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Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on this overreaction Monday 316 day. This sports program begins now, right? Happy 316 day to all who celebrate. Obviously we are referencing Stone Cold Steve Austin and you know you got your book of John, but Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass. And a bald headed man would go on to take over not only the wrestling business but also pop culture and inspire a lot of working class human beings and kids along the way. Somebody that told authority to go to hell, drank a beer and kicked your ass. And that's basically a good thing for anybody that is like us in this particular world. And I had the incredible opportunity one time to share a couple beers with the Texas rattlesnake. I had the opportunity to choke some beers with the Texas rattlesnake. And then you know what they say is you don't trust the Texas rattlesnake because every once in a while he'll by God ya right in the stomach. Send your jaw into about 30 different places. Now that is after a full chug and more beer. We would have to fast forward about a minute and a half into this video to see that happen. But nonetheless, Happy 316 Day to everybody and shout to the WWE being awesome throughout most of our lives. On that note, now back to wonderful sports. It has been a fantastic few days of sports and we cannot wait to chat about it all. Football Just had some breaking news this morning. Justin Fields, formerly of Ohio State, then of the Chicago Bears, then of the Pittsburgh Steelers, then of the New York jets, now traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. That happened this morning for a sixth rounder. Okay. Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL in week 15 as we all remember. Justin Fields being brought into Kansas City potentially. Fill in for Patrick if he's not back by week one, which would be crazy with an acl. Just like the Daniel Jones. Talk about him being able to be back for week one. Seemingly a bit crazy, but obviously these guys are incredible workers and incredible athletes. Congrats to Justin Fields. Get a chance to go to Kate. That's good stuff. Won a couple of games for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Didn't necessarily blow up the stat sheet in any of those types of things. Any time he has the ball in his hands, he's running. He's potentially the most athletic person on the field. We assume Andy Reid would be able to make the most of Justin Fields, his abilities, his talents. Throwing is obviously certainly a question mark. So much so that the owner actually came out after agreeing to pay him $20 million a year to be a quarterback. Owner came out and said our guy can't even complete a pass. So it's not like we have Patrick Mahomes. We got a guy that can't even play quarterback. Owner said that and then had to walk that back a little bit. Justin Fields obviously continued to be in adult through the entire process, but the jets bet on him to potentially be the guy in the meantime before they figure it out in the Aaron Glenn run. And then now they're trading him away to the Kansas City Chiefs. And I think this is good news for Justin Fields. Happy for him. Let's go to the toxic table at Boston Corner at Ty Schmidt. Didn't expect Kansas City Chiefs to be trading for Justin Fields this morning, but here we are.
B
No. Yeah, Definitely not. But you know, hey, good for the Chiefs. Good for Justin Fields. Maybe he finally gets that opportunity to be on a winning ball club outside of the Steelers last year he's had, he's had a tough run in the NFL. So I'm excited for Justin Fields and
A
maybe they just put him at running back 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Town is here. Town. Obviously once Steelers quarterback Justin Fields won some games for the black and gold. We're incredibly proud of him. He's now a member of the Chiefs. But I'll tell you, that is not going to be the main talking point of this particular day.
C
No, it is not.
A
This is a huge day in the sports world. Last night obviously magic happened, huh? There were some brackets that were made. There's some Olympic gold medals that were won. It's a wonderful time in sports. Let's go to nine year NFL vet, one of the smartest minds in the history of ball, Darius J. Butler. Steve Bush. I see your son Day Red and that was a magical weekend of golf as well. It's a beautiful time to be alive as a sports fan.
D
Darius Butler it is obviously it's off season for us when it comes to football, but there's been a ton of great sports moments so far all the way up from. I know we won't talk about it here, but F1 had a great weekend as well.
A
Oh yeah, the Oscars. I saw Brad Pitt.
D
We got some hockey going on.
A
We got everything this weekend.
D
It did.
A
We'll see if they can continue obviously through it all and continue the run. But the, the F1 stuff is certainly tough to watch I think racing. But I do love the stuff around.
E
Sure.
A
I do love stuff around 2am Yeah, I enjoyed last couple got Canceled too. What's that?
D
A couple. Couple grand prix won't happen.
A
What? They say something they got canceled stuff going.
E
Just location.
A
Yeah, really? Sure makes sense. Flag football game also in that particular thing. Hope everybody. Hope that all.
F
Yeah.
A
Hope that all gets figured out. Yeah, all of it. Hope it all gets figured out. Now let's figure out what the top five headlines are around the sports world that need to be talked about because there's headlines everywhere in the sports world. We wanted to give our top or favorite five coming out of the incredible weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, it's top five, top five, top five time. Let's go to the five headline in our eyes. Ladies and gentlemen, March Madness is officially here. 360 teams buy to get into this tournament. Everybody on earth watches college basketball for a few weeks and they decide to themselves which team do I want to latch my bandwagon on? Which team do I want to bet on? Which team do I want to lose my money on? A bunch of 1845 year olds. I don't know what it is, but a bunch of players I've never heard of before are going to determine my fate on this particular bet or this particular evening as I ride alongside of them. Schools that you've never heard of can make a name for themselves. But can they Actually nowadays they're saying those lower seeds are lower seeds for a reason. And now there is automatic bids. Obviously with the conference championships from around all of college ball, there's a chance that now with nil and transfer portal and everything that's going on at the bigger conferences, you know, the power conferences, they might just be. This might be a different division at this point. There's been 50 times where 12 seed has beat a 5 seed damn near every single year. People are saying those days might be over. Oh, come on. People are saying the spreads are bigger than they've ever been for some of these schools. Now I am not a college basketball expert, but I do enjoy the hell out of March Madness. I hope to Cinderella's story. The who the hell are they? University going on a run never stops. But I do appreciate the hell out of what hoops provides us, which is incredible environments and obviously incredible stories, magical moments. This past weekend during conference championships, there's three lead changes in the final eight seconds. I mean that was just one game. In another game there's a Hail Mary. In another game there's a blind shot from out of bounds that's fallen in there. March is magical. March is madness. And we'll actually have Coach K Joining us throughout the entirety of this year's March Madness to legitimize our shit.
C
Nice.
A
Okay, you know, so we'll ask him the questions that need to be asked. Cannot wait for him to chit chat and guide us through this particular March Madness. He'll be joining us at 1:05 today. Then I believe he'll be with us later this week and then next week a couple times. And then through it all.
G
Hell yeah.
A
So we're gonna have a nice little run here with the greatest of all time, man. It has 1,202 wins, most in the history of college hoops. Five time national champion. Cannot wait to talk to him. But con man, obviously March Madness brings a lot of gambling. And you used to have a little gambling theory through March Madness that kind of carried you. And now you're going to have to evolve a little bit, it sounds like.
E
Yeah, for sure. I definitely didn't invent it, but I kind of did adopt it. It was just blindly betting every single underdog money line. I don't think you can do that anymore. To your point, I think it's probably smarter to bet on the spreads rather than the actual money line of these underdogs.
G
Yeah.
A
Because some of these plus 1100 teams were hitting would make up for obviously 13 other losses in this entire.
E
Exactly. UMBC being a 16 seed and be in Virginia. You know, we probably aren't going to see too many of that, but some of the other ones you mentioned, like Queens, that school that's playing Purdue out of Charlotte, they're joining Elon next year. There actually won't be a school next year because they're only about. I think that entire gym is every single student that goes to that school because it's only about 1500 or 1800 kids. But those stories are cool. I also think a kind of thing to look towards is the players who start at high schools that end up going to lower schools. That kid from Penn, TJ Power, who was one of the kids who had a buzzer beater yesterday. Yeah, he had 44 points, 14 rebounds. He had a buzzer beater sending it to OT. They end up going on to win. Like there will still be those stories. And yeah, this play right here is unbelievable. I mean, you're talking about someone who three seed going up against Yale. Oh my goodness, nothing but net. And look at that too. That's only their 18th win of the entire season. Yeah, yeah, Yale, Yale had a chance, but then they kind of pulled away there in the overtime. But that is March Madness, baby. We might see one of those long kind of half court shots to win it fall and that's why it's so exciting.
A
But they're saying college hoops way better in the NBA right now. That's what they're saying.
E
Definitely agree.
D
March Madness is hard to compete with but I love the NBA playoffs. But March Madness especially, you know going to a blue blood. I know the underdogs and Cinderellas, it's always great stories year and that's a good.
A
They lost by 20. They lost by 20.
D
St. John's put it on us. I think we'll b bounce back. Dan Hurley. We'll have the boys ready. But it's stacked especially at the top with some big time players. Obviously Boozer and that stack squad of Duke, Michigan, their stack and obviously Yukon. I think they will bounce back their wolf fight. Darius Acuff Jr. Out in Arkansas. I'm excited. It's always one player who always captivates me. I feel like this player is kind of captivating America right now. So I'm excited to see.
A
Yeah. Who is he? What is he? I've heard this guy got pissed off and just killed Everybody.
D
Oh yeah.5 out there in Arkansas. He kind of reminds me of maybe like a AI Stefan Marbury hybrid. Just put the ball in his hand, let him figure it out. He'll drop dimes, he'll give you buckets and three level score. You get to the basket, mid range, shoot threes. Just everything you want a young guard to do on the court. But I mean this, this, this is a preview to the draft. The draft is pretty stacked especially with like college American players going to the next level. So I'm excited about this.
A
I like the look too. The little sleeve. Oh yeah, sleeveless.
C
I like knows how to get them
A
really like the moxie out there. Yeah. Out there in Arkansas. We're going to be traveling obviously up to Portland. That's a long way up there. I love it. It's a home of somebody. Terrence Jones. But yeah, I can't wait to get up there. It's a long way. It is certainly way up there. Arkansas is much closer than we are to Portland but it is fascinating how regions thing go excited to see I guess the east super stacked but we'll find obviously how it goes women's bracket as well. West Virginia's about to win this whole
E
thing so look out.
A
Everybody can just kind of wrap it up. Last tournament that West Virginia women's basketball team played in, they want it and then guess what the Next team that played in the tournament did, the rifle team. They won it. I saw that West Virginia is winning tournaments right now. That's what I'm trying. I know there's others in here. Yeah, they got their conference championships as well. Okay, but they need to know that the Mountaineers are coming. Is Yukon going to win this entire.
D
Oh, yeah. We're up there at the top left usually. I mean, we're always there. If we don't get to a final
A
-265 to win the Natty. Yeah, not this game.
E
Yeah.
D
Sarah Strong.
E
You bet the favorites on the woman's side, they will cover. They dominate teams. I mean, we saw UCLA, they won by 50 points in their conference final. Like there is a chance that if you go all chalk in the women's tournament, you can make out like a band.
C
Is Gino still coaching that thing?
D
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Godfather still there. All you crooks.
G
Where?
A
Where's where?
B
Get comfortable because you're probably going to be seeing her round two. Hate to be upset before Yukon gets to the swee 16.
A
You're about to get cooked by.
C
Oh, it is right there.
A
All right, let's go to number four. Headline coming out of the weekend in our eyes, ladies and gentlemen, Meat on meat. What? Yeah.
B
Yeah.
E
Huh?
A
Matt Madness. Okay, this is college wrestling.
B
That's right.
A
And you think to yourself, hey, why do you do it at the exact same time as March Madness? Can we not just do another week when it would be strictly college wrestling? And then they all say back to me, hey, literally 90% of us can just beat the shit out of you. Okay? So why don't you just shut up and just go ahead and enjoy what we got? And I say you got it. You've been paying attention to this for more part of your life than I have. But what I do know, this is electrifying. Okay? This is a sport that is obviously a lot of toughness and obviously a lot of grit and courage and having to go dig deep down and go one on one and out body somebody. So the amount of things that you need to have to be a great wrestler, obviously very admirable. But it becomes. Becomes an electrifying environment. Becomes like gladiator, the way they treat this. Matt Madness. Now Penn State. Hey, can't even bet on them.
C
You cannot bet on them.
A
You can't even bet on these guys.
E
What?
A
They're two not even available.
C
Look, without Penn State winner.
A
Without Penn State.
E
Just get to the.
B
What was that?
A
13 out of 15.
B
Yeah. If they win this year, that would be their fifth in a row. And 13 out of 15.
D
That's crazy.
A
Yeah. They're unstoppable. You go to Penn State, you're better at wrestling. Everybody else, that's just kind of how it works. Their coach, Kale Sanderson, I think he was like this in college, too. I think he undefeated. He went UND in college, won the whole thing. Then he became a coach, I think at Iowa State.
B
Yep.
A
And then Penn State said, hey, excuse me, we're going to need that over here. And he just went on the fe. Just hasn't lost. This guy just has not lost.
B
Gold medalist, too.
A
Yeah. So. So now it's basically from my ViewPoint, it's everybody versus Penn State. Connie. Like, if you get anybody that gets them, congratulations. So it becomes like a very incredible atmosphere, the sport of wrestling. We're from Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, obviously, there's a lot of wrestling there. There was a time where they're trying to eliminate. Yeah, there was a time where they were trying to eliminate wrestling. And it's like, I think we'd be doing the world a disservice. These wrestlers are dogs. These wrestlers are absolute beasts. And we get a chance to see it in an electrifying environment. I wish there would be a time strictly for them, but it's not bad. If there's a couple duds playing, then put on Matt Madness. That's where I stumbled upon it a few years back.
D
Yeah.
E
No matter what, if you turn it on, you will be entertained. Another thing with this team, I saw it was seven of the ten one seeds in the individual tournament. They are on Penn State. So they have seven of the 10 weight classes basically just locked down. And I'm assuming, what, how many of them are probably two seeds?
B
Yeah, several. Several. Yeah. All of their guys will be ranked. And I think. And as evidence why you can't bet on them, it's like, hey, they're going to win.
A
It's bet on him.
D
That's insane.
A
Yeah. That has to be the most dominant in history. Can't even bet on them. Yeah, sorry. Sportsbooks trying to profit off of people betting on things, so they give terrible odds to you. So if you do betting on minus 1100 and Italy beats USA, that's obviously a ha, ha ha. Okay. Can't even get a number big enough for them to be like, nope, not even rolling the dice. Isn't that crazy?
D
That's crazy.
A
That is crazy to think about. Okay, let's go to number three headline, shall we? The Players Championship. Some consider it the fifth Major obviously kicks off the PGA season in a big way for a lot of folks. Everybody's playing it. And Cam Young, clutch in the chaos, becomes the players champions. This guy in the biggest moments, just clear minded, free thought. 17th hole is basically, yeah, good luck from all of golf following what 16 is, which is a very difficult hole. And then the 18th hole was actually the worst hole or the hardest hole on the course. So 17 obviously 1312 minus 13 minus 12 right there. You're behind. You put one in the water, this is over, bub. You're not winning this thing. You slide down that board quicker than Oberg. Oberg had a tough Sunday, but Cam Young instead, complete opposite. This Guy was the PGA Rookie of the Year in 2022 out of New York. Hit the ball 374 yards crazy on the 18th hole, drawing it over water perfectly. The longest drive recorded in the history of hole 18 at TPC Sawgrass. You're talking about standing over that ball and not having oh no, I don't blow like we've seen some golfers have before or tighten it up and guide it instead. Greatest drive in the history of the course. What a stone cold killer this guy is. I believe we'll be talking to him tomorrow.
B
Hell yeah.
A
What a win. And shout out to golf being all the way back and shout out to Scotty just being alive on a Sunday. Because I'm be honest, when I saw Scotty going to work there late and I thought he was going to maybe eagle 16, hole one on 17 and I thought maybe he was going to claw back into this thing, it just gave me a little bit of hope. But then watching what Cam did all day, it was magical. It was like golf season's back is what really what.
D
Yeah, golf is awesome. It's. It's so dope hearing all these guys different stories. His dad has been his only coach. And his swing like that pause that he has to swing his tempo. And then before 18, like 17 you mentioned on that island green, Fitzpatrick, he went, you know, right middle of the green, playing it kind of safe. He was hot as well. They were matched up together. And then he goes, just throws a dot right at it. Takes the birdie to get the lead. And then what he did on 18 to finish it out, it was just unbelievable this entire Sunday. I know Oldberg with his fall from the top and he kind of handled it well with his postgame. That was tough because he seems like one of those guys that's going to be a number one player for a long time. He has all the attributes but he just couldn't get it done. And just hearing these guys like the USA chants down the stretch. Kind of had some Ryder cup vibes with Fitzpatrick. It's an unbelievable environment. And just, I mean his post game too. It was post match comments about, hey, I'm just, I'm going to give here and hit the greatest shot of my life. And he did. That was unbelievable.
B
Yeah. So he.
C
Pat talked about him being rookie of the year in 2022. He had two top fives in the majors that season and then he won. And then I feel like he picked up a lot of steam at the Ryder cup because he was the only American who won every one of his matches. He was awesome. He was so clutch. And then for him to do this this weekend, he's picked up a ton of fan. He is awesome. He always looks super cool. He is the sweet MLB patch on him.
B
He bombs the ball.
C
Yes. The beard, the hair, like Cam Young is going to be a fan favorite for years to come here.
A
Yeah. The beard is certainly fantastic. And he, he looks pretty chiseled. He also looks chill. Yeah, it's a weird in shape but not jocked look. Yeah, it looks fit. Exactly. And his walk is pretty cool. You know, he has a pretty good. His shoulders sit well. Looks like a dog.
B
A good gate, well put together.
A
Yeah. No, because when we're watching golf, these are the things you gotta look for. Exactly. There's not a lot of other things.
D
Some wobble bodies out there too.
A
There are some not. We'll get to it.
B
Especially on a day like this when it's super windy.
E
Bobby McIntyre look great. Okay.
A
I don't know. I saw a belly button. This happens to me. You know your belly button's growing cuz your belly's getting big. And that thing's spread out across there. It's going to look like the hole of a volcano is in your stomach. And that's not good. Especially with camera 8K. Yeah, we got 8K. I don't know what that means, but I know it's 8,000.
E
8,008.
A
8,000 frames, but it is in. That was a change for me whenever we started really going into 4K and for the culture, it's wearing white Spanx, you know, that was certainly something as the holidays came through and everything was taking place. It's like, man, they got really good cameras these days. Yeah, you're gonna have. You're fucking fat. Some of these golfers don't care.
D
No, at all.
A
I saw a picture. It just lives In. Talk about. I'd like to apologize. Wow. Talk about. I did not know. You're. You're. I don't even know. I don't know how we got here, but I appreciate. You talk about living your life and you're a menace on the mountain.
E
Yeah.
B
Prog boat's a star.
A
He's outrageous.
B
I know.
A
How do we get him on parts? How do we get tucked? Is he an mlb?
B
I don't believe so. Sounds like you. What?
C
Cut this guy on the Guardians a level ball.
B
He's not in the mlb.
D
He's on the show yet.
B
He's ruffling around in the. You. You cut. You cut this guy a check. You. You throw 250k at the guardians. And guess what, Tug yours.
A
Yeah. This guy is professional baseball player. Baseball, baby. He drunk. No offense, Tugboat. Okay. When I heard your name was Tugboat, this guy gets it. At least he understands what's going on here. Okay. Talk about's a great nickname. First time I've ever heard that. You also first human I've ever seen like this. They had some shots in the front, too. Tugboat don't care at all.
E
No, he don't.
A
Tugboat, Yeah.
B
I mean, he's coming to carve you up.
A
See you dead. Tugboat was a problem. Let's get him on the Pirates. Let's get him on the parts. Let's go to the number two headline coming out of the weekend. We appreciate any athlete that's able to do that. That's why we were talking about it.
E
Yes.
D
Oh, yeah.
A
It's unbelievable. I was fat ass for a little bit. There was other legendary fat ass. You know who's not. Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened for the first time in the history of the world, a team has won the gold in women's hockey, men's hockey, and sled hockey in the Paralympics, which we just accomplished. The boys went bananas in the third period. It was a cagey affair. It was a cagey affair going into the third period. And what did we do? We said, well, we've only won four of these in a row. Okay. We've only won 40s in a row. You think we're going to tighten up in the third? Absolutely not. Jack Wallace with an absolute snipe. Yeah. He had three goals. It was at one point they thought he had four. But then Declan Farmer, great sled hockey player of all time, actually got his stick on it before it went in. But these boys were silky. I'm gonna be honest, if you didn't watch, I Think it would be hard for you to see that under the leg, under the sled, where mama hides the cookies. Yes, exactly. Yes, exactly. And I saw they were trying to kill the puck at the end, so that was dangle season.
B
Oh, I bet.
A
I mean, it was dangle season. At the end, I saw. I don't remember which guy it was. Dude hit a spin move with this thing under his right stick. Okay. Spins on this sled, turns under thing. Back to the others. I'm like, whoa, we are slicing and dicing these people right now. It was getting a little physical.
E
Oh, yeah, sure.
A
It was getting a little physical out there. Yeah. But the boys. The boys won their fifth straight Olympic gold medal. And hockey just, you know, pretty quickly here, I guess. Yeah, just over the last couple, you know, weeks. Certainly a month and a half or so. I didn't know this.
D
Sorry, Gumps.
A
Football. We know.
E
Yeah, obviously.
A
Football, we know. We know that. No doubt about it. Soccer, going forward. It's ours. Gonna ride this in old jerseys.
C
Came out.
A
We know that. Sweet jerseys. Yeah. They're gonna crush. We know. That's our sport. I didn't expect hockey to be like this. I actually had a take, like, a year ago where I thought US Hockey was dead. Because to become a great hockey player, the amount of work and commitment and everything it takes to get there, I think there'd be too many distractions, people making too much money, doing too much other stuff right now, especially with how athletic you have to make it in hockey. You have to be an absolute dog. We're talking, like, 5am on ice. Putting all this shit on in their cardio is just, like, never ending. It is. All of them have these massive assets. I mean, it's just. That's just coming from years of just skating and skating and traveling and moving and living in other places sometimes. So you can be a part of a different league as opposed to going to your high school that doesn't have it. So the amount of commitment it takes to be a hockey player, I thought in our country, guys might get lacrosse.
E
Sure, sure.
A
Lacrosse is starting to come up similar, you know, who knows? May soccer maybe. Maybe just something completely different from it all. But it turns out it feels like they have numbers up in signups in hockey across the board. Women, men, and, I assume, Paralympic sled hockey as well, because we're going to be talking to Jack Wallace here in a little bit, I think, in, like, an hour or so. And he obviously had a hat trick. He wins his third Olympic gold medal. He had an accident when he was a kid, and he was probably going to be, you know, who knows what his dreams were in sport at 10 years old, I think his entire life changed whenever a skiing incident takes place with a boat and he loses his leg or something like that, and he turns to this as an alternative. And what a dream, man, what it is. It's such a cool story to watch and to experience and ride alongside. And I talked about my classmate Colin McGregor, who obviously. Homerooms, alphabetical order. McGregor, McAfee. We were pretty close to each other, so I got to know him. He. I don't remember exactly what. Both his legs didn't work, though. But he. He had two crutches everywhere. Literally just crutch absolutely everywhere. And then one Monday he came in and he had like a medal on. And I was like, we're wearing necklaces. That's sweet. What happened? He tells me about winning this. They call it sledge hockey. I didn't want to say it, Ms.
B
Wrong, but according to Wikipedia, it is sledge hockey.
A
Sledge hockey or whatever. So he had just won a sledge hockey tournament over the weekend. I was so pumped for it. I was like. I remember being like, so pumped. And I guess Pittsburgh has a good background in it, obviously the north has it and now we are five time world champs and hockeys completely are. So I'm pumped about watching the boys yesterday.
E
Yeah, you mentioned, I think the number was over 100,000 boys and girls signed up for youth hockey. This year is the most they've ever had. And Declan Farmer, we brought him up before. I think he set the record for most goals by someone or something along those lines. And some of the stories too, of just adversity. One of the kids on the team was adopted from China. He was a born paraplegic, I believe, and he made it onto this team for Team usa. Like, just the stories of adversity are endless when it comes to this. And then for them to win gold and it being, you know, their fifth straight gold medal, it's like, yeah, we do own the ice now.
A
Yeah. And they're sprinting. I mean, it is upper body for days. Yeah. I can't wait.
G
Yeah.
A
The questions we are going to ask to Jack Wallace, they will not be the normal questions that Jack Wallace, but I would like to know about what we are.
E
How many dips can you do?
A
I mean, this shit's outrageous. They're doing this to skate.
E
Yeah.
A
They're going 20 miles an hour. I look at them flying 20 miles and then they're Turning sideways, hitting board. And it's like, gee, yeah, they're hating each other, too. Yeah, it's a. It was a cool thing to watch. And hopefully the numbers will come back and it will say, a lot of people watch. And then speaking of a lot of people watching, we assume last night's number is going to be outrageous, just like the rest have been for the World Baseball Classic. Sorry about it. Sorry about it. Not really, but sorry about it. Team USA strikes down the Dominican Republic. Now, Paul Skeens came out and did Paul Skeens stuff. We're talking 1, 2, 3, first inning. How you doing? Greatest hitters in the history, huh? Hi. How do you like, man? Al, go ahead and move on. Showed up in a suit. Yeah, showed up in a suit with an American flag stitch in the back. I mean, he was completely locked in. And as the entire Internet was saying, yes, he's a member of Pittsburgh Pirates. Say yes. This is certainly the biggest game he's ever played in as a professional baseball player and probably will be for some time unless Skeens can get some of the boys on the team. The defensive start by the Team USA boys were absolutely outrageous for this man. And I think they understood that America was putting their ace out there, and I think the boys understood the narrative about them. Whenever they lost Italy and almost didn't make it in, the boys want to put on a show. The boys wanted to put on a show, and let me tell you, they did. Let's go to the bottom of the third two odds. Okay. Dominican Republic up one zip. Tatis rough. Aaron Judge. Big ol. Big. Big old hefty, durable hose off an elbow injury, right?
B
Yeah.
A
Everybody was wondering if he's gonna be able to throw. He threw that, what, 96 miles an hour or something like that, Ty.
B
Yeah. I believe it was the hardest recorded throw he's had in three years. So, yeah, I mean, you know, for Judge especially, his defense was kind of the thing that. That showed out last night, not his offense. And it turned out, you know, crucial.
A
And the guy attacked him out there, Gunner Henderson. You ever heard of him? Well, learn the name. This dude's name is Gunner. And he hits bombs, big dong to tie it up against the Dominican Republic. A lot of people say he looks like me. Don't love that. Every white person kind of looks alike. But I could see it, and I take it as an honor. A man that doesn't look like me, a man that looks like the future of baseball, potentially. Tony. Tony's boy, Roman Anthony hits a bomb 2 1. Only solo shots though. We did leave some ducks on a pond. Don't love that. That's baseball though, I guess. Roman Anthony hits an absolute bomb. And then we talked about Aaron Judge with a huge hose. How about the mitt kid, huh? How about a 33 year old captain laying his body on the line looking like LeBron James diving around the basketball court. Yeah, 40 plus years old, year 23 gonna do it. And then Aaron Judge says, you know what? I'm lucky and honored to be captain of this Team usa. He says, I'm gonna hit a ding dong. How about it boys? Aaron Judge is back. Captain America, cash in your home run bets. Yeah, right.
E
Oh man.
A
Yeah, right, Says Julio Rodriguez, who pimps a home run robbery. Which is one of the reasons why we love the Dominican Republic baseball team. But it was like we were watching a movie. Everything you wanted to see from a baseball game was happening right in front of your eyes. Aaron Judge with an insane outfield play. Well, how about Bobby Witt with an infield snag to Bryce Harper? He's been doing that all day. That guy's a magician. The Royals seemingly got a lot of talent over there. Am I going to become a Kansas City Rules fan? Potentially. Let's go back to who's a Pittsburgh man. Begnar comes out, the renegade, gets himself in a little bit of a situation, but ends up striking outside as Bednar baseball. And then let's go to the final pitch of the night. The final pitch of the tourney for the Dominican Republic. Oh, Mason Miller out of Pittsburgh. Strike. I don't want to hear it. No, don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. Doesn't even matter because me non baseball guy, a couple years ago, whenever I heard there could be a fucking robot as the ump, okay, I said let's do the robot as the ump. I was told, nah, it's the intricacies of baseball. Understand what the umpire strike zone is. You're obviously up for a lot of debate whenever you're that subject. That's baseball, okay? You don't really get it. You don't know baseball. You grow up in baseball. We can't have robots make a decision. This is a human game. The umpire in his eye certainly matters more than any robot ever could. They don't really know the game. And the pitchers can know the strike zone too. They can start working. It's part of the game. That's part of the game. So in the eighth inning when I see a same pitch and It's a strike. And then in the ninth inning when I see the same two inches lower, they're saying than any other pitch in the history of baseball.
B
That's what they're saying.
A
That would be called a strike. And it's called a strike. It's like, hey, the umpire called it strike. It's a strike. I don't know why the people who are telling me that the intricacies of the umpire calling the striker the ball are now telling me the Dominican Republic grew up Jett passing's on an entire war path saying that's not good for baseball. Ba ba jet. I thought we didn't want the Robots. If we want the Robots, let's do the Robots. But if we're doing umpire says, umpire goes. And I would certainly be pissed if I was the Dominican Republic boys because they were electrifying and fun to watch. They left some ducks on a pond and some key moments. And some key moments. But obvious, obviously that last pitch is not how anybody would have want to see that game end. But umpire says strike in my eyes and by your words, baseball people, that's fucking strike. And that's how it's supposed to be. Now, I appreciate the fact that Paul Skain's place for the Pirates bed nars from Pittsburgh. Mason Miller's from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh basically beat the Dominican Republic last night. Little help from the umps. I like that. Where was he from? People are pissed. Yeah, let's not look into where this umpire. People are not happy about this. Well, even Jefferson Americans are. I'm watching this entire thing, which we got one. Yeah, it's good.
B
Exactly.
A
Which sucks for the Dominican Republic team.
B
It does.
A
They should be mad. But even American baseball seems to not be happy about what happened.
B
Yeah, I think it was more so people just didn't want to see that good of a game end like that. You know, it's like you have this unbelievable NFL game and then like a PI call or something that outside of what should impact the outcome, kind of does. But like you said, like that, that is part of baseball. Like every umpire strike zone is a little bit different. And it's not like, yes, the. The tweets are coming out about how this was 2 inches lower than any other called strike in the history the World Baseball Classic. But you know, that's good picture. Exactly.
A
That's good pitch. He snapped that shit off.
B
Yeah, that's. That's good framing. That's just. That's all the above. And you know, so I think. Yeah, I think that's why People are more so upset. Not that we won, but because. Because, like, that game was so good. You talked about how it felt like a movie, kind of just taking haymakers from the left, then the right, then the left and the right. And then it ended like that. And it kind of just gave you, like, the feeling like, man, for how. How good that was. It does kind of suck that it ends like this, but that's only if you're from the Dominican Republic.
A
I love that. I was.
B
I was juiced up that we got that call.
E
Yeah, it was incredible. And what did Albert Pujol say? What the manager of the Dominican Republic say? Did he go to the.
A
The.
E
To the podium and start bitching a moment like Americans were, or did he just say, like, that's baseball, baby. Because I'm pretty sure he just said, that's baseball, baby.
G
All right.
A
Well, joining us now is the skipper for Team usa, a man who has led the boys now.
E
Yeah.
A
To the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Who they play against, we find out tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, former player for 100 years in MLB, host of a morning show show on MLB Network, skipper for Team USA baseball, who are in the finals to become world champions on Tuesday night. Mark the. Rosa, come on now.
H
Let's go.
A
Hey, you did it. Hey, you did it.
H
We kept. We kept receipts, Pat.
A
Yeah, I'm sure you did. Hey, you. It was.
H
We heard the noise.
A
Hey, Ty was even killing you a little bit. It felt like.
H
Oh, I'm well aware he was.
B
I had to. Hey. Was the first thing I said said this morning when I came in.
A
Yeah. He said, hey, D. Ro deserves some credit for some of the. He did last night. So let's get to that. D. Ro. It got loud. Obviously, you know that you heard that. You had to. If you're even being asked about it while you're in there. I think you said, I don't view an A team and a B team. All these guys are my guy. Like, I picked these guys. These are all studs. So I think you got most mad about the narrative that you put in shitty players when you're like, we. We don't have any shitty players. But you even. You could admit that whenever you say, like, we're in, and then you weren't in. Probably puts you in a little bit of a bind there, right? If you. I know you're past it. You're in the finals right now, but did you learn anything from that whole process? And how did. How did the boys respond to you
H
getting murdered by everybody yeah, well, they said welcome.
A
Oh, that was. This is our life. Aaron Judge, you should see what I. Yeah, okay. I like that. Yeah.
H
I mean, I complete. Completely misspoke. There's no question about it. I put the cart before the horse going into the Italy game, and we got caught. They smacked us.
A
Us.
H
But we moved past it. The guys came together, they rallied. We had a tough game against Canada, and then anyone who was in the building last night, I mean, man, I was fortunate to play in a lot of postseason games and be a part of the 2010 San Francisco Giants when they went to the World Series. Man, this had, like, World Series vibes in the room, honestly, as I had the best seat in the house and Dominicans rolling their lineup up and I'm like, good God.
A
Yeah. Yeah. I was everywhere. Yeah, I was as well. Especially because Skeens is pitching, you know,
H
so I'm hoping that badass or what?
A
Okay, tell me about that. He shows up in a suit. I think both of his starts here all dialed in. A lot of people are saying this is the biggest game obviously he's going to play in because he's a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I think Pirates got better this offseason. They did okay. They got better this season. Maybe he's recruiting some of the boys, too, to opt out of their contracts. Come play for the Pirates for, you know, league men if they could possibly do that, because that's what the Pirates will be able to do. But tell me about Paul Skeens. Tell me about Logan Webb. Tell me about these aces that have kind of shown up for you guys in a big way.
H
We kind of. We kind of felt like when we looked at. At the. The whole tournament, we needed to put our best guy in the semifinal game. And it kind of came down the. Down the road that Paul was going to get this start. And we kind of mapped it out moving backwards towards that because we felt like maybe the Dominican, the way it lined up would be in that spot for us, showed up in an electric blue suit, white collar, ready to go. I.
A
He's.
H
You talk about robot umps. This guy's a robot. I mean, he is process oriented. He wanted the moment. You could tell. You can kind of tell in the first inning, like, right, you're looking at Luis Severino. He threw a hell of a game, but he was at like 99 miles per hour, which is not the norm for him usually. And you knew he kept, like, just churning out his energy. His energy. And eventually he was going to have to come out of the game. Paul was dialed in from pitch one. He wasn't overthrowing, he was making pitches. The pitch Junior Caminero hit out, I mean, tip of the cap to him, that's a sweeper up and away. I don't. I don't know how he's able to get around that ball and hit it 400ft, but, yeah, right, man, right. Time. And then our bullpen was just surgical.
A
Okay, so let's talk about that surgical bullpen, because I think that's a lot of decisions being made by the dumbass Derosa that everybody was saying. Go ahead, Tyler.
B
Yeah, Skip, I. I did give it to you a little bit after I lost because the expectations were so high. But then I told these guys first thing when I came in this morning, I said, hey, you know who deserves a hell of a lot of credit and a lot of flowers today is. Is Derosa. Because what you did, like, was that always the. The pitching plan, I mean, put bringing Tyler Rogers in there after skins and inducing the. The double play from Soto.
A
But why is that a good move, though, Ty?
B
Well, yeah, that's what I was just saying. These guys, I don't know how much of it, you know, with like Skeen's arm slot, you know, and then you bring in Rogers, who's scraping his knuckles off the dirt. Like, obviously a. A tough adjustment to make, but was it always the plan then, you know, with Griffin, Jackson, Bednar to Whitlock to Miller, which we've seen has been, you know, unbelievable. And how. How difficult is that, really managing that when these teams obviously don't want you throwing their closer, you know, three times in however many days with however many pitches they're going to end up throwing.
H
Yeah, you take that all into account, Ty. Honestly, the bigger question for me was we had talked about that the night before. Like, we were up to like 2, 3 in the morning kind of looking at this team and where we could find lanes for bullpen guys. The biggest. The biggest problem is, is you have that three batter minimum, right? So if you run a lefty in that spot and he doesn't get Soto, he's got to stare Vlad down with the game on the line. And we just. We like the matchup better in that it wasn't perfect. To be completely honest with you, Tyler Rogers is a killer. Right. So we just wanted to give him a different look. But our fear was, is if Soto got on the bases loaded when Vlad came up, who gave us the best option to get out right there. And we knew he Would keep him in the park at least and keep him on the ground. So we looked at it a variety of ways. And it's funny, when I went out to take Paul Schemes out out, you know, great job, big boy. And he walks off the mountain. Will Smith turned to me and goes, who's coming in? And I said, tyler Rogers. He goes, all right. I wasn't expecting him. You know, like, it kind of all came together. But, yes, after we got out of that inning, we were going Jack's bed in our Whitlock.
B
The Grim Reaper.
A
Grim Reaper. Mason Miller. I mean, is that his name? Is that his name, The Grim Reaper?
B
Might as well.
H
That's what they call him.
A
He's out. He's a insert, as you know, I assume at this point. Yeah, he's a. Hey, this guy's outrageous. A lot to do about that strike call to end this thing. Your thoughts? I gave my take on baseball. Told me over the last four years as I've been kind of letting baseball know. I don't know much about it. I'm sorry, I'm trying to learn about it. I can't this year. Sorry. Go next year. Baseball people telling me the umpire strike zone is one of the most important parts of baseball. Can't have a robot doing that. It's like, well, we'll do the challenge, but we can't have a robot calling balls and strikes, even though it's clear as day right there in front of our faces. And it's basically something that a robot could figure out at this stage of technology, if we really wanted to implement it. We can get a tennis ball down to a four or an eighth of a centimeter on what it is on the sides. Like, they could definitely figure out what a strike is or a ball is. But working the strike zone is a big deal. Your thoughts on it all? Mason Miller is a pitcher, first of all. And then your thoughts on how it ended and baseball's kind of relationship with the strike zone, I guess, is more so the conversation.
H
Yeah, I think. I think it's like there's a bunch of narratives and parts that go into that one. Number one, Will Smith's one of the best framers in the game. Right. Just pulling that through the zone right there. I think if you take the box off the screen, that's. That ball's got a lot of plate. And then I. I have a lot of pride. And he was my old teammate. 2009, I watched Albert Pujols win an MVP in St. Louis. The way he handled the post Game. Listen, I don't think the game was decided on that on one call. There was a lot of great plays. Ultimately, we're going to get the ABS into the. Into the big leagues next year, and I'm sure it'll be a part of the next wbc. But was happy as shit.
A
Boy, it's nice to see one of those go your way, especially in that huge mouth. Look at you. Yes, Yes. I was the.
H
Where do you.
G
Where.
H
Where are we going? Like, right, like. So if Mason can only go 25 pitches in that inning, or we were. We were getting someone warm after that at bat. There's all these little rules and guidelines to the parent clubs that we're trying to honor and at the same time time, everyone's heart's invested in this. Like you saw it out in Arizona. These guys really care and they want to get it done. They want to represent their country and win this thing. And we knew the magnitude of that game. I mean, that place was on fire last night.
A
Okay, so let's talk about where the boys are now versus whenever we saw you guys live, because obviously that was day one. I think we're taking pictures, we're getting uniforms, we're having our first training. Maybe getting to know each other a little bit more, even though the boys are obviously familiar with each other. You know, some guys hanging out. I think you guys had. Somebody had you over to their house. I forget who it was. Had a dinner for the boys. I think you had another. You guys won out maybe. Maybe for another dinner. It was like basically your training camp was happening there for a couple days before you got right into it. Where are the boys at now? And what did the scare of potentially not making it out of pool play do? And how did you see the boys respond in that?
H
Yeah, I think it completely refocused them. I mean, still, truth be told, I'd love to show up tomorrow night and have the batch just explode. We haven't been able to get the offense truly going the entire. Entire. The entire tournament, which would be nice. It's. It's just a credit to our arms, man. Logan Webb was nasty. Our bullpen against Canada was nasty. And then to do what they did last night against that lineup was just absolutely heroic. But I'll say this. Everyone's here. We're getting ready to go out for optional hitting and optional throwing and all that stuff. And everyone showed on that bus. These guys want it, man. They want it bad.
A
Optional stuff. The boys showing up to.
E
Hell, yeah.
A
I like. Like, I saw Juan Soto. And I'm like, he signed a 750 million dollar deal. These guys are warming up to tease. I looked up his deal and I look up Aaron's deal. I look up, you know, what Skeens is projected to make. And it's like, I appreciate the fact that they're all, you know, they were pimping the out of stuff. Hey, I love that. The minute you had. Did you guys enjoy it? Hate it.
H
Because you guys have always knew it was common.
A
Okay, good. Yeah. You guys watching the highlights of them celebrating because you guys went a little bit different way. Go ahead, con man.
E
Yeah, Skip, I owe you an apology, too. I made a lot of jokes. I got jokes off, too. So if I didn't say that, I'd
H
feel bad, but tried to cancel me.
A
No, we're trying to cancel your morning show.
E
We were trying.
A
It wasn't us. It wasn't us. We're just. We're letting you. We're broadcasting to you, baby, what was happening. Fair.
E
Fair and unbiased. And also, when a joke's there, you cannot expect us to take a hack. I mean, come on. But thinking about this team, Roman Anthony, I'm a Red Sox fan, kind of knew of them, but now it feels like everybody knew, knows him, and he's completely exploded. He's only 21 years old. You know, people are saying he could be the MVP of this entire tournament. What have you seen from him? What do you think about his kind of performance so far and are we currently watching, you know, what will be the next 15 years of baseball with this guy? Because I forget who said it, but they basically said too, like, hey, Roman Anthony is going to carry this torch for the next five World Baseball classics.
H
Yeah, Special relationship with him. We're paisans, right? Like, they were rolling out a bunch of different food the other night in Houston, and me and him were the only ones that dove in on the cheese ravioli. So we looked at each other, made eye contact, and, you know, the Italians bailed us out, too.
A
Yes, they did. Well, D wroe, they kind of put us in a little bit of a spot, too, which is kind of Italian to them. Kind of Italian of them. Put us in a spot, brought us
B
right out of it.
A
That was very nice.
H
Right out.
A
That was very nice. Grazzi, Grazzi. Patsy for the Rapioli. But yeah, Tony, Tony's boy, Roman Anthony, seemingly a special.
H
Yeah, special. 21 years old to come in, handle himself the way he has, the quality of at bat, the way the moment's not Too big for him. Starting every game, getting the rookie treatment on the bus. He's lugging this like thousand pound speaker around with him every day. I want to get someone else to carry it for him because he's been carrying us.
B
So.
H
Yeah, you're going to have for the next 15 years a nice time in Boston with this dude.
A
I'll tell you what, not just in Boston, maybe five years. Next five World Baseball classics with Skipper D. Wroe. It didn't look like that for a little bit. It didn't look like that for a little bit. It didn't.
H
We were on life support there for a second.
A
They were taking your name off the outside of the door.
E
They were saying, taking the parking spot.
H
Hey, I learned a valuable lesson though, right?
A
What's that?
H
It's quick. It can happen quick,
A
Very fast. I mean you.
H
I'm from Jersey, man. Don't think I'll forget. I won't forget to win this thing. I'll take the high road for now, but.
A
Yeah, we know. Hey, yeah, we get it. Yeah. You have to. You have to. Something warranted, though. You have to look at the mirror and say that. But there was a lot. Yeah, yeah, you have to. You have to do that. Okay. Two quick questions here. Obviously very important. Both of them. Go ahead to.
C
Yes, Skip, you talked about, you know, the arms and, you know, doing what their clubs want you to do. Bednar, Whitlock and Miller have now gone in back to back games. Obviously. School's back with the Tigers. Skeens is. Is done. I believe Noel McLean is supposed to start the final, if what I'm hearing is correct. And maybe a Boston Red Sox who got scratched yesterday could be coming to town as well. What's the, what's the situation like? What's the situation like with the arms and availability for the football final?
H
Yeah, no, Nolan's gonna start the game for us. That. I saw that too. That the Garrett crush. I tried to get Garrett on this team from jump and I. I think we would have had him if he didn't work so hard for the Red Sox. He had, you know, threw a ton of innings for them and it just didn't make sense for him. We're going to have those conversations. I would say Whitlock's good to go. Fednar's had to grind the last two out of three nights. He. That, that one for me. I don't know. I don't know if the Renegade is going to be available for the finals and Mason certainly wants the ball, but. But we shall see. This is, this is what we do. We'll be on the phone after this workout with a bunch of teams kind of seeing where they're at.
A
Okay. How many balls can this guy throw? 7. Can you give me 9? Can I get the 9? Can I get 9 pitches out of this guy?
H
I'm looking for a 12 here that don't love.
C
He loves that, though. He loves getting jams. He likes to work out.
A
Yeah, I. I appreciate, though, that all this is behind the scenes. While everybody's telling him he needs to be the furthest thing away from this team, he's like, there's billions of dollars here that are being talked about it all. And I think, you know, going forward, I know it's probably always going to be a thing because of all the information we have and all the sports science and all that shit, especially with how much money is being invested. MLB has to realize this WBC might be the best thing you guys have. This might be, you know, like the NHL, they had four nations dropped in there and everybody's like, they figured out the All Star Game. They figured out you guys are just doing your All Star game before the season. That's what you're doing. And you're. It's not just, you know, the pros. It's every. It's minor league. It's. It's everybody that you can basically get into it because this is MLB run, right? This is an All Star game before the season even starts. This is a beaut. This is. This is spectacular what you guys have done here. So it's interesting about the limiting of the best players on earth potentially happening behind the scenes scenes because they feel like they probably have to for the season and how much more baseball still to be played. But it's like, man, I hope you guys understand how special this is. This is, this is good for baseball here. D Row. All of this has been very good for baseball. You guys having success, I think is very good for baseball in America, brother.
H
No, I appreciate that. It's funny, I was looking at the lineup card last night before we walked out and just looking at like, that's the greatest collection of talent you'll ever see on a field at one time,
A
trying, trying to win.
I
Yeah.
H
Getting after it. I think eventually, Pat. Yeah, this, this thing gets moved to the middle of the season and you're getting guys at their best. Right. Like, all arms would be in. All the guys want to do it. And for whatever reason, in their place in their career, whether they've been paid or not paid or agents or clubs or. I just think it gets, you know, for. It gets tough for some guys to make the decision to. To be willing to put your heart in it because once you get into room, it becomes the most important thing to you and. And it's hard to turn it off. So, yeah, I think for. For the betterment of the health of the players and the growth of the game, at some point this needs to be go to the middle of the season.
A
Last note here, last question. Because it all ties to this guy, the guy who committed to this. Your first call. The captain. Go ahead, Debug.
I
Yeah.
D
You talked about all the talent in the lineups. Even for a casual like me, I expected bombs. I expected the shootout. Even with the great pitchers on the mound, starting with schemes. But Judge's defense, and specifically that throw when he threw out Tatis at third, I feel like that kind of changed the game. I feel like Tatis held up at second. Later on, Wells held up at third at a point where he could have scored. What was that play like in the building?
H
It was unbelievable, man. We actually saw him kind of. He was slowing down around second base and kind of like almost baiting him that he was. Was going to hold up and as soon as he went. Judge has got an absolute cannon. I mean, so an aggressive base running play by Tatis. That's how he plays the game. I'm glad he tried it. Judge has been on it. Ultimate leader of men. This guy is a monster. Yeah, a monster to be around. Better dude off the field, deals with all the noise and all the like, pressure that's put on him with. With grace and class and. And yeah, the. I mean, J Rod doesn't rob that homer.
C
Yeah.
A
Yeah. He has one of the greatest nights in the history of sport. Yeah. Yeah. And I hit home run plus 175 or something like that. Aaron Judge. You know, if this isn't a robbed home run, he's. He's been fun to watch throughout this entirety. Getting a chance to chat with him, obviously. Very cool. Seems like the consummate pro. Sounds like you think the same thing and does have an aura around how large she is. Just like you do. You have a great energy. I think that's why they picked you to kind of do what you're doing right now. It got hot in the kitchen for a bit, but you stood in there and guess what? We might have some chicken bomb on the other side. We might have something good you brought in.
H
I brought a little bit. I brought a little bit A little bit of it upon myself. You're 100% right.
A
A little bit.
H
No question about it. I mean, we got back, they went a little hard in the paint.
A
Yeah, yeah. They. They saw an opportunity a little bit. A little bit. You disrespected them a little bit. The Mikuya coming in. Mikuya coming in. What was the thought behind this? Because I know you had Phelps in during training camp. I think you had Jack Hughes and the boys send you messages after the Olympics going in to Team USA Baseball. I think you've been trying to continue to showcase America to the boys. Is that kind of the goal, the initiative here or. Or what is it about your angle of how the team approaches this versus every everybody else? Maybe.
H
I mean, I. I think for me, like, my first conversation with, with Skeens was, you know, why are you doing this? Why are you so gung ho to do this? And he said, I want to do this for every service man and woman that protects our freedom. Right. I think, I think getting in the room with these guys, it's such a blessing because it's just a collection of talent and you get a chance to hang out and see how they go about it and work. But I think you got to honor what's on the front, right? The people that protect our freedom. Freedom. That's why we want to represent the United States of America. 9, 11. I grew up in New Jersey. I grew up playing wiffle ball. And literally the backdrop to my wiffle ball games was the twin towers. And when those fell, that. That impacted me in a. In a massive way. And I, you know, I felt like Robert o' Neill coming in and kind of addressing that situation, kind of get these guys on track about why. Why we're doing. Doing certain things. So just, you know, different messaging. Wasn't trying to go for any angle, just kind of honor the servicemen and women that protect and allow us to play the kids game.
A
Now, I know you guys are called managers and ours are called coaches. Okay. I still don't get it. Like, okay, so you're managing is what I should say, I guess, is that what you're doing. Coaching is how we speak. Coaches do the same thing, you know, try to figure out different ways to relay message. You're trying to get perspective in for what you're playing for and what this could be and what this actually means. And that's your style of motivation, brother. You're doing a lot of managing, or as we like to call in the rest of the world, coaching. And we Appreciate the hell out of you doing that. Get the boys focused. We're in the finals now. Hey, let's go.
E
Here you go.
H
Thanks for having me.
A
All right. We don't know how long it's gonna last you. That's man three. DeRozo.
E
Thank you.
A
Scooter. Quick. It's quick. It's quick. Yeah, it's quick.
D
No chips.
A
Who we play, Venezuela or Italy?
G
Yeah.
A
Venezuela favored minus 190, Moneyline over Italy plus 155. It'll be tonight, 8:00pm Eastern on FS1. Why wasn't this on Fox last night?
B
I don't know.
C
Family Guy was on.
E
No, no, it was a huge new Hell's Kitchen. Yeah.
A
No, I think it was Mormon Wives or something.
E
Mormon Wives. Secret Lives.
B
Mormon.
E
New season is out.
A
What was, I don't know, directed.
D
It sucked. Camera cut. It was like. Obviously, the game was incredible. The environment was incredible. But, like, you're winding up a pitch and you're cutting this like I'm, like, insane. It was, like, weird.
A
So this is what I think about golf, too. I think they figured it out.
B
Yes.
A
Like, I. You know, like when Liv was coming in, and they're like, we're going to broadcast it differently. It's like, hey, golf's figured out. We need the little tracker thing. We need it behind it. I want to see the swing. I want to know how far it is. I want to know what club they're using. I want to know what shot they're having. Leaderboard, tv. The leaderboard. Yeah. This is. This is golf. We have it figured out. You could do it in a different style of music if you want to. Baseball feels like it's pretty figured out, certainly. And if you have a couple extra shots, I guess, like picking and choosing when you drop those in, like, if you have a handheld 4K or whatever down on the field, that is like an added shot that's down. First baseline. You got to pick and choose when you get those in there. But it can't be during the action. Especially if it is the best pitcher on Earth taking on some of the best hitters on Earth. Like there is. I agree. There was a lot of decisions being made, and now, granted, we don't know what's available. Maybe something drops to that. They don't know. Maybe the camera drops off that they have to cut to another one. That shit will happen to us where something will drop out and we have to go to something else. So maybe there's that type of shit going on. We have no idea. But There's a lot of stuff. I'm like, that's a tough decision to make right there. Because, you know, somebody has to make that decision. It's like, what did you think you were going to get? Which is always, you know, in the moment, I guess. A little difficult. Foxy has to do it all day, every day. Foxy has to do it like, you know. Yeah, three hours a day. Keep the main thing. The main thing.
B
Well, and that's the. I mean, they're missing. They were missing pitches on like 12 counts where it would go back. Yeah, exactly. And it's like, what do we do? You know, whatever you're talking about was not more important than showing, you know, this pitch. Like, it just.
A
We know it's not easy.
B
Exactly.
A
We know there's a lot of stuff that goes into it, but, like, if you capture it, you got it.
E
Right.
A
That's the main thing.
B
Kind of clean it up by tomorrow.
A
Yeah. Because then you can tighten the shit up later, you know what I mean? And, yeah, we need to just. We need to make sure we have it on.
E
Show the game. Damn it.
A
Good. It's not rocket science.
E
Stop running the replay while the guy's winding up the beds.
A
So I think they were trying to keep action during down times. Like, hey, here's something awesome that just happened as we wait for something awesome. I think they were trying to get the ADHD people, and in doing so, I missed the wind up. The guy did the thing.
E
They pissed the ADHD people off.
A
Yeah, exactly. I need to see it.
E
Yeah.
A
Hour two, be on the other side. We got A.J. hawk and Coach K. What's coming to town.
C
Hell yeah.
A
See you then. Rich Eisen here. You know that feeling of handing off your taxes and then hearing nothing? Total radio sign silence. Well, not anymore. Now your taxes are done for you by a TurboTax full service expert who checks for every deduction and keeps you in the loop with real time updates on your phone. Just match with your dedicated expert, upload your docs and go live your life confident. You're getting every dollar you deserve. This is how taxes should be. Visit turbotax.com today to learn more. Real time updates only in iOS mobile app only available with turbocharged tax. Full service experts partner with Amazon Hub delivery to earn extra income for your business. With your business. Assist with local Amazon deliveries and get paid for each package you deliver. When you become a partner, you and your staff will deliver packages to customers in your area on a schedule that works for you, gain extra income, increase exposure for your business and connect with neighbors. It's easy to get started with no delivery experience, long term contracts or startup costs required. Interested in Learning more? Visit Amazon.com HubDelivery that's Amazon.com HubDelivery. That's right. It's 316 day. Shout out to stone cold Steve Austin. Amazing. Inspired all of us. Go kick somebody's ass.
G
What?
A
Sports are incredible. We're lucky to talk about all of them. We did the top five last hour. Talked to Team USA skip Mark Derosa. That was a great conversation. Had a good time there. Obviously fresh off a massive win over the Dominican Republic last night as the team USA baseball heads into the world championship. Who they play? We find out tonight when Venezuela takes on Italy at 8pm on Fox Sports 1. Vinnie Pasquintino, who since our conversation has signed a deal with Starbucks. Yeah, absolutely. Is a man who's obviously leading Team Italia in a legendary run here. I don't think a lot of people expected. And then Salvador Perez and the Venezuelans are favored in this highly exciting matchup. I don't know who's pitching for who.
B
Aaron Nola for team Italy.
C
He, he went five scoreless against Mexico.
B
Plays for the Phillies. Good ball player.
A
Okay, and who's pitching for Venezuela?
B
Was it Kimer?
C
Kyder Montero.
B
Yeah, Kyder Montero. He plays for the Tigers. He has been up in the bigs a little bit but he's currently in triple A for the Tigers.
A
That's the talks table at boss Connor and Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer D time Cowboys. AP tone is here. Nine year NFL vet wearing a clean four to five figure Sunday red hoodie. Darius J. Butler is here. Is that the newest, that's got to be the newest release.
D
It is a pretty recent release. Yeah. It is gold.
A
Have you seen that?
B
Wait, what?
A
What?
D
I mean
A
like Lulu. No, it's not as soft as Lulu. It's close though.
D
Good man. But put a little more color on what you're talking about. As far as the pitchers, I think Venezuela probably has better bullpen. I would have to probably give that edge. Maybe the better lineup as well.
B
Yeah.
D
What do you think?
B
No, yeah, I think that would be. I think that'd be 100% accurate. I think it sounds like someone who's been doing their research.
A
Oh, it's a big one tonight. Hello, this is baseball's Darius J. Butler joining us live. D batts. We're talking D. But joining us live from an attic in Ohio. He's a college football national champion, super bowl champion. Rider cup winner and a knower of all things wrestling. We found out this morning. A.J.
E
hawk.
A
What up, dude?
F
What's going on? Actually, D. But I have some of my own Sunday red that came in over the weekend. So I wish I would have worn it today. I will. I will make sure to wear it sometime this week.
A
I didn't know. We're all. Yeah, I didn't know. We're all getting influenced into golf's affliction stuff. I didn't know. Is that what we're doing?
C
Do not compare Tiger woods to a fl.
A
That's the same thing. That's the same business model. Not, you know, know. And first of all, who was the
F
owner of a Flicker?
C
It better be the greatest MMA guy of all time.
A
It kind of was. Yeah, it was, dude. But what I'm saying is people are paying a lot of money for those T shirts.
C
Yeah, because he did a lot for us.
A
Paying more than all I'm talking about. Yeah, exactly. See, you don't. It's a good business comparison. But I will say I will support Son Day Red to support Tiger. I just wish Tiger wouldn't be trying to charge. Charge me a Toyota Camry for a hoodie.
D
It's not that expensive. Hey, listen, compared to the other.
A
He's trying to price me out.
D
Good brand stuff.
A
He's trying to price me.
E
And he did.
D
Saw Fleetwood with it. Fleetwood was rocking another day.
A
He would wear anything.
D
I think it's kind of a free agent right now.
A
That's what they said. Him and Nike had a 10 year deal. It came time to come time. He had a great year last year. I'm thinking this. They said, we're thinking that no deal was struck. Now he's wearing what they call him gumpy. What are they calling Tommy Fleetwood right now? The king of the clubhouse. Yeah, that was pro shop. He's in the pro shop but also. Also in the clubhouse. He's going in there. He's buying the from the pro shop, then walking to the first tee and trying to win your tournament. Yeah. Dogma.
E
Put a shirt on.
A
Yeah, I feel you.
E
That's awesome.
A
Putting it on, talking it in.
E
Pretty cool.
A
Walking to the first tee. I'm gonna try to win this tournament. What's the course record here? That is literally what he's doing. A lot of us have had to do that because you're not prepared to golf at the place you're golfing at. Maybe they say you cannot wear a tank top here. So you had to wait to the pro shop. You Put one of their shirts on. They're always got a cool logo on the side. And then you head to the front first tee. That's what he's been doing in the actual PGA. Love everything about it, AJ we did a top five in the first hour. Obviously, Team USA's sled hockey team winning a golden. Sweeping the triple crown of Olympic hockey was on there. Obviously, Team USA baseball was on there. We left out something, though, A.J. i don't know if you saw the omission that we had. It was a glaring one, I think, in the sports world.
F
I'm not sure. What is the omission? Please tell me.
A
I don't know if you watch college baseball. I'll tell you what. I haven't. It seems like something I need to get into. Yes. This guy's name is Stone Lawless. And then he's. Yep. This guy hit the ball. Can you hear play on this, please? Guy who's hitting the ball. His name is Stone Lawless. And he's. It's the ninth there. Yeah. This is to win the game. Top of the ninth. Obviously, Georgia will get a chance to respond. This is in Athens.
E
Freshman Cole Johnson
A
robs the homer of Stonehouse right in his face. Absolutely unbelievable stuff.
E
Post the point, too.
A
But I'm him. I'm him. Yeah. Look, you know me.
D
Yeah.
A
Me in their world in the ninth inning, thinking he's winning the game. Think about how he's traveling back to Rocky Top, Tennessee. I just hit a dong in the ninth to beat the Dogs. Hell, yeah, he's. Go Dogs. I'm Go long. Bombs away in the ninth inning. I saw the Dominican Republic doing this. The other. Let me spike this bat as hard as I possibly can. Let me tell the boys. Yeah, yeah. Everything I say, I'm bot. Then before you can even make the first base, freshman's out there robbing your ass. Baseball can get you easy come, easy go. I did not know that was the case with this sport.
B
Oh, yeah, without a doubt. And you know, unfortunately, that is probably the kind of thing that follows you for a while. You know, he's. Especially in the sec, I'm assuming.
A
Stone Law.
E
Yeah.
B
Stone Lawless is going to be getting mocked at quite a couple, you know, SEC ballpark. But, hey, that's the. That's the risk you run, you know, you hit it right on the screws and you think you got enough and. And then you kind of just got to swallow it and eat it as the entire dugout empties out and runs out to the warning track. To celebrate.
A
Hey, a lot of go dogs down there, too. It looked like there's a lot of barking at Stone Lawless. Yeah, aj, don't you think we had to have this in the top five? That was what I was meaning about an obvious omission. Anytime Stone Lawless is doing stuff like this, I mean, we got to talk about it. I mean, he.
F
Could he even see this ball? I mean, this is unbelievable. Catch. How many times if you did this? 10 times. How many times will he be robbing this thing? Makes the whole thing. Yeah, it makes the whole thing right there.
A
Dude, just think about how pumped he was, man. You're chasing that. Hey, at least he got a chance to feel the dragon. You know, people. People are saying they chase the dragon, chase the dragon. They're chasing that feeling right there. He at least got to experience it for a couple moments there. We saw him experience.
D
I haven't seen many bat spikes, seen a ton of bat flips. Haven't seen the bat spike.
E
It's a stone thing.
A
I'll tell you what, Lawless, did you. Have you heard the commentator call this thing?
B
No.
A
All bo. Go dogs on the call.
E
Well, hit this one to left field.
A
This one going back at the wall. They made the catch. Oh, caught it.
E
Cole Johnson.
A
Johnson at the wall. He's got dogs for sure. College sports are incredible. And obviously, as we're about to die into matt madness with college wrestling and then obviously March madness for college hoops, the entire world is about to pay attention to what's going on in the universities across the country. Over 360 teams are trying to get into this tournament. And we as non knowers of ball are trying to bring somebody in who knows ball to maybe make us better this March Madness. Ladies and gentlemen, we are incredibly lucky to say that the guy who has the most wins in the history of college basketball will be joining us throughout, starting right now. Five time national champion, former head coach of Team USA basketball, winning 100 gold medals. He would have won 200 if he kept going. Legend of sports and obviously goat of college hoops. Coach Krzyzewski. How are you? You should do my.
G
You should do my introductions all the time. You fabricate so many things and people think they're true.
A
Well, that's. I don't know if anybody will buy the 100 gold medals, but I think it would be true if you were to live long enough, which you might, especially with, you know, good. You look at this particular age, if you were to coach for 100 of these things, you would Win that. Which is what I was trying to imply. I think everybody gets that. But you are certainly worthy of an incredible introduction, so we appreciate you joining us. Coach, let's talk about the brackets. Obviously set yesterday. You've been a thousand of these things. You were the coach at Duke from 1980 to 2022. 42 years. Jeez. Holy shit. 42 years. Creating an institution, obviously creating your own ville down there. This day after the brackets are Reveale field is how everybody views like actual college basketball season beginning. How do you think these coaches are viewing this? How would you view this day and kind of what's on task for these coaches across the country?
G
Yeah, well, it's the most exciting three weeks of I think the sports season because it takes over the entire country. You know, you start out every. There are over 360 schools that play Division 1 basketball and all a of of them have an opportunity to get into the tournament with all the conference tournaments. So it really goes throughout the country, all the communities and. And then that thing we. We put out many decades ago called the bracket. The bracket has become incredible even for non basketball fans. Those people who like to bet on things. Yeah, the bracket is a hell of an addictive thing.
A
Not me, obviously, coach, but people that are very similar to me and that I know all around. Let's talk about why the bracket has become so special because obviously your school, Duke has been at the top. Everybody has expected, I assume since 1991, when you won your first one, everybody started to expect you guys to kind of be in there every single year after that. Is that accurate?
G
Especially our fans? Yeah. The other our opposing fans expected it but didn't like it. So.
A
Yeah, understandable. But that was kind of the expectation nationally too, I think. I grew up in Pittsburgh, didn't follow college basketball much. Pitt, Panthers got dirty there for a little bit. But everybody knew Duke was going to be good. So you have you guys that are always going to be in it. And then March Madness made everybody believe that some school I've never heard of could potentially go on a run and beat Duke. Beat Duke. That was kind of what the magic is now they're saying bigger spreads than ever before from the sports books for these teams. What are your thoughts on kind of where we stand about the higher seeds and the lower seeds in what used to be and maybe what is now. Coach?
G
Yeah, well, I think, Pat, you start first of all saying some people want the tournament expanded, more teams. I think that would be a huge mistake, really. Right now, the top four conferences the power four of the 37 at large bids that you could get those four have 31 of them. You know they, it's, it's become those conferences and there's the haves and the have nots. There are more have nots but the haves, there are more halves. In other words there are more good teams that can win this tournament and, but it's dominated by those four, those four conferences.
A
They're saying the ACC may be not maybe not it anymore down here. Maybe not the ACC of all the.
G
Yeah, no, we got a. Duke's got a hell of a chance for Christ's sake. Favorite, you know, especially if we get our two wincher guys back. But you know a really cool thing about the tournament, in the top four seeds there's six, 16 of them, nine of them come from the Big Ten and the, the, and the Big 12 and, and what they've done. They're spread out over the four regions. I'm using my hands. I didn't use my hands and still I started watching your show.
A
Okay, we'll go for you. I'm pretty fancy. I'm pretty.
G
Now you gotta, yeah. You just gotta do all this crap.
A
Yeah.
G
But the one thing I, I, I found hard to believe, you know, the Big east only got three teams in which is probably right. But their top two teams are in the same region, Connecticut and St. John's that would, that never happens. You know like the Big Ten has five but they're spread out. The Big 12 has four, one in each of the regions. So I, I thought that was a really not a good thing to do for, for, for the Big east and it's a little bit surprised St. John's being a five seed with what they've, they've done lately and they won the regular season, Big east and also the tournament.
A
Yeah, back to back years he's been able to accomplish that, I believe. First time ever win by 20 in the big east championship Game over Yukon. Certainly has us all wondering about Dan Hurley and his what's going on up there. Well, maybe Pitino's got the boys buzzing. Now let's talk about the regions. Last question for me before the boys all have some mostly going to be asking questions probably for their own gambling just so you have a little bit of a heads up and yeah, you're going to help out. Yeah. We appreciate your service there.
G
Don't blame it on me when you lose.
E
We will.
B
Yeah we will.
G
You're not going to, you're not going to give me credit when you win.
A
No, we will. We will celebrate.
G
I don't know.
A
We'll make sure. Chefski villain here, you know, if we get some heaters. But, yeah, you will certainly hear the blame if it. If it. If it does.
G
You guys can do that. You guys take that to a good level.
A
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I think we're pretty good at it as well. They're saying the East Region, though. This is a. This is tough. I don't know. I don't want to get in the grand scheme of, like, toughest of all time, because I feel like everybody does that. But it feels like the big takeaway from last night. East Region, very, very, very, very difficult. Now, obviously, number one overall seed is in that region, so it's obviously going to be slanted a little bit better because number one overall seeds in there. What do you see from the East Region? And do you think the conversation is right about how heavy it is seemingly against all the other regions?
G
You know what it's heavy in is coaches that have won national championships. You have Bill Self, one of the best ever at Kansas, Rick Patino, another one, Tom Izzo, and Danny Hurley. I mean, you have four national championship winners. So the coaching in that. Not that the coaching out of Regents is bad, but come on, you know, you have four programs that are accustomed to doing great things, and in the ncaa, in the NCAA tournament, That's. That's the very first thing that hits me. And in the round of 32, that St. John's and Kansas are going to play one another, there's some great games throughout the tournament. I think it's a lot more wide open than it has been the last last couple years. And. But the. The East, I would like to have watched Danny Hurley's practice the last couple days after they've lost. Danny and I are really good friends, and you know, them going down by 20 to St. John's and the Big east championship, you know, they're. They're going to be ready. They're good. They're going to be ready. Same thing with ISO. You know, Tom's the creme de la creme of. Of coaching. And they got. Yeah, there are a bunch of teams in this region.
A
Yeah.
G
That have a chance to win. I'm worried about our guys.
A
Yeah, I see that with every highlight that's passing. It seems like you are watching these highlights realizing, wait a minute now, these teams are real players out here now.
G
Do. They are. And you know, Duke and Michigan State had a hell of a game early in the year, and we won, but it was a fist fight.
A
And.
G
And they. They have. Yeah, Tom is, you know, they. They call him Mr. March because how many times he's been in the tournament have gone to the Final Four. He and I are good friends. I said, you know, what you want to be called, though, is Mr. April. Because
A
you see, you see Coach Izzo, you know, yeah, Mr. March is cute.
G
Okay.
A
January, February. That's very, very cute. People around me, they say Coach K feels like you're.
G
Well, Isso knocked us out one year where we could have been a Mr. Mr. April again. And one of my really good teams. So one of. I, I just think there's some incredible game and one of my former players, Johnny Dawkins, has taken and his University of Central Florida team there, and, you know, they. They play Yukon first and they'll have a. They'll have a shot. You know, the Big 12 overall, you know, are top heavy. I think three of the top seven ranked teams are from the Big 12. You mean you have Houston and Iowa State being two seeds in other regions. Wow. You know, there are more teams this year that can make the Final Four. I think last year, all the top number one seeds, they were just a step ahead of. Of everyone. That's not the case. You know, there's no number one seed that is that much ahead of. Of the teams in their region.
A
We'd love to hear that. The overall number one seed led by somebody you know. Go ahead, A.J.
B
yeah.
F
Coach John Shire, who Pat is speaking of, what makes him so special? We hear stories about him as a player and what he's like, his mentality, the culture he has cultivated there after your long tenure. What makes him special and what makes you think that this guy can actually lead this team and make a run and win it all?
G
You know, he has such a feel for the game. You know, I've known him. We recruited him when he was 17, and he was a national champion for me, and. And it's been on my staff for eight years, and he was ready. You know, he's got such a good feel for the game, and he was a great player. So, you know, he can not only teach his great players that, but he can feel what they feel. You know, that's why he's done such a great job with Cam Boozer last year with Cooper Flag and Canipple, and he relates, and he's still a young guy. He relates so well to these guys. He's. And he's been his own man. You know, I've loved what he's done and I think he's navigated these last four years in nil and transfer portal much better than I would have ever been able to do it. He's current and he's done a lot with the NBA. NBA, you know, he's followed the NBA. So he's. His system incorporates college and NBA and I think that's one of the reasons the guys are so well prepared for the NBA.
A
Well, that's kind of like what's happening in college ball as well. You're seeing a lot of NFL guys end up ending college because it's kind of becoming one in the same. It's kind of professional sports at this point. Now on that note, with professional sports happening in our sport of four football, interesting situations happen in basketball, it's seemingly happening as well across the country. Best guy in sports, maybe Darren Peterson out there at Kansas is a load management situation happening in college. And there's other storylines going on, people getting paid millions. D Butt has a question for you, coach.
D
Yeah, coach. Probably no better person to ask. You've coached some of the best players on both levels, collegiate and NBA. I see the Mamba logo right there. Rest in peace. But, but do you have any specific stories that stand out when it comes to like managing egos of these players and these rosters, these great rosters, especially like the USA team. We're watching the WC right now with the baseball. Any specific stories that stand out over your tenure when it comes to managing these egos and the rosters that come together?
G
Well, I love managing egos if it's matched by the same level of talent,
A
be who you can afford to be.
G
Yeah, managing. Managing egos when it's somebody who doesn't have that talent is. Well, then you get rid of them. You know, you shouldn't have them. But no, with the US teams. I coached the US teams for 11 years and I told them every, when we started off, every team, bring your egos in. I don't believe in. Leave your egos at the door. That's such bs. I want you to be who you are, are. And by the way, Kobe Bryant, LeBron, they would have put. Brought their damn egos in no matter what the hell.
A
Yeah.
G
And. But I would always tell him, I said if you can all put your egos under one ego umbrella, call it usa. We'll kick everyone's ass. You know, we'll rule the. We'll rule the world. And they did that. You know they did that. You know, they. A lot of the great players are not coached. They're used. And when you. The great player wants to get better, the great player wants to be coached. That's what I found. And. And when you put a bunch of them together, they help each other. You know, Kobe helped all those guys learn how to prepare better. LeBron would sit with Jason Kidd at every meeting and shoot with them every night so he could learn more about his income, intellect. And, you know, he was a great passer, but J. Kidd's one of the greatest of all time. So talent makes talent better. And especially if, you know, look, at the end of the day, I would. I would say you're going to be asked only one question. Playing for us. Did you win? If. If you answer that by saying was the leading score, then you're a loser, you know, because you lost. And so just when. And all those damn guys wanted to win. I love them. You know, I loved coaching. That level of talent and ego.
A
Yeah, yeah, we love. I love that you're. This is probably why you are who you are. Bill Belichick is kind of the same way. He's a do your job guy, but also Randy B. Randy. Hey, you do. We want you to celebrate. We want you to do the entire thing. I appreciate how much you are. Appreciate the elite talent that you have. Is that how you have always coached? You teach? Or did you coach Team USA differently than you coach Duke, for instance? And I think I read today. Did you. You played for Bob Knight at West Point.
G
And. Yeah.
A
And then you coach. And then you coach with him, I assume. Are you a disciple of coach with him?
G
A little bit. And he allowed me to do some things internationally with him. And, and you know, the thing I learned. I've learned a lot from Coach Knight. One, how to take charges, too, and die for loose balls and play the game hard. He was brilliant. He's a genius. And the number one thing I learned from him was preparation. He would always say, you know, any. Any knucklehead wants to win, you know, unless you're a complete idiot. And. But not everyone wants to have the will to prepare to win. And he would say, the will to prepare to win is more important than to will the will to win. And I learned that when I was 18 years old from him. And I've been an anal preparer my whole life. And Pat, the thing I wanted to do was combine having the will to prepare and the will to win win. And what I. I would say that would make us worthy of winning if we could do those things. Doesn't mean the Other guy's not worthy of winning. But every time we went on the court, I wanted to coach a team that was worthy of winning.
A
Is that how you treated Duke? Is that the same messaging you had? Yeah. Yeah.
G
I mean, and. And that means every game is a big game. People say, do you prepare differently for these tournament games? If you did, why the hell didn't you prepare differently during the regular season? Are you an idiot? You know, like, basically, you get into a way of doing things. It's called habits. Habits. I hated Hawk with being on the packers because I'm a Bears fan. You guys had great habits. No, don't shake your head. You guys beat our ass so many times, it was unbelievable. I. I hated you. With respect.
A
Thank you, aj. AJ still has those habits, though. He's carried them for the rest of his life. Like legitimately winning.
G
No, but the thing is, you want your team not to be doing a bunch of new things going into the tournament. You want them doing the things they've done well, even. And make sure they're fresh. The. The healthier you are, the fresher you are. Are. Then your habits are done. Even. Even better. But, you know, the main habit to have is the habit to. To win and prepare to win. And I thought throughout my career we were pretty consistent with that.
A
Yeah, I love the work happening when nobody's watching. Everybody hates Duke from the outside in, but they have no idea the grind that's taking place behind the scenes. I had no idea it was a Bob Knight type affair. I. I didn't know that the boys down there bopping the wood. They're still popping the wood. Hey, shout to out tire had all five bop the wood. You saw him bopping wood, coach? I did.
G
They were. They hit. Slapping the floor, slapping the wood,
A
bopping the wood.
E
Gotta we.
G
Like when all football guys, you gotta start. It's not the wood, it's the damn floor. All right?
A
No, they're bopping wood. So many.
G
So many football, baseball, guys on the show. It's. Let's get educated about, you know, what the hell's going on right now. Open up. Open up your minds, for Christ's sake.
A
I want to let you know, coach, I go to a basketball game, I'm sitting front row. Where am I at the hardwood. On the wood. I'm on the wood. Okay? So that's all I know, coach. So any of these other things you would like to teach me to not sound like a dumbass, I would appreciate.
I
Yeah.
G
No, but you were a punter, so there's A limited amount of stuff that you know,
A
I want to let you know.
G
But you were a damn good punter.
A
Thank you.
G
You were.
A
Thank you.
B
You were good.
A
You should see I got kind of a little bit of a whip. Oh yeah, I got a.
G
No, it's not. This isn't fantasy now.
F
Shoot one Pat. Make one for him.
G
Let's talk about real life things.
A
How about this one? Y.
E
That was full size too.
F
Jacked up.
G
Predictable. That's predictable, yeah.
A
Needed to make that one. That was the one.
G
Know. Know your limits. All right. Only layups and offensive rebound shots.
A
And bopping wood, coach. And bopping wood on that defensive side. I'm going be a menace down there, coach. All right, let's talk about something other than that. Ty has a question for you, coach.
B
Yeah, Coach, I'm assuming you're of the mind of. Hey, there are no excuses whatsoever, but when it comes to the tournament, how many of like the non basketball factors actually impact. Impact you. Like we heard Coach Cal saying how he's not, I don't want to say not happy, but you know, they have to travel from Arkansas up to Portland. If they advance, they have to go back to Arkansas and then fly back to the West Coast. Some of these games are tipping off at 9:50 or like 10:08 or on the flip side, you know, super early. Like over your career coaching did. Did that type of stuff impact any of the games and maybe years where you got upset or you didn't play as well as you anticipated playing well,
G
everything that you said is, is true. It's a, it's a factor. The thing that you have to say is no excuse, you know, you know that. That's been one of our standards my whole career, my whole life. Like when I graduated from West Point, that was a thing. Yeah. There are no excuses. Get the damn job done. A mantra. Failure is never our destination. And I don't want to hear any excuses. And so don't talk about those things. Talk about this is what we have. This is our road. This is the road we're going to be on. But does it have an impact? Yeah, it has an impact. You're playing that 9:50 game and you're getting back to the hotel at 1:30 in the morning and then you got to play maybe an afternoon game a day and a half later. Later. The travel thing that John mentioned I think is a very important factor now. The higher the seed you are, the less you are put in those situations. And so even though Arkansas I think is terrific, I think they're a number five seed and so they, they're probably moved around a little bit more. But it has an impact because you want your guys fresh. You want your guys guys fresh and playing those games that late and three different time zones to, to travel in, you know, if you're going to go out west or come out east and you're the opposite of that team, the team that's doing that, you should stay. If you advance in that, in that area, you know, you shouldn't be going back, back and forth.
A
Coach, I got a test in the morning, though. Coach, I got a, I got a big time exam in the morning. Coach, you know.
G
Yeah, they don't have exams right now.
A
I would have never known that with
G
Nil and the house settlement. Their exams are not as high on the list of things that they.
A
Okay, I'd like to know that. By the way, shout out to these universities making things happen happened for the boys and for the ladies. Okay, let's go ahead and continue to do that. All right. Coach, you were able to accomplish something one time that is certainly potentially being hunted right now. Go ahead, Tone.
C
Yeah, Coach, you went Back to back 91, 92. The Florida Gators have a chance to do that this season. They are a one seed again. They're not the favorites. Duke's the favorites, but they are in the top four as far as favorites go. What is the, the hardest thing about going back to back and do you think the Gators have a chance to do it this year?
G
Well, good point. And they do have a chance. Their Todd is golden, was a hell of a coach. And one of the key things is they have their four big players, the four big guys back from last year. Those guys have been on this run before and there are two guards, Fland and Xavier and Lee, early in the year were learning to be on that at that level. They now know being at that at that level. The thing is, yeah, you can't, you know, when, when we did that in 91 and 92, after we won in 91, people said, you're defending your championship. And I had a meeting with my guys in April that year. Right after we won it, I brought the trophy in. I said, look, this isn't going away. We don't have to defend a damn thing. What we have to do is perspective, pursue. Let's pursue the next one. And I think this Florida team is pursuing right now they got knocked out by Vandy, but until they lost this last game, they were probably the hottest team in the country. And with Those four big guys, man, they. They rebound the hell out of the ball.
A
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
G
Their last two games that I've watched, they couldn't hit. They could not knock down an outside shot. But they got, they definitely have a, have. Have a shot to do it. And the thing, if they advanced all the way, the one and two, they're going to play really, another number one seed. Who's the number two? And that's Houston. Who? You know, Calvin Sampson has done an incredible job there. And it, it. It would be a. A man's game. I see more of those games throughout the tournament. Tournament than I did last year. I think. I think this has a chance to be just a great, great tournament.
A
It's gonna be great for us. You know why? You know why it's gonna be great for us? Because you're going to be on here teaching us about what the hell we need to be looking at. Those four.
G
You always. That was really nice of you to say that. You know, I was.
A
You're making our life better, buddy.
G
No, I didn't know. You know, I didn't know if I would be accepted by mom.
A
Let me know. You weren't. You weren't there.
G
Immediately you feel the war warmth. To feel the warmth that you guys are exhibiting right now is terrific.
A
It feels like we got with arms. AJ's got his arms open too. There. You just can't see because he's out there.
F
You see it?
A
Yeah, that's what we're doing right now. Coach, we're very thankful that you're joining us. You've been awesome here thus far. We assume the next time you're on you won't be ass. We assume like we're hoping you won't be asked the next time. We assume you won't. Sounds like you're great at everything you do. Certainly. Conversations with us. Let's talk about the greats of the great though, shall we? Especially with things that you've seen on the. Hey, Team USA umbrella. Go ahead, Connor.
E
Yeah, Coach talked about preparation and practice goes hand in hand with that. And you mentioned how you would tell players, hey, bring in your egos. They say the greatest basketball game ever was the dream team scrimmage of their practice. What were your practices like for Team usa? Was it sometimes just, hey, I'm going to sit back and watch these guys play five on five. And it was just. Just be electrifying up and down the court. What were some of those things like?
G
Yeah, well, I was actually had the honor of being an assistant on The Dream Team. So I was there for that game, and I did a really good thing. We only had one official, so one of the assistants were going to have to officiate. And I told Chuck Daly, I said, I'll take all the drills, let P.J. carlissimo officiate. And he got berated during. It was one of the best decisions I ever. I saw it. I said, someone's going to get their butt kicked, and it won't be one of the teams. It's going to be the. The only official that understands English. And so PJ really got it that day, and they went after it. The. The Magic team and the Jordan team. There. There was so much trash talk, and it was. It was terrific. We didn't have practices like that. The team side coach, they. They. We didn't need it. And we. Yeah, it was a different time then. They. Those guys were taking the NBA culture, Bird, Magic, and all those guys in the 80s, and now they were taking it worldwide. They were on a stage that David Stern saw as an opportunity for the explosion of global basketball. And they were on a mission to be not just good, but to be the best. And no team has ever been more talented than that team. And the way they represented the game was a. That's where the Gasols, the Ginoblies, and these guys, they saw that. I get chills thinking about it, because they would. Those guys would tell you that once they saw that, said, man, that. That's basketball at the highest level. And now we're doing it international, you know, internationally. But that scrimmage was unbelievable.
A
Yeah, I could imagine. And good call by you. I'll take the drill so I don't have to rep this and get. But also, when you talk about what that team's mission was and what Stern laid out, it worked. You talk about ginobly in them, but now you talk about the international invasion into the NBA. I. I mean, it's certainly happening. It all has roots back to the Dream Team. And now they were the Beatles. Everywhere they went. It was rock star type. And then what they were doing on the court was obviously fantastic. I watched the Last Dance, and I grew up in Pittsburgh. I'd walk. I'd watch the lake show late. I'd watch the Lakers late at night because they were a good show, but didn't really know as. As our water softener is going crazy right now up there. Okay. I didn't. It's good. Hey, it's cold weather. We need to soften this thing up. I didn't really know basketball that well. Didn't follow basketball that much. Come from football town. The football town. So then I watched the Last Dance. That was basically me seeing Jordan and everybody for the first time without just watching highlights at the time. The state of basketball then, vastly different than the state of basketball now. The people that were playing basketball then vastly different than the people that playing basketball now. Whenever you hear people try to compare who's goat, who's goat, who's goat, what are your thoughts on that? And how many different iterations of basketball have happened, do you think, since you've had a front row seat to all of it?
G
Yeah, quite a. Quite a bit. Because the. Obviously the NBA, you know, I work for the NBA now and for three years and, you know, about 30% of the players are international. I think our last six MVPs are international, national. It. It's tough to say. You know, people like to argue that because then they can drink and give crap to one another while they're. While they're doing it, but. Which is great for the sport. But, you know, the best player that I've ever been associated with is Jordan, you know, and, and. And then you can. There are a number of other people that he allowed. He can allow into his room. Okay. And a limited number of them. And. But it starts with. With, I think with. With Michael. I will tell you one thing about international players now. That's been the biggest change. Why.
A
Why is that? Michael Jordan, number one, you think? Is it because of his competitive.
G
He's a killer, for Christ's sake, and he could do anything. He got bored and went to play baseball for a while, you know, and then still came back, you know. No, he, he, you know, he and his attitude and work ethic. I love him and I love. He's the ultimate competitor. Kobe was close in that. He's in that room there. There's obviously Magic and Jabbar and. Yeah, there are a number of them, but LeBron. Coach K. No, no, I'm not going to say one more, but let me tell you, this thing about.
A
LeBron is not in the room.
G
No, LeBron is in there.
A
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
G
He's not serving. He's not selling tickets outside.
A
Okay, okay. All right. I just wanted to know from my
G
career, LeBron and I are close, man. He helped us win. I love coaching LeBron. I want to say this thing about college. The biggest change right now to college is the influx of international pros. There are more international players and they're all professional playing college basketball right now, and the reason is they make more money with NIL here than they do in the Euro League. And look at the rosters and. And how many. How many international players there are. It. It's amazing. And. And that's why the. The game. The college game, has gotten old, built the transfer portal. You have guys who are older, but the international pros, heck, there's some freshmen who are 22 and 23, and they've played for four or five years in Spain or Italy or. Or wherever. So. But not every school can afford that. And that's why it's become more and more the haves and the have nots. And the have nots still want to be the haves, but they got to get money to be able to compete at that level.
A
Feels like that's college sports as a whole. I wish you were in that roundtable room discussing the future future of college sports alongside Coach Saban and all the commissioners and everything. But we assume you will continue to be a voice for the good of college sports going forward and certainly for March Madness for us. We appreciate the hell out of you, Coach. Have an incredible day.
G
Yeah. Slap the wood now. Okay, Before I leave. All right.
A
Sounds like. Yeah, I'll tell you what. Maybe you should go slap the wood because of how good you just did that. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen. Coach. Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card@venmo.com collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank. NA Select Schools available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at venmo.me stash dash terms max 100 cash back per month from 30 for 30 podcasts. Did you say someone got shot?
C
Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down the key to this case.
H
It's Brian.
A
An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth? They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest.
D
We had a killer amongst us.
A
Murder at the U. Listen now. He should go bop some wood for that. Why not go back to the basics? D butt thoughts Slapping the floor.
D
I'm a Hoover. That's what we say.
E
Oh, you don't call it the hardwood.
A
Okay.
E
Floor what do you.
A
Do you call it the backboard or do you call it the glass? Okay, just so I. Okay, okay. Slapping glass, Eating glass. Okay. What about when I'm breaking metal? Yeah.
B
When I'm going through there, huh?
E
Rocking rims.
A
Yeah, rocking. Rocking chains. You know, especially with the chain. Like they do. Do. Do we say that or banging the basketball net, you know, like I understand this is ripping nylon. The floor. Basketball floor. They're bopping wood out there. I saw all five guys, same time.
C
Yeah.
A
Bop.
D
That was cool.
A
It was cool.
F
Practice that. Did they practice that, you think? Or is there like a call? Was he counting it down from the sideline?
G
I think hay hands.
A
I don't know because I think John Shire did it as well. I think there's a side angle of John Shire doing it as well. So I think there is a tell that they all kind of have so that they can synchronize the bopping of the wood. And I'll tell you what, I appreciate the fact that they're kind of all doing it together.
C
It looked like soon as the inbounder inbounded to the guy, as soon as they caught it, the point guard caught it, that's when they all did it.
A
Ball touches.
B
Yeah.
C
I think that's the giveaway.
A
Soon as clock starts. Oh, geez.
D
Is that who started D. Bo and Wood? Yeah, well, that.
F
That back in the day. Who's that Wi. He used to b. Wood. He. He picked a guy half court. Not Jean. Not Jean.
G
Yeah.
B
Oh, Northwestern's head coach.
C
Yes.
A
Oh, I thought we were talking about. Cuz he's in college hoops too.
E
Yeah.
D
The body think is going great.
C
What for the Bonnie rumors are it's not going great.
B
Yeah.
A
Where are they?
E
Not in a tournament. They didn't make it.
A
They're doing the nit though, right?
C
least I don't know if they're in that.
A
That's good business runs.
C
Tell you what. I saw a commercial last night for another basketball tournament I never heard of.
A
Oh yeah, the Super Duper College Challenge. I. I think West Virginia's doing it. I think West Virginia is doing it. A million dollars? I think so.
C
Super Duper College Challenge.
A
I think Indiana might be playing in it too. I think you win a million bucks.
E
No, they said no. They said no to the nit. So they're probably turned down. All of them.
A
No, they might not turn down a Super Duper basketball challenge out there for a million bucks. They got TBT happening, I think for college teams now. I think. Okay, if my right let's do more research. Everybody. Do your own homework.
B
What's it called? You said Super Duper College basketball tournament.
A
Yes.
I
Thank you.
E
It was.
C
It was a commercial.
A
Yes, and I saw it on Social because I think West Virginia is going. I think, hey, jeez, we'll go.
D
Mighty have fallen.
A
What?
D
And though you're competing.
F
The what? It's March.
A
Super Duper.
E
The sbcb.
A
It is Super Duper, though. Imagine if you have your one shining moment.
D
You guys don't have the rights to that, so, you know.
A
No, no, they're buying it with a million. The million is doing that. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a three time, three time, three time Olympic gold medalist and a three time, three time, 3 time goal scorer in the Olympic gold medal match against who?
E
That team up north. Oh, TTU won.
B
Nice.
A
That is who it was, ladies and gentlemen. American hero, stallion, stud, goal maker, sledge shaker, Olympic gold medal taker, ladies and gentlemen, Jack Wallace. What's up, dude?
I
What's up, boys? How you doing?
A
Hey, I appreciate you joining us on such quick turn around. I understand you and the boys probably had a little bit of a time. I watched you guys going back into the hotel lobby. Seemed like there was a couple beers, maybe a couple cocktails, maybe a couple celebrations. Can you tell me how you guys feel after winning your fifth straight? You. Your third straight. How does it feel to be an Olympic gold medalist again?
I
I mean, it feels great, you know, to represent. Represent everyone back home and represent this country. It means the world. And, you know, just to know how much work we put in over the last four years to get back to this spot. Yeah, I mean, we have some great leaders on the team. Shout out. Declan Farmer, you know, leading the tournament, setting records. Shout out. Spuds. He went 5 for 5 in his Paralympic career. He might be up after this one. So. Yeah. Josh, Paul. Spudsy.
A
Spudsy, I like the name. I like. We got. Okay, so let's talk about your path into sled hockey. And then, you know, a lot of the other stories are coming. Going to have similar inspir, inspirational beginnings, I do believe for the world to hear a lot of people getting introduced to sled or sledge hockey strictly through you guys completing the Triple crown for the first time ever, where we win Olympic gold in all hockeys, women, men and Paralympic sled hockey. Can you tell me a little bit about your story getting into sled hockey? And then also how nice is it that the sport is so competitive, so high speed, so thrilling, and obviously, obviously so Damn competitive. Like everybody's seemingly good at this sport now.
I
Yeah, I mean hockey's, I, you know, no bias here, but hockey is my favorite sport in the world. I started playing it when I was three years old, you know, in the driveway with my older brother. So I ended up losing my right leg when I was 10 years old. And you know, I was a die hard Devils fan and you know, dreamt of going to the NHL one day and after losing my leg I thought I'd lost that dream. And then I found out about sledding hockey and you know, I got that dream back and, and you know, that was, I, I actually got to meet Josh Pauls after he won his first medal in 2010 in the Vancouver Games. And you know, that's when I really got introduced that this would, this, this could be a possibility in my future. And yeah, I, I worked, you know, night and day to, to get onto the national team and, and the Paralympic squad. And yeah, I mean the sport's come such a long way since 2010. I mean you can see it. We're, we're breaking attendance records, we're breaking viewership records. It's, it's amazing to see. See, you know, when I first started, you know, I was in the, when I lost my leg in 2008, I was in the hospital watching the Beijing Summer Games and I had knew nothing about the Paralympics and if I just left my TV on in the hospital for two more weeks, I could have been watching the Summer Paralympics, but I didn't know about it. And now, you know, now we get kids that love the NHL, love hockey, and, and you know, they're finding out about sled hockey for the first time and, and they get to share, you know, they get to share in this amazing sport that we all love.
A
That's beautiful, man. That is absolutely beautiful. And you get a chance to, you know, scratch the itch of being a dog. Tell me a little bit about beating Canada. And I saw a graphic that said the seeded rivalry. Did we know Canada was going to be meeting us in the gold medal? And can you talk about it a little bit?
I
You know, you always play who you play, you know, you know, no preconceived notions before the tournament. But first for me, the entire time I've been on the national team for 10 years, I've only ever played Canada in gold medal games, championship games, world cups, whatever. So it's, it's been a two dog race for the, for the last ten years at least. So, you know, it's Always kind of a collision course for USA Hockey and Hockey Canada to meet in the gold medal match. It obviously happened with the men's and women's and, you know, it's the best rivalry in sports for a reason. And we, you know, we're so happy to complete the 3 repeat for USA Hockey.
A
Thanks for not getting pissed off about it being called the seeded rivalry. When I saw the graphic go out, I was like, that's it.
G
That is.
I
Yeah. We knew it would do numbers.
A
It did triple platinum, actually, I do believe so. We respect and appreciate that as well, because, you know, buying in and not being pissed about people is a cool thing. And I think that's what was very evident, especially from the sports side of all this, which is why I think the Paralympics are so special. Go ahead, A.J.
F
yeah, Jack, I'm just curious how, how physically demanding is the sport, especially the first time you tried this. Like, I would imagine you've had some people that think they could play and come out to practice and they're dead within the first three or four minutes. Like, can you describe a little bit what it takes to get in shape to play, you know, many games like this?
I
Oh, yeah. We've had. We've had NHL players hop in sleds for the first time, and it looks like they've never been on a hockey rink before. And they're lives. It's a. It's a really tough sport. You're using your core and your hips in, in really different ways. Because those two blades underneath your sled, I have mine at about an inch and a quarter, and some guys have them at a quarter inch. So you, your balance and your stability has to be top level. And obviously you're propelling yourself at over 18 miles an hour with your arms. Right? You see people sprinting at 20, 21 miles an hour with their legs, and you can obviously get way more force out of your legs. And we're using our arm arms and you know, you're skating around all game so your arms are smoked, and then you have to stick, handle, and shoot with the puck at the same time when your arms are absolutely burning. So, yeah, it takes, it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of training to. To get to an elite level in slut hockey.
A
Some nasty dangles there, though. No matter how exhausted you are under the sled from one hand to the next top bench, I mean, it is. There was some filthy going on on those sleds yesterday. And when you guys were trying to kill the puck, puck at the end, I Think I saw under the sled. Like a triple deke under the sled. Then a spin move with the stick at one point and then a dump into the corner and then a full sprint to a spot, obviously, because that's where the puck's gonna be. And I looked it up. They're saying maybe 20. How fast are you guys going out here? And then there's big. You guys are hitting the. Out of each other in this thing. That's just a part of the sport. And how fast are you going? Do you know?
I
Yeah, we're going over 18 miles an hour. The best skaters in the world are going over 18, for sure.
A
And then you guys are. I mean.
I
Yeah. And you're attached to metal frames, so, you know, it's like a car crash out there. When you, when you get, you know, when you get smoked by the front of that sled, it's, you know that, that metal doesn't bend. You do.
A
And you guys are turning that song bitch sideways, too. I mean, I'm watching some incredible. It's like a slide tackle in soccer. Somebody dangling. Dangling. I'm gonna turn that sideways, right through the stick. It was like, ooh, that's not. And then behind the back comes out. I'm like, this is filthy. And then the speed of it, I think could be captivating for folks. On that note, go ahead, Tone.
C
Yeah, Jack, I wanted to know, like, outside of the Olympics, how often are you guys playing in tournaments and stuff like that? Is it all international or do you have a USA League that. That we can watch or how do we support? Yes, how do we support?
I
Yeah, there's a. There's sled hockey all over the country. There's local club teams. A lot of NHL programs have sled programs associated with them. You know, for the. For the hockey is for everyone movement. And then, yeah, as far as the national team goes, we're training once a month together. We all get together, you know, for like a four or five day training camp. And then we usually have two World cup, two or three World Cups a season, couple rivalry series with Canada, kind of like the women's team does, and then usually a world championship or a Paralympics at the end of the year.
A
All right, let's go ahead and win all this. Okay, Jack, who's got to win all this? Connor has the last question for you here.
E
Yeah, Jack, how is the team chemistry? You just mentioned it kind of you guys playing year round, but was there a conversation going into it, like, hey, if we can get this done for the fifth Straight time. We will have the first clean sweep with the men, women, and the sled hockey. And are you guys hanging out a lot, you know, post game, before the game? What's that like?
I
Oh, yeah, we're. We're 17 brothers. I mean, some of these guys I've known since I was 12, 13 years old and have played on the same team as themselves since then. So, you know, we, we, you know, we're all. There's a core group of us kind of getting into our late 20s, early 30s. So guys are getting married and we're, you know, at each other's weddings. It's amazing. Declan got married last summer. The whole team was there. And I think that's the magic behind this team and why it's been so great is just the chemistry and the love that we have for. For each other and just, you know, the willingness to absolutely grind in the off season and grind during the season and through games like, like that, you know, really gritty games. And we just, you know, we do it for each other.
A
Yeah, you guys outgritted them in the third period.
E
It was nice to see what we do.
A
It was good to see that. It was close. It was a cagey affair.
C
Yeah, it was KG affair.
A
It was very close. And then third period, you guys just decided, we're going to pour it on real quick. We're going to win this thing in dominant fashion. It was fun to watch. Is there women's sled hockey that happens?
E
Yeah.
I
Yeah. So just recently, there was the first ever women's official world championship. They were. They're making a push to try and get it added into the Paralympics for the 20, 30 games.
A
Did we win the World championship?
I
Yeah, we did.
E
Yeah.
A
Quadruple crown. Okay, we love that. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Keep going. We're going to try to support as much as we possibly can because we think it's a beautiful story. I had a kid in my homeroom in high school that played sled hockey. Obviously, something happened out of his control. He still was able to compete, still part of a team, everything like that. And you still winning gold medals for your country. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Good luck. Where's. That Is you. Are you holding the gold medal up? I don't know. We didn't see it.
I
Yeah, we got one right here.
A
Boom. Let's go alongside the other two. You got. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Jack Wallace. We appreciate you, buddy. Thank you, Jack. Oh, thank you, Jack. Yeah, the dangle's under the Sled.
C
Sick.
B
Nasty.
A
That was sick.
D
They're flying 18 miles an hour.
E
Yeah. Moving.
A
Moving. Dude, it was like a.
F
Imagine how fast you would cramp up. Your upper body would cramp. Like, your hips, your co. Everything be brutal.
A
I mean, your arms completely. He said your arms are completely smoked. Then you got to still dangle, you know, still got to shoot and everything. It's like, that's very real. Especially with how many games they have back to back. It was fun to watch. I had a lot of people on the Internet saying you guys didn't really care about sled hockey before you beat Canada.
B
Says who?
A
Exactly.
E
That's bull.
C
Who was saying that?
G
Canadians.
A
Bingo. In the same people that are mad had that. That didn't like that. You know, they're from America, but hated that that was called a strike last night.
D
Yeah.
A
Okay. You could say, wow, that was a wrong call. But then in the same vein, you could say, yeah, happy to happen for us.
B
Exactly.
A
And let's move along for the good guys. Hey, that's baseball. That's baseball. Sorry about it, because I heard it was an away game too, right? Oh, yeah.
B
I mean, sounded like it on the broadcast. You can tell.
A
So it wasn't even like home cooking, you know? So I have some.
D
Seen some. Some picture. I don't know if you guys have seen on your algorithm some pictures of the umps.
A
Yeah.
D
His mask up.
A
I don't know if it was real or not. I didn't know. I didn't know who the ump is. President. Is the President of the United States. The umpire could have been.
B
I saw that online.
E
Are we sure Anthony hit that home run, too?
A
I don't know. I'll tell you what, that Rob of that home run. Aaron Judge.
E
Yeah.
C
Yeah.
A
That was great. Too bad, man. Dominican Republic team was awesome. We appreciate your contributions to World Baseball Classic. We fell in love with the sport because of some of the stuff you did. America wins, though. We'll continue. Have a good day. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.
C
All right.
A
Yeah, I feel like I really got to it. There was a limited amount of time they were coming up. Yeah. Since wanting to talk about Dominican Republic, but then also wanted to thank them for what they were doing.
C
They were very fun.
A
Had to make that decision halfway through the sentence because I was going, sorry, Dominican Republic, you're done with baseball forever. It's like, well, I hope that's not the case. That's the conversation that was happening in my brain because they were fantastic. Oh, yeah.
B
Pimping a R. Most Homers in the history of the tournament. I think they hit 15 going into last night. So 16.
A
And everyone was as if it was their first or their last.
I
Yes.
A
You know, and that's what I look.
E
Or walk off.
A
Yeah. Or walk off them actually. Austin Wells hitting that walk off to 10 run A.
E
That was sweet.
A
And them all going crazy.
E
The gringo, him speaking Spanish in the. In the clubhouse after. Yeah, them going nuts.
A
Ola. Yeah. Wbc, they did their thing with this. MLB did their thing.
E
And the NHL, I believe is adopting the World Hockey Classic. They had the four nations, of course, but I think there's an announcement coming soon about them doing full blown whc.
A
World cup of Hockey. They've been doing it.
E
Okay, let's.
D
Oh, that's true.
B
Twisted.
A
All right.
E
Okay. I wasn't sure.
A
Hey, no, it's all good though. It's all good. More merrier hockey. Getting a rub from baseball here. Not a bad little bit. People are saying baseball. That's what they're saying.
D
That was the best brand of. I mean MLB playoff baseball is. Is unbelievable. Just come off a great back to back World Series, honestly. But like seeing that whenever you get a group of the best players in the country playing for that, like that's why the Olympics so great.
I
So.
D
So to see that brand of baseball, it was awesome. And being a guy from South Florida, even that environment down there in Miami, it's like, damn, can we get a good team? Cause every time we win it or we have a good team, they break the team apart and we're not close. Like I had no clue that stadium could look like that, sound like that, sound like the pops, like it was unbelievable.
A
And D Row said he felt like that too. Especially you know, when magical moments judge shooting that shit. He's all gunned down, cuz.
B
Fish in a barrel, brother.
A
That's literally what you're saying happened there. Catches that so smooth on the run and then goes right to Mohan. What's the video I watched as a child.
B
Tommy Mansky.
A
It was right to Tom Amansky, right to third. I mean an absolute rope.
D
Change the game for a moment and
A
then diving play like he's LeBron James. What was Coach K doing?
D
I'm glad you got LeBron in that
C
room because he sounds like he wasn't supposed to.
E
He's not retired yet. He's not retired.
D
Still bring it.
E
All those other guys. Guy retired, still active player.
A
I don't know. He was rattling off names.
F
I saw his like the 60s.
D
He didn't say Bird either. And birds in that room.
E
Yeah. Apparently he's not bird. Birds at the door of that room.
A
Yeah. Bird's saying a lot of things in there. From what I've been told, letting people in, birds, they bird. Which is, I'mma go out here and I'm make every shot in your face while telling you about it.
E
If he wasn't farming in the offseason, he would have played for 10 more years.
A
Last thing he's back, though. Remember, that's. That's the best game ever played. He was just kind of chilling on side. Smoking sick.
B
Yep.
A
They don't make him like that.
B
No, they don't.
E
In many ways.
A
Yeah. And you know. Yeah, I guess that's. That's possibly a good thing.
B
Yeah.
A
Let's get to a break. On the other side. We'll pick the entire bracket.
D
Boom. Go.
F
Yes.
A
Final. Love it. Kind of love that. This is what our show is about to become. You can join us while we enter an entire program bracket, which is what we're going to do on the other side. Hey, what's worse than somebody telling you about their bracket? Picking it right in front of your face. That's what we're about to do it.
F
Yeah.
D
Pretty cool.
E
That's what we're about.
A
It is pretty cool. I guess. If you would like to know what bracket we as an entire program are putting in to the ESPN tournament challenge, we'll be doing that on the other side. If you have anything else to do with your life, we will see you tomorrow.
E
Yeah.
C
We had, like 62 games to pick.
A
No problem.
C
It'd be quick, easy.
A
We are. We're all gonna have differing opinions, too, because I know that we. We all have very agree.
F
You don't think we'll agree on each one?
D
I have the games. We'll. Okay. Boom.
A
Boom.
E
Yeah.
A
I don't know, man. This one could go a few hours because I got some strong opinions about some of these teams.
E
I mean, we could wait till Wednesday for some of the playing games to be done on.
A
All right, let's do that.
B
Okay.
A
Yeah, let's get out of here.
E
We should do.
A
All right. We're going to get out of here.
B
You got to celebrate.
C
Wednesday does feel right going right into the tournament.
A
All right, we'll do that Wednesday with Coach K. Yeah. And we'll tell him it's coming.
C
I'm sure he would love that.
A
Coach K. You get an extra three hours in your life.
B
Oh, that'd be awesome.
A
Pick our bracket live.
B
Being able to pick Duke to get beat the second Round and then just see how he, how he react.
A
Coach, one of these teams going to have to make an upset. Hey, it's going to have to happen somewhere.
E
Yeah.
A
It wouldn't be the madness of March would it be if it didn't happen. Speaking of madness, what's going on outside? Snowing again. Snow, sun, 50 mile per hour winds.
F
Yesterday the wind, we had power out for people like for a couple days.
E
Like it's no joke.
F
I don't remember this. Like it feels like like tornadoes on for eight straight hours.
A
Two days. It's been like two straight days of tornadoes. Winds out here. Now granted, not tornado gets up to I think like 100 or whatever. It was 50 mile an hour winds out here.
F
I could see top getting knocked over in this wind.
A
That's why you couldn't fly in.
D
Yeah, we had. They told us it was thunderstorms from Miami.
A
No, it's definitely one.
D
Okay.
B
Sustained 50 mile an hour winds for like multiple hours.
A
It was crazy.
E
Couldn't even walk outside.
A
House felt. House felt like it was about to get blown over. Like actually howling like a train outside for just hours and hours and hours. And then it's like, what is this? And then what it bring in? Oh, snow. So it was a cold ass wind.
E
Yeah.
A
The north.
E
Basically.
G
Yeah.
E
Next couple days and then Thursday it jumps back up.
G
Jeez.
A
Crazy.
D
I was golfing last week out here.
E
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
B
It was. I mean it was 70 degrees yesterday. It was windy as. But it was like 71, 72 degrees.
A
Took baby girl for a walk outside. No problem. How we doing? Let's have a good time. We're running in in the sun. We got shadows we're playing with. It was beautiful day. Windy, very windy. A little breezy, but certainly a good day. And then, yeah, we wake up this morning, snow. I don't like that. I don't like that at all.
E
That's Indiana.
A
What? This, this. You know, we say a lot about him, but he might be right. That little.
E
No, no, he's.
D
Yeah, Michael.
F
That guy still drugged up. He.
D
That his name?
C
Phil.
E
Phil, Yeah.
D
I thought you were talking about the suspenders guy.
A
Oh, Adam.
E
Fight, fight. Oh, Ficho, sure.
B
Adam. Fike.
F
He's talking to groundhog.
A
Fike is not a little fucking gang. That's how I describe. I was describing punk Satany. Phil. We like Fike. Fike ain't getting a little fucking treatment? No.
D
Hey, he's Jack.
A
Exactly. He's a professional. I'm talking about that little fucking rat that comes out of the fucking Ground.
E
Yeah.
A
It gets treated like a king. And then every time it comes upstairs, it says, ah, I'm scared. Goes back to down, tells us winner's here to stay. And all of a sudden we got to say, we don't need that right now, buddy.
G
Okay.
A
We haven't seen the sun in four months. Maybe you give us some good news. That thing, I've never seen it. It has never said good news.
C
No.
E
We also know what's going to happen. It's going to get warm, and then it's going to get cold again.
A
Yeah. But one day, Punk T Phil is going to come up, and for some reason, he's not going to see a shadow, and it's just going to get warm, and we're not going to have this, and that's going to be cool. I think that's happened before. My life.
G
Life.
D
Oh, yeah.
A
I think that has happened before in my life. See, you don't even remember it.
D
No.
E
How. How could I? Because I feel like this happens every single year.
A
And that's Phil.
D
Is it the same W. Phil's been the same.
A
Yes. It's.
D
Oh, Dizzy.
E
No, no. They show one of them in the head.
D
Yeah.
C
Bill nine. Like Ugga. It's like an Ugga situation.
A
No, this one's not long in the tooth. This one still has it clearly.
D
Still bringing it.
A
Yeah.
F
They got so much damn Xanax in that thing so it doesn't bite everybody's face off. Anyway, he doesn't know where he's at.
A
He's rugged. That's true.
F
Groundhogs are serious, man. Groundhogs will kill your dog. They got that front tooth.
E
Oh, yeah.
A
I don't think so.
E
Kill the dog. They'll dig a hole, drop, look up groundhogs.
F
You don't want to mess with the groundhog. That's why they're definitely drugged that thing so that old guy holds them up like that, and the guy, the groundhog, doesn't care. Like, good luck.
A
There's no way. Okay, so the groundhog is like a monkey in the way it attacks humans. No.
F
Or not humans as much. I'm saying animals and people have had to pull the groundhogs off their dogs or animals. A lot of times they'll kill your dog.
A
But like monkeys. How does a monkey attack versus how a groundhog attacks? Are they different?
F
Well, monkey will attack. Take your meat off. I don't think a groundhog is going for your meat.
A
Really? You think it's a vegan?
F
I mean, I don't. I can't get inside the groundhog's head. I don't know. But I just know to keep my distance.
A
Okay. So you see groundhog, you go. Well, I'm not going near that thing
F
because you think I have a gun or a bat. Yeah.
A
Just in case. Because groundhog known to run towards human, not away from human. Into hole. Right.
F
I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know how many attacks they have on humans. I just know they attack pack animals, other animals, dogs, cats.
A
There's a groundhog in my backyard growing up. This was gigantic.
C
They're all replaced.
A
Guy came in with a bow and killed it.
B
A bow?
A
Really? That's how big it was? Yeah.
E
That's sick. Bo Jackson.
B
Yeah.
A
Could have been Bo Jackson. I've heard he's pretty good with the stick as well.
E
Yeah. World champ bow.
A
A bow. Yeah. I got that thing with a boat because you can just fire a gun up there's houses.
D
One shot.
I
True.
A
Yeah. It was a fool.
B
Right through his forehead.
A
Head. Yeah.
E
Eye to eye.
A
This thing was a fat little bastard. I don't know where it got all the weight from, but it was. It was Chuck.
B
Chuck ate a couple dogs.
D
Yeah. What it sounds like.
A
Yeah. I didn't know that. That I'm happy it's dead.
B
Yeah.
A
I need Phil to be next because what if Phil is an actual trigger for this, you know? Cuz you don't even remember a time.
E
No, I don't.
A
I wonder if Boston has that. Do you guys have have like a time.
F
They got their own version.
E
They. They typically just have cold to warm. Like it is a freezing cold from October, November till April. They don't really have like first summer. But then again we still get. They get some of the weather from here. So they've had some nice.
A
There spring. Do you guys have a spring? Spring has seemingly disappeared.
E
Yeah. Spring, spring, spring gone. They had a record amount of snow this year. So it's been. It's probably been the worst winter in New England the last 30.
A
Everywhere I think. I don't think it's just.
E
Yeah.
A
New England obviously gets it more than us because of where it's located. I guess they say longitude, latitude. So I think that could be storms. I think they get more snow. Like Syracuse I think gets a bunch. Obviously Detroit, Buffalo. We know those places get a lot more because of science, I guess is what they say. Lake effect.
E
Yeah. Just where the storms come from and end up. Yeah.
A
The up was allegedly going to get three to four feet this past weekend. That's Insane. It's like in Buffalo in there. Trying to shovel those.
E
Yeah.
A
Seats out. You remember that?
E
Fans. Yeah. Hot dog.
A
Hey, you know the deal. Bring your own shovel, Knight.
C
They don't have to do that anymore.
A
Well, 60%, right?
E
Yeah. TBD. They might.
C
I think the seats are heated.
A
Really?
C
No, I made that part up.
I
Okay.
A
That'd be a good idea.
E
It's not a bad idea until one guy gets his ass burnt. Yeah.
A
And then guess what? That coffee's too hot. I'm suing McDonald's.
E
Exactly. He owns of the stadium now.
A
That'd be tough for that family up there. They've been investing so much up there, all of a sudden a little heated cedar lose you a billion. That could happen, though. We need bare cheeks on these seats immediately. On it. Let's find out. See if we get.
F
Sit there for a week. Sit there for a week and see if you get burnt.
C
Will do it.
A
Yeah.
B
Maybe Kapari will do it.
D
The guy you guys had in here.
F
What?
D
Who had the D. Oh, yeah.
C
George. Is he still at your house?
E
He likes when his cheeks get burned.
A
I think he's walking to your house right now because we sent him on his way towards you just playing.
F
Is he playing the guitar the whole way? His wife filming him?
I
Ice cream?
E
He's doing more than just playing.
F
He's international.
A
What's he doing? Bopping wood?
E
Yeah. He might be doing a bunch of different things. I don't think we can just say, like, oh, he's only playing the guitar. Like, that guy's got harmonica in him for sure.
C
I thought I saw him up on stage with a guy that bought the Ursa guitar.
A
The Tiger. Yeah, I think. Went for what, 12 million or something?
G
Yeah, 13 million.
C
They played it the next night.
E
That's sick.
A
Absolutely.
C
I thought I saw Happy George in the background.
A
No, I don't think he was there for that night. I think he was in on the auction online wise. Yeah. And it went past Happy George when it hit 10 million. Yeah. That was his final. Happy George's final bid. We hope Happy George gets to that point. Because I'll tell you what, he did bring a little bit of. What?
C
Yeah.
A
And then some laughs. Were you here for that?
D
I was. I saw.
C
Oh, you missed that.
F
People would have loved it.
D
I thought for sure. Were AI generated?
E
No.
D
Like, no way that guy got access to the thing.
A
I know, I know. You should have been here. It was wild morning. You. You could imagine what it was actually like.
D
Yeah.
A
This thing walked over to here. This thing walks over Here.
E
Side door first right over here.
A
Full kit. Walks all the way over with a guitar bar.
B
Yep.
A
Microphone on, two balloons. Okay. A heart and a smiley face. Looks in. Can't see anything because obviously the tin on the windows Turns around, we see his cheeks. And he bops back out there like, bruce, Bruce, go figure this thing out. Bruce goes out there and talks to him for a good 5, 10 minutes. Bruce asks him to stand where they are. Please do not move. We got snipers all over the place.
D
I'm glad. I'm glad Bill didn't take them out.
A
Exactly. There was a chance. There was a lot. Yeah. But was like actually brought in a new 50 cow today.
C
Yeah.
E
Yeah. He was ready.
A
He was up on top of that thing.
C
Yeah, he was. Got a nest.
D
That's big motor football.
B
That's right.
E
Amen.
A
People need to know that when they're walking around here. There's a guy coding YouTube in the back. He's taking photos and editing them. And then he's got a. Yeah, exactly.
E
Up on the top looking for his next scalp.
A
Yes.
G
He.
A
I mean, maybe we don't know, but he does. There'll be a documentary someday. They'll explain it all. And I'll be part of it. That's right. Kids. A talent he is. And I think he would die for this place. Yesterday his house caught on fire. That's right. What 50 mile an hour winds we're talking about. He thinks this is Bill's projection. That one of his neighbors two blocks down was deciding to burn the leaves this day. So burn. Burn some. And he thinks that the wind blew some of it onto a fence. Which then burned his fence down and inevitably a part of his house. So that's Bill McCombs's weekend. So he was finding some lumber to rebuild the fence.
C
You gotta sell that house.
I
It's curse.
A
I crashed his car.
B
I drove his car into it.
A
Hit the electric. Yeah.
E
Broke the electrical box.
A
Oh yeah. It is a haunted place.
D
What is going on over there?
E
That was.
A
That was earlier. For those that haven't followed along with Bailey McOmis experience with his house. We're in the middle of the show. Just middle of the afternoon, sunny afternoon. Not like today at all. And Bill gives us a call that. I gotta get out of here. What happened? Some guy in a Corvette just hit my house. What do you mean? What do you mean? Guy just drove into my house? I don't know. That's what they're telling me. I gotta go. So Bill leaves. He gets there. We send Mitt to do a first on scene. First on scene.
D
Oh, yeah.
A
Yeah. Reporter for this entire eyewitness report. Turns out it did that Corvette just right through his yard, Hits his garage, doesn't do any damage to the garage, which is cool, but it takes out the entire electrical input to his house. Like, the guy's car just so happened to hit on a spot that's about this big and just blew out his entire electricity to his house. So he had to redo the entire
E
thing was not good.
A
And then now we got a fire starting a couple blocks down, going right to his fence. Now I got to call 84 Lumber,
E
rebuild the home now that neighbor's dead.
A
Y. Yeah. God.
D
Not confirmed.
A
That is not.
F
Bill, burn the whole neighborhood down like the rest of the houses.
A
Bill said he was in his garage cleaning things when the neighbor came in and said, hey, your fence is on fire. And he goes, what?
E
Excuse me.
A
Then he walked past back there. It was all, bailey, you're doing it. B.
E
Bill, get out of there, Bill.
A
Ed policy says, I'm selling the name of Lambeau Field.
C
People aren't happy.
A
Okay, you got to do business as business is being done. Are we going to be the only team in the world that isn't profiting off of our stadium?
D
He can't do that.
A
We're soon to be the only stadium without naming rights. That's not a threshold we're looking across anytime soon. Well, we might be a little more aggressive with some of the other entitlement inventory we just hadn't taken advantage of of in the past, including things like training facility entitlements and the Title town campus. So Lambo Field. Lambo field will be at title town, Brought to you by Cheese Craft.
F
Craft or indoor? I think it sounds like he's mentioning the indoor. It's called the Don Hudson center. The great, great Don Hudson. But now it could be the, you know, Sargento Cheese Don Hudson center.
A
Dango. But it will certainly be Lambo Fish field at whatever the place is. So they can get around not naming Lambeau Field that.
F
Yeah, they have gates. Like, there's gates that are all sponsored, though. There's Miller light gates and stuff like that on the outside of the stadium.
A
Yeah. Of Lambeau Field.
C
Arrowhead did that with.
A
People think immediately that they're going Sargento Lambo field.
E
Yeah.
A
And they're like, I don't know if you'll make that decision, but they will certainly be trying to profit off of what Lambeau Field is, Especially when there's precedent that everybody else in sports is doing the same thing. But I can understand why people are pissed. How. How come Lambeau Field can't be pure? How come that can't be the last thing that we keep. Well, it doesn't sound like he's going to sell Lambeau Field. Certainly going to be selling the ground around him, it sounds like.
B
Yeah. At least not right now. I mean, it's one of those things where, yeah, it'd be nice, but, like, you saw Hines go to Acor, you know, and everyone's pissed off at the start, but then eventually it's just like,
C
no, it's still it.
B
Well, of course. But you're not, you know, you're not going to not go to a Steelers game or not watch a game out there Sunday. If some company is willing to give hundreds of millions of dollars for the naming rights to the stadium, it'd probably be hard pressed for like, the team president and the guy running stuff to. To not, you know, at least look into it a little bit. Now, I. I'd love for it to stay Lambo, but, like, that's just kind of. That's just kind of not the world we're living in anymore.
A
Yeah, but the cheese curds across the street at that one place, what's it called?
F
Curly's.
A
Is that the little living room looking places place?
D
It's one of them.
A
Yeah.
F
There's. It's a bunch of different stuff now, but. Crows, I think you're thinking crows.
A
That's the place. Yeah. Maybe crows should sponsor Lambo.
E
That'd be cool.
C
Got a space. Curly Lambo's got a place up there. So AJ just said Curly's.
A
Yeah.
C
Nice.
A
I'll pay respects next time I go up there.
C
Yeah, I didn't know you should.
A
What, do they sell cheese curds in there?
F
I mean, that's cheese curds everywhere. That's a Wisconsin staple.
A
Cheese curs, beers, burgers, booze.
B
Bye.
F
You know what's big in Wisconsin? I was trying to go with it. Somehow the soaked, they soak, you know, the fruit in the booze, in vodka and stuff.
A
316 day Dudley Stacey Keebler.
H
What.
A
What you say they did, though? They soaked up something into booze.
F
Soaked fruit and booze in, like, mason
A
jars, in like, moonshine or like Everclear.
F
Moonshine, Everclear, vodka, all that.
A
Yeah, those ones will get you. Yeah, that crow's place. I think I saw a guy blacked out at like 9:30am in there. He was sitting. There was carpeting, I think, if I recall. There's carpeting in there and then there. Yeah, and then there's like a bar that kind of wraps around the middle and then family restaurant seemingly around the outside. This guy is just kind of hanging out, having a good time. Had no idea it was a potential family restaurant. I think he lives right down there, the road. Bartender seemingly talking to him like he's just going to walk his drunk ass home like he does every other day. It was a nice little town. Had cheese curds, had some beers with that guy. Felt obligated, had to do it. Didn't drink any whiskey there. Could have tequila also available. I turned it all down. Definitely chugged a beer. Blacked out guy from Green Bay. He was a hard worker. Had calluses. Seemingly an alcohol problem.
D
Why?
A
All right, let's move along. Big night last night or this weekend? I'm sorry? For the Los Angeles Lakers, we talked about it numerous times. LeBron James diving on the floor as a 40 plus year old in year 23, game 67. Not only a massive ordeal obviously for the entirety of the NBA, but certainly of the Lakers. Charles Barkley said, I don't want the Lakers to win this game because I don't want people to think the Lakers have a chance. Well, sounds like the Lakers have a chance, especially if LeBron James is going to be diving all over the ball and they're exciting whites, okay? And they certainly got two of them. And Luka and Austin Reaves are pulling off the super duper triple point double shot thing. This is incredible. You talk about this in high school. You talk about this obviously when you're shooting around to pull it off in the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets, one of the smartest teams in basketball, is obviously ridiculous. All of crypto arena want bananas as Austin Reaves ties it up and then they go ahead and win this thing. Who's the ball going to? Is it going Braun? Is it going to Reeves or is it going to Luca Donchit? This dude scored 51 points the other night and now he is clearly one of the superstars of the league. And also he is the Lakers. That that is what the Lakers are. And his relationship with Austin Reeves is cool. Watching Braun kind of have to buy into what this is, it's been cool because this is a different stage of his career. And J.J. redick, the big dumb dip who couldn't coach for a while, potentially has a team. He has a team that's ready to go. They might win this thing if they get.
D
If they can play some defense and their bigs can show up. Obviously, you know, you have LeBron James as a third option. I know he's 41, but especially when you get in a playoff series, he's going to be great. AR is great. And then Luca is one of the top two or three players in the world, so, yeah, they definitely got a chance. One of the bright spots in. In that game specifically was Ayton, their big man, who was former number one overall pick. He played well on both sides of the court. If he could play well on both sides of the court, can they challenge the Thunder? Can they challenge the Spurs? I think so. You have that type of talent, you know, once you get in the dance, we shall see.
A
Yeah. Especially if Luca can just not miss.
D
I. I like, he's unreal.
A
It's all fallen. I. I don't know how the hoop is bigger for him than everybody else.
D
He's like, better can get to the rim. He thinking, like, their game plan this game was kind of to get him in that intermediate area where he's putting up little floaters. And I feel like he made everyone. It's tough to double off of them because you have guys like AR, you have guys like LeBron out there. But yeah, once you get into, like, any, any of these major sports, once you get into playoff basketball, guys are competing for spots, and that's when you see the best of the best. So I'm excited about all these young players in kind of the old heads and how they'll show up. Boston. I'm excited to see how. How, how Boston paid him down the street.
A
Yeah, they say Luke is in the middle of some stuff off the court. We've seen, yeah. Dogs lock in before. Certainly feels like there's a chance that that happens. And then the Eastern Conference, I mean, Indiana Pacers out, kind of opens the door for everybody else. I don't know.
E
We'll see if they hold the door or not.
A
I think we've lost 13 straight.
B
That's gonna happen every once in a while.
A
Took on the Bucks. The Bucks were losing four straight.
C
Yeah, they stink, too.
A
Yeah. Turns out Pacers stink. Think more. We lose that one.
E
Yeah.
A
Nate Smith goes crazy, but we lose. And the Pistons. Oh, yeah.
G
Wow.
E
Yeah, we'll see.
A
Yeah. That guy was on TV last year, the head coach who was going to be a staff. J.B. bickerstaff. I love this guy. Probably win coach of the year this year.
E
Should be Missoula, but maybe we'll say
A
Missoula somehow guided the ship without Tatum. And then Tatum comes back and is Just like an add on to a team that's already leading the entire conference. Missoula could probably win it every year going forward.
E
Yeah.
A
That is the other thing the coach of the year stuff seemingly always goes to. Now this is from our sport. We assume NBA is the same. Do they give it to like the new. Is it like a way to anoint somebody as a.
C
The overachiever?
A
Yeah. Is that what it is? Like, hey, Zola won this before.
E
I want to say yes, but actually not sure. Yeah, me too.
A
If it goes like the NFL does, it's like, who's it young coach that we would like to anoint as a good coach going forward? That's kind of how the NFL views it.
E
Yeah. Missoula's problem is that Ma Udoka in the team. They went to the finals and then the Udoka thing happened and then Missoula took over and people were like, well, it's not Missoula. Like they had all these good players, this great team already. So I don't know if he's one
A
of you, let's give it to him then. He's perfect. In the NFL they would give it to Missoula.
D
Jaylen Brown.
E
Thank you.
D
Jaylen Brown has had a MVP level type year on both ends of the court. Obviously with Tatum being out, for him to step up and be that, you know, $300 million guy that he's been like, he. Obviously Missoula is great, but sometimes when I'm watching the Celtics and I can see, you know, their team on the floor, I can't name three or four of the guys that are on the floor because I'm not a night in, night out watcher.
A
Are you saying all white guys look the same? No.
F
Peyton Pritchard.
D
I definitely know Peyton Pritchard. Obviously, you know, it's. I mean, Kate, there are. Luka Garza you're talking about. You know, those are elite players.
G
Yeah.
A
Box office whites.
D
Talking about the other guy.
E
Hugo Gonzalez.
B
Boom.
E
Jordan Walsh, Baylor Shireman, like they are just.
A
Which once again goes back to what we're saying about.
E
Yeah. Nemis K is a guy who was basically in the G league his entire career and this year is the starting center for the Celtics and he's having a. Unbelievable.
A
Yeah, see, we're learning this together.
C
Cicada are.
A
We don't like them.
C
No, they're not out right now. Odds for coach of the year, JB Bickerstaff is minus 170 at DraftKings and Joe Mola is plus 200. It is a two horse race.
D
Okay.
A
I don't know. I mean, JB Bickerstaff was working the media. I don't know. Who's voting for the story of the Pistons. The Pistons were the worst team in the NBA by far for like over a decade. But for like five years running. One year they lost 28 straight games. No team in NBA history has ever lost 28 straight. Eight games. JB comes in, they go to the playoffs, and now their best team in the East. He was also the head coach for the NBA East All Stars this year. So that's why I was thinking coach of the year. All right, well, congrats to him and Detroit. You guys deserve to have nice things. You got a picture of that? I'm not saying it. I don't love it either.
C
It shouldn't.
E
Nobody does.
B
Be nice. If he was going tomorrow night, it'd be very nice.
A
We'll do 61 pitches against the, the.
B
The.
A
Whoever. The. In spring training that nobody's. What are we doing? I thought we were preparing for the season. He knows something that I don't know. And I think D Row was alleging to him whenever he said all these guys want to do it. They got agents, they got teams, they got a lot of things around them that are kind of managing everything. So I assume the conversation is much bigger, especially with Scuba potentially about to make hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars because of how good of a pitcher he is. But maybe my brain is just too stupid. How can we do 61 pitches in the spring training game for the Tigers? But we, we can't. We can't do 50 pitches for USA. I don't think I fully comprehend.
B
No, I don't. Honestly don't really. I mean, that's, that's what it is, is they're just taking every precaution, you know, and that he should be around his team. He needs to perform well for the Tigers this year. But like, look at Skeens last night. He's still on track to pitch opening day. And you know, they said from the onset, like, he was. He was available to throw 95 pitches. That's the pitch limit for starters in this round. And Derosa said like, he's going to throw 70 to 75 probably so. I mean, there was never really a world where. So I, I really don't know. I. I don't know why he's not doing it. It probably is pressure from the Tigers and his agent and everything, but you'd think that it is just another start, you know, like he Would still be getting the same kind of work up to the regular.
A
Are the balls heavier in world baseball classic?
B
I. I don't believe so. We actually have one of those balls over there somewhere. And it is the exact same ball as the everyday major league baseball Just has a different logo on it.
A
Okay. So I. I don't think I fully understand that. Scubal. We know it's not him. It's everything around him. But boy, it'd be nice if he was the one about to close this thing out. Yeah.
B
And we'll see. Nolan McLean's got a. He's got a nice opportunity at redemption.
E
Let's go be that guy.
A
Us Say usa. Usa. You think I'm gonna be able to throw this subway sub into a hoop?
B
Yeah, probably.
C
Oh, that's what that is.
A
They sent it to us.
G
Whoa.
A
I put a couple of stories out about the protein.
C
That thing got laces on it.
A
What are they called? Protein punk power pack. Protein pockets. Pockets. Okay. Protein pockets. I posted a couple protein pocket IG stories and their social was like, excuse me. Do you like that? There's more where that came from. They sent us a bag.
D
Golf bag.
F
What is a protein pocket? Just a thing of meat.
A
It is. I've learned this since then. They sent letter with information of what it is. It has more protein packed in that per capita than any other sandwich or something. They're calling it the protein pocket. They got a couple different ones. It's a wrap. That has a lot of meat in in it.
E
Yeah.
A
And the Baja chicken one, I believe has some jalapenos in it and some other stuff. It has a great flavor nonetheless. I tweeted or I posted that. I'll I Pretty good here. Yeah, Pretty good here. Get two of them pretty cheap. Fill you up pretty good. Pretty good amount of protein. And they sent us that golf bag. And this football came a week later and they made a sandwich. Look at that.
F
Sweet. That's pretty sweet.
B
That's cool.
A
That's so cool.
C
Is that regulation?
B
Nice.
A
Go deep. You know.
D
That's cool.
G
It's pretty cool.
A
All right, let's name that meat tone.
C
What's that one that looks like pepperon? Is that dark?
A
Yeah, I think the top one.
B
Roast beef.
E
Okay.
A
What's that one?
E
Turkey.
A
That's pepperoni. What's that one?
D
Turkey.
C
Ham.
D
Ham.
E
Ham. Yep.
A
And then we got onions in there.
E
Onions, lettuce, little ch.
A
Is that mayo over here?
B
Could be.
C
Might be some prevalano hanging off.
B
Could be.
A
This looks like double meat. If I. This looks like it's double or triple meat.
C
You're right.
A
Yeah. Yeah. Give me a big me meat. Yeah. Mad madness meat on me.
C
That'd be a good sandwich if that roast beef wasn't horn.
A
All right, who want. Who wants to throw this? Yeah.
D
They still looking for new spokesman.
A
You want to throw it?
F
Why are they looking for a new one?
A
Some things.
F
Bad things getting out soon.
C
Thought Happy Gilmore was there.
E
What?
B
Eli Manning Do N East Jersey.
C
Mike, I can't throw this, Wilson.
G
Yeah.
A
Somebody else can though, can't they? Yeah. Yeah. Come on.
B
This is.
E
Is it made subs? Is this a football bas?
A
I tell you what, that might be a protein power pack.
E
I honestly don't know if I can throw this thing.
A
I'll see if tiger is it slick.
B
I was saying it's.
E
It ain't pig skin, I'll tell you that.
A
No, it does feel like it's a loaf of bread. Oh, Tony. Tony. He can spin that thing. All right, Tony, you put it in there. Right over there. Spin that over there. We'll give grip. If you could throw that particular. I'm going have to shot put it double meat. Delicious club. I don't know what. That's Subway club into that hoop right over second.
B
Yep.
F
Was it slick? What is it?
G
Move.
A
Hold.
E
What the.
F
Where's he going?
E
He getting a glass love. Yep.
B
I knew it.
A
Smart. Kurt Warner.
E
Smart.
F
Good hust.
A
Payton Manning. Ben Rothsberger.
D
Teddy Two Gloves.
A
Teddy Two Gloves decides to get a little bit more grip. That's a smart play. Pants are falling off you, Ton. Looks like you're in good shape, bub. Cowboy looking fit. You can rip that if you want to, man. That fits perfectly.
B
Yeah.
E
Good idea.
A
Did it help or hurt? It helped a little.
D
You go to rip.
E
Come on.
A
You can rip that off, dude. Let's go, Tony. Oh, no, you can't. Okay, that's worse. Nightmare situation right there in front of a bunch of people too. That's. You really perform well. All right, if you could throw that Subway club another hoop right over there. We'll give 20 people 500 to repost this. And. Oh, pretty good. Good news. If we ever pick that ball up again, you have another opportunity later. All right, let's get out of here. It's a great day to be alive. Yeah, it is. NFLPA's got a brand new shout out Subway set of the. That was a good idea. The football thing was a smart idea. It would crack the code getting in the office. Congratulations.
E
It'll get worn out. Like in a good way. So the Football is throwable.
A
Yeah. Cuz it's a little.
F
You could punk the hell out of that thing. It looks pretty fat.
C
Let me break that thing in.
A
I don't think that one far. I don't think he'd like you. Like, you know, when there's a shell around the ice cream.
E
Yeah.
F
Oh, yeah. They sell that. They sell that.
G
Yeah.
E
Still delicious.
A
Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Thank you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. We'll be back tomorrow with more whatever this was today. Also, big news tomorrow. Cam Young.
E
Boom.
A
The players gym. Shout out to the pga. Hey.
F
Yeah.
E
Thank you, pga.
A
This is good.
D
Hell yeah.
A
We might be going with pga. That'd be fun. Brian Rolap all over the TV this weekend.
B
Oh, yeah.
A
Cross has an NFL Films thing coming out about Sunday at the Players. I think it's probably going to be incredible.
B
I'd assume so.
A
Ryan Rollup has a vision of what PGA is going to be. I think he's going to bring great ideas. Hopefully they're open to him. And hopefully the PGA continues to be awesome because, boy, that was a fantastic watch this weekend. We are very appreciative of that. And Cam Young will be on tomorrow and we assume some others will be. We don't know who. You know, that show gets everybody. It's like being here at about 11:15 when there's fucking nobody. That is certainly a scene. Then you just gotta get some vitamins in you and just kind of start sending good messages. Fucking need you. You know, maybe make them feel terrible about themselves. Say if they don't come on, show will be canceled forever.
I
Sorry.
A
Now, I've never done that. But I am thinking about doing that some days.
E
Might help.
B
Nice wrinkle.
A
Yeah. Instead it's always like, hey, there's a thousand other things you'd much rather do with your life. But I got an opportunity idea. Hey, Coach K, how about you come on and just tell us what the basketball is. The fact that he said yes and he did.
E
That was sweet.
F
Yeah.
A
Also, shout out NICK ON Shout out.
B
Shout out.
A
Shout out. NICK ON. Wrestling business has passed me by, but
C
Nick on Never will.
A
I'll never catch up.
E
Legend.
A
I'll never catch up. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three, three. Shot clocks. Big shots, upsets, aces.
I
TGL playoffs are here. First Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run.
A
Against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tigers Jupiter Links face off in their playoff debuts.
I
Who will advance?
A
Keep up its playoffs?
I
Tune in Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30pm
A
and 9pm only on ESPN and the ESPN app. 911 where is the emergency?
I
It's the middle of the night in
A
a small town on the Jersey. Sure. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge.
I
A search gets underway for the missing
A
driver, 19 year old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person?
C
Is it a suicide?
A
At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm juju Chang from 2020 Money and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Main Theme:
A packed Monday show celebrating an epic sports weekend: Team USA advancing to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Final, March Madness brackets and chaos, historic wins in sled hockey, and more. Key guests include Team USA Manager Mark DeRosa, basketball legend Coach K, and sled hockey gold medalist Jack Wallace. The crew’s signature humor and energy shine as they blend sports expertise with entertainment.
“Happy 3:16 day to all who celebrate… a bald-headed man would go on to take over not only the wrestling business but also pop culture.”
— Pat McAfee [00:00]
"We as non-knowers of ball are trying to bring somebody in who knows ball to maybe make us better this March Madness..."
— Pat McAfee [65:14]
“These wrestlers are dogs. Absolute beasts. And we get a chance to see it in an electrifying environment.”
— Pat [13:06]
"The greatest drive in the history of the course. What a stone cold killer this guy is."
— Pat [16:02]
“You are attached to metal frames – it’s like a car crash out there.”
— Jack Wallace [110:10]
“That’s baseball, baby.”
— Mark DeRosa quoting Albert Pujols’ postgame reaction [32:52]
[33:22-53:47]
“Heart’s invested in this… these guys really care and they want to get it done. They want to represent their country and win this thing.”
— Mark DeRosa [41:12]
[66:28-99:30]
“Preparation—will to prepare to win is more important than will to win.”
— Coach K [81:25]
“No excuses. Get the damn job done. That’s been one of our standards my whole career, my whole life.”
— Coach K [86:35]
[104:13-113:26]
“We’re 17 brothers… that’s the magic behind this team and why it’s been so great.”
— Jack Wallace [111:45]
This episode is a classic Pat McAfee Show – a fast-paced, high-energy odyssey through the sports world’s biggest stories. The crew’s genuine excitement about March Madness, Team USA’s international triumphs, and under-the-radar sports like sled hockey are infectious. Interviews with Mark DeRosa and Coach K offer rare, behind-the-scenes insights while Jack Wallace brings inspiration and intensity. Pat and the team ground it all in their irreverent, blue-collar tone, ensuring the episode is as much about the laughs and brotherhood as it is about the games themselves.
For those who missed it: If you want to feel the pulse of the American sports universe and get championship-level storytelling mixed with locker room ribbing, this episode is must-listen.