PMS 2.0 1527 - Adam Schefter, Paul Skenes, Quentin Richardson, Mike Greenberg, & Bret Michaels

Summary

The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 (Episode 1527) – Summary

Date: April 2, 2026
Guests: Adam Schefter, Paul Skenes, Quentin Richardson, Mike Greenberg, Bret Michaels

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Main Theme/Overview

This episode of The Pat McAfee Show is a whirlwind celebration of sports, featuring guests from across the sports world: NFL insider Adam Schefter, MLB phenom Paul Skenes, NBA veteran Quentin Richardson, broadcasting legend Mike Greenberg, and rock icon Bret Michaels. The show oscillates between breaking sports news, baseball banter, NFL free agency insight, basketball analysis, cultural moments, and a preview of the upcoming NFL Draft entertainment in Pittsburgh. The trademark McAfee blend of irreverence, insider knowledge, and genuine enthusiasm keeps the conversation moving at a rapid, engaging pace.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. NFL Free Agency & Raiders' Kirk Cousins Deal

[10:00–18:00]

• Adam Schefter breaks down Kirk Cousins’ move to the Las Vegas Raiders, a contract structure masterstroke in which Cousins will get paid $20M across two teams, giving the rookie Fernando Mendoza a chance to watch and learn.
• “Raiders prioritized it…they're looking for somebody to take the pressure off Fernando Mendoza, that they don’t have to rush him along.”
  — Adam Schefter [11:30]
• Pat and Schefter discuss how Tom Brady’s new role as minority owner likely means nothing surprises him. Schefter hints Brady’s competitive input is always in the loop, even if he’s not making actual football decisions.
• NFL’s global ambitions highlighted with scheduled games in Brazil, Germany, England, Australia, and the growth of international/flag football.
• Notable Exchange:
  • “I guarantee you [Tom Brady] didn’t see the tweet today that the Raiders were signing Kirk Cousins and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’ He’s in on all these things.”
    — Adam Schefter [14:22]
• Second bye week and 18-game season speculation — McAfee and Schefter agree these will bring bigger TV deals and major schedule shifts.

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2. MLB Banter: Red Sox, Yankees, Pirates & 'Hoist the Cone'

[03:00–07:00, 30:41–39:00]

• Tone Digs and Tyler riff on the slow Red Sox start, optimism for their rookies, and Yankees’ pitching dominance.
• Pat introduces Paul Skenes (Pirates' pitcher, rising MLB star): They discuss the Pirates’ .500 start, city optimism, and Skenes’ mindset on bouncing back from rough outings.
• The Pirates’ new celebratory “cone” dugout ritual is explained—an organic, team-building tradition starting from a mystery t-shirt and carried now by a traffic cone “hoisted” after good plays.
• “You just got to see [bad games] for what it is—never as bad or as good as it seems. Watch, understand, move on.”
  — Paul Skenes [32:14]
• Skenes and McAfee cover rookie Connor Griffin's call-up, the grind of road life, and Skenes’ philanthropic work with the Gary Sinise Foundation ($500 per strikeout pledged this season).

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3. Baseball's ABS (Automated Ball-Strike System) & Pitcher Perspective

[43:13–46:51]

• Skenes details the MLB’s new ABS system for calling balls and strikes. Initially skeptical, he’s now a supporter since he gets fairer calls and less margin for umpire error.
• “I’m all for it—it’s accurate, it’s fun to watch, it definitely affected the game.”
  — Paul Skenes [43:37]
• McAfee and Skenes joke about “catcher power moves” challenging umpire calls, and how tech is modernizing the sport.

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4. NBA Run-Down with Quentin Richardson

[48:48–56:51]

• Pat and Quentin Richardson examine Lakers’ post-trade leap, Luka’s transformation after losing 38 pounds, and J.J. Redick’s instant success as Lakers coach.
• Celtics’ dynamic: Joe Mazzulla is the NBA’s winningest coach by percentage, Tatum and Brown are “superstars” who have squashed all talk of not fitting together.
• The Spurs and OKC are the West’s 1 and 2 seeds; Richardson has SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) as his MVP over an incredibly crowded field (mentions Wemby, Jokic, Luka, Brown).
• “This year you got four or five guys could win MVP in any other year...but for me, SGA’s shown he’s a dominant force. Not that these other guys aren’t, but he’s got the best team coming off a title and he ain’t letting off the gas.”
  — Quentin Richardson [55:24]

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5. Mike Greenberg: NFL, MLB, College Hoops & Broadcasting Wisdom

[67:05–104:00]

• Greenberg joins to riff on the NFL’s international push, foresees every NFL team playing an international game annually once the schedule goes to 18 games—a multi-billion-dollar horizon.
• He’s bullish on the Kirk Cousins deal:
  • “Far more young QBs are ruined than developed ... The Raiders are suddenly looking like the team that gets everything right.”
    — Mike Greenberg [70:18]
• College basketball: Greeny predicts Arizona–Illinois title game, calls the Connecticut Elite Eight finish “among the most dramatic moments in the history of the sport.” [91:54]
• On MLB tech changes (pitch clock, ABS): “Against tradition … but these are fan-friendly changes that make the game far more watchable.” [82:50]
• Declares Shohei Ohtani the “best player ever to live,” marvels at his simultaneous MVP/Cy Young potential. [88:01]
• Shares draft-lore wisdom via Bill Polian: “You don’t draft outliers. Everyone points to the one guy who makes it, but you never see the 15 who fail.” [101:31]

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6. Bret Michaels: Pittsburgh, NFL Draft & Yinzer Pride

[104:10–End]

• Rock legend Bret Michaels (Poison) plugs his performance with Wiz Khalifa for the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh—an all-Yinzer, all-killer, no-filler set.
• Greenberg fires him up:
  • “Approach this as halftime at the Super Bowl … Go out there and consider this the biggest gig you’ve ever had.”
    — Mike Greenberg [105:42]
• Michaels is visibly pumped, says he’d have duct taped himself to the stage even if not picked.
• He and Wiz will mash up sets, with a finale together—"Black and Yellow, Nothing but a Good Time, Nothing but a Good Draft: All Killer, No Filler."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On the Kirk Cousins Raiders Deal:
  “It’s a no-lose deal for the Raiders. And most importantly, I have a philosophy—far more young quarterbacks in the NFL are ruined than are developed.”
  — Mike Greenberg [70:18]

• On Anonymous Sources Criticizing QBs:
  “I don’t think it’s really fair to have anonymous sources questioning somebody’s character…If you want to go on the record, we’ll call you. But to quote somebody, ‘this guy’s a [jerk]’—I just don’t… I don’t love it.”
  — Adam Schefter [22:54]

• Shohei Ohtani Appreciation:
  “He could legitimately win both Cy Young and MVP…He is the best player that ever lived.”
  — Mike Greenberg [88:01]

• On MLB ABS Tech:
  “The idea that umpire mistakes are a part of the charm of the sport has always been ridiculous…The human element in sports sucks. It’s the reason we have deodorant.”
  — Mike Greenberg [81:18]

• On SGA for NBA MVP:
  “You have to couple the dominance with the winning aspect…He has the best team in the NBA coming off a championship and ain’t letting off the gas.”
  — Quentin Richardson [55:24]

• Bret Michaels Fired Up:
  “I’m a football fanatic…it gave me inspiration. You just got me fired up—it’s ridiculous!”
  — Bret Michaels [107:00]

• On the NFL’s International Footprint:
  “There are tens of billions of dollars left on the table right now globally by pro football, and they will go get it.”
  — Mike Greenberg [76:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• NFL Raider/Kirk Cousins & Schefter: [10:00–26:34]
• MLB Start, Pirates, Paul Skenes/Hoist the Cone: [30:41–39:48]
• ABS Tech/MLB Pitching: [43:13–46:51]
• NBA Panel & MVP discussion (Quentin Richardson): [48:48–56:51]
• Mike Greenberg Conversation: [67:05–104:00]
• Bret Michaels/Yinzer Draft Preview: [104:10–108:13]

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Tone & Delivery

The episode is high energy, fast-moving, and loose—but knowledgeable. Pat and his friends jump from humor to news to sarcastic rants seamlessly, making even technical breakdowns fun, especially with guests riffing in the same casual, enthusiastic fashion.

There’s a throughline of “fan’s perspective” authenticity, whether a discussion is poking fun at baseball rituals, breaking down billion-dollar NFL strategies, or pumping up the next big event in Pittsburgh. There’s also genuine respect shown to guests and their areas of expertise, accompanied by plenty of banter and inside jokes—relatable for listeners and viewers who love sports as entertainment and culture.

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Summary for New Listeners

If you missed the episode, you’ll feel up to speed on the NFL’s latest QB developments, MLB innovations, NBA playoff races, college basketball drama, and Pittsburgh’s pride heading into the draft—with plenty of laughs, stories, and a few debates you’ll want to argue about with your own friends. The passion for sports, both serious and silly, shines through in every segment.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode. The Thunderdome on this. Here we go. Thursday, this sports program begins now. Sport are the greatest. And today we'll be celebrating damn near all of them. We have a guest from the baseball world. Paul Skeens will be joined. We have a guest from the basketball world. Quentin Richardson will join us, friend of the program. We have a broadcast sports show. So we'll have somebody from all those hall of Fame, Mike Greenberg will be joining us.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Now, people haven't seen Mike Greenberg on this show in a long time. Greeny is different on this show than he is on all the other shows. I would like to say that we get a much more free, open version of Greenberg. He'll always come in here with things that he's been wanting to say. But on get up doesn't feel as if he can say, you know, he's point guard. On get up to the Experts. Nobody wants to hear my thoughts. We have him on here. He has his thoughts. That's right. And we love hearing Greeny's thoughts. Oh, yeah, Classic old school sports fan guy. And he is obsessed with it, which is why we respect him so much. Going on 30 years, has never won an Emmy.

[Connor Griffin]

Crazy.

[Tyler Schmidt]

That tracks.

[Pat McAfee]

Has never won a sports Emmy. Okay. And does not care. Has zero cares at all about. Cannot wait to chat with him. And then obviously all roads. Okay. All roads are leading right to Bret. Michael's a Poison. Hell yeah.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He'll be joining us at about 141, 45, 150 ish there towards the end of the second hour on ESPN as we continue into digital, Bret Michaels from Butler, Pennsylvania, which is obviously Western Pets Betty, which is obviously Pittsburgh. He'd go on to have a smashing singing career with Poison and then as independent artist as well, Brad Michaels, obviously. Every rose has its thorns. Six songs in the top 10 and he's a Yinzer legend. Okay. He found love in a bus. I don't know. I'm not sure if they're still together. But he is going to be performing at the NFL draft. That was this morning. Him, Wiz Khalifa and Cambro.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Free concert, free draft, free fun, free football stuff happening in Pittsburgh starting in April on the 23rd.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yes, yes.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the Thursday. Yep, we're going to be there. Cannot wait to get out there. Wiz Khalifa on the stage, always good. He is a. I don't wanna say a magician, but he's a guy who sounds exactly like what it sounds like in Spotify. We have seen him a couple different times. Be at a level of good time that you think to yourself, there's no way that guy is gonna be able to go and nail, you know, every single word. He's. This guy's Wiz. He's unbelievable. He's one of the most talented people I've ever seen. And now you see him, he's in super.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Oh yeah, he's Jack.

[Connor Griffin]

Absolutely Jack.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's like, you know, he's gonna. Yeah, he's gonna be. He's gonna walk out on a stage and kill it. So Brett and Wiz on Friday. Kane Brown I believe on Saturday. Free concert, free football shit all weekend for the draft in Pittsburgh. We cannot wait to get out there. I mean today's huge day because Schefter will be joining us in about two minutes as well. The talks at tables here at Boston, Connor at Ty Schmidt. Do the Red Sox play the Yankees? Is this like something that's happening right now?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Nah. No, I wish because we probably give it to them pretty good. Sox are one in five. So we're.

[Connor Griffin]

We're.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys are the worst in all mlb.

[Tyler Schmidt]

We are tied. And what does that mean? That's like being the worst team in. It does not matter. Real baseball starts in April. Some would even say it starts in May. So we're not worried right now. By the way, I'm wearing a Roman Anthony shirt. Okay. It's the Roman era. It might as well be the Roman Empire. He was one for one with the home run. Is that good?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm pretty sure it is one for one. I didn't know you could do that. Finally someone said you got Zero coaching that team up there. We're not playing the Roman Anthony plays.

[Tyler Schmidt]

If Zero was coaching that team, we'd be more worried about the warm ups than we are about the actual baseball.

[Mike Greenberg]

That's why we're.

[Pat McAfee]

One in five would have that team at least four and two.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Not true. Know that's not true.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's D was operating on restrictions from the MLB teams that nobody else was allowed to know about. Cuz MLB teams look like they were only allowed to do a certain amount of this, certain amount of that. Only allowed talk so many words to certain guys cuz MLB didn't want him to say as much. This guy couldn't motivate all that he wanted to motivate. And you're here saying that you could be worse than 1 in 5? I don't think so. You guys are worse than a league.

[Tyler Schmidt]

D Ro could have motivated CUZ he was calling him Mia. Okay. Every other day to give the good speech. Not. Not good enough, it seems.

[Pat McAfee]

Unfortunately, they won when Mikuya.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Okay. Yeah. Did they win? Did they win?

[Quentin Richardson]

No.

[Tyler Schmidt]

So it really does. Let's celebrate silvers around here and see what start happening. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

All of a sudden you guys are dying to be a silver right now. One in five, you're worse than.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Oh and 162 than winning silver. That's how much we want the gold. And I'm not worried about the Sox. Okay. We finally are getting back to Femway. We haven't been home yet. All right, so sue us. We had a slow start. We had to play in Houston and in Cincinnati. Two of the grittiest clubs out there. Yeah, I think we're going to be just fine. Especially Roman Anthony at the helm.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I'm sure they're thankful to hear your optimism because 1 in 5 is tough.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Is a football okay? It's a football. We might as well be zero and a quarter of a game if this is football. All right?

[Mike Greenberg]

We're.

[Tyler Schmidt]

We're not in our stride. We're going to get hot at the right time.

[Quentin Richardson]

That one.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Nobody cares that we get.

[Pat McAfee]

How are the Yankees ass? Are we good?

[Connor Griffin]

No. Yankees are 5 and 1 and they actually, their, their rotation has the lowest ERA in like the history of baseball through this many games. So. I agree with Connor. You know, at this point in the season, you're not really going to, you know, be jumping over hoops or anything like that, but when you a historically great pitching staff in a league that's been around for, well, I don't know, almost 150.

[Pat McAfee]

Not even there yet.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Connor Griffin]

And you're. And three of your guys are actually hurt right now not playing. You're feeling pretty good. So, yeah, you know, the Yankees are going to be just fine.

[Pat McAfee]

How's Judgy doing? We.

[Connor Griffin]

We get not great, but that's the, you know, that's the.

[Pat McAfee]

We're not getting hit still.

[Connor Griffin]

Well, Judge, he's got two dingers, so he's. It's not, you know, but he, he doesn't look like, you know, mid June.

[Pat McAfee]

Judgy, how's Jash Chism doing? We love him.

[Connor Griffin]

He's had a little bit of a slow start.

[Pat McAfee]

Why everybody? We know what's going on.

[Tyler Schmidt]

You know, it's okay.

[Connor Griffin]

They just got done playing in Seattle. It's cold as shit out there. It's rainy, you know, just. You're not ready. And like the Red Sox, they haven't been Home yet. They got the home opener at Yankee Stadium tomorrow. But there's a difference, you know. Yeah, we're five and one.

[Tyler Schmidt]

That's different.

[Connor Griffin]

They're one and five.

[Tyler Schmidt]

They got real pitchers. All our pitchers are bringing us spaghetti and meatballs. It is the most frustrating thing I've ever watched.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys are throwing BP out there.

[Tyler Schmidt]

It is absurd.

[Pat McAfee]

Isn't that a big part of baseball?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Big part of baseball. So, yeah, maybe we'll be worried in a little bit of a later date.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys are last place right now.

[Tyler Schmidt]

I've been told end of April is where I should really start getting pissed right now. Temper.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, we'll hold that conversation about the Roman Empire. Even though we love Roman Anthony and we hope he gets maybe sent to a team that's.500 or better. Maybe he goes to one half of the Hammer Done Cowboys team. The Pittsburgh Pirates, home opener tomorrow. Big deal. Paul Skins will be joining us in 14 minutes. They're currently three and three. Baseball, though, very difficult to kind of figure out what's going on this early. And especially whenever it comes to gambling.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah.

[Tone]

Yes, gambling. Like when you're gambling with these and you're looking at the starting pitchers, you have to look at spring training stats and what they did in spring training. And then you have to decide, does spring training matter? Were they even trying in spring training? And then now we're getting into the second starts for these guys that started their. Their openers. So you can look at the stats on how they pitch in their first game.

[Connor Griffin]

That's hard.

[Tone]

I mean, some of the best players in baseball right now are over, like, 19. Some of the best bats are just really, really struggling right now early in the season. It is hard. We've talked about this during the wbc like, this, like, Harper came on and said, like, yes, I wish this was June and July when I'm actually seeing things. And like, we're back into the groove of things. So it's just really, really hard.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Okay. Well, we won't be betting on baseball or darts, I'll tell you that. What we won't bet on is we think that. I don't care that there's one in Manchester today.

[Tyler Schmidt]

It's not just one. It's night nine. Okay. This is the most important second half of the season.

[Quentin Richardson]

Yeah.

[Tyler Schmidt]

This is basically November football. So let's. Let's make sure. We're kind of locked in on Manchester. Huge one for Johnny Clayton, by the way. Go, Johnny. Go, go, go.

[Pat McAfee]

Back to the winner's C. I have decided with the mirror that I will not put another dollar on the way these guys operate until today. Nope.

[Tyler Schmidt]

2:00 we kick off. And we're gonna need you on Little. We're gonna need you on Gojo.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's thinking the same way I am. These dart players, just by looking at them, I could tell not reliable. Okay. Those guys are gonna have up days and down days. That is bollocks, huh?

[Tyler Schmidt]

That is bollocks, my friend. Okay, last.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, tell me what happened in Night fucking 8. Johnny Clayton. Johnny Rock, guy with just gets absolutely stomped. Clear. They're up and down. They're hit or miss. Luke Litler even. Can't find a triple 20. Can't find a 180. You would think with the glitz and the glamour that they have there, some of them would just choose to lock in, you know? Yeah, I'm going to lock in, actually. I'm going to try to eat healthy. I'm going to do exercises for my eyes. I'm going to maybe work out a little bit so that I can remain a consistent thrill, like try to master, master, master this thing. But then all of them say, this is what got us to the darts dance. So not going to change anything. And I guess I can respect that. But none of them are in shape.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's hard for me to depend on them because I know they're not even really dependent on themselves. Those guys have never got up to an alarm clock before in their life. Very obvious. They get up, that alarm clock goes off. They're like, who said that? That is not theirs. You know what I mean?

[Tyler Schmidt]

No, I see. I just.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's move along. Let's go to a guy that has an alarm for everything.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Little has an alarm and it rings when he's down five.

[Pat McAfee]

Nothing.

[Tyler Schmidt]

And he comes back to win six.

[Mike Greenberg]

Okay.

[Connor Griffin]

See, Littler with his shirt off, too. You know, he's. He's a Greek God.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Well, if that is the case, I will only bet on him.

[Tyler Schmidt]

It's like golf. When you have a big gut, okay? We're all thinking of one guy.

[Pat McAfee]

All right?

[Tyler Schmidt]

And when you lose a bunch of weight and you lose your golf swing because you know exactly where your arms are supposed to go because you got a big gut. And then you lose it. You can't have that.

[Pat McAfee]

They're not resting their elbows on their guts like some 5th grade teacher with a book.

[Tyler Schmidt]

They know exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's move on. I'm done with. With it. I'm pulling proof Maybe I'm back in. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who has 11 straight. I forget the number. Maybe 11 straight. I guess the guy that's joining us doesn't have this but news about a guy who has 11 straight fully guaranteed contracts in the NFL, I believe is the number. I forget what the actual maybe five, six, whatever it is, fully guaranteed contracts. The only thing that this guy really has done since the first time he got franchise tagged. Kirk Cousins is now a quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders. Kirk Cousins signed a deal where he'll be getting $8.7 million from the Falcons next year, $1.3 million from the Las Vegas Raiders, and then he'll have a $10 million signing bonus in the 2027 year that activates on like the third day. So it's basically a one year, $20 million in total money going to Kirk Cousin, 1.3 million this season against the salary cap roster for the Raiders for him, and then the Falcons are still on the hook and then $10 million in the future. So you can pay me vet min now and I don't roster next year. Just brilliant stuff. The man who broke the news, the man who's going to tell us a little bit more about this and why this is perfect for Fernando Mendoza, Kirk Cousins, Kurt Signetti. I'm not saying they're the same people, but we can kind of have a similar conversation there. And Fernando and Kirk Cousins feels like that could be a very good tag team for the Raiders, who have spent a lot of money on this particular offseason to make their team better. Joining us now, senior NFL Insider for ESPN Michigan man, Adam Shefter.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah, Shefty.

[Pat McAfee]

Shefty. Do you have anything to say about darts or would you like to get directly into Kirk Cousins becoming a Raider? And how long do we know this was going to be happening for?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, it had been talked about that he could wind up there. And him and Clint Kubak worked together for three years in Minnesota. They were together there and obviously the Raiders prioritized it because they're paying the guy a $10 million roster bonus that's guaranteed on the third day of the league year in 2027. They're going to pay him another 1.3 million this year, the veteran minimum. And the Falcons are paying 87. So it gets him up to $20 million this year. So when you're being paid $20 million, that tells you the team wants you. And the Raiders did want him. And I think he, I think he's got A realistic chance to be the opening day starter. That's what the Raiders were looking for. They're looking for somebody to take the pressure off Fernando Mendoza, that they don't have to rush him along, that they could take their time whether he's ready in week one, four, 16, whenever. They've got Kirk Cousins to man the fort until Mendoz is ready. And by getting this deal done again, Kirk knows the system that Clint Kubiak has. Clint knows Kirk very well. Two men joined forces and. And he's the favorite to start an opening day now.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Mentality is all seemingly aligned with this group. Coach Kubiak obviously fresh out of a Super bowl championship. With Sam Darnold, no stranger to veteran quarterbacks, kind of having a second chance at life, especially with Kirk there in Minnesota. Here's him talking about successful rookie quarterbacks in his eyes from the league meetings.

[Paul Skeens]

I think in a perfect world that he's watching a mature adult, you know, go and run an offense and run the team, but, you know, you just, you know, the situation is you might have that player, you might not. You might not have that veteran just showing the way. So he might come in and have to play immediately, but you'd rather. You'd rather him learn before he gets in the game. You don't always get to pick. It just doesn't work out the exact way you want it to. But at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're bringing in an individual, drafting a guy that you know is mature enough to handle. Handle some adversity, whether it's him starting the first game or him starting the first game. Year two.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, so obviously that's head coach GM Spy Tech, obviously in on this as well. I assume they knew at that point when he was speaking that that was probably going to happen. Ownership obviously has to be involved. Has Tom Brady been involved in any of these decisions that have been taking place? In a way, the roster is being reshaped this particular offseason because Tom Brady obviously behind Drew Bledsoe and you go Aaron Rodgers behind Brett. You can go through the history. Patrick Mahomes behind Alex. You can go through the history of football. Now, Peyton Manning was start rookie year, throwing right into the fire. You kind of do your thing. So certainly been success stories through that particular way. But watching an older guy play football is certainly something Tom Brady watched with Drew and probably used it as a source of information that you can never get as a college player and something that he probably thinks a lot of guys that played immediately didn't get a chance to experience. You think Tom's a part of this shit as well? How much do you think he is kind of been a part of shaping what the Raiders have been doing going forward?

[Adam Schefter]

I think I'll look at it in the reverse way. I'm not going to tell you how much he's been a part of it because I don't know the exact answer. But I can tell you this, none of this surprises Tom Brady. Absolutely none of it. Like he is in on all of it. So how much he contributes to the decision, I can't say that. I don't know. But I guarantee you that he didn't see the tweet today that the Raiders were signing Kirk Cousins to go. Wow, I didn't know that. Wow, that surprised me. So he's in on all these things and Tom's a competitor. He wants that team to win very badly and he offers his input, however much that matters and factors into the decisions that they make.

[Pat McAfee]

I would assume that his input should matter. I mean, but if you look at some of the moves they made, we need a good defense. You need to get this guy center. Okay, let's get him some quarterback he can kind of lean on. It feels like Tom would be a good person to ask questions about having a rookie quarterback become a successful quarterback. You would assume. Now, granted, he was picked, what, 199 or something like that, and then Fernando's going to be number one overall. But man, if Fernando has his long term success out there and they're able to build a winner and it's directly after Tom Brady becomes an owner there. Shit. He's going to flex that. Yeah, he's going to flex that hard. And then people are going to tell him, you got your ass kicked by flag football players though. Let's never forget that. Let's never forget that. So there's always going to be a humbling factor that's going to go in there. Congrats to the Raiders. We feel like this is a good move. Can we ask you about a couple other NFL things happening around the world you to want? Okay, Brazil, let's go. This is back to back years. Now we're in Brazil. Is this just going to become an annual thing? Ravens take on The Cowboys Week 3. We're being told we don't know which day of the week it'll be on. Maybe Schefter knows a little bit more information. Brazil getting into rotation. Germany's in a rotation. England's in a rotation. We Believe Ireland's going to get back into the rotation. Australia now has a game. It feels like coming out of league meetings, a lot of people that are talking, hey, international and flag is a big deal. International and flag is a big deal. Brazil is just the newest one for that. Shefty. And what else should we be expecting?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, it can't be on Friday night Due to the 1961 Sports Broadcasting act that we've already covered on this show in depth the last time that we were on. Right. So I don't know exactly when they're going to play that and I don't know if you set it up such that one of these teams, both these teams have a buy the next week. Usually we start buys in week four or so. I don't know how that's going to work with Brasilia. I don't know the timing. You're right about the emphasis on international and flag football. I like the emphasis that the league has put on flag football is huge. That is a big deal to the NFL. You're going to keep hearing more and more about flag football and you're going to hear about these international matchups that are going to be everywhere this year. I mean it. And it's just going to continue to grow. And as we get towards the next cba, despite the fact that the NFLPA is protesting about the 18 games, I think none of us are going to be surprised if and when the league gets to that. And then if and when there's an international package and if and when every team then is playing one international game per year. Like again, is this something the players want? No. Is this something the players are going to be paid to do over time? I would put my money on that. Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

What about the second bye week conversation? I wonder how that's going to go. I wonder how that's going to go. I guess it's happened before and it was not good. Fans of teams don't like that there's two off weeks throughout an entire season. And that's an interesting thing because I think the players will say, well, if you want us to survive, you're going to have to give us. We're going to have to get some sort of break. Maybe it just becomes a new norm. But if there's a second bye week and an added game, obviously you do the math. That's two more weeks of primetime stuff. The money could go absurd. Which also goes back to the Kirk Cousins point. The salary cap lifted 20 million this year. Remember, it was way over what projections were I wonder what it's going to be next year. The 10 million that the Raiders are putting into next year, they're like 10 million. We can get rid of 10 million. Broncos got rid of 80. Dolphins are about to get rid of 110 million that we just packaged next year. We can kind of get rid of that. Who knows what the salary cap's going to go up into the right for

[Tyler Schmidt]

rookie QB contract too. Like, they'll have Mendoza for these next five years with the option. So it gives you that flexibility.

[Pat McAfee]

That was a genius deal by them. I really like that they were able to tell Kirk he's going to get $20 million. But really we're only paying you 1.3 million. League man win. That's a brilliant deal. But on that note, with the international games and everything else that's happening, whatever days of the week, we had games on Friday last year, did we not?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. So I guess to Schefter's like, kind of point about it, the whole entire ACT last year and the year before, I believe was before the start of the high school football season.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's why Labor Day. I forgot about the Labor Day thing. The Labor Day thing. Okay, go ahead. Were you going to say something?

[Adam Schefter]

I was going to call up the Sports Broadcasting act to review the rules. I just want to make sure that we're always adhering to the rules. Pat, how much you like to adhere to rules?

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, man. Hey, listen, if you want to guide us in the right way at any time, go ahead and feel free to do it session now. If I don't think it is important enough to care about, I will certainly let you know. Some Broadcasting act feels like in this particular profession we should try to pay a little bit of respect to. Thank you. 1961 Broadcasting Act.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Good job.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell, yeah, we appreciate that. Okay, let's talk about some turmoil, shall we? A little bit of why is this always happening? From Ty to you, Chev.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, she. You know, we. We've talked about this a bunch really, over the last several years, it seems like right around this time or right around the season starting, everyone's got an issue with Jalen hurts, whether it's, you know, the team thinks he's the problem. Anonymous sources are coming right after the league meetings, basically putting all the blame on him. There's still the AJ Brown stuff going around. Like, what do you read in to all this stuff? Not only with Jalen hurts what you're hearing about A.J. brown. And also, why is this just constantly what's coming out of the locker room in Philadelphia.

[Adam Schefter]

I mean, look, the year ended in disappointment, so people are going to be digging in, and that's a very intense media market. So people want answers. And Jalen hurts. His body language was not always great last year. So I guess people are looking for. For more explanations. Look, again, I look at it like this. The guy's done a lot of things right. Like, he did win a Super bowl two seasons ago, right. Where he could have won MVP of that particular. Did he win mvp? No, he didn't win MVP that game.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, he did.

[Adam Schefter]

He did. Okay. He was Super Bo mvp. Okay. Excuse me. I stand corrected. He's a Super Bowl MVP two years ago. Leads him to the victory. Could have won another Super Bowl. Played well enough. Has been doing this at a time where, if we look at his offensive coordinators, he'll have Sean Mangan this year. He had Kevin Petullo last year. Kellen Moore in 24. Brian Johnson, 23. Shane Steichen, 22, Shane Steichen and Nick Sirianni, 21. Doug Peterson in 20. Different offensive coordinator every year, different offense. Like, I know he's not the quarterback that everybody wants, but how about. But the fact that he's done a lot of things that no other quarterbacks have done with a number of offensive coordinators, could it be different? Could it be perfect? Are there questions this year about what it might be like if Sean Manuel wants him to line up under center, which he hasn't done great. Which he's resisted to do in the past? Yeah, okay, There's a lot of questions, but we're still, I think, taking apart a guy that's had a lot of success in this league. I don't quite get it.

[Pat McAfee]

It happens a lot, though. It feels like there's. It's always happening, people. What we were saying yesterday is it seems like people are way too comfortable talking about bad about the franchise quarterback. Now, you can read that a couple different ways. Are they way too comfortable because they know everybody else feels the same way they feel? So they're like, ah, hell, I'll be the one that anonymously says it, I guess, which I hate. Even though you make a living off it. I understand that. I don't really love anonymous sources killing somebody in the same building that they're working for, Especially whenever that one guy and what he does on the field helps everybody else's resume out a lot and everything. So I don't love the anonymous source. This guy's the worst.

[Adam Schefter]

Even though not using it. I'm not Using anonymous sources to attack him. Align somebody's character.

[Pat McAfee]

Pat true. Yeah. You're breaking news. You're saying. Yes, yes, yes, I got it. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Okay. So there is a separation. So you probably heard me say this yesterday, or somebody say this before where it's like, hey, anonymous sources in sports are crazy. I get, like, anonymous sources in politics and shit. Because people could die, okay? And, like, sure, think the world's going to happen. But in, like, sports, nobody's going to be dying from anonymous sources, I don't think. I mean, I would assume not. So whenever, like, it's an anonymous source in a building killing somebody, that's what you're saying. Like, hey, let's make sure we separate the two from news.

[Adam Schefter]

I love that me just speaking makes me uneasy. When we're. We're using anonymous sources to talk about somebody's character or if they want to go on the record and say, I think this guy's a jerk, hey, we'll call you, no problem. But it's hard in my mind.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes.

[Adam Schefter]

I don't think it's really fair to have anonymous sources questioning somebody's character. Now, if there are a lot of people and you want to write a news story saying there are multiple people that believe this guy's a jerk, you know, he's rubbed people the wrong and give a specific example, Okay? I mean, there. There are examples and ways in which you can do it. But to quote somebody, like, this guy's a. I don't know. I just don't. I don't. I don't love it.

[Pat McAfee]

There's been places. And once again, my name's on the show, so I can only speak from my perspective of things, which, you know, people you're really mad about. But it's like, legit. There's things, articles written about me where they get an anonymous source, and I'm like, I know who you just went to to get that. Like, you did that on purpose. Like, that is. This is a clear. I know who said that. So you might as well just write who said that in the entire thing. I think that's what really amplified it. It's like, okay, so you're just gonna say, I. You can't say who I am, but then just make up a bunch of stuff out of context that isn't true. It's like, that's disgusting. I think. I don't think that is how it's supposed to be. But on that note, we've amplified it. We all have. And it's because it's huge news. It's a Super Bowl MVP like you said.

[Connor Griffin]

And it happens every single year. We this is the 10th time we've heard this type of stuff about Jalen Hurts.

[Pat McAfee]

Hopefully they get figured out over there. Okay, last question as we have Cy Young legend on deck. Good baseball reference. Let's go down to the Dallas Cowboys. Go ahead, Tone.

[Tone]

Yeah, Shefty Jerry Jones talked a lot, a lot of at the owner's meetings but one of those things was George Pickens and his contract. What's the latest situation with the Cowboys star wide receiver and do you think there will be a contract extension and if not, will George show up to training camp? I know that's a long way away.

[Adam Schefter]

I'm skeptical that there'll be an extension. It's early. It's April 2nd. But George Pickens is not allowed to be in that building unless he signs the franchise tender. He's not going to sign that franchise tender without there being a long term deal. I don't see a long term deal coming into focus until right before the deadline, which would be the middle of July. Which tells you that there's a real probability that George Pickens will not be there for the off season program. Now if the two sides can figure out a long term deal that I think is going to be very difficult, then that's great and good for both sides. They both get what they want. But if they can't, and I think it's more likely than not that they won't now there's the possibility that we won't see George Pickens, who knows when in the summer he could come in a week late, two weeks late, right before the start of the season. He's under no obligation. He won't be fined for missing camp because he hasn't signed anything. If they don't get a long term deal done and he hasn't signed that franchise tender and so I just think it's set up right now to be a very tricky, challenging situation for both sides. What would be a fair long term contract for George Pickens? I think the two sides would have different ideas. He's not going to be there in the off season program. He's not starting the franchise tender. CD lambs at 34 average a year. Other wide receivers are getting more what's the number like? It's, it's a tricky deal to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but Jerry said he's got long term plans for Mr. Pickens. He's got long term plans. He does.

[Adam Schefter]

That's that's fine. Let me know when the deal.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe he gets a little bit of that natural gas down there, though.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, maybe George Pickens gets a tiny shovel to potentially go dig down into the honey hole that he has found in natural gases that's right below his feet right now as we speak.

[Adam Schefter]

Glory hole. Glory hole.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah, you'd like that.

[Pat McAfee]

So, glory hole, I believe is oil. Okay. I believe the glory hole is oil. I'm not sure. Natural gas, I believe there is.

[Connor Griffin]

It's a bit of a honey.

[Pat McAfee]

Honey hole, honey pot. We're talking two different natural resources here that you can make billions, billions off of. Not everybody loves that. Yeah, no, not everybody loves. And I'll tell you, I think it's a pretty big talking point right now.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, certainly, I think it is.

[Pat McAfee]

It sounds like we got a lot on this land from what I've been understanding. Cody Campbell down there in Texas Tech, he's got a lot of shovels, man. Every time I text him asking where I need to start digging, he never gives me an answer. But maybe one day. I appreciate you, Shefty. You know what you've got before we go?

[Adam Schefter]

You've seen falcons, Pat? You didn't ask about the falcons. Clean new look for Atlanta. Very sharp, very cool looking we got. Yeah. Oh yeah. See, here it is.

[Mike Greenberg]

Hold on.

[Pat McAfee]

Can we go back? We go back. Can we please turn that up? Did he write it or is he reading Voice everything? Turn it up.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

I once had a dream where I was a falcon. My eyes were new, fresh vision like nothing before. I could see in what felt like four dimensions and time was one of them. Explored, I could now see everything sick unbounded from the ground I was let loose. The higher I soared, the more free I became. The sky was all mine and I was the same. I am the fastest animal on the planet. To naked eyes a blur. Swipes of red, white, silver and black would occur without alert. Prey would have no time to pray. In this dream, my body was a falcon, but my mind was still mine. I could recognize my city and nest from miles away in detail without trying. All dreams feel real, of course, but this one was different. Still, a bouncing word I heard upon waking Even now gives me cheers. Atlanta, Atlanta. Atlanta, Atlanta. Until no sound. I could still see everything as it is and was. But now I'm flying on the ground a new red rush.

[Adam Schefter]

Oh yeah, that was Andre 3000.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? What group was he in?

[Adam Schefter]

Was he the Black Eyed Peas?

[Pat McAfee]

All right, ladies and gentlemen,

[Tyler Schmidt]

so just

[Pat McAfee]

say it with me. Uh huh. Push that force everybody move to the back of the bus. Do you want to.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Excuse me.

[Pat McAfee]

We the type of. Yeah. I don't want to say it. Schefter. Outkast is the answer there. Him and big boy.

[Adam Schefter]

Outkast.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

Outkast.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. They were in high school. Just like Lil Wayne at the time. They were in high school. Dropping bangers. Rosa Parks. You can go all the way back through. I believe they're one of the first DMX Rough Riders anthem Bank. Dang, dank, dank da dang, dang, dang. That's the first thing I saw that got me into rap. And then outkast was the next. Real quick, what's that? You have breaking news.

[Adam Schefter]

And Pat. And also. And also, congratulations are in order to Josh Allen and Haley Steinfeld for having

[Pat McAfee]

us clapping cut you out. You definitely gave important piece of information out there at the end. What'd you say? Do we know any more info or. We just want to send our love and health and everything to the lovely superstar baby girl.

[Adam Schefter]

That's all we know right now. Good for them. Congratulations, Josh.

[Pat McAfee]

Girl. Dad's awesome. You're gonna enjoy the hell out of it. Congrats to both of them. You're the man, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Schefter. Black Eyed Peas. Andre 3000. Yikes.

[Connor Griffin]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, who we made wait way too long, is a man who's fresh off his first dub of the MLB season. Cy Young winner. A man who at one point, point was here in Indianapolis pitching for the Indians, selling out the entire downtown area. Then he made his move over to Pittsburgh, became an instant legend. This LSU national champions. A stallion, a stud. The future of baseball. And he's on the bump for the Pirates, ladies and gentlemen. Pulse. Yeah. How you doing, sk?

[Paul Skeens]

How's it going?

[Tone]

Fell mc.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, great hat. Honestly, I love what you're doing there. I don't know.

[Tone]

It's that steely McBean.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I know. Steelers got a mascot and that was what they came up with. And at the beginning, it was kind of mocked and ridiculed, but now it's kind of just become a thing. I love that you love Pittsburgh as much as you do, Paul. Can we talk about that a little bit? Pirates notoriously ass. We've been spending money though now, and I think you are one of the main drivers of it all because of your talent and the optimism from the entire city behind it. How do you feel this year about the team? I saw you guys watch that social media video where It's Pittsburgh people talking about the Pirates winning. And it does feel as if you guys want to win for Pittsburgh. How is that to start the season here and how do you feel at this exact moment, six games in.

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, it's been great. You know, had a. Lost the series in New York and then came back and won the series in Cincinnati and, you know, coming back home at a.500 record and fired up to, you know, have the home opener tomorrow. It's going to be a. It's going to be a fun year.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's talk about that. New York. We don't want to go backwards. Okay? Spaceships don't come equipped with rear view mirrors. They dip. Shout out, by the way, to Andre 3000, who is not a part of the Black Eyed Peas. You knew that. I know that you knew that shefter and just embarrassed himself. But we don't need to go in the back. That New York game, okay, that New York game, you just got to eliminate that immediately. Like, how do you go about processing that type of shit? That had to be the first time. Long time that you've ever experienced maybe, maybe your whole life. Like, how do you process that and move on and then come out with your best the next game like you did?

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, just got to see it for what it is. You know, the. It's. It's never as bad as it seems. It's never as good as it seems. So just watching the game, you know, understanding what went wrong, what went well. And that's. That's every game, you know, you treat it the same as every game. It's just a lot shorter that you can. And, you know, a lot fewer pitches that you can look through after a game like that, which makes it a little bit easier. So it's not, it's, you know, it's nothing crazy. Just gotta get back into the routine and, you know, remember what makes you good.

[Pat McAfee]

I think you didn't have that many pitches yesterday either. Feels like we're on pace maybe to pick up a couple games, you know, pick up a couple games, like maybe all the way into October. Maybe all the way into October. And there's a new tradition. There's a new tradition that has certainly captivated the stars. It has certainly captivated the universe. And it has certainly taken over Tone Diggs life, who's. Obviously, you're a massive fan of the Pirates. We're hoisting things now, bud.

[Tone]

Yeah, we are Skeens.

[Paul Skeens]

And it's.

[Tone]

It is. It's a phenomenon. It's taking over the entire Internet, actually, I wanted to throw to the video so the people, if they don't know that, can understand what hoisting the cone means.

[Pat McAfee]

Billy, why.

[Mike Greenberg]

What made you the official cone bearer

[Pat McAfee]

over here in the dugout?

[Tone]

Well, Jake made sure that it was

[Paul Skeens]

in the dugout, and if we're gonna have a cone in here, you know,

[Tone]

someone's got to lift it up. It's not going to hoist itself.

[Pat McAfee]

So just kept it next to me

[Tone]

in the dugout, and anytime something good

[Paul Skeens]

happened, hoisted it up, and a lot

[Tone]

of good stuff happened with it. So got raised a lot yesterday, and

[Paul Skeens]

again, it goes with the.

[Tone]

The welders mask or welder's helmet, whatever

[Pat McAfee]

you want to call it.

[Tone]

So they work well together, and we're looking forward to a lot more airtime for this thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tone]

Shout out sportsnet. Sportsnet Pittsburgh. And Hannah Mears was doing the interview there, and then Billy Cook was the one talking, and Jake Mangum was the one who brought the cone into the locker room. How did. How did this come. Are you ever going to hoist the cone, or is it strictly Billy Cook's job? What's. What's the. What's the life of the cone like in the dugout right now?

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, well, the cone, the life of the cone, it's been getting used a lot recently, so got to keep that going. I don't know. You know, there are probably going to be a number of people that hoist the cone this year. A few times. Ward is, you know, he looked like he was at Hogwarts there.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Nice.

[Paul Skeens]

I don't know the. I don't know the story on the cone, to be honest. I do know there was a shirt that came out in the off season that said hoist the cone. And nobody knew what it meant. So we got a traffic cone before, I think the. Before the Tuesday game in Cincinnati. And, yeah, what the heck does hoist the cone? There's a. There's probably a, you know, players parking spot in. In Cincinnati. That was after Mangan brought it in. He probably just, you know, stole it from a parking lot somewhere. But we got it, and it's made it made its way back to Pittsburgh,

[Pat McAfee]

and things have been happening, you know, and we all wonder what fanatics was thinking at the time. We said, wow, just another blatant air by fanatics when it comes to merch. What fanatics was saying was just, wait, yeah, okay, this is a pre sale right now. What you're getting at is about what you're looking at. You said Matt, who brought in the cone, who. Who was the one that decided that the shirt needed to come to the dog? And the dugout now is at a point where we're only winning games. I see you not really giving it much attention there. Maybe you need to start focusing on the cone a little bit more. As it walks by, you show your respect. But you are saying it did start from the T shirt. That was completely wrong. That was telling the future, and now it has captivated the boys a little bit. I feel like that's what I saw with the wbc. Every dugout routine becomes like a part of the team. Whether it's a hand signal, whenever somebody gets on base, do it all. We think the cones are going to survive. The cones going to survive the year, or are we one rut away from cone getting dropped back off in a parking lot? I don't know baseball culture well enough. How long is this thing going to last? Forever.

[Paul Skeens]

I really hope so. You know, the dugout stuff, in my experience, it happens organically. It's not something you force. So the cone's here. I think it's here to stay. We'll see. You know, hopefully it lasts all the way into October, you know, deep way into the season.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, why don't you have cleats on the ground in there for us? Keep us updated on how that cone's going to do. But I think when you're hoisting it as high as you guys are, we're going to be seeing that thing and a welder's mask right next to it.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Sweet.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, we're talking grit, we're talking blue collar. We're talking, why not get a win? We're talking youngest player in long time, maybe ever to be playing baseball at that level. Go ahead, Ty.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, Paul, this is nothing new for the Pirates. It's kind of what they do, you know, not great. Get a really good guy, draft him. He plays young, and then, you know, know, five, six years down the road, he ends up getting traded to the Yankees. Or, you know, something like that's not

[Pat McAfee]

happening with Paul, that we're in a new buckos right now.

[Connor Griffin]

I agree. Which is why I was going to say Connor Griffin is getting called up. He's making his debut on Friday, you guys. I mean, obviously cut from similar cloth in terms of being like, hey, can't miss prospect. This guy is going to be unbelievable. How much of him have you seen? We've seen his stats throughout, you know, his entire minor league ramp up to this point. It's just ridiculous. If you extrapolate it over a full MLB season. How much of him have you seen and how excited are you to watch him make his debut on Friday?

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, I'm fired up. You know, if bucko fans needed anything else to get excited about for the home opener that, you know, they got it. So it's, it's great. You know, he's a super mature. He's 19 right now. You would never know it talking to him. Him the Most Most mature 19 year old you're ever going to meet in your life. And the play speaks for itself. But you know, the way he conducts himself in the, in the locker room and off the field, it's, it's cool to see. So he's going to bring, bring an energy and, and you know, obviously a skill set to Pittsburgh that, you know, that's exciting.

[Pat McAfee]

From Mississippi too, right? Wbc. Yeah.

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah. Him and Meghan actually went to the same high school, I believe.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, so he's got some cone ties. Okay. I'm pretty excited he's gonna be up there. Pretty comfortable. What is life for a 19 year old gonna be like in MLB? You guys are traveling a lot obviously, right? And then he got a lot of life. Like he's just built for it because he's played baseball his whole life. Like how do you kind of get used to being a rock star? And by rock star I mean, I mean, yeah, very popular, very famous, but also on road a lot. Like that's something that we just assume he's good at.

[Paul Skeens]

At.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that something we just assumed you were good at too?

[Paul Skeens]

It's tough. I mean, it's, it's, you know, I'm sure you guys know the life just being on the road and traveling to different places and you know, competing, going to unfamiliar places and staying in weird hotels and new stadiums and that kind of thing. It's something like it's, it's going to be an adjustment for him. He's done it in the minor leagues and it's probably harder in the minor leagues to. And bus trips rather than flying and you know, you have better hotels in the big leagues. But he's going to be fine. It's just some adjustments that you have to make. You'll learn, you know, sleeping, eating, just little stuff like that that people probably don't think about that, you know, you learn a lot about pretty quickly once you get called up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to do what you got. I don't think I'd be able to just discipline, food Food, discipline on road. Very tired. Obviously team is supplying a lot. But just that one aspect of your life, whenever you don't really know what the right move is or have something that you can just definitely go and get pillows. Oh, God. Hotel pillows, especially for your big ass head. Look at that. Look at that log head. This guy. Big bell. I couldn't even imagine. You got to put you putting towels underneath the pillows.

[Paul Skeens]

I, I travel with. With pillows.

[Tone]

Smart.

[Tyler Schmidt]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

That's probably a baseball thing. I assume how a lot of baseball guys travel in pillows.

[Paul Skeens]

I think a lot of guys do it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's a good move.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because our biggest complaint is always, yeah, these pillows.

[Mike Greenberg]

Beds are fine.

[Pat McAfee]

These pillows, yeah, the beds, whatever. Yeah, you know you're gonna be laying on something. Pillow's always bad. I like the baseball's got a traveling pillow brigade. I like, I like you guys just walking in with those things flopping out of you. I like everything about that. Shout out to you. By the way. Way love what you've done since the beginning of your career with the Gary Sise Foundation. Obviously we have matched alongside you. This year we're shooting for 150,000. Can you tell a little bit more about this and why you've remained committed to giving back to great United States Americans?

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, it's. It's the Gary Sise Foundation. You know, this is my third year with them. They're. They do great work, veterans and first responders, just supporting them in any way they can. I've got, you know, they've let me ride in a, in a fire truck now, which is pretty cool. And, you know, I got to honk the horn and all that.

[Connor Griffin]

Pretty cool.

[Paul Skeens]

They do a week at Disney World every year for first veterans and first responders, one week each. So one week for veterans, one week for. For first responders. And it's their families. It's pretty heavy. I went, went down there for a couple days in the off season, and it's a lot of women and children, if you know what I mean. There's not, not very many, not very many men there that are. And a lot of single moms, single dads. It's. It's pretty heavy just with fallen veterans, fallen first responders, and they just do a week of healing for them at Disney World, among other things. But they just do a lot of good work and it's, you know, it's an honor to partner with them again.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, being a tag team partner for gold star families is certainly a beautiful thing. Happy to hear that. The Gary Sinise foundation is continuing to help out the families of those who serve our great country, both here locally and abroad. Shout out to everybody, buddy, we've matched with you last year. You're going per strikeout, right? Are we doing that again?

[Paul Skeens]

Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. What are we doing? Remind me. Remind me what we're doing. Remind me what we're doing. We've matched first two years, but remind me what we're doing. Whenever you get ponche. When you get a ponche. Okay. What are we doing? We're donating per strikeout. How much?

[Paul Skeens]

Hundred dollars.

[Pat McAfee]

How about you and me, this year we go 500?

[Paul Skeens]

I like it. Let's do it.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Check, check. Boom.

[Paul Skeens]

Click on it.

[Pat McAfee]

His hand's so big.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Massive. Never want to do that in real life because that's something.

[Connor Griffin]

Touch your elbow.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Speaking. Exactly. Yeah. Speaking of. All right, on that note, last question for you. Here comes from Connor.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. Skino your two starts into the ABS era in the mlb. It feels as though it has been a huge success. Do you have a conversation with your catcher about it? We saw the splits. Catchers are the most successful when it comes to challenges. Pitchers. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Batteries.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Okay. How has that been so far, would you say? And do you think it is something that is going to, you know, in general, help the game a lot?

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah, I think it's definitely going to help the game. I don't. I think in my two starts, I don't think I've had anyone challenge. I haven't. So I'm not. I'm never going to challenge. There's. Because, you know, as a pitcher, you think everything's a strike. You get emotional and. And, you know, when you. When you get emotional, that doesn't help you. So I'll let. I'll let my catchers challenge for me. I don't think there have been any hitters that have challenged against me, but it's great. You know, it's. It's. You know, it's. It's being accurate. It's. Is it a strike or is it a ball? And now. Now there's an answer for that. And so it's cool. It's been fun to watch. It's definitely affected the games.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a previous catcher, we all know, and we asked you this question, like, the last time you're on the show or maybe two times ago when you're on the show and you said, I hope ABS never gets in majors. That's what you said. And you talked about the respect you have for umpires. And the respect for catchers and framing and how, like that's a part of baseball is a little thing. It felt inevitable that this was going to come.

[Paul Skeens]

Come.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you changed your stance? Are you okay with it now? Especially with what you've seen happen? Because there's been some magical moments of catchers just dunking on umpires right in front of their face and hey. And then another ball. I don't think so, brother. Height three straight. And now we're talking about some of these umps are getting called out for everything. I mean, not even looking at the bases, it feels like potentially much better for the sport because it does add an extra element of electricity, but also potentially exposing not great officiating at the same time. I know all those things are potentially why you weren't for it a couple years back. What are your thoughts now, knowing that it is just a reality of baseball for the rest of your career, which is going to go for a long time.

[Paul Skeens]

Yeah. When we talked when I was in Indy, the experience that I had, you know, I was a lot closer to college back then and high school back then than I was to the big leagues. Like, just because I had never experienced against the big leagues. And so, you know, selfishly at the time, it was like, well, there are a lot more balls that get called strikes than strikes to get called balls. And so now I want to say, last year I had more pitches in the zone get called balls against me than pitches that were balls that got called strikes. So now I'm all for it. Switch my stance on it. I'm. I'm all for it. It's. It's great.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, the data has certainly opened my eyes that maybe I am a little bit better than those umpires. You know, maybe the umps aren't better than me at this entire thing. That is, it's. It's provided incredible excitement. I mean, it won a game last night. It won a game last night for Baltimore.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, it was a walk off. Abs Bolt. Catcher says, I don't think so, Jack. That was. That was where we were aiming. Fella is what he says to the ump. The ump goes, we're gonna take a look at this thing. Let's go ahead. All four, 20,000 of us. Let's look at this in real time. Was I right? I wasn't.

[Connor Griffin]

Damn it.

[Pat McAfee]

Game over. Strike three. Like, it is a. It is an added element of excitement. Can't take too long either. I like how efficient it is.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because if it took too long. Then people complain about baseball games being long. I think it's great. And if it's going to continue to make you a better pitcher, Bro. Brother. Let's go. Let's. Let's run that up. We appreciate you for joining us. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Paul Skeens]

Appreciate it. Always good to talk.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. We're going to come see you on the road somewhere.

[Tone]

Hell, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Come see you on road somewhere.

[Tone]

I'm going to see him in Chicago next week.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Against Cubbies. Yeah. Are you going to. You ever think about doing that? Maybe with the pitch clock start real early, so guy has to lock in. Hold that thing 10 seconds. Balance point. Is that what this is called? Bang. Hit the balance point, hold it. And then he doesn't know when you're coming. And then once he looks like he's lost interest. Now we're doing it, you know, like they do it in penalty kicks and like breakaways. Have you thought about this? And is it allowed?

[Paul Skeens]

It is allowed. I don't think anybody's done it for 10 seconds. That seems like a really long time. I'll think about it. I can't guarantee that I'm going to do it, but I'll. I'll give it some thought.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, don't just drop it in a game, obviously. Work on the off season. Come in Next. Nobody's done 10 seconds, you said, which makes me part of war. Shinzu. Rest in peace. Nobody's ever done it before. You just sit there, imagine the reaction from the crowd, too. Oh, when's he gonna go? When's he gonna go? You know, and then whammy, something. Think about just trying to get better. That's all we're trying to do. Ladies and gentlemen, Cy Young winner, Gary Sinise, foundation donor and a man who's going to save Pittsburgh Pirates and city of Pittsburgh, Paul Skeens. Thank you, buddy. I don't think he's going to do it. He might. I don't think he's going to do it. Let's pivot from MLB and obviously giving back to great Americans. And let's talk about the NBA on its incredible run. Ladies and gentlemen. Joining us now, 13 year NBA vet, a member of the Knuckleheads podcast, friend of the program, Quentin Richardson.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yankee.

[Pat McAfee]

Rich. Rich, what do you think? You think Paul should maybe try that?

[Quentin Richardson]

I've never seen that, but you might be on to something. I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

See, I didn't know it was. If it's legal. Oh, yeah. I mean, imagine if you're a knuckleballer. And you do that so your body's knuckling while you kind of go in there. Let's talk basketball. Is that legal? Is that illegal? Is that illegal? Luka, Immediately. Let's talk Lakers. Everybody's gonna love this. Me national doofus doesn't pay attention to the NBA especially. Cause the Pacers go from game seven of the finals to the lottery. Is Tyrese Halliburton the most valuable player this year? Something to think about. Now let's go to the Los Angeles Lakers. Luka, he's lost 38 pounds, I'm being told, and he is playing his best basketball. Is he going to be able to lead the Lakers to a title? Like, what's the reality of that particular situation? I know Wemby and SGA are certainly battling for the mvp and OKC and San Antonio are outrageous. I understand that. But is the LA hype real at this point? And is it only real because we're talking about how terrible of a trade it was for the Mavericks? Like how should we actually judge this Lakers team? It should have been comparison to what the Mavericks became after trading them, or in reality of this year in the NBA?

[Quentin Richardson]

No, I would. I mean, in the reality of the NBA, I would. I mean, right at this point, you know, everybody's kind of concluded that the Lakers won that trade, that Lucas should have never been traded. This is just his first full season, you know, as a Laker, getting the full off season, coming in the training camp, knowing this is his new home. I think, I think the Lakers absolutely have a chance to win the championship with Luke after him. I mean, it doesn't have to mean it's going to be this year, but I think, yeah, they got time to work and I mean, he's showing that he's got. He's got way more in the tank than I guess Dallas or anybody thought thought he did. But I mean, this is a, this is a superstar we watching and he's dead smack in the middle of his prime and he, he's giving everybody buckets right now.

[Pat McAfee]

J.J. redick becomes the second Lakers coach. I think the win back to back 50 games seasons, him and Phil.

[Quentin Richardson]

Shout out J.J. yeah. Shout out J Red. You know what I'm saying? That's my former teammate. Shout out. Shout out J. Red. That's big time.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, that is big time. Especially because he was just a podcaster who was getting interviewed with LeBron James. That's why he got the job. Other people should have gotten the job. He is now A certified good NBA coach. Are we allowed to say that? Is that what people would describe J.J. redick as?

[Quentin Richardson]

What else can you call him? His record says so. I mean the numbers are the numbers. They don't lie. I think, I think he's doing a hell of a job considering all of the circumstances and a huge change in the middle of everything. Luka and acquiring him and I think he's been, him and the whole coaching staff, they've been amazing at trying to, you know, flip things and flop things around to get this team in position to be their best. And I mean right now they sitting at number three and like you said, this is second back to back 50, 50 win season. I mean that, that's a good coach in my book.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I would say. And I'm happy for him. Former player, former media member having success in LA doing his thing. And also he was catching a lot of heat early and he has not changed the way he talks to any, anybody. So I respect and appreciate that. Good luck to the Lakers. Let's move to. Sorry NBA championship conversation. Go ahead, Khan.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. Here speaking of great coaches, Joe Missoula is the all time leader in win percentage. No big deal. It feels as though the Boston Celtics are once again back. Jason Tatum, triple double, Jaylen Brown, 43 points. Can you just explain to me first of all how someone can even do that in Tatum and how impressive that is from a basketball standpoint. Point. And then the other part of the question, how is it not automatically going to be Celtics vs. Spurs in the NBA Finals?

[Quentin Richardson]

So, so what Tatum is doing from a, from a basketball player standpoint is, is incredible in my eyes to be back this, this quick from that type of injury and then to be back in this type of a form as quick as he's gotten to this like being able to put up these numbers and play these minutes and look this good doing it. I, I expected him like yeah, when he said he was coming back, I expected him to be back and you know, kind of working his way back into getting to, to somewhat of a full strength. But he's, he, he came back already far ahead of what I thought he could have been and he's far exceeded what I, what I thought he could be doing. I mean the numbers, the rebounds and assists are crazy right now. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like he's come in and he's getting double double at the double double. He's seeing double teams, he's passing the ball well. And all of the talk about him and Jb they should please silence that yet again. They said it all the way up until they won the championship. Then they wanted to re rekindle that situation with this. And they've shown that they play together, you know, basically Tatum's whole career. And JB only played one year without him. And you know, last night he still went and got 43 while JT put up all of those crazy numbers. So I mean, that, that shouldn't even be a conversation about whether they could play together and whose team it is. They both superstars and they both, both are leaders of the team and that's just what it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Double, double against a double team. Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, they're the trouble team. They seem to be a real problem up there. And the fact that they're able to win as much as they were without Tatum. Okay, because we're watching without Tyrese here in Indiana. Actually, we're not. I haven't really seen much. I've seen. Easy, easy, easy. I'm not letting my eyes see it. I'm not letting my eyes see it. Right. Because my last Pacers experience was the best.

[Connor Griffin]

Kidding me. Game winners in the finals.

[Pat McAfee]

We're having so much fun. I mean, Tyrese, game six. Think about the Madison Square Garden. Remember, that one isn't even game winner. It was going to overtime. That thing shot up to the clouds. Jim Ursa caught that thing. Just.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Madison Square Garden did the whole Reggie Miller. I mean, we had a time.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Now we're in the lottery. Now we're in the lottery. The fact that the Celtics have been able to continue to be great without Tatum that entire time goes to your exact point about them. Not even, you know, hey, this is just an incredible duo that is unbelievable at basketball. And Joe Mazzulla might be an actual psycho when it comes to the entire sport.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Oh yeah, yeah. He was playing war noises, I believe, during training camp to get the boys ready. That's what Luca Garza said. Like, okay, it's different openers and gunfire.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, the coaches versus media game.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, where it used to be just like a fun, haha, let's have a good time with 89 nothing or something. 89 to 2 or something like that. It's like they're just a different. He's so young too. I mean, he's so young in the game. Took over a great spot. Good for the Celtics and obviously the spurs as well. Speaking of the Spurs, Tone has a question for you. Q. Rich.

[Tone]

Yeah, I do. Q. Rich, the spurs and SGA and OKC, 1 and 2 seed. Very, very fascinating in the west right now. I believe The spurs are 4 and 1 against OKC on the season. What are your thoughts on that matchup in the west going into the playoffs? And then also the potential MV between Wemby and sga

[Quentin Richardson]

Right now. Right now I have. I have SGA as my mvp. I think. I think everything that Wemby is doing is definitely unbelievable. And think about this year. I feel like you got four or five guys that could be MVP in any other year. Like, Joker hasn't gotten a lot of talk, but he's still averaging a triple double. He just became official he's going to average a triple double for the season and he's leading the league in rebounds and assists. That's crazy. Crazy. What Wimby is doing is crazy. What Luca is doing is crazy. If K doesn't get hurt, he would be in the conversation. Where Jalen Brown has been able to do has been crazy. He would be in the conversation. So it's like, it's. It's one of those crazy years. But for me, I think what SGA has been able to do, putting together his fourth straight year, averaging over 30. You know what I'm saying? Joining the class with MJ, breaking Wilt's record. The last time he ain't scored 20 points was December of 2024. I think he's. He's showing that he. He's a dominant force. Not that these other guys aren't, but you have to couple that with the winning aspect. He has the best team in the NBA coming off a championship and ain't letting off the gas. So I still think it's his MVP and it's his time right now.

[Pat McAfee]

You're the man. Q. Rich, thank you for taking time with us. We can't wait to continue to chat with you. And is SGA going to do it again?

[Tyler Schmidt]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy never misses. But Wemby, he's everywhere. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. That's cute. Wemby was asked to give three bullet points on why he should be mvp. His first one was defense, right? Is half the game just. I think I'm pretty good.

[Tone]

He's absurd.

[Pat McAfee]

He's everywhere. Hour two on the other side, we got Mike Greenberg. Brett Michaels. Be a friend. Telephone 7 ice might change her life.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

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[Pat McAfee]

Sports are the greatest since April 2, 2026 and on this particular program, we'll have Bret Michaels in this hour. Wow. Also Mike Greenberg. We're incredibly lucky that we get a chance to do this for a living. Sports are the greatest thing of all time. They continue to deliver even though so football isn't happening right now and meaningful baseball is happening every day for 162 days isn't happening. The Crown basketball tournament is doing it for us. Yeah, yeah, it matters. You only got a couple opportunities to win Duck Crown. And Duck Crown was certainly within reach for two teams that played last night.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oklahoma beats Colorado. Baylor beats Minnesota. Now tonight we find out if Stanford or the West Virginia Mountaineers will go on to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. I feel like they're probably going to beat Rutgers. I think I did at one point pick all four of the teams on the left side of the bracket to win each game. So I don't think I had it right. I don't think I had a certain pick. But at one point I knew Oklahoma was going to win and Baylor was going to win. And then on the right side, West Virginia is about to get it done and the Blue Jays going to get it done. So that's happening tonight. Meaningful stuff. We got Final Four this weekend. We got golf. That's only going to continue to get stronger. We got NFL news that's only going to continue to cook. This morning, Kirk Cousins was signed to the Las Vegas Raiders. He is a man who's going to be taught. I'm sorry. Brought in to teach Fernando Mendoza how to be an NFL quarterback. The things to do on the field, off the field, in the meetings, in the locker rooms, whenever you're taking the boys out. Now, we think Kirk and Fernando will be a good, good duo, good tag team in there. We think him and Kurt Signetti have a similar, you know, we're all kind of in the same football nerd atmosphere, it feels like. So we're pumped for them, we're pumped for the Raiders. And Kirk Cousins once again gets another guaranteed contract in the form of about $20 million, 8.7 million coming from the Falcons, 1.3 coming from the Raiders this year, and then a $10 million roster bonus three days into the 2027 season. But nobody's expecting him to actually play for that team. They'll just have to pay him that amount of money at that particular time. So the Raiders basically kick a $10 million roster spot to next year. They'll throw it in the trash because the salary cap probably only going to go up and to the right. They're paying him league men. He's going to mentor. Fernando feels like a smart move for the Raiders if Kirk Cousins can play football good. There were some times last year we saw him play football, he was not good. There were some times we seen him last year play football, he was good. You take him back to the times in which he was in the Vikings offense with Kubiak as his coordinator. He was very good. So we assume he'll have success. We assume he'll be good Kirk Cousins, and we assume this will be great for Fernando and the Raiders going forward. Now, when Kubiak coach Kirk Cousins, Hembo says good things happen, good things happen. You know what else happened, happened. He got like $130 million guaranteed from the Falcons. He moves on from there. He's with the Raiders. Toxic tables here at Boston. Connor at Ty Schmidt, you gave me a side eye after I said the NFL is always delivering, especially with news, Kirk Cousins being the last thing we need to talk about.

[Tyler Schmidt]

It wasn't about the NFL. It's just you listed off a bunch of sports that are going on and you seemingly left out one very, very particular one that everyone's pretty freaking hyped up about.

[Pat McAfee]

So I watched this one last night that you're talking About. I do believe.

[Tyler Schmidt]

I don't think so.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy is dropping straw through. It was in the middle of, like, an arena, and there was a circle. A circle that had a bunch of sensors on it. And then he had to lift the straw to different height, and he was competing against others to see who could get to the highest and drop the straw through the circle. It was intense.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Did he do it?

[Pat McAfee]

And I'll tell. The one that I saw was the winner. He dropped it from about yay high. Is that on abc? I thought it has a win, too. Like that old trash game on your phone used to have. That's what you're talking about. Cause that would be a sport. How about the one where there's, like, a big tire in the middle?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then there's two dudes wrestling.

[Connor Griffin]

I love that one.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure, Jack. Not a tug of war. Mr. Jack did used to do that in elementary school. Shout to Holiday Park. They tore that place down. That was a shame that they did that. That was our elementary school. Now these two guys are wrestling, and they're. One of them is trying to get the other one into the. Into the tie.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what you're talking about? No, but I know. Are you. Are you talking about the real American freestyle wrestler wrestling, where Kale is doing interviews, guys cutting promos? Tristan Wurf's NFL lineman hops up on his stage and says, I'll wrestle this guy. Sure. And then all of a sudden, the Buccaneers people are like, is this. Is this. Are we watching wwe? What's going on here? Because that's actually some good shit. Oh, yeah, I like that. Amateur wrestlers are now potentially getting a professional platform because there wasn't really anywhere to go. Kurt Angle. A lot of amateur wrestling people got mad at Kurt Angle for getting into professional wrestling, but it was like, what else am I. What do you want me to do? Do mma? I guess at the time was a little bit smaller. He would go on to become one of the greatest WWE people of all time. But I remember amateur wrestling people being mad at him. If they could take amateur wrestling and make it a professional league, that would be dope. Especially as somebody who's from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where, you know, we got a lot of wrestlers around us. Law cauliflower? Is that what you're talking about?

[Tyler Schmidt]

No, that's not what I'm talking about. But I know eight guys who would be top of the table in every single one of those sports you just mentioned, especially wrestling, because of how strong their hands and forearms are.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking About.

[Tyler Schmidt]

I'm talking about the freaking premier League.

[Pat McAfee]

The premier soccer's not happening.

[Tyler Schmidt]

The premierest of premier leagues.

[Connor Griffin]

Darts.

[Pat McAfee]

Darts. We're not getting those matchups.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Last matchups go. We basically have four Super Bowls kicking off at 2:00'.

[Tone]

Clock.

[Tyler Schmidt]

And yeah, sure, you might look at the headshots and see say, there's no way that guy can jog a mile. There's no way that guy's last meal wasn't under 4,000 calories. Guess what man, that's what darts is all about. Okay? So yeah, you can judge them by how they look, but why don't you judge them by how they throw?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm judging them by how they act, not by how they look.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Exactly. Okay, exactly. Huh? That's how they act. This is how they act. A lot of this lot of this lot of fish.

[Pat McAfee]

They do got a lot of my. Some of them do have moxie. Okay.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. 180s fish on. Finish it on a bowl. Do you know what that's all about? Because it feels like you don't respect exactly what it is all about.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. I want, I want these darters to deliver for the adult culture that you are describing there. But I'm worried that these darters are only think about darton when they're darting. We need them to start focusing on dart when they're not jumping. I can't be having guys pulling their triceps after 1 180. It looks like they're potentially going to have a heart attack with over kind of stimulation. Whenever some things start happening, they start, ah, they look redder than me. These guys are redder than me somehow.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then I'm supposed to think that they have enough oxygen in their brain to go stand up, have enough balance and deliver me a triple 20, triple 20, triple 20. I just want one of them to focus on it. I just would like one of them to say, I could be good at this. You can't be a pro athlete and have gout. It just doesn't work out.

[Connor Griffin]

What?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Exactly. All the king.

[Pat McAfee]

So sorry.

[Tyler Schmidt]

We got eight kings up there. Who's the last.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's the last player?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Who's the last NFL player? Who's the last NBA player? Who's the last MLB player to play through crowd I. I don't know. I don't think there ever has been. It's crazy to think. Oh, Foxy agrees with you.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Shut up, Foxy.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now. Joining us now is a man who probably has a good opinion on this.

[Connor Griffin]

I would, I Would assume so.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Listen, I'll watch for the entertainment. I don't know how they're playing all that music. Okay. I don't know how that's working. I do appreciate the artist, respect the Johnny B. Good so much.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Johnny B. Goode actually wrote in his will, Chuck Berry. He said, look, the only song this song is available for is Johnny Clayton. And not to mention see his favorite athlete, Stephen frickin Bunting the Bullet.

[Pat McAfee]

I just want these guys to just see us. I want these guys to focus on what they're doing, especially if I'm bet from across the pond on them.

[Tyler Schmidt]

All they are is focused men, man. They're so focused. They're sucking down McChickens and McDonald's like

[Pat McAfee]

there's no tomorrow because they're so focused. I don't know if they have that over there. I know D Bone does. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who might have an opinion on this. I assume he's been to an event. He's been covering sports for society basically for 30 years now. Zero time Emmy Award winner.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yikes.

[Pat McAfee]

Host of Get Up. Who celebrated eight years today, Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Greenberg. Yay, Green Day. How you doing, Granny?

[Mike Greenberg]

I'm doing great. It is a pleasure to be back on, but no one is happier about it, as you know, than my wife Stacey. I think I mentioned this to you when I ran into you in Phoenix the other day. She just said to me like two weeks ago, she said to me, how come you haven't been on McAfee's show in a while? And I said, I don't know. Maybe he's mad at me about something. And she gives me a look and she goes, what did you do? So I'm telling you right now, no questions asked, she was on your side.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Okay, good. We'd like to hear that. Shout out. Ms. Stacy, we certainly appreciate the hell out of that. And we're never mad at you, Greenie. Never could be around you. There were some questions, but we just decided to stay away as opposed to dive in. We should have done more of that. We know you're very busy and we're appreciative of your time. Getting a chance to catch up with him at elite meetings, coming out of a workout, let me tell you, Greeny, in like kind of. Kind of gym leisure. Yep. Yeah, Jack, he's in shape right now. Greeny, you're in great shape right now. And I'll say this also, I don't to want. Want to get, you know, too complimentary here. This quick because we're only a couple minutes in this thing. Skin was glowing, Hair was strong. Perfect. I mean, hair was very strong in there. Covering sports. 30 years. Good beard. Yeah.

[Connor Griffin]

Fastball was reaching triple digits.

[Pat McAfee]

We were picking things apart. Oh, no, let's not do that. Reasonable takes on everything. And then also some questions. It was. It was a great time the other day. Thank you for spending it with us. We genuinely appreciate you every.

[Mike Greenberg]

Well, it's always great to see you guys. It had been much too long. We caught up on a variety of things. I think I told you about the way the encounter began, which is that after I finished working out, there was this one little bathroom off to the side of the gym. And I was gonna go in there just to wash my hands. Cause I was going down to have breakfast, but it was occupied. So I'm waiting outside, and I hear from inside a toilet flush. And the door opens and it's Connor. And so we greet each other amiably. And he says, I'm gonna go down there. Our meeting is over there. I said, all right, I'll be there in a little while. And then I thought about it and I said, I'm not going in there. I'm not going to go and wash my hands in there. There seemed very little chance that I was going to emerge from that room cleaner than I was when I went in. So I went and found a different bathroom. So that was the beginning of our encounter on Tuesday.

[Connor Griffin]

Hello.

[Pat McAfee]

Morning, dump man.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. Little do you know, I smeared poop on your back. That's all to you.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance that that was on your seat in the room as well. We appreciate the fact that you trusted the room more than Connor's bathroom. On that note, a wonderful image walking out of the bathroom that early in the morning being Connor, and then Connor with a quick boom, right to you. And then moving. Wonderful way to start the day. Obviously, we're celebrating the NFL out there, and that's what the league meetings are as a whole. Kind of what the future looks like. How do you feel about this Kirk Cousins thing with the Raiders? I think the deal. I don't know if you've seen the way the deal has been put together. Genius. Here it is, a genius deal by the Raiders. They're playing paying league men. And then next year they owe a $10 million bonus, but they'll just kick that off the side. And then obviously the 8.7 coming from the Falcons on the offset language feels like a smart deal from the Raiders. I like It. How do you feel about it, Greeny out there?

[Mike Greenberg]

I feel great about it and I just learned about that, about the particulars of the deal as I was waiting to come on when you were talking about about it. And I completely agree with you that this is, it's a. When you look at the way the deal is structured, there's no losing scenario. It's a no lose deal for the Raiders. And most importantly, I have a philosophy that far more young quarterbacks in the NFL are ruined than are developed. And the Raiders are a team that has gotten almost everything wrong it feels like for such a long time. And now, now just in this little moment here, it feels like they've become the team that gets everything right. I loved everything that they did during this offseason, particularly signing Tyler Linderbaum. I love the way they're making aggressive moves to put something together around their young quarterback. The hiring of Clint Kubiak is an absolutely outstanding one. He's one of those guys in that line of offensive minded coaches who are going to be are going to give you as good a chance as you can have of developing a quarterback. I liked that they were trading Max Crosby obviously. The way that turned out out I don't blame on them. But to continue to put more and more pieces around him. And then most significantly, I love now that they're not forcing him to be the guy not just starting week one, but starting like July 15th or whatever day they all show up at training camp. You don't want to have everything be on his shoulders no matter how pro ready he is. And I think Mendoza is as pro ready as you can be for a rookie quarterback. I have always believed that getting a veteran in the there to mentor him is an outstanding move. Cousins is a perfect one. The combination of Cousins and Tom Brady being in the organization, I don't know how much better Fernando Mentosa could have it than he has it right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And on that note about Kirk Cousins, his personality feels like one that is going to gel well with Fernando and Fernando is going to gel well with Kirk Cousins and Fernando is not a guy who will feel like threatened by this and I don't think Kirk will either. Kirk's been in a situation before from the human side, let alone just on the field side of him being comfortable with the offense and being able to tell Fernando what he needs to be looking for in the offense in which the head coach is going to have for the entirety of his career. The human aspect really works too, I think, which I think Is a huge.

[Mike Greenberg]

Absolutely. Shefty made a great point about this this morning when this story broke. It happened while we were on, and I hadn't thought of it this way. Kirk Cousins did not choose to go to Atlanta with Michael Penix there. Kirk Cousins went to Atlanta believing he was going to be the starting quarterback, no questions asked, and then they blindside him by taking Pennocks, and he winds up in a role where he is part starter, part mentor. And because he is such a consummate pro, and I think from what everyone says, such a good guy, he probably handled it as well as that situation can be handled. He's coming to this situation with his eyes wide open. Everyone knows this eventually becomes Fernando Mendoza's team. And Kirk Cousins, I have to believe, would have had other opportunities in other places. So he's choosing this willingly. He understands that part of his job, maybe the most important part of his job, is to help Fernando Mendoza get ready. So he's doing that of his own accord, which means, I think, by definition, he's comfortable with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Fernando will be visiting the Raiders next Tuesday. Shefty just broke while Greeny was giving that answer. Shefty's on top of him, isn't he?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Always.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, man. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Tough to have combos with in real life or about music, all the combo. Yeah, he. He thought Andre 3000 was a part of the. The Black Eyed Peas, which was certainly.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Which.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, I'm not asking.

[Mike Greenberg]

That's closer than I would have thought shefty would get. Andre 3000 is from Outkast.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Mike Greenberg]

And. And that is. That is infinitely closer than I would have guessed Shefty would be.

[Pat McAfee]

He went for it, though.

[Quentin Richardson]

He did go for it.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He went for it, though, and we didn't expect him to go for it. But then he said, that's Andre 3000 there. I was like, all right, okay, let's go ahead and dive in a little bit. Shefty, He's a weapon, dude. He is. Okay, let's talk about him being a weapon and kind of just like a massive piece of the NFL's universe. Okay. The newsbreakers are a massive piece of the NFL universe. Obviously, it's a job that pays very well, but it also provides a lot of conversation to grow the league as a whole. I think the NFL is great at that. I'd assume you think the same exact thing. Now, Brazil just got announced for another game. Germany's getting annual games. England's getting annual games. Australia is getting Rams, Niners. That's a huge game. That is happening down there. And then coming out of league meetings, I guess a big initiative was like international, international, international. What are your thoughts on the growth of the NFL over the last 30 years? Because it does feel like they're maybe nowhere near their peak of just printing money. Seems like it's only going to keep going. Greeny, do you agree or know?

[Mike Greenberg]

Yes, for sure. I, I, Bob Kraft said it the other day. And this is what's going to happen ultimately. And I don't know exactly how soon. Every team will play 18 games and every team will play one international game every season. So there won't be any advantage or disadvantage. And you just do the math. And if there are 32 teams, that means there will be 16 international games per season and they will move them all over the place. The NFL has been printing money. They are essentially an ATA and they are almost exclusively a domestic product. If you think about the other sports that we consider to be our sports, I mean, baseball is enormous in Japan and has grown in other places, but it is ridiculously popular in Japan. Basketball. And in part because of the Dream Team and other things, basketball is a massive international sport. It's enormous through Europe, it's enormous through Asia. It's enormous through the entire continent of Africa. Most of these sports have. Hockey has enormous, enormous following in Eastern Europe and other places like that. Pro football is basically popular in this country and maybe a little bit in Canada and increasingly in Mexico. There are billions of people that are not yet part of their, of their audience that they are going to cultivate. So I don't know how quickly that will happen, but I don't think there's any obvious reason to think the world won't fall as in love with this sport as we have because it's just so incredibly captivating. So I would say there will, there will come a time when pro football will be as popular internationally as basketball is, let's say. I don't know how long that will take. Probably not five years, but probably not 50 either. So something in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 years from now, I think the league will have grown that much more. Now the question becomes, will those other countries have their own league leagues? Right. And in the NBA, there are professional basketball leagues all through Europe and all over the place. Japanese baseball. I've asked many people who are over there. They say Japanese baseball is a step above AAA baseball. That's how high quality the baseball is. Will there be hockey?

[Pat McAfee]

Hockey, a lot of international leagues as well? Yeah, a lot of them.

[Mike Greenberg]

Absolutely. Almost all of these sports have international leagues. So will all those people just become NFL fans, fans, or will all of a sudden pro football spring up in all of these other places? I don't know the answers to those, but I think there are. What I'm trying to say is there are tens of billions of dollars left on the table right now globally, by pro football, and they will go get it.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think that's why flag football is so important to your last point right there, World Baseball Classic. You just watch what it did, being a global thing, the Olympics. Whenever teams are sports are able to play in that particular thing, you get a, a unifying feel from all these different countries for said sport. I mean, the amount of people that became hockey fans in America because the boys and the girls won, it's like, hey, we like that. If football could have that in 10 years from now, that would be insane. But I think flag football would be the only way in because I think the pads and the helmet and everything that it takes to kind of get into tackle football, it's like the flags can actually be dropped at parks and like at fields and like, hey, put these on. And then once they start watching. And I assume the NFL is going to do a great job with the videos and commercials, socials and I assume the social and digital and how to play flag football, but it's like that's much more accessible for people, I think, that don't really know the game. I think it's let alone the women's flag football that can still. You know, there is so much. It feels like we're just, we're not even near what football could be. And we are grateful for that.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes we are, Greeny. Yes we are.

[Mike Greenberg]

For that I gotta tell you, my son and his buddy were over so 22, 23 year old guys and I'm watching college basketball. You know, it was the first weekend of the NCAA tournament and they were dying to watch the flag football, whatever this is two weeks ago when all those guys did. Logan Paul and all the NFL guys played against the flag football players. So I will admit that I would not have turned it on otherwise. But we wound up watching the whole thing and I will tell you, I was endlessly entertained. I thought it was outstanding entertainment. I thought seeing the NFL get guys trying to figure out how to handle it. Luke Keley got a penalty on literally every play. He just kept hitting people. Brady threw the best pass of the day. Tom Brady right now would be the starting quarterback on at least seven teams in the NFL. And I think when he said he was only kidding about coming back, I don't buy that for a minute. I think he actually is, or at least did give some serious thought to coming back. And why wouldn't he? He would be better than the starting quarterback on a lot of NFL teams. All of that said, I was endlessly entertained by the flag football and I would watch it again. If there were flag football to watch, I would continue watching it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I love Tom Brady. Got to showcase a little bit of the pastime now. His team would only score that one. That, that, that was it. There was not a lot of other highlights as Team usa. The actual flag footballers dominated the NFL guys. But yeah, Tom Brady showcased that. He still got it. He said that the owners weren't specifically impressed with the idea of an owner playing, playing in the league as well. What side are you on? Obviously, as we're going into a negotiation that's probably going to be a part of it all. But the flag footballers that we have for Team usa, I think we're going to be winning every world championship.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to take other countries to figure this one out. How about that move, huh? That was the one running full speed. He bugging by. Bang. And a boom, boom. And they couldn't. You just couldn't. And then Luke Kikley just to hell with that.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Screw this.

[Pat McAfee]

To hell with this guy. And Jalen Ramsey. Same thing. So I'm not 100% sure if flag football to tackle football will be 100% er for these international people that we get in, but the more people in the ecosystem, the better. And I'm excited for the game to continue to grow. Okay. The boys have a couple other sports questions if that's okay, especially in the time that we're in right now. I know you know nothing about the sport of baseball. We're kind of the baseball people at ESPN now. But Ty has a question for you. Yeah.

[Connor Griffin]

Greeny, I actually do view you as somewhat of a baseball historian. And this might be a little bit, bit, you know, overreactionary, because it has just happened. But listen, the, the pitch clock was huge, cutting games down. So we're not spending three and a half to four hours, you know, when you're watching every single game like I am. But do you think it's possible that ABS is the, the best development in the history of baseball? I mean, early. We're only six games. We're Only six games in. We got games ending on this. Like it has added just such a, a, a flair and an excitement to really every game. And it doesn't matter when it's coming, whether it's the third inning or the ninth or whatever part it is, like it has just been a rousing success so far.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yes, I agree. And I would quickly say that the people who run Major League Baseball are always criticized and sometimes very much deserve to be and never given any credit for some of the progressive moves that they make against the will of all of the traditional who sit out there and never want to stop telling you how much better the game was in the 60s. So they deserve a lot of credit for incorporating the pitch clock again against a lot of people's will and now incorporating abs, which I have been screaming for forever. First and foremost, the idea that umpires mistakes or officiating mistakes are just human nature and a part of the charm of the sport has always been ridiculous. As I wrote in a book in 2010, Mike and I did a book and we said the human element in sports sucks. It's the reason that we have deodorant. It's the reason we don't walk around smelling bad all the time, because we can do something about it. So why in the world wouldn't we use technology now that we can overturn terrible calls? I agree with you. The way they do the ABs, which has shown sort of the. There's like this drama, this dramatic build. For those of you watch tennis, you've seen the exact same thing. When they show you it's in, it's out, whatever it is, you build to that moment. Yes. Is it the greatest change or invention in the history of the sport? I'd have to give that a little thought. I mean, there was a time when they lowered the mound, There was a time when there's the dead ball era. There have been some pretty significant changes in the history of the sport, but in recent memory, I think the two that you mentioned, the pitch clock and the abs, have made it more watchable. See, that's the thing.

[Bret Michaels]

Thing.

[Mike Greenberg]

All other sports make changes in order to become more watchable. And baseball and baseball fans and baseball traditionalists have always been hesitant to accept that and that has never made any sense to me. So while I don't know if I'll say it's the greatest move they've ever made, I think it has been a rousing success and will continue to be.

[Pat McAfee]

You go back to the NHL work stoppage. I believe Gary Bettman Changed some rules to make it more watchable. Hockey because it was getting too. It got rid of kind of the goon. The goon kind of got out, but they said it made it better. The NFL has been very, very aggressive in how do we make this more fan friendly thing with the rules changes. MLB doing that with the pitch clock. I loved it. I loved everything about it. I hated the whole pat down, hand check, spider tech thing that they have in there. Like Mason Miller the other day comes out to corn. That entrance was incredible. Pittsburgh Kid, by the way, whenever you about talk and yeah, Pittsburgh kid, he's throwing 104, he comes out for that entire thing. It's a big entrance. Old buddy comes out with the horns in la, they come out to that ban and whole dramatic entrance and then who do they meet in the thing? The ump giving him a full pat down. It's like that can't be the end of him coming out here. Okay, can we at least wait until he throws a couple pitches to do that? Like how do we make that better? I didn't like that. Dad's like, yeah, welcome to the show. And it's the ump. I need your hands, I need you. Your hat, I need your belt.

[Connor Griffin]

I see your glove.

[Pat McAfee]

I need everything you got like that. That was just a weird thing to them to do, but it feels like that was a massive apologize for the pun here. Sticking point for baseball as a whole and pitchers. Is that accurate? Because they're sticking to this. It feels like in the most ridiculous time just to showcase that they're doing it. They are doing it. This is a real thing. Why is this such a real thing? And why don't they all just use it?

[Mike Greenberg]

How they do it is one thing that they are doing. It is the right thing. You're trying to increase, you're trying to increase the offense in the sport. So I'm older than any of you guys. I remember a time when everything wasn't a strikeout, when they didn't. When they weren't bringing in guys who were throwing 104 in every inning. So the, the offense, as the game went on and as the pitcher's arms wore down, it was more exciting to watch because you would see base hits and you would see guys getting on. And if you give pitchers unfair advantages, you allow them to violate the rule. Either the spirit of the rule or in this case the actual rule in ways that benefit. It would be like changing rules in pro football to benefit the defense, if you'll notice.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we don't want that.

[Mike Greenberg]

50 rule changes in pro football in the last 30 years. Every single one of them is intended to create more offense. You want more things to gamble on. You want more things to things for fantasy. You want more things that are going to bring more people to the game and more people into the tent. So you can quibble with how they're going about doing it. I won't disagree with you there. But that they are doing it so that pitchers cannot have an unfair advantage I actually think is the right thing to do.

[Pat McAfee]

I did kind of quibble there a little bit if I had to say so myself. But I appreciate you laying out why we wouldn't want that as a society. So go ahead and pat them down then. I want big. You mentioned a lot of different errors there in the development science. Human science was a big era for baseball as well. I remember that one. We all did. We all watch that. Then rules obviously everybody can't be just tight, you know, we can't be 280 pound baboons every day. That just is not a healthy thing. That's supposed to. You can't be five eight sir and come back at six four. Like that is not how this can actually go from a health perspective. But if we're getting, I mean it's natural. Humans see big hull like we will pay attention and that. I also think the stars performing is a big deal. This Shohei guy. Can you tell me a little bit about this? This dude? I think he's driven to be a pitcher and to prove that he's an MLB pitcher and everything like that. I think that's his natural mentality after we got to talk to him a little bit. I'm not saying other people haven't found that out, but my feeling after talk to him is like oh, this guy wants to be viewed as a pitcher. Like he would like to be viewed as a good pitcher. So it seems like he's going to do that this year while also raking for the Dodgers. You as baseball historian, baseball lover, can you try to explain this for me to explain it a little better? A little bit better. Like the pat down that the umps did. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

[Mike Greenberg]

Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop

[Pat McAfee]

by from 30 for 30 podcasts. Did you say someone got shot?

[Tone]

Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down.

[Pat McAfee]

The key to this case.

[Mike Greenberg]

It's Brian.

[Pat McAfee]

An hour before he died, he was

[Tyler Schmidt]

on the phone arguing with somebody.

[Pat McAfee]

This might be a hit.

[Tyler Schmidt]

You want the truth.

[Mike Greenberg]

They just want a conviction.

[Pat McAfee]

Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.

[Mike Greenberg]

He's the best player that ever lived. I don't think that's. I don't think that's an exaggeration at this point. He is someone who, if he were to pitch every five days, would right now probably be the betting favorite to win the Cy Young. So if you think about it, we've seen pitchers win the Cy Young and the MVP in the past. Not frequently, but it happens. Most of the time. Voters will not vote for the pitcher as the MVP because they'll say he has his own award. And I've never actually agreed with that, but let's even say that is the case. Pitchers have their own award, it's the Cy Young Award. And position players have their own award. It's the MVP award. He could legitimately win both. He is inarguably the best offensive player in the game, and he is on the short list of the best pitchers in the game. That's never happened before, certainly 100 years ago. And beyond that, pitchers would also bet. And Babe Ruth is the most famous example of a guy, guy who was a great hitter and a great pitcher, but never, and to this extent, never, never over this prolonged period of time. By the time he was hitting more home runs than entire teams were in the late 1920s, he was no longer pitching. To be as dominant a starting pitcher as there is in the sport and the best offensive player in the sport at the same time has literally never happened. Or if it has, it did. Not only hasn't happened in this century, it didn't happen in the previous sport century. So I don't think it's an exaggeration right now to say he is the best player that ever lived.

[Pat McAfee]

The goat. Okay, yeah. Happy to see that we're a part of that. And I, I hope he's on because he's already been on the mound for a World Baseball Classic championship.

[Paul Skeens]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

He's already been on the mountain, ninth inning for that. Got the dub. It'd be sick to see him game seven kind of Handling that thing. And then also.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Why?

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah. Or walk off. Why not?

[Pat McAfee]

Why not? And then on the flip side, doing the. The other thing, he's. He's special. And he seems to be so locked in, especially with everything that has happened around him. Greeny, like that. That's all just like a blip. Obviously, in his past, in his recent history that we have kind of learned of this sensation. The greatest of all time, you call it. But there's been a lot of. There's been a lot of here and. And. And when you got to focus on a tiny little baseball, I don't know how he's been. I mean, that's an incredible. And then there's two streaks happening right now that are just like outraged, just. Longest on base streak in MLB at 36 games. Oh, yeah. Longest score scoreless inning pitching streak in MLB, 22⅔. And what if. I mean, Bruce just asked this question as he reminded me of this graph or this tweet from mlb. He's like, what if this just goes forever? What if this never ends? What if that number goes to 180 games and this guy just continues? There's a chance that could happen.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Good show.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, we'll follow along with all of it. Okay, let's pivot away from big baseball. Even though we've fallen in love this year, I don't know if you've witnessed this. We've. We've done the baseball this year. I don't know how long it's gonna last, but we've been doing it because

[Mike Greenberg]

the sport is better. I mean, it's more exciting to watch for the reasons that we've just outlined. It is. It is more exciting to watch a baseball game than it was seven or eight years ago. And I think it's only going to continue to go in that direction.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'm a simpleton. You may. You make it better. I'll go that way. You know, I think I'm probably a good looking thermometer. You know, how's this guy feel? He's a dumb dipshit. That is probably a good idea. Baseball good right now. You know what else good? College hoops. And it's different. It feels like. Go ahead, con man.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah, Greeny. I feel like the final four has a lot of juice. I believe we got a Hembo stat earlier. This is the first time both games are under two or three point spreads. Yeah, here it is. Two points rather. How do you feel about this weekend? Arizona, Michigan? Feels like a dream matchup for the Final Four. Dan near national championship matchup. And then UConn Illinois. The Yukon finish was incredible. And Illinois has kind of slowly dominated a lot of teams on their road to the Final Four. What do you kind of expect out of Saturday and then inevitably Monday?

[Mike Greenberg]

Illinois is really big, so I watch a lot of Big Ten. I went to a Big Ten school, so I watched the Big Ten all year. Illinois is really big, big. I would. My. My instinct is to say that I think they win that game, but after what I saw Connecticut do on. On Sunday, I. You just can't bet against them because that was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen this play, this moment that you're showing right now. I think now that we've had some time. We did the show on Monday morning and we. We. We were almost wall to wall with it. But then I had a couple of days that I was traveling and thinking. I think it is. I think it goes with. With the single. Among the most dramatic moments in the history of the sport, like those one shining moment montages, all that stuff that you see. It goes with Leitner, it goes with Chris Jenkins, it goes with Lorenzo Charles. I think it's that significant when you consider who it was against, when you consider that was in the Elite Eight. And I think it has to go with right in the group with the greatest moments in the history of the tournament and of the sport. So I wouldn't bet against Connecticut, but I think. I think Illinois is the better team and I think they win Michigan. Arizona is like I heard Charles Barkley say, that's Ali Frazier. They've been overwhelmingly the two best teams. That game Michigan played on Sunday was over in the first 10 minutes against Tennessee. They're ridiculously good, but I think Arizona has been better. And I think. I think the single best player on the court is Acuff. So if I had to bet on it right now, I think I would bet that. I would bet Arizona, Illinois, Wyoming wind up playing for the championship on Monday night. And I would bet Arizona. I think they've been the best team in the tournament. I think there were moments all year where they looked like the best team. And I think in the end, they are the best team.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Arizona's outrageous. Obviously have knocked off some big names in their run in this co opied who committed on our show to Arizona, who has football family in this entire thing. He's been special, man.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He's breaking freshman records all over the place. Then you go back to that Yukon, the shot you. You're talking about being in the pantheon of March magical moments. March Madness magical moments. He's freshman from Indiana, sends his team back to Indianapolis, which is where he's from, basically right here. I mean, there's just so many storylines around all the different games. March Madness's numbers are up immensely. I don't know if you saw that Greenie. We're. We're touching 19 million for some of these games. Obviously, sports are fantastic, but these types of things are back and good for society. And the Elite Eight's good. Final Four is good. These guys got the mentality. They want to win it all. Pete Thammel just reported that Dan Hurley was quoted as saying in his press conference today, we came here for rings, not watches.

[Tone]

Okay.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Love it.

[Tone]

Good to know.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess you get watches for the Final Four.

[Tone]

Oh, I did not know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So probably asked them about the gift bag, potentially how that whole thing went. We. We would like to be perfectly clear. We did not hear his actual quote. We are just strictly trust Pete making up the context around Pete Thamill's quote that he has given here. But they certainly asked him about how nice that watch was and how many watches he's got. And bar came right out of his mouth. He's insane. Is this how insane? In a good way. He loves. He's passionate. He loves. He loves his team. This man is a maniac. Is this college basketball like since the beginning of time? Because Bob Knight, obviously, we remember that. I got a chance to watch Coach Huggins. I mean, he was an intense guy. Coach K, obviously pretty animated over there. It feels like college Hoover hoops has a lot of passion, a lot of pageantry, a lot of emotion and a lot of head coaches that are kind of the staples of the sports, who are very charismatic, I would say in its entirety. Is this how it's always been, Greeny, and what are your thoughts on it?

[Mike Greenberg]

Yes, well, because players have always come and go and the coaches are the constants. The coaches have largely always been the biggest stars in collegiate basketball in particular. You know, even the greatest players in college basketball historically would only play three or four years, whereas the coaches are there forever. So when you think back to ucla, yes. If you know about it, you would think of Alcindor and Walton, but the reality is you think of it as John Wooden's run. You think of Coach K and Duke, you think of those eras because the players come and go and the coaches remain the same. Michigan State basketball is Tom Izzo at this point more than it's Magic Johnson, that the one thing there with her. So I had him on get up on Monday morning and I really regret that I had not seen this moment at that point. I don't know why I didn't see it. I don't know when that video went viral. I raced right out of the studio on Monday morning at 10 o' clock and raced to the airport to fly to Phoenix. So it wasn't until I got to Phoenix, I landed whatever time six, seven hours later that I saw this. And so I so regret that I did not ask Hurley what was what the hell is going on there? Because I mean, I never, I Bob Knight, I never saw him do that. I never saw any coach, no matter how intense they are. I have no idea what that moment is about. I know they've both downplayed it and obviously there was no outcome, but can you imagine if the official were to call a text and the outcome of this game actually turns on that? So I don't know what in the world he's doing there, but that's something I've never seen a coach do.

[Pat McAfee]

According to our source says close to the situation, they're telling us that he couldn't hear what the ref was saying. The ref was trying to tell him something. He couldn't hear what he was saying. So he leaned in and then he has a very good relationship with said ref because we know he does have relationships with refs. So it just kind of. That's how it all came to be. I think that's why both the ref and he downplayed it. And I think a lot of Coach K, I think immediately said like, thankful that the ref did not decide to make that about. Like it was interesting how everybody a part of it spoke about it and then all of us outside were like, that's an insane thing to happen in real time as outside the bubble. But Coach K, I think he said like in there, you know, like there's just a little bit different. And they were talking to each other. He was saying something to him. Nonetheless, insane storyline of this entire know here.

[Mike Greenberg]

The quote I saw from Dan Hurley, and I don't know if he was kidding, is he said that he thought the ref was coming in for a chest bump. And I'm thinking to myself, the ref is not supposed to check the coach.

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty cool moment though, after the game

[Mike Greenberg]

or at any point now, can you imagine if, if that had actually happened, if the ref had come running over, hey Coach, what a moment. I'm thrilled to have been on the court. Let's check like that's not something that an official does either. So it's just a weird looking moment in the basketball game. And again, I have. I am so regretful that I hadn't seen it. So I didn't get a chance to ask Hurley about it on Monday.

[Pat McAfee]

That would have been so sick.

[Mike Greenberg]

Are they tapping each other up in that rest of what happens?

[Pat McAfee]

Could you imagine a full.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Yeah, hate me, Hurley.

[Mike Greenberg]

That's not what happened.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that would have been so cool if it happened, if they would have done it. Then he goes to the next ref, next ref comes in it, the whole, the whole line. Oh, that would be amazing. I thought there was a chance before we reach out to our source that he was potentially like maybe thinking that that ref wanted Duke to win and like was maybe some calls of him going, what, now we win? And then that not being like. Because you can definitely believe that that's what he was doing there. And then they said no great relationship. Trying to hear what he was saying and then him saying just. I mean, I think he does just say stuff though. I think that is a part of the game up there. The boys love him though. I mean, old Buddy Mullins who made the shot said he's his role model, he's his mentor, he's everything. And he, he does yell at him. He gets after it. It feels like that's how you win in college hoops. And we're excited to watch this Final Four this weekend in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. I think they're going to do battle out there. Let's go back to the NFL here. Tone has a question for you.

[Tone]

Yeah, Greeny, earlier in this conversation you talked about NFL teams ruin ruining young quarterbacks. I'm glad you brought up the jets so I didn't have to do it. And you're also a big fan of

[Pat McAfee]

the draft 30 minutes ago.

[Tone]

Yeah, I remembered it. I wrote it down. You obviously host the draft. You host a draft podcast, First Draft with Mel and Field. So I wanted to bring up. I saw on get up this morning you guys did an alternating mock draft or you showed the alternating mock draft where Ty Simpson was taken 33rd to the Jets. Do you think jets fans will be mad about that with the all the draft picks they have in 2027 and the quarterback class that is supposed to be coming out in 2027. Or do you think jets fans, fans would be okay with that early in the second round?

[Mike Greenberg]

I think jets fans would be okay with that. I think that there is some logic. I think it was Tim Hasselbeck who Said today there is some logic to packaging. The jets have the 33rd pick and the 44th pick, to packaging those and moving up and taking him somewhere in the first round, if that's what they decide. If they identify Ty Simpson as a guy they believe can turn into a great player. And as you guys well know, there are very mixed opinions on him. Everything historically about him, there is trouble. So I told you this the other day, McAfee, but for those who have not heard, I think this is an important point. One year I was. When I was still hosting Mike and Mike, the draft was in Chicago, and I got on a plane to fly from Hartford to Chicago, and I happened to be seated just randomly next to Bill Polian, who I used to call the Frank Lloyd Wright of the NFL because he was the architect of all those great teams. And I. I really. I grew to know him and really, really like him a lot. When he was at ESPN and he kept.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no. Drafted me to a Bill pulling just so I get that in before granny went after it and he lost his. Sir, he's.

[Tyler Schmidt]

Oh, geez.

[Pat McAfee]

Your connection's on safe. It's on our side.

[Tyler Schmidt]

It's the Big Apple.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It says our connections on stage. He was just about to tell us everything.

[Connor Griffin]

Yeah, he's.

[Pat McAfee]

He told me he was giving us the key to life.

[Tyler Schmidt]

He's on the inside, too. Too.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll never forget there. Okay, Greeny, you're blurry, but the message still remains.

[Mike Greenberg]

I'm blurry, but I'm back.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, you are.

[Mike Greenberg]

This works. I think my signal is good. I hope that everything is good and that you guys can hear me. So Polian said to me, he said to me, you don't draft the outliers. You don't do it. Because everyone will point to the one success story of the guy who didn't have the 40 time and didn't measure the way you want him to. But what they don't show you is the 15 guys who failed. So you don't draft the outliers. So Tai does not check any of the boxes. 15 starts, he's only 6 foot 1. He doesn't have a cannon for an arm. There are all of these things he doesn't have that would suggest that there is risk involved. Now, I'm not an evaluator. I'm just an aggregator of what people say. There are a lot of people who know a lot about quarterbacks. Dan Orlovsky, George Rodgers, and many others who are super high on him. If the jets are high on him, Then it might make some sense to package their two twos trade into the back end of round 1A to make sure you get him and no one beats you to him. But secondly, maybe more importantly to get that fifth year. Because if he's going to be a developmental player, then you want one more year of him being tied to your organization. Before you make a decision with regard to next year's class, I will just say this if I could. If I could tell you how many times I heard people identify this year's class 2026 as the year that was going to be loaded with quarterback. We're going to have Garrett Nuss Meyer and we're going to have Drew Aller and we're going to have Cade Klubnick and we're going to have all of these and it's going to be loaded. There's going to be five first round quarterbacks in 2026 and now we're sitting here fighting over whether or not Ty Simpson makes it two. So I would not count on all of those things working out next year the way everyone anticipates. You don't sit around and wait. There's only one Arch Manning. If you identify the quarterback and you like him, you take him.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, we'll see Arch Manning at Dexter, at Texas SAR came out and said that they feel different this year. Things feel different this year. They're going to go on a run and we believe towards tail end Arch was. He's a bad Manning out there. He was a bad Manning out there. So maybe he'll go next year. Dante Moore also going back to Oregon for another year. I mean there's a lot of return back to college and say, hey, let's maybe get a little bit better before we head up to the NFL. And let's also make millions of dollars in modern college sports before we do that. Greeny, we can't thank you enough for taking time out of your life to chitchat with us, brother.

[Mike Greenberg]

Guys, it's been much too long. Don't be a stranger. Let me see. You will be in Pittsburgh, so if you have time for me, I would love to come by. I'll be there starting Tuesday night for the draft, so I assume you guys will be there all week or something close to it. So if you have time for me, I'd love to come by.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, definitely. We will certainly be out there. We will see you Tuesday or Wednesday whenever we get out there. We can't wait to watch you crush it on the first night of draft. And I Want to let you know, Greeny, if you want to hang out here for about a minute and a half or so. Yeah. Yeah. I got good news for you. I'm just eyeballing you from afar, you and your family. I know that there's some people that you hold in very high regard without ever having to really ask you how you feel about the person. You don't understand what I'm saying?

[Mike Greenberg]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So, you know, in Pittsburgh during the draft Friday night, a man, a yinzer, a legend, will be performing a free concert alongside Wiz Khalifa for the draft. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, a man who's going to get a motivational speech from Mike Greenberg as soon as he shows his face on this show to have a great performance whenever he performs at the draft in Pittsburgh on April 24th. Ladies and gentlemen, Bret Michael's the Poison. Yeah. Hey, Bret. Good to see you. Brett, how you doing?

[Bret Michaels]

You got me fired up. I'm ready to get in there right now and start.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, he is. Hey, Granny, why don't you let Brett know what. What type of thing he needs to bring to this draft? The draft's only gotten bigger and bigger. The draft is now a spectacle. The draft is coming to Pittsburgh, where Brett is from. It's going to be the biggest and best of all time. Grady, let him know what he needs to be thinking about as he takes the stage for the NFL draft.

[Mike Greenberg]

I'm telling you right now, Brett, first of all, it's a pleasure to talk to you. I've been a fan for decades, and I will tell you that having. This is my. This will be my sixth year on the draft. The draft has become like the Super Bowl. This is no smaller a gig. I want you to approach this as though this is like playing halftime at the Super Bowl. There's no difference. There's nothing smaller about it. The audience is enormous. The number. There will be more people there in Pittsburgh live watching you than are actually in the stadium when the super bowl game is being played. Yes, I consider this the biggest. Go out there and consider this the biggest gig you've ever had in your entire life and just destroy it on that Thursday night.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey.

[Bret Michaels]

Going.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

I'm going.

[Pat McAfee]

He's right. He's ready. He's ready to bring. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, it's Mike Greenberg. Thank you.

[Mike Greenberg]

Wait.

[Bret Michaels]

I just got to say, I'm a fan also.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we hung up on him.

[Bret Michaels]

I'm fired up right now, Pat. I'm fired up.

[Pat McAfee]

Brett, he didn't hear that we hung up on. No, he's still there. Hey, did you hear? He's a big fan of yours, too.

[Tyler Schmidt]

I'm still here.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yes, I did. That makes my day. I thank you.

[Bret Michaels]

I'm a football fanatic. I'm going to see you there. We're going to talk life, football. I said many times that. That sports football, especially music, saved my diabetic life and. And gave me inspiration. You just got me fired up. It's ridiculous. I get chills. I'm fired up.

[Pat McAfee]

Me, too. Me, too. I'll pop to you out here.

[Bret Michaels]

Hey, GR Look, I'm not making that up. It's the yin are in me, downtown, everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I like that. I like that. You're killing it in that and. And grinny one time with us, please. Every rose has its th. My Greenberg.

[Bret Michaels]

I want to tell y', all, it's going to be. I'm so fired up. Whiz and I are going to bring it and I. We have a title for it. We're going to have the black and yellow. Nothing but a good time and nothing but a good draft. All killer head, no filler.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that's the title. Hold on. We got to go back to. Okay. Okay, but we got it. We got. Hold on. I didn't know I was gonna have to take the. Okay, so it's a black and yellow. Nothing but a good time. Nothing but a good draft. All bangers, no filler. Is that what it is?

[Bret Michaels]

All killer hits, no filler.

[Pat McAfee]

All killer, no filler. Okay. Black and yellow. Nothing but a good time. Nothing but a good time.

[Tone]

Great song,

[Tyler Schmidt]

but a good time.

[Bret Michaels]

Oh, you're getting me. Look at me.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, Brett, let's talk about this honestly. Genuinely, you are Butler, Penns p. Pittsburgh man. And you've obviously went on to have immense success. Obviously. Every Yinzer proud to see another yinzer have great success. You love the Steelers. I think you have been very adamant and open about how much you love sports and appreciate the ste. Steelers. I assume this was a massive call. Whenever you're asked to perform at the draft for the city of Pittsburgh that will never get a Super Bowl. This draft is the super bowl. So this is massive football event in Pittsburgh. I assume you were very, very elated whenever you got the call for this, Brett. Is that accurate?

[Bret Michaels]

Beyond accurate. First of all, on a very sincere note, I want to say this. When I got the call about doing this, I was talking with everyone about it. I'm a. I'm 100% guys guy. As you as a fellow Yinzer, we're. We're 100%, guys. And I. I just want to say it was like a bucket list dream come true. Besides, I also told him, you don't ask me to come up and perform at this on Friday night. I said, I'm gonna take gaff tape and gaff tape myself to the podium, so one way or the other, I'm gonna be there. And I had duct tape all ready to go. I was going in. I was going in.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that. If you would have taped yourself there and Roger Goodell had to come out and stand at your him for every single draft pick, that would certainly be a great way to get a part of the Pittsburgh draft. You and Wiz going to be performing together. How's this go?

[Bret Michaels]

So here's how. Me and Wiz, right, We. We got together. We met at Jay Glazer. We were throwing a party. We were raising a big charity event for the fires that happened. And long story super short, we went there. I was jamming. I brought up some stuff with some friends of mine, and we were on tour. I said, let's just grab the bank. Band went over and played acoustically for a lot of people. Wiz and I started just singing songs, doing stuff together, and it became. That's where it all kind of started right there. And we said, we're gonna take this to the draft.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so are you singing together? You're doing your. Your song, his song, together songs?

[Bret Michaels]

Here's what we're gonna do. The way I feel we're designing a set together.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Bret Michaels]

And I gotta say this to Whiz and his team and Will and everybody also from Pittsburgh and our team, we. Everyone is getting along unbelievably great.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Love that.

[Bret Michaels]

Everyone's like, here's how the stage could look. Where are we going to put the dj, the. The double drums? And then we're going to mash this setup. And I think the way we'll do it, when we hit that stage, do a couple of ours, couple of theirs, and then come together and do one big grand finale and. Or throw it into the middle of the two and just mash it up. But nothing. Nothing but hits from both of us.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. All killer. No filler, baby. It's black and yellow. Nothing but a good time. Nothing but a good draft.

[Mike Greenberg]

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package. For no additional cost. Visit Activate to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. 911 where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19 year old Sarah Str. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide?

[Pat McAfee]

At this point, nobody knows.

[Mike Greenberg]

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 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies. Wherever you get your podcast.