PMS 2.0 1388 - Marcus Spears, Milwaukee Brewers Closer Trevor Megill, Johnny Manziel, Pete Thamel, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – PMS 2.0 Episode 1388

Episode Details:

• Title: PMS 2.0 1388 - Marcus Spears, Milwaukee Brewers Closer Trevor Megill, Johnny Manziel, Pete Thamel, & AJ Hawk
• Host: Pat McAfee, ESPN
• Release Date: August 14, 2025

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1. Introduction and Overview

In this episode of The Pat McAfee Show, host Pat McAfee engages with a stellar lineup of guests, including former NFL players Marcus Spears and AJ Hawk, Milwaukee Brewers' closer Trevor McGill, sports journalist Pete Thamel, and the enigmatic Johnny Manziel. The discussion spans a diverse range of topics from NFL team strategies and college football controversies to personal anecdotes and the evolving landscape of sports broadcasting.

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2. Key Discussions

a. Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones' Media Strategy

Pat McAfee opens the show by delving into the Dallas Cowboys' unconventional media approach under owner Jerry Jones. He highlights Jones' recent Netflix documentary premiere and his statements regarding the team's priorities.

• Pat McAfee [00:13]: “Just like, hey, listen, yeah, we are an attention-grabbing business. This is a money-making operation here...”

The conversation explores Jones' emphasis on brand value over on-field success, sparking debate among fans and analysts alike.

b. Trevor McGill and Milwaukee Brewers' 12-Game Win Streak

Moving to baseball, Pat and guest Ty Schmidt discuss Trevor McGill's outstanding performance as the Brewers' closer amidst a historic 12-game winning streak.

• Ty Schmidt [03:23]: “I think I do, but I'm not positive.”
• Pat McAfee [03:25]: “Because when you hear it, you say that's not possible.”

They also touch upon the Brewers' tradition of celebrating significant victories with city-wide burger giveaways, a nod to past memorable promotions.

c. Johnny Manziel’s Personal Life and Friendship with Drake

Johnny Manziel shares insights into his life beyond football, including his deep friendship with rapper Drake and his ongoing tour.

• Johnny Manziel [66:45]: “I don't need any credit for that. I don't want to... I can eat shrimp cocktail, and my eyes don't explode.”

The discussion highlights Manziel's balance between his sports career, personal growth, and ventures into media and entertainment.

d. NCAA Rulings on Michigan Infractions Case with Pete Thamel

Sports journalist Pete Thamel provides a breakdown of the impending NCAA sanctions on the University of Michigan related to the Connor Stallion scandal.

• Pete Thamel [105:15]: “...the punishment, any potential punishment for Michigan, which I've said on this show before, is likely going to be a hefty fine.”

He anticipates the ruling to focus on institutional penalties rather than individual sanctions, maintaining Michigan's national championship status.

e. College Football Season's Unpredictability and Quarterback Changes

Tone Diggs and the guests discuss the volatile nature of the upcoming college football season, emphasizing the influx of new quarterbacks and their potential impact.

• Tone Diggs [10:27]: “…this is one of the most unpredictable seasons I think that we've had in a while.”

The segment underscores the uncertainty surrounding top programs and the emergence of fresh talents reshaping team dynamics.

f. Dallas Cowboys' Focus on Profit vs. Winning – Conversation with Boston Connor

Boston Connor, discussing the influence of Jerry Jones, critiques the Cowboys' prioritization of financial gains over championship ambitions.

• Boston Connor [22:00]: “...they're not trying to win football all the time or are we just trying to stir up shit all the damn time?”

The dialogue reflects concerns about the long-term competitiveness of the franchise under its current management philosophy.

g. Cam Heyward's Contract Situation with the Steelers and Impact on Team

The show addresses Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive lineman Cam Heyward's contract dispute, highlighting his significant contributions versus his compensation.

• Pat McAfee [33:56]: “Cam Heyward comes out and says, I told him I wanted a little bit more money...”

They discuss the broader implications for the team’s defense and fan sentiments amidst ongoing negotiations.

h. Trevor McGill’s Performance and Routine as Brewers' Closer

Trevor McGill details his approach to handling game pressure, his routine, and the mental aspects of being a closer in high-stakes situations.

• Pete Thamel [46:44]: “...it's just staying in the routine is big for me.”

McGill emphasizes the importance of maintaining composure and consistency to excel in his role.

i. AI and Technology in Sports

Towards the episode's end, the hosts briefly touch upon the integration of Artificial Intelligence in sports analytics and management, hinting at future discussions on the topic.

• Pat McAfee [142:54]: “We've leaned in a little bit.”

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3. Notable Quotes

• Pat McAfee [00:13]: “Football. It is magical and there's a lot to talk about around the entire NFL...”

• Pat McAfee [10:27]: “...this is one of the most unpredictable seasons I think that we've had in a while.”

• Boston Connor [22:00]: “...they're not trying to win football all the time or are we just trying to stir up shit all the damn time?”

• Pete Thamel [105:15]: “...the punishment... is likely going to be a hefty fine.”

• Johnny Manziel [66:45]: “I don't need any credit for that. I don't want to... I can eat shrimp cocktail, and my eyes don't explode.”

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4. Conclusion

Episode 1388 of The Pat McAfee Show delivers a dynamic mix of sports analysis, personal narratives, and insider perspectives. From dissecting the Dallas Cowboys' strategic priorities to exploring the human side of athletes like Johnny Manziel, the episode offers listeners a comprehensive look into the multifaceted world of sports. Engaging dialogues with experts like Pete Thamel further enrich the conversation, making it a must-listen for sports enthusiasts seeking depth and entertainment.

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Disclaimer: All quotes are attributed based on the provided transcript and may not represent exact wording. Timestamps correspond to the moments in the transcript where the quotes appear.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on This Football Thursday, August 14, 2025 this program begins now.

[AJ Hawk]

Football.

[Pat McAfee]

It is magical and there's a lot to talk about around the entire NFL and we'll do that in just a matter of few moments with an Emmy award winner, a man who's been all over the television all morning and obviously a member of the Emmy award winning NFL Live crew at ESPN and a guy that we are big fans of. Ladies and gentlemen, Swagu will be joining us. 10, 15 minutes. 10, 15 minutes. Now, I don't know how everybody reacts around the people that watch and listen to this show every single day, how the circles do whenever that name is dropped. Just know that in this particular office when SWAGU is talked about, it is in very high regard. We are big fans of his. We think he goes about his business in a fun way, a good way, great energy way. And I think he has great takes. Not only that, he's obviously clearly a great father. Yes, he is the father of the number one hooper in the country for the 2027 class. Now, it is an ESPN ranking, so you know, you got to assume that there is a little bit of a potential thing going on. Nonetheless, number one, number two, number three, number four, number five, whatever. It is obviously very present, which is why we don't see him on TV as much. I think he's trying to be super dad to not only him. I think he has a daughter too that plays volleyball who's also not one of the top in the country. It's like I really respect SWAGU a lot and we can't wait to catch up with him and also ask him what the hell's going on down in Dallas. And is this Jerry Jones the same Jerry Jones that drafted you with the number 20th overall pick back in the day? Because it feels like he maybe has lost his fastball or has he? He was at the Netflix, Netflix premiere of the Cowboys doc, that's coming out in August 19th, just a few days or whatever. And he said, you know, when it's quiet, you know, Dallas Cowboys will be there for you. I'll stir some shit up. It's wild to say that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Very much so.

[Pat McAfee]

Just like, hey, listen, yeah, we are an attention grabbing business. This is a money making operation here. We are trying. If the rest of the world wants to sleep, we will be awake for them. We will let the Cowboys be the topic of conversation no matter what it is. Just as long as they're talking Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys. Cowboys. Yeah. I'll do the draft from a yacht. Okay. You know why? What's everybody else doing? Stupid war rooms. Yeah. I mean, I'll do it in a damn yard on water. Yeah. People are talking and say, you're going to say, J.R. jones, yacht. This is sophistication. This class personified. This is the Dallas Cowboys. Him just admitting that that's how he views it. I cannot wait to see what this documentary also showcases. But also, I think if you're playing for him or a fan of him, you have to wonder, are we trying to win football games at all the time or are we just trying to stir up shit all the damn time? You know, that's naturally going to be a reaction. We'll ask Swagu about that. I think he's already talked about it a couple different times. But I think from the tours around the facility to the being able to lease apartments outside your practice facility, I mean, there's just lot of things that happen down there that don't happen anywhere else. But it's also a place that is the highest valued franchise in the history of sports. So they're doing something right down there. Is it for football or not? We shall see. We're also going to be talking to a guy that we became friends with. Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the talks table at Boston. Connor at Ty Schmidt. Great shirt. Con man Ty Schmidt. Whenever we were at the Home Run Derby, when you made your first MLB All Star game, we got a chance to chit chat with closer for the Brewers. This dude's a legend. Brewers have won 12 straight games. Do you know what that means, Ty?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think I do, but I'm not positive.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, because when you hear it, you say that's not possible.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, not definitely not in baseball. It doesn't happen a whole lot.

[Pat McAfee]

12 wins for a team. Okay, what's going to happen? A restaurant is going to offer free burgers for everybody.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Whenever you do this nowadays. And they. They did this in 1987, I believe, and 2018, 18 or whatever. So definitely Internet era. 2018. Is it as much of an Internet era as it is now? Because this is the type of thing Internet will say. Is that right? We're giving free burgers to everybody. In the past, there's been hundreds of thousands of burgers dished out. Well, that number crack into a million. What would these burgers look like? George Webb, we appreciate you supporting your town. We also support the brewers getting a big time win for the city. And I hate that it was against Pittsburgh Pirates. But that seems apropos that the Pittsburgh people would like to give the people of Milwaukee free burgers. You're welcome. From Pittsburgh. But also congrats to the brewers, best team in baseball. We'll be talking to their closer, Trevor McGill, who we met at the Home Run Derby. Electrifying.

[Ty Schmidt]

Awesome dude. Awesome dude. Like, like you said, we. A lot of cool stuff that we did for me, arguably like that, that was the highlight of the day. It was like, man, this guy is awesome. I could sit and talk to this guy for hours on end.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he was. He was the straw that stirred the drink on the sideline, it appeared. Not only because Miz was there, who's also a pitcher for the brewers, so everybody was pissed that he got vot over a couple Philadelphia Phillies because he only had five starts. But this kid throws just absolute gas. This brewers team, number one team in baseball, I guess by a wide margin is what people are saying. This team is clearly the best team in baseball right now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right now, I think. Yeah. I don't think there's much of an argument. I mean, they're. They're just so hot. Every time they play, it seems like they're going to win no matter what. Whether they're beating the hell out of teams, like they kind of beat the hell out of the Pirates yesterday or winning close games. And like coming back every time they've. I mean, Obviously they've won 12 in a row, but yeah, when it matters the most, they're kind of taking the baton and running with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Trevor McGill is their closer. He comes out to Metallica's Four Horsemen.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Which I think is a deep cut if you're a Metallica fan. But he is like that. He's a die hard Metallica fan and he talks about how he's been to eight, I think Metallica concerts and how they know him because obviously he had to ask. This dude is electric. Cannot wait to chat with him. And then in the second hour, we'll have Johnny Manziel joining us.

[AJ Hawk]

Johnny Football.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Johnny Football. Wow.

[Boston Connor]

The money.

[Pat McAfee]

Can't wait to catch up with him. We haven't chatted with him in a while. Obviously everybody knows Johnny Manziel's story from being one of the greatest college football players of all time to go into Cleveland to it not working out to, you know, a lot of different stories. He played fan craze football, had podcasts. I think he's just trying to live his life. Excited to hear what he's up to now. And also shout out to Sling tv, say, that's still doing it.

[AJ Hawk]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

I had no idea. They are.

[Ty Schmidt]

They're still doing it.

[Pat McAfee]

They're offering day passes.

[AJ Hawk]

That's cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you got to sign up for a day pass. Four bucks. Something you can get watching the game. You need to. If you don't have anything other streaming platforms, which I don't know if us on a streaming platform marketing it is necessarily the right way to go about it. Sure. But if you guys got any friends, tell people Slings got a day pass. Johnny Manziel is coming on top. Hell, yeah. And then what? Pete Hamilton in the late second hour to chitchat about a ruling coming. Coming down from the NCAA tomorrow on Michigan. On what? The NCAA has formally notified parties tied to the Michigan NCAA infractions case that an announcement on the findings and punishments will be publicly released on Friday. Sources tell him and the pretzel, Dan Wetzel. Okay, so whenever you hear that, you think, oh, this is about Connor. Stallion.

[Ty Schmidt]

Could be Stallion.

[Pat McAfee]

But there's also some other stuff that has happened up there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, there's the staffer who was getting into, you know, icloud accounts of, you know, college girls, which. Not a great deal, but that. That's been floating around. How much did Harbaugh know about that? Is he involved at all? But again, the Stallion stuff, I mean, maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it still outstanding? The Stallion stuff?

[Ty Schmidt]

I didn't. I didn't think so. But it seems like people continue to dig. So, I mean, maybe I'll be real.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, very intrigued to hear what this is, because there's so many different things that it could be. And obviously the NCAA operates at a. An NCAA rate, so this could be from. You know, we have no idea what it is. Hopefully we'll get some clarity from Pete Damo as we head into another great college football season on the horizon.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, hell y. That's what stinks is that it feels as though aren't most of the guys from that era gone? So now they're just going to punish them. It's always next the way it works. Yeah, I know, but what do they.

[Pat McAfee]

Do every single time?

[AJ Hawk]

Penn State. What? They lifted it early. That was the only thing they.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, and then you got to remember there's been bold banishments for smu.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I mean, the SMU got that death penalty or whatever, just shut it all down. Nobody that was a part of it all had been on that campus for years, and they were still being punished. I mean, that. That is what the nca because I think they view it as institutional, you know, like it's the entire diversity. It's not just about the humans that are currently occupying those roles. It is the university that acted in a way because the university is the member of the ncaa. It's not the coach that is a member of the, you know, so there's just like so much, oh, shit, yeah, who cares? No, it's, I mean, because the nc. I mean, what is the purpose of the NCAA now at this point? I mean, there's just so many, so many conversations to have. So we'll ask, beat them up about all of it. And college football is going to be great. We know that. Let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys ap. Tone, Tone, you're an author, buddy, and it's about college football. And because of your college ball book being out there, you know what we decided to do? What? Well, how about this? 20% off sale, everything except Tone's book, 20% [e-mail] we very rarely do these types of things because if you want to buy stuff to support the program, support you can. We don't, we very rarely try to put, you know, ever.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, we don't ever say, don't know that place exists.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. We don't ever say this, but it does exist. And currently 20% off everything except Tone's book. Because if we were to give you 20% off tones book today, everybody bought.

[AJ Hawk]

It yesterday would be like, yeah, what's going on?

[Tone Diggs]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Two bucks. Okay, that's not even a thing. But still you're ripping me off. So we decided everything except Tone's book is sale at store.patbankmanshow.com but college football season is right around the corner. We talking to Pete Thamel about whatever ruling this is for Michigan coming out tomorrow. But this should be one from not only your research, but all eyes in what college football was last year. We're going to have big time matchups every single weekend and we're going to have stars playing on prime time every single week. College football is about to deliver for us in a big way. We're getting caught up in obviously three weeks and one day from now when the NFL kicks off in Philadelphia with the Dallas Cowboys obviously going to be in that building. Is it in the NFC East? It is. Is it opening night? It is. Cowboys will be there and they are. But we're talking about that college football next, next weekend happening in Columbus, Ohio to kick off game day and everything. Now we're playing ball. Let's go ahead and do this thing.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, we're playing ball. And I. One of the things that I put in the book, like, this is the. This is one of the most unpredictable seasons I think that we've had in a while. Like last year when we came into this to end of the season, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame, like, we knew who those teams kind of were. We also knew who their quarterbacks were. So there wasn't like a lot of questions what you were going to get. Now all those teams and a lot of the teams in the top 10 have new quarterbacks. We have no idea what they're going to be like, what they're. Who they're going to look like. So there's a lot of questions up to this season. And then, you know, the book answers.

[AJ Hawk]

A lot of those.

[Tone Diggs]

It's going to be an incredible season. A lot of the reviews are in, and a lot of people are saying, the Bible, the Great Gatsby, To Kill a mockingbird. In the 2025, 2026 version of the need to know college football guide betting situation.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's good. So the others know the name. This one needs to know Gambler's Guide for college ball. 2025, 2026. I'm happy to see you're in the pantheon of those books already. This article, 24 now, man, you're not gonna be dancing in Shinzu's waters, my friend. Okay. I'd like to let you know that.

[Tone Diggs]

Until I meet him in.

[Pat McAfee]

And he is dead. That was so shocker. A shocking rest in peace to Shinzu. By the way, people are still referencing Shin. Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Anzu.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

All the zoos really joining us now.

[Pat McAfee]

It's Sun Tzu. Of course it is. Shinsu Recipes to Sunzu too. Yeah, right. Sun Tzu's Art of War. Shinsu passed as well. Let's not.

[AJ Hawk]

No, I think Shinsuke Nakamura's best friend is Shinsu.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, Shinsuke. How is Shinsuke? I saw him. He was eating. He was eating with Gunther. Gunther did a vlog in German. So I watched that. Didn't understand what he was saying. Kind of trying to get the gist of it. And they went to a Japanese restaurant together, had a big stein of beer together. Yeah, it was really good. Shinsuke looks good. Shinzu rest in peace as well. Any of the Shins that have passed away in Sun Tzu, the Art of War. I'll tell you what really good book. I think Jerry Jones reads it. Oh, yeah. When people think I'm focusing on football. Boom. I tell them it's a soap opera. Joining us now is a man who was a Dallas Cowboy first round draft pick, a man who's a national champion, obviously a nine year NFL vet and a guy who has won an Emmy on television. And anytime you see him, it's certainly going to be entertaining, which is why we love him. Ladies and gentlemen, the father of the number one hooper in the 2027 class, Marcus Spears.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you hear about Sun Tzu, dude? Art of War author. Died a long time ago, dude. But rest in peace to him, brother.

[Boston Connor]

Y' all got me crying over here, dog. I was.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, I bet. This is not supposed to be on tv.

[Boston Connor]

Rest in peace. Like you was his partner.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you gotta. You gotta really pour. We poured one out for him a couple times ago every time his name comes up. Let's talk about it, though. The Art of War. First of all, congrats on the Emmy. We haven't talked to you since then. Congrats on everything. Congrats on your kids kicking ass, your family being awesome. Legit. You're doing it. Hey, you're doing it. You're doing it, man. All of it. All of it. You're doing it. You're balancing it. You're managing it, and you're crushing it. You should be incredibly proud of yourself. Dude.

[Boston Connor]

I appreciate it, man.

[Pat McAfee]

It's.

[Boston Connor]

You know, I gotta obviously shout out my wife, bro. She is. Is the. She the catalyst. She the foundation of it. But these kids have been. They've been impressive to us as parents, man, and it's been fun to watch their journey. Y' all know, my wife was a pro basketball player, so we understand what this world is like, but not in this day and age. It comes with a lot when your kids are this visible and getting this notoriety, but super proud of them, bro. And again today in particular, one of the best things is, is that my people have reached out to me, like crew Pad and Dan O. And my NFL Live crew and people around espn, man, it's just been phenomenal to watch them celebrate my son. And not only my son, my daughter as well, who's gonna go play volleyball in Texas this year for our freshman year. So it's been amazing, man.

[Pat McAfee]

What is she. What position she's gonna play?

[Boston Connor]

Six rotations. She'd probably be an outside hitter.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, nice. Okay. I like that. Four balls all day. Bang. You a volleyball, dad.

[Boston Connor]

You in there 100% sweating and everything, cussing out the line judge.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's why we all Shouted you out, though, because we followed along online because you're not on TV as much as everybody else. You, you know, and we put in requests and everything like that. And it's like, he's not working today. Can he get you next week? Or whatever? And it's like your focus on your family has been like, I think all of us have so much respect for it, especially with how it's all going. So, like, you should understand that we all massively respect the shit out of you.

[Boston Connor]

For me, bro, I love y', all, man. And it's. It's always, you know, the respect that I have for my colleagues, bro. But in the summer, man, I like to lock in on my kids, bro. Like, they're, They're. They're having a different. They're not just playing sports. It's a lot of stuff that's coming at them that my wife and I want to be around to make sure we can manage that. They don't understand at 16. My son just turned 16 four months ago, bro. So it's a lot coming at him. It's a lot that was coming at my daughter. So we like to be present. And, you know, fortunately for me at ESPN sound like I'm about to sound like the biggest company guy that's ever existed. But they have really been respectful in the off season in knowing that I'm gonna lock into my kids and make sure everything going well on this end.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's awesome. Especially if you say, hey, this is how it's gonna be. And obviously the relationship with ESPN is great. I appreciate you doing that. And. And you talk about being 16 years old just four months ago and all the things that they have going. So you like being present. We have had a couple kids do their commitment on our show, and it's so cool. And we had one kid come in here, Tyler Atkinson, came in here with his dad and his family and everything like that. First of all, your kid, your wife played in the wnba, you're in the NFL. We knew we probably had a good chance, right? We knew we probably had a good chance with the size and the body, body in the athleticism and everything. But it's like these dudes nowadays, we got guys coming on the show. He's like 6, 4, 2, 20 as a 17 year old. We got this other dude who was what, 6, 8.

[AJ Hawk]

J Crew? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. 350, 350.

[Pat McAfee]

Offensive tackle. He's 17 year old. This. He's going to go play a high schooler next week like that. It Is insane to think about. But the maturity you have to have with all the. There's a lot of business happening right now, you know, there's a lot of business seemingly happening. So I appreciate you being involved. Is that what you're referring to though, right? It's all the business that's taking place.

[Boston Connor]

I'm referring to, bro. It's. So yeah, the business part of it is a big deal. Fortunately for us here in Texas, you know, you can't do any nil until you're 17 and they just passed that law, so they a little bit late to the party when it comes to that. But you know, it's still. People still reach out. They still trying to get them to be a part of a lot of things that they're doing. But again man, like, like his focus is obviously school and basketball and we trying to keep it that way. In a world that want to treat these 16, 17 year old kids like they 25, 26 years old. And you know, that's why that foundation for that my wife has really laid. Cause she's here doing the grunt work every day, bro. She's in the midst of it. You know, when I get into, you know how it is, Pat. When I get into the season, bro, we gone like the time is occupied.

[Pat McAfee]

So.

[Boston Connor]

So I'm calling and she giving me the information. But it's crazy, dude. If a deal would have came to me for $15 at 16, I would have signed every piece of paperwork they had.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm saying. Like congrats to you and your wife. Working your ass off to have your kids in a position that they're in right now. But it's like the stories we're hearing on this show. Me when I'm 16, 15, 17 years old, not only me, like my parents, my whole family, basically, probably the whole neighborhood is like, how much are they paying to do what? It's like, yeah, we will certainly do that. How much do I got to give up? 20% for the rest of your life. But you won't really. Who knows, you know, it's 1. 80% of a lot is a lot better than 0% of. You know, like those things important, the.

[Boston Connor]

Fortunate part we gonna have is people know not to bullshit me, right? You and I, you and I, we still doing deals. We still doing bargaining deal. I'm current on what contract should look like, I'm current on equity and how much you should be paid and how long can you use the name and all of that type of stuff, so. And it's something that we had to obviously refresh ourselves on, but we understand what's coming across the desk. So it's not just a bunch of people putting papers on our table and being like, look, here's $50,000. But now your son don't own none of his name or rights or image or anything like that. So we passed, we've passed a lot of things up that people have raised their eyebrows and was like, okay, we're not gonna be able to bullshit the Spears family.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, well congrats on that. That's gotta be incredibly difficult waters to navigate for the modern, you know, parents and everything. So good luck to all. Ya legit. And also there's a book, Sun Tzu wrote it called Art of War. Rest in peace. Now to Sun Tzu, he is dead. Very dead. Recipes in he is a movie book on Art of War. They even got a little, little shorter version.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, like hey, this is a bridge going.

[Pat McAfee]

This is, you really need to know can help you out business wise. Let's talk business now. You've been chatting about it all morning obviously, because it's a hilarious quote. Here's Jerry Jones at the Netflix premiere of the documentary. Well, I do believe if we're not being looked at, then I'll do my.

[AJ Hawk]

Best part to get us looked at.

[Pat McAfee]

The beautiful thing for networks or if you will, streaming comp. Streaming companies is that the NFL is a 365 day a year interest factor. A lot of programming. You have to spend as much to make it, to promote it as you do to make it. The Cowboys are SO popular or 365.

[AJ Hawk]

The screening will begin when it gets through.

[Boston Connor]

Take your seats.

[Pat McAfee]

And so it's. Oh, it's wonderful to have the great.

[AJ Hawk]

Athletes, have the great players, but there's something more there.

[Pat McAfee]

There's sizzle, there's emotion and if you will, there's controversy. That controversy is good stuff in terms of keeping and having people's attention. The more bullshit, the better. That is good. So all anybody ever says, Swagoon, you know this because obviously you've been in there. It's hard enough to win a game, right? That's what everybody talks about. So now the owner's coming out and actually giving away his game and he says, hey, my game is that the controversy's good. Now let's, let's not get this crazy. What are they talking about? Cowboys. Okay, so we take a 20, 30, 40, $64 million hit on salaries that we could have paid earlier. You know how much money we're gaining in valuation on the other side. Shit, 150 million. So you start doing math, all of a sudden, we're up 90 million. Who? Smart me. They're done. But are you gonna ever win that way? Are you ever gonna win that way? Is this something that we all kind of thought about Jerry, but then when he. Once he says it, it's like, okay, so this has been the plan. And does it worry you that potentially you're never going to be able to win like that, Pat?

[Boston Connor]

Yes. Because your value as a player is tied into success, bro. Like that. That is the awful part about what Jerry said.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

You getting your money, and everybody understands what you've done to promote this brand and build it. But the. To say that loud and in public is. I've been. Pat, you know this. I've been screaming that the Cowboys ain't trying to win the Super Bowl. And people in Dallas can't stand when I say it because they act like. They act like I'm lying. Like I'm supposed to live in this fantasy world of, yeah, we doing what it takes to win. The blueprint is out there of how you try to win the Super Bowl. And Jerry just told everybody, yeah, it's great to have the great players and all of that, but there's more.

[Pat McAfee]

So sizzle. There's a sizzle.

[Boston Connor]

We not even focused on football. That's what he just said. He said, look, yeah, we got Dak and we got Ceedee and we got all these great players, but there's more there, bro. We talking about football full stop. Like, there's no. There's not supposed to be more than winning and putting the best team on the field and making sure your star players are paid and you got everybody on the field. It is. It is clarity for anybody that was on the fence about what's important in Dallas, and it's super unfortunate for players. And, Pat, this is what I always say. What the hell are the coaches supposed to do with that?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I started thinking about, like, Mike McCarthy there, his entire run. How'd they win that many games? The entire thing. And then you think about Shotty. Like, I think Shotty's gonna be a good coach. I think Shotty's gonna be a good coach. I got a chance to meet him. Obviously, he's literally his entire life in the NFL. Now, I'm not saying that means he's going to be great at being a head coach, but from what I've seen from him, I think he would be a great head coach.

[Boston Connor]

Personally, Pat, imagine this. Imagine you coaching. This is shot. Imagine you coaching in the NFL for 25 years, waiting on your opportunity. And the owner of the team that you, the head coach, says winning ain't that damn important.

[Pat McAfee]

Controversies. What were, you know, a little reality tv.

[Boston Connor]

I don't know if you know, there's more money, bro. Get out of here. But I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised because I get my ass kicked all over the Internet and all over the place when I say Dallas not trying to win a Super bowl by my own. Some of my boys who are Cowboy fans. Mo, you ain't supposed to be saying that. What you mean they ain't trying to win? Well, they know now. Some of my boys have. They've given up. They're in disgust. They're right now in position of trying to find what team they're going to root for. Now, I'm a stay with Dallas because I'm a glutton for getting my ass beat. And I love interesting and all of that, but at the end of the day, I haven't been under this figment of imagination that a Super bowl has been the most important, important thing to this organization. And the owner just told everybody that that is true. So y' all can get off me and take that energy to Jerry, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

I like that. Take the energy up top there. The guy who is. We're looking at the sizzle. The steak is okay. We're not gonna beat. We're not gonna beat. We're not gonna beat Rhus, Chris. Okay? The steak is what. The steak is. What we specialize in is the sizzle. You know, when that son of a bitch is coming out with the salt.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah. Tope.

[Boston Connor]

The fixes and the Bernadette.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sword. Yeah, that's. That's what Jerry. Jerry's. Jerry was supposed to be a wrestling promoter. That's what he was supposed to be.

[Boston Connor]

Truly, that's what he was supposed to do.

[Pat McAfee]

But instead, that's what he's supposed to do. He bought the highest valued sports franchise in the history of sports, which is what he would look at and say, excuse me, is this not what we are all trying to accomplish here? And it's like, well, I think what a lot of people are trying to accomplish is super like. I think that's what a lot of people are looking at. And with Stephen Jones, you know him probably better than I do. I don't really know anybody down there. I've had massive respect for Jerry Jones, mostly because I respect how big of a gambler he is and how he goes all. And the type of guy he is. I think that entire thing, I watch him with Joe Buck, it was a phenomenal interview. I'm like, that guy's a dog. I'm a fan. You talk about your friends having clarity and like getting off the fence or whatever. I've had clarity. I'm like, all right. I think Jerry's lost his fastball. I think he's lost the narrative. I think Jerry has kind of lost it. Now that moves on to the boys, now the entire family. Because his Landman speech, from what I've been told, is how he actually felt like, hey, you do business with your family, you can hand it off someday. So he takes a lot of pride in that, which I respect. Is Stephen going to operate the same way he is? Because I've heard Stephen say some things now, right this off season, that's like, hold on now.

[Boston Connor]

Unless. Unless you. Unless you're going to go. Unless you be getting information from somebody else. Here's the. Here's the. Here's the conundrum pack. Like we. Not a monolith. Like we. You can like something about a person and respect something about them and hate some other that they do. That's just what it boils down to. But ultimately, when it comes to Stephen, what, What's. What's. What should be different. We. We're success. Our valuation is $12.8 billion without winning a winning anything of significance, right? So as a family, when you're saying we need to keep this money train that's been rolling forever rolling, there's a certain way to do it, and my dad has showed us how. Right? So you are asking him to go against the apple cart. Here's what you hope, though. You hope that Steven understands that there's collateral damage in that route and that collateral damages your coaches, your players and everybody. And hopefully the money, money that's being spent on the Dallas Cowboys as far as how they promote it and brand it, is going to start to be spent on the football team. And also the narrative of. How about this? Pat, Pat, I got it figured out, okay? Sitting there talking to you.

[Pat McAfee]

Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu. This is Sun Tzu. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Rest in peace.

[Boston Connor]

How about we separate? Like, how about we just take the Dallas Cowboys boys and football, right? Like the building, the coaches, the players, the general manager, the head of Scout, Will McLay, and we separate that when it comes to the day to day operations from you trying to create drama and all of the bullshit that's going on.

[Pat McAfee]

So you're saying. You're saying we take the. Here's the entire facility. Remember, we got this entire thing, Jerry World. We got a practice field outside practice, practice field right here. You can buy apartment complexes right here that overlook into the practice facility. Then here's an indoor practice facility, and you can actually buy VIP tickets that you can overlook the practice that has happened. Now, I will tell you, I think they are the only company or team in the history to ever let people watch their practice if you pay an amount of money or let you live next to their practice if you pay a certain amount of money. What you're saying is, let's take these fields that are. Keep the apartments, keep the apartment, keep the VIP perch. Yeah. Have them just look at a building. Take the fields there. There we go. Take the fields, Take them down the street, have them down here, and let Jerry do his up here. That's what you're saying?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Or just go practice at one of the high schools when nobody's there.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, okay.

[Tone Diggs]

They're very nice.

[Boston Connor]

We got. We got 13, 14, 14 high schools here. I'm in, bro.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm.

[Boston Connor]

I'm five minutes away from where you just showed. It's a lot of places they could practice.

[Pat McAfee]

Remove them.

[Boston Connor]

Remove. Just. Just isolate that part of it. And then when the cameras come on, you can say what you want to say.

[Pat McAfee]

Which way are you. Nah, let's not give away too much. We don't need to be giving.

[Boston Connor]

No, no, no. Listen, you. You run up on this house, it's a problem.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're down there in Texas. I understand. I completely understand. Understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're out here in Indiana. I very much understand. All right, let's go around the NFL, other than just the Dallas Cowboys. And once Again, we spent 15 minutes on Jerry Jones right there, and he said, boom. These puppets just.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you, thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Just like I said. Just what I said I would do. They did. Takes his thing off, eats an egg McMuffin with salt on it. Exercise. AP Tone has a question for you. Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Swagger, I feel like you're one of the perfect people to ask about this. One of your D line brethren up in Pittsburgh, Cam Hayward, who. Who was an all pro last year, he's been a five time all pro, first and second team, Just a cornerstone of that D line is. Is underpaid. He's making 14, 15 million this year.

[AJ Hawk]

The.

[Tone Diggs]

The guys around him making 23, 24, something like that how do you feel about Cam situation? And the Steelers, they're going all in, so they definitely need to get this figured out.

[Pat McAfee]

Right?

[Boston Connor]

I agree with you. They need to rectify this, man. And I don't know if you obviously put Cam up there because age matters. Like, we all know age matters in the contract, but he's outplayed that salary. And if you guys remember, Cam a few days ago said, I told the Steelers, if I outplay this, I'm coming back to the table. So I don't want anybody to think he's not honoring something that they had signed and put into place. And by the way, when you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers, defense has been the catalyst, and he's been one of the stalwarts of that. And I think there is a certain thing as a good faith. He's been in this organization, he's been through the 775 million quarterbacks that you've had on this team and never complain, knowing at times we don't have a shot in hell at winning the Super Bowl. But I'm going to continue to go out here and do what I do and try to promote what we do Defensively, I think Cam deserves more money. One, his performance says that, but two, like, bro, he's a Steeler. He's been one of the. He's the. He's a synonymous figure. He's going to be one of those guys that's hanging up in the stadium and doing all of the things that the Steelers represent. Go and pay the man. You ain't got to pay nobody else.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Swagu. You also think about DK Metcalf's getting 30 mil, Jalen Ramsey's getting whatever. Never played it down for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Right?

[Boston Connor]

Like, this is absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think all Steelers fans are pumped that Omar Khan, the general manager, did all these things, went out and got big to, hey, let's go all in. Why not? We're sick of it. But you can see how Cam Heyward, who's the second longest tenured Pittsburgh Steeler, I believe, tied with Mike Webster behind Ben roethlisberger with his 15 years. You can say, wait a second, we're giving how much money to everybody that has never done anything for Pittsburgh because this is very abnormal for Cam Hayward to experience as well. Now, with that being said, Yinzers are telling them not all Yinzers are on Cam Heyward side. And I don't like it at all. And that is a reminder that the. The logo will always be bigger than any one person you know, Cam Hayward's been there 15 years, has been the epitome of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His dad, ironhead, legendary figure in Pittsburgh, his brother on the team, charity, this entire thing. He's Cam Hayward, Walter Payton, man of the year for what he's done in the city of Pittsburgh. Cam Hayward comes out and says, I told him I wanted a little bit more money. They said they want it. And the injuries go. This guy. Not all of them. Not all of them. Swagu. Not all. But 15 years of good. 15 years of good. Great. Of great to the city. And then he says, I'm playing for a very limited amount. I restructured. That wasn't a new car. I restructured the contract last year. It wasn't a. A new contract. And now I'm lower than everybody, and I'm all pro. Like, what do we. Can I get a little bit more money right? Shut up. Shut up.

[AJ Hawk]

Guys care.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't. That is how fans will always feel. That's why it's so difficult. And that's why the teams know they ultimately have leverage in the end. They know that. And it's like, inevitably, Cam will be loved in Pittsburgh forever. Like, in the long run, Cam will be loved in Pittsburgh forever. But right now, there's people that I think were massive. Cam hate fans. Would that have gone, oh, he doesn't want. Suit. He don't want seven. This guy doesn't want seven. That's all we're trying to do. It's the business of football is incredibly wild, but Cam, go get your Cam. We hope you get a little bit. And I think it can happen, and I think Omar Khan can make it happen, so.

[Boston Connor]

Because if they ask. If they ask to do what you did, they'll be asking for more money, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. On the complete opposition. And if he would have played like ass, they would have been saying, hey, let's restructure this thing again. Little different way.

[Boston Connor]

You 100%, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But the fans don't care. That's a billionaire. He's a genius. He's obviously going to do that. You stupid athletes need to just figure it out. All right, let's move around. Go ahead, Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, swagu. Let's stay in the AFC North. What do you think is going to come of the whole Trey Hendrickson situation? We obviously followed that very closely throughout the off season. He, you know, takes a stand, doesn't show up, and then eventually kind of realizes, like, hey, they're. They're not going to pay me, even though they've Said for the last two years, they are. I'll go back and I guess just be a good company man, be a good soldier. How do you think that affects the Bengals this year? And do you think we'll get any resolution from this? Or is this for sure, Trey Hendrickson's last year in Cincinnati?

[Boston Connor]

I think it's for sure his last year. Did you watch them on defense last year?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[Boston Connor]

It wasn't but one bright spot, and that was 91. So the problem becomes for Cincinnati is. And I've talked about this, when you get into this window of really believing that you can win at a high level because of what they got offensively, you got to start paying people. And that's really what it boils down to. Trey has led the league in sacks the last two years, I believe, or I know he for sure did last year with 17 and a half. And the man has been in a contract dispute for a million days. For what?

[Pat McAfee]

You.

[Boston Connor]

You don't have anybody else. You don't have it. There is nothing about Trey Hendrickson resume that should tell the Cincinnati Bengals. We don't need to pay this man a high level of dollars, right? Or you be.

[Pat McAfee]

Or.

[Boston Connor]

Or you drop them and you say, you know what? We gonna trade him.

[Pat McAfee]

We.

[Boston Connor]

Because we. We don't respect what you've done in this organization, in this franchise. So let's trade him and see what we can get. I'm sure somebody would love Trey Hendrickson services, but, dude, there is no way that you can go through this season if you. The Cincinnati Bengals, and think that without Trey Hendrickson you got better or you have a chance to do what you're trying to do, especially with what you have on the other side of the football. It's one of the dumbest things that I've watched in football for the last two years. And the Cincinnati Bengals, fan. Speaking of, of the fans, Pat, they killed my ass two years ago when I still did. Listen, man, this relationship with Trey Henderson and the Cincinnati Bengals is bad. He wants out. If they not gonna restructure a contract, you don't know what you talking about. And then Trey comes back and he's like, yeah, we. I'm fine. I'm gonna stay here. I'm gonna play it out. Well, I understand the psychology of a football player at that time. Hey, man, let me go get these millions and act like. Like everything is okay until it's not okay. And finally it has come to a head once again. And I don't. I really don't know the Answer. I know one answer in this whole situation without Trey Hendrickson, based on what Cincinnati was last year, they gonna be ass on defense. And, Jody, I'm gonna have to score 45 to try to win game.

[Pat McAfee]

The ass on defense is kind of the expectation, I think, by everybody of the Cincinnati Bengals. And I've asked this, you know, to a few people now, can you win a Super bowl playing like that? Yes. Listen, can you win a Super bowl scoring 50 points, giving up 50 points?

[Boston Connor]

No, Pat. But what if you just can be middle of the pack defensively, that offense is good enough. What if you could just get a half a half better on defense? Right. And you can't do that without 91. You not gonna do that without him. So there is always this new hope when you come into an NFL season that, okay, schematically, we'll be a little bit better. We fixed a lot of our flaws from last year. We can make these changes and do all of this, man. If you ain't got no pass rush in the NFL when your ass is on the road playing Pat Mahomes in the fourth quarter, or when Josh Allen is on the third and nine, and you looking at the defensive line like we got no God doggone shot to get anybody on the ground, that is when Trey Hendricks said that extra 12, 13 million he asking for, you go feel like shit that you didn't pay it to him.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that would be a good time to also remind yourself that's why we paid him 12, 13 million. That tackle right there literally just happened. You talk about the afc, and I know the Cincinnati Bengals have obviously represented the AFC in the super bowl in this era. I very much understand that. But you talked about he's going to have to sack Patrick Mahomes sometime late in a playoff game. If you want to get going going, Josh Allen, he's gonna have to corral him somehow. Lamar Jackson, I mean, you just keep going. The entire AFC is an onslaught, let alone Danny Dimes or Anthony Richardson. Yeah. Jeez.

[Ty Schmidt]

Belly left.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Somebody tickling your feet over.

[AJ Hawk]

Don't bring up West Virginia.

[Pat McAfee]

The hell's going on? All right, dude. Geez, Louis. You don't know. Wow. None of us know. None of us know. Hey. All right. I want to let you know that was one of the most disrespectful things I've ever seen done on national tongue. That was it, right? I think somebody's still tickling his feet. There's no way. It was just that reaction right there to the Indianapolis Colts being in that Dance light.

[Boston Connor]

Are you playing up? I'm not gonna let y' all do this to Dallas and I not do it.

[Pat McAfee]

Amen. Ruined a lot. Hey, I will say though, no, no, I'm not gonna get into it. Middle of season. Yeah. Yeah. All right, last question here for you, Swagger. We appreciate your time. Go ahead con man goo.

[AJ Hawk]

Always a pleasure. We've talked about a lot of teams. One team in the division in the NFC East. You know, everyone talks about every year how the NFC's hasn't had a. A back to back division winner in 20 years. And maybe, you know, it's the Cowboys time. But what about those pesky Giants? It feels as though they are going to have one of, if not the best defensive line in all football. How do you feel about them? Especially after, you know, that first preseason game, even though it's preseason. Jackson Dart's looking good. Malik Neighbors is looking good. Do you, do you have hope for the Giants this year?

[Boston Connor]

Hey man, I'm one of those people where I think it's going to be hell to play the New York Giants like I really do, man. Like the physical brand that they play on defense. But offensively, if they can get one, if Russ can hold it down until we know Jackson Dart's the future, we don't need to, you know, if he, if he can hold it down and have some success. And the one thing we know Russ can do, he can throw that mug downfield and Malik Neighbors can catch it downfield. Offensive line ain't bad. You got a physical football team up front. Left tackle is in a good situation right now. Jackson, Jackson Dart is going to be the answer. I like, bro. I'm a big Brian D ball fan, like love him. I think he's one of the best in the league. But what is going to come down to, and the Giants know this right now, we gonna have to kick people ass on the line of scrimmage and I think they have the personnel to do it. So if they are in games in the fourth quarter in the NFC east and they got an opportunity to either rush the pass and get people off the field or they can be physical at the point of attack or push the ball down the field, I think they'll have a personnel to do it. Remember fellas, like a lot of this for the Giants has been personnel, bro. They haven't had good rosters for a minute and I think they are marketably better on both sides of the other ball now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And I think D is in a situation here where we need to go. I think he knows that. I think everybody knows. You talk about Jackson be in the future, it's like, I don't know if any of them there are thinking past this year, we need to roll. And to your point about day ball being a guy you like, I like him, too. I like his vibe. I like his energy. I hope he has success, obviously, there. But I appreciate him being in the football world. Had this sawed off a little stog in his mouth when I saw him. Just like this little nub.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

And I was like, I like, you're going that low. I respect that. You're chewing on that thing that much, and it's that low. So I respect him.

[Boston Connor]

You want him to fight with you?

[Pat McAfee]

You want.

[Boston Connor]

You want him to be one of them dudes with you when y' all get into the.

[Pat McAfee]

And he. He will, too. During the game, you remember, it was down on the goal line. He was about to fight, I think.

[Ty Schmidt]

Tyrod Taylor, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Some decision. Yeah, yeah. In my head, I wish I remember what the decision was. Did the clock run out? Yes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Clock run out. Because he didn't like they had like.

[Ty Schmidt]

A minute or something on the goal line. Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He was just. It's like he spiked. Oh, yeah, yeah. Good luck.

[Boston Connor]

Probably would have whipped his ass, but he still was willing to fight.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he would have lost for sure, which we respect. It would have taken a lot. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

For a double leg.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah. He might have gone saved. We don't know. Yeah. Maybe end up in a banana split. Yeah, there's a chance. All right. We appreciate the hell out of you, Swagu. Hopefully we get a chance to see you more often this year, my brother. Brother.

[Boston Connor]

You will, man. You will for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Emmy award winner, ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Spears. Yes. I really enjoy that dude.

[AJ Hawk]

He's the man.

[Pat McAfee]

Legit. Yeah, I did. What was it? Get up with him? Maybe.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Probably a couple different times. And there's like a little green room area over there. He was by far just the most.

[Ty Schmidt]

This guy is infectious energy.

[AJ Hawk]

Got juice.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He walks into a room and there's a. A little bit of movement. You know, anytime somebody enters a room and there's a little bit of movement, I like it. Somebody enters a room and there's no movement, I start to wonder about what.

[AJ Hawk]

What do you.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you wonder about? Wait a minute, Wait a minute. There's no. There's no. Not even a feeling of either. A little bit of, oh, what's going to happen here? Or excitement. Right. If. If somebody Walks into a room and there's not a single thing. It's like, all right, so that's exactly how we should be viewing you going forward.

[Ty Schmidt]

No juice.

[Pat McAfee]

No juice.

[AJ Hawk]

Which.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's got no juice. This guy's got no juice. Yeah. You know who's got juice?

[AJ Hawk]

Who's that?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, amen.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. He also speaks Spanish. I think I heard him say one line. Got a big pop out of about eight Dominican guys. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, from the Milwaukee brewers, an absolute dog, I believe, from Southern California, Trevor McGill.

[Pete Thamel]

How's it going, guys?

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, how are you?

[Pete Thamel]

I'm doing well, man. Just enjoying our off day so far.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's talk about the off day. Did you guys eat a bunch of burgers last night? How do we feel about the burger giveaway? Was that added incentive? Because I know it could have happened earlier in the year. You guys blew it for the whole city. Then yesterday, huge win over to buckos and we get burgers for everybody. Did you guys talk about that before the game? Trevor?

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Thamel]

Yeah, the boy. The boys are feeling good right now. Burgers were definitely on everybody's mind. I feel like this was their George Webb's. What do you call that? Corn dogs Jackie moment.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Pete Thamel]

Where, you know, it finally. It finally hit after, I think like 30. Was it. 2018 was the last one. It's happened three times total. So this is. This is big. I think they're planning on doing it for like Saturday or something. They gotta order a bunch of burgers.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Pete Thamel]

A lot of people.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, yeah. 1987, 2018. And then obviously now it happened. I guess the one in 87 was outrageous. I guess the one in 2018, they gave out like coupons or something. So it didn't work out as much because there's a multiple step process. So I'll be excited to see how they handle it this year. But let's talk about the team, brother. When we were at the All Star week there, where you guys get no break, I mean, basically just work your asses off the entire time. You guys by far have the worst setup out of all the All Stars weeks as players. But it was a great spectacle and it was an honor to meet you. People were pissed about the Miz being in the All Star Game. Nobody was really talking about the Brewers. You guys are the best team in baseball. Did we know that at the time at the Home Run Derby? And why didn't you tell me that so that I could sound smart on this show? We all.

[Pete Thamel]

We all knew in the clubhouse. I mean, we. We kind of got our ass kicked a little bit in April there, and I think that kind of just opened up team's eyes to, like, what needs to be done to moving forward. And, you know, we've all kind of locked arms since then and have gotten it done. So our guys, you know, we're feeling good in the clubhouse and everybody's just genuinely pulling for each other there.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you as a closer. Sick job, by the way. I think that's if I was a pitcher. I think as kicker, punter, I think closer. Probably the most similar mindset wise where you're jogging out, literally all eyes. And we're gonna figure out right now whether it happens or it doesn't happen. You have the Metallica Four Horsemen entrance, obviously. Massive Metallica fan happy that that happens for you every time you go out there. Is that accurate? We're retelling the story. Eight Metallica concerts you've been to?

[Boston Connor]

No, no, not eight.

[Pete Thamel]

I've been to three so far. Let's get to eight, though. I'm sure they'll still be playing for a while, but not a huge Metallica Spanish. Big part, big part of my life. And to, like, have the whole stadium blacked out and, you know. Right. Right as I go through those gates, the song starts screaming. It's just gives me goosebumps every time, man. Just even right now thinking about it. But, yeah, it's badass what the. What the team's done for putting that together for me. I couldn't thank them enough. They've done such a good job with. With my insurance.

[Pat McAfee]

So every game you could be up, though, is that. Is. I don't know, the life. I don't know. Pitching in baseball, you could be up every single game. And then what is it like the seventh, sixth, seventh inning, it's like, okay, real opportunity. Then you start warming, like, Because I know pitchers have full routine, too. How does that work for you?

[Pete Thamel]

Oh, shoot, My routine. I mean, we're starting if we're at a home game. Like, I'll watch the first inning, and then the second inning, I'm doing a thera gun on my entire body. Third inning, I'm doing like a light roll on the ground down there in the bullpen just to get everything activated. And then it's like fifth to the eighth inning is all just like, okay, what is the little tweak that I need to fix and how do I fix it to get ready and feel the best for the ninth? So There's. There's a lot that goes into my routine. Personally. I know everybody's different. Some people don't do as much as I do, but I. I kind of like, just nerd out and try and figure out just exactly how I can feel 100 every day, if not get as close to that as possible. So there's. There's a lot. I think that's the one thing that just kind of helps me too, is. Is being in your routine every single day helps drown out a lot of the noise. Especially, you know, in the Brewer Stadium. The people have been showing up and been loud as hell the last couple weeks. So, yeah, it's just staying in the routine is big for me.

[Pat McAfee]

How many appearances will you have throughout a year? Like, what's an average this year? You guys are better. Does that mean more you?

[Pete Thamel]

I'm at like 40 something right now. I mean, guys like Uribe, he's up there in the 50s, Jared's up in the 50s. Like, it's just kind of depends. So if the game's three runs or less, you know, tied to three runs or less, then that's my role to go in and do it. Other than that, I'm just kind of on standby and seeing and watching what the other guys are doing. And then when my time comes, it's, you know, time to close it.

[Pat McAfee]

Then it's time for the lights to go out. Metallica hits. Miguel's taking them on. That is such a dramatic spectacle. I love everything about it because the mentality of a pitcher has to be a special one. Anyways, what's that movie that I always talk about, the Clear Mechanisms?

[AJ Hawk]

Rookie of the Year.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, It's God damn names blanket, but Billy Chapel is who Kevin Costner plays.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's like, I don't know what. Perfect.

[Pete Thamel]

For the love of the game.

[Pat McAfee]

For the love of the game. There it is.

[Pete Thamel]

Yeah, that movie's Fire.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it is. Okay, so the clear mechanism thing, he says, I think, and it like blocks out everybody, like a lot of kicking coaches and kicking people, like, show that clip. They're talking about how, like, hey, this is just you operating with the ball right now. That is all it is. Nothing else matters. That is a real thing. When it gets loud, are you. You said you're trying to block it out, but it looks like you are embracing as well. Because we throw some heat, brother. Right? We're throwing. We're going out. Yeah, yeah, we're going out. Gas. And then we're also got some moxie, too. And obviously, the flat bill looks hilarious. I mean, everything about it is awesome. You're a showman, but are you acknowledging what's happening around you? Are you trying to, like that movie, lock in completely on what you're doing?

[Pete Thamel]

I mean, the crowd is the crowd, and you, you get enough experience. I mean, you're familiar with this, too. Is like, you're out there enough, and you've done it plenty of times. Like, eventually, the noise is just the noise. You don't. It, It's. It doesn't cause, like, an emotional response from the player. You know, it just. It's there. You acknowledge it, and you just move, move past it. So, I mean, for me, it's just. It's kind of. It's comfortable. It's like working in chaos and, like, having organized chaos. So I, I, I like it. I kind of chase after the adrenaline rush when I'm pitching and, like, bigger moments, you know, it just, it, it makes me, you know, feel better. You know, Dopamine, hit when you succeed. Like, that's what I'm after. That's, that's the big thing with closing, I feel like, for a lot of people, is just that big dopamine spike that you get when you go and you shove it.

[Pat McAfee]

So, yeah, we don't want anybody to pump it, but we do want to shove it. Yeah. Baseball.

[Pete Thamel]

Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the big part for me, man, is like, just that feeling you get after, especially when you, like, strike out the last dude. Like, it's. You're the one that completed the job there on the last pitch, and it's like, okay, you can do your celebration at that time, you know, or Joey Ortiz makes a badass play or Perkins makes a badass play. It's like, whoever gets that last play, you know, it's. They get to be so fired up, and it's. It's fun.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I love watching, brother. I didn't know you existed, obviously, before the All Star Game. Then after talking to you, I go to the rest of the boys that didn't get a chance to beat you. I was like, ty, who we were just talking to a legend there, it felt like. And I started watching your. And watching the brewers since then. Fun team, bro. Yeah, fun. Fun team. You're fun. You're an entertaining power of friendship, man. Hey, put her there, pal.

[Pete Thamel]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

Right here.

[Pete Thamel]

I got the shirts, man.

[Pat McAfee]

These things are.

[Pete Thamel]

These things are dropping. I think this week you can get them on athletes logo.com. 15% of them are going to go to the flood victims out here in Milwaukee.

[Pat McAfee]

So, okay, great plug. What is the website?

[Pete Thamel]

Athletelogos.com.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[Pete Thamel]

They got everything you need. They got. I think I checked this morning. They got mugs, hats, jackets, etc, but it's gonna chunk. That's gonna go to a good cause out there in Milwaukee.

[Pat McAfee]

All right? We will buy a whole slew for us, and if we can help out any other way, you let us know. Okay? Ty has some baseball questions for you here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Trevor, everyone always talks about, like, team peaking too early. Obviously, we have a month of the season left, but you guys have been the best team in baseball since the All Star break. I think as of this morning, you're maybe seven and a half games up on the Cubs in the division. Is there any thought of that? Like, oh, like, we are playing our best baseball right now when we really need to be playing our best baseball in a month and a half? Or does it feel like every day when you guys show up at the stadium, regardless of where you're playing? Like, nah, we're gonna win today. And we're in a mode right now where we can carry this through the postseason and, like, well into October.

[Pete Thamel]

I mean, Pat Murphy's slogans, win tonight. And, you know, it certainly feels like right now it's Wednesday night. It's win every night. And, you know, you talk about peaking too early or peaking too late or, you know, however that rolls. I think you just kind of, with the baseball season, you just go out there and you just keep doing what you're doing, and you play the game right. You know, you put the bunts down, you steal your bases, you know, catch throw strikes. You get rewarded. And I just think that's the one thing with our team right now, is we just play baseball the proper way. And, you know, don't count on the long ball. Don't count on, you know, X, Y, and Z to win the game for us, it's just kind of, everybody, do your job, Keep your head down. Let's do it. And, you know, we're seeing the success we're seeing right now because everybody's bought in. They know the roles, and, you know, they're. They're having success within those roles. So it's just. It's just everything's working right now. And, you know, it's. We'll see what happens in the Next, you know, 40 games or so, however many we have left. But, you know, we're definitely comfortable talking about it while we're playing and acknowledging just, you know, what's going on. And I think that's different from years past that have been with the brewers because, you know, 23, 24 are both great teams as well, but it was almost like the. Don't want to talk about it. Don't want to jinx it. It's not like that this year.

[Pat McAfee]

It's.

[Pete Thamel]

It's okay. It's the brewers, and, you know, we're feeling it right now, so let's just keep it going.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that you guys feel legit, you know, because at the beginning, you're wondering, you know, you never experienced it before. Let's not talk about. Let's not ruin it, okay? We're doing something good here. Baseball, also. I think you guys do a lot of weird shit, I think because of how long the seasons are, you know, we're doing a lot of interesting stuff, from what I gathered from the movies about your sport. Not that I've ever been in there. So let's not talk about it. Let's not jinx it. Let's do that. Pitchers, too. I think there's a lot of that conversation now. You guys are a mature team. That's what we need to know about the Brewers. They're ready for the moment. Only 40 more games. That's okay. Only 40 more games. You guys play a lot of games over there? Excited for the next CBA for you guys. Hembo sent me a text message. Yeah, I just dropped that in there. Yeah.

[Pete Thamel]

Oh, boy, man. Stirring the pot a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, just drop it in there a little bit. You guys play a lot of games on the road a lot. It's not easy. Hembo texted me. He works obviously for espn. Big stack guy loves baseball. Okay. Works for Greeny on Get up and everything like that. He said just some insight while you were talking. He said, this Trevor McGill throws a 99 mile an hour fastball with 19 inches of induced vertical break in an 88 mile an hour curveball with 43 inches of vertical drop. That's a disgusting tandem is what Hembo just said. Literally, while you were talking, he sent that to me. Is that. That's 43 inches of drop off. That's your out pitch baseball. Yeah. Yeah.

[Pete Thamel]

I mean, the. That's kind of like a little older of a metric, I guess, in baseball, but we go by, like, induced on. On all of our stuff, and I think it's around like, seven, eight, but yeah, that's. That's the out pitch. 43 inches is a new stat for me. I'd never even look at that.

[Pat McAfee]

That number hey, he's got a big brain, brother. Henna's got a big brain. We're coming up on a hard out, so I don't want to cut you off here, but I have to thank you so much for joining us. Good luck the rest of the year.

[Pete Thamel]

Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for having me on, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell the lads we said hello. And the power of friendship.

[Pete Thamel]

Power friendship. Go brewers, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Trevor McGill. What power friendship just had.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, nuke.

[Pat McAfee]

Awesome. Hour two on the other side. Got a lot of good stuff. We'll see you then. Goodbye. Football is finally back and so is the hard hitting gridiron action on Prizepix. Kick off the season right and get $50 instantly inside credit when you play your first $5. With millions of members and billions of dollars awarded in winnings, Prizepix is the best place to put your takes to the test. The app is super simple to use. Just pick two or more players across any sport. Pick more or less on their projections and if you're right, you could cash in. Prizepix is also available in 40 plus states including California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Prizepix is the most fan friendly daily fantasy app to make your picks. Most importantly, we don't play about your money. All transactions on the app are fast, safe and secure. Don't miss any of the action on prizepix. With preseason football underway and college football already kicking off. Download the Prizepix app today and use code TPMS and get $50 instantly in site credits when you play $5. That's code TPMS on prizepix to get $50 instantly in site credits when you play $5. Win or lose, you'll get $50 in site credits just for playing guaranteed prize picks run. Your game must be present in certain states. Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details. Are you feeling more fulfilled now that.

[AJ Hawk]

You'Re back to work this Friday?

[Pat McAfee]

No, I need a vacation. See the movie that critics are saying.

[Boston Connor]

Is an awesome look at that crowd.

[Pat McAfee]

Pleasing, fist pumping, all out brawl of a film. You're right about that. They're coming out after our family. Go fix this. Oh my. Nobody 2 rated R only in theaters Friday. Hello beautiful people and welcome back to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on this glorious football. Thursday, August 14, 2025. Our tour of the program begins now. Football.

[AJ Hawk]

Football.

[Pat McAfee]

It is magical. We're lucky to talk about it every single day. The toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Is that a wolf howling at the moon and the American Flag at the same damn time.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, except I don't know if he's h. I think he might be on football too.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, food ball. We lost yesterday.

[AJ Hawk]

Let's not talk. No, we should talk about resilience, hard work, not quitting.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys lost.

[AJ Hawk]

Not quitting. Not burying the ball you got. Not getting overwhelmed.

[Pat McAfee]

We're blue collar players.

[AJ Hawk]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Of euchre card game created in Pennsylvania.

[AJ Hawk]

That was Bill's Chiefs regular season.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Congrats, Bills.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they won. Foxy and D butt beat Connor and I yesterday. 9, 10, 9. At one point it was 9 1. I mean it was not good. Now granted, I did two calls during that game, had no idea what the suit was more multiple times, was not paying attention. And all of a sudden I look down, it's nine to one. You're right. We didn't give up. All of a sudden I get off the phone, what's the score? 9 1. Oh, I'd like to go look. Yeah, okay. All of a sudden we. We're a little bit nine two, nine. And then. Yeah, just get away. Then it was nine three, nine three. Then it was nine four. Now we got a euchre nine six. Hold on a second. Vibes are high. D butt starts doing some, you know, kind of suspect.

[AJ Hawk]

He's got some A.J.

[Pat McAfee]

Hawk in him. It was awesome. He cut the deck, one card at the bottom. He said it was two actually. Okay, it was.

[AJ Hawk]

And then foxy got a loner.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. Then he howled right in our face. Yeah. I mean there was a lot of yesterday, but you're right. We battled.

[Boston Connor]

We.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, and that's the thing, you know, a lot of teams, team we were playing, for instance, they quit when they were down 9:1 to us in the sky. But what did we do?

[Pat McAfee]

We won 13 to 1. We actually howled at the moon right in their faces. Is this a victory lap for loss right now? Is that what's going on? No 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP.

[Tone Diggs]

To feel like that.

[Pat McAfee]

We're not talking ball. We're talking. We're talking ball. We're talking about. We're. We're in training camp right now too. Okay. We learned a lot about our team and our cards. Yeah. We are in joint practices. They're doing. We've never seen before they. The cut. I've never seen a, A, a deck of cards cut the way it was cut by the. Actually, I have seen it. I have seen it. When somebody's trying to make a mockery of cards.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

That is what they would do now. There is no rule against what he did.

[Tone Diggs]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

So I guess I could. And then all of a sudden Foxy gets a loner. Literally the next. It's like, I don't know what's going on. I don't like it. But now that we're in training camp and we're learning what you're doing, Foxy. Okay. Yeah, I know. And honestly, I'll be on the plane when you guys beat us like six games in a row. DBA and I were due for that also.

[AJ Hawk]

Nine. Nine. I mean, I don't know if you even want me to say it, but. But Foxy was shaking in his boots when it was nine.

[Pat McAfee]

Nine. We knew what was going on.

[Tone Diggs]

I was there. You guys did.

[Ty Schmidt]

Debone was standing in the back corner when we were in there. So that might have been what the.

[Pat McAfee]

There's no reason.

[AJ Hawk]

That's why it smelled like in the gazebo.

[Pat McAfee]

It's not why.

[Tone Diggs]

He smells good.

[Pat McAfee]

1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Townies. Debone. He's learning the game now you're trying to kick him out of learning the game. There's no reason to do. His scent was fine. Hey, you coming to gazebo? Okay, we do need you to kind of back off the table a little bit. One half of the Hammer that's also a blogger. I heard yesterday.

[AJ Hawk]

Bone.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you told me he was, remember?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh well, in his sense he is.

[Ty Schmidt]

He is.

[AJ Hawk]

And that's not.

[Ty Schmidt]

I.

[Pat McAfee]

He's a blogger.

[Ty Schmidt]

Two full time jobs.

[Pat McAfee]

He's a blogger, Tones and author. The book is currently available and right now everything on our store except for your website book is currently 20% off. And for everybody that was watching and listening that doesn't know what euchre is, just know it's a two on two game. Me and Connor are damn near unbeatable. So when other people beat us, it is a big story. This is a big deal. They had us at 9 1. If they would have beat us 10 to 1, that would have been headline huge. That would. That would have been. That would have been headline mass. It really would have been maybe the greatest moment of their card playing live would have taken place. Because of how this normally goes. We fought back. We showed resilience. We're in training camp. We're also learning through the need to know Gambler's guide for college ball for the 20252026 season. Currently available now. 9.99. Everything else on the store 20% off except for the book because we couldn't rip the People off that bought it yesterday. Be very rude of us to do Tone college balls right around the corner. We're excited. Anything not getting talked about enough you think other than this Michigan ruling coming to tomorrow out of nowhere?

[AJ Hawk]

Kind of.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

I don't speak about the Michigan ruling in the book. I like to keep it on the field. That's where I live. That's where I work. That's where I play. Some things that aren't being that's where they play too. Some things that aren't being talked about enough. There's still some quarterback battles out there that aren't being talked about enough. Like about the by the the main media. Notre Notre Dame still hasn't picked a quarterback yet. There's rumor Ohio State has not picked a quarterback yet. So there's out out there. There's stories still. Still some main big school quarterback battles that are still going on that are definitely something to watch going in and.

[Pat McAfee]

Not on that top 25. West Virginia still has quarterback battle happening too.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Every position. Every position between who Four or four guys. And they might all play. They might all play. Maybe Rich Rod won't give out his depth chart and they asked depth chart. And he every time he turns it into a scene. And I appreciate the way coach Rod is operating right now in east press conference conferences. I like the way he's operating on that practice field and I like the fact that you see his top 25. Here's a prediction. WV will end up in this thing by the end of the season. Boom. Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

At one point. Or we'll finish in it.

[Pat McAfee]

Finish.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Because we'll get hot late. I think we're gonna see some hard times, brother. I think there's gonna be some. No. Just we're transitioning.

[Tone Diggs]

Your early season schedule is nice.

[Pat McAfee]

I know it's very boom bang.

[Tone Diggs]

Watch out for the Bobcats week too though.

[Pat McAfee]

I know Ohio is a team and they got a lot of big time.

[AJ Hawk]

Can'T cannot lose to the Bobcat.

[Pat McAfee]

Rich Rod will fight every player on team before that go to that will be. Yeah. And a lot of West Virginia fans are buying Ohio season tickets so that the ticket prices won't get run up because I guess like season tickets are cheaper than what the ticket could go up because the potential travel or whatever. Nonetheless West Virginia is going to be good. Might take some time though. Okay. We're turning over brain. I mean a completely different trees leaf.

[AJ Hawk]

Different mountain.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's a different country's leaf. Yeah. That we're going over here so many Versus what it used to be. But anyways, a lot of great teams out there.

[Tone Diggs]

Michigan still has a quarterback battle, too.

[Pat McAfee]

I looked at the list. I forgot them.

[AJ Hawk]

Chase, Herb Street, Underwood, I guess.

[Ty Schmidt]

Making a late, A late, you know, pull the starter he can't get off his phone.

[AJ Hawk]

Allegedly, Chase is just in there playing.

[Pat McAfee]

Something about that. Pete said there's a quarterback in the country that's so addicted to his phone, he might lose his job.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Or he's in a quarterback battle and that's what's keeping him back. Yeah, he's addicted to being on his phone.

[Pat McAfee]

So I assume he says, I'm watching film on here. What do you want? That's what I'm doing all day, every day. It's an interesting time right now with technology, you know, because I, I, we see meetings where guys leave so they have a phone break, and it's like, that's an interesting dynamic to have to deal with. Joining us now is a guy who's addicted to his phone. Yeah. And I'm excited to see how he ends up beating it. Just like he beat his shellfish allergy that he had years ago, where he wanted to have shrimp cocktail at a hoytoi event, but he just couldn't because he was allergic to shellfish. So he battled it over years where he would microdose himself with little tiny shellfish dosings, where his body would certainly have hives, but he wouldn't die like what was happening. And once he continued to battle against this allergy, he inevitably beat it. And, and he put on that tuxedo and he walked into that hoity toity event, he had that shrimp cocktail. This is a story that people will talk about for lifetimes. He's a college football national champion, a Super bowl champion, one of the most inspiring guys to ever exist. Kind of going through a hair transition right now, but we'll be with him along that path. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. Thank you for proving that you can beat anything, including shellfish out there. Allergies, A.J. we appreciate that. Yeah, you can't.

[Johnny Manziel]

I don't, I don't need any credit for that. I don't want to. I did that for myself, not for anybody else. But I don't, I've not owned a tux, let alone. I don't think I've ever rented a tux. Maybe for prom or something back in the day. But, yeah, I, I can eat shelf. I can eat shrimp cocktail, and my eyes don't explode. My throat doesn't close up anymore. So I'm Good.

[Pat McAfee]

We're happy for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Worth it.

[Pat McAfee]

What events have you cocktail that. That don't have that type of, you know, setup thing? I mean, I don't know.

[Johnny Manziel]

Does anyone wear a tux anymore? Like, when's the last time you saw people wear, like, a black tie situation?

[Ty Schmidt]

Me and Connor, we both won one.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Big night out.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, really? Yeah. That's true.

[Johnny Manziel]

That's true.

[Pat McAfee]

One of them came with no cheeks.

[AJ Hawk]

That's right.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Mind you remember that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, I do.

[Pat McAfee]

I seem pretty specially tailored. Yep. You saw Michael Cole was. Yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah. A little out there. Handsome Michael Cole. So they still exist, but that was what you wanted to get the shrimp cocktail green light for, Right? So when you're around these types of people and they're all going, aj, you're gonna have to try this shrimp.

[Johnny Manziel]

No, because if I have to go somewhere and I'm really hungry and the real food isn't out yet and they have shrimp cocktail, I'm like, yep. Give me a couple of those guys. Those will hold me over for a couple minutes.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're talking about down there. St. Elmo's. Harry and Izzy. Sure. Where you're trying to get something until you're. You're looking for the sizzle before the stick.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

You're looking for. To enjoy the sizzle before the steak. A lot to talk about in the football world. We'll have Johnny Manziel joining us in about five minutes or so. He's coming with Sling tv. Okay. Sling TV still exists, and they have day passes, so. I can't wait to talk to Johnny about that. Aj, looks like you're interested.

[Johnny Manziel]

I honestly am very interested. I have tried it in the past. It's been a while since I've used it, but I did try it years ago.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was a trip down memory lane whenever we read this thing. Tv. Holy shit. I remember when that was. Like, now, I don't know if we're helping the cause because they're basically marketing people that don't have access to any streaming platforms for Sling TV's day passes. But Johnny will know more. Yeah, he will. We're also excited to hear Johnny's thoughts on how everything's going. Texas A and M. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Gonna be a team. Yes, they will. Gonna be a squad. Downer. Law of Elko. Okay, aj, I don't know if you saw last night. History was made.

[Johnny Manziel]

What's that?

[Pat McAfee]

Don't play dumb with me. First of all, there's a new album coming out on October.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Of course that. Yeah, I thought. Yeah, I mean that took over the world. The whole situation actually did.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. October 3rd, we got a. We got a new Taylor Swift album coming out. Life of a showgirl.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

This album was wrote, written, written, written while she was touring in Europe, three day show, three days in Sweden creating an album. I don't know how legitimately with watching her show, how it's three hours straight, no break, and how many shows she did. Now granted, she's making an immense amount of money, so nobody is going to feel bad for this, but just the machine that Taylor Swift is listening to her last night on the New Heights podcast. There was a lot of business game dropped in there if you were to listen to it. I think there was a nice showcase of Travis and Taylor actually in love. Yeah. And I also think you'll notice that Travis certainly understood that his reactions to everything were going to be judged. You know, like it felt like they nailed it. Travis nailed it, I feel like. And Jason Kelsey out here launching questions in from a different city. Unbelievable. I want to like Bravo. Like legitimately, I thought it was very well done. Now granted, obviously it was edited and all that stuff. Who knows, Maybe she gave away too much because she is very, very cerebral with what is going out whenever it comes to anything about her art and her music and everything. But I thought it was incredibly well done. It got up to 1.3 million at one point of live concurrent viewers from all around the world. That is gigantic. Has absolutely. That is so many people just so happen to have to get there to watch it. Incredible work. And Taylor Swift should continue to, you know, I think she should peacock a little bit more about who she is and what she is because look at the list here now. So Rogan and Trump, when they want, they got 800,000 live concurrent viewers. Huge number. Okay, 800,000 concurrence is a huge number. We had 500,000 concurrents whenever. 504,000, I believe is the exact number whenever Aaron said, yet decisions already been made. I'm going to whatever the whole I'm leaving the packers basically huge absurd number. So that is just putting into perspective who the hell she is. Just so whenever you hear people say, like we're tired of seeing Taylor Swift, it's like she is the one on. On this planet Earth right now. It is no questions asked. And I thought she was very human. Yeah, she was very, very human on that. In showcasing like them actually being a couple, I thought it was a cool thing. I thought it was very well done. And I'm incredibly proud and happy and pumped for them, the entire team over there.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it was really good.

[Pat McAfee]

Good.

[AJ Hawk]

Like Jason, you mentioned it. I thought he was hilarious throughout the entire thing. Because it was one of those interviews where because Taylor Swift never does anything, you know, stuff like that, that you don't really hear her talk. You see her, but you don't hear her talk. You don't hear her thoughts. You don't hear how she thinks. Like the football stuff. She is very, very genuine. Is legitimately learning the game. She said she'll be an analyst in 16 months.

[H]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But then she went cover two, cover four, cover zero. She started. You could tell that she is interested in learning. She feels like she is somebody who needs to understand what's going on.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, I feel like she. You know what I mean, aj? Like, she's got these curious. That's.

[Johnny Manziel]

I mean, people that are high performers usually are very, very curious and they don't think that they have all the answers.

[Pat McAfee]

I appreciated her saying that. People are going to hate to hear her on that. Nope. I appreciated all of that. Self awareness seemed to be in there. Even though in that particular life with the one she's specifically lives like, you can lose all self awareness quickly. Especially for how long she has been who the hell she is. You know, everywhere she. They talked about her walking into the game.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. The first. The first time that she ever went to the Kansas City game, she walked in the normal entrance with a bunch of Travis's friends that he's been friends with since he was like 5 years old. And that is incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

Like shout out Scott.

[AJ Hawk]

Shout out Scott. Yeah, Huge shout out for Scott.

[Pat McAfee]

Scott's gonna love that. Travis.

[AJ Hawk]

Shout out. Taylor Swift's dad, he got a massive shout out as well. Him being like the nicest, coolest guy of all time. And then just from the music side of it, you know, we just went to the Eras tour and there were a lot of different eras and there was some slower music that were about maybe past relationships. The music side of it, I think is the most exciting part. This is all going to be upbeat music. We're talking shake it off, we're talking red, we're talking style, we're talking 1989 mixed with, you know, probably some songs about Travis, probably some songs about the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. So it's going to be great for possibly men here on this next Taylor Swift album.

[Pat McAfee]

What I would like is a Dudes are okay album. Bingo. I would like that a lot. Like boyfriends are Good. You know, because it is. As my wife is listening to Taylor's story, I can feel a couple ricochet shots because of what some other dudes.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Who I don't like. I'm not on their.

[Johnny Manziel]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

What they've done to me.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Same team.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, hey. I'm on. I am on Taylor's side in this entire thing, so I'm excited for that. But literally, whatever she does is gonna work. Like, that is how I kind of feel after watching. And I sent a text to Travis and Jason telling him how awesome it was. And also, thanks for the shout out in there. And also in the GQ magazine where he looks super cool. He looks so cool and all those things. I don't know if I would ever sign up for that. Right. I'm happy he did. You know, I'm happy. I would not.

[AJ Hawk]

I think the photos. If you did, it would be comedy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. That would be as comedic. As opposed to a model.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

He's so handsome. He's got that. Awesome. So it's. It's a great time for them. I'm pumped. And Jason, Kelsey, just to reiterate the point. What a. What a phenomenal performance. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Wood.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, his nice. And then a clear. I got a massive pop.

[Boston Connor]

I know.

[Pat McAfee]

I know.

[AJ Hawk]

Her and Travis both sidelines.

[Pat McAfee]

Track nine would. And Jason just takes it in immediately. Wood, not nice to the next one. And then Taylor called Travis at one point a human exclamation point. And this is Jason's reaction. Oh, how did I not think of that? Like, that is literally what he says. How have I never thought of that? How would I miss. That is actually what he says. I've been with this guy since. Since he's born. He is a human exclamation point. And I think that is. That was a cool thing for all of them, you know, to showcase that, like, hey, we're humans. We are humans out here.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, because Taylor has gotten to a point where obviously her fans view her as an icon, which they should. That's how fans feel about people. They're fanatics. And then her haters. Viewer is not a human. You know, it's like, this is just a thing that exists that we hate. And it's like. I think it's a little humanizing. You know, I think it was. I think it was awesome. I'm happy.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it was incredible. And to your point about, like, you know, humanizing, like Jason Kelsey, immediately after, I believe, made a joke about the. The Just for men that he used in his beard?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he said, yeah, it was a little bit too heavy. A little bit too heavy on the beard. Yeah, I get it. Nobody thinks that's actually my beard. I respect to all of them. 1.3 million people got their way to it to watch it. Incredible feat. Congrats to them. And yeah, I think Trump was with the full send guys too. I think that had another 500, 000. There's a few.

[AJ Hawk]

But I mean, combine the two. That. That's what it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly.

[AJ Hawk]

It's insane.

[Pat McAfee]

That's power. Taylor Swift. Why these guys? Why is anybody a fan of her? It's like a lot of are fans.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Taylor Swift. Joining us now is a guy who a lot of people are fans of, have been for a long time. We watched this dude go from who the hell is as that? To wow, is that the best college football player of all time? Then following his entire professional life and his entire life story has certainly been something to look on from afar and say, I hope he figures it out. Feels like he's in an incredible place now representing Sling TV for offering day passes.

[AJ Hawk]

Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Heisman Johnny Menzel.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, brother?

[I]

Boys, so glad to be back.

[Pat McAfee]

It's great to have you, man. How Sling tv. So we didn't know Sling TV still existed. We looked into it. We're pumped. We got day passes, we got weekend passes, we got week passes. And the person that's passing the news about the passes, Johnny fucking Manziel. We're big fans of what's going on. How's the day been with Sling tv?

[I]

Listen, you know what? You get ball, ball, ball for 4.99 whenever you want it. You don't gotta sit there and get tied up and all the. Hey, you get hit with another charge, this and that. Oh, I need to cancel. Nothing. You want SEC football, baby, you got it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Shout out to Sling TV for that. Shout out to you for doing this. You've been working today, huh? Yeah.

[I]

Putting on a little work day. It's fine. It's la. It's nice. We're chilling.

[Pat McAfee]

How has it been? How is everything? Are we still down in college station? Every once in a while. How do we feel about Texas A. M? How's Johnny Manziel, brother?

[I]

You know, Johnny Manziel has been traveling the world with a good homie of mine. Seen some amazing concerts night in and night out. I've been to probably six countries in the last two months. Flying on air, Drake, going to see some shows, you know the last couple shows I've been to, I've, you know, asked for some extra tickets and I'm walking outside of the venues and stuff and, and trying to go bless some people and just be like, hey, do you have a ticket to the show? Guy was like, no. I'm like, you want to go see the greatest concert of your life? Here you go.

[Pat McAfee]

How has this concert been? Drake's concerts have been the greatest concert.

[I]

They've been amazing, man. The guy is such a legend, such a great performer, so much energy and to me, just been an amazing friend. I think, you know, there was a point in time, wherever I was in college and I go to Toronto for the first time and my mom calls me and she's like, what the hell are you doing? Why are you in Toronto and why are you hanging out with rappers? And you. Fast forward 15 years later and we're out the other night and my mom texts me and I pick up the phone, I FaceTime her. I'm with Drake and just the smile on her face whenever she knows I'm in such good company around great people. She text me right after and she's like, I know you're the happiest and safest you you could ever be. Tell Drake I love him. Have fun.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[I]

Such a good family thing by now.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, hey. I like to hear that. Yeah, we don't get that a lot in this world. You know, I don't think that really gets chatted about, you know, Drake run through some stuff, obviously publicly, we all saw it. And then his bounce back here has been a big dub, obviously throughout it all. How has he been through it all and have you shared, you know, life stories and throughout this 15 years of friendship, have you guys kind of battled through and leaned on each other through it all?

[I]

You know, we went to dinner the other night and somebody that we were with asked like, you know, how do you guys know each other? And when it first happened, I was kind of like, huh?

[Pat McAfee]

Like, what?

[I]

And his response was, you know, I don't know. We met, we hung out, I made a song about it and we've been homies ever since. And then I went back to the hotel that night and like, really thought about it and like, what a crazy story from a kid from Kerrville, Texas, and a guy from, from Toronto, Canada, can meet the way we did and, and end up sitting here 15 years later and be thick as thieves. Great boys, you know, everybody in his crew that works that, that does his music, like, to me, it really, really is a Family thing and something that, you know, I make sure to reiterate to him every single time how thankful I am to be able to have somebody like him in my life. And I text him the other day and we just like, you know, what the vibe and the, and what you're, you know, just kind of oozing out to everyone of. Around. Everybody that's around you day in and day out is infectious. You know, it's amazing to see you have as much fun as you do, work as hard as you do, and take care of so many people. I think anybody that really knows him and is around him, buck all the bullshit. That guy is a true one on one, I'd say.

[Pat McAfee]

And the numbers speak for themselves, obviously the success as well. He. Yeah, I mean, his, what has it been, like 15, 20 years dominance by him through it all. Air Drake, you talk about. Yeah, it's like a 757 or something. He flies around. It's. It's the most absurd. Congrats him. Congrats to you. Happy you guys are friends and, you know, can lean on each other throughout this life. That's a beautiful thing. Go ahead, aj.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, Johnny. I want a quick follow up on the Drake situation. When, when you're actually, when you first get to go travel with him and see how he operates and how his team operates, I guess, was it, was it eye opening, was it inspiring to see? I would assume a guy like that, we just think, okay, the guy rolls out of bed and he has hits, but there's no one really, there's no secret to it. Guys usually are working their balls off and they're especially to stay for as long as he has been relevant, how good he is. What's it like behind the scenes seeing how everything operates and how hard he probably works.

[I]

Yeah, I think I've learned so much being around the day in and the day out, from the security aspect of it to the way he moves to just the whole operation of the whole thing is truly, truly crazy. Just you want to talk about efficiency and how you move and get from one place to the next and like making sure everybody's good. Like, it is ridiculous to have 15 black cars at all times. You text in a group chat, hey, I need to go here. I need to do this just the way that it is. And you know, you hit the nail on the head earlier where, you know, this guy could, you know, get some inspiration from somewhere that we're at and go back to the hotel room at 5, 6, 7 in the morning, 8 in the morning, sit and create a piece of art in the room and just bang it out. And it's. It's been amazing to see. I think for me, whenever he was like, you know what? Come, you're coming on tour with me, come stay as long as you want. If you need to go work, go back, take care of your business. But just the whole thing, I think I look back at this, you know, when I'm 50, 60 years old, and it's all said and done, he's done making music and be like, yo, I got to do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Not just that. There's a lot of things in Johnny Manziel's life that when you look back at 50, 60 years old, and I assume, much like myself, there's no way you thought you. You'd live that long. So it's like, there's a lot that you've been able to do. Take it all in, brother. Enjoy it. That is what is about all of it legitimately. Now, let's talk a little bit about you playing football and who you are. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Johnny, just off the top of my head, I don't think there's been someone who's had as much like, hype and buildup in terms of a college quarterback since you. Until Arch Manning this year, just based on, like, your experience and what you went through after the high school Heisman year and all that kind of stuff. How do you think Arch is going to fare? You know, because it feels like half the people are like, hey, this guy's going to win the Heisman this year. And half the people are like, you know what? Why are we hyping up this guy? He might be like the seventh or the eighth best quarterback in the sec.

[I]

Yeah, I think him being the seventh or eighth best in the sec, I don't think we're going to see that. I think he's going to live somewhere in the top three of sec SEC play. When it's all said and done, I think with the people that he's had around him, the way that he was raised, the way that he's grown up, I think he's prepared for what he is getting himself into. But when it comes down to it, it is SEC football. They are going to scheme for him, they're going to be prepared for him. They know what kind of quarterback he is. So you're getting everybody's best shot. You know, you're starting off the season at the top of the board. You know who's coming for the top of the board, everybody below you. So I have high expectations. It's tough to pick anybody that's going to walk on the cross the stage in New York in August. It's really hard and it's almost better to not be the guy with the best odds going into it because I can look back throughout the years, the odds on favorite going into the season really hasn't ever been the winner when it's all said and done. But he has the opportunity with the schedule as the opportunity with the conference to do everything that he needs to do to be in New York in December. So I expect good things from March.

[Pat McAfee]

I hope he goes on and does it. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

How awesome.

[I]

I hope he goes off. I hope he goes off.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, the hype is crazy. Obviously I've known him since he's a kid, but like everything else I've known of him since he was a kid, I haven't known him throughout his entire life. But you get it. It's like if he just goes off, the mental toughness. That's why like for guys like you, especially whenever you were down there at Texas A and M, it was like everybody on earth was expecting you to have a huge game. It's like, hey, one up yourself from last week, bro. And you just continued to do that. The mentality that it takes to do that week in, week out, especially with all the distractions, which we got a chance to see a lot of yours. I couldn't even imagine if nowadays nil. I'm sure you've done the math. I'm sure you sure you've been asked about it. But like the nil world for money, Manzel would have been outrageous. Oh my God, think about cash app, all the money. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Literally the money companies would want to be with. Let's not get into that. We don't need to get into that. No.

[I]

You know, maybe, maybe one of these days A and M will slide me a little check under the desk and make it all right.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's talk about A and M on that note. Go ahead. AP Tone. Yeah, Johnny.

[Tone Diggs]

Quarterback Marcel Reed, who's now who they basically found last year as a starter, has got a little bit of money. Manzel to his game. Do you like that Texas AM now has a more of a playmaking quarterback for this season. How do you feel about the boys this year?

[I]

You know, I was in the UK the other day and I we had an off night from a show and was sitting there on Twitter looking at a bunch of camp like, you know, clips and seeing some like routes on air and seeing some stuff. And I, I hit him on Instagram. I'm like, yo, give me a call. And he called me maybe 20 minutes later. We sat and had a 20, 30 minute phone call and just really trying to give him some tips and just talk to him and see how he's feeling. So I think for him being able to spend the majority of the time being under center, getting the reps, knowing that you're going to be the guy. Listen, everybody could see from what he did when he came in LSU last year that the guy has the ability to, to shake you out of your shoes, be an unbelievable threat running the football. I think people are going to be able to prepare for that and he's going to have to step up in a bigger way, making passes down the field and making the whole thing work. But I think having the full off season to be able to get the reps, have the time, especially week in, week out throughout the season, will benefit him tremendously compared to what he was doing last year.

[Pat McAfee]

That College Station place is awesome. I went down there twice last year.

[I]

And we had, we had a good time on game day last year. That was a hell of a time.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. I mean, twice. We're down there two times and it's like the crowd was immaculate. Now obviously, I think they're like, I don't want to say forced, but you get. Everybody feels obligated to be a big fan. It feels like everybody on campus and in that area, I think, feels obligated to be a massive fan. The midnight yell practice and sh. The. I happen to be staying very close to where that was happening. Like, very, very close close. Very, very close. There might have been a bus that I was staying in that was literally right outside the stadium at that particular game. And I'm there chilling and I'd heard about it, but I didn't really know what it was going to be. I mean, it was loud in. I mean it was very loud in that stadium at like 1am and then I'm like, oh, nobody's going to show up for game day. I mean, this is a quick turnaround. It was like, nope, they just rolled right out of there right into game day. It was like, what a great football season. School A and M is like a perfect football school almost. Do you feel the same way about that town?

[I]

Oh, man, it's unbelievable seeing that stadium now and what it is. And you know, just week in and week out, you have some of the best fans in all of sports. You know, I I think they live for it. You know, people that flock into that town on a weekend and just absolutely take it over. The spirit is unbelievable. The stadium, you know, the university is great. You know, they love it down in Aggieland. And I know for one thing, if you guys make it back this year, I'm taking your ass out on a bar crawl.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right.

[I]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So I don't know, we. Is the. Do we still got the bar down there? Shop bar down there?

[I]

No, we still get. We still got money bar. We're alive and well.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So I was out at like nine down there. Oh yeah, nine, nine 30. I believe Shane was in town as well. Shane Gillis was in town as well. Oh, yeah, yeah, you were, I think. And I'm like, I gotta wake up very early. It's 9 o'. Clock. Place has. Johnny's place hasn't even opened yet. I'm like, what do we. I don't know if I can make it. I don't know if I can make. I'm an old man, Johnny. I'm an old man.

[I]

We're a late night joint. We're opening at 10, stay until 2. But, you know, it's been fun to be able to have a place of my own where, you know, I. Johnny Football was born on the. On those streets.

[Pat McAfee]

I could imagine some of those photos that I've seen of you from college just walking those streets thing. I wonder where those are.

[I]

AI, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course, of course. I couldn't imagine a Drake concert in la. Okay. Just Drake's ties to LA and everything like that. You were there last night. There's a bunch of sports icons out there. Saw a picture with you and Kevin Durant, obviously. I believe there was also a picture of you with one of our close friends and everything that's happening. Okay, yeah, Fist bump for Tyrese for sure. Connor has a question.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Johnny, how is Tyrese's Achilles doing? You know, we've been kind of worried over here.

[I]

I spoke to him for probably 10, 15 minutes last night. Walking around on a boot. You know, obviously been with KD a lot, obviously dealt with a similar injury. So I, I think for him, seeing him at dinner last night in really, really good spirits, I think, you know, whatever, whatever I told him, which was pretty much, you know, you're going through the pain, you're going through the parts that really, really suck. You know, this is as bad as it gets being an athlete, having this injury happen. So it's determination, resiliency. I think everybody in the country was Enamored with what he did throughout these playoffs and what he did this season. I think the guy is unbelievable talent, a lot of room to grow, and going through one of those pieces of life right now where you get slapped with some adversity. And it really is one of those character building things of how are you going to fight through this slowly but surely and bounce back. And from what I saw last night in the conversation we had, man, what a guy. I think he's on the right path. He'll be back.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we love him. He's made the right stuff. All right, so what's next on tour? Where are we headed? You said you've been in six countries. You're in LA right now. You just consider that its own country as well, I assume with everything.

[I]

Yeah, I'm gonna work for a couple days and then I'm hopping on a plane and gonna go to Cologne, Germany. And then after that, my. My favorite little stretch of the tour, we get Stockholm, Sweden, and then it's eight days in Milan and another seven in Paris and woof. I am excited.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, I want to let you know this is one of the most hysterical things that you could just be doing in life, and we appreciate that. You're still Johnny Football, baby. Enjoy your life. You've earned it. And shout the sling. Shout out to sling. Yeah.

[I]

Yo. Also something coming out September 25th, I went on a show called Special Forces Put me through the military ringer, jumping out of helicopters off a dam. Some crazy stuff. So if. If you guys want to see me get my ass whooped by Randall Cobb in a boxing match, make sure you tune in.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you just gave a spoiler there. Cam Newton was on this, I believe.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember he jumps off the thing on the helicopter.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And the entire thing shakes. That series seems insane. That is great. Watch. We thought, how did you find out about it? How did you end up in it?

[I]

And I've been watching it. I've been good friends with Danny Amendola for a long time. He did it the first season and then, you know, watched Cam obviously last year. And then, you know, got the opportunity to do it to this year. And I'm like, you know what, bucket? Let me go do it. Try it out. Went to the deserts of Morocco. After the first day, I was really, really doubting how I was going to get some through this and, you know, picked up a little steam, got the hang of it and had a. Had a really good time. But, you know, Randall Cobb, that guy's built like a Tank.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't want to spoil the season, but Randol Cob, he's a guy. This is from, I believe, season. This is Cam Newton boxing on top, and they're literally yelling at them to continue to fight even after somebody gets knocked out. Tired. It's like you go through military training. It's like a boot camp slash military training type with Special Force folks.

[I]

It's the real deal. These are real instructors, and they're really on your ass the whole time. So, you know, when you step into that world, you're in their world. It was a. It was an unbelievable experience, one I'm very, very thankful for.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, Day one, I didn't know if I made the right decision to fly to Morocco to do, but. All right, we appreciate you. Good luck out there, man.

[I]

All love, boys.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell Anita Max I said hello, will you, please?

[I]

And we need a Max woman for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Manzo. Hey, Johnny. Just on tour.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. My favorite part, we go Stockholm through Denmark. Then we're in Milan for eight days. Then we get our seven days. Jesus. I'm gonna work for a couple days here.

[AJ Hawk]

Yep.

[Boston Connor]

And then.

[Pat McAfee]

Keep living, Johnny. And I guess I'm happy as hell that him and Drake have remained friends.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Pat McAfee]

And also Drake, I don't think any of us thought there was a. You know, I think a lot of people doubted what is next for Drake. Does Drake just kind of disappear? Yeah, it's like, no, just sell out. Aren't arenas and stadiums around the world and just continue doing it. And also, so much of this. I see him doing a lot of this.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of this. Yep. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Then I hit a huge win. I did it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. Sends it out. I won. And then he's right back into it. He likes seeing big numbers come across.

[Ty Schmidt]

The board without a doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's got a 757, 15 black SUVs just all around at all time. Like the President. President. Good for them. Enjoy it all, boys. Enjoy it all.

[AJ Hawk]

That plane, too. I remember when that plane was made and they've released, like, the.

[Pat McAfee]

I think he has a newer one.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, really?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think. I think he does. Yeah. I think there's a newer one. I saw that. Yeah, man. Champagne. Poppy's been doing it for a long time. That's right. Yeah. Calls for his death were grossly exaggerated.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes. Yes, they were.

[Pat McAfee]

Because now he's just out there doing. Enjoying Manzel. I think Johnny manziel's got a couple.

[AJ Hawk]

Johnny's on backup vocals for every song. His tour manager, they need to give him a towel and get him on stage for every single show.

[Pat McAfee]

I assume he's out there. He sounded like he was at least backup vocals out there. Okay. So Johnny Manziel obviously coming into the NFL, massive amount of hype. I think Caleb Williams, whenever he came into the NFL, obviously an immense amount of chatter about this is the. The next one. This is going to be the next one. This is the great one. I actually had people in the college football world tell me, like, you think a team's going to pass on Caleb Williams? Yeah, right. This is the next one. Well, here's Ben Johnson chit chatting about where he and Caleb Williams currently are heading into the second preseason game. You know, he and I met yesterday.

[Boston Connor]

I'm.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm pleased with how he's able to.

[Boston Connor]

Spit these plays out right now.

[Pat McAfee]

He's made significant progress in that regard. And once we get going here in a game week, we're going to condense.

[Pete Thamel]

The verbiage even more.

[Boston Connor]

So we've challenged him.

[Pat McAfee]

It's been a lot. That was by design.

[Boston Connor]

And so if we struggle at all.

[Pat McAfee]

In the huddle getting the play out, then, yeah, the delays are going to pop up.

[Boston Connor]

And that's a little bit of part.

[Pat McAfee]

Of the learning process and us growing. But by design, we've made this very.

[Boston Connor]

Challenging and hard and we know what.

[Pat McAfee]

We need to do as a staff to alleviate some of that pressure. And I think week one, we're going to be in a good spot. Fire hose, brother. That's what we sent at him of information that's not only a message from us to him, but also maybe him to realize what it all takes to kind of do this. We actually did a little journalism. From what I'm being told, we have found footage from practice of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams kind of going through the play calls stuff. Let's go. Green right, X shift, the Viper right. Green right X. Green right, X shift. The Viper right. 382X stick. Looky. Here we go, guys.

[Ty Schmidt]

Green right, X shift to Viper right.

[Pat McAfee]

382 y stick.

[Ty Schmidt]

Looky, X stok. Looky.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm one. Let's go. Scatter to west right. Tight F left. 372 y stick, Z spot. Here we go. Scattered. The west right tight. Fit left. 382 Y stick. Christ. Just go. Scatter to west right. Tight F left. 372 Y stick, Z spot. Here we go.

[AJ Hawk]

Scattered.

[Pat McAfee]

Say it again. I'm scattered. West right tight. F left. 372 Y stick Z spot. Here we go. Scattered to west right tight. Scatter to west right tight F left 3 to 2. 370. 372. Why sticks C spot. I'm already Christ. Huh?

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm the problem.

[Pat McAfee]

You're nervous. Aren't I? I just couldn't spit it out. That obviously was not.

[AJ Hawk]

It was.

[Pat McAfee]

That was not Caleb and Ben. Who was it then? That. That was not who that was then. I know. I saw what you all saw. Okay. That was not.

[AJ Hawk]

Are you sure the colors look the same?

[Pat McAfee]

Sure.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But that is like kind of what it felt like Ben Johnson was describing. Like. And Caleb with how he's played football his entire life. We've talked about this. How Ben Johnson with Jared Goff is going to expect a lot of timing. You're going to have to know exactly what's going on everywhere and you're going to have to be able to play on time. And if you're able to extend afterwards. That's something I've never had the experience of having. That would be great news. But everything kind of press is kind of predicted off of the literal understanding of the entire offense. Offense, you have to know everything that's going on everywhere and what the defense is doing and we need to play on time. That's never been how Caleb plays. You know the Caleb is always the conversation. So him having to learn his third offense now in two years. Plus it sounds like Ben Johnson's play calls are a little bit in depth.

[Johnny Manziel]

From what it sounds wordy. It feels like.

[Pat McAfee]

It feels like if you're not able to get the words out there, we're going to get the lay of games. That's what he's talking about. So maybe that is why in the first preseason game everybody said, well, Caleb's not playing because the offensive line isn't playing well. Maybe neither of them played because Ben Johnson wasn't sure if Caleb was going to be able to get all of it out there. And we don't want this to be an embarrassing situation here to start this entire thing because Ben Johnson wants Caleb Williams to succeed. Now he's probably being a hard ass on him. He's probably treating him much differently than any head coach has ever treated Caleb Williams in his entire life. I assume this is very difficult for Caleb Williams, but Ben Johnson. Johnson wants Caleb Williams to be very, very, very successful. I mean there it is an obvious thing. What are your thoughts on what's going on in Chicago with Ben Johnson and who he is as a coach, seemingly.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah. I mean so like Ben Johnson, I would assume he has to love Caleb Williams. He wouldn't have taken that job. He had plenty of options to look around and take other head coaching gigs. I think so. I think he felt good with Caleb going in. But when you think about it like we're just talking about getting the play call out. We're not talking about making plays on the the field. Like that's just, hey, I got to relay the message from my helmet and get the whole play call out. But then you got to think of, all right now I got to know every single situation pre snap, post snap. I'll make all those decisions. But yeah, it's definitely a Stephanie be a little bit of a learning curve. But I think Ben Johnson even said, hey, we will cut it way down when it comes to game week. And that's what every single team does when you break it down, you put your game plan together on game week. It is much, much smaller than what you actually do in training camp.

[Pat McAfee]

Why do you think he said by design we wanted to open overwhelm him early with information. Do you think that was also a mental thing? It's like, hey, this is what this offense is going to require. Just so you know immediately this is what it is and we got, we.

[Johnny Manziel]

Got to see what you can handle. I think too like, hey, we're going to throw everything at you. I want to see how you handle like the chaos. Like are you going to panic? What are you going to do? Like he, Ben knows, like of course this is my offense. I know the verbiage better than anybody. I, this is what I do. So I'm trying to teach it to you. It's going to take some time, but how do you handle it when. And I do give you a billion different things and it's like every single night you're going back to your Dorm room at 10pm and you have a whole new chunk of plays the next day that you're just trying to figure out. Like it's a, it's definitely a process but that's what, that's what developing quarterbacks is. It's what you have to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think, I don't think Ben Johnson was going to be, I didn't think Ben Johnson was going to be the coach that he is that we've seen. Like, hey, he's seemingly hard ass guy. Oh yeah, like, and I think Chicago, you know, I think a lot of Bears Fans would probably say probably have needed that for a while, especially a guy who has offensive prowess, seemingly. So I wonder if he has a deal with the team. Like, hey, what if it doesn't work with Caleb? You know, like Sean Bateman had with Russell there for a little bit. Because I don't want to look that far ahead. And we assume Caleb will be able to catch up to everything, and we assume he'll be able to understand it moving forward, and we assume he'll get to the point where he's comfortable, where he can dissect it and understand that maybe the one that is on the play call isn't actually the one in this particular defensive set because they're going to take that out. So the two is actually the one before. I mean, that's like, that's like. That's like learning an offense inside and out. He's already had to be in his third. I mean, that is. That needs to be mentioned whenever it talks about the Caleb Williams story. Hopefully this is the one that he lives in for the rest of his career.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, and obviously, Ben, you know, his plan at least to start so far with the team building has been, you know, perfect. Like the, the entire interior offensive line for the Bears is different now with Jonah Jackson, Drew Dahlman at center, who is the top center basically in free agency, and then Joe Tunney. So it's not as if Caleb has any excuses. So if the thought for Ben Johnson is, you know, if he has it of great, Caleb's our guy, let's move forward. But if not, then maybe we need to go a different way. He's eliminated every other excuse. The offensive line is great. They got the running back. They have, you know, DJ Moore, Roma dunes they got now Colston Loveland was their first round pick. The tight end from Michigan still got Cole Comet. Like, it really is one of those Sean Payton situations where Sean Payton's first year in Denver, he brings in a bunch of guys. It doesn't work early, but then, you know, whether it worked out or not, Sean Payton knew he needed to move on if they wanted to win a Super Bowl. And then they got their guys and.

[Pat McAfee]

They took the biggest cap hit in the history of the NFL at the time for it. And now everybody thinks the Broncos are back in contention. We hope that's not the case, obviously, in Chicago or anywhere else for that matter, but we'll be excited to see what a Ben Johnson Bears team looks like in five years from now, which I think Bears fans are like, five years.

[AJ Hawk]

Another brother.

[Pat McAfee]

I Don't know if we can survive.

[Ty Schmidt]

You've seen the headlines, heard the debates.

[Pat McAfee]

The three point ball has created a.

[Ty Schmidt]

Monotonous rhythm to the game.

[Pat McAfee]

And other has the three pointer ruined basketball? And how did we get here?

[Boston Connor]

The rise of the three point shot.

[Pat McAfee]

Can be partially traced to an eccentric.

[H]

Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story.

[Pat McAfee]

Didn'T turn out quite the way he imagined.

[AJ Hawk]

I decided I wanted to have one.

[Pat McAfee]

Of the most organized goodbyes in history. 30 for 30 podcast presents Chasing Basketball Heaven. Available now wherever you get your podcasts, this isn't just another ESPN fantasy football season.

[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Ty Schmidt]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[I]

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[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who is the authority on college sports. And he also brought broke some news alongside the pretzel Dan Wetzel, who AJ Hawk absolutely loves that there will be a ruling coming from the NCAA tomorrow on some Michigan infractions. Joining us to break that down and what we should expect, ladies and gentlemen, Pete Thamel. Yeah. How you doing, Pete?

[Pete Thamel]

Good.

[H]

I'm sure Ty is excited because this is the waning moments of Connor Stallions's relevance. Okay, I know this is, this is, this is, this is where Tyler Ty has had some fun. So I'm curious how he's feeling.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, certainly a good time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Certainly has.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It has been a blast. You know, Buckeye Pete here has certainly been in the trenches of this since the beginning and obviously this story was gigantic. I mean, I wish we could explain to people that don't remember the time what it was like for you, what it was like for college sports as a whole. What it was in just the sports world because, okay, so they were cheating. They were scouting ahead. They had cameras on people, they're buying tickets. There's an entire scheme that was taking place. Jim Harbaugh was basically telling him to do it. No, Jim Harbaugh didn't know anything about it. And they were gonna win national championship. So it was chaos, I think, throughout it all. So whenever you send this tweet out, we didn't know what this was about. Was this also about the FBI or whatever that brought in and got the computers that were in there? Because one of the staffers was doing something else. It's like we had no idea what this tweet was about. You're saying it's Connor Stallions. What does this mean? We're going to get the final, like kind of ruling on the entire Connor Stallions piece here as you look incredibly thin and tanned up for the season.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[H]

So there's a committee on infractions is going to make public its ruling on the Michigan advanced scouting case. And this is not the so called hamburger case, and this is certainly not the felonious case of Matt Weiss, the former offensive coordinator, which is really, really dark stuff. This is the, yes, quintessential collegiate scandal that just, I mean, really took over the 2023 season, Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[H]

And as Michigan went on to win the national title and it's kind of unspooled in just this, this wild way and it became this like perfect talk show topic, quite frankly, because there was an argument on one side, you know, you should hide your signals better. It was it legal? Was it not legal? There was all this ambiguity surrounding it. And this will be likely, but not certainly the final chapter of the litigation of this case through the NCAA process. And, you know, we're going to find out tomorrow. The punishment, any potential punishment for Michigan, which I've said on this show before, is likely going to be a hefty fine. And there is not an expectation, Pat, that there's going to be any kind of postseason ban and there's not an expectation that any of their accomplishments are going to be taken away. Now, a vast majority of the staff members who got jammed up in this are now gone in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh prominently among them. The real news that's going to come out of tomorrow is going to be regarding the suspension of Sharon Moore, Michigan back in May, I believe, self imposed two games for Sharon, Game three and game four this season. And what we're going to find out from then, say tomorrow is is that accepted or are they going to add any additional suspensions? Remember, he obviously deleted a thread of 52 text messages in this. Typically, as these things go, Pat, when you self impose, it's like buying a used car. You don't, you don't go above the blue book value when you make your first offer, you go below the blue book value. So they feel, you know, there's an expectation that there could be a slight addition to it potentially. Just if you look at the history of these cases, when people do self impose, there is sometimes it's accepted, sometimes there's there's an additive, but it won't be radically different than the, than the two that are that are there. And yes, now there's, there's potential for appeals, too. So I'm not going to say this thing is, this thing is over forever, but this is certainly a large, a large piece of this weird wild scandal that is is coming to conclusion.

[Pat McAfee]

I think we're all excited to move along. You know, we're all excited to move along in this entire thing, but I know there's going to be some people that missed some things. Go ahead. Ty Thamel.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Pete, just curious when, you know, you look at this situation, obviously not going to ask you to bury the lead in terms of what you think those punishments might be that we'll hear about that tomorrow. But does this kind of mark the end of the kind? I would call it the Buckeye Peach Greasy Pete era. And does that mean that you're going to be taking your investigative pickaxe and heading for different hills where you may be mining for gold for some college football stories of collusion or scandal, et cetera, et cetera, later this year?

[H]

Sorry, I'm just happy you're not impersonating me with a Yankees hat on. I found that pretty offensive when you did that recently because I'm a Boston resident and a giant Red Sox fan. So I, I, I have, I've never had any problems with the impression, but you crossed the line there. I took, I took offense to it.

[Pat McAfee]

You talked about Ty enjoying this entire scandal, yada yada. A lot of people are attacking you, Pete. Hey, way to stay in the batter's box. Attaboy, Pete. Way to stay in the batter's box. All right, we got some college football questions for you here as we have hard out on ESPN2, but we'll continue on digital at 157. Go ahead, Tom.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, Pete, we have some quarterback competitions that are getting some heat here later at Leighton Camp. You know, if it was like a month or two ago, I would have said, you know, I would have bet that CJ Carr would have been starting for Notre Dame and Julian Saying would have been, would have been starting for Ohio State. It feels like those guys haven't been announced yet. Is there a chance that they don't start and then also are we going to see Bryce Underwood at Michigan?

[H]

So we'll start with Underwood because you just said him last. I think that's, that's the general expectation is that we will see Bryce Underwood at Michigan Game 1 snap 1. I'm not sure, but I think as, as the way things have unfolded there in this camp, I think the, the expectation he's building towards being the, the starter for this, for this season really for as much focus as it been on Arch Manning and how the hopes of Texas are pinned on him. I don't know if there's a quarterback in the country who has as much of. Of the team on his back. Certainly there's no true freshman quarterback in the country who is going to have as much on him as Bryce under. It's going to be fascinating to, fascinating to watch. As for Notre Dame, my understanding is that race is fairly even and it's an interesting one to see when and if they declare it because the, the skill sets of C.J. carr and Kenny Minchi tone are very different men. Chief does really fit more of what Mike Denbrock has done with running quarterbacks. We saw what they did with Riley Leonard last year. Obviously you saw what he did with Jaden Daniels a couple seasons ago at lsu. You can go back to Cincinnati. He was the OC when Des Ritter kind of came rose to prominence there. He's used to having more of a dual threat guy. CJ Carr is more of a traditional drop back. So a decision from Notre Dame kind of comes with a philosophical decision. If it is car, could we see Minchi in a package that utilizes his legs. So I think that that race is. That race is very close and it wouldn't surprise me if it goes either way in Columbus. I think we'll know in the near future which way they go. It. It's an interesting race. There's been a few of those at Ohio State in recent years. There's, I think, a little bit of pressure tone to, to, to kind of pick a guy because, you know, you open with Texas. Right. If you remember the last two national champions, both Michigan and Ohio State opened with three games where they were prohibitive favorites in. It's just, it's a different approach to the opener when you have to. When you have to go and go up against the top five team. So it'll be interesting to see, to see how that unfolds. I believe there's a scrimmage there on Saturday and those are always obviously giant pieces of empirical evidence in the quarterback balance.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, those are giant pieces, especially over there in Columbus. Week zero, Farmageddon coming right around the corner. Week one has a massive slate. Cannot wait to get out there to Columbus, Ohio for that. Now a man has a question for you that probably knows who who the starting quarterback's Going to be. Go ahead, A.J.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, Pete, as far as rule change, I hear they're trying to cut down on people faking injuries and we can't in college brandish any kind of weapons. Have they educated the referees on what is considered a weapon? I mean, that's what I'm saying.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like there's a million different things you.

[Johnny Manziel]

Can use as a weapon.

[Pat McAfee]

Hammer, can you explain about ninja star?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, yeah.

[H]

I'm excited that the faking injuries is going to end because it's just annoying as a, as a consumer in viewer who is, who is unbiased. It's just, it's. It's sort of tedious and, and obvious and against the spirit of the game. Yeah, I'll probably. I'll probably just. I'll probably just leave the answer there.

[Pat McAfee]

AJ it is shite. What about. What about the. The weapons thing?

[Johnny Manziel]

Because brandishing weapons now we can't brandish a weapon.

[Pat McAfee]

That's great.

[Johnny Manziel]

Imaginatary. Imaginatory.

[Pat McAfee]

We understand when a guy. Yeah, we understand when the guy. Guy pulls the thing out. Almost used to shoots the guy in the back. We understand that. That's the guns. With the guns. Want a little too far? I'd say a little bit of a runaway.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right. Acting like you're not subtle. Blow a guy's head off.

[Pat McAfee]

Right. Have that in football. We don't want that in football. But ninja stars. I don't know.

[Ty Schmidt]

Swords need to stay.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Agree. Swords who have their Nerf swords.

[AJ Hawk]

How do you know?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, and then I guess you could say, well, this was a water gun. They're not doing. We don't need to get into that. Samantha.

[AJ Hawk]

Maybe it is water gun.

[Pat McAfee]

But we will say we are on the side of. We don't need obvious guns. The heads on the football.

[AJ Hawk]

Unless Dylan Stewart standing over a quarterback. South Carolina's guy who just did. Right.

[Pat McAfee]

We're saying we don't need that. But we do got to be a little clearer on what a weapon is. I think is what AJ Say. We're going to have a lot of. We're going to have a lot of problems.

[AJ Hawk]

Fire hose.

[Pat McAfee]

Fire hose is a weapon. If you ask Ben Johnson.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Especially Caleb Williams. I mean, I mean you could do it all. We got 30 seconds until we exit ESPN2. Pete Dammel, your prediction that the biggest headline all year of this college football season, what is it going to be? I don't understand. An unranked team.

[H]

An unranked team reaches the college football playoff final.

[Ty Schmidt]

Iowa, Hawkeyes, West Virginia.

[Pat McAfee]

I just gave a lot of hope.

[Ty Schmidt]

To your whole staff.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you did. That is great news. We'll continue. Goodbye. Okay, so now we're digital. People are still watching. I didn't know if you couldn't hear me. Your brain was broken. But you were just trying to really think of one. You were actually trying to think of one right there. Watching you create a great headline. By the way, the reaction from everybody on that headline was brilliant. That's Pete Thamel football right there. Okay, we have some other. Other questions, obviously. Go ahead, Con man authority.

[AJ Hawk]

Yesterday or two days ago, Jon Gruden came out and basically said, like, hey, I love the sec. What a dream it would be to coach, you know, in this conference and that he does want to coach again. Will there be teams you think that will reach out to Jon Gruden? Are there SEC teams now this season that are going to have any sort of kind of prove it year type things a la Hugh Freeze at Auburn? Do you think Jon Gruden realistically will. Yeah, Arkansas, sure. Do you think that there's a chance Gruden's gonna be coaching the SEC next year?

[H]

My hunch on Gruden, Connor, is that, look, there's 136 of these Division 1 FBS jobs. Right? It's a Star wars bar.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[H]

You go from Miami to Seattle, from Phoenix to. To Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[H]

In your neighborhood, Connor. Like, there's just. There's a lot in between. Right. Marshals in Western Kentucky's and Arkansas states. I think Jon Gruden could land somewhere amid that. I. I would not project him to go to the sec. I will be amused if the.

[Pat McAfee]

Why not? Why not? Why not?

[H]

Yeah, I think. I think there's just better college coaches available than John Green. Junker is certainly an excellent football coach, Peter, but.

[Pat McAfee]

Whoa.

[AJ Hawk]

Authority.

[Pat McAfee]

You think that. Honestly, why do you think that? This is John Gruden we're talking about. He's coached.

[H]

I don't believe he's ever coached in college.

[Pat McAfee]

He has coached. Okay, so he's gonna be able to figure it out, maybe. Now that it's professional football at the college level.

[H]

I'm certainly not gonna doubt Bill Belichick. I. I just think that the university hiring process for John Gruden, who's admitted ongoing litigation, could. Could add some complexities to that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I understand that was going to end with Jon Gruden maybe being able to take a little lower salary from these places. Don't you worry about it. I got some league money that'll go ahead and do that. I'll Be excited to see what that is because you get Jon Gruden in a room, any room, he's taken over the room. So if he gets an interview. I don't think Jon Gruden leaves the building deciding whether or not he's taking the job. I think he's the one deciding whether or not he's taking the job if he gets in a building. Just personally, as somebody that has watched a lot of clips of Jon Gruden, he walks into a room, he's winning the whole room over. Especially if it's a football room. Like, I think that is just how it's going to be. That'll be fascinating to see because Bill Belichick wasn't going to college.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, correct.

[Pat McAfee]

And then like North Carolina's. How is it going down there? What have you learned? We're going to be. Are we going to be there?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I think we're.

[H]

Yeah, we're gonna be there. I think they announced it.

[Pat McAfee]

Pat. I don't know if you.

[H]

Your show is gonna be there. I think you're gonna be there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'm gonna be there. Yeah, we're on Monday. Our show's not.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's like Labor Day.

[H]

Yeah, it's Labor Day. That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

So I don't think we are on. I believe we're doing a full kickoff show for their entire. Yeah, we are on that Monday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[H]

So North Carolina has 70 new players, Pat, so I could not like earnestly tell you what they're going to be like.

[AJ Hawk]

Have you?

[H]

I have no, I have no earthly idea. And I just say that there's just so many new bodies there. I would project the Geo Lopez from South Alabama as their starting quarterback. He's a little run around guy who is, who's very productive at, at South Alabama. And then it's just a bunch of portal guys. Like the proven skill at the ACC level is to be proven. I would say they lost Amari and Hampton, obviously, the NFL draft. They lost Bo Atkinson, the D end who's going to play real snaps at Ohio State. And then obviously they lost Amari Campbell, the linebacker who projects as a giant contributor at Penn State. So the two best players at North Carolina left after spring. And so again, there's a trust of Bill Belichick in the evaluation process, roster building process, coaching process. I was reminded of this the other day by someone that so much of college football, much like the NFL, is not losing the game as opposed to winning the game. And I think there's a lot of Faith in Bill Belichick, like keeping it in the margins, getting it to Deepwater, figuring out a way to win the game. If you look at their schedule, it's fairly manageable as things go. I believe they're three point underdog to TCU in the opener. Some of your guys would know that off the top of their head. Yes, yes. Okay. Sitting there now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[H]

And look like it's one of the beauties of opening weekend in college football. There's just so much roster change and so much over overhaul, it's unbelievably difficult to predict that. So I have general good feeling about Bill Belichick in North Carolina, but I, you know, I'd be naive to be too bullish because of just the myriad unknowns.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, the myriad of unknowns is everywhere these days, except for seemingly down there in Texas and Ohio State. Hey, how come Ohio State's plucking all everybody's good players?

[AJ Hawk]

It's ridiculous.

[Pat McAfee]

I should only start talking. Talking about what? They're. Yeah, they took West Virginia's running back. Yeah, they did. We'll take you. They go to North Carolina. We'll take Purdue's tight end.

[Johnny Manziel]

I think they came willingly. I think they came willingly. They didn't have to take anybody.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, okay. Okay. Bill.

[AJ Hawk]

Bill probably told those two players like, hey, we're gonna be this year, so we should go.

[Pat McAfee]

How much are they paying you up there?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, get out of here.

[Pat McAfee]

You're not gonna make that much money in the NFL either, so you should get up there. All right. Speaking of money, there's a big money conversation happening on the Internet. Mr. Thai. Pete.

[Ty Schmidt]

Pete, do we have any kind of updates in the John Mateer situation? I don't know where you stand on this, but for me personally, it kind of just seems like a de facto witch hunt almost. You know, kid goes to a new location and all of a sudden they're looking through Venmo transactions from when he was in eighth grade. It seems like a bit of, to me, where do we stand on this whole situation? Is there any chance you. That John Mateer kind of gets, I don't know, rattled up in this whole thing and. And he's gonna face some punishment? Or is this thing gonna kind of get brushed away? Because I think we all realize that there's really no way they can pin any kind of gambling accusations on him.

[H]

So I checked in on this last night, Ty, and everything was. Everything was fairly quiet. Jamateer made his statement two days ago in the. In the afternoon. He said the sports Gambling references were, I think, quote, inside jokes amongst his. Among his friends. Yes, yes, yes.

[AJ Hawk]

The Bush.

[H]

Yes. Sarcastic references between friends, roommates, etc. So ultimately, Oklahoma or the NCAA, if they were going to get into this, would have to find something. My hunch at this juncture is this kind of fizzles out, and two months from now, we're gonna be like, hey, remember that day when John Mattiere did that dumb thing on Venmo? And we're gonna kind of move on. That is where my understanding is that it's trending right now. A lot of modern gambling. Like, this isn't like, you'll pay the bookie in the parking lot at Perkins anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, it is pretty trackable through.

[Pete Thamel]

Through your phone.

[H]

So I. I think, like, they'd be able to, you know, the.

[Pat McAfee]

The.

[H]

The due diligence on this shouldn't be particularly difficult.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's at this juncture. Of course.

[H]

Just this juncture. I don't think you'll ever catch me going past this juncture, Pat.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, so you're the authority.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, be where your feet are. Yep. You know, Be where your feet are. That's what it's all about. We appreciate you in this juncture and all the future ones. The authority, Pete Thamel. Can't wait to see you on the road, brother.

[H]

Yeah. Look forward to seeing you at the juncture of Columbus.

[AJ Hawk]

Boom.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, Shed, Pete.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Authority.

[Pat McAfee]

Unbelievable performance.

[Johnny Manziel]

This vocabulary.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Hey, he does.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Looks great. Yep.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's ready to go.

[Pat McAfee]

His head being cut off. Right.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's classic stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

That's classic.

[AJ Hawk]

That's Pete.

[Tone Diggs]

Pat and I both thought you were gonna say PP Slapped.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I'm happy you didn't. Just because, you know, he. He was already on edge a little bit. Because the Yankees had the last time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, exactly.

[AJ Hawk]

And roster changes almost got him, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I agree. That was close.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I was very close.

[Pat McAfee]

Aggressive. I agree. I could argue. Take. I love. He does know everything.

[Ty Schmidt]

He does.

[Pat McAfee]

God lives on his phone. He is a robot. AI. Yes. He is human form.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was before our show, I think, at JMU last year, and it was right around the time the Connor Stallions, things were all heating up, and he was literally on his phone for five hours straight before the. Just pacing back and down in the hallway and see, and be like, sorry, big phone call. I gotta go. I. I can't talk right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's his life right there.

[Ty Schmidt]

She. I'm. I'm on the phone.

[AJ Hawk]

The ads.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got his shoes untied he has like nice shoes on. He's got his entire thing and the shoes are untied because I think he is a pacer. Like he's a mover. So like when he's on the phone, he's moving and grooving and if you accidentally get his attention while he's on the phone, I think he feels obligated to address you. But he's in the middle. He also.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great to see. I can't talk. I'm on the phone with multiple ads.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, she's this year coach. This year athletic director. They don't know that I'm speaking to.

[AJ Hawk]

Both of them outside the side of his mouth.

[Pat McAfee]

How about him muting. How about him? Yeah, yeah. I don't think he's gonna like that. I think he really would love.

[Tone Diggs]

No, he's so good that he could tailor all of his words to both conversations.

[Pat McAfee]

Just sending the. Oh.

[Tone Diggs]

No matter what the other side is saying.

[Pat McAfee]

You heard what they were saying about Woach whenever he retired, this guy's taking a shower and he's scared that he's going to get steam on the windows because he's not going to be able to see his phone light up. This is the life that he's living. This is what Schefter said. And Schefter's saying that because that is the life that Schefter lives. Correct. And Schefter and these insiders are very much, you know, very, very much like glued to their phone. College Insider. 130 teams. Okay. NFL, 32, NBA. How many?

[AJ Hawk]

30, I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

30. 32. No, 38.

[Ty Schmidt]

32.

[AJ Hawk]

30 in the.

[Ty Schmidt]

30 in the MLB.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, a lot less than college football.

[Pat McAfee]

So passing. There you go. So now we get in passing world as well. And I'm not saying that they don't have a lot of. Lot of. They do. They got. All of them got a lot of. That's part of the job. Sean's always on his. Obviously, like that's how it goes. 130 teams. Okay. Then he has to build relationships with the low level good ones because we got to work that up as they get going up there. So it's like signing up to be a college insider.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's also doing college basketball.

[Pat McAfee]

Two sports. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

So that when he's. When you talk about being committed to the game. Yeah, that's Pete Thamel. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't around with this.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Johnny Manziel]

It's true.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's just serious.

[Tone Diggs]

God, I wish he would have punched Bruce.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Johnny Manziel]

I love seeing him in the games.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, man.

[Johnny Manziel]

When.

[Pat McAfee]

When.

[Johnny Manziel]

When prison Pete showed up and Bruce went and grinded on.

[Pat McAfee]

He didn't grind on me.

[Ty Schmidt]

He was getting in his face.

[AJ Hawk]

Shady Pete.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Okay.

[Boston Connor]

That was amazing.

[Pat McAfee]

Slim Shady Pete, walk, Rabbit. Well, good call, Bruce.

[AJ Hawk]

Just in his face, Everybody from the 313.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a good reference. It's a good reference.

[AJ Hawk]

It was.

[Pat McAfee]

Pete didn't answer.

[Boston Connor]

What.

[Ty Schmidt]

What school or team Ryan Day will have him target this year?

[Pete Thamel]

When Ty asked.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a Michigan fan.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's a Michigan man.

[Pat McAfee]

They're not.

[Johnny Manziel]

But he said they're gonna get fined.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Johnny Manziel]

They find college teams. Who pays that?

[Pat McAfee]

The school boosters. That Port of Re have billions of dollars up there in Michigan. And then Sharon Moore. Is he going to be able to pick the next two games? He gets suspended because, remember, they picked the third and the fourth game because the first two can't miss him.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Can't do it. So can't do it. He can miss the third and fourth one, which I think is hilarious. Okay. I just want to let that be known. And I'm a Michigan fan. You know, I picked against him that entire year just because I thought everything was coming out, which was coming out at the time. Like, football gods aren't going to bless this team. Then they end up winning. And that actually made me say, you know what? This. This can't be.

[AJ Hawk]

They're clear.

[Pat McAfee]

This can't be as big of a deal as everybody's making it because the football gods would have punished them at some point. And then learning about hardball even more and then getting to learn that team, it was, like, hard to pull against it. You know, the whole shit is crazy. Now, granted. Did something happen that they were benefiting from? Yes. Is something going to take place tomorrow that's going to piss off the Michigan fans? Definitely. Is the rest of the country going to think it's not enough tough? Definitely. And then we're just going to move on to the next one.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think this should be it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

For Connor Stallion. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, really, as long as they don't vacate the national championship, I think Michigan fans will sleep soundly at night.

[Pat McAfee]

They'll.

[Ty Schmidt]

They'll certainly throw their barbs and, you know, call Pete a piece of. And call him a greasy son of a. And all that kind of stuff. But Pete's a tough. He's a tough guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Just snort into the microphone.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Barb.

[Pat McAfee]

It is good to have type. It always gets.

[AJ Hawk]

It's that season.

[Pat McAfee]

It is.

[AJ Hawk]

It Is there's another guy, you know, that might get back into Ties lexicon as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, the other guy never leaves.

[AJ Hawk]

Not the other guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Not the other guy.

[AJ Hawk]

Not that guy. I'm talking about possibly Jay Glazer, who we saw the other day.

[Tone Diggs]

He's living his best life.

[AJ Hawk]

He's killing it.

[Pat McAfee]

This is what year of training camp tour is this for him? I forgot at the beginning. He was everywhere.

[AJ Hawk]

38.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm so happy for him, man. He looks like he's genuinely happy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he does.

[Pat McAfee]

And it was a long time where I think he wasn't. Yeah. So good for him. He's living. Where'd you guys see him? What? Why would you bring up Jay Glazer?

[AJ Hawk]

Someone got sent to the group. I thought he was at Steelers or something.

[Ty Schmidt]

He was.

[Tone Diggs]

He was the Steelers at lines and he flew home and had an incredible dinner from Nobu. I believe he was.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm talking about. Noo. That's right.

[Tone Diggs]

Right, A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

Was that what I.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. That's J. Glazer football.

[Johnny Manziel]

Hey, he loves the Detroit airport too. He really put it over, as you would say.

[Tone Diggs]

You said it in age.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember that long walk today? Still got that long walkway with the Avatar roof. Yeah. I believe that's the Delta terminal. Best in the nation, everyone.

[AJ Hawk]

That's not true.

[Pat McAfee]

No, actually.

[AJ Hawk]

No way.

[Pat McAfee]

Detroit is very nice. That's actually what people say. Yeah. What your airport would you put up there? Pittsburgh International is obviously always winning award. Pittsburgh's great.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, truly. And I know it gets out a lot of grub. I think the Indy airport's awesome.

[Tone Diggs]

It gets gruff.

[AJ Hawk]

I. I think flights. Yeah, it doesn't have enough flights and stuff. And some of the places very convenient. I think it. I mean, I leave typically if my flight's at like 12. I. I mean I'll leave my apartment at 11 and I'm. And I'm on the plane.

[Johnny Manziel]

Nice.

[AJ Hawk]

This last time that I did that, boy, oh boy, I was sweating dick.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but I think that's rolling the dice. Yes, it is.

[AJ Hawk]

And. But so far it's coming up sevens, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

I think. Should we add 90 minutes? I think yeah. Sevens is good in a slot machine. I think you should add maybe 30 minutes or so into that. Some craps first roll 7, 11. Good.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Any other roll? Not good.

[AJ Hawk]

Sometimes it is an hour 15.

[Pat McAfee]

You should give it 90. I think just. Personally, I think you should think I.

[AJ Hawk]

Just hate sitting there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but you are going to hate so bad. Missing A.

[Tone Diggs]

There's two brand new restaurants.

[Ty Schmidt]

They just put in a 1933 in the A terminal, which man they needed to get rid of for a long time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that champs was interesting.

[Tone Diggs]

Good cocktails.

[AJ Hawk]

They need to put the Chick Fil a in the airport, like, inside it. Past secure.

[Tone Diggs]

That's what we're telling you. You don't need to mess around at Chick Fil A.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, I don't. I don't mess around Chick Fil A because it's before security, like, I. I wish it was.

[Tone Diggs]

Go get yourself a nice meal.

[Pat McAfee]

Get the cocktail. Yeah. At 1930.

[Ty Schmidt]

Get some steak sliders at 1930.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, I will. I'm just. I got a long flight ahead.

[Ty Schmidt]

You do?

[Pat McAfee]

That's wild, A.J. everything's pretty crazy. Very long. How long?

[Ty Schmidt]

How much time you got?

[Tone Diggs]

Anyone been there before?

[Pat McAfee]

No. Well, it depends on what you believe. Bingo. Ladies and gentlemen, we got to talk about a couple things that happened while we were gone. The Buffalo Beals are pitching to potentially get the draft, I believe. Yes. And I would like to say from what we have learned about the draft, traveling around with it, very lucky to cover it over the last seven, eight years as it is developed into what it is. Buffalo would be a phenomenal home for the draft. I mean, after what we just witnessed in Green Bay, obviously, what we saw in Nashville and what's going to happen in Pittsburgh, I think what people are about to see in Pittsburgh is about to be pretty outrageous. I think just with the views, the spectacles, and the amount of football people that will kind of flock there just to celebrate football, which is basically. Basically what these drafts have become. I think Buffalo would be a great home, AJ Especially if they got this new stadium and that other parking lot is just going to be filled up over there.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, it'll be wild. And don't you think, like, as the draft continues to get bigger and bigger and it travels around, each city wants to, like, represent. Like, hey, we are the biggest NFL fans. Like you guys last year. Yeah, that was great. But, yeah, like, we are the best. Like, I think that's what's cool about it, too. And it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger.

[Pat McAfee]

See, it feels like that for game day.

[Johnny Manziel]

Like, oh, yeah, no doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what it feels like for game day. Whenever we'll go to a place, I'm always. I always do wonder, like, how it's gonna be out. How's it gonna be out there? We hope. We hope. Obviously, that is the goal. I hope at least that there's people out there ready to, you know, have A great time for the next few hours. And then once I started doing the show, I'm like, oh, they all feel, like, obligated to put on for their school here. Like, okay, so this is like a. This is my generation opportunity to represent for our university. So. And I've, like, kind of seen that. I think that's one of the beautiful things about college football is like, kind of representing the pageantry, the tradition, and everything that you have going on. And it's like the draft becoming. That would be very cool. Like, I think that would be. Because even if it's just the Midwest representing at a place or like Northeast football representing, or if they do it down in Florida, it's like Florida foot. Like, I think you can kind of create that type of feeling of, this is your football community being represented, basically. Because the NFL draft is obvious. It is what it is. Yep. Okay. And there's some electrifying moments in there, of course, but I didn't expect the amount of people to be at Green Bay. No.

[Boston Connor]

At all.

[Pat McAfee]

At all. And they start talking to people, and it's like, this is football. Like, we're doing football right now. Like, that is how they were. That's how they were viewing it. And what a show that has become. And it's all. Because what happened in New York? They booked the Rocket at the. What was the theater?

[Ty Schmidt]

Radio City Musical.

[Pat McAfee]

Radio City Music hall, obviously, one of the most famous in the history of the world. The NFL draft was held there for so long, and then they were basically told, nope, can't do the draft in Radio City Musical. We. We booked the Rockettes for that date. And I assume they're like, can we. Can we Potentially. We can't really move it. Radio City is Rockettes. Okay. Mad respect, I guess.

[Johnny Manziel]

Don't they do, like 2, 000 shows a day a year? Sorry I cut you off.

[Pat McAfee]

But yeah, I know they're awesome.

[Boston Connor]

That's what I'm saying.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Johnny Manziel]

Good for that.

[Boston Connor]

That's what.

[Johnny Manziel]

That's Raj taking something that could be a negative and making it a huge positive and much better for everybody and.

[Pat McAfee]

Much better for football. I mean, yes, these are live, live huge events that are at festivals of football.

[Ty Schmidt]

And they haven't overtly said it, but it is. Is kind of cool how, like, they're. They're basically going to places that aren't ever going to get the super bowl because of the climate.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, Rod said that, didn't he?

[Johnny Manziel]

Didn't Rod.

[Ty Schmidt]

He didn't come out and say it.

[Pat McAfee]

He kind of Alluded to it, but.

[Tone Diggs]

Pretty much cities that are doing.

[Ty Schmidt]

And we've also seen like, with how many people are in Green Bay, like, it's obviously not the same as the super bowl, but like what it does for the local economy when it does come into town for three days, like, it's massive.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. We paid what, 10x what a normal Airbnb price. Yeah. Yep. The parking, all that stuff, the packing, everybody's front yard. That was cool to experience. It's like, I think the same thing will happen with Pittsburgh. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

And then in every city needs to do what, like Mark Murphy does. Like, I don't know. Or did rather. I don't know what position the Steelers haven't drafted in 20 years. But when Mark Murphy. They did that Matthew golden announcement that was one of the most electric.

[Tone Diggs]

There's only one position.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Corb.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they got a bunch of first round picks.

[Pat McAfee]

They're gonna.

[Ty Schmidt]

They're gonna draft a quarterback at home. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What if Will hired the guy you guys just automatically moving on from?

[Ty Schmidt]

Will hired six round picks.

[Boston Connor]

Fifth.

[Tone Diggs]

I think it was six.

[Pat McAfee]

I think.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm pretty sure he's trying to help him out.

[Tone Diggs]

You know, I love Will.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, me too.

[Tone Diggs]

And he has started. He started camp great before he got his injury. And if. Listen, he is. No, he's not shy about competition.

[AJ Hawk]

Big butt coming at the end of this.

[Pat McAfee]

There was a big butt, but he's not shy about competition. Yeah. Yeah. He's put him over and then he buried him.

[Tone Diggs]

No, I just say he's not shy about coming.

[Pat McAfee]

But if Aaron wants to play another year. What are they wanting? He doesn't.

[Tone Diggs]

Here he goes. He doesn't. Words or spells. So he won't do that to himself.

[AJ Hawk]

Unless he's casting them. Reverse spell on himself.

[Tone Diggs]

He wouldn't do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Which could be the case.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like a reverse aging spell.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, reverse. Like the bedroom and button spell.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's like whenever you. You cross swords.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Fingers.

[Pat McAfee]

But if you do it twice, then it's the same. Cancels.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cancels out.

[Tone Diggs]

If anyone knows you can't reverse spells, it's Aaron.

[AJ Hawk]

Aaron knows how to reverse a spell.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but what if he's wearing this?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, didn't even think about that.

[AJ Hawk]

Then the spells don't work.

[Tone Diggs]

Aaron gave you that, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Bought on Amazon. But it looks like the one he was wearing. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wards off evil spirits.

[Tone Diggs]

I need to order one of those.

[Pat McAfee]

It came in a plastic bag. Just tiny, tiny little plastic bag. Order one for the season. I don't know if it was blessed or not. Feels like it definitely was.

[Johnny Manziel]

It was. It was.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's just what they do.

[Tone Diggs]

I wonder if he'd give me a vial of his blood to wear for the season.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, please, ask him for that.

[Pat McAfee]

And on that note, we'll get out of here.

[Johnny Manziel]

If Tone did.

[Pat McAfee]

The Little League World Series is happening right now. Go ahead and watch the boys play. There was some scrutiny scrutinizing of. Of the Midwestern representation in a Little League World Series yesterday by Ty pretty loudly, I will say. Did not like the way the Illinois team was playing.

[Ty Schmidt]

No. Yeah, the Great Lakes team. And you know what? I'm not wrong. They gotta be like 16 to 1. You can't go to Williamsport and do that. You just can't. And I'm pretty sure Bone played in that Little League and that really tells me all I need to know about that particular.

[Pat McAfee]

But those kids need to learn from this and get better going forward. Yeah, without a doubt.

[Ty Schmidt]

Without a doubt. And you know what? It's double elimination. So you turn around, you. You beat some team from Connecticut or something like that in your next game.

[Pat McAfee]

You're still dancing, but you were basically talking like, hey, as a team that's representing Midwest now, we need.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can't have your starting pitcher throwing at 52 miles an hour right down the middle.

[Pat McAfee]

So what is expect. How old are these kids?

[Ty Schmidt]

11 to 13.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. What is 50 some mile an hour knocker. What. What is the.

[Ty Schmidt]

Back when I was watching Little League World Series, like when I was a.

[Pat McAfee]

Little bit younger, kids weren't the actual age, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they cheated a lot more. You know, you'd have a 17 year old playing in there throwing 85.

[AJ Hawk]

It was cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Awesome. He was.

[Ty Schmidt]

There was Kayin Pimentel who was throwing 75.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, but Pim was a dog.

[Pat McAfee]

He had a.

[Ty Schmidt]

A full goatee at 13 on the bump. It's like something's going on here. But then you see him throwing smoke. It's like, you know what? Let the boy play. Just let him play. Just let him play. I want to get back. I want to get back to those.

[AJ Hawk]

Days and the Illinois team too. Just to be fair to Bone for once, he was like the Mo Von of his league.

[Ty Schmidt]

You're right.

[AJ Hawk]

Just some slouch when he was playing.

[Ty Schmidt]

You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right. He was the move on.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Just the fattest baseball player.

[Johnny Manziel]

Taking a lot of shots today.

[Pat McAfee]

There's no reason for any of them. No reason.

[Johnny Manziel]

He's in decent shape. You guys act like bone can't even walk or stand up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Like, what's that? He's 25. He. He is retired athletes. Athlete. Okay. We are watching retired Olympic athlete.

[Johnny Manziel]

Right. Or represent America.

[AJ Hawk]

National champion.

[Pat McAfee]

He's a D3 offensive lineman. National champion. Yeah. There's, you know, guy to wash his own pads.

[AJ Hawk]

He's got the same amount of natties as A.J.

[Pat McAfee]

Hogg. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Same rings.

[Johnny Manziel]

More rings than I do. More rings than I have you.

[Pat McAfee]

But you. You know, he's a retired athlete and I think he's just enjoying his life for a long time. He probably had a lot of. Exactly, you know, this. He's enjoying his life. And the boys who aren't mannequins. Bodies.

[AJ Hawk]

No, not even close.

[Pat McAfee]

Are just trying to let him know, like something to think about here at least as we're moving forward, you know, in debone. I think he is a. A big independent, you know. Yeah. I think he's. We know that he's a little stubborn, but boy, he is talented. He is.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm just worried because he cut out pop and then we announced the Dr. Pepper as the. And you know, I. I haven't seen his eyes light up like that since I've known him.

[Pat McAfee]

He did go to the gas station 10:30 at night, send a photo to the group text. Getting a 4 liter of Dr. Pepper.

[Ty Schmidt]

What was that specifically made for him? Yeah, like Derek's bottle on the right.

[I]

On the.

[Pat McAfee]

And he had retired from pop just couple days before this.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. The day of, actually. His fiance bought him McDonald's, which he. He was steadfast saying, I didn't ask for it, I didn't ask for it.

[AJ Hawk]

More nuggets.

[Ty Schmidt]

It showed up along with four large Dr. Peppers.

[AJ Hawk]

So she.

[Ty Schmidt]

He says, like, well, she's. She was excited about the Dr. Pepper deal. And I was like, bona Mandy, I know that's your regular order. I know you're drinking.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what. He actually showed up at the drive through and they used to say, we got it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep, we got you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Over break, we found out that he goes to McDonald's every day with six 80 year olds and has conversations in as many Big Macs as they can eat.

[Pat McAfee]

Like the morning coffee guy.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Bone was with them.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Johnny Manziel]

And also he goes inside and eats with these guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Actually found it kind of nice. I actually brought.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got a community. Yeah. Yeah, he's got a community. He's learned none of them are fat if they're 80 years old. Remember that. Let's all remember that. All right? Let's get the hell out of here. We'll be back tomorrow for a feel good Friday. First one. A wall.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, the vibes tomorrow.

[Tone Diggs]

Oh, so feel good.

[AJ Hawk]

I've been saving something all week for tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

I've been waiting all week for feel good Friday. Age. How about you?

[Johnny Manziel]

What could it be?

[AJ Hawk]

It's not anything for the show. It's actually strictly for the guys and what I worked on over vacation. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

I've been in the lab a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Deal. I got to see this. Yeah, I'm pretty pumped.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, I can show you today. I brought my iPad in, but just tell them.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it. Is it utilizing a friend of ours?

[AJ Hawk]

No, it's not. No, no, I wouldn't. I'm not even thinking about bringing that up yet. But the thing that I worked on.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm telling you, AJ, we got. Yeah, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

That might be a 20, 26 thing, but the we got.

[Pat McAfee]

We got it. We have figured it out. Nobody even knows. Nobody. I don't think anybody in our world. World has any idea.

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

What is on the horizon.

[AJ Hawk]

Not even telling anybody out of here.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I've been trying to keep this one, you know, tight. Other than almost saying it right to Dechambo's face whenever he was like, AI is the big deal. It's like you have no. You don't know. You know, you don't know. Google doing it. Dude. I'm in there coding this damn thing. You know, I. I basically, we. We know the AI. Yeah. Slow it down, slow down, slow it down.

[Johnny Manziel]

Yeah, it's Sweet Blake in the involved.

[AJ Hawk]

Just shut up.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Sweet Blake probably laid the foundation to get to where we are right now in this AI World. But we're leaning in. We've leaned in a little bit.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, I'm. I ain't leaning anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

I've jumped in. Yeah. I've spent numerous nights all. Basically all night just trying to learn as much as possible. I'm not gonna say it's too much. Yep.

[Johnny Manziel]

It's a good thing, though.

[Pat McAfee]

It's positive. New frontier, brother.

[AJ Hawk]

It's a great thing. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

For some.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Whoa, Ty, you know, it's a new frontier, all right? And, you know, I'm. I'm sports stooge in this entire thing, you know, but every once in a while, throw some vitamins in the air maybe, and we get locked in on something and we see massive opportunity it's like, hold the on. What is possible here? Oh, she probably learned that one. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think I'll dive head in.

[Pat McAfee]

I think what is all possible in there? Yeah, I'll it. Okay. I guess I will spend some brain power on this thing. And it has been a delightful treat. The future is bright, folks. We got to stop y. Shout out to Dr. Pepper. Shout out to.

[AJ Hawk]

Love you, Dr. Shout out Dr. Pepper.

[Pat McAfee]

Dr. Bever. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life. We're in a sitting together, AJ we want good vibes out of you tomorrow feel good.

[Johnny Manziel]

Friday for sure.

[Boston Connor]

Always.

[Johnny Manziel]

You know that.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell, yeah. Can you talk to the general between now and tomorrow's show and get, like, a real convo out of him about him doing those 20half gassers?

[Boston Connor]

He did it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I watched.

[Johnny Manziel]

I call into his radio show every Friday morning. I'll talk to him.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. We just need a little bit more intel on, you know, do we have.

[Boston Connor]

I could have done eight more.

[Johnny Manziel]

I could have done eight more.

[Pat McAfee]

Finished last one early. Finish the last one early.

[AJ Hawk]

Impressive.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It's unbelievable to watch. And then it took me right back to when we were doing sprints at West Virginia when he was doing it. Even Schlegel's count. Even carpenter after the first one, bitching about how loud Schlegel was with his. Need you to be louder with those times because you're trying to get it in 17 seconds. So there's time in everybody's mind when they got to get to the other side, how much time they need to get 53 and a third. That's how wide a field is. So you're always trying to calculate how much time do I need to get to 53 and a third to get through there under 17. So he didn't think he could hear Schlage's count. So he was off, you know, because the first couple. I'm not gonna say it, but I don't think he would. Everybody's running another sprint. Close the first. So when I saw the first one.

[Johnny Manziel]

I'm like, I think he was 18. I think big speed was 18 seconds, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But he tweeted 17.

[Johnny Manziel]

Oh, he did okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Yeah.

[Johnny Manziel]

He's got to do it again tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

Then boom, There was a couple at the beginning where he couldn't hear the count, where I think he got in like 17. Then he crossed. It was like. All I heard was bar was, is that right? And then fucking full stop, everybody. You got another one in there. And there's just Humans walking around the field just like ladies, just walking. They. I don't think they had any idea what was happening behind them.

[Boston Connor]

No.

[Johnny Manziel]

That was practicing. A couple fields down, the Bucks were.

[Pat McAfee]

Out there practicing, just trying to accomplish a feat that I didn't think a body this old could do or want to do. And I like that Schlage was saying, hit every single time. It did take us back in time this first. Turn the volume up.

[Johnny Manziel]

16, 17.

[Pat McAfee]

That is exactly what happens. You go, I need. I couldn't hear it. I need to know what the number is. Did 20 of them. Now fast forward all the way to the 20th one, if you could.

[Johnny Manziel]

Does it like in 14 and a half.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. His last one was very.

[Tone Diggs]

He said he knew it was the last one, so he gave it all.

[Pat McAfee]

Gave it all. Well, that's all you're trying to do in these things. You were trying to get in it. 16.9. And then you're trying to exert all your energy into the last. Yeah. 14, 15. Yeah. He's at 15 and a half there for the last one. That's 20 half gassers in 106 and 2 thirds yards.

[AJ Hawk]

Those go.

[Pat McAfee]

Unbelievable. 30 seconds. Wait. That is not a lot of time. No, at all. At 15. He was. Yeah. And Schlage comes over and Bobby Carpenter says to the strength coach, he goes, fourth quarter, coach. And immediately goes fourth quarter, Bob. You know, the whole thing, it was congrats to him another year. Saying he could do it. Now training for next year starts right.

[AJ Hawk]

Now, I would assume.

[Johnny Manziel]

I'm worried at some point in his life he's probably not going to make it. Right. He's not going to get all 20, bro.

[Pat McAfee]

Both those hamstrings when he. When he's got. He's freaking.

[Johnny Manziel]

Blow his head off. Like, if he doesn't make it, he's going to blow his head off right there.

[Pat McAfee]

His Achilles.

[AJ Hawk]

Get a tear to kill.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what.

[Johnny Manziel]

That's why he's. If I bring it up to him.

[Boston Connor]

He'Ll be like, no way, dude. I'm always gonna make it till I'm dead.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll make it, dude. I thought he was gonna blow both of. Because the way he runs.

[Johnny Manziel]

Interesting as Francis, Bobby's a pr.

[Pat McAfee]

He can.

[Johnny Manziel]

He could stride and prance all day long.

[Pat McAfee]

He really can. But it's a lot of movement like his. And I'm like, as you get tired, how much do these hamstrings have in him? Look, I know Bobby. His heart and soul is gonna go till he dies, but I wonder. I'm thinking like the hamstrings maybe gonna at some point. Not at all. Look at him strut. It's full leg extension at what year? 40. What?

[AJ Hawk]

42.

[Pat McAfee]

40.

[Johnny Manziel]

42.

[Pat McAfee]

Unbelievable.

[Tone Diggs]

You should do it with him next time.

[Pat McAfee]

Age. Yeah. Nope. Maybe you're the one counting so he can hear it.

[Johnny Manziel]

You know Bobby. Bobby had strictly upper body surgeries in his career. He didn't have many lower body. He separate crack. He snapped his leg in half in high school like his junior year.

[AJ Hawk]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

So he didn't have many lower leg injuries except for he snapped the thing in half. I said knee.

[Johnny Manziel]

I guess he hasn't had knee. Knee surgery is all I'm saying. Yeah, just no knee surgery.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Cuz he does look like those knees are nice fresh. That's unbelievable stuff. Good for him. Shout out to Affinity.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

True. Shout out to Infinity Health. For sure. Forever. Honestly. Shout out. Honestly.

[Johnny Manziel]

Can you imagine running 20 half casters?

[Pat McAfee]

No way.

[Johnny Manziel]

No way.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, let's get the hell out of here. Happy birthday, Bob. General Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Or in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three.

[Boston Connor]

Team.

[Pat McAfee]

Goodbye. ESPN Fantasy football is more than just a game. It's thousands of stories in the making. Like that one league that hasn't missed a draft since the 20th century. Or the one that decides their draft order by competing in a legit athletic combine. Or the league where if you come in last, you have to sit in a closet and assemble a 300 piece puzzle in the dark. Yeah, that stuff really actually happened. The football may be fantasy, but the stories are 100% real. So download the ESPN fantasy app, sign up and start your story today. Insights with IBM, WatsonX.