do the same for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Love that.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, that's a good message. I won't be my best. And then at the top here, not you, your publisher wrote up a little thing. It says, the Art of Winning. Lessons from a Life in Football by Bill Belichick. Whizzing winning isn't a science. Neither is whizzing. Winning isn't a science. It's an art. And it can be learned. I can't wait to learn it. Hey, we appreciate you putting this out, Bill. Legitimately making the world better. Okay, so it is currently super bowl week. You are currently head coach for a college football team. Have you thought about how different your live is now? Verse what it's been whenever you were running and going to all those Super Bowls? Have you thought about what your mental state would be on a Tuesday of super bowl week as opposed to a head coach who's recruiting the Class of 2026 at North Carolina right now? Do you do any of that? And what would a Tuesday look like for you if your team was in the Super Bowl?

[Gumpy]

If my team was in the Super Bowl, Tuesday would look like media day. It'd be a big game plan day for the coaches to prepare for the practices on Wednesday and Thursday, which are the two big practices, and then just kind of getting everything organized down there in. In the new city, you know, in the super bowl city, there's always things that come up with travel, families, other requests and so forth that you just have to manage and work through. But it's a great time. It's. It's a great week, only better. Feeling is, is after you win, but to get that far, to win the AFC or NFC championships, a huge accomplishment. And it's a great, honestly, it's a great honor to play in the super bowl. So you just embrace it. But yeah, I think back, I think about some of the things that have happened during those weeks and all, and so it's definitely a lot of fond memories.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you get nervous? Did you ever get anxiety?

[Gumpy]

No more than any other game. I mean, I get anxiety for every game and think every game is, you know, is a huge challenge. And you always are a little bit uneasy going into the game of how it's going to go, of course, but, you know, super bowl is similar. But you do what you can do and you make sure that you're ready to go. And as a head coach, you try to help your team perform the best that it can and ultimately it's up to the players. But as a coach, we have to put players in good position so they can perform well in a game. And that's, you know, that's what I tried to do.

[Pat McAfee]

That's awesome. You played in the super bowl so much, and coaching the super bowl so much, it's just like, yeah, yeah. Not different than any other game. I mean, we're trying to win every game like it's a Super Bowl. So that's Nick Saban. I don't know if I told you this or not. Nick Saban was getting calls from coaches that were going through his college football football playoff, you know, old coaches of his, and they were like, all right, what should we do for this one? You know, and he was like, if there was a better way to prepare for the games, let's start doing that at the beginning of the season. Like, what do we, let's not wait until the playoffs to start doing anything different. Let's, let's make sure we're doing everything for the entirety of the year and then obviously tighten in on certain things that makes your team great, that you know about your team from the entirety of the season. That's. Obviously, you two greats are in those massive moments more than everybody else. I love that you're in that position. Go ahead, AJ Coach, how big of.

[James]

A deal is the extended halftime that you get at the Super Bowl? I know. I think you guys are one of the first teams that worked on it to where you actually, like practice that extended halftime. Because most people don't know. I believe Regular season is 12 minute halftime. Very quick in the, what I assume you know, what the Super Bowl Halftime is and how much did that actually you think help your team?

[Gumpy]

Yeah, the super bowl halftime, they give you a time on it, call it 33, 34, 36 minutes, whatever they decide to make it trip. And then you can usually count on a couple of minutes longer than that. So it's, let's call it three times as long as a normal halftime. AJ and you know, that's a lot of time for the coaches and it's a lot of time for the, you know, the team. And you want to make sure that, you know, that you get use that time as productively as possible for the players. I think there's definitely a re warm up period. And so, you know, we allowed about five minutes before we came out to, to stretch in the locker room and make, ride the stationary bike, things like that. And then, you know, try to come out on the field and get a quick, you know, re warm up. But if you look back through the Super Bowls, you can see many games that had a distinct first half, second half difference. And I think that's part of the super bowl game is it's harder. You can't get any momentum in that game if you score or have a turnover with the lengthy timeouts and all that after those plays, there's so many resets in the game that you just have to keep resetting and resetting. The momentum doesn't really carry over and certainly that's true at halftime. So we tried to plan the halftime out into five minute blocks over a 30 minute time frame where we talked about what our opponents were doing and then talked about what we were going to do and then talked about what our opponents were doing in other situations like third down, a red area and so forth, and then talked about what we were going to do and then, you know, by that time we were ready to go back out. But yeah, we did practice it in Super Bowl 49 in Arizona. Actually took the team out on the field. We did a move the field, one move, that move the field period for the offense and the defense, about 15 plays each. And then we went back into the locker room for 35 minutes and just so the players could get the feeling of the timing. We had a lot of players that were hadn't played in that type of game before and a few that had, but a lot that hadn't. And I just thought that that was a good way for them to actually feel what that lengthy halftime was and how they could and how they could prepare and make the best use of the time. And there was a Few guys after the game that came and said, you know, that was. That was really helpful because we never had a, you know, a long halftime like that in the NFL, but in college, those halftimes are pretty long, you know, with the marching band and we go out there and dot the I and all that, and it just lasts a little bit longer.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Bill, I mean, as you're laying this out, it's like, yeah, of course you want to do that. That sounds like so smart, but you got to be probably the only one that, you know all these things that I assume you think are just like, yeah, 35 minutes. We're gonna have these guys at least experience it one time before they got to do it on the biggest stage. It's like all you just.

[Connor]

You guys didn't do that. You're super.

[Gumpy]

Well, I didn't. We didn't do it every year. So we played in 14, and then in 16, we were two years later, so I didn't feel like we needed to do it. We played in 17 against the Eagles, didn't do it 18 a year later against the Rams. So it was that 14 year that I thought was really kind of the one that, because I had experienced it, that I thought there were enough players on our team that could. Could just benefit from that, that game. And, you know, Friday's practice isn't, you know, a big, heavy lifting day anyway. It's really more of a mental day and it's a timing day, and I just felt like we had the extra time to do that. So we did it in Arizona.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, it's genius. And what is that quote? I don't know. Lombo pulls quotes from everything, so who knows what generation this quote was. But taking care of the non obvious, you know, is like how greatness gets done. It's like the details, a way to describe the details. It's like that's something you would assume a team that has not been to the super bowl would handle that, but that's not normal. And nothing is that you do, Bill. That is why you're the greatest of all time. Now, with that being said, there is certainly a dynastic run happening currently. Connor has a question for you.

[Evan]

Yeah, Coach. One of the years, you know, when the Patriots played the Giants, of course it was the undefeated year. And I believe some players have come out and said, you know, that pressure of going undefeated when you were very close, especially in that Super, super bowl, it almost got to some guys. Do you think that'll happen at all with the Chiefs going for the first ever three peat. Do you think there is a little added pressure in the back of some of their minds? Because it is something that has never been done. Like the Patriots during that David Tyree nightmare catch.

[Gumpy]

Honestly, I don't think that Kansas City will focus too much on it. Everybody else outside does. I'm sure that they have thought about it. I'm not saying that. But in the end, they seem to be a very focused team. Andy, his three experienced coordinators, you know, Nagy Spags and Dave Taub and their team, the leadership on their team with guys like Kelsey and Mahomes and you know, all the players that they have there that have been through this before, I think they really know that the last two games, the last two super bowl wins don't really mean anything against the Eagles. They're going to have to go out there and play their very best game of the year to beat Philadelphia. And Philadelphia will know the same thing about Kansas City. They got to go play their very best game of the year. And I think that's what they're focused on. Not the three peat or whatever, but, you know, you brought it up. I think it's a great opportunity for the Eagles to have, you know, one of the greatest, you know, upsets like the Giants had against us, you know, to stop the three peat by Kansas City and you know, in NFL history. So. So this is going to be a historical game, you know, one way or another. It's a great, great opportunity for both teams. Both teams are really good. It's going to be. It should be a heck of a game.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of the game, you know, it's like the Eagles have been able to pound the rock and bully people. That's what they've. And they've been explosive. The most explosive team in football. And then the Chiefs, complete opposite. They've just been winning and winning and winning. That's what the Chiefs do. They just win games. Somehow whenever they need it, they're going to get it. Travis probably going to be a big part of it, especially if it's a big moment alongside Patrick. But everybody contributes. Even Samaji P. Ryan gets the game winner and he obviously just joined their team this year. Backup kickers are hitting game winners when they'd miss five straight kicks for other teams, it's like the Chiefs just do whatever they need to do to win. On that note, AP tone is a question for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Coach. Since Patrick Mahomes in this run has started, he is 17 and 3 in the playoffs. He lost to the Bucks in the super bowl, the Bengals in the AFC title game and then the New England Patriots, I believe in his first year in the AFC title game, obviously coached by you. What is it about the Chiefs that they win all these close games and if you were preparing against them in this super bowl, what, what would you be your message to your team on how to finally take them down again?

[Gumpy]

Well, no, I think you said it exactly right. What I would say to anybody who plays the Chiefs in Philadelphia this week is you've got to play your best football in the fourth quarter. I mean the Chiefs have been so good in one score games. In close games they find a way to win. Whether it's you know, blocking a kick against Denver that would have been the game winning field goal, blocking a kick at the end of the, the Houston game that would have made it a one score game or whether it's making stop on defense or making the last drive field goal or last drive touchdown like they did in the super bowl last year, they just, they just make the plays they need to make to win. And you better play your best football in the fourth quarter because they can, they're a well balanced team and they can do it in all three phases. And you know, Pat, you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but look at the return game the last couple weeks.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Gumpy]

Start off the Texans game with a 70 yard kickoff return and hit a 50 yard punt return against Buffalo from a guy that nobody's ever heard of. I mean he was on the, you know, was on injury reserve last year and on the practice squad all year this year. And then you know, he comes out and you know, has two huge plays in the playoff games. And I think that also points to the playoff games in the super bowl are won by the team that plays the best. It isn't how many Pro Bowls you've made or what your salary is or where you were drafted or anything else. It's how you play in that game. And that'll be the big thing in this one is everybody who plays, whether it's the, the Eagles young secondary or you know, Joe Tunney playing left tackle or rookie returner for the Chiefs. Anybody can be, anybody can be a hero or a star in this game. Look at Tom Brady, look at Malcolm Butler. You don't have to be a 10 year old pro veteran. You can be a player on the team who has a role in the game and make the, make the play. That makes a difference for your team and your franchise.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, you go back to Miami when the Colts played the Saints. You remember that? Oh yeah, ambush onside kicks on second half. Thomas Morsted thing just completely flips the entire game. It was a massive moment that comes out of nowhere. And Thomas Morstead's a rookie punter for them doing kickoffs and all of a sudden he's signing pictures of that forever. That's the Super Bowl. That's the moment. Who's going to take advantage of it? Well, hopefully not stripes. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, coach, you dealt with this a lot during your dynastic run where it was, you know, fans in the media bitching constantly, hey, every call goes the Patriots way no matter what. You know, the officials are on their side. And now we're getting that with the Chiefs. And I think for the most part players and coaches have kind of just stayed away from it. But even last night Travis Kelsey basically said to the media like, hey, why are you guys continually running with this referee story as well? Is there any way you dealt with that while you were dealing with it or is it one of those things where you kind of just have to ignore it? Because at this point it's kind of got, you know, almost bigger than the game. It's incredibly nauseating. And people just assume that the only reason Chiefs, the Chiefs win all these one score games is because the, the refs continually give them call after call.

[Gumpy]

Well, you're right, we, we dealt with a similar thing and we were, you know, we were one of the least penalized teams in the league, especially offensively. But as a total team, we were one of the least penalized teams in the league for, you know, a long, long time. I mean almost two decades. And the Chiefs are doing the same thing, but really the key to it is playing good football. I mean, let's start with eliminating pre snap penalties, which there are really no excuse for, and eliminating post whistle penalties, which occasionally there's close call there. But you know, roughing a passer, hitting guys out of bounds, roughing the punter, personal fouls, you know, arguing with the referees, all those things, those are all preventable. So good football teams don't commit those penalties. They let their opponents do that. And then there are the plays that happen in the action of the game and football's football and some of them get called, some of them don't. You know, I think the officials have a tough job, they do the best they can, but that's overall pretty good group. But if you want to be a low penalized team, then don't commit pre snap and don't commit post whistle penalties. That's a good place to start.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, I think the reason why you had to deal with it and heard about it is because you're great, right? And how is this team that has the same set of rules everybody else? The NFL is built for parody. If you stink, you get an early draft pick. You can change your thing. We got a salary cap, okay? So everybody's allowed to use the same amount of money. Okay. Everybody's working with the same rules here. How is this team so good? Well, they gotta be getting. It's gotta be a work. It's gotta be somebody helping them in the system. And it strictly comes with the greatness. I do believe, especially whenever every game that you're playing in is in primetime, which is what comes alongside greatness and being in the middle of a dynasty. More people are gonna watch every one of your games. Everything that happens is gonna be documented by more people, especially with this Chiefs team, especially with Taylor Swift being a part of it. There's Travis Kelce last night whenever he was asked if he had any questions for the media.

[Evan]

If I, if I could ask the media one question.

[Pat McAfee]

Why are you guys leaning into this whole ref thing?

[Evan]

You know what I mean?

[Pat McAfee]

Like, why are you guys leaning into it? Travis is like, hey, listen, the Internet is allowed to say this, okay? The Internet and fans are allowed to have their thoughts. But you as a media member to think about how many people would have to be in on the take there to rig a game for us every single week, who would have to be able to keep a secret, As I assume a commit is coming to University of North Carolina for Coach Belichick. Congratulations to you. But I like Travis. Just being like, you guys gassing this thing up is ridiculous. Because you're telling me that Roger Goodell is calling each individual ref. We have different crews every single week. So every ref in the NFL is in on it, or just one ref in each crew's in on it. And that's never going to be found out in the sports gambling world. So you're telling me, you media members that are gassing this up, that it's not our hard work, it's not how great we are, it's not us being able to win and perform in pressure packed moments, it's his refs. That's what you guys would rather talk about? You heard it in Travis. Travis is always trying to keep it positive, tries to keep buzzing. But he was just like, hey, media, the fuck okay? Like this is allowed to be An Internet thing. But, like, to actually start promoting this is absurd. And I know that refs think so. There's going to be situations where maybe there's a tie in, like, hey, this ref's daughter, massive Swifty. And maybe that's going to happen, you know, and hopefully they get to the bottom of it. But I appreciated Travis just being like, yo, come on, let's use our brains here. The amount of people that have to keep this secret would be impossible. Now, as we pivot away from that, let's go to what you're currently doing maybe right now with that text message.

[Connor]

Super bowl week and the national championship is the goal now down there at unc. Looking at your book kind of reminded me of the building down in Foxborough where there were some. Some quotes from the Art of War or obviously, the four things you saw leaving the building, four things coming out. How similar will the setup be in the building down there compared to what it was in Foxborough?

[Gumpy]

Pretty similar. Deep up, pretty similar. It said to be in Carolina blue.

[Connor]

Okay.

[Gumpy]

And I'll have. And I'll have the Jordan logo on it.

[Connor]

Okay, there we go.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that. So what, you're part of war. Art of War. Big, big fan.

[Gumpy]

You know, we had a. It's funny, you know, we've had a couple, you know, players come through here that, you know, have been through the Patriots program. They watch us work out, and they look and say this, you know, to the players, the Carolina players. Yep, that's the exact same program we did. Yeah, same running program, same lifting program. So, yeah, we're just taking the. The Patriot program and. And, you know, what we did in New England and bringing it here. Our strength coach, Moses Corbera, our chef, you know, Josh Grimes, several coaches, and, you know, our. Our whole program. Mike Lombardi and I are just, you know, taking the whole scouting, coaching, and training program and, you know, modifying it a little bit. But it's what we did at New England, that's what we're doing here at Carolina.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, it's Patriot way.

[Connor]

Carolina way.

[Pat McAfee]

You can say it. Yeah, it's the Patriot way.

[Gumpy]

You guys all hate something like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Bill, Tom, the winning way. They all hate it. Everybody outside of New England said it was the Patriot way. We don't see it that way. We see it as working hard, doing our job if that's Patriot Way. So it's like you guys get so mad.

[Gumpy]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that okay?

[Gumpy]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. I appreciate that. I do appreciate that. We're gonna do the same exact thing here now, because it is a winning model. If you want to call it the art of winning, you can certainly call it that. We're excited. Okay, big game here. Super Bowl. You've never in your life had to give a prediction. This game comes down to fourth quarter and the Eagles have to out execute the Chiefs or what is the big swing of this particular game in your eyes and how do you see it going? You don't have to make a prediction.

[Gumpy]

Well, sure, Pat, I think that's a big part of it is, is, you know, expect this game to come down to the final possession or fourth quarter, however you want to look at it. And yeah, whichever team, you know, performs better at that point in time is going to, is going to, you know, be what the outcome of their season is. The outcome is their season could easily end up being, you know, a handful of plays or maybe even one play. But I would say for the Eagles defense, you know, they're a very good coverage team and a good pass rush team and they match. Well. Looking back at the, you know, previous game, previous super bowl with the Eagles and the, and the Chiefs, I think a big key form will be match that rush and coverage against Mahomes because when they, they match their man to man coverage, if Mahomes can escape the pocket, there's a lot of room to scramble because everybody has their back turn. So I think the ball is going to have to come out on time and I think Andy will have some scheme plays to get open and beat the man coverage matches that the Eagles use. You know, on the flip side, I think we all know that if the Eagles get into some tight calls on third and fourth down, two minute situation, it better be ready to block the blitz. And if you look back at the Eagles season last year against Tampa, I know it's a different coordinator and all that, but you know, against Tampa, you know, Coach Bowles blitz them, you know that, that first playoff game and, and really, you know, wreck their season down there. So, you know, Spags is going to have a couple of those cooked up like they did against Buffalo on that fourth and five play, you know, where he brought the safety and brought the corner off an overload, looked the other side and you know, it was, that was the key play in the game. So I'm sure that the Eagles are preparing for, you know, those kind of critical situations to make sure that they can handle the pressure when, you know, when they should definitely expect it.

[Pat McAfee]

I love hearing that we're going to have a Great game. You know, because by all accounts, whatever he decides to talk about how a game's probably going to go, normally goes. That's why.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Available May 6. We appreciate the hell out of you, coach. Good luck down there in North Carolina.

[Gumpy]

Can I plug the. Tomorrow night in New Orleans? So I'm going down to New Orleans and you know, Jordan and Ryan Clark and I and have organized a benefit for the, you know, the, the people who walked away from that traumatic event in New Orleans. So you know, the ones that saw it, kind of the, the survivors, if you will. We're going to do an event down there at Vegas Steakhouse from 4 to 7. So any super bowl fans that are down there in New Orleans, come down and support us and, and support the victims, not the victims of the, you know, the New Year's Day, you know, drive by, you know, the massacre, you know, where all the people got hurt there. But the people who saw it and actually, you know, have to now have to deal with it from the, you know, from that, that side of it. So just want to get back to New Orleans. Ryan, of course, is from New Orleans so he's a big part of this. So proud to do it tomorrow night at Vegas Steakhouse in New Orleans.

[Pat McAfee]

Vegas Steakhouse, four to seven local. Tomorrow. Having a front row seat to a terrorist attack is a wild, wild thing. Ptsd. I mean, I couldn't even fathom the rest of your life. Yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, and that's a very car people public. I mean there's a lot of things that can be triggers there. We appreciate you looking out. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest coach of all time. You can see him at Vegas Steakhouse tomorrow in New Orleans four to seven. Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Belichick. All right, Bill. The art of winning. H. You should maybe read this. Get it in audiobook.

[James]

I will. I hope he reads it. I hope he reads the audio version every be built.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why I was looking for other names on here, you know, cuz a lot of these books people write.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Evan]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

And the only reason why I'm saying that is cuz I've been presented a few times like, hey, you want to write a book? It's like, I will one day. Yeah, I will. I, I'll want to someday I'll do that, I think. And it'll be the first book I read too. It would kind of be fun, you know, like I'm writing it and reading it for the first time and they're like, well, you know, you could just Sit down. And then we can write it. And then you just kind of correct it. It's like that. I'm not writing a book. Right. And they're like, no, but you are. But we just kind of do expedite it for you. We got like five.

[James]

We clarify your thoughts for you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And also we got like six people that'll just web this book. In 10 days, we'll have this thing ready to go. And it's like. Is that what Jack Carr's doing?

[AJ Hawk]

No, no, no, he's not.

[Evan]

He's releasing a new one, actually.

[Pat McAfee]

Cannot wait.

[AJ Hawk]

Looks awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like if you're. Write a book, right? The book.

[Gumpy]

Yeah.

[James]

Get a typewriter. You should get a typewriter. Type your book.

[Ty Schmidt]

The sense of accomplishment after that one.

[Pat McAfee]

Also lats. Oh, yeah. I think you got pretty good. I think you got a pretty good.

[James]

Your right lat is going to be serious. You need to find one that goes. You get your left lap going, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I wonder, does it go well?

[James]

I don't know how they work.

[Darius Butler]

Really.

[Pat McAfee]

You got to slide it back this way.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're sliding.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, to the left.

[Connor]

I should write it.

[AJ Hawk]

Like penmanship.

[Connor]

Feather pin.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, quill. You can quill.

[Evan]

Then you gotta type it.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what? How about mechanical pencil?

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Now that we're talking about.

[Evan]

Oh, that'd be a nightmare. Yeah, that would be a nightmare.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Especially whenever it gets a little bit too long and then cracks and then there's not enough left and it sneaks out. And then all of a sudden, Damn it. I stick it back in and you're back in. Then you do too much and it sneaks and it breaks and it cracks. Then all of a sudden, we got. How many of these things are cracked out here? Terrible. James. Louise, in theory, brilliant idea. Always sharp.

[James]

Always so good. Still good, though.

[Pat McAfee]

I love. It's my choice. It is my weapon of choice. Oh, definitely. Wow.

[James]

Gotta have a little touch, though, because I like to. I like to have a good, good amount of lead out there. But you gotta have some touch when you're writing it.

[Pat McAfee]

This is the perfect amount. Can you please zoom in? That is the perfect. Perfect. I mean, that is like the perfect sharp pencil right there. I mean, that's good.

[James]

Yeah, I'd even. I probably have one more click.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's too long because then you gotta. Because then you. It's cracking.

[James]

Yeah, you're right. You'll break it.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, I mean, this is the. This is a sturdy. Hey, this is a story. I was. Need to Write something right now. Do it. I'm gonna write the first. I'm gonna write first sentence in my book.

[Evan]

Here we go. Read it, too. Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away.

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people.

[Connor]

Yeah, let's start.

[Pat McAfee]

This O. This O, L, E, I, this O. This will be the first book I read.

[AJ Hawk]

All right, let's get first sentence.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom.

[Ty Schmidt]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful.

[Evan]

Put in the archive.

[Connor]

Good start.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead and lock it in. I don't know how many words it's gonna be, but I know that it's a good start. Thank you. Even a little bit of cursive in there.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, first person.

[Pat McAfee]

Beautiful. I'll drop that. Yeah, definitely. So then they know, you know, because those rat bastards typing other people's books. If they're saying I and me, they.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a you and they, you know, maybe even a he and she there. Fraudulent. I know all about these pronouns a little bit more nowadays than ever before, but don't you be putting eye in me whenever it's somebody else's story. Don't do it now. With that being said, let's talk about we. Okay, let's talk about we. Did you change your thoughts on how the super bowl is going to go with what Bill Belichick said? I kind of did.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, really?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I kind of did.

[Connor]

Good game.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, speaking of the game, let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone. AP Tone. There's some gambling questions that were kind of posed in the think tank earlier today that I think would be a good group activity out here and also great gambling information for those. Hey, last time we get a chance to bet on football.

[Evan]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's focus in not saying you have to, but if you are in the place where you have a little extra bucks and you want to maybe make something a little bit sweeter, maybe turn, you know, five and a 10. What? Maybe 10 and 20, maybe 1437 into 8500.

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

Not a guarantee, but this certainly possible. You need to listen to some of these numbers. Go ahead, AP Tone.

[AJ Hawk]

I love groupthink. I love doing this. I don't trust my own brain. So I started this this morning while I was going through, you know, some of the super bowl props. And I started with, there is a Super bowl prop player to have a catch on the first drive per team.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

Philadelphia Eagles.

[Pat McAfee]

Who? Who we thinking?

[AJ Hawk]

Who we think of first drive to have a catch for the Philadelphia Eagles?

[Evan]

Dallas Goddard.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Dallas Garter's been getting the ball a lot in this Philadelphia Eagles offense, he's been running it, he's been catching it. And also the tight end, his quarterback's best friend is what they say. Dallas Goddard's got the ball a lot. What are the odds on Dallas Goddard getting the ball in the first drive?

[AJ Hawk]

He is plus 120 to get the ball on the first drive. Yes. As a catch. Now a little fun fact. On the first drive last game, he did not get that chance because Saquon just took it 60 yards on the.

[Pat McAfee]

On the first carry.

[AJ Hawk]

But on the next drive, he did have a catch. And then the first drive on the game before that, he did have a catch on that drive as well. So we're. We're kind of riding on a little bit of a hot streak there.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that? Plus what?

[AJ Hawk]

Plus 120.

[Pat McAfee]

What are some other options there for The Philadelphia Eagles?

[AJ Hawk]

A.J. brown is plus 110. DeVonta Smith plus 140. Saquan plus 333.

[Pat McAfee]

Get a catch, not a run. Now that's a nice little screen. Screen. Take that. Plus 333. Especially if Smags.

[Connor]

Yeah, that might be slow, that D line. The script might hit a script.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's plus 333. Plus 110. Plus 120 in there for all the receivers. We like Dallas Goddard in the tight end here. Not saying you have to do it, but seems like a smart decision. Now let's go to the other side.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Same thing for the Kansas City Chiefs. Who we thinking?

[Pat McAfee]

Who we Worthy. You're saying worthy?

[Connor]

I'm going Xavier worthy.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. What's Xavier Worthy's odds?

[AJ Hawk]

Xavier worthy's odds are plus 110.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. To catch the ball in the first drive. Yes. They will certainly want to get him going. Which leads me to Travis Kelce. Travis Kelce in big games always gets the rock. Travis Kelce in the playoffs always gets the rock. Throughout the season, he wasn't scoring touchdowns. Soon as the lights came on. What happened?

[Ty Schmidt]

Touchdown.

[Pat McAfee]

Feeding them, feeding them, feeding them, feeding them early and often. For me, I'm sticking with both tight ends. More specifically, Patrick Mahomes best friend, A.J. you like this or don't like this?

[James]

I do like this one a lot, actually.

[Pat McAfee]

Odds. Odds have to be rather low for Travis.

[AJ Hawk]

Minus 110. He is the favorite.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

He's the favorite for the Chiefs. And we looked back and potentially. Why last Super Bowl? Super Bowl, Super Bowl Y the first ball went to Travis Kelce.

[Pat McAfee]

Playoffs last week, the super bowl before.

[AJ Hawk]

That, the first ball went to Travis Kelce. So you know, they have obviously go to what you were saying. They get the ball to Travis early.

[Pat McAfee]

Enough, minus 110 there for Travis. How about some other options that the Kansas City Chiefs have? Juju. Yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Juju is plus 400. He did have a catch on the first drive last week. The other one, Marquis Brown, he has had a catch on the first drive the last two weeks. He is plus 180. He is the third shortest odds behind Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so there's money to be made all over this game. Which leads me to that umpire for baseball. Yeah. What the hell's going on over there?

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't know. He's an Iowa guy, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like a legit good umpire.

[Pat McAfee]

So Gumpy and I are on a plane to Cleveland yesterday and we're learning about this, and all of a sudden everybody talks about the NBA, how the refs can control that Boy, an umpire in baseball, especially, because you can gamble on every pitch, right? Yeah, literally every single pitch can be gambled on. Every single at bat, Every single. Everything can be gambled on. So it doesn't have to be a whole game even. It could just be one strike coming next. You know, that's great. Like, that is. That is the easiest thing that could in. You know, I know there's a box that people don't want because they want the human air. They want the game. It's like, well, you add in human air, you add in the opportunity for this to potentially happen in baseball. This is a real power play. Like. Like, the more me and Gumpy started talking about it, it was like, now they came out and said he was not linked to any of the bets, but he was sharing an account with somebody that was doing the betting. So what does that mean? Is he linked to. No. The bets on the. All the. Why to. I don't know any of that. But boy, baseball humps. They can really cook if they really wanted to. In a shady way.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. But that's what's interesting is like, this guy is kind of considered like one of the best umpires in the mlb. Like, he's. You know, he's still very young, too. I think he's only 38. He called a World Series game in 2022 and called a perfect game. Every single one. According to the metrics, every strike he called was supposed to be a strike. Every.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's not get crazy here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly. But regardless, like, it made me think.

[Pat McAfee]

About baseball umps, though.

[Ty Schmidt]

But he also. He also, He. He, you know, like an investigation started, I think in February of last year. Maybe he. He did not umpire this entire past season. He's going to get suspended. He's knocking in umpire the entire 2025 season. He's gonna have to wait to apply for reinstatement in 2026.

[Pat McAfee]

So like so many games, it's crazy. You can just sneak those in at noon. These games just sneak in. Nobody has a clue. Hey, we're gonna go. We're gonna over strikeouts first.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

More punching them out tonight. What do you mean? I'll ever. Whatever you. Hey, no. What? What? Get back in there. All three. No, that's what I thought. Hey. What? That was clearly outside of the box. Not my. That's where the box is today. That's where strikes tennis today. Sorry about it. Hey, see ya can do that. Not saying this guy did it. Okay, I'm not saying this guy did it. But just the thought of this made me think about baseball arms as a whole. And it's like, holy hell. Now, ladies and gentlemen, on a completely different note, I put a hashtag up something season up a few weeks ago. Now, there's multiple things that are currently up to. Sure, you know, there's some multiple somethings that are currently up to. But we have a 15 second sneak peek at something that'll be debuting during the Super Bowl. Foxy, please run it. Attention, students, this is your principal speaking. Flag football is now a girls varsity sport. Try after school. Magic happening everywhere because of who?

[Connor]

Me?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, okay. All right. Yes. It's the NFL's commercial Y and I was casted to play the principal at a 1980s high school. And basically because of me, our high school gets flag football, an official varsity sport for girls. And after watching that high school all star game the other day, I am excited to be a part of this initiative with the NFL. They're making a big push for it. They're trying to open the game up to as many people as possible. And the skill levels with it being an Olympic sport are great. And wait until you. I did a lot. I did a lot of shooting. I did a lot of scenes. Peter Berg directed it, which I think is no big Peter Berg. Two hours in makeup there for me to look like what I'm gonna look like in the future. That is a fat suit, A.J. okay, please. Clearly it'll run right after halftime. I believe it's like two minutes or two and a half minutes or something like that. Oh, there's a lot of me in there. There's other superstars and I Was so incredibly thankful and honored that I was even asked. And it's absurd. The rest of it is absolutely a sir. We'll see you tomorrow from New Orleans. Goodbye. Yeah, it's fucking absurd.

[Evan]

Looks awesome.

[James]

I mean, just that this, that quick clip is pretty absurd. I can imagine what happened.

[AJ Hawk]

Good news is if, you know, you know, if you get older and you lose all your hair and you grow stats, you're gonna look awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Can't throw that stash. Which is certainly problematic. As soon as I got on, I'm like, this would be sweet if I could do this, but I can't. I can't. The hair just, they're, you know, they're the way they envisioned the principal.

[Gumpy]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Which I was classic of that high school. Okay, show me a picture of it. And I was like, well, this guy really looks like an asshole.

[Ty Schmidt]

Peter's like, bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Can't look for him. That's who we're looking for. This is my first time ever acting. First time ever acting. And I did some acting. Gumpy was there with me. This was filmed the same day as Saturday night main event in San Antonio. Okay, so Friday fly. This was filmed in Southern California in San Diego. So Friday I fly the longest flight to California. It was.

[Gumpy]

Might have been longer than the one to Ireland. I swear, it was so long.

[Pat McAfee]

It might have been 4,000 knot headwinds that we were flying into. And obviously it didn't want to leave until after I put baby girl to bed on Friday night. Right. I try to do that with all my trips. I would like to be there for whenever she goes to bed. So scheduling the flights and everything is normally a little late. I was like, it shouldn't be that bad what the projected time is. You should be able to get over there. We were sitting on this plane pitch black, obviously, just forever. It might. It said on the screen an hour left. Maybe four hours. Maybe maybe four hours. We're just flying into this thing. So we get in. Miss the production dinner. Okay. We're supposed to be at that for sure. That was certainly something that was supposed to. Completely missed it landed too late. Okay, then we have a very early call. Very early call. Because the makeup, you know.

[James]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because the makeup and everything has to happen. So I already thought I fucking blew it completely. Because missing this whole thing, bang. I get in there, I'm a little, you know, I'm a little nervous. Like never act never. It was a lot of shit. And the people were so damn professional. The makeup people. 30 years each of them. Jackie and Ed Dave, 60 years combined worth of makeup experience.

[Evan]

Dogs.

[AJ Hawk]

They were unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolute dog. These people were so damn cool. I started talking to them about their gigs. Obviously started talking. Lady Jackie from Chicago, she worked on Star Trek for a number of years. She said, yeah. And they were talking about if you're in a makeup world, Star Trek probably going to be a gig that you have had. She worked on that for a long time. Guy. Ed Dave. Damn. I'm sorry dude. You're a good dude.

[AJ Hawk]

I think it was Ed.

[Pat McAfee]

Ed, he worked on, he worked on Star Trek as many as well as many others. Also worked on White Chicks, which he said was a 3am call time until 7pm at night. Geez. For six weeks straight. And I said it was a great movie though. He goes, I didn't watch. I ain't seen enough. I. Because that was a lot. I guess. So then, you know, as I'm getting, as I'm getting all this done, we're in here a while. We're very close with each other. You know, it's like they're adding the bald cap onto my head. Then they're putting the hair on top of it. Then the mustache, the amount of glue that's on my face to match with the whole thing. I mean it is. They were awesome. But we were within very close quarters for two hours straight. I mean just like in the trailer. And they were awesome. Then the entire NFL crew. Cool. All the extras. There's so many extras in this thing. And Peter Berg, you know, was being so cool to me, so nice to me. I'm so thankful for how he treated me, you know, because he knew that I was not comfortable with acting. You know, like this is a weird thing. And also this is the NFL's commercial for their Super Bowl. Yeah. And it's like massive initiative too that like my daughter hopefully is going to benefit from. So like, like I'm trying not to look like an asshole and a lot of people are gonna see this. So like let's not, you know, a lot of people, it's not, let's not be terrible at this.

[Evan]

Be good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, let's be good. So the way Peter like operated with me, the way every like the actual actors, the way they were talking to me was like so cool, so lucky to be a part of it. And from Glenn and Tim and obviously Peter and there was a Chris and there was.

[AJ Hawk]

I think it was Ed. I think I found Ed.

[Pat McAfee]

Ed. White haired guy, baby. He's good dude. He's good dude. His son is a major in the army. He comes from. Comes from. That's. That is Ed. Yep, that's Ed. That's Ed French. That's him.

[Evan]

Oh, he's a Boston guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think that is him. That's him as a young lad. That is him as a young lad.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, 1951, he was born.

[Pat McAfee]

So.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So I'm, I'm looking at that, that photo and I'm trying to evolve him in my head for the morning.

[AJ Hawk]

Star Trek and white chick. So what Other ads.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, so that, that is definitely hip. Awesome. Like so cool. So kind. The, the, the attention to detail. We're talking about taking a little brush with like a little paint on it and splattering it on my head during that, like with this thing for the.

[Ty Schmidt]

Transition from my making sure that bald cap blends in.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And I told him, I'm like, hey, I'm a sweat. Like, I am, I am a sweater. And like we'll be out there for you. And lo and behold, Ed and Jackie every single time, like a pit crew on my. It was, it was so much fun and it was, it was.

[James]

I mean that picture, that picture alone is awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It was, it's. It's really, it's really cool. I think we'll have another 15 second teaser tomorrow and I think there's going to be another one the next day.

[Evan]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

And we did a lot of, lot of shoot. I did not expect to be the dude. I don't know what the final thing's gonna look like, but I will say for a two minute thing, I filmed like 5:16. I mean it was a lot of scenes.

[Gumpy]

It was awesome to watch. There's so many people on set. It was, it was pretty crazy to watch.

[Pat McAfee]

Watching Peter Berg off. Yeah. At school. Awesome. He has dog that he rescued from Mexico during a shoot. Esso. This dog so cool. Just kind of rolling around like, like Ben and Peter. Yeah. You know, and this dog though, just super chill. Just super chill comes over. How we doing? So, hey, we're about to shoot, so. All right, good luck. It was, it was so cool, man. Like I, I know it's a big deal for the NFL to allow me to be a part of that. And I'm pumped. And boys, I hope you enjoy the out of it. And I hope girls flag football, especially if they just showcase that all star game there, if that's what can happen across the country. If we can add another sport here. I mean this NFC team beat the shit out of the AFC team. They had a couple plays that were unguardable and it's like, hey, FC team, can we just put these in at halftime so we can maybe put up a fight? Direct snap, pitch throw. Look at it. Yeah. Pop pass. Yeah, they did that every. Every play. It was like that age, this NFC team, it was unguardable. I have no idea how you stop it. Still, Andy Reid should think about running it in the actual game. He might. He actually. But I'm pumped to be a part of it. I'm thankful to be a part of it. Shout out to the NFL for allowing me to be a part of it. Shout out to Ari Gold, you know, Gold in there making some magic. Peter Berg making some magic in there. And to the makeup crew, I apologize for sweating through all of your work like four or five different times. That was. I was drenched through the suit.

[Evan]

Yeah, it looked like a lot through the fat shirt.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, there's some scenes where I'm running and sliding down hallway.

[James]

Got yelling.

[Connor]

Can't wait to see that.

[Pat McAfee]

And I'm yelling, kids. I mean, it is full hallway. Full of kids, too. They got extras, right?

[Connor]

And one guy was pissed off the letter.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Love to piss. Well, he needs to understand. He said, my school. That's basically what Peter told me. You know, Peter comes into the trailer, him and Esso, while I'm getting the makeups and makeup done, and I'm like, I. I think this is things that I can do, you know? And he goes, hey, listen, you know what the best do? And I was like, Coop texting me. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. It's a Cagney line or something like that. He's like, yes, that. But also, as soon as you get out of here, you're the principal of this place. Like, as soon as you get out of here, don't eat. Like, soon as you walk out of this trailer, this is your school.

[James]

So just Daniel Day Lewis.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[James]

You're in character.

[Pat McAfee]

He was like, act according. As soon as you get out of here. Act according. So as soon as I get out of the trailer, NFL social team is like, hey, we want to do a walk and talk. And I'm like, just kind of ruined everything here. So I'm like, half in character. In the social walk and talk.

[James]

In your full mate. In full makeup.

[Pat McAfee]

Full makeup. I'm walking to the first scene. Walking to the first scene because, like, Peter Berg, like, one of the greatest of all time, he's like, hey, listen, as soon as you get out of here, this. This is your school. You hate these kids. Never forget it. They're back. They think it's summer still. You know, this entire thing, I'm like, all right. Yeah. That is how people do it. That is how I've learned. That's got to be how it is.

[Connor]

So, like, method.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James]

Method acting.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's like, all right, just flip the switch. As soon as I get. You're dressed like an. Just you are. That is who you are. Being an. So I just. As soon as I get out of there, I flip switch. I'm like, all right, I'm a principal. This place.

[James]

I even, like.

[Pat McAfee]

I think I get fist bump to gumpy. I'm like, welcome to my school, man. And I, like, walk outside, and they're like, we asked you a few questions. I'm like, blah. I'm trying to find my character right now.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[James]

So are you going. You going in and out of character with that walking talk? I can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

There's Principal P in there, and then there is a couple, like, real answers. And then as soon as we get to the hallway, it's like all these actors are lined up, and they're literally, like, waiting on me for the first shot. It's like, okay, now is what he was talking about. Like, hey, is my spirit cool, you guys, I walked. I walked through these dudes with, like, chest back.

[James]

A few of them. You should have smacked a few of them in the face.

[Pat McAfee]

Get the out of my hallway. All right. It was. It was all. It was an honor. I enjoyed the hell out of it. And I think it's gonna be good. I hope it's gonna be good.

[Connor]

Still getting around to that fix on your car. You got this on ebay. You'll find millions of parts guaranteed to fit.

[Shams Charania]

Doesn't matter if it's a major engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wiper.

[Connor]

Ebay has that part you need ready to click perfectly into place for changes big and small, loud or quiet.

[Shams Charania]

Find all the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. But you already know that.

[Pat McAfee]

EBay things people love. Eligible items only.

[Connor]

Exclusion supply.

[Pat McAfee]

Football A.J. it's already February 4th. That's A.J. hawk there. Congratulations from baby. February 4th, 2025 already. Jeez.

[James]

Yeah. Goes quick, M. Doesn't it? Everything goes quick. But, yeah, football season absolutely goes fast.

[Pat McAfee]

Every year feels like just yesterday. It doesn't it?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Evan]

Likely's toe out.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God.

[Evan]

Just happened.

[Pat McAfee]

Feels like it. And then just bl. Radio row tomorrow. Yeah. Damn. One game left. Son of a four quarters. Potentially more Whoa. Of high level football that is going to carry us through an off season of sports we love less than football, but still love. Yeah. Love sports because they're sports. The toxic tables here at Boss Connor anti Schmidt. Have you wrapped your mind around the fact that we got one game left yet? I have.

[Evan]

You know, I've also wrapped my mind around the fact that for me as a Patriots fan, my season kind of starts after the Super Bowl. You know, free agency, the draft, the combine.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we're climbing to Lombardi mountain next year. Yeah.

[Evan]

You think it ends, but really, you all right.

[AJ Hawk]

We're basically talking once we get gold, man.

[Evan]

The end is just the beginning. You know, I can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, every new beginning comes from some other beginnings End.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

And what you're talking about is next season in the south. Some other beginning that is ending is 2024, 2025 season. Yeah, it's a bummer. Yeah. But it's going to. It's going to go out in the bang.

[Evan]

I think so too.

[Pat McAfee]

I think the season had an interesting ride, didn't it? You know, at one point, Highest rating since 2016. At one point, more eyes than anybody. At one point, though, there was a worry that people forgot how to play offensive football. Yeah. Remember everybody was saying, we need some whole body do on this football. These guys stink.

[Evan]

It's smash.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what they. These guys can't score. He's got. Boy, some bo. There's some do. Ew. This football sticks. That's what a lot of people were saying.

[Ty Schmidt]

They were.

[Pat McAfee]

And guess what? The boys did. They figured it out.

[Evan]

Put on their do.

[Pat McAfee]

Always do. And they smell great.

[Ty Schmidt]

Dove, man, you really gotta get that away from your mouth.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You know, my mouth smells pretty good before I got over here.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

But right now I don't recommend it. I don't think you should do it either. But you get some of this in your mouth. Boy, it is pretty refreshing taste.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Your eyes, though, a whole different animal.

[AJ Hawk]

Tell you what.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, if your eyes stink, do not use these. No. Do not use dove men care whole body deal. When it says whole body, they're obviously not talking about your eyeball. Yeah, you should not get this in your eyes or your mouth.

[AJ Hawk]

You know what else you should get in your eyes?

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[AJ Hawk]

That week, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

CBD cream.

[James]

Cbd.

[Pat McAfee]

Carson. It's Carson coming, man. We're gonna keep that menthol CBD cream away from me.

[Evan]

I hope not.

[Pat McAfee]

And tradition.

[Evan]

We only have one tradition.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, that's the Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Bring it home. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Evan]

Best guest is always last.

[Pat McAfee]

Gabriel Morenci was doing a. A lot of people. I mean, people. There's a lot of people that have never experienced Gabe, that are gonna experience Gabe for the first time on Friday.

[Evan]

So lucky. I wish I was one of those people.

[Pat McAfee]

I wish I could experience Gabe for the first time. Yeah. And just understand the whole new world's about to open up for me. There's been a man up in Canada that has been screaming about gambling on sports for 30 years.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's always high heat. It's always. There's a man that's rattling off five tweets within the last sentence being finished by me up there on the left side of Canada.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a man that basically started sports gambling talk in Canada, and I assume he was an early adopter here in America as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Cade Maranci will bring it home on Friday. I got no doubt. I got no. There he is.

[Evan]

The goat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, he does. Now, Canada is an interesting spot. I think with America. We're better than we've ever been. I heard.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what I heard yesterday?

[Gumpy]

Good meeting yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't know that guy was still. Me neither. Yeah. But I go meeting. I heard we're better than we've ever been. That's when I read that entire long thing during one of the breaks of Raw. I was like, all right, sounds like we're better than we've ever been. Yeah. Can't wait to get to elimination chamber in Toronto. I mean, it was like, I can't wait for Gabe Maranci on Friday.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because people that are like, you know what? Canada's not that bad. I guess there's people saying that.

[Ty Schmidt]

They do.

[Pat McAfee]

Wait until you see Canadians. One of Canada's best exports.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Gabe.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

Always on Friday you could be like, damn, we need. Maybe we don't care if Gabe Renci. Right. Kind of like, yeah, we need to. I didn't know Canada could create that. That's what people say. And there he is.

[Evan]

He's talking about Panache.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got a seven hour show today, tomorrow, the next day, and then we will see him.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

On Friday. And every minute of that show is somehow some way. Paul Skein's hate. Yeah. They only created one when they created Game. Don't ask why I know this. That man has over 400,000 tweets. Yeah, that's what I don't. I don't even think you have half that. Yeah, but he might have had 399,000. Whenever this conversation about him, they're certainly, certainly possible. That's the thing about it. He's a prolific tweeter. I mean, let alone whenever he gets on a microphone. 430.7000 plus. And I'll tell you what, every single one has been worth a read.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, that's Gabe Lancy football.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's got a lot to say.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't wait to see what his bet is that he gives out on Friday. Always takes the time to think about that.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it does.

[Ty Schmidt]

His super bowl jacket.

[Pat McAfee]

What's he sound like if people were to, you know. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't know. He'd probably say like something along the lines of, you know what, Pat? It's actually that the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills should be in this fucking Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But they're not. Sorry, Gabe.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, you know, it's one of those things. I still like the Chiefs. Okay. Everyone wants to talk about the fucking Chiefs. And you know, the only reason the Chiefs are in this game is because they have Xavier Worthy and they. Yep. I think this was maybe the video where he said it. The only reason the fucking Buffalo Bills aren't in this game is because they traded their draft pick to the Chiefs. Because McDermott and Andy Reid are buddies. It's not bad enough to be a Buffalo Bills fan. Now we gotta, you know, the Chiefs, the team the Bills can't beat are back in the Super Bowl.

[AJ Hawk]

Once again.

[Ty Schmidt]

With that being said, I like Patrick Mahomes rushing. Touchdown. First touchdown of the game. You can get that a lot of sports books right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's gonna be about plus 650 depending on what book you're at. Please shop around. That's just one of the bets I like. I gave you guys Odell Beckham all those years ago. I'll never let you forget it.

[Pat McAfee]

You remember, don't that it sounded like you were. Because he did give us Odell Beckham Jr. First touchdown.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Plus 750. No big deal. A lot of people like on OBJ. Not me. First touchdown score for this Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

He's. He's jacked about everything.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, he is.

[Pat McAfee]

And he has a well thought out reason. Oh yeah. For everything. I have no idea how he has that much time in a day, honestly. 430,000 posts. That's happening alongside an eight hour show every day. At some point he's gonna sleep and eat. Can't wait.

[Connor]

I don't think so.

[AJ Hawk]

Can't wait to see the Jacket.

[Evan]

This year his days are longer. I think they're 21 hours and. And that's about it.

[Pat McAfee]

21 hours? Yeah.

[Evan]

I think he sleeps three hours. I think he's awake for 21.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah. Because you said his days are longer than you went shorter. I say. Wait, I missed something. I thought I was in a different dimension.

[Evan]

Well, I mean, I think you're saying.

[Pat McAfee]

He'S three hours down. Yeah, 21 hours up all day long. And thank God. Yeah, thank God.

[Evan]

365.

[Pat McAfee]

It's been a bummer. What was it? It started last year. There's always like a scheduled thing on Friday now at the end of our shows. Gabe, Marie. And then we have that gotta go. Because of where we've been, getting a chance to see all those shows is cool. The NFL started letting in, like local podcasts and local media into Radio Row and like university stuff. So obviously, I assume that's what a lot of people who are in the media hate.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That. That is happening. I don't mind it. I don't mind seeing the future, you know, like what's going to happen and how things go. I enjoy radio. I think it's a cool place. I. I think Radio Row is a very cool place. I can't wait to get down there.

[James]

Yeah, it's weird too. Yeah, I guess it's year to year, it's always the same, but there's always something different. There's always like you guys talked about earlier in the show, like seeing people you haven't seen in years you played with. Seeing coaches seeing just randoms, as you said. Watching you run the, the PTZ cam throughout the. The concourse is always fun. Mad Dog, we got to hear Mad Dog kick off his show. Remember, like, everything about it is pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

Last year, the Jabberwockies just popped in. Yeah. I don't know. They're pretty good.

[Ty Schmidt]

So, Bert.

[Evan]

Yeah. When Burt popped in, it was so awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Tom, whenever C.J. stroud was on, C.J. loved it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Loved it.

[Evan]

That was one of my favorite zany moments we've ever had.

[Pat McAfee]

CJ just immediately talking to Burt Kreischer was, this guy's a guy. Yeah. Not that we didn't know before that, but just immediately. What is this Muscle hamster looking. Isn't that what he called him? Because he was doing push ups. Right. Burt was like, I could do 50 pushups.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody's like, okay, you can do 50, I can do 50. That's a lot of push ups. All right. One, two, got right into it. Hammer drunk. They've been promoting Los Poros vodka.

[James]

Vodka. Is that vodka?

[Pat McAfee]

I should know the name of it. Por Osos porosos. I just saw a video they. They had with it. But yeah, he was hammer drunk.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah. Vegas.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I mean, Bert Kreischer promoting a vodka that he owns during super bowl week. With that is. Bert's blacked out the whole time, I assume very drunk. I mean, that's Bert Kreischer football. Him and Tom though, coming in and just doing push out of nowhere. Yeah, that's a moment I'll remember that forever.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Cuz CJ had no idea. What? What are these?

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

CJ said these two guys are white. That's the only reason why this is happening. That was great. Another great line. Fine. That was another. I mean he was just like. As soon as it happened, CJ Str started talking and I'm like, I love this guy. Magical moment. I assume they'll be down there. I assume there'll be a lot. Ty wore hockey pads last year, remember? Oh, you're a member of the Las Vegas Gold Knights. I forgot you're on team. What a game.

[Ty Schmidt]

Pretty jacked up that there's no event where, you know, hopping right off the plane, going to tonight and then having.

[Shams Charania]

To do the show tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't know that.

[Connor]

Was that a safe flight?

[Pat McAfee]

There's.

[AJ Hawk]

There's a big party tonight.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, it was. That was awesome. I forgot about that. Shout out Captain Bill.

[Evan]

Hopefully we see him tonight.

[Ty Schmidt]

I forgot about that.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think he's guppy and I walked on a plane last night. Door open on tarmac, completely turned off. 24 degrees inside. Okay, Just walked inside. Nobody lives here anymore. We sat down. Never seen it before. I have no idea. Planes just sit there with the doors open on target. Do you know that? No.

[Evan]

I mean the only reason I knew that was because we've seen that one video. That guy who runs onto the under the airstrip, whatever just takes that plane and leaves.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so last night could have happened. Dumpy and I just roll up, doors open, we're like, all right, here we go. Walk. Rate it. Nobody just sitting there. And boy, this is pretty chilly. It got pretty chilly outside. There was frost on the inside of the windows.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, because Dora, I didn't ever did make any sense. It didn't make any sense. Timing was off there. But boy, when that plane got turned back on. Had a DIC inside.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, you bet.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, sure. And that's a 45 minute process. 34, 5:50, maybe an hour. Almost made it home before midnight. Almost. We're in Cleveland, short flight, you know, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose. I mean, it was me and Guppy been logging a lot of hours in the sky, brother, brother. And we're lucky to do it Pasadena. But boy, when you're just sitting on a tarmac in Cleveland in a freezing cold plane with no power on it, you really start to wonder what the fuck's going on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But then you think to yourself, when I get home, I'm be so excited. I'm not gonna sleep tonight anyways.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

So where are we headed? To a happy place called super bowl week. Last night, a big part of super bowl week happened. Media day. You know, back in the day, this was run during the day. You know, this is actually something that happened during the day. On Tuesdays. Select guys would talk. Everybody else would just kind of sit in the stadium or walk around the convention center uninterrupted. Just kind of something. As it's continued to grow, Obviously every single country that watches the super bowl, which I assume is 90% of the countries in the world, have some sort of representative. Normally there's some zany stuff. Obviously there was a band down there, local band that played in. I assume it was a very famous band. I apologize for not knowing exactly who it is, but nonetheless, it's become a thing. Media Day has become absurd, if you will. And it also provides a lot of access to a lot of guys that don't get to talk about a lot of things. I enjoyed it last night. I enjoyed the clips. Didn't get to see it live because I was doing Monday Night Raw. Jameis Winston was active out there. How do we feel about Jameis out there?

[Connor]

I like James throwing some W cookies up to a couple of receivers, asking some questions that, you know, got some traction. Oh, yeah, he was cool.

[Pat McAfee]

I think they thought. I think there was a couple. That maybe he was fed by people. And we need to tell these people, don't fucking ruin James Winston.

[AJ Hawk]

Bingo.

[Evan]

Please.

[James]

Okay, let him go. Give him the mic.

[Pat McAfee]

Please, just let. Don't. We don't need you.

[Evan]

He'll figure it out.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay? We know you went to journalism school and we make TV stuff. Let Jamis, just Jamis, please. Because we can tell when he was.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

And then you see the clip that was like, oh, that was some super genius that had an idea and told Jamis he should ask us in a public, public place. And then they post it and everything. Jamis does is magical. And we're getting to a point where he's going to be in media. Let's not try to kill this guy, please. Okay? Let's not try to kill this guy.

[AJ Hawk]

Great.

[Pat McAfee]

He is going to be an asset to football media, sports media. The world just has a whole.

[James]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

And he crushed it last night. Now congrats to Jamis. We can't wait for you to get full time behind a microphone out there. Great questions, great energy, great vibes and also mass amount of respect. You know, every player basically as soon as they saw Jameis. What up? No kind of having a conversation. And that's how it'll be forever with Jameis. As long as we don't ruin it.

[Evan]

So ruin it can happen.

[Pat McAfee]

We've seen it happen. Yeah. Don't think it can't happen with Jameis because you know what I mean? I don't think you can.

[James]

You can't take Jamis away from. From James. You can't. Hopefully that's who he is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. James too good. James too good. You know, hopefully his dark side response, you know, being on dark side of the media.

[Gumpy]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Him saying he came out of the womb on the dark side, but you know, he is excited to get anything. I mean, just so perfectly. Jamis just in the middle. Bang, boom, boom. Moving question. Throwing dubs. Love it. People's favorite color. Okay. All right.

[Evan]

Excuse me.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. That doesn't feel like that is. But nonetheless, that's from him.

[James]

You don't think he came up with that?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know.

[James]

Brain buster.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know, but I do. I love. I love Jameis. We all love Jameis. I'm happy he was there and I hope they give him a microphone more often. But let's. Let's watch what we're pouring around him. Let's make sure we are taking care of Jameis. He is going to be a special talent whenever it comes to making content. Now Travis Kelce answers some questions. Here's Travis Kelce talking about is he gonna retire, you know, his girlfriend, Maybe more. We don't know. We don't know that. Nobody knows that. I don't think had a tea tattooed on her thigh. You see it?

[Evan]

Nice little chain with a charm.

[James]

I don't know if it was tattoo.

[AJ Hawk]

I think it was a chain.

[Evan]

I think it was a chain.

[Ty Schmidt]

Could have been like a henna tattoo.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that'd be sweet. A tea with a charm, you know. And I believe there's a song that has something about that in the entirety of it. But this guy, he's on stages around the world. He's smitten with the biggest star on earth. This guy, he's playing enough football. He wants to retire. That's what everybody. Everybody's trying to put a deadline, an expiration date on Travis Kelsey's career. Here's him addressing that subject last night. Where will I be in three years?

[Evan]

Oh, man, I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Hopefully still playing football.

[Evan]

I. I love. I love doing this.

[Pat McAfee]

I love coming into work every day.

[Evan]

And, you know, I still.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like I still got a lot of good football left in me.

[Evan]

But we'll see what happens. I. I know I've been setting myself.

[Pat McAfee]

Up for other opportunities in my life.

[Evan]

And that's always been the goal. Knowing that football only lasts for so long.

[Pat McAfee]

You got to find a way to get into another career, into another, you know, profession. And I've been doing that in my.

[Evan]

Off seasons, but for the most part, I plan on being a Kansas City.

[Pat McAfee]

Chief and playing football. Okay, so that's three years. He was asked, so that you would say next year. He's still thinking about ball. Very clearly. Ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Hunt family Hunt. It was asked about Andy Reid coming back next year. So what we're talking about right now, seemingly with this Chiefs team, is what we're about to see for, what, the next 10 years. D Bucks. Is that what it sounds like from these. These guys?

[Connor]

Yeah, I mean, I was. I'm sure Chiefs fans love to hear that. I'm sure he wants to, you know, break some more records and. Yeah, he has been setting himself up off the field. Then Andy Reid. I mean, you never know when those guys decide to walk away and. And, you know, decide that, hey, something, spend some more time with family. But, I mean, they're on the precipice of history.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. And some people get addicted to the confetti, too, A.J. and it feels like these guys remember after last year's super bowl, immediately after the super bowl win, they were doing an interview maybe with Berman. Berman might have been on the sideline for, you know, his show NFL.

[Ty Schmidt]

NFL Prime Time.

[Pat McAfee]

Prime Time, which needs more airtime.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, it does.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because Chris Berman on there. But immediately after winning that super bowl, him and Patrick both were like, nobody's ever won three straight. You know, like, that was immediately after winning it. These guys want to be great. These guys want to be historic. And I think he even answered a question about, like, holding up his end of the bargain with dating Taylor Swift. Everybody thinks he wants to retire. Because of Taylor Swift. Instead, it's complete opposite. It's like, I kind of got to hold up my end of the shit here. You're talking about biggest, most famous, wealthiest, most successful, greatest.

[James]

He wants to show her what he does, Right? He wants to show her what he does. Great. Like, why would he want to stop? Like, she just stepped into his life whenever. This was a year, two years ago.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[James]

He wants to be like, hey, this is. This is what I do. Why would he want to walk away?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I don't know why. That was the angle people were having, like, well, he's dating Taylor now, so he's probably done. It's like, you don't think Taylor is making him better? Probably like, you know, you don't think he's probably. Literally. And I know people hate talking about Taylor Swift, even though the population of the game or how popular the game is bigger than ever. The amount of things that she has done positively for the game of football and the sport as a whole, so huge. Let alone little girls. Just connectivity between dads. I mean, just all good, I think, you know? Now, granted, there's people that are gonna say bad, but it's like, she's a dog, okay? She is a beast. You watch. I got. I watched a documentary about her because my wife is a massive fan. It's like, those songs ain't writing themselves, okay? And it's her and the marketing behind it. These marketing schemes and business plan and strategy and everything. It's like, those aren't coming from. Those are coming from her. She's a workhorse, an absolute workhorse who's, like, a perfectionist, everything. She's a dog. She is an absolute dog, which is why I think she only motivates Travis to continue to go and to continue, as he would say, to hold up his end of the bargain in the entire thing. And there, you know, two greats, two goats. Dating is a beautiful thing for society. People want to hate them, though. You know, People want to hate them bad for it all. And I guess that's always going to exist, But I think Travis is only going to get better because of his relationship with Taylor. And I think he'll probably say it's already happened.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I mean, there's, like, that, you know, notion that, like, all these guys want to win a Super bowl and then just, like, walk off into the sunset, retire. But it's like, if you look at how the Chiefs are positioned right now, he's only, what, 35? Like, he's still got. It's not like, he's been super injured throughout his career. Like, if you could, if they do win this super bowl and they win three in a row and you know Mahomes is going to be there, you know, all these other guys are going to be there. Andy Reid's going to be there. Like it, why not try to win five Super Bowls in a row? You know, it's like he still feels like he can play. It's not like his productivity has dropped off drastically. Like, we're just talking about how, yeah, maybe he didn't have the greatest regular season of his career this year, but boom, once the playoffs get here, like, hey, this matters.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Flip the switch. And you know, you talk about that big moment and I mean, doing that obviously is hilarious and awesome in a big game and he's done it numerous times. But like in the biggest moments, that energy he feels, he lives off of. I think, you know, if you talk about where, where's he gonna chase that dragon at if he's not playing football, you know, like, of course he'll be able to go on stage with Taylor.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And you'll be able to do things like that. But when's, where's he going to be able to get his sense of competition and fulfillment whenever it comes? Just like, I don't know, I didn't like the notion everybody just assumed he was going to be done just because he's dating Taylor. He signed a two year deal last April, I guess with the Chiefs. I assume they'll keep him around for as long as he would want to play, but they were calling for his demise this year pretty, pretty loudly. And then the playoffs happening. Oh, who's taking over games? Travis Kelsey is again. Yeah.

[Evan]

And then even just think about like earlier in the year when Rasheed Rice was healthy. Like he is just now kind of entering the like passing on the torch of information that he has. Like Rasheed Rice came out and talked about how like him and Travis would work together and kind of, he would show him or kind of explain where he's sitting down, why he's sitting down, when to sit down. Then Rasheed Rice was off to a historic start before he, you know, got his seasonality injury. So it's one of those things too where he's just now starting that like kind of passing of the torch and giving all that information and knowledge back to the game.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Where he's at in his career, he would want to a guy that, you know, because Rasheed Rice had become kind of the focal point of the Passing offense, and Travis would almost be the number two. And then once again, once the games really start to matter, once the rubber meets the road, playoff time, super bowl time, he comes in, he takes over games. But yeah, at that point in the career, and you mentioned it, Patrick Mahomes got another 10 years. He'll be playing left. Andy Reid, he'll be at a coach as long as he wants to. Chris Jones on the other side of the football. Why not ride this thing till the wolves fall off?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And greats want to be great, you know, and if they win another Super Bowl, I just. I feel like he's. Yeah, we need to go get four. Yeah, let's just. Let's continue to do this.

[James]

Gives you more motivation, man. I feel like these guys especially, like, the more Super Bowls that win, they win, the more they want to win because everything else is just garbage. We don't win at all.

[Pat McAfee]

This is.

[James]

That means nothing.

[Pat McAfee]

And then if they lose the super bowl, it's like, well, we can't go out like that. Yeah. And, you know, there's just always something. There's always. For these particular humans, there's always something that is life or death to chase. Like, there's always. Well, obviously I had to. Oh, yeah, of course. Well, obviously I had to. We didn't make the playoffs, so there's no way I was going. We lost in the wild card round. That's not who we. So, like, anything is potential life or death motivation for these types of guys. And I think we should talk about Travis as if he is one of those guys, because he is. That's just matter of fact.

[Ty Schmidt]

Look at his brother too. You know, it's like he did a bunch to like, keep him, you know, kind of still football at Jason and, like, take his mind off the fact he wasn't playing. But he's mentioned, like, hey, there's like, still a big chunk of me that wishes I wouldn't accept away. Like, you think I don't want to be out there with this Eagles team playing in the Super Bowl. Like, when you know that you're on a team that's gonna like the ch. Barring an absolute catastrophe, the Chiefs are gonna have an opportunity to, you know, win another super bowl next year. Like, they just are. They're in that position. So the regret that you would potentially have, like, his brother probably has a little bit. And I'm not saying he's not happy or at peace with his choice, but, like, you think next year, if the Chiefs are back in the super bowl, he's not maybe like. And if he did retire, sitting on his couch, like, fuck, I wish.

[Pat McAfee]

I wish I was a nice couch, though.

[Ty Schmidt]

Without a doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Which I think is what.

[Ty Schmidt]

Without a doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it would be. But he's been rich for a long time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. It's going to be a nice couch no matter when he decides to retire.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He made over 100 million in career earnings before he started dating. Everybody's like, well, he's not comfortable. It's like this. Ohio has been comfortable. Like, how not as. But life has been good for Travis Kelce and comfortable for some time because he's earned it. But now, obviously he's with the biggest star on earth and we're incredibly proud of both of them. Hey, Keep killing it, YouTube. We appreciate it. It's good. It's good for everything. Now let's go over the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, a lot is made about Statland University, the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles Eagles. And they have the best offensive line in football, if you ask anybody. And they also won the trenchy for the best offensive line in all of football. One of the biggest moves they did was put Makai Becton, former tackle, in a guard. It has gone swimmingly. Let's hear from Coach Stylin how that came to be. Well, I didn't never, I'm going to lie to you, I didn't never knew that a 6, 7. If you go back and look through the history books of a 6, 7 guard production, you're not going to find too many. And it was during OTAs where Nick said to me, coach Sirianna said to me, let's just try him out for a couple practices. Let's just see how he does. And I was like, cool, let's go. Okay. Statland's all in rowing in the same direction.

[Ty Schmidt]

Maybe Coach Sirianni, maybe he's not big dumb dipshit.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe knows ball a little bit.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, well, but I thought he didn't do anything, but he just kind of stood on the sideline and was a cheerleader, jumping up and down, yelling at fans.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I saw somebody tweet, actually, after I put this tweet out, they said he's 6 foot 7. Anybody would do that. It was like, well, if you listen to that, actually, nobody would actually get that. Three years do that. Stoutland was like, yeah, let's go ahead and do it because he loves him. Now let's hear how he rose. Because remember, the guy is a.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's a big dumb dipshit, right?

[Pat McAfee]

The head Coach of the team that is in the super bowl two times in the first four years of him being the head coach. He's in just.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, he's a big dumb dipshit. That's all happening.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. Let's hear what Howie Roseman has to say. Particularly impressive. I think the first thing is that he. He's really keen on connection. He's on connection with his staff, with me, with Jeffrey and with the player. And you see that because the best teams also are the most together teams. And so like he really feels that strong. He also truff, you know, he pressed me to do my job. He doesn't second guess. He doesn't second guess his coaches, his coordinator. He does a great job with the detail of the team. He does a great job with the strategy with the team. He puts the players in position where he tells them what's going to happen during the week and then it happens. So he has incredible credibility. And I think that what a lot of people see as his fire and passion on game day, we see as a positive during the week and how much energy we bring to this game that he loves. You know, he's done an unbelievable job. Huh?

[James]

Oh, wait, wait. But I thought.

[Pat McAfee]

I thought.

[James]

Sir, I knew he was.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's just a big dumb.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Well, it seems as if he's maybe.

[Ty Schmidt]

Maybe, maybe not big dumb dip.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what Howie just said that.

[Ty Schmidt]

He wasn't kind of just said that he's actually like a. I don't know, Beautiful mind, brilliant football coach. So not so not big dumb. Actually the complete opposite of a big numb dip.

[Pat McAfee]

How is it, you know, we're just learning about Makai Becton being a Sirianni idea. Yeah. Moving him into guard. Just hearing about that now, you know, that would have been a nice piece of information, you know, to potentially be out there as your offensive line is dominating games in winning games when every lower third that is on TV says the dumbest guy in all a ball is the head coach at Nick Sirianni, question mark. That's lower third. That is it all. Do you think so stupid. It is crazy. Is it? Because the way he talks, the way. What do you think? The way he acts obviously is a little bit different. He does have the moment with the crowds after games. He is talking shit. But he's a former player. He's a former wide receiver.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like why do you think he does get judged? And how good does this all feel now? I assume for Sirianni, for people to give him a Little bit of credit, especially from within.

[Connor]

I mean, it's got to be a part. You know, part of it is the market he's in. You know, it's a huge market. It's a huge. It is a job that everybody wants and it's a certain way that people think people should go about doing their job. But when we're in the business, in a league where you're trying to hire and fire seven or eight coaches every year to find the right guy, to cultivate the right guy to build a team, if you can just put a bunch of talented guys together, shit, the Eagles, when they put the dream team together, quote, unquote, like, you gotta have the right guy in there to steer the ship, to send that messaging, to take care of all the little. That we don't see. We don't see most of it. All we see is the press conferences, you know, after games, after practices, talking about injuries and things like that. And, and even that move that beckon going to guard the fact that Sirianni didn't care that it wasn't out there, you know, this whole time. And you got, you know, the best online that. Like that. I think that speaks volumes what Saquan has said, him Even talking about Devonte Smith and A.J. brown dumping the Gatorade on him, like, how much that meant to. And Sirianna has been a wide receivers guy throughout his coaching tenure, but knowing, like, hey, this team, let's build this team through behind this offensive line and behind our run game, let's get our explosive plays there. And you just kind of got. Everybody's got to sacrifice at some point when it comes to winning a championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but not everybody does in a lot of different places.

[Connor]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

People aren't willing to do as such.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's, that's what, that's what tears teams at, you know, apart at the seams a lot of times. So the fact that, you know, you can get these different egos to kind of take a different step back for the greater good and once, you know, they're important, if they win on Sunday, you know, it all, it. It's all not, you know, it's all for the greater cause, obviously. But Sirianni's done a great job.

[Pat McAfee]

I think so too. I, I really enjoy him.

[Evan]

He's the man I really enjoy.

[Pat McAfee]

I also, I also love that they just took shots at him all year.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, because the way Sirianni is, We know how he is. If they win that game the way he'll.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, man.

[James]

Oh, yeah. Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

So. And then he'll say something.

[Ty Schmidt]

He might say that in the press conference.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, I. I thought I was just a big dumb dick.

[Pat McAfee]

Hopefully.

[Connor]

Oh, lie. D Line.

[Pat McAfee]

Howie. O Line. D Line.

[Connor]

Even Howie. A lot of people took shots at Howie for. For years, you know, like, oh, the. Exactly. The way he. He's put this team together, the chance that he's take, you know, taking, paying, paying a running back, you know, because now everybody can look at it and say, obviously, Saquon Barkley, he's the number two draft pick. He's the most talented back in the league. But for a lot, for a while, for years in New York when he was banged up, a lot of people didn't look at, hey, 13 years, 13 million a year, when you already paid your quarterback 50 plus a year is the right move. So shout out to Howie, too, and all the other things that he did, draft wise and free agent wise.

[Pat McAfee]

And also selling Saquon, because there's a lot of reports coming out there. There's probably two other offers that were bigger than the Eagles offer, but obviously Saquon being from the area and wanting to go play for the Eagles is the reason why he took it. So how he had to sell him. Sirianni had to sell him. Kellen had to sell him. That obviously ends up paying off. And you talk about how together that team is. Yeah, talk about how together that team is. AJ you know what the secret gravy. I'm sorry, the secret sauce is for that Philadelphia Eagles team.

[James]

AJ what would that be?

[Pat McAfee]

Let me tell you. Paisano's all over the place. Hey, Glad. See we got some mozzarella in the locker room. We. They got. Obviously Sirianni is the head coach. Big Dom does every. We don't know what he. He does everything.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everything.

[AJ Hawk]

Everything.

[Evan]

Got a headset.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got the most Italian job of all time.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Big Dom. What's he do it. Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's a capo.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What is it? He does it.

[Evan]

Don't worry about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Dom does it.

[Connor]

Take care of the thing, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

He does. Whenever it needs to happen, it happens. Why? Big Dom. Dom does it. And then you got Vic Fangio running the defense, and you got a bunch of these dogs on the defensive side of the ball doing impressions of Vic Fangio. And it's like the togetherness of this team, they're saying maybe it's. Maybe it's because it is a paisano run operation over there. Anthony De Julio. I know whenever you read this, you started. You Know, sweating. A little linguine out there. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, see, just like that, you guys, you take your shots at the Italians.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's. You guys? I'm 0.01% of time.

[AJ Hawk]

You just said sweating linguini.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I said you got excited and started sweating because of the linguini. That's what I meant to say.

[AJ Hawk]

But there is there no one like the Italians as far as, you know, family focused and, like, loyal together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody cares about family.

[James]

More Sunday dinner.

[Evan]

True.

[Pat McAfee]

That's. What are you talking about?

[AJ Hawk]

There's something this guy would know nothing about. Little respect to the hierarchy, to your elders, to your family, stuff like that.

[Gumpy]

That's not true.

[AJ Hawk]

That's how you build a team. Thank you. No, we don't know exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, those exist.

[Evan]

Those exist.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And they made.

[Evan]

And they made up words for them. That's a good point. Comp. The only thing this is telling me is that.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's they? The way you just.

[Evan]

I'm just saying I'm sure that locker room smells great after. Because I got orders ounces and ounces of cologne being sprayed all over, which, again, no problem with it. That's a fantastic thing. I'm sure everyone loves to smell like Versace and all those other things and, you know, maybe that's why it's so funny in there. Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Evan]

All I think everybody is. I think Dom walks around to every single player. Like, come on, you got to get some of this a fresh. Get some of this. It's brand new.

[Pat McAfee]

Got some K1. Oh, the Italian.

[AJ Hawk]

First off, we would never do that because we want our own signature smell. We keep our cologne to ourselves.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys wear Dove. Dove body spray. I'm saying big Doms. Why? You want some? Davini?

[Evan]

Want some of this?

[Pat McAfee]

You want some of this?

[Ty Schmidt]

Don't get some of this.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, hey. You smell like ash. Okay. Huh? You keep walking in here with that ash, we keep spraying you with this. Okay? Congrats to the Italians winning the other. Again.

[Ty Schmidt]

Again.

[Pat McAfee]

Again? What do you mean, again? They took over Pittsburgh. They run Pittsburgh. Yeah. The Italians run that down. New York, Chicago, they win.

[Connor]

I don't know.

[Evan]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Boston, you guys got the lucky charm up here. I get it. You got the leprechaun running around.

[Ty Schmidt]

A lot of Italians in Kansas City. Certainly is Coach Bagnolo.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Guy knows ball. Yeah.

[Evan]

Who comes from Massachusetts.

[AJ Hawk]

That's why we never mention him.

[Pat McAfee]

How come. How come Bill pronounces to's name wrong? Or am I saying his name wrong?

[AJ Hawk]

We must be right.

[Pat McAfee]

Why does he keep saying Dave Talb? Because it is spelled that way. But I've always heard tube.

[Connor]

He hangs out with Lambo a lot.

[Evan]

Yeah, from the same great point.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's ask Lombo his thoughts on he. Can you FaceTime longbow real quick so we can talk about these Italians in Philadelphia? What a city for it to happen. Philadelphia, too, over there by. Oh, my God. I mean, that is. Nick sent me the other day. The. The density of the population being Italian, and it was a. It was a map across the United States of America. It was like the deeper the red, the higher the percentage of the citizens are Italian in that particular city. Boy, that's the darkest red I've ever seen over Allegheny county, the Pittsburgh. But, I mean, it is. I think it was like 20 or something. I think 20% of the population. Pretty much the entire Northeast, Northeastern region.

[Ty Schmidt]

Little bit of the Southeast.

[Gumpy]

A little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

A little bit of the Midwest, bunch of the West Coast. And then you see where all the Fazolis are. Yeah, just. Just no red. Just no red.

[Evan]

Gorgeous at the Yellow Brick Road.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Olive Garden just looked around. Give us that map. Yep. Oh, geez is coming in here. Oh, geez is coming in here. Wait till you guys try our bottomless suit soup. And Sally the breadsticks you guys die for. It's just like Shanday dairy. Yeah, you guys are gonna love it. Come on in here, doofuses. Come on in here, fat whites. Come on. Get all you can. You know, did we tell you about the linguine de fettuccine? Huh?

[AJ Hawk]

Huh?

[Evan]

Huh?

[Pat McAfee]

You're gonna love it. That's bottomless, too. You give us an extra 20 bucks, I could eat however much pasta. I fucking love these Grazzi. Is that what I do?

[Evan]

Sure.

[James]

It's pretty true.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. That is Olive Garden. Oh, yeah. That's a business plan. What was that like? Burger King's business plan was they would go find where McDonald's were and went across the street because McDonald's did all the work on who is in this area. Would they shop at McDonald's? Sweet. They did that. We'll just go right across the street. I bet you fazzolinis in Olive Garden were like, where are they not Italians at? Okay, let's boom, boom, full business. I will say, as somebody that has lived in an Italian town and somebody has lived in no Italian town. No. Italian towns are missing out on a lot. A lot and a lot. They're missing out on a lot.

[Evan]

Some bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeez.

[Evan]

Some bad things.

[Pat McAfee]

What Are you talking about, like, what?

[Evan]

I'm just saying, a lot of those cities you listed, they got some high crime.

[Darius Butler]

They do.

[Pat McAfee]

Every city has high crime now. Boston.

[James]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Safest city in America.

[Pat McAfee]

What? You said that three times now.

[Evan]

Because it just came out. I think it just came out yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

Which, by the way, the Irish probably pay Teamsters probably paid.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

A safest town in America. I can't run it.

[Evan]

We teamed up finally.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Evan]

We're all on the same team here.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what? That's how it should be.

[Evan]

All right. Amen.

[Pat McAfee]

We are all insane team Hell yeah.

[James]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Just like the Hulkster said.

[Ty Schmidt]

Binko.

[Connor]

No, that's.

[Pat McAfee]

That's.

[Ty Schmidt]

What do you mean?

[Pat McAfee]

That's what he said?

[Evan]

What are you talking about? Deepod.

[James]

Yeah, well, you don't want to be.

[Evan]

On the holsters team.

[Connor]

I think we should rewind it and go back to being back all on the same team.

[AJ Hawk]

Loves Bret Hart to death, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, the guy's a big NBA fan.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So I see you wearing the Kevin Durant shoes. You and NBA fan.

[Connor]

Hey, was, you know, courtside.

[AJ Hawk]

I also didn't know that you don't drink.

[Connor]

No, no, no, no.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[James]

What happened?

[Connor]

I just gave it up.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't want to drink real. All right, Hulkster. There's no way he can read comments on anything.

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Still be the.

[James]

Well, I guess regrets that leg drop, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Number one regret.

[James]

Number one regret.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, those 24 inch pythons should put him to sleep.

[Pat McAfee]

Not any regrets or anything. Yeah, my number one regret is I took too many bumps, brother. That's what they say about Hulk.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[James]

I didn't think that's where he was going with it. That's where he was gonna go.

[Pat McAfee]

Me neither, brother. Anyways, Hulkster, thanks for taking all those bumps for us back in the day.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you, Hulkster.

[Pat McAfee]

I think there was some other stuff that happened. Some other things. Things you should talk about. We provide an opportunity. Was not talked about.

[Connor]

But I heard he had a heartfelt apology.

[Evan]

It's a good point.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, I roll in a Monday night raw. Everybody's got opinions. Hulkster, huh?

[Evan]

Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Did you hear about. I'm like, no. Okay. And hey, go talk to. I go over Hoax around. Did you hear? No, I did not. Everybody has story all glowing. I don't know what. Yeah. All right. Tomorrow we'll be live in New Orleans.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hell yeah. Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't wait for it.

[AJ Hawk]

I saw the humidity is only 90, so just.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what? I'll take it. Yeah, I will take it. It Felt like I was cold for literally seven weeks straight, you know?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Since Tennessee, Ohio State.

[AJ Hawk]

You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

There was like four week period where I was just cold. I. I was literally just cold. Cuz the night before Notre Dame, Indiana, freezing cold. It's overshadowed. It was freezing. Overshadowed by how cold it was. Tennessee, Ohio State and then it just remember we go to Miami, it's cold.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We go to Dallas, there's an ice storm. Cold. Everywhere was Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta, cold. Everywhere was cold. I was cold just for like five weeks. And I never get cold. I even started.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I started the whole. For like two, two weeks I was like this. And I'm like, what is my problem? I feel like I'm getting old. I feel like I'm getting soft. And I realized now it's just been cold everywhere. So it's nice to hear. That's gonna be nice. You know, I'm gonna turn. Yeah. Rather than that brick right back here from the inside and from the outside I'm gonna get. I'm gonna get broiled and baked.

[Gumpy]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Nice and cool in the convention center though. But I'm sure if I had to guess, it was last time we were.

[AJ Hawk]

As long as we're not in the parking garage.

[Pat McAfee]

Correct. Yeah. I seen some people parked up in level D of the parking garage. You see this H? Yeah.

[James]

Work a work room. Is that what it is?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Super bowl of first. The media work room is located road D of the Superdome parking garage. I will say there's a pleasant breeze in here. So I will say Rich Eisen did a show in a parking garage.

[AJ Hawk]

He did.

[Pat McAfee]

Was that in Los Angeles?

[Ty Schmidt]

Miami.

[Pat McAfee]

Miami. Okay. So I remember seeing that and I remember walking. I was told to where I was headed to. Lucky to be asked on Rich. Rich's show always been cool to me. So I appreciate Rich. We're walking through this parking garage though and I'm like Mickey Moss. This seems like Mickey Mouse. We're doing a parking garage. I'd rather just do it. Why'd you come? Should have just done it home. And I got there. Massive space. The set was awesome. Massive. Huge space now at that. That doesn't look like it's anywhere near what his set was. But it's like if they shut down in the whole fucking level. I mean that's huge space. So much room they have. Obviously TV's rolling and Internet. So like this is not abnormal. I don't now maybe all the journalists being stuck in this thing, but utilizing parking garages for spaces during massive events. In cities. I don't think it is an abnormal thing. But I will say, if I walked in and I didn't know I was going to be in a parking garage all week, you could certainly see a reaction being like, so I'm inside, outside all week in a part, I'm staring at this cement pillar. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, interesting, but I don't think it's the first. That Rich Eisen set was so nice.

[Ty Schmidt]

Awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It was huge. Great idea. Great idea. I don't even know who would have thought of that. Well, it probably happened before, which sure leads to this thing. Yeah. We should swing by Road D, though, just see how everybody's doing.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. For definitely.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a group of people that really like us. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

They're having a party tonight.

[Evan]

Be the first thing I go do.

[Pat McAfee]

Who?

[AJ Hawk]

There's a media party tonight, I believe.

[Pat McAfee]

I haven't even.

[AJ Hawk]

We've got a thousand emails.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[AJ Hawk]

NFL communication emails there are just rolling in right now.

[Evan]

Yeah, I've read them all.

[Pat McAfee]

What a perfect, perfect part. Just. You nailed that. I want you.

[James]

That was good.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. Really good sound.

[Evan]

I appreciate that.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't go to any of the parties.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, we did not.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't interact with anybody there. We just show up, say that person talks to us. All right, Dan Marino. Can't wait. She'll be fun. This year, though, we're going in there with much better attitude.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, well, we're not. You know, just kind of in our own little world. You know, usually we're in like an Airbnb just way the away from everybody else. I mean, we're gonna see a lot of people, I would think.

[Lombo]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Not me, Bob.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, that hotel door is going to be shut. Blinds are going to be closed. I will see you boys in the morning. Show's gonna end. Maybe stop by that casino.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Need to maybe crack a couple skulls.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a winning casino. Hey, that's a giving casino down there, aj. It is.

[James]

Hopefully they don't tighten it up for the big Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

I am a little bit worried. I actually thought about that. With how many people coming into town, are they still going to be able to be a good casino? WrestleMania they were. That was a big event. Every time I've been to this casino, I've won. Yep. I don't think there's ever been a time I've walked out of there not winning. I don't think I've seen a loser. You see. You see people walk out of casino with smiles like Most casinos you walk in, people walking out dead, lifeless. Just lost something from their family or. No, just. See you later. Oh, buddy, we're gonna have a good time in here. All right. Let's just go ahead and consider this a donation, I guess as well. You walk in that New Orleans one, it's. There's Joe.

[Evan]

There's good vibe.

[Pat McAfee]

It's alive. It's alive on wait. Now, granted, that can all change. All you need is what, a new sage to be kind of blown over a casino. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Or a guy like Bill be playing next to you.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, I do remember that. Yeah. That was in Vegas, though.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was. You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

Different place that's going to happen in Vegas. Yeah. All right. Hey, D. Bunch, great season here at the thunder. Do you want to do a giveaway on way out or what?

[Connor]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you want to do?

[Connor]

Throw a football.

[Evan]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

You will.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's do it.

[Connor]

To the final bosses, babe.

[AJ Hawk]

Nah, it's kind of protected.

[Pat McAfee]

That'd be tough.

[Connor]

It's all right.

[Pat McAfee]

You think you pull in the final.

[Ty Schmidt]

Box, it's gonna have to be a layered throw.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Holy. You're going for here. You know, we had. We were throwing a ball around little bit here on stage. You know, we were throwing a ball around a little bit. Just like we did with that field pass. Do you remember that? Mississippi state, Alabama, full final quarter. We had a. I mean, that might be the most completions in the history of broadcast. It is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We had like what, 130 straight. Yeah.

[Evan]

And then we found out that actually the combined score of the last six Bama Mississippi State games was about 130. Nothing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So we should have done that research going in knowing it were probably in for a snooze fest debut. Loosening up. Smart idea, AJ Anything you say to D. BU who looks very cool today. Very, very.

[James]

Oh, he does not need anything. Said him. We know he's going to drain this first shot to set the super bowl week on fire.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, for 30 people to win $500 on this Super bowl week. Tuesday, January, February 4th. Yep.

[James]

Oh, boy.

[Pat McAfee]

A few days left this season. We're in down no more. Celebrate the super bowl. Hell yeah. It's only right that we allow 30 people at home to celebrate and set them up to win $500 each D. Bu all you got to do is put that Baby Duke 2.0 into the final boss's bin.

[Connor]

Water fountain.

[Evan]

Oh, that's not working.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what. Water fountain was shooting out a Little salty water. Did you guys know that with our temperature system k. Fahrenheit water freezes at 32 degrees?

[Evan]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Salty water freezes zero. Yeah.

[James]

Do you know that how much salt does it. Does it depend, though?

[AJ Hawk]

Well, you tell me.

[Pat McAfee]

Edge. Geez.

[James]

I would imagine it was depending on, you know, the density, how much salt.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Evan]

All right, Bill guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. The buoyancy also matters of the entirety.

[AJ Hawk]

Of SE Never freezes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Bingo. And it's not about the density. It's about the depth. Sure. And that's what this show has showcased on numerous occasions.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well said.

[Lombo]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

True D. Bu. Why don't you win 30 people $500 when you put that football into the final Boss says that's interception. See, that's Mitchell right there. Yeah.

[Evan]

That's the block.

[Pat McAfee]

That's everything. DB Good D. Yeah. By the net, ladies and gentlemen. All Darius Butler has to do is put that football. The Baby Duke 2.0 into the final. Boss has been.

[Evan]

Oh, you broke the final ball.

[Pat McAfee]

Good ball.

[AJ Hawk]

The final boss cannot be broken.

[Evan]

Well, look at me.

[Pat McAfee]

Car. Darius. Dex, you're starting to start. You're starting to go too quick here. You're not even thinking about what you're doing here. 30 people. 500. Just quick. 15 grand before we head down to New Orleans for the beautiful people at home. Do it for. There's one more.

[Evan]

There's one more.

[Pat McAfee]

We got one more shot at this baby. Dude. 2.0. Into the final boss's bed. It was close. It was close.

[Evan]

Crying Budge.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a loss. It's a loss. And now we know. Now we know. At Anacost. At Anacost. That was hard. That was hard to throw that ball. Now we'll go down to NOLA and we'll do some giveaways down there. Listen, don't think it's over for the season. Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, no.

[Pat McAfee]

We got basketball hoop down at the. We got time at the set down in New Orleans.

[Connor]

Luca.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh. Whoa.

[Evan]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. It's gonna hit so much different now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That Laker across the front.

[Gumpy]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Mid already bought three jerseys. Yep. Yep.

[AJ Hawk]

Told me they tell you what he put on the back.

[Connor]

He did, Yeah. I asked why I wasn't here. He said, it's getting made. Custom.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Because he didn't know how to spell.

[Pat McAfee]

I think you could just select it as an option, but I would assume so. But he said, I want to make a custom one with his name on it. That's myth football. And then he said, I don't know if the eye has the left or right. Lean on it.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know. It's not like you can look that up anywhere and figure it out either.

[Pat McAfee]

So I put Luca across the back. Let's go, Luca.

[Evan]

L, O, O, K. That's mid football.

[James]

I hope that's real.

[AJ Hawk]

It is.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't know.

[Ty Schmidt]

Find out.

[Pat McAfee]

We have no idea. We'll see.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That's called a tease. All right. Speaking of tease. Can't believe I'm in that commercial. It's awesome. That was cool that that happened. That was really cool. Let's not make that a habit or. It felt so weird, the amount of people. I don't want to get into it. So many people depending upon, like, you know, hey, let's make sure we nail the exact spot you're stopping on. Okay? I put this light here, okay? This is where you need to be. Like, the way they're saying to me, hey, my job here is to light this fucking spot. So why don't you just go to the spot? Okay. Thank you. Make everybody's life easier, including mine. It's like, oh, didn't even think about that. And then audio. Same exact thing. It's like, let's make sure we're hitting our beats. This person's walking at this exact time. You need to make sure you. This person's right here. Let's not. And I'm running and sliding down the hallway. Can you stop fucking right here, please? We got this thing in the sky, okay? No pressure. Everybody's job depending upon you being something that you're not. All right, let's do it. But it was, like, it was cool to experience the process, like, the entire thing, the amount of professionalism across the board for every job. Every single job. It's like, matter of life and death. And it's like, listen, I. I hope they pay you no matter what happens here, okay? And if I this up, I will tell everybody that I this up. Just want to let you know that. Okay, I did flub a line. I flubbed the line I was so bummed about because I had to reset everything. And it's like, 100.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's got to happen.

[Pat McAfee]

100 people got to move and it's job. While I'm. I'm just walking down the middle of the hallway as all these people are reset. Reset. He's doing this entire thing. I'm like, you're the fucking worst human of all time.

[Evan]

They're used to it.

[Pat McAfee]

I know.

[James]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Not with me. And then not.

[AJ Hawk]

Because unless they're working strictly with Dan Marino, they're Used to it.

[Pat McAfee]

No flubs. Fucking send it. When's he on? Friday. And Gabe Morenci. Yeah, fucking send it. That's what we're gonna do. Down New Orleans, aj. We'll see you in a bit. All right. It's been a fun season. Let's celebrate the season that was down there, and let's try to provide the people that choose to watch the show, which, once again, we are so incredibly thankful. We have no idea why you're doing it, but we're thankful you do it. We'll provide some entertainment the next couple days, then we'll watch the Super Bowl. Then we'll have overreaction Monday. Then we're gonna be off for a bit. Then we're gonna be off for a little bit. Few days, then combine. Then the combine happens in Indianapolis, and we're right back in it. Rolling. All right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Shout out to SeatGeek. Pat. 250 code to get $250 off Super bowl tickets. Down to 9,344 bucks.

[Ty Schmidt]

Not bad.

[Pat McAfee]

It was up over 10,000 the last time we read this. It's down to 9,344 bucks. You can take 250 bucks off just Super bowl tickets with the code. Pat. That's for repeat customers or brand new customers of SeatGeek. If you've never shopped with SeatGeek, you need to know they're the greatest in the ticket buying platform. If you were to buy a ticket anywhere on planet Earth or the moon, you need to go through SeatGeek. Because they'll tell you if the deal you're or the ticket you're buying shit. Like, it'll literally say it's a bad deal. You can go somewhere else and find a better ticket. And then they can tell. They'll tell you if it's a great deal. Hey, we've scanned the Internet. This is a great deal. Green means good, red means bad. You'll never get catfished. And seatgeek has tickets to everything, not just the super bowl, literally everything. Broadway plays, comedy, concert musical, you name it, they got tickets for it. And they're the best. They're our first people that sponsored anything that I was a part of after I retired. Still with them to this day because they're damn good. They even survived a full world stoppage. Somehow a ticket buying platform, and it's like, good business, good people, good product, great tickets. Pat. 250. 250 bucks off super bowl tickets from our friends at seatgeek. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice, it might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. We'll see you down, New Orleans. One, two, three. Goodbye.