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Pat McAfee
People, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this big sports Wednesday, May 6, 2026. This program begins now. Sports are the greatest. And playoffs are happening every single night in the NBA and the NHL and keeping us wildly entertained. And we can't thank the athletes out there doing it enough for everything that they're putting on the line, even some guys. Okay, maybe Mr. Vanderbilt for the Lakers last night. Four years on the team, mostly a defensive specialist in a game one against Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City, getting their asses beat actually dislocates his pinky so much that it pops out of his skin. And the Oklahoma City team sees it and get immediately disgusted. What do you got going? Oh, geez, we got, oh, oh, the boys, the lads in the back saying, oh, that's disgusting. Now we're hearing obviously that he's going to have to get that stitched up, obviously put the bone back in the skin, but that's possible at any time. That any of these players injure, obviously can be much worse than just a pinky popping out of their skin. But that is certainly something that is very gruesome and disgusting. So we appreciate what all these guys are going through every single night for us to be entertained in the sports world. The NHL swinging a hot bat. And guess what? The hottest bat of them all might be in Colorado. Over there, this Mile High team in the Avalanche, they're bigger, stronger, tougher and better than you.
Con Man
Yep.
Pat McAfee
I mean, that's just what they are coming into the Stanley cup playoffs. Everybody that knew hockey, which is obviously not who we are claiming to be, the super duper hockey experts, but everybody that is deemed hockey experts, go. I mean, that's just tic tac toe in the playoff. That's against a very good Minnesota Wild team. There's basically playing with them, toying with them. That's goal. That's goal. Everybody's goal. McKinnon's killing people and also scoring goals. This team coming into the playoffs is being talked about as, baby, being one of the best in the history of hockey with how great they are with the run that they can go on. And they're proven to do just that. They are pounding teams and it's not just scoring more goals. Height. It's not just scoring more goals. It's beating the shit out. Here's Quinn Hughes, obviously American legend. We appreciate him as McKinnon, star of the Colorado Avalanche. Obviously, superstar Quinn Hughes lost an edge a little bit there, but let's look at this one here. And night. Night. That's down five two. The Minnesota Wild guy getting bodied off the thing by the star of the other team late in the game. It's just like this Avalanche team is rude. This Avalanche team is strong. And this Avalanche team will actually go ahead and bang bunch of ref right in the head as well. It is a Avalanche run. Kind of like an Avalanche happening in the NHL playoffs. It'll be exciting to see who can keep up with them. The NBA, obviously, always delivering. We have Gary Bettman, the NHL commission, Kendrick Perkins joining us today. Cam Young, PGA champion multiple time now this season. Obviously an absolute superstar. And Pete Crowe Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs joining us. So we have a pretty big little sports day here. Thankful for it all. Also, Junior Rap Sheet will be joining us in a matter of moments because there's big NFL news. Let's go to the toxic table at Boston. Connor and Toxic Tone. Con man playoffs delivering every single night. Always having a little bit of controversy as well, you know, always a little controversy. Last night, LeBron James was facing his biggest underdog spread in the history of him playing the playoffs. Fifteen and a half points. And I thought to myself, as somebody that is a LeBron supporter, has been since the beginning, LeBron's going to war right now. The biggest he's ever, you know, had to kind of take on. I'm a ride with him. Okay? I'm a. Why not? I never know if this will happen again. I'm a ride with him then. The other thought was, I just watched the Knicks just absolutely pummel a team.
Con Man
Oh, yeah.
Pat McAfee
And his Oklahoma City team has kind of been a team that is not scared to kind of pummel a team. And would this Lakers team get pounded by this Oklahoma City team? There's certainly a chance that that could happen. Is LeBron about to lose by more than 15 and a half? I don't care. I'm riding with him. So I ride with LeBron plus 15 and a half. I also bet on Shai to have at least 25 points because he scores 20 points literally in his sleep every game.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
What happens? Shai doesn't score 20 points for the first time since he's 12 years old or something like that. I forget the number years. It's been forever since he's done it. So I lose that bet. LeBron plus 15 and a half. No, no. Where near Shea scores 18 points and they just pummel the Lakers. LeBron was asked afterwards, like, hey, how do you think you keep up with this team? He goes, I mean, let's just be honest, Luka Doncic is Luka Doncic because he scores more points than anybody else. He averages like 37. We don't have 37 points. Do you know what this game would look like if we had 37 more points out there? That would certainly be great. But the thought about the conversation about this Oklahoma City team is obviously JJ Redick attempted to eliminate sga. Every basketball person that we talked to this morning was like, J.J. redick is a little bit of an extremist. He's certainly going to do what he has to do to try to eliminate the rest of the Oklahoma City team. Absolutely dominated. Con man. And you ended up picking, I believe, Oklahoma City minus 15 and a half. Whenever you were push coming to shove to Gamba a little bit, I think. And you looked up what happened in the regular season between these two teams. This might be a four, no more, oh yeah, oh yeah type series here and I don't like that at all. Con man.
Con Man
Yeah, you're referencing the four. No, OKC was 40 against the Lakers in the regular season and their average margin of victory was like 29.9 points. So 30 points. They were basically beating the brakes off of the Lakers consistently. Luka Donkic, you mentioned, I believe he got hurt actually against OKC in the last game that they played against one another. Now the whole like, Hey, 37 points is a difference. We're missing Luka Donkic definitely huge. I saw yesterday they were talking about Donovan Mitchell being number two in playoff points per game, you know, per, you know, every single year, whatever, all time. And Luka Donkic is actually fourth. So it is a massive loss. OKC is also dealing with their second best player, Jalen Williams being out. That's huge. You know, you think about that. So both teams a little banged up, but yeah, this is why the NBA playoffs are just different than the NHL playoffs, you know, the NBA playoffs. We're talking about the greatest basketball player of all time getting the doors blown off his team by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Like that doesn't really happen very often.
Pat McAfee
You put a pause there real quick. You just said with like an exclamation point.
Toxic Tone
He did.
Pat McAfee
Foxy. Did you hear that? The greatest of all basketball player of all time. It's got a nine year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler here joining us. D. But you look incredibly cool. Great week. Appreciate you traveling up here as always. Love it. Conor just, I believe kind of put a stamp on. He did. He kind of just put his flag down. What are you talking about?
Con Man
I don't know why we're doing this
Darius J. Butler
very.
Con Man
I've never been a Jordan or LeBron guy, but when it comes to just basketball as a whole, he's the only guy that's top 10 in every single category.
Pat McAfee
Dba Connor's just saying the same thing. Kyle Hamilton saying, Baltimore Rich. It's sad. Some people will leave this earth and not think LeBron is the greatest. Got to be like living life in black and white. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of upgrades. You know, now they got 8K, 9K. He's saying, hey, you're. You're talking real old school. If we're not talking about this guy being the greatest, I would like to let everybody know I do not participate in this particular debate strictly because I think they're playing two different sports.
Darius J. Butler
I think.
Pat McAfee
I think they're playing two different sports.
Toxic Tone
I feel like you've participated a lot over the last week or so.
Pat McAfee
I think the sport that was being played. Okay, that Michael Jordan completely changed, completely evolved, flipped on its head. Certainly by far absolute dog in the history of dogs. I think he's the greatest in that particular game.
Darius J. Butler
Okay.
Pat McAfee
This guy. I do not have memories, really, without this guy being the best player to ever walk. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm 39. I got my second child on the way.
Kendrick Perkins
Okay.
Pat McAfee
I'm into a second career. Pretty deep into this thing. Yeah. This guy is still doing it.
Toxic Tone
Amen.
Pat McAfee
I don't know how the most playoff games, the most points, the most this, the most that, the most, but he does it. Have Michael Jordan's killer instinct. He can't do what MJ did. I haven't seen him go cradle underneath the thing, and it's like, okay, are we nitpicking everything? Two different sports. LeBron would have been great back then. Jordan would have been great now, right now. Greatest of each sport, sport that I'm alive for to watch. LeBron's definitely the guy. Last Dance did not help. I had a lot of people tweeting me, telling me that I need to watch Last Dance and, like, learn basketball a little bit about what Michael Jordan did. And it's like, really, do I need to do that? Because I saw some misses. I had never seen those before from Michael Jordan. I'd only seen the makes. I had never seen a single mix.
Darius J. Butler
Exactly.
Pat McAfee
And I was seeing some of the other people that were. He was playing against, and they were dribbling that ball as if they were on the Harlem Globetrotters as the highest dribblers. In the history of dribbling basketballs. I mean, it was just. It was tough for me. They would both be great. They're both the great.
Darius J. Butler
I'm on the fence.
Pat McAfee
They're both the greatest.
Con Man
There's errors like you. We can go all the way back
Pat McAfee
and I mean, I wear Jordans.
Con Man
I don't know why we're doing this. This is not my fault.
Darius J. Butler
We're going to talk.
Con Man
Go. It's like we should go all the way back to Bob Cousy. We shouldn't just go to Arrows. We should go to go all the way to the 50s Cousy then Russell then. I mean, of course the mic and how can we leave out the mic and drill? Then we can go to Dr. Dre and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But really, if we're talking about greatest of all times, I mean, it's hard to put anybody above Bob Cousy just because of what he.
Pat McAfee
No, you already know if you're doing.
AJ Hawk
I'm doing everything.
Con Man
Usually it's just LeBron Jordan if we're including everybody. Bob Cousy, baby. And you can throw in Bill Russell there too, because he won 11 titles.
Pat McAfee
Okay. I'm surprised you didn't try to sneak in Bird too, just because you smoke six in between. Larry's saying a lot of stuff.
Con Man
We've learned a lot about it.
Darius J. Butler
Larry's putting up Braun Emmons before Braun. But with that being said, 41 years old, he still kind of. Kind of did his part last night. Look, the team is overwhelmed, but it's the other guys. We always talk about the other guys. You talked, you saw, talked about, talked about JJ Redick and how he tried to take or limit sga, but the other guys were hitting a bunch of shots. That was not the case for the Lakers. Austin Reeves didn't really show up. Aiden had a double double, but he wasn't really impactful. Rui kind of did his thing. They missed a ton of open shots. And look, this is just a better team. It's a reason why they were 15 and a half point dogs. They'll win this series in. In commanding fashion.
Pat McAfee
Is SGA flopping? I'm seeing a lot of theatrics. I'm seeing a lot of theatrics.
Con Man
That ain't a question.
Darius J. Butler
Who's a bucky getter?
Pat McAfee
5:12 first quarter day now. Brick Center. I do believe on X certainly took some liberties on what was a flop, what was not a flop, what was maybe overdramatized. But a lot of it was happening in the first quarter, it felt like the tone was being set by SGA to maybe try to get a call. Maybe they wouldn't give him a call. So then the Internet went crazy. I think there was maybe a few floppy flops throughout the game by sga, but I think there's also a lot of. Like, he just lets people know that a foul just happened. You know, like, he's pretty dramatic. Yeah.
Con Man
Like, he is pretty kind of the league.
Darius J. Butler
You know, it's the league today.
Con Man
He's zany with it.
Pat McAfee
He's. Yeah, he's got a lot of pizzazz on his fouls, I think. Like, actual fouls, though. Like, I. After watching him live last year, and I keep saying this all the time, and I'm just trying to put into perspective how TV versus real life works. It's hard for me to act like SGA getting fouls is the reason why he's good whenever you watch him in real life. And it's just like this guy. This guy's everywhere all the time. And he's so good at basketball and he's so smooth. But I think he is a little bit overdramatic on the actual fouls because BrickCenter put one out where the guy clearly hits him. Clearly hits him in the elbow, but then he does a full. You know, like a full.
Darius J. Butler
Gotta make sure you see it.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. So I think there is a little bit of embellishment potentially happening, which I think is a soccer thing that happens as well. But I think SGA gets falsely accused of being a free throw merchant because they think all his embellishment are flops, if that makes sense.
Con Man
I think personally and just people, I think universally know how good he is, and they get more upset at the fact that he doesn't have to do that stuff. I think, like you mentioned the Brick Center. There's multiple in that video that were fouls for sure. But people who just watch it just. It's another reason to pile on him, I think the majority flailing. Yeah. That stuff. But, you know, and B, we see it damn near every night, people do that. Like, both teams argue about the other team doing it to them, but it's more so just like, hey, sga, we know you don't need to do this. So that's why people get so upset.
Pat McAfee
Sga, you play your game, Bob. They're in the middle of a dynasty right now.
Toxic Tone
Yes.
Pat McAfee
And they are very, very good at the basketball. Let's pivot away from the NBA, which we'll talk to Kendrick Perkins here in about 15 minutes. Can't wait to catch up with Big Perk. We appreciate the fact that he's joining us today. And the NBA has been awesome. Like, it has been a lot of fun. The NHL has been crushing it and the NFL always staying alive. Big news kind of broke yesterday, quietly via a CFIR tweet alongside Kalyn Kaler. The negotiations between the NFL and the NFL Referees association have progressed far enough that the union has scheduled a ratification vote on Thursday night. And they're not scheduling a vote for no reason. They think this is a vote that could potentially get passed. Now, will there be bickering amongst the Refs association and maybe a vote does not come back? Yes, possibly. I guess any time you have a vote, that is certainly possible. But I don't think this Refs association is one that is dissected much. They are, they are a tight bunch. So if they are putting it to a vote, I assume they've already made that decision. Congratulations to all football fans, if that is the case, to give us more information. Ladies and gentlemen joining us now, Junior NFL Insider at espn. Senior NFL Insider at NFL Network. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise. Reduce Ian Rapoport. What up, junior?
Ian Rapoport
I mean, I mean, come on. I also like how last time we spoke, you guys were debating Kobe and LeBron and Jordan and now I. Come on, you're still debating LeBron and Jordan every time before I come on.
Pat McAfee
Welcome to espn, baby. Welcome to espn.
Darius J. Butler
Welcome to the family.
Pat McAfee
Hey, great to have you. Great day. Do you have any thoughts?
Ian Rapoport
Is the next segment going to be how Micah doesn't get any calls? Because that's really like dating back to his Cowboys days, plus packers, plus ref controversy. I feel like that's sort of the next level of discussion debate.
Pat McAfee
We'll see whenever we get to that. It's right, right around the corner for sure. But. But LeBron's 41 now. Warren couldn't have a conversation. And I think a lot of people that have sat on these particular microphones haven't been of the age that we are. Like, I'm 39 years old. LeBron's older than me. So I have grown up much like how a lot of other sports media people grew up with Jordan as somebody they were a fan of. So I do think we come from a different perspective. But on that note, people do love watching it. We've learned. I mean, there is just watching the Jordan, LeBron.
Toxic Tone
Oh, really?
Pat McAfee
Yeah. The Internet stuff. Internet reactions are just immediate number.
Toxic Tone
I thought it was the.
Darius J. Butler
It literally happens. I would say just Speak for my group chats. It happens a lot.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, dude. It's an immediate buzz, which is why it became the ending. But we're not going to continue to do. No, we're done.
Con Man
We didn't mean to, you
Pat McAfee
know. You know, the greatest basketball player on planet Earth in the history of planet Earth.
Darius J. Butler
Rolling.
Con Man
I mean, that's because I thought it was just kind of a matter of fact. I wasn't even bringing it up.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. Which does become the full thing and I don't want to get into it. I didn't mention wraps in a car, raps in a car. He's got somewhere to go, got a lunchy on. Thankfully he is not driving. Please tell Ms. Leah we say thank you for the time here. All right, let's talk about the ref socks. Big pop. I miss Leah. Good to see you. Thank you so much for the time. I'm sure you don't feel like you're just wasting life away right now. So we will get to this as quickly as possible. The NFL Ref association putting this to a vote on Thursday night, we believe, because how tight the refs association has proven to be over the years. This means that this is something that is passing. This is a huge, huge piece of information as we look ahead to the next season. Because with the replacement refs of the past, it became state fair football and with how popular the game is, where the league is trying to go and everything else we got going on, especially with sports, gambling and amount of money being wagered and everything that's taken place. The replacement refs, I think would have been a detrimental blow to the NFL and its steam that it has going on. I think it's a big deal. Tell me how we got here, Rap and tell me what you think this means.
Ian Rapoport
I agree with you. I think this is a really, really big deal. And you know, it's weird because you have some topics like we just discussed that are hot button and people like have to get into it, have to weigh in, have to. This is sort of not one of them. You said, you know, used the word quietly. When you talk about the break of this like yesterday. I would agree because people. Okay, well, it's going to get done. Yes, I do think eventually it will get done. The real story would have been if it had not gotten done, what kind of disaster would it have been? For all the reasons you mentioned, it certainly seems like it's headed toward ratification. And you're right. If the ref association is scheduling a vote, you got to believe that they have supreme confidence that there's going to be a deal that their members are going to ratify. And as far as like what this all means and kind of, you know, looking forward, I would say it represents a pretty good investment from the NFL and from the owners in officiating, in training, in development, in, you know, sort of using the referees more than just like on Sundays or Thursdays and Mondays during the season. You know, making better use of them during minicamp, during joint practices, during training camp, sort of, you know, shortening the amount of dead time that they have and just getting them on the field to work. And I think that's, you know, that's something. Just more reps is better and I think that's something that's going to help. The other thing that I wouldn't be surprised to see is a little more focus on sort of accountability and less on seniority. Right. Like more of a focus on if you are good, you will get rewarded and we will see it, and if not, then we will not see you as much and you will not have as many high profile assignments. So I think those are sort of the hot button important points here is that this is going to lead to better officiating, which is good.
Pat McAfee
Okay, so the NFL wanted all those things. They wanted accountability, they wanted off season work, they wanted a little bit more of that. The NFL Ref Association, I believe they wanted more money. I believe that was a part of the negotiation. We can assume that both sides probably put their swords down for a little bit of an agreement. And do we expect the NFL Ref association to come out of this very, very happy and excited about what the new day could be alongside technology and development, the off season? Or is this going to be like a, a process of weeding out all the old refs that are going to hate everything about this and a newer class of refs that are kind of coming through now?
Ian Rapoport
There has been some, I would say over the last, like maybe four or five years, there has been some weeding out of older refs or refs that haven't been nothing related to age, but refs that have not been performing in a way that they wanted. So we've sort of already seen that. I would expect the Referees association, considering how much sort of drama was in this, how much angst and frustration all the way through. Once you get to a point where you're on the cusp of a deal, I would expect both sides to be pretty happy. But you know, this has been like, stressful. Like I started calling around yesterday when I started hearing this before Seyford and Kaylin scooped me and get owned.
Pat McAfee
I know, right?
Ian Rapoport
I know nobody would talk about it because they were kind of like, don't want to mess it up. Don't want to do anything to spook it or jinx it. Like, I think everyone's in a good place. I think they just want to get it done. And it is extremely good for the game that it will get done.
Pat McAfee
I think it is extremely good for the game. Shout out to the refs, getting it done before the deadline. Okay, that's them wanting the game to get better as well, especially if they're being tasked with becoming more accountable, which no group wants to contractually sign to. You know, I don't think that is something that necessarily a union wants to sign up for, especially when they haven't really had it for a long time. So thank you to the refs for getting that deal done and also shout to the NFL for getting a deal done. Understanding this a big deal, I think the money is going to have. I think there's probably going to be a little bit of a. If I had to guess, I think those refs probably got a good bit of more money. If I had to guess. And in. The good thing is none of us will care as long as they're getting better and accountability is real. And I think that's what the NFL had probably realized whenever they were negotiating. It's like, hey, if we have to tell the owners that we're paying the refs this amount of money, but the game's going to get better and nobody. The fans aren't going to care either way. Actually kind of a good thing. We do this way to get a deal done. That could have been a disaster.
Darius J. Butler
Nightmare.
Pat McAfee
A disaster.
Con Man
Yep.
Ian Rapoport
Last time was not great.
Pat McAfee
Oh, A.J. was on the field for that fail Mary up there. I mean, it is. That was just one play that people remember. That was every play, every down in the NFL because there's so many things. Putting the ball on the right hash or the left hash or in the middle or the yardage marker or spotting things or what ball is in the game. Whose balls are in the. I mean, just like so many. Just the logistical bullshit. That is not even like a real thing. That's every play. And then obviously in the NFL, professional football, if the ball is on the left hash as opposed to right, there's probably a different play call potentially. So then the ball is supposed to be on the left hash. We're calling to play in. Well, actually, the ball is now on the right hash. Now look, how is the ball on the right hash? Then somebody calls down. Yeah, it should be on the left hash. Got to stop thing. Hey, we're going over to left hash. That's second down now. Okay, that's second play of the game. I mean, that's just one thing. And with the eyes and everything with how the league is viewed, thank God they got way to go over there, Rod.
Con Man
Good work, everybody.
Pat McAfee
Way to go, refs.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Great job.
Pat McAfee
All right, let's talk about some other deals that could potentially be lingering. Obviously there's a lot of big name free agents still available, but it feels like one name of interest could have got a little bit more interesting. Yesterday, Stefan Diggs was found not guilty on all of his charges in a very public court case that was taken from his chef. He, Stefan Diggs has to feel very vindicated after everything that we saw in this particular situation. In case obviously it was very, very public. I assume there was a lot of people watching to learn what the details were on this around NFL teams to see where we're at, what we're at. What does this mean for Stefan's career, you think? As free agency looms and I saw him back on a treadmill already on his IG story, always working.
Ian Rapoport
Yeah, I mean, he has from the beginning maintained his innocence. Talked to agent, lawyer. Like, they have been adamant to wanting to fight this because they have, have firmly, firmly believed that he is not guilty for a variety of reasons. Like it will come out. It will come out. And then he had his day in court and found not guilty, basically, exactly like they said. I would say this. He is still, he's 32 or 33, still very good, still very productive. There's a lot that goes into signing him, but I think he showed last year with the Patriots with a really good team. Now, you know, the off the field stuff, obviously that got handled. But as a player, it seemed like it went well. Like, you know, there can be a lot buying for him. And I think there's been a couple places where maybe he's worn out as welcome in the right situation. It seemed like it went well and he was good and productive and reliable. So I would imagine the teams who were waiting for this have gotten the kind of answer that they had hoped. And I would expect him to have a pretty good market because, like, you look around and how many game changing receivers are there? I mean, no disrespect to a lot of those players. I mean, there still can be some guys who make an impact, but like, he's got to be close to the top of the list among really healthy players. Tyreek Hill would be in the same category. Obviously not healthy yet, but this was a very good day for Stefan Diggs, no doubt.
Pat McAfee
And Connor thinks maybe he comes back to the Patriots, especially with the June 1st trade potentially lingering with AJ Brown. Who knows what the deal would look like for Stefan Diggs after last year with the Patriots or elsewhere. He's always in the best shape. He recovered from an injury like, oh, yeah, with no problem. Let's talk. You mentioned Tyreek Hill there. Tyreek's been obviously a topic of conversation. Maybe going back home for a reuniting of sorts. D but has a question for you.
Darius J. Butler
Diggs had a miraculous healing. Almost seems like the same thing is going on with Patrick Mahomes out in Kansas City. Any update with the Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes?
Ian Rapoport
So they're gonna have OTAs in pretty soon, actually. And I wouldn't be surprised based on the words of Andy Reid, if he's out there, right? It's acl. It's lcl. The Chiefs have an excellent medical and training staff, so they're going to make sure that if he is on the field, he is out of harm's way and he's okay. The thing I would say is, you know, rehab sucks and players hate it, and it's miserable. And to allow him to be on the field is a little bit of a reward for the work he's done. He has been. He has been working, like surgery immediately in the next day for seven hours, like he has been working. So this feels to me like the team is like, you know what? You have earned the right to be on the field for OTAs. What I would say is this does not necessarily mean that he's going to be on the field when the season starts. That is all very different. And that's really more like medical and training, like milestones where he hits them. If he is not on the field, I think this team will be okay. And obviously trading for Justin Fields, they prepared for this. But either way, whether he's on the field in September or whether he's on the field in October, he's still not going to be 100,000% like he was. So they're still going to have to, like, run the ball and protect him for a little bit this season.
Darius J. Butler
All right.
Pat McAfee
If he's not 100,000, maybe he'll be, you know, 100 would be cool. 99,000 or maybe. Yeah, you know, and I know Justin Fields is over there. Nussmeier can move and spin it.
Con Man
Look out.
Pat McAfee
Okay. Nussmeier, commitment. He's seventh round traffic.
Ian Rapoport
That's going to be interesting. That's going to be really interesting.
Pat McAfee
I don't know. I don't know how he's going to be in the NFL, but I do know, like, he can spin it and he can move and he's got a lot of moxie. Yeah. So I think he'll be liked over there. But Justin Fields obviously has NFL experience and whenever he has the ball in his hands, he's the most electrifying guy on the field.
Con Man
Yes.
Pat McAfee
Now, when he throws it, his owner comes out and says, we don't have a quarterback to complete a pass. So Andy Reid fix that. We shall see. Maybe last question here before we have to move the NBA because they're in the middle of the playoffs. Go ahead, con man.
Con Man
Yeah. Rap Shedu is just kind of floated through the rumor mill, but. But Rogers to Arizona. Does that have any legs whatsoever or is he probably most likely going back to the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Ian Rapoport
No legs for that one. I certainly don't expect. Sorry to disappoint everyone. I don't expect that. I do not expect him to sign in Arizona. I expect if he is going to play, to play for Pittsburgh. And, you know, you're sort of getting to that point where you'd really like an answer, but we're in the same situation we've been, which is that, like, it's Aaron Rodgers. So you don't want to be like, hey, we need an answer. Because he might go, no, you don't. And then they don't like. They don't. They would like one. I would like one. Everybody would like one. But you sort of don't. So when he decides to play football, if he decides to play football, I expected to be for the Steelers. I expected to be for the contract where they sort of figured out based on the UFA tag. I just. You'd sort of like it to be before OTAs or at least minicamp, and that's getting to be pretty close here.
Pat McAfee
All right, we'll see how it all goes. We know he's busy.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
And then when he's done. Is he. He's getting busy again. Yeah, he's working out. Yeah.
Ian Rapoport
Working.
Pat McAfee
You mean like he's doing the apres lunch that you and Lee are about to go through? You know what I'm saying? You're the man. We appreciate the hell out of you and Leah.
Ian Rapoport
Thank you, guys.
Pat McAfee
See you, Rap Sheets. Goodbye, junior.
Toxic Tone
I did see someone yesterday say, and I can't remember who it was, it was on Twitter that, you know, Aaron did hate replacement ref. So maybe who's waiting to see if they get a deal done.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Phil Mary was also part of his legacy as well out there. Joining us now from the NBA, the association, man that got drafted straight out of High School, 15 year veteran of the NBA, a champion and a man who obviously lights up every television that he pops on formally would say carry on. After everything has kind of buried that. Got everything else that's brand new, ladies and gentlemen. Big perk.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Carry on.
Kendrick Perkins
Hey, I got greatness behind me, baby. I got greatness behind me. Was I listening, right? Did I hear Connor complaining about sga?
Con Man
I wasn't complaining. Perk. I wasn't complaining. I was just kind of saying what everybody was thinking.
Kendrick Perkins
Well, everybody need to stop thinking that and that narrative needs to stop because I could remember at one point in time we used to praise Michael Jordan for his ability to get to the free throw line. We used to praise Kobe Bryant for his ability to get to the free throw line. I thought all greats got to the free throw line. That's what Paul Pierce used to do when I was playing with him, when his. When he wasn't able to get. When his shot wasn't falling. I'm gonna get to the free throw.
Pat McAfee
And that's the truth.
Con Man
Yeah, I think it looked a little.
Kendrick Perkins
Let's not act like. Let's not act like selling calls just started in 2026.
Darius J. Butler
Thank you.
Kendrick Perkins
That's cool, man.
Con Man
Everybody from the NBA carry this guy's water.
Darius J. Butler
I'm sick of it.
Con Man
This is ridiculous.
Darius J. Butler
Everybody.
Con Man
We just said Michael Jordan.
Toxic Tone
We don't know more.
AJ Hawk
Did they all do that?
Con Man
No, they went to the bucket and they got fouled.
Pat McAfee
Expect and appreciate Paul Pierce. I love the way he operates. Hey, everybody needs to understand that truth. I love everything about him, especially Paul. Did he get wheeled out one game? He had to poop. Okay, that's different. He had to poop. Did he have to. He got wheeled out. Let not compare. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
Con Man
He had to poop. This is not the same as getting
Pat McAfee
wheeled out for no reason. It was poop actually pretty good content getting wheeled out.
Con Man
Yeah, we saw Lamar do it.
Pat McAfee
Kevin Nash, he had to poop too.
Con Man
Exactly.
Pat McAfee
All right, let's move along. Carry on. Let's talk about the OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER. LeBron James afterwards, obviously getting a lot of shit because he didn't answer Something exactly how they wanted him to answer whenever he said, luke, we got. We're missing a guy that averages 37 points. It's going to be hard to go offensively whenever we don't have that with us. What are your thoughts about the Lakers chances? How do you feel about the way JJ put double team on SGA and basically said everybody else has to score and they were able to do as such. Like, what are your thoughts? Is that as a whole, there. Is this going to be 4 0? This is going to be 40 over there. Well.
Kendrick Perkins
Well, number one, Braun didn't lie. So. He didn't lie. They are missing the. Luca led the league and scoring. They only scored 90 points last night, so obviously, yes, they're missing Luca, and they need Luca in order to stay alive or even be in this series. Without Luke, I got the Lakers getting one game. This is going to be a gentleman sweep, but the game plan was perfect. Like, you supposed to walk into a series and saying, you know what? We're going to take the ball out of the best player hands in sga, one of the most efficient players to ever play the game. No, somebody else is going to have to beat us. And that just shows you how deep and the depth of the Oklahoma City Thunder. And Chad Holmgren, wait a step up. Because what I wanted to see and what I want to continue to see is can he be a reliable second option? Can he be a Robin to sga? And he got off to a great start last night because we don't know how long J Dub is going to be out, and we don't. We don't know when J Dub, when he does return, is he going to be 100%? Probably not. We know how tricky them hamstrings are. So, again, LeBron knows what. What a championship team look like. He's just telling you, hey, we're going against the champs. We're going against one of the greatest defensive teams that we've ever seen in NBA history. Ain't nothing wrong with what he said.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I agree. And I'm on Team LeBron, though. And Connor actually said LeBron's greatest basketball player of all time. Actually, to start this entire show, we kind of got into that entire convo. What's that? You like that he took that stand there? Yeah, it wasn't a stand.
Con Man
It was just a throwaway comment.
Pat McAfee
It was not.
Con Man
I was not meant to be a thing.
Pat McAfee
It became a full thing because it's Obviously this guy's 41 years old and, you know, I. I Think you mentioned it about the first series. Like, if he wins this all by himself here, the goat conversation is over. But what he's doing, I mean, he's not done, right? He's playing next year, too, we assume, right? I don't know.
Con Man
He's doing a retirement.
Pat McAfee
No, he said he's not doing a retirement.
Toxic Tone
Oh, did he say that?
Con Man
Okay, okay.
Pat McAfee
See, haters, you said he's the greatest player on earth.
Toxic Tone
That doesn't mean he's not going to do a retirement Tour. We know LeBron.
Con Man
Tim Duncan didn't say, hey, next year I'm not doing a retirement. Tim Duncan just all of a sudden left in the middle of the night.
Pat McAfee
Okay, great. He's got. Yeah, right.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Con Man
Now that is how you do it. You don't even bring it up. He already brought it up.
Pat McAfee
And honestly, that's because we brought it up. Because he's the greatest player of all time.
Con Man
He deserves a retirement.
Pat McAfee
Okay, let's move along here. Let's talk about other basketball happen perk. We appreciate you. What do you think? You think he continues to play?
Kendrick Perkins
I. I think Bron could play. T's 45, to be honest with you. I think. I think he has another four years of this level of play. Like, real talk.
Pat McAfee
And I'm not.
Kendrick Perkins
I'm not even bs And I'm dead serious when I say this. What he did, like what he's been doing in this postseason, last night, he did his part last night. He was fantastic. He just didn't have the help. And guys in the back court like Marcus Smart and, and, and, and, you know, Austin Reaves, they didn't. They didn't play well. And one thing. Let me get this off my chest.
Pat McAfee
All right?
Kendrick Perkins
Can people lay off of Austin Reeves for a second, please? No, the guy. No, listen, he just. He just got back.
Pat McAfee
He's got a peg leg.
Kendrick Perkins
Two games ago. Two games ago. You know, it usually take at least five to 10 games.
Pat McAfee
Come on. This is what we're talking about.
Toxic Tone
Well, you know who's attacking him, right? You know who's attacking him, right? LeBron fans?
Pat McAfee
No. Well, that's why Foxy just put that up as Fast.
Con Man
It is LeBron.
Pat McAfee
He does need help.
Con Man
Help the King, you just need help.
Toxic Tone
King doesn't need help.
Kendrick Perkins
But what I'm saying is we know when a guy come off injury, he was throwing. He was throw right into the fire, man, like you need rap on his leg.
Con Man
Yeah, he's got that Caruso put him in a bag.
Darius J. Butler
Ant man tore his knee off his Leg and got back in nine days
Pat McAfee
and talk about 11 points, they might be cheating. I don't know what the Anthony Evers got going on. He should not have been back. That thing was disgusting. Now on that note, that series, you've made some predictions there as well. Go ahead, Dean.
Darius J. Butler
Absolutely. I know coming into the playoffs, I believe you had the spurs coming out of the west and maybe even winning this whole thing. And you've kind of changed your tune lately after that first loss. What's your expectations for Wimby in the spurs going forward?
Kendrick Perkins
Well, look, Wimby, the future is bright. It's just not this year. They're not getting past the Minnesota team. And look, Wimby gotta understand in these moments, I want him to continue to be a big man with guard skills. Going 0 for 8 from the three point line does not go get it. And I understand he's going against a physical team. He's going against one of the better defensive teams that we have in our league.
Pat McAfee
League.
Kendrick Perkins
But this Minnesota Timberwolves team, they're playing with a, a certain spirit, edge and tenacity. And it reminded me in this game one, in that game one that this team has a lot of experience. We're talking about a core group that has been to back to back conference finals. And when Anthony Edwards said I get another cuss word right? I always get two.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, yeah, maybe three, four.
Kendrick Perkins
When Anthony Edwards says said what the doctors are talking about, I'm playing. I ain't trying to hear nothing. I'm not sitting out. I am going on the floor and I'm going to compete with my guys. And he went out and did it in great fashion. That told me everything I needed to know. Coach Fitch is coaching his ass off right now. When you talk about the different lineups, when you talk about him empowering guys, maxing out guys, dealing with injuries, knocking off the Denver Nuggets, getting the crucial game one, Terence Shannon, all of a sudden he's empowered. He got the confidence that is coaching. That is coaching. We are watching a coach that is writing his own legacy right in front of our eyes. And I'm telling you this now, the Minnesota Timberwolves can win the NBA championship this year.
Pat McAfee
Oh, whoa, whoa, Park. I like hearing that. Especially if you're able to heal from a bone bruise from a hyperextension in nine days and be tell doctors I don't want to hear it. And then drop 18 off the bench and be an absolute stallion down the stretch without even missing a hitch. And is Go Bear going to be able to handle big, big Wemby. And then we were talking to some people around the league and they're saying if you look at the Minnesota Timberwolves outside of the 7 foot 10 guy, okay, that San Antonio, Minnesota Timberwolves are pretty physically imposing team. I mean, they're going through chess. They are. They're actually kind of about it. You're saying the big wagon, that is the timber wagon over there in Minnesota could potentially win the entire thing this year. Because I thought this is Oklahoma City's entire dance. I thought, I thought they were supposed to be the ones that'd be able to walk away with this.
Kendrick Perkins
Well, well, here's the thing. We don't know what J Dub is going to look like, but I will say this. Jaden McDaniels has been one of the best stories in this post season. If I had to give out an MVP award for the first round, he was getting the MVP trophy.
Con Man
Trophy.
Kendrick Perkins
It's not just what he did, it's how he did it. Right. To talk his noise and to back it up. He's already in my opinion the best wing defender that we have in this game. But now we're watching him getting to his bag. Offensively, Jay McDaniels is different. Right? And, and, and what he's doing right now, I'm telling you, it's just, it's just you gotta, you gotta give a lot of credit to Coach Fitz and that coaching staff for the player development and the, and the confidence that he is putting into these others. Outside of Julius Randle and Anthony Ellis, they are playing with an edge. And let me tell you, Chris Finch is petty as hell too. I love what he said after the game. They chose us. After the series, they chose us. He is playing a, a great. He is doing it his game, playing his own Point and last but not least, he is doing an outstanding job playing mind games with the officials. You heard what he said after games one, right? Yeah. Wimy had a lot of blocks and a lot of them were goal 10. That is putting it out there. I love this Minnesota Timberwolves team.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it sounds like you're pretty jacked up. I like Ant Man.
Darius J. Butler
Kurt might be overreacting. Cause all y' all NBA guys say every game Temple takes on a life of his own. Don't overreact. They stole one of the road. It feel like you overreacted right now. Perk.
Pat McAfee
Perk. You're not overreacting.
Kendrick Perkins
Listen, I, I am not a delusional Knicks fan. Right. Like the Knicks, they Fan base, they overreact. Like they the ones that had a parade because they won game one. I'm. I still think that series is going seven games.
AJ Hawk
Game.
Kendrick Perkins
I think that series is going seven games because what people don't understand is when you come off a tough seven game series and you have a quick turnaround, one you don't have time to prepare. Right. Like you can. Like your scout is different mentally and physically. You exhausted from all the energy you had to. To put out into that series and then you have a quick turnaround. I expect the 76s to be better. Here's why I'm not overreacting when it comes to the Timberwolves. When you know, you know. And I'm telling you, I could feel the energy through the television. I see a Roy sitting on the sideline, they chest bumping.
Pat McAfee
He.
Kendrick Perkins
He fired up. Is something that is going on through that organization that I wish I was a part of.
Pat McAfee
Okay, well you keep saying what you're saying. They might just adopt you in there, pal. I think the Timber Wagons are certainly filling up right now. Especially special Ant man is an easy person to get to.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I mean that is. That is an easy. Holy hell. I cannot believe this is happening right now.
Con Man
J. McDaniels as well, if they were
Pat McAfee
to win a title in Oklahoma City's league right now, wow would be insane. We appreciate the hell out of you. Big perk. Thank you for taking time.
Kendrick Perkins
I appreciate it.
Pat McAfee
Okay, so you got the Sixers tonight and you got the Timber Wagons. No, no, no.
Darius J. Butler
I.
Kendrick Perkins
No, no. I didn't say I had a six. I said I've see this series going seven games. That don't mean the Knicks is. Is, are not going to win. But I don't. It's not going to be a blowout again. We're gonna see a better version of the 76ers. Now I will say this. This is a must win situation for the San Antonio spurs this game too. If they don't win game two, they're going to get swept.
Darius J. Butler
Oh Lord.
Pat McAfee
All right, all right.
Kendrick Perkins
They're not going to. You're not going into Minnesota down 02 and expecting to get a win in that hostile environment where they're undefeated in the postseason. This is a must win situation for the San Antonio Spurs. This is not the Portland Trailblazers. Your ass could go down O2 if you want tonight and you go get sent home early. I'm telling you that now.
Pat McAfee
Ladies and gentlemen, that's 15 year vet and NBA champion Kendrick Perkins. He's talking about maybe the timberwagons becoming champion. How about becoming a champion in golf? Oh, how about winning the Players Championship earlier in the year, telling the entire world you have arrived and then go ahead and compound it. Cadillac champion from this past weekend, winner by six strokes. Could have been seven. Could have if he wasn't sense. Such a. A gentleman.
Con Man
Yeah.
Darius J. Butler
Great guy.
Pat McAfee
Stand up, lad. Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, Cam Young.
Con Man
Y.
Pat McAfee
How you doing, Bob?
Cam Young
Good, good. It's been a nice few weeks.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You've been living pretty good, huh? How, how is the mind? Pretty clear. Have you just kind of been enjoying it all? How have you kind of handled the massive success? Because, because I believe there's a stat about your first 103 events. I'm sure you've heard about the not winning. And then all of a sudden, hey, over the last few, we've been winning a lot. How has it been handling the success? It seems like it's only benefited your game.
Cam Young
Yeah, I think so. I mean, what I've said for a long time is basically that, you know, each, each good result you have is kind of proof that what you're doing works. And, you know, as more of that stacks up, it's easier and easier to believe in what you do. It's hardest when it's not going your way to kind of believe in what you're doing. And right now, things going well, I feel like it's been really nice to kind of see the fruit of that work and, you know, start to believe in what we're doing.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I don't want to get too deep here, but probably your whole family and friends and everybody, right? I assume everybody's like super pumped, like, hey, yeah, we've always said you're the guy. You've always believed you're the guy. Now you're getting a chance to celebrate. It in the world's getting a chance to celebrate. I bet you that's cool for the whole family. Yes or no?
Cam Young
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that is not me. Between, you know, all my kids, my in laws, my parents, there, there's a whole group of people that deserves probably a lot more credit than they're getting. So it's not, not all me. I just am the fortunate one that gets to do the golfing.
Pat McAfee
All right, well, shout out to you. Remaining so humble, obviously, as the bank account continues to massively grow. Oh, yeah, just grow through the weeks, obviously. Congrats. You all earned in the entire team And I mentioned your family. You know, obviously we learned your story. Your dad like PGA golf pro up there, Sleepy Hollow Club. I do believe. Lad from Scatterborough, Sleepy Hollow is the club. And then I believe you went to Fordham Prep down there in high school. Took the train down there. We did a lot of learning about you. New York kid becoming this golf sensation. But your dad, obviously, you raised. You're raised in the golf world. When that ball rolls on Sunday with you in the lead.
Cam Young
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
You're just. Your first reaction is, holy, I can't believe this just happened. And then now I have to say something, right? That is kind of how it goes.
Cam Young
Yeah. I just watched Scotty hit driver, driver onto the first screen and make birdie, and my ball rolls over. I'm like, man, here we go. So it's just one of those times. I mean, it moved. I don't think anyone probably could have seen it, but yeah, I mean, stuff like that, you got to think of it. If you're doing the right thing, good stuff's gotta happen at some point because of it, and at least you can feel good about what you do. So just one of those times. It was super unfortunate, but it did move. And I couldn't say that it wasn't me, so just had to take it and move on.
Pat McAfee
Well, I want to let you know, everybody talks about what they would do in the moment, what they would do Sunday. Okay. Scotty lurking, lurking. Lurking is the closer. He's always lurking, you know, and then you're sit. Just hit a beautiful shot.
Con Man
A lot of money on the line.
Pat McAfee
So much money. Legacy. I mean, there's so much in there. And everybody thinks about what they would want to do. I'd be a hero. Yeah. I'd call it because I do it. You actually, in the moment, did it. Except for that. Hey, good on you. Good on you. And I hope a lot of people have told you that, because for the good of the game and in our sport, if something like that would have happened, I'd say 35 to 85% of the people would not have called. Called it. Yeah, It's a good range. 35, 85. Yeah, it's like.
Cam Young
Because it could be big range.
Pat McAfee
Depends on when in the season is what's the game for one yet this year. Yeah. Now what does the season look like? Yeah, there's a lot of different things that could happen, but what we're saying is you're. You showcased your sport well in that moment, and it was a cool, cool thing for all of us. To witness. Go ahead.
Darius J. Butler
While we're on there, I just want to ask you, because there are so many rules in golf, and I feel like, you know, you see the guy have to come over, the referee. Is there one rule that you. Look, we have a high school golfer in our building who is admitted to cheating in every tournament he played in. Pretty much. But is there one rule that you would change in golf?
Cam Young
I would change. I don't know. I mean, golf is strange in that way because I feel like there's so many unique scenarios that can go on. We're just in the habit of calling a rules official pretty much no matter what happens, even if it's a very routine one that we all know, just because if they're there, you basically can't be faulted for it. So, I don't know. I mean, the. The ball moving one is pretty. Pretty relevant right now. I mean, obviously I wasn't. I wasn't trying to hit the ball. I didn't try to give myself a better lie. I had already. We were playing lifting in place, so I had already put it basically up on a tee. So there was no advantage to me doing what I did to move the ball. All I did was put my club down. So, you know, that's one of those ones that, you know, obviously there was no intent to do anything that was going to help me. I already had the best lie I could ask for. It seems like maybe that one doesn't need to be a penalty, but just kind of how it's always been.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, but now think about every single golf coach, every dad or mom trying to teach their kids how to golf. They say, hey, on a Sunday, in the middle of a tournament, you call this. This is like, you almost. It's a passing of a baton, it feels like of the sport to another generation. Whenever something like this happens, happens. Because there's been the alternate, right, where somebody at home caught something on the Internet. Then it became like a firestorm. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, I thought golf was supposed to be whatever. So, like, I love that you did it.
Darius J. Butler
I'll be that kid that's an up.
Cam Young
Like, he was up.
Darius J. Butler
He was up 6, 7, 5 strokes. If he was down a stroke. Yeah, do it.
Con Man
That.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, well, exactly. And also, I think Scotty even said to you, who cares?
Cam Young
Yeah, yeah, basically, yeah, he was. He basically just said that there's no way that you moved it. And I was like, well, I mean, I. The timing was certainly suspicious, but I don't really Think I moved it either. Who knows? So just kind of one of those. You just got to eat it.
Pat McAfee
Can Scotty, like, kind of testify for you there to the rules official, or is that just an automatic ruling there?
Cam Young
Yeah, I think it's just a ruling. I mean, I don't think anyone was watching closely enough to really see. I mean, you had to be kind of right on top of it.
Pat McAfee
Oh, my God.
Cam Young
To notice.
Pat McAfee
You're such a good guy. Let's move along. Okay. Hey, good for you. Yeah, Just thank you for doing that for your sport. Literally, thank you for doing that for your sport. Now, speaking of your sport, a lot coming about your sport, and we're not expecting you to give some political answer, but there's certainly some things brewing amongst the PGA Tour at this point. Go ahead, con man.
Con Man
Yeah, Cameron, if you don't want to answer it all, you can just tell me to shut up, and we can move on to the next question. But we had a very heated debate this morning just about kind of the reintegration of the live golfers with everything going on over there back into the pga. It felt as though the PGA live rivalry over the last couple years has kind of gone. Gone to the wayside, and no one really cares anymore, and we're all just trying to golf. As a player on the PGA Tour, how do you feel about kind of everything going on? I know Koepka is already kind of going through the process. Is that something you think everybody should go through? Should it be some, you know, different separate thing we kind of threw out there? Do they be the groundskeepers?
Pat McAfee
Maybe on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the tournaments?
Con Man
Say, Friday for the tournaments. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Hey, we're brainstorming. We're brainstorming.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Just.
Con Man
Just things that do. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Build the bleachers.
Con Man
Build the bleachers up. Take them down on Sunday, which is even worse sometimes.
Pat McAfee
Jesse, if you guys. We'll tell. Roll up, too, if you need any ideas. We can do all these things, but
Cam Young
let's turn them into construction work is kind of. That's what I'm getting here.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And then once they win a tournament, you can take off the construction hat.
Con Man
Then it's done.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, that's good. But on that note, we assume there is a lot of different feelings, because I think at the time of Liv starting, you were top 20 in the world. I assume that was a conversation with you about going over there. Massive amount of money, allegedly for everybody. And it did feel like it was a. You're taking the money, not going to be ever going to do business with PGA again. At the moment, it felt like that. Now we're at a different time. How does kind of the locker room feel about it all? And are you guys even being asked what your thoughts are at this point if you don't have any? All good too?
Cam Young
Yeah, I mean, I haven't been asked much. You know, it's. I feel like it's a little bit tricky because I think it's been great
AJ Hawk
to have Brooks back.
Cam Young
You know, he's a fan favorite. He's a great golfer, you know, great major championship player. So I'm happy to have him back. I think it's good for the PGA Tour, I think it's good for the game to get to see him more. But I mean, the tour did have the system that they put in place for him. They had, you know, the opportunity this January for some of those guys, a select few, to come back and Brooks is the only one to take that opportunity. So now, I mean, it's. It's not up to me, but I think the PGA Tour I'm sure will have, have. You know, I imagine they will find a way for some of those guys to come back, but I don't know if it will be as simple as it was for Bricks, you know, his relatively time wise, you know, he didn't have to sit out or anything like that. So I really have no good information on what will happen. But all in all, I mean, I play golf to play golf against the best players in the world, you know, that's one of the main things that drives me, is to compete. And I don't know, to me there's. There's a handful of really, really good players that are over there and you know, seeing them four times a year, I'd probably rather compete against them more. So if you're asking me, I'd probably like to see him back in some capacity. However they decide that's going to work out. And you'd like it to be fair to both sides, I think. I don't think there's any reason to unduly punish them coming back. But at the same time, like you said, you know, it felt like calling kind of an all or nothing decision to go. So yeah, you know, up to people smarter than me to figure out how it all is going to work out.
Pat McAfee
I genuinely don't know if it's smarter than. Definitely the people are smarter than us, let's say that. But I think it is like the diplomacy, diplomacy of how it's going to be dealt is certainly an interesting. It's very. Because the February 2nd deadline, I believe is the one you were referring to about books entering into. And I think his contract was up at the time him now Rumba has come out and said like, hey, my contract's not until like 2032 or something like that. And then, well, they said, well, what if the league is around him? It's just there's so many crazy conversations. I think all of us just want to see. We just want the leaderboard to be packed. But on that note, yeah, maybe build the bleachers, boys. Yeah, maybe after hammering.
Toxic Tone
Can't do what you did and just come back scot free.
Pat McAfee
Okay, maybe hammer and nail, you know, stacking them bales out there to get back into the good graces of the bartender. Yeah, maybe bartender, you get cut on
Con Man
Friday, guess what, you got to work the bar Saturday. Sunday.
Cam Young
Yeah. Eight hour shift, maybe Caddy.
Toxic Tone
Yes.
Pat McAfee
Maybe nobody. Just you walk. You just have to walk over and over again first. You are the opening tee too. Yeah, the opening. Throwing your ball. Yeah. Things is just something to think about.
Cam Young
But I don't think they want. I don't think they got. They want you in charge. I feel like you guys are.
Con Man
Why would.
Pat McAfee
We can make this a lot worse if that's what you're looking for. We would like to see the leaderboard pack though. And you talked about the four times a year. Go ahead, Tone.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, Cam, we talk a lot about here. Like when there's a young and upand cominging team, like they have to lose first before they can win a championship. You've obviously have top fours now in every single major. Coming off third at the Masters. Is that similar in the golf world where you like have to learn how to play to Masters, maybe learn how to not get the top, top spot at the Masters, Learn how to have heartbreak at a marriage major before you can go and finally get a major. Is that just a stupid thing for me to say?
Pat McAfee
I like that.
Cam Young
No, I think experience can help. I mean, I think it can go both ways. If, you know, you build up kind of too much scar tissue and it stays kind of in your head negatively, then it can hurt you. But I think for me, I mean, the main thing is just continuing to build belief and, you know, continue stacking results just so you have so much more to look back on. And you know, I've played, played golf and majors well enough to win and just haven't quite gotten over the finish line, you know, and I don't. I Don't think generally much fault of my own. This year at the Masters was, was a really nice chance, and I just didn't make anything on the back nine. I didn't. I didn't feel out of place. I didn't do anything wrong. I just didn't make anything. So I think in a lot of cases, yes, having some high finishes and, you know, getting some experience playing late on Sunday in the majors is great, but it doesn't stop, you know, young guys from coming out and having chances to win, too. So there, there's going to be plenty of instances with, you know, young, relatively inexperienced players winning majors, too. I mean, I'm sure there'll be more of that in the future. So. Yeah, it can be mixed bag and kind of depends how you treat it. I think.
Pat McAfee
Situations are situational, obviously. Ignorance can be bliss. You don't know what you don't know. Especially whenever you're just blindly in there. You have no idea how big it actually all is. And then, then once you get too many of those and it doesn't work out, then it's like, oh, no, now it's becoming a thing, which obviously everybody hates. But golf feels like that is a constant kind of conversation with everybody. Cam, I have a quick question for you. Nelly told me. Nelly Corda. Okay. Nelly. Pretty good player. Pretty good player.
Cam Young
Yes.
Pat McAfee
Came off back to back. Her and you winning. Yeah. You guys are doing.
Cam Young
There you go.
Pat McAfee
She told me to go Coca Cola. Okay. With my golf sword.
Con Man
Okay.
Pat McAfee
That's what she told me to do.
Toxic Tone
Maybe a little slower.
Con Man
Yeah, Coca Cola.
Pat McAfee
You were still watching every time.
Cam Young
Yeah, Coca.
Pat McAfee
Cola. Okay. I can do that with my golf swing. Can I technically take that thing up to here, over to here, to where you are, and then swing from there?
Cam Young
Yeah, yeah. I mean, the backswing is basically, you know, lift, hinge, and turn. So you could do them all in whatever order you want as long as you get up there and you can do it over and over again.
Pat McAfee
Oh, I can do it over and over again.
Cam Young
There you go.
Pat McAfee
Boom, bang, boom.
Cam Young
Yeah, Easy Cola.
Pat McAfee
You know, I'm not even doing the Coke at the beginning.
Sham Sharan
Sure.
Pat McAfee
Hey, can we get on a course at some point? Your guys's offseason, which I don't know what it is, and can we just see the difference of you golfing for us? Cuz I watched you at 12 at Augusta. You didn't say anything. Thanks for that. Left hanging in front of all my new friends.
Toxic Tone
Kind of dialed in.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Yeah. You're kind of focused there.
Cam Young
I Was busy. That hole was so hard.
Pat McAfee
So hard. So hot, too. It was so hot.
Cam Young
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
It was a thousand degrees at that hole, potentially. But, like, watching how locked in you guys are, with everything I would love to be able to do around. I don't think I've ever done around. Can I make that happen? It's kind of me putting you on a spot publicly here, but I would like to experience that. I think it would make me a better conversator about golf.
Cam Young
There you go. Yeah, we'll get. We'll get a group together in Florida.
Pat McAfee
Then you guys looking at that green was insane. Like, the amount of that was happening with all the thing. It was like, these guys are killers out here, and I've never even thought of any of this. Yeah, I would like to see.
Cam Young
Well, you. You. You get that whole. It's like six yards between the front bunker and the back bunker. It feels like it anyway. And you get the 11th flag stick and the 12th flag stick blow in opposite directions. And you're sitting there like, what do I do? And then, you know, that's why we're not looking up there in the crowd.
Pat McAfee
I think I was real bad. I was hit with a ball at one point. Hear the man, Ladies and gentlemen, an absolute sensation, PGA chomp Cameron Young. Thank you. I'll be back on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. I think we're gonna get beat at the golf course.
Con Man
Yep.
Pat McAfee
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Sham Sharan
That's the kind of brand this is.
Pat McAfee
No purchase necessary. Giveaway ends May 30th. Enter and find your closest Bucked Up@buckedupenergy.com Grab a Bucked up and feel like a million bucks. Sports are the absolute greatest. We got some breaking news out of the NBA, ladies and gentlemen. Sixers, Knicks. Tonight Ben Stiller in attendance maybe.
Con Man
Sure.
Pat McAfee
That's talks table at boss of Connor and Toxic Tone. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is right over yonder sitting in town seat as Ty is celebrating life for the foreseeable future. Yeah, yeah. Hey, Ty. We love you guys. Hell yeah.
Toxic Tone
How you doing?
Pat McAfee
Congratulations. So happy for you. Live from an attic in Ohio, ladies and gentlemen, a college football national champion, super bowl champion. I just got shown a tweet by a man. Ryder cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawker.
Toxic Tone
Like a funny tweet or Hawker.
Pat McAfee
How you doing, pal?
AJ Hawk
I'm doing good. I'm curious about what this tweet is you just read.
Pat McAfee
Well, the tweet was Joel Embiid at tonight. Okay. For Sixers, Knicks. And then I said Stiller was going to be in attendance obviously because he'll be there for the Knicks game per us. And then Bruce Brown just dropped into this little monitor and he said, just want to remind Ben Stiller, remember my man. Seriously, I thought we were good. Ben Stiller put me out to obviously his followers. Ben, we are good. But. But I do have to say what I saw Timothy Chalamet do.
Toxic Tone
He was.
Pat McAfee
There was something that I will hold in high regards now. Timothy Chalamet came through college game day, new ball. Parker Navarro absolutely crushed it. I mean, just absolutely killed. So I had him in. You know, Timothy Chalamet, also dune. I mean, Timothy Chalamet, you know, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady. That was the speech he gave after winning an award.
Con Man
Yeah. At the SAG Awards.
Pat McAfee
Sue sports super sports guy. Okay. So I was holding high regard. He could have certainly went to the Met Gal. He said, I'm going to the Knicks game. So we immediately had to judge his Knicks father, Ben Stiller, for not going.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
But then we heard, obviously it's a family affair. We found some tape from before the Met gala that I think will justify everything that Ben Stiller's saying to us. Let's go, Nick.
Cam Young
All right.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
You wish I was there. I wish I was there.
Darius J. Butler
Oh, quick.
Pat McAfee
Too quiet. Veteran in the game. So we know he'll be back. Yeah, it does. Grow up.
Con Man
Go to the game if you want to go, Ben.
Pat McAfee
Ben's a good man, Tim.
Cam Young
Fourth year in the second round.
Darius J. Butler
Happy wife, happy life.
Toxic Tone
They don't care anymore because in the playoffs a lot.
Pat McAfee
Are you gonna watch the game tonight or no?
Toxic Tone
Because it's the fourth time in a
Cam Young
row we've been to watch the game tonight. It's not like I've been in Madison Square Garden a ton.
AJ Hawk
I live here.
Cam Young
But yeah, you know he'll be there for all the finals games.
Pat McAfee
Listen, lunch is canceled due to lack.
Toxic Tone
Due to lack of attending basketball.
Pat McAfee
No, lunch is not canceled because of this, okay? We ain't. We ain't doing none of that, okay? He's no average Joe. He's allowed to do whatever the hell he wants to do. He's a Knicks heavyweight, this guy.
Toxic Tone
And he's not simple anymore.
Pat McAfee
He's a middleweight now. No, he missed the game.
Toxic Tone
What are we talking about?
Con Man
We made him bleed.
Pat McAfee
His die hard fan, we called him. Who took it? Jimmy Fallon, I think it was. Jimmy Fallon was there. Now granted his show immediately followed the game. So I think that was probably Tracy Morgan. I don't know if he had Tracy Morgan obviously in the building. He could have went to the Met gala. Peter Schrager was at the game. He could have went to the Met gala. Shabuzzi certainly could have wanted a Met gala. He ended up at game next. Yeah, one.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, he was there last year during the ECF as well, I think.
Pat McAfee
All Shabuzi really does is make bangers, by the way.
Toxic Tone
Oh yeah.
Pat McAfee
Every song I've heard from Shabuzi is an absolute smosh. So I certainly appreciate him doing that. But Ben, you knew we were going to have to point this out in sports world. Knew it was going to have to happen now. Orange tie.
Toxic Tone
You want us to just sweep it under the rug, didn't he then did
Con Man
that and what that's interesting.
AJ Hawk
His lady has a blue dress on as well too. Right. They were all new.
Pat McAfee
See when she was there, he felt like he had to represent obviously Blue Steel, it's fashion night. Had to do his thing.
Darius J. Butler
Actually he kind of half assed it that that's not that fit. Isn't goofball enough for the Met gal?
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's cuz he was not there. His body was there. His soul was at the Mecca. His soul was watching the Knicks do their thing to the 76ers.
Toxic Tone
So you can go to that and not be a goofball.
Darius J. Butler
I guess so.
Con Man
I don't like. No, if you do that when you get in there, they make fun of you a ton and then they basically force you to home.
Pat McAfee
No, I don't think that's.
Con Man
Yeah, if you dress normal, they basically make you a dunce for the whole night.
Pat McAfee
Whatever the case, we know Ben Stiller will be back and we'd like to let him know, with Joel and beat out and him back in the building and they lose, they're going to say it's him. Oh, no, they're going to say it's him. And I don't like that because we like Ben Stiller. We are big fans of Ben Stiller.
Con Man
Severance, dude.
Pat McAfee
It's super serious stuff. We even, like, we think he's very, very special talent for. For society. We want the bat for him. Obviously. We would certainly do that because he's a sports fan. On that note, you missed first game. They kill him. They kill him.
AJ Hawk
Yeah, maybe you should stay away.
Pat McAfee
Which he has mentioned. He has said, maybe I don't care. The next one, it's like, oh, fascinating.
Con Man
This guy doesn't want to go to games anymore. That's what I'm, that's, that's the read I'm getting.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, he wants the Knicks to win.
Con Man
Sure. No doubt about it. He doesn't want to do the whole song and dance, and he doesn't want to go anymore.
Pat McAfee
All right, well, that feels like big news. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, to kind tell us anything else that we need to know for tonight's show. Games a little bit later than I potentially thought, but certainly can hit a drive by if we need it. Ladies and gentlemen, Sham Sharan.
Con Man
Yeah,
Pat McAfee
We don't need a deep dive. Just need a hot five. What's going on in hoops? We don't need a deep dive. Ladies and gentlemen, Sham Sharania here. Shams. Okay, Joel Embiid. I out. This feels like a very big deal for the entirety of the NBA, especially with how Embiid had been playing against the Celtics. He was back all the way to being who we thought and hoped he could be. What happened and how long is this going to last?
Sham Sharan
Yeah, it's going to be at least this game. But I mean, so this is what, you know, I was on a call right before right as you guys are FaceTiming me, because I wanted to figure out what exactly is going on with Joel Embiid. And he's dealing with, with a hip injury. He's dealing with an ankle injury. And he was hoping in the lead up to tonight's game that he would be able to get both of those things to loosen up, to get both of those in, in, in. In the right place to be able to play. And I, I was told he spent all morning on the training table. They had shoot around this morning. They had other team meetings. He literally Was stuck on the training table trying to get treatment, trying to get his ankle and his hip ready to the point where he could try to play. And it just did not give. And the team ruled him out just literally about 10 minutes ago for tonight's game, the Sixers made the decision to rule him out. Here tonight, we know Joel Embiid's history. He's played through ligament issues in his knee, damage in his thumb. He's dealt with facial fractures, Bell's palsy in his face. And now this postseason, he came back after appendicitis, after. After just over two weeks, and we saw him get hit in that area. I think it was Mikhail Bridges who knocked him right in the stomach area, whether you want to call it a stomach, a hip. He's dealing with pain in that hip area now as well as an ankle.
Pat McAfee
Okay. The spread goes from 7 and a half to 10 and a half immediately for the Knicks to be favored. They've obviously, at one point in the last three games, have been up 30 over their opponents. First time that has ever happened in playoff. Feels like blowouts are happening, even though it won't take place for the second game that's happened happening tonight. Ant man, can you tell us a little bit about him? Obviously, last game it was a miracle, seemingly, him coming back after nine days of the hyper extension. Where's he at now after playing a full game? Are we just expecting the same thing from him coming off the bench? What. What should we. This guy's unbelievable.
Sham Sharan
It's. It's, it's insane. How often in football does it happen where a team is like, no, no, you're not playing. No, no, you gotta play it safe. And a player is just like, no, I'm playing thing and I'm good, and I'm going to show you I'm good. And that's literally the process that happens
Pat McAfee
all the time, every damn week, all the time. Thanks for asking. Thank you.
Sham Sharan
Well, I, I think in the NBA, we're accustomed to seeing 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3. Anthony Edwards. Anthony Edwards didn't go through any of that. He didn't go through any practice. He did a couple individual workouts, and he told the team, I'm ready to play, and I'm going to prove to you I'm ready to play. He passed all the medical testing that they had. They weren't expecting to evaluate him at all to play until after game two. They thought game three, game four at the earliest. But Anthony Edwards, he went through multiple different treatment options. I Heard he spent multiple sessions of the Hyperbaric Chamber. Reminds me of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Shout out to Dragon Ball Z fans. But he went through everything to try to see if he could play. And he was able to get on the court. And I do think. Think his knee's feeling better. And I think the hope is in game two tonight. Bump his minutes up just a little bit more and. And see what he can do. And another. Another injury news. IO Dsumo, who missed game one, he scored, I think it was 43 points in that game against Denver last week. In game five. He is set to. To. To play tonight.
Pat McAfee
All right. IO. Way to go, IO. So Goku is the. From the thing you're talking about.
Con Man
Yeah, yeah. He went Super Saiyan on that shit.
Sham Sharan
There you go. There you go.
Pat McAfee
BC which one is that? The one. That is a little ball.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
And what do you do? You guys do cards? Is that what it was?
AJ Hawk
Don't.
Con Man
Don't you guys me. Don't you guys me.
Pat McAfee
What was the one you said?
Darius J. Butler
You said Dragon Ball Ziga.
Pat McAfee
Dragon Ball Z. Is that the one where they run
Sham Sharan
like this?
Con Man
That's Naruto.
Pat McAfee
Is that from this one?
Con Man
No, different one.
Pat McAfee
What's this one from?
AJ Hawk
That was Naruto.
Pat McAfee
No, I'm not an eager eagle. That's the Gary V. Monster. Which one did he just mention?
Con Man
Dragon Ball Z. But Naruto is that one
Sham Sharan
knows all about Dragon Ball Z. He's holding out on us right now.
Con Man
I don't know.
Pat McAfee
It was pretty. It was pretty. I mean, Dragon Ball Z took over there for a while. Didn't let me get into it.
Con Man
There is actually a video game coming out that I am rather excited about. I'd play it for sure.
Pat McAfee
Dragon Balls.
Con Man
Yeah. Dragon Balls.
Pat McAfee
God, that's gonna be a good game.
Con Man
Hopefully a lot of hype. A lot of hype.
Pat McAfee
All right. Charms, we appreciate you, man. Thank you for bringing that nerd. Hey, May the Fourth been with you too the other day. We know that was probably a big day for you. We appreciate the hell out of you joining us here.
Sham Sharan
Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Con Man
Late.
Sham Sharan
Belated Cinco de Mayo as well.
Pat McAfee
Okay. You like to celebrate the Battle of Puebla in 1862 down there when the French got knocked down by the Mexican forces. That. That is something we like to celebrate as well. Shams. You didn't know that. You thought it was Mexican Independence Day. And that's how I know that you need to stop spreading that lie. Wake up. That's not what it is. Is. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen. Sham. Sh. Aj. I. I said that yesterday because people that we know. Not us. No, not us, aj. No. Nobody here. No. None of us thought Cinco de Mayo was Mexican Independence Day. None of us thought that.
Con Man
No. That's much different.
Pat McAfee
Much different. Yeah. We didn't go, like, okay, July 4th, but for Mexico, let's go ahead and have a good time. We didn't do that. People we knew did that because of
Toxic Tone
maybe 5th, 20, 25. You actually explained the Battle of Pueblo last year, too.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. That's kind of our mission at this point. It's like, hey, something. Independence Day. Also very cool. It's a huge deal.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
You should have seen this. 300 stories that happened with the Battle of Pueblo, and that's what Cinco de Mayo is. A.J. you knew that.
AJ Hawk
I did know that. I tell you what, my second grader knew that. He came home and explained it all to me as well.
Pat McAfee
Watch program.
AJ Hawk
No, not from the program. They actually. I guess at school, they were trying to teach him, like, the. Hey, this is what it is in Ohio.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. That's crazy. I didn't know you guys taught stuff over there in Ohio.
AJ Hawk
I do.
Toxic Tone
Well, actually, this isn't actually very impressive. It was against the French, so that was kind of what they thought.
AJ Hawk
You might be right. I don't know exactly how they presented
Pat McAfee
it, but that's the Ohio narrative.
Toxic Tone
Okay.
Pat McAfee
We won't talk about the opponent. We'll just talk about what they had.
Con Man
It's about us.
Toxic Tone
It was a really weak strength to schedule. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
It's about us. Just like the bunker. It wasn't French, obviously. I don't want to get into it. A lot of good things. We talked about it the other day. Talked about it the other day.
Con Man
French onion dip. We forgot.
Pat McAfee
Oh, so good. French toast. So good.
Toxic Tone
You don't like French onion dip?
Con Man
No.
Pat McAfee
All right, let's move along, please. Oh, I forgot about that.
Con Man
Thank you.
Pat McAfee
Says Christine Aguilera. Noted French Pittsburgh.
Cam Young
Yes.
Pat McAfee
Okay, so notice French.
Darius J. Butler
She's from the Burke.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, she is. She wasn't part of the all hits.
Con Man
Only bangers. Freaking. Let's have a good time.
Kendrick Perkins
Hell of a time.
Con Man
Tailgate.
Pat McAfee
I was bummed out about that as well. And Christina Aguilera. Cool. Could have definitely been out there crushing something. Yes. She'll be able to sing forever. She's the ends. Her, obviously. No problems at all there. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man that I actually saw in Pittsburgh in just an open lobby. Just. Just an open lobby. This man might Be the most humble would be just like too basic of a term to say relatable commissioner I've ever seen. Okay. Just walking around the arena like a. Don't just literally just walking around the arena. It was mind blowing to me. I. I did not expect this. Sit down right next to a nachos in. In Jack and diet. Literally right there. Have a ch. Sitting there talking to people, walking out. Go sit his seat, watch the game. Most casual, but also a man who's in the middle of quite a bump in popularity and obviously action for the league in which he is the commitment commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen, the NHL commission, Gary Bettman.
Toxic Tone
Yay.
Pat McAfee
Gary, how are you, man?
Gary Bettman
I'm doing great.
Cam Young
How are you?
Pat McAfee
I'm good. Last time we saw each other, my neck was a little bit.
Gary Bettman
But everybody wanted to see you. They could have cared less about me. You're the most relatable star.
Pat McAfee
Oh, thank you for that. It was in Pittsburgh, so a lot of people knew me. I'll tell you, I did not expect for us to be meeting where we were meeting. I. I thought for sure that was it.
Cam Young
A.
Pat McAfee
That was an aggressive decision as I was getting walked in there and I'm like the commission as you're literally walking through there. Hey, how you doing? Are you enjoying your. You actually like boots on the ground. Commissioner was so cool to see. Strictly because you love your sport, you love your league. It was very obvious. And right now we're in an up into the right time. Can you tell me about the league success that we're having? Ratings obviously through the roof. Obviously the new media deal has boded well, but why do you think the league and the sport right now is as hot as it is from your perspective?
Gary Bettman
That's a great question. So let me start a little bit further back. I think in the US Round one was the most watched opening round of the Stanley cup playoffs ever. And we were up something like 68% over last year. And round two is off to an incredible start. Saturday's game one on ABC between the Flyers in Carolina was the most watched round two game one on record. And Sunday's game one on TNT was the most viewed game one in the second round on cable. We were up in the regular season somewhere between 25 and 30% on our ratings in the U. S. And. And you know, it's a really good time and we don't even have the biggest markets. This is really about how good the hockey is. So to begin to answer your question, what's going on on the ice in terms of our competitiveness, how exciting and entertaining the Games are. Check that box. Secondly, I think four nations a year ago and the Olympics this year had an impact in bringing people to the game. Check that box. I think that heated rivalry for some people introduced a whole new group of people to the game as well. And so when you mush it all together, because it's never one thing, I think that's how you can account for it. But I've always said, and I say it to my people here, when we're marketing and promoting authenticity, how good the game is, that's more important than anything else. And I think that's what's driving us right now. And we've got a lot of great players doing amazing things.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think the sport is obviously spectacular. The US Olympics and United States winning will obviously bring a lot of patriotic meatheads to the table. Yeah, yeah. Our sport, women and men, we're better than you. Especially with, you know, Canada always being able to do that. I also believe the deal that you guys made media wise to have everything so accessible as opposed to how hard it potentially was before, is also brilliant. I think the rules that you guys implemented after the lockout or the holdout that you guys had way back in the day has made the game more exciting. I think you relaxing on the. The wanting to ban fighting there for a bit, but then you kind of relax on it. We don't want staged fighting if fighting is still going to happen. Like, I think you have kind of. I think you've done a good job, Gary. I just want to let you know that I think you've done a good job kind of finding the right content, product and placement of your league. I think you've done. You guys have navigated it very well and I think you're only up into the right from here. Don't you think the more people that see the game, the more people that love the game.
Gary Bettman
Well, first of all, thank you. Yes, we, we want the game to be accessible. Our relationships with espn, the Walt Disney Company, with ABC as well, and with Turner on TNT and their networks has been great for us. Easy to find the games. You're not searching. We're generally in one of two places. It's worked very well and both entities have done a great job of producing the games and promoting the games and scheduling the games. So. Yeah, but it all starts with the game fighting. We haven't changed the rules a lot. What's really happened, and you alluded to the rule changes 20 years ago after we lost the season. The fact is, we have, because of our system, extraordinary competitive balance. I think it's the best in sports. And so as a result, every team can compete and can afford to compete because we have a salary cap and revenue sharing. Because the competitive balance is so good, you need to have skilled players. You can't have players who just fight. Even if you're a tough guy and you're defending your teammate, and in the heat of the moment, you engage in a fight, which kind of acts as a thermostat on the game because, you know, it's pretty emotional, pretty physical, and the guys are carrying sticks. But the fact is, you're all. Your players have to be able to play or you really can't compete.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you can get exposed if you have a weak link out there. Obviously, everybody's bigger, stronger, faster than they've ever been, more talented than they've ever been. But I like the business will get handled. Last night, a ref caught a punch right to the face. On that note, AJ has a question for you. Commission.
AJ Hawk
Yeah, Commish. Obviously, NFL is going through some situations right now with their NFL or the ref union and everything. We hope they get a deal worked out. But when it comes to NHL hockey, I feel like you guys, you do a great job. We don't talk about the referees or the linesmen. We don't. We're not really focused on them. They don't seem to get into the, you know, the talking points unless something like this happens. And it's awesome. He just continues to do his job. But what do you guys do? I guess to train these referees, obviously have to be super talented to be able to skate, be in shape. But what is your program? I guess finding new refs and keeping them.
Gary Bettman
That's a great question. Stephen Whatcom runs our officiating program. We do combines over the summer. We recruit from all around the world. He looks for. For players who, you know, played in the Canadian Hockey League or in college, who couldn't quite make it, but have a feel for the game and can skate. And we do clinics and we recruit from all over the place. And then we work the officials, the young officials, through the. The ECHL and then the ahl, and then the good ones work their way up. You've got to be knowledgeable about the game. You've got to have a feel for the game. You've got to be passionate about the game, and you have to have the commitment to go through the rigors of being an official at the NHL. I don't think there's a harder job to officiate and our guys don't get the credit they deserve. I mean, they are moving with the flow of the game. They've got to skate like the players. It's physical. They got to stay out of the way. There's a lot going on really fast. And it is remarkable how good a job they do and how much they get. Right. And video replay for us has really vindicated their performance even more.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And I like that they've adapted with the video replay as opposed to fight against it. It feels like for. And it makes sense that it's ex players, a lot of them that are kind of getting in there because that's the chirps. The refs chirp. They're like, they do makeup calls too. Like, hey, had to get you for one.
Gary Bettman
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Pat McAfee
They call.
Gary Bettman
They, you know, they used to be the old thing.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, sorry. Definitely don't do that. But if there is a mistake, it does feel like the refs and the players are all on the same page on like, hey, this is how this has to kind of go. We love the synergy. It feels like that the refs have with the players because obviously they're all sharing it. And I'll say this, the refs are in incredible shape. I mean, we're talking massive quads. They're skateboard. They have to be.
Gary Bettman
You know, it's interesting, when I took over the league, you know, in the stone age, the fact is that we had two linesmen and one referee. I mean, and to think that one guy could have called it all was nuts. And one of the first things we did was say we need to go to a two man system. One to have more eyeballs, twice as many. But also it kept our guys in the game longer because they didn't have to skate quite as much and didn't have quite the same responsibility. But again, our officials are trained and recruited and critiqued on an ongoing basis. They're held accountable the amount of video that they get after each game and circulated among all of them if there's a particularly interesting or difficult call. I'm really proud of our officiating department.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you should be. Sounds like everybody's trying to aim for it. I think the NFL have a vote on Thursday to ratify a new deal with the refs association. Hopefully it models a lot of what you guys have going on. Now let's talk about the future of your game last night. Hey, you were Sinatra out there hosting this Entire thing. Go ahead, con man.
Con Man
Yeah, Gary, fantastic work last night with the lottery. It was very fun to watch, very entertaining. Hopefully this is something that even the NBA maybe considers doing as a whole. But the Toronto Maple Leafs end up getting the first overall pick pick. Of course, people on the Internet aren't happy, but specifically Bruins fans and Flyers fans weren't too happy about it. Was there a thought going into it about the fallout with the next couple drafts between the. With the unprotected pick and this being technically the Bruins pick, but it was protected, so now it's, you know, move forward. How is that whole thing going to work out?
Gary Bettman
Those are the terms of the trades. And because we have a lottery system and teams can move up frequently, the terms of the trade have a protection in there under certain circumstances, because I'm not sure anybody wants to feel like they've traded away the number one pick if that wasn't their intention. What was interesting about last night? And ultimately, we don't care who wins. We want the system to be pure and have integrity, which it does. But when you see the result last night, there's no incentive in our game to lose to get a better pick. The fifth team moved up to the first slot. The 19 team ranked in terms of inverse order of the standings from the regular season moved up to the second slot. And so if you lose more, it doesn't necessarily assure you of anything. Yeah, it may increase your odds a little, but not enough that anybody's perceived to have an incentive to lose. And I think that's the most important thing, both for the draft and leading up to it at the end of the regular season.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think with your sport, it feels like your culture is not of one to ever give up or try to lose in anything. So to have a system to benefit, that is, I think, a good thing. The Toronto Maple Leafs obviously are in the middle of a big change right now. They hire a new gm. People are really pumped about it. Sounds like that press conference went great. But the Toronto Maple Leafs, for American people that aren't like hockey fans, I think they're viewed as like the Dallas Cowboys in Canada. Lot of hype, lot of fans. A lot of fans everywhere. Not as many Cups though, you know, as the entire thing. So everything Toronto does, highly scrutinized. Is that accurate, Gary? Everything they do. And now Gavin McKenna going in to the mixer up there with Auston Matthews, maybe takes them. Maybe Toronto, maybe a Canadian club wins a Stanley Cup. That's all possible now because of the NFL draft. Lottery last night. You know, I think that that even
Gary Bettman
in the United States, the original six clubs, of which Toronto and Montreal are a third of the original six, they carry a cachet not just throughout our league and particularly in Canada, but they also carry cachet in the United States. And I think that that hockey fans in the US, While they pay attention to all of our teams, I think they particularly pay attention to Toronto and Montreal because of the histories that they have.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I like watching biz just kind of crash out, you know, it feels like there's a lot of them. There's a lot of Canadians that ride public, Canadians that ride with the Toronto
Gary Bettman
Maple Leafs and listen, the passion for the game, particularly in Canada, is great. I mean, in Canada, we're like, the NFL is here, but on steroids.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Second best in the world, too. Women and men's hockey. It's pretty good.
AJ Hawk
Not bad.
Gary Bettman
Pretty good. That was a subtle jab, but that's okay.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, for Canada. Now, Canada has certainly taken a couple of me as well. But on that note, we love the sport, we love hockey. We're very appreciative of it. Let's talk about what's happening right now. Not only numbers up, obviously, the style of play, you name it, everything's great. How we got to this point, certainly a conversation piece. Go ahead, Tone.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, Commissioner. Obviously you changed the playoff format about a decade ago, going away from the 1 through 8 and focusing more on the divisions and division matchups. I know it's a hot button topic every playoff. Every playoff season. Are you guys happy with the current playoff format or is there any thought of ever going back to the 1 through 8?
Gary Bettman
Well, some people have that thought. I personally don't. What we have has worked really well in terms of the series that develop, in terms of how the playoffs play out, in terms of the races to get into the playoffs with the wild card. Our regular season goes down to the wire for virtually all of our clubs. Maybe we had a handful of less teams that weren't in it for the last couple of weeks, and we get longer series as a general rule. We had six of our eight first round series win at least six games. That's extraordinary. You get more games, you get more compelling season. I mean, yes, there are people who are always going to have preferences for other things. One of the great things about sports, and particularly sports fans, is their passion and they're wanting to constantly debate things. But from our standpoint, mine at least, I think it's working well. And I don't see the need for a change. But we always talk about everything. Because if there are things we can do to tweak what we have and make it better, we're not adverse to at least considering it. If we don't do it, do you
Pat McAfee
think the Avalanche should have to play with somebody in the penalty box the entire game?
Gary Bettman
They're playing awfully well, as is Carolina, by the way.
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah.
Kendrick Perkins
So, you know, but.
Gary Bettman
But the playoffs are off to a great start, which is why the ratings is where we started this conversation. Are as strong as we. They are. It all starts with what takes place on the ice and how terrific our game and our players are.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, we're big fans of the Kayniacs down there. They've been riding down there for a long time now. They get a chance. Chance to potentially ride. That Colorado team, though, Looks. I mean, they're rude. They're rude, too.
Con Man
Physical.
AJ Hawk
Love.
Con Man
Physicality.
Pat McAfee
So, I mean, they are rude. They. They. Five, two. They're up at the end, still pounding. Hey, listen, we're still playing here. This is.
Cam Young
I mean, the.
Gary Bettman
The first game, you know, 15 goals. I mean, it. It was crazy. In a good way. It was Fun to watch. 14 goal scorers.
Pat McAfee
14 goal scorers. Gary. That. That is. Is. Yeah, I'd say that's an okay night for just a casual hockey fan to turn it on. Holy. Is everybody on the ice?
Con Man
Score.
Pat McAfee
Is this. Is this how this thing goes?
Gary Bettman
And then the inverse of that. I was in Tampa on Sunday night, and that series, every game was decided by one goal. It was incredible to see.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's been great. Playoff. Now, on that note.
Darius J. Butler
Go ahead, D. But, yeah, Commish, Pat mentioned seeing you in Pittsburgh last round. What's the travel schedule like now, and how do you decide which games to go? You can't. That Lulu hoodie might be hopping on the plane here soon. How do you decide?
Gary Bettman
I try to get to places I haven't been. When I saw Pat in Pittsburgh that week, I was in five games in five nights, and I was back in the office every day because we're in the middle of doing budgets, so I have to do my day job as well. So I bounce around, and I try to get to places when I don't have other commitments that I have to take care of in the office.
Pat McAfee
How's the budgets going? We're doing pretty good, huh? Yeah. Things are going well?
Gary Bettman
Yeah, we're working on work in progress.
Pat McAfee
Everybody always.
Gary Bettman
All the department heads always want to hire more people and spend more money, which is good.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Bureaucracy is great. Remember, meritocracy is the champ, though, and you guys certainly have all the talent in the world. Tell Paisano we appreciate the connection here and thank you for taking the time, Mr. Commish.
Gary Bettman
Pat, it's always great to be with you and your guys, so thank you for having me and enjoy the playoffs.
Pat McAfee
You're the man. He does look cool in that loop.
Con Man
It's a great hoodie.
Pat McAfee
We go back to this. Let me get back this P L sheet here. What's got going on here? The man, ladies and gentlemen, Gary Bettman. Yeah, Gary, he's in it.
Toxic Tone
Oh, yeah.
Pat McAfee
Every day he's in it. Anytime we talk to him, he's doing something for hockey. Anytime. There's never a time where I've accidentally interacted with Gary and he's not doing something. He is always in there. And that's like, you know, super growing league. Not saying the NFL doesn't have the hungry dog kind of motive, but you listen to Jesse Cole with Savannah bananas. They sold 102,000 tickets down there in Texas A. And him, it's like he's. He's thinking about still so much growth, like trying to become. It's like Gary Bettman and the NHL are still thinking like, how can we get this game to more people all the time. Like all the time. Not that the NFL isn't thinking that, but I'm just saying the NHL knows that it can still grow immensely and their sport is certainly only getting better. And they already have the business in place. They're already making money. It's like the NHL is in a great spot. And I think the more people that watch hockey, the more people love hockey.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Con Man
And it's hard to argue that the. There's other sports that can do what they can do. You know, it's probably the last sport where the lowest seeded team can go on and win the entire thing. Like even in the NFL, if you're talking about seven seed in the wild card making a run, sure, that can happen. Hasn't happened for a very, very long time, at least since they've gone to 14 teams, seven in each conference. Baseball typically not the thing because of the spending. NBA, we've seen it, really seven and eight seeds can't get the job done in the end. NHL, literally any team can have a hot goalie or someone who just, you know, catches fire. McKinnon, who's hitting everybody, scoring three points a night. That can happen in hockey. And it is one of those things. Hey, the more eyes we get on this thing, the more people are going to love it.
Pat McAfee
Really bright. It's on like day mode. I don't know what your phone is.
Con Man
Lights on to watch it.
Pat McAfee
Hockey is very bright.
Con Man
Yeah.
Cam Young
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
That ten o' clock game. You might as well just have a flashlight on in the bedroom.
Toxic Tone
Lot of white.
Pat McAfee
You know what I mean?
Darius J. Butler
That thing is just that puck. I'd be able to follow the puck.
Pat McAfee
No, yeah, certainly. I'm just saying it's a really bright game. That's what I'm realizing with these super late hockey games.
Con Man
And it gets loud sometimes.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. The barns get really raucous, which we love. And sometimes I'll have them fall asleep maybe and I miss the whole second period. And then middle of third period something goes crazy. I open my eyes. It's like I'm walking out of a casino in Vegas at 6am sure. The sun is just blinding me. That is what the ice is doing from the tv. So if we could somehow figure that out. I'd appreciate that that help. If you could just. I could have a setting on my television that'll basically say like hey, if you think I've fallen asleep, you know me pretty good at this point. Maybe we dial that fucker down a little bit because that thing is on phone, iPhone, flashlight all the way up.
Toxic Tone
Yep.
Pat McAfee
That's not a dial. That thing is. Is really white.
Toxic Tone
Just thousand percent.
Con Man
Maybe get some Boise State type rinks. You know the Colorado Avalanche. Let's get some blue ice.
Toxic Tone
Now we're talking.
Pat McAfee
We need to do the Savannah bananas of hockey. Yeah.
Toxic Tone
Yes.
AJ Hawk
Dark ice. Yeah. Put lay lay a black tarp under the ice.
Darius J. Butler
Cosmic leave my sport.
Toxic Tone
Cosmic.
Con Man
Hockey fans would love that.
AJ Hawk
Traditional fans will love this hockey.
Pat McAfee
But louder.
AJ Hawk
Brenda, glope.
Toxic Tone
That worked out.
AJ Hawk
I'll keep it loud.
Pat McAfee
I'll tell you, Liv was an ass. Execution of an idea that had a $5 billion budget.
Toxic Tone
It's not dead yet.
AJ Hawk
It was. What do you mean was? They're getting infusion of cash, aren't they?
Pat McAfee
I saw Louis Vuitton. Travis Scott's okay. I have faith in him. That was good to see. I thought he looked cool. Guy who's the new CEO of liv. I hope he does a great job. They've already used $5 billion. I don't know if they have access to another 5 billion. But maybe they won't need it because it's a completely different direction. And maybe he has great ideas. Feels like Liv is dead. It does feel like that's the case. People's contracts are for another few years. Rom's gone in there and said, hey, they're really good at contracts. Yeah. So I don't know how I'm getting out of this thing unless the entire thing folds, which I guess could happen in the future. But the PGA community obviously now has to live with how. Who do we let? Cam Young had interesting answers. Alvin put against the best man. That's what I do. I just.
Toxic Tone
Let's go ahead and he did, but he also. No, he didn't say. Just.
Pat McAfee
It did feel like you were going all in or not.
Darius J. Butler
There's a handful of them over there that he wants.
Pat McAfee
There's less to play against every week. Yeah, but.
Con Man
And that's the only ones we really care about, too, as spectators.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I think we are kind of pitching this entire conversation just for a few people.
Toxic Tone
Oh, yeah. Two to three.
Pat McAfee
Now, those people, though, were the ones that were poached to go take off. Gone. Yeah.
Toxic Tone
Oh, yeah. So that's why they were the biggest of factors.
Pat McAfee
Did you see us groundskeepers, maybe for the tournaments? A couple of those. Aj did you see that?
AJ Hawk
Yeah, the old construction worker angle, like.
Con Man
Yeah.
AJ Hawk
Make them work their way back into a tournament. Yeah, I. I guess it's not the worst idea.
Toxic Tone
What if they're a tee box? We've seen John Daly do it before.
Pat McAfee
What do you mean?
AJ Hawk
Put the tea between your butt cheeks.
Pat McAfee
Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe roll up will do that. What? Another idea was they could back to the pga. They have to play all the events,
AJ Hawk
every single one of them.
Pat McAfee
They have to play all that welcome
AJ Hawk
back for, like, for two or three years. You play every single possible event, all
Pat McAfee
the events, until you win one, and then if you win one, you kind of test your way out of that.
Toxic Tone
I like that.
Pat McAfee
Okay.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I like that. Yeah. But you got to play at all of them. And for me, as fan, I'll turn on some bag golf tournament on a Sunday, and I'll see two names that I know, and it'll be good for the pga. Be good for me as a golf fan.
Toxic Tone
Good idea.
Pat McAfee
You're back in the pga. Okay, let's. Congratulations. You're playing in Wyoming at the. Who gives a damn thing.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Whatever it is. But it's on my TV because it's PGA tournament. And now you have to play this because you're back in the game. I like this idea.
Con Man
Could also start with strokes. Like, oh, you got $150 million from, you know, live. Boom. You're +15 to start this weekend.
Pat McAfee
Oh. Because they do that with the FedEx Cup. So they already have precedent on giving strokes.
Con Man
Bingo.
Pat McAfee
So this would be next. Different.
Con Man
Nope. Same exact thing. It's just kind of a PIF tax.
Pat McAfee
That's what we're saying, though. We. We can think of so many ideas. I felt like we were kind of just shoot away on the.
Darius J. Butler
Roll out the red carpet, let him back in and tell them thank you on the way back. Those fat checks, those elevated events. Yeah.
Con Man
Those other players better.
Pat McAfee
Thank you.
Darius J. Butler
This weekend, the no cut signature event. Ton of money.
Con Man
You're welcome. Thank you, Liv. The 150 flat rate. So you're not just wasting 40 grand just to get in case you don't make the cut on Friday and then you have to get back to it on Monday or Tuesday and do all that BS with the sponsors that they
Toxic Tone
used to have participation talk going on right now.
Con Man
You're welcome.
Pat McAfee
Well, I like what you guys are players. I agree that it certainly made the PGA better to its players, treated the players better. I think that is very true and real, and I think they would admit that as well. But when it happened, it was very clearly like, oh, yeah, it was a. I'm going to kill. Kill you.
Cam Young
It was a war.
Pat McAfee
Now it's messed up.
Con Man
That dissipated.
Pat McAfee
They lost. It's messed up. And it kind of did a fizzle out. But there's gonna have to be something, you know, especially whenever they say, hey, if you come by February 2nd, yeah, you're back.
AJ Hawk
Is there a path now, though? Is there a path for anyone to come back?
Pat McAfee
Somebody's gone through a year suspension or something. And then Brooksie was an alternative, I think, for a couple or something.
Toxic Tone
Yeah. He's at the elevated vents. The last two of them. He had to. He went there as an alternate. Did not. No one. No one dropped out of the field. So he had to. He left on Thursday. So he has not played an elevated event yet. But, yeah, Brooks. $5 million to charity or whatever. But he was like, they had an option. Cam said it like all these guys had an option. Brooks was the only one that took that option. And now. Now that Liv is folding, they're like, oh, I want to jump on that.
Darius J. Butler
Trade was never all in.
Pat McAfee
Let's talk about. He had Nike. He stuck with Nike the whole time.
Cam Young
Right.
Pat McAfee
Feels like he kind of. We watched the Super Swing Series, the full swing. Yep, there it is. And Brooks in a bad spot. Felt like watching Brooks when he made that decision to go to live, he thought he was never going to be able to hit a golf ball to where he was aiming it again. That's what I learned from Super Swing.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
So when he gets offered $200 million for golf, I think he thought, this is it. This is all I got. Then he found his game again. He was like, 200 million. But who I playing against? Let's see. Hey, everybody else had to give up their Nike deal. I'm not doing that. I'm keeping my Nike deal. Okay. You're going to wear your Range Goats hat.
Toxic Tone
No, I'm wearing a Smashmouth gc.
Pat McAfee
No, I'm wearing a Nike.
Con Man
That's a sick name.
Pat McAfee
Smash Mouth.
Darius J. Butler
Smash gc.
AJ Hawk
Do they still own these teams? Remember, they're talking about how you get equity in the teams and all that. Are they worth anything?
Toxic Tone
Yeah, they're making a ton.
Pat McAfee
Investors, possibly you.
Toxic Tone
The team owners, Phil and Bryson and Bob Weather making a ton.
Pat McAfee
I was pumped to see the amount of money go to the athletes. I don't want to continue to just say that. That's why I stuck up for live because so much money was going to athletes and everybody was grandstanding about where the money was coming from. It's like, well, there's a lot of that money everywhere. Okay? Everywhere. So let's not get mad about. And now we all know that. Now everybody on earth knows that a little bit more than they did maybe in 2022. So I didn't like that the athletes were the only ones ever getting grandstanded upon. Like, you can't take that money because you. It's a bat. It's bad money. You. It's like, well, I just got Starbucks and I just watched. I was downloading. They're in everything. Their money, their money. They're tracing money for everything. So I was always. Seemingly, people would tell me that I was a pro Liv guy. I'm pro. These guys getting a shit ton of money to be athletes. Now, I had eyes and I tried to find the LIV thing. Couldn't find it. And it was ass when I found it. And I think I was pretty open about that for a while. About that. So I'm happy the PGA and its professionalism and what it is continues to reign. But I would like to see everybody. But I don't think the people that made the decision to take $200 million being Wall street back in is fair at all to the guys that turned down 150, $200 million at the time and basically were forced into a. You're bad. People decide.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Trying to take on things. So I think there has to be something that's All I'm saying, it's got
AJ Hawk
to be a path. Got to be a path where you can play your way back on the tour. And you got to have some kind. You shouldn't have to start from. From the. The absolute bottom. There's got to be some kind of way. If you have status somehow and you are a guy that's won. What if you gotta find a way back?
Pat McAfee
What was that show that the big break? Is that what they used to. That was a great show.
AJ Hawk
They used to break the glass.
Con Man
Love that.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Tic tac, toe the glass, the whole thing.
Kendrick Perkins
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Late night. That was right after the golf fix, when you put the tube in the thing.
Toxic Tone
Great show.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. That's where I bought. That's why I bought this.
AJ Hawk
Yep.
Pat McAfee
That's why I bought this right here. The unduffable big break. They weren't using this. I thought.
AJ Hawk
Is that like a fairway? It's like a fairway wood or like a chipper around anywhere.
Darius J. Butler
I think it's a wedge.
Toxic Tone
That's unduffable.
Pat McAfee
It's a wedge. Oh, I don't duff.
AJ Hawk
Can you turn it. Turn it sideways.
Con Man
Can we see it?
AJ Hawk
I want to see the full. Okay, I got it now. I'm okay. I thought it was like. Almost like a wood.
Pat McAfee
And by the way, put that head on a brick wall.
AJ Hawk
Yep. Coca cola.
Pat McAfee
Hola. Hola.
Toxic Tone
Perfect.
AJ Hawk
That's all you gotta do.
Pat McAfee
Ladies and gentlemen, a man who might be able to teach us about batting balls around a little bit. He's a guy who currently has an.839 OPS over the last nine games. The man who's on a team that is currently in the middle of a seven game win streak. It's starting to feel like good old days with the lovable reunion as grandpa Rossi is continuing to talk about what this could Cubs team used to be. Young Chicago Cubs star who just signed a massive deal at the beginning of the season, living up to the hype, enjoying a winning streak. Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Crow. Armstrong.
Con Man
Yeah, pca.
Pat McAfee
I like that we ever thought a clap for yourself.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Hi, boys.
Pat McAfee
Because if you didn't clap, you would have looked weird. So I appreciate you doing that. We kind of put you in a little bit of a predicament. I think you handled it well, just like you're handling the season well. How's life, brother? Seven game win streak. Feels good, I assume.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Oh, every time. Yeah. It's fun playing fun playing good baseball at Wrigley. It's fun. You know, we were just delayed for like an Hour and hour and a half the other day, but we still had 32,000. And it's always fun when, you know, when, when the boys are coming up in big spots. You got Everybody, you know, 1 through 13 in this offense kind of just making it count when they're, when they're called upon.
Pat McAfee
Okay, so seven game win streak. I don't follow many baseball seasons in my existence. This year I am though. This year I'm in. And I'm thankful for you and many of the lads at the World Baseball Classic for that, for me being in there. Seven game win streak. Is this normal throughout a good season? Like what is kind of. Because you guys play so many games, I assume you drop games and you just like don't kind of care. You got to kind of move on. Is this a good length for a win streak and what is the most you guys have experienced?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I mean, we had a, I think we had a 10 game game earlier this year. You know, I mean, you're taking, you're really taking any you can, you can get throughout the course of the year. Grand scheme of things. I mean, you know, seven, seven's a lot. So, you know, you walk away from each one of those games kind of, you know, feeling really good and celebrating those wins because they're hard to come by, as you are probably starting to find out. Watching, watching the sport a little bit more is like, like, you know, we're playing a, A division rival and, and they were hot before they came here, so, you know, they could turn it on at any point as well. And, and it's just our job to kind of, to kind of match that at any point.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you're certainly doing that. What if this just becomes. What if you just win every game going forward?
Toxic Tone
That'd be crazy.
Pat McAfee
What, what if just through the entirety of the rest of the season you guys never lose again? I guess that is possible. Now. I think there's one side of the, of the entire, entire Major League Baseball that's doing great and then the other side of baseball is kind of ass right now. Yeah, al. Ass league. What they're saying right now. That's what they're saying. That's what they're saying. But the NL is completely different story. Go ahead, Tone.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, Pete, I do have a question. Only three teams over.500 in the AL. Oh, but look at that. 1, 2, 3. All five teams are over.500 in the NL Central. Obviously you guys are up at the top there. Is that, is that talked about at all with you guys and Just being in the NL Central and how good the anal central is right now or is that something that you'll worry about farther down the line?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I mean, will we ever worry about it? Probably not. You know, if anything, it's, it's, it's fun to be a part of a division that, that is, you know, kind of taking the game by storm this year with, with a lot of fun call ups to, to be aware of in, in Connor Griffin and J.J. weatherholt and Sal Stewart. Shoot, Sal. Sal's ballin. You know, I think it's just, I think it's really good for the game. I don't think the Central is really, to me, it's never felt like the division until this year, but everybody's, everybody's really fun to watch and it's fun to be a part of. So at the end of the day, no, we're never going to worry about the standings until they tell us where we're going to be seated in the playoffs. I mean, I mean, the goal is to just make sure that you come out on top.
Pat McAfee
Know that the AL is ass right now. They're bad. They're bad, bad over there. You know, the innocentral. Yeah, Sky's cooking. Yeah, Sky's starting. Yeah, he's on the bump. So let's make sure we got look alive out there. Okay. And you know, we, yeah, thank you. Pca. You get it. You understand the deal. You understand what's going on. They're hoisting cones over there too. I don't know if you got a chance to be on the other side of that. They're dunking on people with cones.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I haven't really seen it, but I've heard the cone, Laura.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I have. Oh, you don't want to feel it, brother. I'm telling you, that is not something you want to feel. Pca. Now I will say the Pirates aren't trying to feel any type of PCA way either. We got a Hembo stack because you were coming on the show. We asked. Defensive run saved. DRS doctors is a stat that dates to 2003. That's 23 years ago. Season record 42 of them. Okay, shout out to on Droughton Simmons. That was a spider man out there. Season outfield record 37. Kevin Clarem, Pete Crow, Armstrong. He's currently on Pacer 45. You tell me, did you know about this stat and do you feel like you're having your best defensive year or best year of your life thus far?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I, I, I'm aware of, of Doctors. But I mean, my job is just to go make sure the ball doesn't hit the, hit the floor. So like, like what, whatever, whatever stats can measure your defensive run saved. It's cool. But we, we've been taking a lot of pride in, in other little like baseball things that, that people may not.
Pat McAfee
Oh, y.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Appreciate as much.
Pat McAfee
Yep. Tell me these things so I can act like I know what they are whenever I'm having conversations.
Toxic Tone
Yep.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
So, so when we're in la, right? Andy Pages, or Andy P. The center fielder for the Dodgers, he threw two guys out at home plate. There was just this relay where he kind of like fielded the ball and threw it on the run. And normally you don't really see that from an outfielder, but when you got an arm like that, that guy, he, it was just in a super impressive place. So we're all, we're all super focused on just like getting the ball in clean to the right spot really quick and efficiently. So, so, you know, like Wrigley's a tough place to play. So when you can take away runs, that's huge because it's not always the easiest place to hit. But you know, yeah, this, yeah, this was one of the more impressive things I've ever seen. Like, I feel for our third base coach here because he sees that ball get, get all the way to the wall just about and next thing you know it's, it's in the shortstops hand. So it's just rare that you see an outfielder make a throw like that. And, and I think that is such an important part of the game that, that, that goes unnoticed sometimes.
Pat McAfee
So is this a doctors right here? This is a doctor. This is a doctor.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
It's got to be, it's got to be. I don't know, I don't know enough about doctors, but to me, to me that's just a, that's just a damn good play.
Pat McAfee
I like that you're learning, constantly learning and also complimenting somebody else immediately upon us saying you might be the greatest in the history. D. Bud has a question for you. PCA yeah.
Darius J. Butler
When your bed is as hot as your is right now, how do you kind of manage, I guess, the aggression versus having, maintaining that plate discipline? Because when I'm out here playing with ball and I want to swing at everything anytime I touch that ball. So how do you manage that? How do you balance that?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Hey, I'm a lot, I'm a lot like you. I, I, that's, that's always been the hardest thing for me, really. I Mean, I love to swing the bat. I love to try and make stuff happen with the bat. So, you know, I think the, the plate discipline was actually a little bit
Darius J. Butler
better,
Pete Crow-Armstrong
like, I would say a little over a week ago, but, and, and before that. But, you know, when I, when I start feeling sexier and, and I do start putting more balls in, play more balls in the air to the poolside, like, I do end up swinging more, so I'm inevitably going to chase more. And that's just, I think that just, that's something I gotta accept about myself. But I'm just, I'm not gonna walk that much, man. But when the bat's feeling good, good. Then. Then I gotta let it rip sometimes.
Darius J. Butler
Okay.
Pat McAfee
You said when you're feeling sexier, some days you just go ahead and walk through that clubhouse. You take a little look at the mirror. Hell yeah. Hell, yeah. Today's a good day. Go out there and start swinging at everything. I, I enjoy that. Did abs affect you guys at the beginning? You hitters? Because we thought Aaron Judge was maybe overthinking the abs at the beginning, maybe coming out. If it's not a strike, it'll be able to get fixed if it's a strike. Strike. Was that messing with anything with you at all, or is that just kind of us making up for you guys? That kind of stunk at the beginning, and now we're doing great.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I mean, I think if you look at, like, the numbers of, or the success rate, like, I think catchers, maybe pitchers, just because they've probably challenged less, have the best success rate, but I think it's catching catchers.
Pat McAfee
I think catchers are like 69% or something like that. I forget the number.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
There you go. Makes sense. I mean, I think as a hitter, for me, it's tough again, like, the, the zone awareness is, is something that's kind of a work in progress for me. So, like, it definitely messed with me a little bit. I was 0 for 2 to start the year on the challenges, and, and I was just kind of like, I'm never gonna do this again. If I'm, if I'm a guy like Aaron Judge, who does handle the zone very well, I, if I was Aaron Judge at all, I'd be confident in every single one of my abilities. But, but I, I, Our team's been pretty solid with it. I, Me, not so much. But again, I'm not going to be the guy that's like, really making most of those challenges at all.
Pat McAfee
Do you love it or hate it? Has it Been an overall good or bad for game, you think?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I think we've definitely seen some moments where it's been really good. And then we've had, like. Honestly, I. I think we've had one game where it's. Where it's kind of. Kind of come back to bite us in the ass. But, like, for the most part, we. We've made the most of the challenge system and made it work for. For us. And then, you know, like, late innings, having them is big, but with our catchers, like, our catcher's been so solid with that, so I trust those guys to kind of just go do it whenever.
Pat McAfee
What's that bat that got introduced to my life?
Toxic Tone
Torpedo.
Pat McAfee
Torpedo bat. We using those? We still using torpedo bats?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Many are. I'm not, man. I. I can't. I can't. I can't find. I can't figure out where the barrel is on those bats. Like, it's just.
Pat McAfee
It's in a sweet spot. That's what it is. I heard. I heard it, actually.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Yeah, they like. Sorry, they just. They move it down, like, they move the sweet spot a little lower and like, closer to the hands. And that's just a weird concept for. For my brain and my hand connection to grass. Where's he going?
Con Man
We got. We got.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, we saw what all the guys who were cheating were doing. They got a little different, you know, got this thing looking like a cricket stick, but it's got a bigger down here from what I've been told. And then this is old school here. Just kind of the funnel effect, you know, because you used to put cut off the top of these, obviously. And. Yeah. Louisville chugger right at the top. Oh, that thing. And then obviously a torpedo. Hey, you good? All right, see you soon.
Cam Young
Hey.
Pat McAfee
So this thing here, it was like a cheat code for a bit. And you're saying some guys just swing differently, and for you, it's not like that.
AJ Hawk
That.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I mean, I think the. The point of it is to, like, move. It's to move the density of the. Of the, like, sweet spot down in a way that it actually helps your. Your misses more. So, like, the balls you maybe wouldn't hit as well with the. With like the normal barrel. I'm pretty sure you get more forgiveness or at least like a higher exit V or better contact on the balls you miss hit.
Con Man
So.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I don't know. I just don't like feeling like the barrel is closer to my hands because that's usually when I get jammed, so.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, me too.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
It's just not A concept I can grasp.
Pat McAfee
So are you guys allowed to use three bats? If you can hold it, like, if you felt pretty comfortable, would you be able to? Because it feels like this would be a massive, much better success rate. What is the biggest? What is the biggest?
AJ Hawk
Is there a barrel size? Is there a barrel size? Like, you have to.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, because what do we want that thing to be? The biggest?
Toxic Tone
Is it minus three?
AJ Hawk
Still like Fred Flintstone?
Pat McAfee
Bingo. Dabba dabba.
Cam Young
Do that.
Pat McAfee
Can we. Can we get that thing?
Darius J. Butler
Like, hard to keep up the bat
Kendrick Perkins
speed, I would assume.
Pat McAfee
No, not for what. If you could.
Con Man
Yeah, your job.
Pat McAfee
How big is your bat allowed to be? What is your bat? What is a normal bat, and how big is a bat allowed to be? We're just trying to brainstorm here how you could become, you know, maybe Mark McGuire without eating all the, you know.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
The vegetables, the vitamins. Yeah.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Well, I. I appreciate you looking out. This. This be. Could help me in the long run. I swing. I swing a 34, 31, so that's 34 inches. 31 ounces,
Con Man
like, pant size.
Toxic Tone
That's standard.
Pat McAfee
That's.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Yeah. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Actually, this is 34, 31 and a half.
Toxic Tone
There you go.
Cam Young
Boom, boom.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Yeah, that's. That's close to what I swing. That's just a half ounce heavier.
AJ Hawk
Give it a cut.
Pat McAfee
Not a big deal. Yeah, sorry.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I. Do I have a cup in there. A lot of guys. A lot of guys swing a similar size. A lot of guys swing like a 33 and a half, 31. I don't know, man.
Pat McAfee
The.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I have this Jose Bautista bat from when he played, and it's like. It's. It's like the Fred Flintstone club. Like, it's. It is a dense piece of wood, and I don't. I don't know if it's illegal anymore, but I don't. I wish I could tell you what the. The legal limit was for. For barrel size.
Pat McAfee
2.61 inches in diameter, 42 inches in length. Okay. Is that the girth there? The diameter? It's talking about?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
That is the girth.
Pat McAfee
Okay, so 2.61 inches in girth that these things can have. And that makes sense, you know what I mean? Especially for you baseball guys. That makes a lot of sense. You know what I mean?
Kendrick Perkins
Pretty.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Pretty on brand. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
You're the mayor, man. Thank you so much for taking time. Good luck to your Cubs as you guys continue on this win streak, hopefully of good times, maybe till the season's over and.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Why not?
Con Man
Could happen.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Why Not. Let's just not lose ever again.
Pat McAfee
Get the 2.61 non flask. Get this thing to 42. Let's start banging balls all over towns all over the place. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen. That's Pete. Cry warmstrong. Yeah. PCA Pizza bruh. Pizza bruh.
Con Man
Yeah.
Toxic Tone
He's awesome.
Pat McAfee
Love Pete. How old's he again?
Toxic Tone
Do we do it 25, 24.
Con Man
25, 24.
Pat McAfee
I think because Cam Young, he's 28.
Con Man
28.
Pat McAfee
I believe he's 24. I mean, come on. The next generation of sports in a great place. We're incredibly lucky that we get to have those convos because we can start acting like we did them. Hey, the doctors on that one guy for the angels who robbed three home runs in the outfield. Got to be outrageous. Yeah. More on that tomorrow as Sports center takes it away from here. I think you know, the show that's going to follow us is going to be a big announcement.
Toxic Tone
Really?
AJ Hawk
Huh?
Pat McAfee
Oh, really? That was a good ending.
AJ Hawk
Jeez, what a team.
Con Man
Big announcement.
Pat McAfee
I think. I think there's a Sports Center.
Toxic Tone
Okay.
AJ Hawk
Is there really?
Pat McAfee
I don't know.
Con Man
I don't.
Pat McAfee
I don't know. I know too much but not enough. You know, this is one of those
Con Man
things that's a good spot to be in though, sometimes.
Pat McAfee
No, I think it's worst place to be. Which kind of where society is right now.
Con Man
You're right. I was thinking the opposite. You know, you.
Pat McAfee
We all know too much, but not enough. Yeah, that's.
Toxic Tone
You want to be but not enough.
Pat McAfee
That's kind of where we are.
Toxic Tone
People think they know a lot.
Pat McAfee
Bingo.
AJ Hawk
A little bit of information is pretty. Is dangerous.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. But we have a lot of information all of a sudden, but we don't really know.
AJ Hawk
Flooded with it. It's all part of the plan.
Con Man
Exactly.
AJ Hawk
Flood you with a bunch of information so you never really know what the truth.
Con Man
Whose plan are you talking about?
Pat McAfee
Let's talk about they. Who's they that you're talking about?
AJ Hawk
I don't know. I'm trying. I'm trying to. I've been trying to figure out who they is for 42 years now. I can't figure it out.
Pat McAfee
You know what I'm not doing? I'm not joining them on a cruise ship ever again. No, yeah, I. I think that's. We're going to take that away from, you know, the McAfee plans, the Rolodex forever Now age. We know you love a good cruise, but boy, what is this virus, this
Con Man
weird Virus is called virus hantavirus. Like Fanta.
Toxic Tone
But Hunter, don't you want a Hanta?
Pat McAfee
We don't want to hanta. It is. That's has to be worst case scenario. You know it took us back to the poop cruise. You remember that? A couple years or back.
AJ Hawk
Oh great doc. Or a great little dock they did on that.
Pat McAfee
That'd be scary, man. That'd be. That'd be a scary situation. Obviously tease a piece for everybody but that one sounds like it. It's kind of hit the algo pretty good.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Con Man
Yeah. But not new. Just so we can clarify when you know it's not some virus that is made in brand new.
Darius J. Butler
This.
Con Man
No, this is. This is.
Pat McAfee
I think we're gonna learn a lot about a lot of that hopefully finally.
Con Man
Yeah but they'll probably just over information everything and then we probably won't learn anything.
Pat McAfee
But then Aaron Rodgers will come out
Toxic Tone
and say he should come on and talk about this.
Darius J. Butler
He's a little more occupied now.
Pat McAfee
What's he doing?
Darius J. Butler
He's not doing those five, you know page.
Pat McAfee
He's Bonnie.
Con Man
He's doing 500 pages of bone.
Pat McAfee
Potentially. He might be writing a book on bone.
Toxic Tone
I mean how long is the Kama Sutra?
Darius J. Butler
Good question.
Pat McAfee
Has he been to the jungle too?
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Too?
Pat McAfee
You know, there's so many different.
Con Man
Well, we know. Yeah. Yeah.
AJ Hawk
That's where the hantavirus is.
Pat McAfee
Well, welcome to the jungle. You know what? He's bringing a lot of pain.
AJ Hawk
There's wood.
Pat McAfee
Let's just be careful joking about this virus.
Con Man
This isn't a new virus.
Pat McAfee
I'm just saying last time this happened, Foxy said oh yeah. This will be done in two days and we're done with it forever. Foxy or Foxy two years later? Foxy, your thoughts? I had to hear what you said because there's a couple people over talking that. Because I was told two weeks basically officially now I will say us. We didn't miss a day.
Toxic Tone
Nope.
Pat McAfee
No, we were safe six feet. We didn't make eye contact for a few days as we were told not to do that.
Con Man
None of us got it got vaccinated.
Pat McAfee
But there is no way any of us could have expected what happened then. Okay, losers. We would like everybody to get up and exit the arena. Arena immediately. Do not panic. But if you do not leave, everybody could die. Do not panic. Please get out of the arena. The NBA's been canceled. Everything has been canceled. Stay in your house for ever. Do not panic. Actual.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Can't be having that again as a society. No, let's go ahead and fight this haunter. Let's haunt. Haunter.
Darius J. Butler
So is it only on a cruise ship right now? As far as humans can go?
Con Man
No, because it has been. It has occurred other places. I believe there's a guy in Switzerland like this isn't. This is a common thing. I think because it's on a cruise ship. The cruise ship itself. Tiny cruise is a bigger. Is a bigger deal. Yeah, it's a small.
Toxic Tone
Almost not even a cruise ship.
Con Man
It's not Carnival.
Pat McAfee
What's that?
AJ Hawk
Did they burn the cruise ship once they got all the people off and just.
Con Man
They're still on it.
Pat McAfee
I don't know if they got everybody off.
Toxic Tone
I saw news they did get off.
Con Man
No, the Canary. Spain said go land in the Canary Island.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, but I saw. Yeah, I sent in a recently updated.
Con Man
Yeah, I think canary.
Pat McAfee
Whatever the case, we hope everybody's okay.
Darius J. Butler
Wow.
Pat McAfee
We. We hope everybody's okay. We're not doing the whole thing again.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
The whole.
Pat McAfee
The whole thing again? Yeah.
Toxic Tone
I refuse.
AJ Hawk
World. World shutdown.
Pat McAfee
Can't.
Toxic Tone
I feel like a lot of people would probably resist more this time.
Pat McAfee
3 evacuated off cruise ship with suspected hantavirus cluster. World Health Organization says it's a fatality rate. Nope. We're not getting into it because it's. I think Bailey McCombus did some research earlier, which is always fascinating and he dropped some good pretty percentages on us.
Darius J. Butler
Okay. Yeah, let's not share any percentages he dropped.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. Thank you. But he might be right and we don't need it. Harry Douglas here. PayPal is now the official peer to peer payment sponsor of the NFL. Which means all the money moments that fandom creates. Whether splitting tailgate costs or chipping in on tickets and game day food between friends are covered. Wherever the game is played or watched. PayPal moves with fans.
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Pat McAfee
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Toxic Tone
Wait, what?
Pat McAfee
Big news coming out of the American Football Coaches association, which is the union for the coaches. They voted in a vote last week. The AFCA board swung its support behind one, a playoff with max participants 24, 2. Discontinuing conference championships as a whole. Okay, the game that decides a champion where you play all season to earn your way in there. That has become quite a hot button topic over the last few years as teams that are trying to make it in the playoff are forced to play in a conference championship. Don't want to play in a conference championship because if they lose in the conference championship, it's going to be held against it for the playoff. But if they didn't play in the conference championship, like some of their foes, they wouldn't have another loss. So now all of a sudden, this conference championship game matter, why are we doing this? It's actually game. People get hurt that are going in the playoff or somebody to potentially work make their resume even worse going in the playoff. A lot of the big conferences have hated the conference championship game over the last few years. I assume that the fans will still love and everything like that, but the coach association said, we're good with it. And then also we'd like to end the College Football Playoff by the second week of January. Okay, second week of January. This year, the upcoming national championship is January 27th. Damn. Second week or second Monday of January could be January 8th, technically. Or. Or if the math was to work out with a Monday being January 1st, which would obviously be great for everybody's schedule as you start a new week, you start a new year. But nonetheless, they're trying to take a few weeks off. They're trying to say, no more conference championship games. There's also, I think, a bye week that goes from two down to one. So this has been voted on by the American Football Coaches Association. Now, upon hearing this, we go, oh, this ain't a bad deal. Okay. Okay. It's nice.
Gary Bettman
It's.
Pat McAfee
He certainly does mean something. Then we reach out to source and they told us, basically, that's cute. Coaches, we're fucking in reality here. All right, we got five, six, seven more years of deals with a lot of money going to a lot of Your pockets and a lot of your schools that are having a conference championship game and the dates have already been. So we appreciate your vote. Duly noted. Voted is kind of what we were told that this vote was kind of a piece of it. But the AFCA has voted in things in the past and it's gone publicly broadcasted and then ended up happening. So I do think this is a massive sign of, like, the coaches just basically saying, hey, we would be good with this if you guys were to pass this. And I think the people that are to pass it say, okay, well, wouldn't it be nice to maybe vote on this if you understood what we kind of had have to do and are kind of a part of? So I think that is kind of where we lie right now, aj man.
AJ Hawk
Yeah, I guess just putting it out there on the radar. But when I first saw this, I'm initially thinking, okay, like, what if us as a show got together and we voted something we wanted the NFL to do? We're just suggesting something. That's basically what's happening, right?
Pat McAfee
Yes. That is kind of what this. Funny, you weren't in. So we made multiple calls this morning just to kind of see what this meant. You were not here. You did not get to experience. I'm appreciative of you thinking the same exact way that I kind of thought as well. As soon as I heard this, I was like, I don't think this matters. So then we call a couple people and everybody that we called that would know was like, cool, thank you. We hear what you're saying, but this doesn't know this means absolutely nothing. And we're also told that the coaches were not given any information or ask for any information about things that are, like, kind of non negotiable, you know. So from my understanding, this is the coaches saying we'd be okay with the this, but the actual, you know, decisions that have to be made are happening by people that are like, we can't. Thanks for putting that out into the universe. Now we look like even bigger assholes whenever we have to do what we have to do. Because that's not the reality of this current situation. Because although people hate it, and it certainly is something that people can say ruins things, the money and the business behind it all, especially now for college football, is a massive piece of it. And there's some things I think that, like, some of the people that are voting on this are like, like, are you taking pay cuts then so we can get out of. If that's what you're voting. Is that what you want to do? Because we have to find a billion dollars somewhere to give back if we want to do all these changes. So I think we're nowhere near a final decision being made on all this. But I do appreciate the fact that we're all trying to push it to, like, hey, we need a better schedule. We need better this. We need this. I think the coaches are saying that as well.
Con Man
Yeah. Like, it's. It's cool for football, for the coaches. Like, yes, all these things are done. One last game. The season's over, basically, before the portal are around, when the portal is so those teams don't miss out on as much. But we celebrated it Yesterday. The Big Ten made, what, 1.3 or $1.4 billion, and every single school got 75 or 78 billion. Like, those conference games, more games in the, you know, entire year. Basically, like, that is what it's all about. And it's not just football like, that. That money that the schools get, it helps a lot of sports, not just football. So, like, even if it's just the football, coaches, like, you would also think the schools themselves would probably want it to be the way it is now and not these changes.
Pat McAfee
The funny. Just the reaction of. Okay. Was awesome.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I'm telling you, it was one of the greatest reactions I've seen to something in a while. Multiple, multiple, multiple responses. Just going, we already got enough on our plate. We know. Geez, we got a thousand things we gotta answer. And now coaches are doing a vote without information. And now it's getting public. And it's like, I think everybody wants the right thing. What is the right thing? What's reality, too? Like, what's actually possible in it all. Because January 27th, national championship. That one's locked in.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, that's crazy.
Pat McAfee
I think that one is.
Toxic Tone
That's the one that needs to be figured out. Because the last week, week of the season.
Pat McAfee
25th. Sorry, not 20.
Toxic Tone
The regular season is what, November 28th or whatever it is. It's the last week in November, Thanksgiving weekend, like, and then you have three or four weeks off till the playoffs, and then after the semifinals, you have. I think last year was like 13 days or whatever between the semifinals and the finals. That's absurd. Like, the coaches are putting these things out, just kind of trying to throw things out there. I think the schedule, because we've talked to coaches, I think the schedule is the one that they probably feel most passionate about, about ending closer to January 1st, maybe not January 1st. That's probably why they didn't put it there. But for the portal and everything. The coaches wanted to end earlier than January 25th.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's late. We would like.
Darius J. Butler
For the players, we would like player safety. Yeah. Player safety. Long season end. You know, the players going to the next level. Like you're ending at the end of January. The combine is what, a couple a few weeks later, a month later, four days. You got prep for draft. Like I. That's a long, long time.
Pat McAfee
Right. In the longest season of your life coming up in the NFL, which is obviously hard. The rookie wall is a hit for everybody, especially for those that play late into the College Football Playoff. If it gets to 24 teams, I mean without any adjustments that these coaches have voted for, I mean this thing's going to go till past Super Bowl.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
You know, so hopefully there is some changes. I also can appreciate the fact that the coaches are like nobody listens to us. Nobody listens to us. This decision is being made by suits and people that aren't a part of this entire thing. Thing. Maybe we should just. We'll just put out everything that we're the good guys. We have all agreed on. We would like the world to know that we as coaches think that this would be the right answer. And then the suits that have to make decision are like that's not possible. I wish we had a golden plated road that we could all just walk down in this entire thing. It's like, well, we're just letting the world know this is what we want. So make it happen. It's like we got four different networks, five different streaming companies. We got five different leagues that have five different contracts. We have deals that were just negotiated. We got some off games to cw. I think is having something like that. We got a lot of. There's a. And there's a lot of sports. There's a lot of timing. They did go down from one transfer portal there, right. It used to be two. Now went down to one. Coaches voted for that publicly. That ended up happening. So I think they are trying to get a done. I think everybody is in the mindset of trying to make it better. I do believe that how we get
AJ Hawk
there though, so much money on the line. That's what I'm saying. You got to. If you haven't, you have like a solution. You got to find a way to make up for the money you would lose if you didn't do it the way they're doing it now.
Pat McAfee
Speaking of the money, the Redbird Private Equity, Big 12 deal.
Con Man
Yes.
Pat McAfee
30 million per team if they wanted to tap into it. We did a little research. I think it's pretty high interest level loan basically.
Con Man
Oh, okay.
Pat McAfee
I think there's other options for money that have much less interest rates if universities needed money. So I think it is at the point where could definitely get it. But also it would not be considered a good amongst what comps are for getting money. If that makes sense.
Cam Young
Yeah.
Toxic Tone
There was always. We knew there was something because nobody was taking it.
Cam Young
Correct.
Pat McAfee
So you got to be giving up a lot here. Turns out it's just like a loan to pay back. It is.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
It's rated 10%. Just under 10%. So it's like a 9.99%. I think there's other options that people could potentially get. Yes. Yeah. I, I took out a couple loans. Some low yield bonds totaled in $40,000 in college. Oh yeah. Because of commercial I saw 130.
Toxic Tone
You get a good rate.
Pat McAfee
It's like 27.
AJ Hawk
Like the, like the lockout loans guys were taking.
Toxic Tone
Taken.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, exactly. I did that at West Virginia University right from my dorm. 20000 bucks first I didn't think about the lockout.
Toxic Tone
How many loans are being taken out?
Pat McAfee
Oh yeah.
Darius J. Butler
Oh yeah.
AJ Hawk
Like 40. Interest. Yeah, yeah.
Pat McAfee
They got me. But I just thought I'd be in debt like everybody else if I didn't make to the league. Yeah, if I made it to the league I'd be able to pay it back. I mean and I paid it 75000 bucks back on that 40000 worked out. I did. I'm joking. I. I certainly did. But you know there's the, the cash advance places that obviously taking it. Like there's always the interesting thing of getting money for what you're giving up is always the constant convo. You know. Fuck. We've been having it. I've been having it.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
It's like everything. It's a constant conversation, you know, like what do you take what is owed? What's going to be held over your head all the time. It's kind of like what you need to balance in this life. Whether it's money, whether it's anything literally
AJ Hawk
like getting something free. You know, if someone wants to gift you something cooler. I don't, I don't want the strings attached that are gonna. That's gonna come with that.
Pat McAfee
Never. It's one of my rules. It's literally one of my rules. I think it's one of the first things that I teach I said to you yeah, I think Foxy legit. Am I your only boss? That golf course, I guess he didn't really work at. Yeah, basically. Yeah. So one of the first things Foxy I taught him was like hey, nothing's free, bro. We don't take people hold something over you for the over your head for the rest of your life. You take a pair of pants from somebody. So just hey, remember I. No, you. You didn't. No, you didn't. No, you did not. I mean we could send stuff here and then all of a sudden we get all the time.
Con Man
Exactly. Someone puts it up on auction.
Pat McAfee
Bingo.
Con Man
Who the did that?
Pat McAfee
It was us that did.
Con Man
What are we talking about?
Pat McAfee
What? Oh yeah. I mean it's just a never ending, you know. You can't do it. Nothing is free. Let nothing is free in this world. Okay. Especially in the mind of the person that is giving the thing that is a. You'll give me back later. Yep.
AJ Hawk
But you give stuff to people with no strings attached. Like people still do that. Like I do. Like it doesn't have to be that way, I should say. But it is.
Pat McAfee
It's good business. I guess it's good business what they say. How about Gary Batman? Good combo.
Toxic Tone
Very great. He was chill, relaxed, casual gear.
AJ Hawk
I like it.
Pat McAfee
I was in the middle of balancing the budget five games back in the office every single day. Day.
Con Man
Well that's the thing. That's why he's so casual. To Canadian Sabers is going to like we love the stars or sorry the wild in the Avalanche. But that's kind of one sided. Like he's got the seven game banger coming up here tonight in the best
Pat McAfee
arena and the barns. Yeah. Yeah.
Con Man
He's probably going to Buffalo tonight.
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
Con Man
You know that's so close.
Pat McAfee
I haven't seen the Blade and boys from Buffalo.
Toxic Tone
No.
Con Man
They've been icing their feet. Icing their legs, getting ready off. I'm glad. I'm not glad. I'm bummed out the Bruins lost. I'm so excited now to kind of not root for the Sabres but appreciate them even more now that we don't have to go up against experience.
Pat McAfee
The experience.
Con Man
The Sabers. More like. Like I'm excited to see what the Blade Blades boys do with the Canadiens jersey on a some sort of doll that they are fighting with their rollerblades on in the middle of downtown Buffalo.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I'm pumped for it as well. And then Ducks. Golden Knights. Hello. Electricity. Remember live stream time. Coach for Ducks who kind of looks like a cartoon character. Almost had his Head explode whenever he was so pissed off about a non icing call that led to the game leading goal.
Con Man
Yeah, he's got some Looney Tunes in the guy's backs.
AJ Hawk
They're always had to pull their neck. They're always worried he's going to hit him in the back of the head.
Pat McAfee
My daughter watched a movie recently. He's a character. I. I forget which one it was. Maybe up. There's probably a bunch of them.
AJ Hawk
But yeah, I think up you're taking up. I bet.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. There's a new one swapped that just
Con Man
came out on Netflix. Yeah, I almost watched that animated thing.
Pat McAfee
It's an animated thing. It was number one in the kids thing. And obviously any animation is going to capture Kenzie for a bit. Just. It's so talented. It's crazy what all these kids movies are, man. They're so negative at the beginning.
Con Man
Just to lock in teach resilience.
Darius J. Butler
Just to lock the battle of university.
Pat McAfee
Like. I mean it's right there.
Darius J. Butler
That's the.
Con Man
That's the Disney kind of formula. Let's kill the parents right away and then let's bring them back.
Pat McAfee
It was the Lorax is what I see.
Toxic Tone
Oh, Lorx does look like that guy
Pat McAfee
sold air or sold air on that. He's kind of Loraxy. I'll tell you what I enjoyed. The Lorax is full. Yeah. Protector of the force.
Con Man
He's also got the Bugs Bunny hunter.
Pat McAfee
Can you put the Lorax up a little bit? Maybe. Can we put them next to each other? Is that. Yeah. Oh, back to him.
Con Man
That looks like.
Toxic Tone
Oh baby.
Con Man
He looks like the hunter that killed tries to kill Bugs Bunny.
Pat McAfee
No more fud. Not as fun when the rabbit has the gun.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I hope we see him. Then I explode.
Toxic Tone
He might.
Pat McAfee
Loraxes love marshmallows. Maybe the refs should think about giving. Giving the coach a more possible.
Con Man
Shut up.
Pat McAfee
I'm not a big marshmallow guy.
Toxic Tone
Me either. I think that.
AJ Hawk
What about with s' mores though?
Toxic Tone
What about not a big s' mores guy?
Darius J. Butler
Not a Rice Krispie treat guy either.
Pat McAfee
I'll do a s'. More. I'll do a s' more because it's the vibe. It's the community. S' more is a thing. You're very rarely doing that by yourself. I will do the s' more activity, but boy, I'd much rather just have the graham cracker with the hero Hershey chocolate. Just eat that. Just don't make me burn my fingers.
Toxic Tone
I'm with you.
Pat McAfee
Okay. Don't make me have to do it, but I'll do it for the community. I'll light that fucker on fire, put that thing right in there. That thing will seep out over my thumb. I'll get third degree burns, do the whole thing. There's music playing. We're boozing pretty good. Probably some smoke happening. I'll do it for the vibes. But in my best life that from the very beginning would have had no mark. Marshmallows.
Darius J. Butler
Wow.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, agree.
Darius J. Butler
That's key ingredient. So that bag of smells just laying around you. Not just never.
Toxic Tone
You do.
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
Darius J. Butler
What?
Con Man
When do you have one laying around though?
Darius J. Butler
When you're s' mores or maybe the kids want to make some rice krispie treats whenever that bag is laying around. Especially out the jumbo ones.
Pat McAfee
When I was a kid, I roasted and ate like eight to 10 marshmallows in a night. And later that night ended up catching the flu. So I puke all night. Marshmallow.
Toxic Tone
I haven't touched one since I think I was about seven years old.
Pat McAfee
I had that with orange juice. Just the worst Dumps as an 11 year old I think just running right through. I might have pooped my pants in public.
Toxic Tone
I had that orange juice.
Pat McAfee
That's what I blamed it on. For my whole life I blamed on it. I assume it was something else that I had that was probably expired or something. It wasn't the orange juice at all. But I remember being very embarrassed publicly because I pooped my parents pants.
Toxic Tone
And that'll happen.
AJ Hawk
How old are you? 20 something
Pat McAfee
age. I already said I was like 11 years old.
AJ Hawk
I didn't hear this part cut out.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I'm sure it did.
AJ Hawk
Adults poop their pants and talk about
Pat McAfee
it all the time. So sounds like guys that can poop their pants here. So.
AJ Hawk
So you guys jumped right on.
Pat McAfee
Sharding. Are you sharding? You're talking about pooping your pants.
Con Man
No, no, no, no.
Pat McAfee
That should not be happening. How old are you? That should not be happening.
Toxic Tone
30, 38.
Pat McAfee
I don't think.
Toxic Tone
How old are you?
AJ Hawk
You're taking a full dump in your
Pat McAfee
pants like my daughter.
Toxic Tone
But I know people who do.
Pat McAfee
Who? The adults.
Toxic Tone
You know them too?
Pat McAfee
How old are they? 90.
Toxic Tone
They're my great.
AJ Hawk
Don't talk about the window washer like that.
Pat McAfee
Joe Hadley's not pooping his pants. Joe forces other people to poop his pants.
Con Man
Tools to clean them right away and.
Pat McAfee
Exactly. If you'd like your windows cleaned in western Pennsylvania, you need to call Joe Hadley. 4, 1, 2 7, 9, 5. I'm joking. I don't know what his number.
Con Man
Joe Hadley's window cleaner. Just Google it.
Pat McAfee
And his schedule is booked.
Darius J. Butler
Call them.
Con Man
He needs you. He's got a family.
Pat McAfee
A beautiful one. Yeah, growing, obviously, but no, Joe Hadley's not pooping his pants. Who's pooping their pants? Kaboli has pooped his pants.
Toxic Tone
Kaboli's definitely.
Con Man
I have full diarrhea in my pants. If you remember, like, three years ago, over February break after the Super Bowl.
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. You had the tacos full.
Con Man
Yeah. Like. And that's probably the only experience I've had with food from one specific place that I'll never do again. But aside from that, like, if you
AJ Hawk
were you at home.
Pat McAfee
No, public.
Con Man
I was on my way. I was on my way home. I was walking home. But if you. You just get back up.
Pat McAfee
Walking home. So that was a. Oh, no.
Con Man
That's when it started. It didn't actually happen till. In my apartment.
Pat McAfee
You pooped your pants in your apartment?
Con Man
Yeah. Dude, it was crazy.
Pat McAfee
You made it all the way to the apartment and then just let loose as soon as you get.
Con Man
I felt fine. Once I got back. I was like, okay, I'm good.
Pat McAfee
Like, I just almost sat down. Yeah.
Toxic Tone
Didn't even shower after. I just went to bed.
Con Man
That's not true.
Pat McAfee
Smart play.
Con Man
Took me like two hours.
AJ Hawk
Not a smart play. Oh, can you imagine?
Pat McAfee
That's the most efficiency.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Darius J. Butler
An army crawl to the bathroom. How. How do we.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you gotta put plastic bags around your feet. What do you do?
Con Man
I got close. I was in the bathroom when it happened. I was right there.
Pat McAfee
Oh, no.
AJ Hawk
That's a diarrhea on the wall.
Pat McAfee
I've peed on my pants before. Accidentally. I haven't peed my pants.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, that happens to me a lot, actually.
Pat McAfee
I peed on my pants.
AJ Hawk
Sure.
Pat McAfee
That's a moment you gotta have with yourself. I'm in public right now.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
How's that work? Dude, you're an adult. You gotta go speak to these people. Go to a hand thing
AJ Hawk
or splash. Like your whole
Pat McAfee
fashion. You do fashion?
AJ Hawk
Oh, sorry, guys. Think exploded or something.
Con Man
Or by the Tim Robinson pants.
Pat McAfee
That would be funny just to.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I don't know what the Tim Robinson pants are, but yes, we should try to buy them. The splash of water just to make it look like it's a fashion.
Darius J. Butler
Got to some water pressure is crazy.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. A lot of guys. A lot of guys had mayonnaise issues there for a while on their pants, too. Remember that? People having a lot of sandwiches.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I think Foxy was a big male. I hate mayo, actually.
Con Man
Dork.
Pat McAfee
All right, dude. Who the hates.
Darius J. Butler
I'm with you, Fox.
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
AJ Hawk
I don't. I'm not a mayonnaise guy.
Pat McAfee
You don't eat food.
AJ Hawk
I love coleslaw, though, so. And I hear it's in coleslaw. We've had this talk, but yeah, I do love coleslaw, but I would never have put mayonnaise on anything else.
Pat McAfee
I don't know if I've had that conversation with you, but I do appreciate the fact that you've had that before. It sounds like you. You've had to just kind of defend ginger mayonnaise hate while also liking something that mayo's in. That happens to me with like, any creams, Sour cream, cream cheese. I don't like them, but then they're in recipes, you know.
Con Man
So you don't like cream cheese?
Pat McAfee
No, dude. And I say I hate mayo, but it's basically on every sack of subs we get. And I still eat it, so it's like, same. Yeah.
Con Man
So do you actually hate it?
Pat McAfee
Yeah, exactly.
Darius J. Butler
I can't, like. I can't see it if it's snuck into a sack of subs. So subs going down. But if I'm getting a sub made, I'm not getting made. I'm not telling. Put mail.
Pat McAfee
I am starting to figure out we. We gotta figure out how to get good subs whenever we're traveling. I'm about sick of the.
Toxic Tone
They have to leave the condiments off to the side.
Pat McAfee
Let.
Toxic Tone
Let us put those on ourselves.
Darius J. Butler
I have no complaints about this episode.
Con Man
No.
Toxic Tone
But they are sometimes a soggy sa.
Pat McAfee
How about the wings, though?
Toxic Tone
Wings are always 10 out of 10.
Pat McAfee
Great. We're starting figure out how to be a mobile operation, you know, and that's going to pay off, I think. I think that's going to pay off for us at some point. But we are. We are kind of little rolling stones of a. Not the band, but like actually just kind of pick up and move where we're at. And we've kind of got it figured out at this. I like what we're doing.
Con Man
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
I'm pretty proud of us. Karen, also, Ms. Karen knows exactly when, where, how, what needs to be there. We got a good little system going. I'm proud of us. That's a logistical nightmare, I assume, for a lot of people. Definitely all that. Half the battle, miscarrying, kind of a dog, A bit of a dog. A super dog. But the wings have become always 10 out of 10. Always a deliverer.
Con Man
The SECO subs Just because half of it is sometimes soggy doesn't mean you can't just take it off and turn it into like a sub pizza. It's just as delicious. And a way to maybe beat that is just. We have like a designated SECO subs schedule schedule where someone just picks it up on the way. The only way. The only way it gets soggy is if it sits there for a while. If we pick it up and we
Pat McAfee
know how some of the people. You know.
Con Man
Exactly.
Pat McAfee
Soggy biscuit.
Con Man
Bingo. Sitting on it.
Pat McAfee
What? What's that?
AJ Hawk
What are you talking about?
Pat McAfee
What are you talking about?
AJ Hawk
I don't know. I'm. I'm genuinely confused.
Con Man
Catch all man.
Toxic Tone
AJ always eats all the cheese.
AJ Hawk
Soggy biscuit. I do like, like cubes of cheese. If it's on a plate, I'm eating it. If it's not fancy cheese.
Pat McAfee
Let's do some news, please. Have you heard from Aaron? If it's going to be a Arizona Cardinals this season or if it's going to be the Pittsburgh Steelers or if it's going to be a retirement tour, we want answers. Now.
Darius J. Butler
That's.
AJ Hawk
I am not the guy to come to if you need answers about this situation. I tell you what. Ian Rapaport, he and Leah though they reported that Arizona does not seem like a likely outcome.
Cam Young
Right.
AJ Hawk
So I think I tried to say that yesterday.
Pat McAfee
Anytime AJ says something that somebody else says, that's him finding out what's allowed to be said and then putting it on them as opposed to himself. We've seen it many times in the Aaron Rodgers off season sagas. AJ just said, what did Rap say? Not happening. Okay, I'll go with what he's saying. That is AJ knowing and finding who he can retweet that one.
Toxic Tone
Sure.
Pat McAfee
We've seen it before. We appreciate him doing that. He's done this in the past. Somebody would say. Somebody said that he's still going to play football, right? Yeah, I think that would be the most logical thing because remember, there was a time where he was going to potentially retire. Oh, yeah. Then he went into the dark hole. I think he was planning on retiring. Comes out of the dark hole. Holy hell. Is amish there? For 48 hours. Had no lights, no power, no contact with the world. Had a bunch of text messages. He basically gets shooed out of the Packers. Oh, that's not how he wanted to go up.
Toxic Tone
Nope.
Pat McAfee
And now is he chasing a perfect finale? Feels like will that Ever happen at AA Arizona?
Darius J. Butler
Nope.
Toxic Tone
You never know.
Pat McAfee
I'll go. What about the New York Jets? There was that photo rolling around, I don't know if it was real or not, of him wearing that Jet sweatshirt recently. Have you heard anything about that?
AJ Hawk
He was wearing a Jet sweatshirt recently.
Toxic Tone
I think it was an old photo.
Con Man
I think someone. Yeah. Just is good Internet. And they got. They got a lot of people. There's some new accounts that people aren't aware yet that are just trolls. Accounts.
Pat McAfee
Oh, we're talking aggregating trolls.
Con Man
Not. Even worse. More. More like. Hey, this is a. To what Foxy just said. Hey, this. This account says football. Let's say it's called Football Crave. They're the newest one, and they are the ones that are taking all the photos and then basically making the caption like Aaron Rodgers spotted in a. In a New York jets hoodie leaving his hotel in.
Pat McAfee
I'll tell you what the Internet will get me sometimes, especially if it's like a highlight to tape or a video from training or something like that gets me all. Was Malachi Tony wearing pants?
Darius J. Butler
Yep.
Toxic Tone
Capris.
Pat McAfee
What?
Toxic Tone
He was Caprice.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. When he was training down. First of all, love Jackson Smith and Jigba kind of opening up, training for college guys looking to do or be the next generation. Also love the Malachi Tony. Already established, already famous, already a dog, so comfortable in what he's doing. He just wears baggy clothes to a wide receiver workout. I love everything about it. That's a statement of and of itself by Malachi.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah, he's an absolute dog, and I love him crafting out there with, I would say, coming into this season, the best wide receiver in the National Football League right now. So you're always trying to get that edge down there in South Florida. A lot of these guys do this. College guys, high school guys, pro guys. It's one of the edges you get down there.
Pat McAfee
Are those snap pants? Are those throwback snap pants right there that Malachi was wearing? I do wonder when he ran when we saw the. Geez, my. My knees would just blow up.
AJ Hawk
Good luck covering that.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, absolutely. Are those snaps?
AJ Hawk
They do look like. They look like it.
Con Man
I thought they were jeans.
Darius J. Butler
They're not snap.
Pat McAfee
I think they're snaps.
Toxic Tone
Those are snaps with some sauce.
AJ Hawk
I see some snaps. Snaps.
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
AJ Hawk
There are snaps, Malachi.
Con Man
Snaps.
Pat McAfee
Those are snaps.
Con Man
Yes.
Pat McAfee
They're back.
Darius J. Butler
No way.
Pat McAfee
I love it. Wait till you guys feel the swooshy pants. Snappy pants. Tombo. That about to take over. You guys have no idea Walk into a place. How you doing? Keep it moving. Now, I will say in the new snap community, you will very rarely unsnap any of those. Those will just become pants with snaps down the side. And every once in a while, one or two of them will get kind of unsnapped and it'll be uncomfortable. There will be a breeze that'll get through that. You did not expect Snaps in theory. Great. Didn't really live up to their potential. Except for basketball warmups, but so cool. Basketball warm ups.
Con Man
Very cool.
Toxic Tone
That's about it.
Pat McAfee
Life, not so much. Malachi, Tony, he said, I want sales around my legs so it slows me down, so I have to train harder. I like what he's doing. He's like. He's training at altitude.
Darius J. Butler
I don't know if those are snaps.
Pat McAfee
Definitely look at them. There's a couple right there. Snap, snap, snap.
AJ Hawk
Those don't look like the Amazon snap pants I have. Those look like a little nicer.
Toxic Tone
Remember back in our school, everyone started going commando because everyone was pulling their snaps off and it was like, joke's on you. I've been wearing nothing underneath.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. It was always. You had to prepare for an outcome when you put the snap seat on just in case. Yeah.
AJ Hawk
It's not really jokes on the. The guy pulling the pants. If old buddy's dong is out, it's like, hey, jokes on you.
Pat McAfee
Depends on your dog. It depends on how you feel about yourself.
AJ Hawk
Yeah, you're right. Depends on how flaccid you might be. But yeah.
Pat McAfee
Thank you for letting me show this off. I've been waiting.
AJ Hawk
That would be awesome.
Pat McAfee
Now, on that note, so my fault getting them back.
Con Man
Hold on, hold on.
Pat McAfee
Take a picture. It's the last time. Leaving the bottom two snapping down at the bottom kind of loose.
Con Man
Sure.
Pat McAfee
Always. Those are the days. Malachi gets his throwback. That's old school.
Con Man
Old school player.
Pat McAfee
He's fucking snapping his pants.
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Con Man
It's crucial. Boys.
Toxic Tone
I don't know if they're.
Pat McAfee
What's that?
Toxic Tone
Why are they Capri style snaps? I don't understand.
Pat McAfee
This is their generation. They're always gonna do their own shit, this generation. Bryson DeChambeau said, I'm gonna be a YouTuber. Then off. And that was quite a big statement.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, it was.
Pat McAfee
Bryson said, I love, you know Bryson. Massive get for live. Massive get. One of the most popular golfers on tour, obviously. Big golf ball whacker guy on tour. He was an attraction. He became an incredible YouTube content creator. Very relatable. We started learning a Lot about. About dechambro. And obviously he takes his talents over to live. Was still able to play in the majors. Played the best, I think, out of all the live players on a regular basis. Also became the most famous, most relevant in the entirety. Now getting back into the PGA from the live seems like something that might not be the easiest. It sounds like from Bryson DeChambeau's point, he's now just focused on YouTube, bro. So I like that he's just potentially. Is he just viewing himself as a retired golfer? I'm just kind of content creator. And then he'll get to play in the majors and then just kind of keep it moving. And this is his life now because he's already been paid a couple hundred million dollars from his last tour.
Toxic Tone
It's a great question. I believe this was like he said, if. If Live folded. So obviously, we'll still have to see what's happening there. I would love to see how he would fare if he only did YouTube golf and then played the majors. Feels like something that probably wouldn't go well. This is a guy who did the crime and doesn't want to pay the time. Okay. That's kind of what Bryson's doing here. He wants everyone, everyone, everyone. Drop your ego. Egos. But he's not willing to pay any concessions for what he did. Okay, Everybody. Everyone's gonna drop their egos except for Bryson.
Pat McAfee
Okay.
Toxic Tone
Balls over your house and in little red cups. And then see how it fares at the majors.
Pat McAfee
Geez. Sounds like you're pretty passionate about this. Did not expect that. I love when he was chipping it over his house 21 days.
Toxic Tone
Oh, yeah.
Pat McAfee
Whatever it was, I enjoyed the content. Him showing up at majors, being able to play well will certainly be a question mark. That's kind of been the live story of this whole thing. You guys got paid a lot of money. Do you still care about golf? D. Shambro has done well, and I think if he was to just go, you YouTube, he feel like he'd be representing the YouTube golfers out there in the majors.
Darius J. Butler
Came here some of the back of the Thunderdome.
Con Man
He was.
Toxic Tone
He did.
Darius J. Butler
I can't believe you're saying this about Bryce, but he'll be. He'll be back in the pga.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Con Man
He's one of the five guys we talked about earlier like that Cam Young mentioned. There is a handful of people. He's one of them. Now, if John Rahm says that his contract is pretty tough to get out of till 2029, I'm assuming Bryson DeChambeau's contract is the exact same. So if there's just a little inkling of live where there's 25 people going to a muni and they're going to put on a. Some sort of tournament, which is kind of what I'm expecting at this point, and they're going to pour about, you know, $5 million into it over the next three years. He's going to be there with John Ron play.
Pat McAfee
What's that, Bruce? Raising his hand in the back with some clarification. Maybe if. If PIF is pulling out, who's like, enforcing live side of the contract?
Cam Young
And won't they eventually run out of money? Money for lawyers to enforce said contract.
Pat McAfee
Louis Vuitton, Travis Scott. Yeah.
Toxic Tone
They have a CEO.
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
AJ Hawk
Bryson really shocked. Bryson said he was shocked that Piff pulled out. Really?
Con Man
He said there's communication.
Toxic Tone
This guy's got no.
Con Man
It was described.
Pat McAfee
What are you talking about? Everybody was told that they were in it till to win it. Described as a bottomless.
AJ Hawk
It doesn't matter if you have seven quadrillion dollars. You don't want to keep dumping trillions and billions into it and not getting any return.
Pat McAfee
That's kind of what we were.
Con Man
$7,000,000,000. You're not worried about situation.
AJ Hawk
Yes, you are.
Pat McAfee
But it did feel as if, you know, they kind of changed it all. You know, feel like they kind of changed because at the beginning, you know, this was kind of the money that they had over there. They said it was golf, but louder.
AJ Hawk
There's no way you could do this again.
Pat McAfee
And they said, we will support you.
AJ Hawk
Okay, I'm watching it.
Pat McAfee
They put everything there. Five billion worse in there. You got everything you possibly need. We're gonna go ahead and do golf, but louder.
Darius J. Butler
Zoom that in here.
AJ Hawk
Are you jamming in with your other fingers? Why do you jam it?
Con Man
What are you doing?
Pat McAfee
I generally. Yeah, whatever.
Darius J. Butler
Don't cover your mouth. You put in your mouth.
Pat McAfee
No, no, no. No problem. You take all that money, huh? And now what are you left with? Piff said we're out. So Liv's got.
Kendrick Perkins
Oh.
Cam Young
Whoa.
Pat McAfee
Holy.
Cam Young
Wow.
Pat McAfee
Where to go worker. Not sleep. Not in my Nothing.
Toxic Tone
It's gone.
Pat McAfee
It's gone. Money's gone.
Toxic Tone
All go for.
Pat McAfee
So maybe we'll get D Shambro back in PGA because they won't be able to uphold the contract because they're supposed to pay him a certain amount of money. So maybe it'll be a breach on their end. Maybe Rombo won't be able to get a paycheck from Liv. Who doesn't have the Piff backing. So that's a breach on their end. And maybe the boys are welcome back into the PGA after they go ahead and grounds. Keep a little bit.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
And maybe we got all the best golfers battling every single weekend at every single PGA tournament that is possible. And I like that.
Darius J. Butler
Cool.
Con Man
That be the win.
Toxic Tone
Is Piff still doing boxing?
Darius J. Butler
We're hopeful.
Pat McAfee
What's that?
Toxic Tone
Are they still doing boxing?
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Zua's still going. Ring Magazine still going.
Toxic Tone
I didn't know if they're going to pull out of that, too.
Con Man
Probably down the road.
Cam Young
Turkey. Turkey is separate from this Pif venture. He's.
Pat McAfee
I did not know that. Yeah.
Cam Young
He's operating on his. On his own accord as long as the crown prince, God bless him, allows him to do so.
Pat McAfee
Okay. And they didn't say that they're going to. They basically said, we're done with this. We're not done with. I think. Right. Didn't they know what they said? They said this one. Not. Yeah. They handed over the production of that thing to some doofus. I mean, I don't know who. I assume it was somebody that was the dumbest. I mean, absolutely. How do you put all that money into the thing and then just hand it over to a. I think they actually thought the live events would carry it. And it's like, no, you need a TV copy that people watch. And thousands and hundreds and millions of people watch. It made no sense. And I love Bryson and his YouTube career, and I love all YouTubers out there. I genuinely do. I need him on Sundays. I don't care about his YouTube career. I need him to do the. Boom. The tracker. Oh, little left. Way left. You got Dechambo talking to his guy. Brand new club. He just 3D printed in a clubhouse hours beforehand. It got approved. Thanks.
AJ Hawk
Yeah.
Toxic Tone
Actually, it takes longer. Okay.
Con Man
Stupid question.
Pat McAfee
You want to make some picks for tonight's games, aj? Huh? You got.
AJ Hawk
Let's do it.
Pat McAfee
You got in the NHL. You got Canadiens and the Sabres. Game 1. That's going to be electrifying. Obviously, Con man just talked about how he can't wait to see what the Blade boys are up to there in Buffalo. Who do you like? How do you like it, aj?
AJ Hawk
I mean, I have a hard time picking against the. The Blade boy, so give me Buffalo here for sure. At home.
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Debut your thoughts.
Darius J. Butler
I'm Buffalo as well.
Toxic Tone
Blades.
Pat McAfee
Toxitone.
Toxic Tone
Blades.
Pat McAfee
Con man.
Con Man
Oh, man, I. I hate to say it, but I might go. Canadians.
Pat McAfee
Didn't you just Say you can't wait to ride.
Con Man
I can't wait. But yeah, just have something going about him and Marty St. Louis. But hey, look, we're all winning. Cause that place is going to be fucking crazy.
Pat McAfee
I'm gonna take the Sabres, obviously. I'm not a psychopath. Let's go. Ducks at Golden Knights, 9:30 on TNT. This is gonna be one of those flashlight ones that's gonna kind of get you in the third period. Who do you like? How do you like it?
AJ Hawk
Aj I'm riding with torts here in the Golden Knights for sure.
Pat McAfee
They're up 10 in the series. D. Buck.
Darius J. Butler
I picked the Golden Knights as well, Tone.
Toxic Tone
They have a bit of a wagon right now, so.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, okay, you like that? Knights as well. And con man.
Con Man
Quack it up, dude. I'm taking the Ducks.
Pat McAfee
I appreciate you saving the graphic. I love everything about it. Golden Knights obviously playing the best hockey. They have played the Lorax, though, for the Ducks. I don't think he's going to lose after that happened last.
Toxic Tone
I mean, it was 1:1 with 5 minutes left, so it was good. It was good hockey.
Pat McAfee
I'll quack with you. Let's go with them. Let's go to the NBA playoffs tonight. Sixers at Knicks. Obviously, that went from seven and a half to ten and a half immediately upon Joel Embiid being ruled out this evening with hip and knee. Yeah, ankle. Hip and ankle stuff happening with him, obviously. He's a giant of a man. It's tough to. I don't know how he does anything. I don't know how Wemby does, which we'll talk about here in a second. And then the Knicks obviously on fire. Ben Stiller back in the building, we assume. And obviously Celebrity Row going to be electric. Who do you like? How do you like? It ain't aj.
AJ Hawk
I'm gonna ride with the Knicks at home. Even though Ben Stiller will be there in the front row cheering him on. I don't think he will be bad luck. But ten and a half feels like a lot. But I'll take the Knicks to cover.
Pat McAfee
Okay, you got Knicks -10 and a half a D butts.
Darius J. Butler
Yeah, it shouldn't feel like a lot after that ass whooping. They just put on a butt. I'm going to. I'm sticking with the Sixers. I think they cover tonight.
Pat McAfee
Sixers plus ten and a half says D. But let's go to the toxic table. Tone, who do you like?
Toxic Tone
Yeah, Basketball gods. Tyres Max. He's got the ball in his Hands a lot more this game. Give me Sixers.
Pat McAfee
Okay, Sixers. Both guys on the stage thus far. Connery, is that a clean sweep?
Con Man
No, I'm taking the Knicks minus ten and a half.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, me too. I will take the Knicks -10 and a half. And then let's go Timber wagons. A little bit of a buzz saw taking on the San Antonio Spurs. Perk calls this a must win game for San Antonio because you think you're going back to Minnesota and get a win. Yeah, right. Timberwolves rolling. AJ who do you like? How do you like it? As the spurs are favored by 10 and a half. A half?
Darius J. Butler
Yeah.
AJ Hawk
I love everything about Ant man and what he's doing, but I'm taking the spurs here minus ten and a half at home.
Pat McAfee
Deb.
Con Man
Damn.
Darius J. Butler
I'm torn on this.
Cam Young
Bounce back.
AJ Hawk
Bounce back.
Cam Young
The perk.
Darius J. Butler
Perk got me.
Ian Rapoport
I'm.
Darius J. Butler
I'm going go to Spurs. Spurs bounce back. You're right. They win. They win big at home.
Pat McAfee
Okay, spurs minus ten and a half.
Toxic Tone
They win. But they don't cover spurs like the wolves. Yeah, wolves plus 10.
Pat McAfee
That's a twofer there from toe and from hammer down. Con. Con man.
AJ Hawk
Yep.
Con Man
With him. Close game. Wolves cover Spurs 1.
Pat McAfee
Can we see Ant getting taken out in the fourth quarter to rest?
Toxic Tone
No.
Pat McAfee
Spurs up.
Toxic Tone
Oh, well, yeah. If they're up a ton.
Pat McAfee
Does this become one of those if they're up 20?
Toxic Tone
Yeah.
Pat McAfee
In my mind I just saw that.
Darius J. Butler
A bounce back game for the Spurs. I think.
Pat McAfee
I don't love that. I just saw that. But everything tells me about Wemby is he would not let that. That they're going to go crazy. Crazy. I think.
Con Man
I mean definitely take the Wemby points tonight. If we're talking point bets, he went 0 for 8 from 3 last time. That won't happen again. You can count on his points tonight.
Pat McAfee
Go.
Darius J. Butler
Bear is tough man.
Con Man
Gobert cannot cover outside the paint.
Toxic Tone
So hopefully if 27.
Con Man
If Wendy can hit one of two of those threes.
Pat McAfee
So tonight's spreads are both double digits.
Toxic Tone
Yep. Knock over ball.
Pat McAfee
I believe in Ant Man. Give me Ant Man. Give me Ant man plus ten and a half. Okay, what am I talking about? I just. For two hours I talked about how much I love the guy. Then what? He's going to let them just get blown out?
Toxic Tone
You like Wy too?
Con Man
It's an alien. I love Wy, but Wemby's never been here.
AJ Hawk
Lob dunks tonight.
Toxic Tone
You don't have to like wy like 10 and a half times.
Con Man
More you can just like him to get points.
Pat McAfee
I think they should have called timeout with 7.2 seconds left. I think he should have went to the front court and I think they should have wy go like this and tip it in, go to overtime. That's what I think they should have done at the end of the game. Instead, they get a wide open three. They miss it. They should have won that game. In their eyes, probably. Yeah, probably.
Darius J. Butler
The crowd will be in it.
Pat McAfee
They.
Con Man
They'll always be in it. Great crowd.
Pat McAfee
Probably spurs. Ten and a half. Let's get out of here. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together. AJ Great show out of you today, pal.
AJ Hawk
Good job, guys.
Darius J. Butler
You too.
Pat McAfee
Are we hoisting a Kenny today? Paul Skeen's pitch.
Toxic Tone
Skeen's day.
Pat McAfee
How's Shohei doing? Shohei's still pitching.
Toxic Tone
Shohei's pitching really well. He's not hitting very well.
Pat McAfee
So if Ty was here, Ty would say this is kinda what we're talking about. Nobody's been able to really do both at super high level. Just not possible. That's what Ty would say.
Toxic Tone
I believe Shohei said, like, if I was hitting better, I assume I'd be hitting on pitching days. But he's not, so.
Pat McAfee
And that's. Cause is he focusing more on pitching because he is a pitcher and he's up for the award.
Con Man
Yeah, he's pitching, mowing guys.
Pat McAfee
Very, very good. I mean, that's. That thing's moving. Sweeping. See you later.
Toxic Tone
He made Altuve look real bad.
Con Man
It's got like a 0.7 ERA.
Pat McAfee
Somebody on the Internet said Altuve missed by an entire Altuve.
Toxic Tone
Yeah,
Pat McAfee
I mean that's what the. That's what the Internet says. Because Altuve is not the biggest guy, but it was certainly a big, big old whiff on it. Here it is right here. This is from pitching Ninja. Yeah, he missed.
AJ Hawk
That's.
Darius J. Butler
I'm.
Pat McAfee
Yeah, yeah.
Toxic Tone
Somebody actually put.
AJ Hawk
Oh, look at that.
Toxic Tone
Instead of a bat. They put Altuve in his hands and had him swing himself and. Yeah.
Pat McAfee
Was he still a strike boy? Yeah. I mean, that's what the. Altuve great hitter. We know that. We've seen him running the bases. We've seen him coming home a lot. We talked about that champ over the last few years. Sh though. Unbelievable. I think he'll. His battle heat up.
Toxic Tone
Yeah, of course.
Pat McAfee
For sure. Sure. All right. We appreciate you all for allowing us to do this for a living. It is a joy. We are in the middle of up to something season. There's a lot of things cooking right now. It's all crazy and it only happens because of you. Can I get a little bit more faith whenever these next couple announcements roll out from you, you know, cuz it feels like some up to something seasons I get like really proud of and we get like really happy about and a lot of things have gone into it and then all of a sudden when it gets announced, some of you use it as a way to just attack me as a human and I'm like what the fuck have I done? So if I could have a little bit more faith, if we could have a little bit more faith from all of you, they will. We will continue to be wildly grateful for all of you as we as a team, us and you are doing cool for sports. We're very lucky and thankful to do it all. You are the best. Thank you for letting us do this. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Debug. Great work this week.
Darius J. Butler
You too brother.
Pat McAfee
Safe travels.
Toxic Tone
Thank you.
Darius J. Butler
Thank you.
Kendrick Perkins
Team on me.
Pat McAfee
Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.
Toxic Tone
I don't know if you knew this,
Pat McAfee
but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.
Pete Crow-Armstrong
I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
Pat McAfee
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com 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.espn.com 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.
This episode of The Pat McAfee Show dives into an explosively busy day in sports as Pat and crew take on the NBA and NHL playoffs, dissect major NFL news, debate the GOAT in basketball, and feature a colorful lineup of marquee guests including Ian Rapoport, Kendrick Perkins, Cameron Young, Shams Charania, Gary Bettman, and Pete Crow-Armstrong. The show is classic McAfee: equal parts sharp insight and signature comedic chaos, keeping things fast, fun, and wildly engaging.
[00:00–12:09]
[06:00–12:09]
Pat: "I do not participate in this particular debate strictly because I think they're playing two different sports... Greatest of each sport, sport that I'm alive for to watch. LeBron's definitely the guy." (07:01)[10:01–12:09]
[12:09–27:19]
“Replacement refs, I think would have been a detrimental blow to the NFL and its steam that it has going on.”
— Pat McAfee, [15:20]
[27:53–41:10]
[41:34–54:18]
[58:00–63:45]
[72:06–88:29]
[99:46–113:34]
[152:22–END]
McAfee on Officiating:
“Replacement refs, I think, would have been a detrimental blow to the NFL and its steam that it has going on.” (15:20)
Kendrick Perkins on SGA:
“Let’s not act like selling calls just started in 2026.” (28:43)
Gary Bettman on Hockey’s Growth:
“What’s going on on the ice in terms of our competitiveness, how exciting and entertaining the Games are... that's what's driving us right now." (73:08)
Cam Young on Golf Integrity:
“If you’re doing the right thing, good stuff’s gotta happen at some point because of it, and at least you can feel good about what you do.” (43:49)
Pete Crow-Armstrong on Hot Streaks:
“My job is just to go make sure the ball doesn’t hit the floor... whatever stats can measure your defensive run saved, it’s cool.” (104:28)
This episode encapsulates the exuberant chaos and expertise that defines The Pat McAfee Show. It’s a perfect slice of 2026 sports culture: a wildly entertaining ride across the NBA, NFL, NHL, PGA, and MLB, with breaking news, legendary debates, and a guest list that captures the moment. Whether you’re here for the picks, the locker-room humor, or the hard-hitting news, this edition delivers—and then some.