PMS 2.0 1548 - Tyrese Haliburton, Matthew Tkachuk, Jeff Passan, Peter Schrager, Ben Stiller

Summary

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The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 #1548

Date: May 7, 2026
Host: Pat McAfee (with AJ Hawk, Tone Digs, Toxic Table, Connor Rogers)
Guests: Tyrese Haliburton, Matthew Tkachuk, Jeff Passan, Peter Schrager, Ben Stiller

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Episode Overview

This energetic and packed episode of The Pat McAfee Show dives deep into the world of spring sports, with a spotlight on the current NBA and NHL playoffs, team culture, the evolution of sports media, and the intersection of sports with pop culture. NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton co-hosts, offering firsthand insight into recovery from injury, playoff basketball, and fan engagement. Additional segments feature NHL star Matthew Tkachuk, sports insider Jeff Passan breaking down baseball’s resurgence, NFL insights with Peter Schrager, and a lively, endearing reflection on Knicks fandom with Ben Stiller. The conversation stays true to McAfee’s tone: unfiltered, humorous, and full of bold takes.

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Key Discussion Points & Highlights

1. NBA Playoff Deep Dive

[00:00–32:36]

• Tyrese Haliburton’s Injury Comeback & Mindset

  • Tyrese discusses the compounding challenges of recovering from an Achilles tear and a bout with shingles, missing most of the season after last year’s NBA Finals run. His focus is back on five-on-five play and prepping for Pacers minicamp.
    • “I was starting to play five on five and then got shingles. That kinda stopped things for like three weeks… but I'm good now.” — Tyrese Haliburton [02:13]
  • Mental hurdles post-injury are real: defensively, Tyrese feels a step behind, but offensively feels comfortable; awareness that full recovery, especially reacting on D, takes time.

• Playoff Storylines & Athlete Psychology

  • Spurs’ resiliency lauded: They haven’t lost consecutive games since January. Wemby’s game-changing presence in the paint is dissected, as is Minnesota’s challenge against San Antonio.
    • “When Wemby's on the floor... you expect to probably get a shot block. You gotta make jumpers to beat San Antonio at a high level.” — Tyrese Haliburton [04:12]
  • The excitement and celebrity of Madison Square Garden during Knicks playoff runs. The panel explores what makes MSG special and the “wagon” status of the Knicks.
    • “Madison Square Garden is probably... number one. It’s the most special place in the NBA because everybody’s excited.” — Tyrese Haliburton [07:29]

• On Rivalries and Player 'Hatred'

  • Playful pushback on the idea that players "hate" rivals — Tyrese claims he doesn't hate anyone, echoing a more modern, ‘respect-based’ NBA ethos.
    • “I don’t hate anybody... I’m not a big fan [of the Knicks], but hate’s a strong word.” — Tyrese Haliburton [08:10]

• Skill Evolution – The ‘No Dip’ Discussion

  • Tyrese and Q Rich break down the growing trend (and overuse by young players) of catch-and-shoot “no dip” mechanics.
    • “Like, the best shooters... ‘no dip’ is like, get it off quicker... I gotta get this off quick.” — Tyrese Haliburton [11:15]

• Playoff Team Takes & Shooting Teams Debate

  • Q Rich and Tyrese discuss who the best shooting teams left are (OKC, Knicks cited), and the strategic approach of coaches like JJ Redick in defending stars.
    • “Teams that are having success… might have like one non-shooter out there right now.” — Tyrese Haliburton [13:45]

• Flopping/Theatrics in Modern Basketball

  • SGA’s (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s) reputation as a “flopper” is debated — Tyrese and Q Rich defend the art of selling fouls, citing NBA history.
    • “Flopping, selling, it's a part of basketball. He's not doing it all the time... Overblown, bro. Stop it.” — Tyrese Haliburton [16:30]
    • “Those guys are elite scorers… learned how to manipulate and force you to foul them and make it LOOK like you fouling them… That’s just the way it go.” — Q Rich [17:01]

• Pistons, Cade Cunningham Resilience & Playoff Mentality

  • The rise of the Pistons behind Cade is celebrated, with praise for turning adversity and criticism into playoff success.
    • “He kept his head down, kept working… he was the catalyst that led them back, the guy saying ‘I’m not allowing us to lose.’” — Q Rich [21:57]

2. NHL Playoffs & Hockey Culture

[32:37–47:14]

• Matthew Tkachuk’s Comeback & World Championships

  • “Chucky” shares on his health, Olympic boost, and the honor of representing Team USA at IIHF Worlds.
    • “It's such an honor to wear the USA jersey... I'm really excited to go, not going over there for a vacation.” — Matthew Tkachuk [34:19]
  • Historic context: U.S. won its first World Championship in a long time; Tkachuk could become the first American with ‘triple gold’ (Olympic, World, Stanley Cup).

• Playoff Grit and Team Chemistry

  • Tkachuk breaks down which teams are the “tightest” units and the physical, communal bonding unique to the NHL playoffs—Buffalo, Montreal, Carolina, and Colorado highlighted as must-watch.
  • Fan culture and “Blade Boys”/”Jarvis’s Boys” are lauded for their energy.
    • “Every team says they're tight, but... you look at Colorado and Minnesota — those teams have a ton of fun, bond with each other.” — Matthew Tkachuk [40:52]

• Bravery & Blocked Shots

  • Tkachuk explains the sacrificial instinct in blocking pucks, the intuition behind when to do it, and the “little things” that swing playoff games.

3. Baseball’s Boom & Modernization

[77:09–92:23]

• Cubs’ Resurgence & Pete Crow Armstrong’s Magic

  • Jeff Passan details the Cubs’ 14 straight home wins, the passion of Wrigley, and the crucial blend of defense and depth in the lineup.
    • “Best defensive team in baseball... With a few tweaks, they have a chance to be a real problem in October.” — Jeff Passan [81:06]

• Shohei Ohtani’s Two-Way Impact & Sign-Stealing

  • Passan discusses Ohtani’s workload and minor hitting slide, and addresses sign-stealing—prevalent despite tech like PitchCom.
    • “It’s baseball, Pat... you're going to do everything to get every marginal advantage you can.” — Jeff Passan [86:21]

• MLB’s Ratings Surge & League Parity

  • Baseball is in a strong place, but Passan warns of potential CBA conflict on the horizon (“cutting off your nose to spite your face”).
    • “Every indicator... suggests it’s going in the right direction... but they could screw this thing up badly.” — Jeff Passan [89:54]

4. NFL News & Roster Moves

[102:34–138:59]

• Aaron Rodgers’ (Potential) Steelers Return

  • Multiple reports and live updates on whether Rodgers is returning to play for the Steelers, dissecting Yinzer (Pittsburgh) culture around star QBs. Tone Digs admits to flip-flopping based on rumor cycles—“We're family, brother” once a player returns.
    • “Once we’re on the same team, once we’re fighting that same rifle for... we’re together.” — Tone Digs [76:41]

• Media, Leadership, and the Burden of Words

  • Haliburton and others reflect on the responsibility of being a franchise cornerstone—how words and actions get amplified and twisted in media coverage.
    • “Everything we say as athletes can get twisted... kind of the price you pay to live your dreams a little bit.” — Tyrese Haliburton [69:30]

• NFL Front Office Moves (Eagles, Browns) & Draft Process

  • Peter Schrager details the intertwining of twins Adam (Eagles) and Andrew Barry (Browns) as assistant/lead GMs, the significance of NFL supplemental draft interest, and the chess-game intensity of modern NFL Draft strategy.

5. Pop Culture, Knicks Fandom & Ben Stiller

[109:20–125:46]

• Ben Stiller’s Knicks Devotion Amidst Met Gala Absence

  • Stiller opens up about missing a crucial playoff game for a friend's Met Gala invite, dealing with national scrutiny, and what Knicks fandom means to him.
    • “You’re not a fan to be in competition with other fans... you’re a fan because you love the team.” — Ben Stiller [113:29]
  • Ben describes balancing professional commitments with sports passion, detailing childhood fandom and passing it to his son.

• Severance’s Success & Creative Mindset

  • Stiller explains the creative roots and collaborative joy making Severance, and his desire for moviegoing comedies (and potentially, sequels to iconic films) to see a revival.

• Comedians in Sports

  • Dialogue celebrates the legacy of Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and their impact on sports and comedy.

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Notable Quotes

• “Defensively... I could tell, like, I’m a step behind. I’m not a great defender already... I’m playing against interns and I’m like, why is this guy frying me?” — Tyrese Haliburton [02:58]
• “Flopping, selling, it’s a part of basketball. It’s not soccer!” — Tyrese Haliburton [16:35]
• “I was starting to play five on five, and then got shingles. That kind of stopped things, you know, for like three weeks.” — Tyrese Haliburton [02:13]
• “Every single person’s got a podcast... Now it’s full circle and [Skip and Stephen A.] are back.” — Peter Schrager [132:31]
• “You’re not a fan to be in competition with other fans or to prove to people you’re a fan. You’re a fan because you love the team.” — Ben Stiller [113:54]
• “Once you put your name on that line... you’re wearing black and gold, we’re family, brother. That’s just how it works.” — Tone Digs [76:41]
• “It’s such an honor to wear the USA jersey... I'm not going over there for a vacation.” — Matthew Tkachuk [34:19]

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Timestamps by Topic

• 0:00–14:00: Tyrese Haliburton’s injury, mental recovery, NBA playoff roundtable, MSG magic.
• 14:00–23:00: Playoff shooting teams, OKC, flopping/theatrics, Harden, SGA, Pistons’ playoff turnaround.
• 23:00–32:36: Playoff mentality, criticism, leadership, fan loyalty, Adobe panel, NBA culture.
• 32:37–47:14: NHL World Championships, “Blade Boys,” hockey bond and physicality, fans’ role.
• 77:09–92:23: MLB—Cubs’ run, Ohtani update, sign-stealing, MLB’s ratings, future threats.
• 102:34–108:17: NFL front office moves, Rodgers-Steelers rumors, leadership, and media pressure.
• 109:20–125:46: Ben Stiller—Knicks fandom, Met Gala story, Severance, comedy in sports movies.

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Memorable Moments

• Tyrese’s candid admission about defensive struggles post-injury: “I’m playing against interns and I’m like... he’s frying me a little bit here.” [02:58]
• The group’s playful banter about “flopping”—pulling up classic stars, and Q Rich noting, “Those guys are elite scorers... they get the calls. That’s the way it go.” [17:01]
• Matthew Tkachuk potentially becoming the first American with the “Triple Gold” in hockey: “There’s only 30 people that have done it. No Americans have ever done it.” — Pat McAfee [46:01]
• Ben Stiller on sports fandom and friendship loyalty (Met Gala): “As a fan, I wanted to be at that Knicks game more than anything... we made this commitment. There’s nothing to do.” [111:02]
• Pat and Tone Digs riff on the complexities of being a diehard (and occasionally fickle) football fan: “Once we’re on the same team... we’re together.” [76:41]

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Episode Themes & Tone

• A celebration of sports as both unifying and divisive
• “Inside the locker room” candor—how athletes really think about rivals, leadership, and media
• The evolving, sometimes performative nature of fandom and the power of sports storytelling
• Humor and self-awareness around the business and pop culture of sports

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Conclusion / Takeaways

• Sports Are Booming: Across the NBA, NHL, and MLB, ratings and fan energy are surging. Even as traditional narratives evolve (like flopping in basketball or analytics in baseball), the energy is sky high.
• Athlete Insight: Tyrese Haliburton’s transparency provides real-time perspective on injuries, leadership, and the athlete’s mindset in today’s league.
• Pop Culture Crossover: The presence of Ben Stiller, fan stories, and debate over the “celebrity effect” at MSG reinforce the intersection of sports and broader culture.
• The Future of Sports Media: With the looming return of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, the role and impact of debate shows—and the “master debater” archetype—are playfully scrutinized.
• High Spirits, High Stakes: From the future of the Pacers and Knicks to the high-leverage moments for Tkachuk and Team USA, this episode exemplifies the unique camaraderie and drama of sports in May.

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Next Episode Preview:
More on NBA/NHL playoffs, NFL offseason shakeups, and sports/pop culture crossovers—plus the ongoing adventures of Pat and crew.

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For listeners who missed it:
This episode is a vibrant, wide-ranging journey through the heart of spring sports, offering both laughs and rare behind-the-scenes insights from the athletes, insiders, and fans shaping today’s game.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode. The Thunderdome on this what The Helly Thursday, May 7, 2026. This sports program begins now. Sports are happening. Holy hell, that was fantastic. I think that's an indicator of how today is gonna go. We have a guest host alongside of us here in the Thunderdome on this glorious what the Halle Thursday. And it couldn't be a better time for this man to be joining us. Cause obviously we're in the middle of some hot cooking in the NBA playoffs. The Knicks continue to do what the Knicks are going to do. I guess that's an unstoppable force over there in New York. And then the spurs answer and Wemby says, hold on, everybody's talking about Ant Man. Perk said if we lose game two, we're going to get swept. They come back and beat the hell out of the timber Wagons. And the NBA playoffs is only heating up. And just one year ago, the man that we were riding alongside of in the NBA playoffs all the way to the finals game seven, in which he was going to score 50 to 60 points, become an NBA champion and stamp his name in the history of Holy hell. What the helly is that guy on some real clutch. Ladies and gentlemen, Indiana Pacer legend, Iowa State Cyclone, Tyrese Halberg. Good to see you, man. I'm the only one to clap. They didn't choose not.

[Tone Bell]

That's not true.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's okay. They like chanted. They were loud.

[Pat McAfee]

That's toxic. Table at Boston, Connor and 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys toxic. Tone, what do you got going on there, pal?

[Tone Bell]

Well, I don't have any masks, but I don't know if he's contagious or not, so.

[Pat McAfee]

That's unbelievable. That is unbelievable. All right, let's address it. Let's address it immediately. Okay. We. We have seen a mass world before and I'm not liking what I'm hearing. Okay. And I, Hunter, am not certainly a hunted in on that one. But you, your current recovery from the Achilles tear in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last year obviously gets hit with quite a speed bump, if you will, called shingles. Can we open up a little bit about more about that? Are you still currently in the middle of that? How is your rehab? Did the shingles slow down the rehab? Like, how do you kind of piece it all together now in your story of recovery?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I was starting to play five on five and then got shingles. That kind of stopped things, you know, for like three weeks. And so that kind of halted things for A little bit, but I'm getting back there now. I just started playing five on five again as the summer's going on, and we got, like, a little team mini camp here in a couple weeks, and I'll be full. Go for that. So it sucks for a little bit, but I'm good now.

[Pat McAfee]

How do you feel playing 5 on 5? Do you feel like yourself? Is there, like, mental hurdles you have to get over? Because, like, when I had a knee surgery or something, especially in my kicking knee, which is vastly different than your life because you got to run. I just got to kick every once in a while mentally. I didn't want to blow my shit back out for, like, the first, like, month. And there was a little bit of pain coming back because you're working things back into it. My biggest issue was, like, the fear of tearing it again or breaking it again. Do you have that mental block that's taking place and with what Tatum's doing, does that help everything with you?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, for sure. Seeing him and Dejounte Murray was having a lot of success, you know, for the end. At the end of the year as well. No, I don't really think about it. I think the biggest thing is, like, defensively, I could tell, like, I'm a step behind. I'm not a great defender already, you know, but I'm playing against interns, and I'm like, why is this guy kind of. He's frying me a little bit here. So it's just the process of, like, planting and turning those things. But offensively, when I'm in control of my movement, I feel great. Defensively, we're reacting to others. That's where it's going to get better as time goes on.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, we got nothing but time. Obviously, these NBA playoffs are still happening. The Pacers actually in an okay position to potentially get another legend to come join us here in Indiana. This season has not gone anywhere near as well as last season went. Did we find ourselves maybe not paying attention as much to the NBA this year because you weren't playing? No, no, no, no. We wouldn't do that.

[Tone Bell]

Never.

[Pat McAfee]

That is not how this show operates. But on that note, we enjoyed the hell out of it last year, and we're finding these storylines of this year that are fantastic as well. Whenever you watch what happened down in San Antonio with response to what Ant man did in Wemby, I think the big thing about Wemby is he's a savage. Right? We need to be looking at him as a guy who loses in the playoffs. At home is going to come back pissed off on the other side. Like, what do you think is kind of misconstrued about the big tall man from France? It's unbelievable.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I think San Antonio being, you know, the higher seed, a team that when you lose a game, like game one, you expect them to come back and respond and respond is what they did last night. That didn't surprise me at all. And you look at like game one, Minnesota made a lot of tough shots. A lot of tough shots. So going into game two, you know, like a guy like Wemby, the paint is kind of like, it's not really a thing when Wemby's on the floor. It's kind of like when you go in there, you expect to probably get a shot block. So like you gotta make jumpers to beat San Antonio at a high level. And Minnesota didn't do that last night. So that's why the score looked like the way it did.

[Pat McAfee]

The spurs have not lost consecutive games since January 11th.

[Tone Bell]

It's crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

January 13th, they improved to 17 and 5 following a loss. The best record in the NBA this season, seemingly. They're going to figure it out. If they do. Soda comes out of nowhere in this particular series because Ant man was supposed to be out nine day recovery time on a bone bruise. He's an absolute legend, which made me believe that he was going to be able to keep it close and cover. But it felt like we all want to believe in Wemby. This is what I said yesterday. This is what I said yesterday. Tyrese, can we see Ant getting taken out in the fourth quarter to rest?

[Tone Bell]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Spurs up?

[Tone Bell]

Oh, well, yeah, if they have a ton.

[Pat McAfee]

Does this become one of those if they're up 20?

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In my mind I just saw that.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

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. They're going to go crazy, I think. Okay, so then I talk myself out of it because of Ant Man. I need to just believe in Wemby. It sounds like is what you're saying because you're one of the best point guards in the game. Whatever you call yourself the best point. We could say you're the best point guard in the game and have an argument with everybody at this stage, even how young you are and everything you've already done. We could say you saying like the paint is just a different thing whenever Wemby's around. He has actually changed the game. But mentally also dog. Right. We need to. We need to like his leadership style. Do you know him that well?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I don't really know Wemby that well, but obviously what he's done with that team and what they're doing as a group has been special all year. Like, it's not a surprise to see what they're doing. Game three is going to be a big game, though. I'm. I'm excited for game three because if Santonio goes in there, takes one, it kind of changes the series. But you're in Minnesota. You leave game two, you feel great. You got blown out in game two, but it's kind of like we stole one in the playoffs. Your job is just to go steal one when you're on the road. So they did their job.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell me about the Knicks and Sixers right now, because this is. The Knicks are. They're. Hey. A little bit of a wagon right now. And obviously Madison Square Garden, the Stars are going to be at. Peter Schrager is going to be in the building.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, always.

[Pat McAfee]

Peter Schrager is going to be in there. Okay. You know that Mike Greenberg's going to be sitting courtside. I don't know if you saw that Greeny had his eyes on you. Hosted up. You're watching get up in the Morning. That's Mike Greenberg from Mike and Mike. I'm aware he's going to be courtside. Timothee Chalamet is going to be always. Kylie's going to be there. Ben Stiller is going to be there sometimes.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Depending on what's going on.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Jay Z was there last night.

[Tone Bell]

Jay Z was there.

[Pat McAfee]

He owns the other team with gold glasses. I mean, you're talking about. The stars are going to be out, and it feels like when Jalen Brunson gets rolling, he's kind of unstoppable. And you obviously have an incredible experience with Madison Square Garden. Jim Ursay dropping that one in from the heavens, I do believe for you after you got a chance to do the entirety of it. But what is it about Madison Square Garden? Obviously you've played well, but it feels like it's become a wagon for them. And this Knicks team feels like have a real chance to win it all this year. And their Knicks fans believe it for sure.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I. I mean, I feel like Madison Square Garden is probably the. If not number, it's probably number one. It's probably the most special place in the NBA because everybody's excited.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, outside of game, outside of gamers, of course.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Right, of course. But Everybody's excited to play there. And yeah, last night's game was interesting. It was pretty close the whole night. Obviously going into the game, Philly not having Joel, they play a little bit faster. Their style of play kind of changes a little bit, makes the game a little closer. But yeah, New York looks good right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Is there a rivalry with New York? Do you hate those guys?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Do I hate. I don't hate anybody.

[Connor Rogers]

Don't really nobody.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't hate anybody.

[Connor Rogers]

Wow. Not even bad people, huh?

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Well, some bad people. You start listening, we'll see if you hate them or not.

[Connor Rogers]

Interesting.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We don't need to do that. But I don't think, I don't think I hate. I don't think I hate the Knicks. No, I not. I'm not a big fan.

[Pat McAfee]

I almost just rattled off like the top five worst humans in the history.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And I just decided I didn't want to see. This is growth. That is you take us back one year, we're going on a 20 minute run right now.

[Connor Rogers]

So many bad news.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe two years, three years of the worst humans of all time. Just to make sure we're talking to a person we know. You know, because we want to make sure that we understand that you would you hate the same people we.

[Peter Schrager]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

As a society.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I'm proud of you for that, but thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm proud of you too, for saying that you don't hate anybody.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now is Amanda. We don't hate at all.

[Tone Bell]

No, we love it.

[Q Rich]

Love him.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

13 year NBA event, former three point shooting contest. He's before his time.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Maybe Chomp.

[Pat McAfee]

Co host the Knuckleheads Podcast. Also ESPN analyst. Ladies and gentlemen, Q. Richards.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, Q?

[Q Rich]

What's good? What's good? I'm good. I'm good. Fellas, what's happening?

[Pat McAfee]

Just, you know, having a great time. How do you feel about Tyrese Lined, all of us saying he doesn't hate anybody? Don't you think most professional athletes have to have a level of hatred for their opponents? Even though you guys are in the dap up, let's swap Jersey era. Don't you think there has to be a pettiness and hatred deep down in there? Q.

[Q Rich]

Rich, I wouldn't go as far as saying hatred. I would say dislike. I would prefer to hear dislike.

[Pat McAfee]

Some people.

[Q Rich]

I don't really hate guys, but I'm not a big person. I don't really think I hate anybody. Well, maybe one or two people, but I do dislike some. Some things. And especially when I play it, I dislike some teams and some players specifically.

[Pat McAfee]

So, yes, okay, I like that. And there's certainly one or two people tend to be. There's people you got to hate. There's just things. And they hate you too, for sure. So that's a two way street. That's a beautiful thing. Let's talk about love. Let's talk about love. Love. Wemby's response. Love. What happened down there in San Antonio. We were just chatting about it. Tyrese talks about how the pain isn't the pain anymore. And obviously Wemby, his record since January 11th. January 13th, coming off a loss, the entire San Antonio spurs team. Then let's not even talk about champagne. Devessell just doing. And one Harlem Globetrotter bullshit. In the middle of games here. We're doing a little pump fake. Need to see this in your game. Maybe need to start adding that.

[Q Rich]

Insane. That catching the ball in the air was insane. Tyrese, please tell them how insane that truly was.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Why don't you.

[Tone Bell]

Why don't you try?

[Q Rich]

Why don't you go try?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I'm not gonna try, but one of you guys should go try. I'm, like, hooked up and stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So what would happen?

[Q Rich]

I actually literally tweeted as soon as I saw that. I said, vasil, that was crazy. Like, that was crazy. He just dropped it like it was a regular jumper. That is not easy to do at all. That's a whole new meaning to no dip.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So I saw a lot of people utilizing the term no dip. No dip. No dip.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No dip.

[Pat McAfee]

Because when I dip, you dip. We dip. Dip.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

When you shoot, catch the ball. When you catch the ball, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Boom. You catch it. What do you naturally do? You bring it down before you go up, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

But no dip means wherever you catch it, you just shoot it from. So like, somebody throws a high.

[Q Rich]

Exactly.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Catch. Shoot. You never got the chance to bring it up and load it up.

[Pat McAfee]

So there's some people that are no dip shooters.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, like, the best shooters. Like, it's like, no dip is like, get it off quicker. So, like, if a guy's coming out quick, you throw it high.

[Pat McAfee]

Ray Allen just get it off.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, Ray Allen could definitely no dip.

[Pat McAfee]

But it's not like a full time style of shooting.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, no, you can do that if you don't need to. But it's like, it's becoming more of a thing with the shooters now. We're like, okay, closeout's coming. I gotta get this off quick. Bad pass. I Don't have time to bring it down. Reload. I just gotta get it off.

[Pat McAfee]

How's your dip? You look like you might be.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh, I got a dip for sure.

[Connor Rogers]

I got a deep dip.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I got a nice dip.

[Tone Bell]

That's when you pump fake em one step.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I used to have a really bad dip in high school. I used to bring that mug to my knees. Not anymore though. We fixed it. But yeah, high school it was weak.

[Pat McAfee]

So whenever you thought you were doing no dip when still dipping to about the waist because how deep you were

[Tyrese Haliburton]

getting it, I just never thought about the dip.

[Pat McAfee]

You used to be a deep dipper.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Now kind of not so deep dipper now just kind of a shallow dip beating up the sides.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Right, right. Yeah, yeah. But they might. We might overblow the no dip. Like too many people probably do the no dip.

[Q Rich]

Wait a minute.

[Tone Bell]

Tyree.

[Pat McAfee]

What? I like that. Q. Rich. I would like to hear another great shooter in the history of the NBA.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

People no dip. Like you're not good at it. So stop. No dipping. You know what I mean? But everybody tries to.

[Q Rich]

I feel that. Yeah, I feel like the way you got worded originally.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Who started to know when did this come into Larry Bird, probably Larry Bird, lethal shooter. I mean, he's taking that thing right here.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I don't know where Koozie.

[Q Rich]

Yeah, I wouldn't know. I don't know the. I'm not about to sit here and lie and say I know the originate and have somebody coming at me like, nah, I don't know where it originated from. But it's definitely a known turn. Turn and a known thing in the league though.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's the best shooting team that is left. If you had to go around both the east and the west right now because isn't it always about making sh Feels like as I get more into hoops and watch more hoops, whoever makes shots down the stretch normally going to be good, you know, like that's normally how it's going to go. Cade Cunningham the other night just took over down the stretch. It was like a 12 point run. Basically where he just was dishing automatic makes. I feel like if you make shots down the stretch, you are going to do well. Who's the best shooting team? You think that's out there? Q. Rich.

[Q Rich]

Ooh, I'm not even sure percentage wise, but just when I look team for team, I would say okc. They probably go the deepest with. With the most guys that can Both do both 3 and 3 and D. Like they got a Lot of guys, different guys that could, basically everybody they throw out that they can make a three from the big Jalen Williams to the wing, J Dub to the Carusos, Case and Wallace. I don't know their percentages, how great they are, but I know they all can make threes.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that the right answer there, Tyrese? Or do you think maybe the Knicks can knock down some shots? Cleveland, Cleveland can knock. They got Harden too. Harden now. Harden has some stats now.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I probably would, I probably would agree with you, Rich. I'd probably say either OKC or New York because more times than not they probably got five guys out there that can shoot the ball. But that's why the playoffs in the NBA. So interesting right now. The teams that are having success, they might have like one non shooter out there right now. One or two, which is interesting. Like that's interesting.

[Pat McAfee]

They said JJ put four eyes basically on sga and there's a game maybe earlier this year where Joker only had like seven shot attempts or something against Lakers because JJ Redick was like, hey, whatever happens here, he's not the guy. Is that just a known thing that JJ does, a lot of people do. Is this something that everybody has to face every single game? Like is this something you got into throughout last season?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I think it depends on the coach. I think Nick Nurse is known for that as well. Especially when he was in Toronto of like, especially with Embiid, he was like, embiid's not touching the ball. That's just not happening. Some coaches, that's just the way they go. But I, I would bet that JJ's gonna continue to do that. I don't, I don't see him changing, changing what he's doing there and what

[Pat McAfee]

SGA is going to go for 50. Is that what we're going to expect because he went for 18 or something. I bet on him for the first time in years to, for a scoring prop and of course it's the first time in years that he doesn't score. So it was certainly something while I was trying to chase the crown. What is the response you think coming from Shea after what the Lakers did?

[Q Rich]

No, I think SGA just goes out there and plays. He lets the game come to him. As huge as that record was, I don't think he, he cared. They still won the game. And I think he'll do the same thing this next game. I think if the game allows him to score big and go above 20 or whatever, he'll do that. But the thing that I like about him is that with the record being on the line and all those different things, you didn't see him pressing or forcing the issue or trying to get thirsty and go for a bucket. Just for that record, he knew they had to lead, and he was fine with it. So, you know, I think that's the beauty about their not. You know, they go with whoever's scoring, whoever's got the flow, whoever's getting to the buckets. They go through that. It's not like a foregone conclusion that this guy has to get 30 or this guy has to get this many points.

[Pat McAfee]

Man, it is nice whenever he does get 30 points, I assume for the Thunder, which seemingly is just all the time except for last game, they're saying a lot about him. No condom.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, it is. It's nice to watch when he does it ethically. And I know we've already talked about this, but everyone holds this guy's water. Everyone holds this guy's water for flopping around. Tyrese, on your run to the NBA finals, I don't remember you flopping around, flailing around like a little baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Whoa. Do you think.

[Connor Rogers]

Do you see it the same way now? I saw the cut up from Brick center, and there's a few in there that I thought, well, okay, that's a foul. But there's also a lot in there that's. Hey, what are we doing here? Okay, I'm trying to watch a competitive basketball game. There are children watching this guy. They're going to be copying him. Is this going to be the NBA

[Tyrese Haliburton]

for the next 15, 20? Overblown, bro. Stop it. So overblown.

[Ben Stiller]

Overblown.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

It's a lot. Come on, guys. He's. What do you mean? Selling is a part of the game, you guys. Flopping, selling. It's a part of basketball. He's not doing it.

[Connor Rogers]

This isn't soccer.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He's not doing it all the time. Like what that video from Brick center that you're talking about.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You're saying this isn't underblown. This is super duper overblown.

[Connor Rogers]

Or is it just blown down the middle?

[Pat McAfee]

Or is it.

[Q Rich]

We could stop. We could stop with the. Any type of blow. I think what Tyrese is trying to say, man, listen, if you look back and I know Tyrese is a. It's a historian of the game, so he would notice when you go back. Go back to Magic, go back to Bird, go back to AI, go back to Michael. Anybody. Who was the. Who was. He's the lead. He's one of the Leading scorers in league, he's going to be the mvp. Whenever you that guy from Paul Pierce to Vince Carter to T Max, they get the calls. I don't care what you want to talk about. You go back and look up the statistics and see, look at the leading scores and the MVP guys and look at how many more fouls they get called than anybody else in the league. That's just the way it go. Those guys are elite scorers. They've learned how to manipulate and force you to foul them and make it look like you fouling them all the time. That's what they do from Kobe to whichever guy you want to name. Now, every guy may or may not over exaggerate with some of the reactions when they get hit or not. But regardless of the fact they were going to get those calls because they are elite at scoring the ball. And whenever you a top scorer, you gonna get fired. You got the ball all the time.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's the theatrics that people are sick of that is kind of what I'm realizing because I watch it. I watch up close whenever you guys are playing him. He's so good at basketball. And I've said this numerous times into a microphone. I'd like to let everybody know. As Jalen Brunson, I thought never missed a shot. I didn't know how Cat was able to run as much as he was able to run just up close a person. He's so big. That was kind of my takeaways from watching that particular series. Like, this guy's so large. I don't know how he's going to keep up with you guys were just running his ass off the court, basically, it felt like.

[Tone Bell]

And that happened.

[Pat McAfee]

And Jalen Brunson never missed. I was like, that's basically my takeaway for this team. Then we got the Oklahoma City and this SGA guy's just like the smoothest dude of all time. And he never missed. The guy felt like he never missed. And then I get out of the game. You know, I get out of the game, I check my phone, and all you got is people attacking him for flopping and foul merchant, everything like that. I'm like, man, I feel like we watch live. I feel like I watch a different game than the people watching on TV because, like, he's getting fouled. It's just the theatrics, I think that everybody kind of gets pissed off about. They call him a flopper because of it, but I think he's getting himself in positions to get Fouled a lot, I think. I'm not. I'm not 100% sure. Tyrese, you would have to be able to explain that more as you're not that theatrical, though. And you could be, because it's kind of in you, you know, because you'd be like, what does that mean?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You know what that mean?

[Pat McAfee]

You know what that means?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What does that mean?

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, like, you'll throw a half court pass spin, and then skip around here. You're a WWE mark. You are. You get it. You do get it. So the fact that you don't immediately. Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan on every single. Okay, that is something I think, that you do have inside of you, and you don't really do. He does seemingly accentuate every single contact, and he does get the calls, and it pisses everybody off because he's the mvp. Do you understand the conversation that from the fans perspective or.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I get it. I get it. But I agree with what you're saying. When I'm in the game and we're playing against him, I'm not. I'm not thinking like, oh, my God, this guy's just falling around everywhere. A lot of times it's like, you see a lot of these plays where people are mad. They're like, oh, he's. He's flopping. But you see when the guy fouls them, he's like, damn, he knows he fouled him. He's not even arguing. He knows he fouled them. It's like the best players, I think, to Q Rich's point, like, I think the best players, you can't really. You don't get. You know, you don't get the. You don't get to touch. You don't get to, like, be super physical. It's just not how it works. They're going to. They're good enough to sell that. They're going to the free throw line. Those are easy points for them.

[Pat McAfee]

That's like James Harden, who was back just a couple games ago. And then last game, everybody's saying he was back too, but I'm saying a couple games ago, I felt like I saw old James Harden. Somebody accidentally put their hand out at half court. He. Boom, found it. Go ahead and shoot that thing gets to the foul line, hits all three of them. It was like an immediate. That's James Harden basketball. Let's talk about that series. How do you feel about the Stones? Is anybody call them that?

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, everyone. Stones?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, everyone's calling them the Stones. Tyrese never heard of it either. So Foxy from the Detroit area. Pistons fan. He's way out in the farm, but in the area there. Detroit fan of all their sports. He goes, oh, the Stones. And I was so confused. I thought Rolling Stones were going to do something up there. And he goes, no, that's what Piston just heard like last week.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Do people really call them that?

[Pat McAfee]

People really call them that. So I got on this microphone and I said it. There's a lot of people saying, what Are we sure? What is.

[Tone Bell]

Foxy's not lying.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like he's lying.

[Connor Rogers]

He would never.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

I was pretty nervous when I told you guys this. And then we put the tweet out and a lot of people said, yes, we do indeed call them the Stones. It's just a select few of us. Foxy's crew from his high school said that that's what they call them. So I think what we are doing is potentially taking Williamston, Michigan to the world here about the Stones. And on that note, the Stones seemingly rolling and back in it with Cade kind of leading the charge. Had a bunch of turnovers in the first three games. Obviously everybody thought they were going to fall to their demise. Has gotten hot since they move on. Are they the one seed that we've seen from the season? If you were to follow them and what are your thoughts on how they can continue throughout the rest of the playoffs?

[Q Rich]

I just love the cage resilience, man. You got to think about it. He was on that team when they had the longest losing streak in the history of the NBA and you know, the league just to stay with it in a league where, you know, guys move on and say it's not working here. He kept his head down, kept working. He never made excuses. And then, you know, now they are number one seed and you see the same thing. He doesn't have a lot to say. He's really even killed. And I feel like he's the driving force. The man had went out with a. With a long puncture, came back, stared down a 3:1, you know, deficit in the Magic in the first round. And he was the catalyst that led them back. He was the guy that when you watched him play to say, I'm not allowing us to lose. So I got a big belief in Cade and everything he's doing. I feel like they are the best, the number one seed for a reason and they gonna be a hard out in the. In these playoffs. Especially when you got a guy like Tobias stepping up every other night, trying to go for 20 plus and possibly. So I think they rolling right now.

[Pat McAfee]

I love watching it. I like them fighting back and then I like the coach getting an immediate extension. Like, hey, yep, yep, you are who we thought you were. Thank God. It was getting a little shaky there. We were down 3:1, didn't know. And then you win a series. Thank you for doing that for the entire city of Detroit. And here's a brand new deal. Let's continue to do that. Tyrese, they were coming after Kate a little bit. They were saying too young, weren't ready for the playoffs. Whenever they're playing bad against Orlando, he's come back and just dominated, play incredible basketball. Is there a part to playoff basketball where every game is prime time, where everybody knows if you're playing like ass and then having to come back on the other side of it? How do you kind of deal with that, actually? How do you kind of deal with it?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, yeah, I think you're on TV more, right? Your game is going to get talked about more. Good or positive or negative. You're going to get. There's going to be more tweets, more people are going to be talking about you, whatever. But I think the good thing about the Pistons is Katie's their guy and they know he's their guy. So it doesn't matter what kind of performance he has if it's positive or negative. He knows that his teammates are looking at him like, you're our guy, like, let's figure it out. We're riding with you no matter what. And so I think he played well in those games. Turnover numbers were probably a little high, higher than he wanted them, but I feel like Detroit being a physical team, I feel like that Orlando, Orlando's physical as well. So that was a decent matchup for them to go against. I feel like that's why that series went so long, where I feel like they're more the physically dominating team in this series. I feel like that might be able to help them. And I really feel like that will help a guy like Jalen Duran, too. Like, he didn't play probably how he wanted to in round one, but I feel like I can expect him to have a better round, too, for sure. Q.

[Tone Bell]

Rich, I had a question about the other side, the Cavs. A lot of people, you know, know Tyrese is talking about a lot more tweets, a lot more people talking about it, a lot of people talking about James Harden and Donovan Mitchell not being able to get over the hump in the playoffs. Do you think that's a real thing or they just Keep running into the teams that are better than them.

[Q Rich]

Yeah, I think. I think that's a real thing. You know, when you look at the Pistons, they. They number one seed for a reason. They dominated in the. In the regular season for a reason. They. They're a really good team. And coming into these playoffs, we knew it would be a hard, hard out for whoever had to face him. So for. For the Cavs to be running up against that now. I think you've seen James Harden has performed. I mean, maybe not like the Houston James Harden that we. We used to see him, but he performed at a. At a high level and been there for his team and been there in moments. And I got big faith in Donovan that he always is going to come out and ball out now every game. He may not shoot the greatest percentages and things like that, but the one thing that I believe about Donovan Mitchell, that he's always going to be game and ready to go and play his hardest and be there. Now, he may not make all the shots all the time, but he. He definitely is going to be ready for war. I believe that about Don.

[Pat McAfee]

How tall is Donovan? Taller. Spider.

[Q Rich]

Like six, four. Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Could you imagine him at Tyrese?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What you think 62 is what he's listed?

[Pat McAfee]

Could you imagine him at D tackle? Sure, he is. I mean, he is stout. He is a stout dude.

[Tone Bell]

Six two. Two twenties. We list.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He's powerful, too, bro. His movements are powerful.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's so smooth. He can just move so well. It's like, what Aaron Donald. I'm not going to say Donovan Mitchell is Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald trained with knives, but I'm just saying, like, the.

[Connor Rogers]

The build.

[Pat McAfee]

The build of Donovan Mitchell. I'm like, that guy had to be a football guy. Had to have been a football guy who just had ridiculous handles. He is fun to watch, makes every play. And if James Harden. Hey, come on, James. They're saying stuff about your playoff stuff. Let's go, James. I'm a James Harden fan. Put the beard on.

[Q Rich]

Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

Whatever the hell you got to do. Let's start putting these up. Up.

[Connor Rogers]

James off the court's cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Hilarious, actually.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. All.

[Ben Stiller]

All of it.

[Pat McAfee]

All of it. We're big fans. Okay, Drew, Rich, will you make some picks for tonight? Quickly, before you know, we pivot into an NHL conversation. Tonight we have the Cavaliers at the Pistons, Pistons favored by three and a half, and the Lakers at the Thunder. Thunder. Feel the Thunder. Thunder, their favorite. Thunder, 15 and a half. Jesus Christ.

[Connor Rogers]

Come on.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Time.

[Pat McAfee]

It's another one.

[Q Rich]

Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

It was too little. Too little last time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

I'm still.

[Q Rich]

I'm.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm going.

[Q Rich]

I. I give it to the Pistons tonight. I say the Pistons win again at home. Go up two zero. And obviously I'm rolling with the Thunder in this one. It's gonna be, it's. It's gonna be. Take an incredible feat for the Lakers to get a game against this team.

[Connor Rogers]

This guy hates LeBron.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I was about to say we'll see if the goat decides to take over though. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. That's Q Red.

[Tone Bell]

Let him get awarded after that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. No way. No way. He's massive Jordan fan. I ain't from Chicago. Obviously. You're from the Midwest. I heard you say in a press conference recently you released something. You said every kid that plays in Wisconsin wants to go to Iowa State nowadays anyways, or something like that because you guys just signed a new kid. You're Michael Jordan fan growing up or because LeBron James in Ohio. You grew up in LeBron James.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was born in 2000, bro.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh my God.

[Connor Rogers]

So not so. Not as much. But still he's been. Been alive for, you know, LeBron in the NBA at least the whole time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's unbelievable how young you are. I completely forgot about that. And you're old now. 26.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I'm old.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You gotta get your own insurance.

[Tone Bell]

You got to get off your parents insurance.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I have been on my own insurance for a while.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Tone Bell]

I know how the NBA works.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you ensure all those outfits?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

No, you don't?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No. Some watches and stuff. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, congratulations.

[Tone Bell]

Smart. That's smart.

[Connor Rogers]

Must be a nice watch.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it definitely was. Remember he. Was he buying his watch Mavato.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yes, sir.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Very kind of you to do that, Puma. I see you rocking a puma there. Shout out, shout out, Puma.

[Connor Rogers]

Every. Every single day, bro.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He's a real one for that.

[Pat McAfee]

He is. Especially those.

[Connor Rogers]

Text me back, man.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

When did you text me? I don't know. I'm just. I got a new number. Oh, do you hear this guy? I did get a new number. Get a load of this guy. No, no, no. I got a new number that's on get. Get a load of this. I got to give you my new number.

[Tone Bell]

Well, you're also not a downtown boy anymore, so that's. You say said see you, Connor.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, to be clear though, Tyrese, whenever I saw him in Vegas after he celebrated me getting put through a table and potentially son of A. I celebrated. You kind of didn't do anything. I know your dad. I was flipping off everybody, Okay?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I come out, yeah, I love this story.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm flipping off everybody. Boom, bang. Everybody's doing it. And even in the front, George Kittle's even like, you know, what are you doing, man? Jameer Gibbs was there giving me a little stuff. Like everybody, basically. And then your dad holding his phone, big thumbs up. Just huge thumbs up. Just in the middle of everybody. I look around, I'm like, bead bugging everybody or whatever. I see your dad, I just look at him and I go, fuck you, Michael Cole. Just because I didn't want to talk to your dad. I love your dad. Your dad, the goat, the man. I mean, just absolutely the man through and through. We need you guys to go on another title run so your dad could go on the title run. And that is no disrespect to you, but you understand what I'm saying.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I get it, I get it. I get what you're saying.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't like how much you saw then. He introduced us to 50 Cent. Tony Ayo.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yep.

[Connor Rogers]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

We had a little. Cameron was in there.

[Tone Bell]

This guy was there till Monday. I saw him on Monday Night Raw.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was there till Tuesday, actually.

[Connor Rogers]

That's a journey.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I had. I had an appearance with Adobe on Tuesday.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, sure. That's why you said.

[Pat McAfee]

What were you selling?

[Tone Bell]

Acrobatic Reader, Photoshop, anything. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What is an Adobe?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was at Adobe Tech Summit.

[Tone Bell]

Photoshop.

[Pat McAfee]

What you talk about? You talk about AI taking everybody's jobs.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I did not talk about that. I spoke on fan loyalty and in sports.

[Pat McAfee]

And what does it kind of revolve around, you think, this fan loyalty, if you had to, really.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Thank you. They were asking me questions. I just answered the question.

[Connor Rogers]

That's a question.

[Tone Bell]

Was it like a TED Talk?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

It was a. What's that called? There was multiple people up there.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, a panel.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

A panel. Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

You're on the panel?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yes, I was on a panel.

[Pat McAfee]

Which. How many people were on the panel? Four people with a host. Three people, though.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Three people with a host.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. You all had comfortable chairs?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, chairs were comfy.

[Pat McAfee]

Did we have the microphone on the face?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We did.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys really do big LED board behind you.

[Tone Bell]

Big LED board does it. Right.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's a corporate speaker all of a sudden. Okay, so what were you talking. You're talking about fan loyalty and how

[Tyrese Haliburton]

you can treat fans right, Engage with your fans through whatever social. Mine was more. I was the youngest one up There. So it was more about social media and in the world of sports.

[Pat McAfee]

I love making vlog shoes. I do like. I do things like that.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yes, sir. There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

I get out there, I play chess against people in New York.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Wemby does that. I don't know how to play chess, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

I thought you go hang out with monks and stuff.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Wemby, I've never hung out with a monster monk.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, you should.

[Connor Rogers]

You need to do that.

[Pat McAfee]

That's your damn loyalty.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You thought my dad was a.

[Pat McAfee]

Your dad could be the best monk of all time. But anyways, thank you for speaking on fan loyalty to those people. You potentially bring them into sports, which we appreciate.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

And I'll tell you what, Anytime you got one of them on, you know it's about to go with a board behind you.

[Tone Bell]

Big board.

[Ben Stiller]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you. What you do with your legs? Did you go cross legs? I never know what to do in those.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, you know, you kind of just mix it up as you go.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Cross the leg. You look over, and that guy's crossing his leg. So you can't. I can't look like him, right?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't lean on shoulder on arm.

[Tone Bell]

We do that.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I don't know if lean arm is the best choice.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, it depends where you're at. If you're at the very end, you got to at least act like you're engaged.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was.

[Connor Rogers]

What kind of chair it is?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was third. I was third.

[Connor Rogers]

So you can go arms crossed. Like, hands folded.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Arms cross is what I went with for the most part.

[Pat McAfee]

Game day. They got my ass right in the middle of that thing. Fascinating how that one goes.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, it's nice. You got the table right there so

[Pat McAfee]

you can hide a little bit.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, that's nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But then whenever. This is a. And then, you know, we got to go over here. Turn your back, and I never know. And then sometimes the lower body's going one way and the chair goes another. I look like a fat ass up there a lot of times. It's tough. SP spot. I assume you handled it well for the good of sport. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Tyrese, you think you would have scored 50 in that game? 7. We would have won the title. I think so. We would. Had a parade. We'd have been so cool. We'll do it again someday. Speaking of parades, a man who brought Lord Stanley cup down to South Florida multiple times and also helped bring a gold medal to United States men's hockey and is about to win another world championship Here in about eight days. Ladies and gentlemen, Matthew Kachak. How you doing, pal?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

What's up, boys? How are you guys?

[Pat McAfee]

Good. You look fantastic. Thank you for joining us. Good jawline right now. Wow. Hey, you look like you're in great shape right now. How's the body? How's it. How is everything in Kachuk's world right now?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

It's. It's body's good. I mean, obviously, Pat, we've talked a bunch last year, Crazy surgery at the end of the year, and didn't feel anywhere close to myself until probably right before the Olympics. Best thing that happened to me was going over there, playing every every other day, skating every other day, kind of keeping, like, my rhythm going, Getting back in, like, that game shape. Getting back in, like, the. Just the rhythm of getting hit and hitting people and being in competitive games. And those games over there were so nuts, so competitive, that when I came back after the Olympics, just kind of gained all my confidence back.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I love that we're about to go play again. I just learned. I don't know how public everything is if you've made an announcement or if you're supposed to make an announcement. If the Florida Panthers know this, I have no idea what is known by anybody, but the International Ice Hockey Federation has a world championship happening next weekend in Zurich, which is in what country? Switzerland. Tyrese.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

This is a world championship that happens every single year. Obviously, the Canadians have won a lot of these. Gumpy. How many of these types of world championships has Canada won? Around 88 or so. Oh, who won last year's IHF World Championship?

[Q Rich]

I don't think we did, unfortunately.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, the United States of America. Oh, yeah. Okay, so tell me a little bit about this world championship. And this is obviously an every year event. You playing in this feels big to me. I know Sidney has played in this. Crosby has played in this in the past for Team Canada. How can you kind of quantify what's about to happen next week? And what are our chances? Are we winning this thing?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Well, I sure as hell hope so. Not going over there for a vacation. Better. Better give ourselves a chance to win. But, yeah, I think the best way to describe it is it's an every year thing. This is actually my first time going because it's in mid to late May the last few years. I've been in playoffs a couple years before that, I was up for contracts. I didn't go. So there's always, like, a couple reasons why guys are banged up after their NHL season. So Might not go because of that. Guys having kids. I mean, there's. There's so many reasons why, but I think it's just such an honor to wear the USA jersey and kind of like playing for the Olympics and then going here like a few months later, like, I still have that feeling that I had representing back in. In February in Milan. It's like, how could I not want to be a part of that again? So I'm really excited to go. I'm going a couple days into the tournament. I'm gonna try to try to bring another championship back to the United States. We won for the first time last year. I was on the team, but USA won. I think it was for like the first time in 100 years. So we're hoping to do it again this year.

[Pat McAfee]

First time, 100 years.

[Connor Rogers]

Serious. So we haven't.

[Tone Bell]

We haven't.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

I could be very much over exaggerating. I think it was a long.

[Tone Bell]

Lost the tournament in a long time.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Feels like.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it feels like it's just kind of. Hockey is ours.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

The only thing we've really lost, I guess draft lottery. Toronto got. Nobody cares about which junior, though. Which Jun. Oh, yeah, you got. Let me guess. You guys won the WHL championship, boys.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

We won.

[Q Rich]

We won.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

We won the big one. We won the big one in February. That's all that matters.

[Pat McAfee]

Both.

[Tone Bell]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a really good. Hey, God bless America. Thank you, Chuck.

[Connor Rogers]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Chuck. Hey, Tyrese, thank you, too. You want a gold medalist. Couple American sports heroes around here, okay? Obviously, the IIHF World Championship happening next weekend will be good for hockey. Hockey right now seeing massive boosts. We had Gary Bettman on yesterday to talk about, you know, this is like the most viewed playoffs and nine years or new, right? Whatever it is, everybody's watching hockey right now. I think the US Olympic team has a huge piece of that, both the men and the women. For everybody falling in love with the sport or being reminded why the sport is so spectacular, you obviously have been in the Stanley cup the last three years, winning the last two. Now you're kind of watching from a different perspective. How have you found yourself watching these games? Are you find. You find yourself rooting for the East? Are you rooting against people? How do you kind of view what's happening right now with these playoffs? Who the world is tuning into?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

It's weird. Obviously want to be playing. I think you just catch yourself rooting against a few teams that you just don't like. I'm not going to say that on here, but I'm just happy a couple of them aren't still playing. So that's nice. But I, I don't know, it's. It's a weird, weird feeling. It's, it's great to see that hockey. I mean I saw those numbers the same time you guys saw those the other day. Like the numbers are through the roof right now. So that's so cool that, that hockey such a big thing right now in the United States going back to the Olympics with our team and the women's team winning. It just, it seemed like coming back from Milan, like hockey was the cool thing here in the United States. So I'm happy to see that it's still trending in the right direction. Playoffs have been unreal so far. They've been crazy games, a lot of overtimes. I just think, I know I'm not like allowed to pick anything, but I would say that the winner of Colorado and Mini has got a very, very good of winning it all. Like that's a, that's a big boy battle with those two teams and Colorado is playing as good as anybody right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I love you saying I know I'm not allowed to pick anything but I just want you know what I'm seeing over there in Colorado, Minnesota. I mean at the end of that, what was 5, 2 into that? I mean we're talking about they're laying bodies. It reminded me of your guys coach whenever there was a mic dups release that it was like, hey, this is a seven game series. Bodies on bodies here, down there. Like that was actual plan. I mean absolute McKinnon. Two of them late. That was five, two. That was after Quinn lost an edge I believe and then got buried in the ice as well. It's like very physical brand of hockey. A lot of big dogs playing against each other. It has been spectacular. But the Avalanche have obviously just looked outrageous. They're not the only ones though across the entire NHL. Go ahead, con man.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, Chucky. The other one on the other side would be Carolina. Both those teams being six and no, Carolina's never. They don't have the experience rather that Colorado has with the, you know, Stanley cup final and the win that Colorado has. But what have you seen from Carolina? Because it feels like this might be the year, you know, they get over the hump with Florida, your team being out. That was the one team basically they'd run into and just get absolutely washed. But what do you think about the nail guns over there for Carolina Hurricanes?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

I was actually at one of the games in Carolina, because I went and saw my brother play. It was game two, of course, the one I go to goes in, like, at the end of the double overtime. So that was great. But I think. I think they're a. I think they're a really good team. They're always in this position every year, so they're doing something right. They're really fast at home. I noticed, like, they're. They're a team. When you go on the road like that first 10 minutes, minutes 5, 10 minutes, they are all over you. And they have continued that. And that's kind of been their bread and butter for years. So home ice has been a big, big advantage for them. They're playing great. The only thing that, you know, you obviously don't want to lose ever. You want to lose a game ever. But you almost wonder, like, some of these teams that have just kind of coasted through the first round and starting to go through the second round, like, you almost need to hit a little adversity to win it all. There's no team that's ever gone 16 0, I don't think. I mean, I guess one of these two could this year, but it's. At one point, they're going to hit adversity. Colorado might hit a little adversity at some point, but ultimately you're better from that. I just think they haven't hit it yet. So it's hard to say which one of those teams might be the favorite right now. It's really tough.

[Pat McAfee]

Certainly a gift. You get more days off. Obviously, if you sweep, you don't have to play as many games. Your legs might be fresher, you might have a team. But the curse there is you don't have the moment of everybody having to fix the shit that's wrong. Because, you know, whenever you're winning, it's kind of a band aid to cover everything up, you know? And then once you lose, it's like, wait, we got to fix some shit here. You can also bring the lads together, which I think you're a big part of. Chucky, I think you and your brother proved you're big lads, guys. Big, big lads, guys. Can you tell by watching these teams who's tighter or who's not tighter as a group or as a unit? Or should we expect all these guys to be a pretty tight bunch at this stage of the NHL playoffs?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Every team says they're tight, but, you know, not every team's exactly what they say. I think I look to Colorado and Minnesota. It just seems like two teams that have a of ton, ton of fun seem to really bond with each other. You can tell by like the camaraderie with each other, like during the games, talking on the bench, banging the sticks after a block shot or a big hit. I don't know those two teams, I also think one team that's like really, really been surprised team to a lot of people, but not to us, maybe I'll say both of them is Buffalo and Montreal. Like those two teams are really, really good. And what I think their advantage is, this is their first time going through it and their first time really making a playoff run so far. So those two teams look like they're having a ton of fun. I watched the last three or four games of the Montreal Tampa series and Montreal is for real. Like they're a really good team and they, they could have won that series against Tampa in five games, four games. Like they, they played really, really well. So I think that series could be really good and going to be a must watch for me.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, an absolutely nasty goal here from Kirby Dock. I mean, just absolute filth there. They're talking goal of the playoffs, right?

[Connor Rogers]

Probably.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, there's been a lot of good ones. There's been some insane skill on display obviously throughout the entire playoffs. And this is where hockey is in prime time and the best players are playing. Like that seemingly happens every night. Even though it makes no sense how you guys have so much incredible talent. The other side, you mentioned it, there is the grit and the toughness. You guys will actually fight each other. You guys will hit each other and you guys will throw your faces in front of objects going like 100 miles an hour in and kind of take pride in it. Go ahead, Tone.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, Chucky. Last night the ducks were up 20 with about 7 minutes left.

[Pat McAfee]

Not you NBA players. No way.

[Tone Bell]

And Mikel Grandland was in front of the net and he threw his body in front of the puck to save a goal. And obviously you see that a ton in the playoffs. And then the, a couple nights back, Quinn Hughes was getting shit for getting out of the way of puck. People were saying, you know, was he, was he worried about, you know, screen the goalie and stuff like that or hitting off him and going the goal? How do you know. Know when to lay yourself out in front of a rubber missile or get out of the way so the goalie can, can get in front of it?

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Wow. Well, first of all, Quinn's like one of the biggest dogs in the NHL right now. So I'M sure he was, like, tying up with the guy in front. Like, he would not get out of a way of a puck. He's. He's an animal. He's. He's one of the best and doesn't have to be because he's so skilled and so good on the other end of the ice. Like, he doesn't have to do it, but he does it because he's one of the best. I mean, that Gramlin block definitely saved a goal. Throwing the foot out there, it's like kind of a. When you're in that moment and I am not a big block shot, I'm not. But that's like a desperation. Like, throw the foot out. Like, that's your last resort right there. Like, look at him. His body's to the right. That's. That's unreal. That saves a goal, ultimately wins them the game. But I think when you're in these games, like I just said, I'm not a huge block shot guy. I don't think, like, many. Many people are. But when you're in these games where every single play is momentum, you never know. Vegas gets that goal. I don't know how much time was left. They can get one again and win in overtime like that. That's the little things that add up in these playoff games. So. Doesn't matter who you are. Grandlin's like, one of the best players on Anaheim. Very offensive. Like, he's a hell of a player. He doesn't have to do that, but you just. You just do it because that's what it takes. At this time of year, it's the best time of year to play. You put everything on the line. I don't know if anybody's throwing their face in front of a puck on purpose, but, I mean, if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, good. So I'll stop saying it's on purpose, then I'll just start saying that it happens and the lads are okay with it. Hockey, obviously, electrifying. And the numbers and the people that are tuning in, in the barns. Okay. You talked about, like, Buffalo not knowing and having a good time. The boys on the ice. It's like their fans are having a great time.

[Connor Rogers]

Blades boys.

[Pat McAfee]

The Blades boys welcomed in some Montreal Blades boys.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, the.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if you saw the pregame festivities. They a. A Blade hockey game outside. Oh, yeah. And I. I'll tell you, I think the Buffalo Grit boys will potentially outlast the Montreal lads, but nobody wants Anything to do with. Down there in Carolina with the lads that.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, Jarvis's boy?

[Pat McAfee]

Jarvis boys.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, Jarvis boys.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you seen these boys from Manitoba that have come down to Carolina? These lads right here, they're just known as Jarvis boys. They were cranking the siren the other day.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Cranking the siren out there.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

My. My favorite entourage group is the Buffalo Blade Gang. I would take. I would put my money on them to everybody beat up the Montreal guys on rollerblades. Beat up those guys. I would take the Buffalo guys all day. Those guys. Look, those guys are a real deal. I like those guys.

[Pat McAfee]

The only American bunch out of the crew that you just mentioned. And that's why next weekend at the International Ice Hockey Federations World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland, this man will be attempting to go for gold. And also. You didn't tell us this. We had to do some research while we were on air here. Matthew Kach. Chuck, if you were to win the IIHF World Championship next weekend, you'd become one of 31 men in the history of hockey to win the triple gold, which is Olympic gold, Stanley cup and World Championship.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

There's only 30 people that have done it. No Americans.

[Connor Rogers]

Damn.

[Pat McAfee]

Have ever done it. Okay, so there's a chance that you become one of 31 men next weekend. I like that. You didn't tell us about that. We had to look into that.

[Ben Stiller]

That.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, let's go.

[Connor Rogers]

Come on. Chucky.

[Pat McAfee]

Chucky, let's go over there and do the. We can't wait to watch you.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Like I said, I'm not going over there for a free vacation. We're going there to do a job and win it and have another great celebration.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey. For the good of America.

[Tone Bell]

Is Brady going?

[Pat McAfee]

Good question.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Brady just had a kid. He is not. I would. I would love if he. If he were able to, but he's.

[Tone Bell]

Congrats on the kids

[Pat McAfee]

coming in. Any names on the team that have been announced? Do you know who's going over there yet, or is it kind of. The roster's fluid.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

I swear, I know nothing really, other than that I'm going at some point. I've been occupied on one. If I was going. If I was able to. So kind of just committed a few days ago, and I'll find out here more shortly. I know a lot of the guys. The tournament starts on the 15th, and I'm going there a couple days after. So, yeah, I'm pumped. Like, there's nothing better than playing the best game in the world. And we're in the red, white and blue. We've talked about it a million times. It's just nothing like it. So I can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on. Good luck over there. We appreciate the hell out of you going for the triple gold. Matthew. Kacha. Good research in the back, Nick. Hell yeah. Yeah, that's a big deal.

[Tone Bell]

That was always like an accolade, you know, A lot of those guys have

[Pat McAfee]

the merits already to get into the Hockey hall of Fame, but that is a surefire ticket punch to the hall

[Connor Rogers]

of Fame if you can complete that.

[Pat McAfee]

I've been talking to him literally for the last couple days. He. Panthers owner Vinnie Viola obviously owns Golden Temp. Sure saw us talking about. A full conversation takes place. Helps connect us with Sherry Devo, which is very cool of Kachuk, but also talking to him and then I'm like, hey, what do you got going on? You know? He's like, oh, I'm heading to Zurich. I'm like, love Zurich, man.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, good call, Pretzels.

[Tone Bell]

Beautiful mountains.

[Connor Rogers]

Zurich open.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, the views, the watches are unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I assume. I. I think I've. The Internet people do the mountains over there with like little cars. Yeah. You know, like, it looks like a really good time over there to Boggins. Yeah. Turns out no, he's going for a world championship. I'm not riding at toboggans. That's what he said.

[Connor Rogers]

Maybe after.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm going to play for you.

[Tone Bell]

I think Foxy went there last year.

[Pat McAfee]

Tyrese representing United States of America. Obviously you got an A. Okay. On the. On the group project, but did it feel as if in that moment it was like America versus everybody. And do you. Did. Did the entire team get that sense? Does that make sense? Because it felt like that with the hockey teams. Whenever we were playing Canada, it felt like, holy hell, it really is us versus these people up here. Like, it really felt France.

[Connor Rogers]

France in the final too. Like you've taken on the home country. Like that entire arena, you guys, it was obviously them versus.

[Pat McAfee]

Was that a cool vibe? And honestly, I've never gotten a chance to experience it. How was it in there? And when you get the chance to do it, have you learned anything from kind of experience that. That you've already gathered?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, it's fire. There's nothing like it. Like, it's so. It's so special. Cuz everybody wants to see you lose. Like, genuinely everybody. Not in this country, but everywhere.

[Tone Bell]

Some.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Some people do. Yeah, some people do. Really. There's more to talk about the next day. And they can. They can hate for sure, but no, that's I think that's the beauty in it. That's what makes it more fun.

[Pat McAfee]

How do we all feel? You're born in 2000. How do we all feel about tomorrow? The return of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. You said there are people that want to see a little lose so, you know, they can hate and talk about it the next day. But Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless getting back on it. I'm not saying they're hating, but they certainly talk about a lot of things. And in debate, there is some hate that certainly comes out. You're talking about the two goats of this thing. I think whenever you talk about debate television coming back tomorrow, I'm excited. Skip cut a promo into a cell phone he's jacked. He said he's readier than ever.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What did he get, like five likes on Twitter? Twitter?

[Connor Rogers]

5,000 in a minute.

[Pat McAfee]

Million. Can I be 5,000K? Maybe?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

Can I be honest?

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about? Hold on. Hold the phone. You don't want to see Stephen A. And Skip Bayless get back in here and go jab for jab with a hook or two coming in there tomorrow. Like the good old days of debate on television before everybody thought they had to become a debater. The master debaters are actually about to take each other on tomorrow. First time in 10 years. Years on first take. Tyrese, this is good for sports. Whoa, dude.

[Connor Rogers]

Hello.

[Pat McAfee]

Boxing. What was that? Tyrese, come on.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Are we being serious?

[Connor Rogers]

It's like Oasis getting back together, bro.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right.

[Tone Bell]

I'd rather watch someone pull my fingernails out.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I'd rather. I. I think I'd rather watch anything.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Tone Bell]

That style show almost ruined sports television.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but what the hell's going on? You cannot blame the pioneers for everybody that was trying to follow suit, maybe. Okay? Everybody was trying to do the same exact thing. And you have to be. You have to give credit where it's due. Those two are good debaters.

[Tone Bell]

The things they believe.

[Pat McAfee]

The things that they believe you can think are. Well, that's ass. Okay? That is not how actual people think, which I think a lot of us think about a lot of things that get into these things in these debate shows. But it's like Stephen A dabbling in the political world. It's like if he gets in debates with people, I feel like sports debaters, we're pretty good. We're pretty good debate. And I think it's because sports media has been debate society since these two have kind of gone after it. So I think two old bulls Kind of tangling one more time. You know, Ric Flair had his final match. Yeah, he did. You know, one final run here for the boys. We'll never talking about like remember Stone Cold Steve Austin, One last stunner to Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 40. You know, that's what this is potentially. This is one last go of the last LeBron versus Jordan Cowboys.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Is that what this is? How excited were you to see. How excited was the world to see Stone cold stun Vince McMahon?

[Connor Rogers]

Very. Not as excited.

[Pat McAfee]

I laugh.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Very right. How excited are people, Are people truly to watch this?

[Pat McAfee]

Did you hear what I just said?

[Connor Rogers]

That times 10.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

And what are they going to talk about?

[Pat McAfee]

We know.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We know who plays tonight. Who plays tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Tonight we have NBA, obviously. We have the Cavs and the Pistons.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What's the second game?

[Pat McAfee]

Lakers and the Thunder.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

So I wonder what the conversation tomorrow.

[Tone Bell]

Two hours of that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right, cuz. The Pistons coming back number one overall seed.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what.

[Connor Rogers]

I don't know. Canes are playing the Flyers. They might dive into a little bit

[Pat McAfee]

of puck and also, I don't know if you know, this may madness is about to happen.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

College lacrosse. There's a chance. Princeton. Princeton, the Ivy League back on top. Is that not right, Connor?

[Connor Rogers]

No, you. You absolutely nailed it. Nate Kabiri, who is kind of their premier player up there for Princeton, he is a Tuarton finalist, as we know. The Kavanaugh boys, the Kavanaugh lads, they kind of let us know last year and the year before about that entire situation. But it is kind of a throwback, a little bit of an old school bracket. We have three Ivy League teams. Army is playing. This is Princeton right here. I believe they are kind of the premier team. This is the year that there should at least be an Ivy League team in the final. Notre Dame. Some of our boys, of course. Iago, Jeffrey. No more Kavanaughs. They have a Tuarton finalist. I don't want to get his name wrong. Sean Light Litt. He's a defenseman. You never see this. There's five players all up for the Tuartan. Basically the Heisman of lacrosse for people that don't know lacrosse. And he's the only defenseman. It's four attackmen and then one defenseman. But it should be a fantastic tournament. This is one I've been looking forward to for a while. Richmond, great story. They're actually the 4 seed. This will be the first time they ever host anybody in mayhem. May. May Mayhem. And no, I'm legitimately juiced for this. Ualbany going to North Carolina. Ualbany, actually if we remember, is the Thompson twins, the cousins, the Native American brother. They kind of put them on the map a little bit. Cornell, Hopkins, Notre Dame, Jacksonville. Yes. Jacksonville has a lacrosse team. Yep. It's starting to grow. Sport of the future. Don't look now. Future might be in about five years from now because I'm hearing people in Ohio, kids are starting to play lacrosse in Ohio. If you told me 20 years ago people in Ohio growing up would be playing lacrosse. I think you're fricking high.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think lacrosse has obviously done an incredible job of having great highlights. And also the Arena League, that is professional. The nll.

[Connor Rogers]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

So that might be be in the B block right there. May Madness. Princeton's back on top. Starting to look like the old days. You got West Point in there. You got obviously a bunch of Notre Dame prestige up on the line. That that could potentially be what they're talking about.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I mean, pardon my ignorance. I have a question there. Why did some teams play like 11 games and some teams have played like 18?

[Connor Rogers]

It's funny you should say that because I actually, while looking at the bracket was confused by that about a month ago. I think there's a couple teams that were. I don't know, they only played like six games in the season. Season typically starts in February. I'm not sure if some programs in the conferences have kind of dwindled whether or not that happens or if some of the conference tournaments have been shrunk down. But yeah, I was also confused by that a little bit. I don't know why.

[Pat McAfee]

So some teams might be fresher, some teams might be more experienced. We'll see as May Mayhem Madness continues for college across. They could talk about that.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

They. I'm excited for that. That. That is more May Mayhem is much more exciting than. Yeah, the reunion. You're talking.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no. I think you're a superstar. Okay. I don't think there's any debate and I don't think that's going to come up tomorrow at all tonight. Canes at flyers for the NHL. Canes are currently on a six game winning streak. Good luck to them. It's 8 o' clock on TNT. Cavs at Pistons, Lakers at Thunder. It is a spectacular playoff evening as our one here wraps up on this glorious. What the Hly Thursday in hour two. We got jetpack passenger. Baseball's doing it right now. Have you seen the baseball ratings? No, I don't know how everything in sports is so far up. It feels like maybe there's a, a newfound love or intoxication for America back into the sports universe because everything that's kind of happening outside in the world is a bit insane. Let's go ahead and dive into sports a little bit more. Plus 44 over last year and what was the NHL there plus 68 or something like that.

[Connor Rogers]

They are 100 last year in, in the playoffs. At least they were were up 100%

[Pat McAfee]

in some of the games. Yeah, it's just absolute insanity right now up into the writer sports and we're so incredibly pumped and lucky that we're a tiny little piece of the sports universe. Can't wait till you're back on our TVs, doing great things on the court. Tyrese, we appreciate your dedication to your recovery and for coming through here one and a half minutes before the show started.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, that was cool. Really want to hang out for a little bit instead of just I was working out.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was working out. I made it here.

[Pat McAfee]

Here. Workout 505.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was. No, it wasn't just shots.

[Connor Rogers]

You shower and get ready for an hour after two.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeez, let's put up shots.

[Q Rich]

Dude.

[Connor Rogers]

Maybe.

[Tone Bell]

Look at him.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't listen to him. He wants Boston to win. I want you to win. We'll see you on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. From the lights above the stadium to the jerseys athletes wear, sports run on energy.

[Jet Passage]

Oil and natural gas help create thousands

[Pat McAfee]

of everyday products, from the rubber and equipment to the synthetic fibers and uniforms. And the fuel that gets teams and

[Jet Passage]

fans to the game.

[Connor Rogers]

Behind the scenes.

[Pat McAfee]

Energy transfer helps safely deliver the energy that keeps it all moving.

[Jet Passage]

Because from everyday life to game day, it takes energy.

[Pat McAfee]

Visit ittakesenergy.com to learn more.

[Commercial Voice]

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[Pat McAfee]

Sports are the greatest phenomenal Work.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All star Olympic gold medalist. A man who would have scored 72 points in Game 7 of the NBA Finals one year ago if his Achilles didn't burst. He is now on the return the recovery, and next year he'll be doing the same exact thing. Ladies and gentlemen, Pacers legend, Tyrese Halliburton.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I love that. The bit, the number keeps going up. I love that.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, we don't know. Yeah, I don't want to put a. Hey, who am I to box you in?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

Halla boxing. You know what I mean? I'm gonna go ahead and hala open that box. Yeah, you're damn right. No. What'd you say? Buffer.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Hala buffer.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I thought you called me a fl. I thought you said.

[Connor Rogers]

No, I did not say that. I said Halla Buffer. Like there is no buffer for to.

[Pat McAfee]

To, no buff, no governor, no nothing. You could have scored a hunt.

[Tone Bell]

Someone scored 83 this year. You could.

[Pat McAfee]

It could have been 84. Bingo.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Especially game seven of the finals. Could you imagine if you would have been doing all that in the game? You're going to do it again. And that's what. We appreciate you. That's why I don't want to say 50 points.

[Tone Bell]

I mean, with the number one overall pick, because, yeah, TJ's going to get the number one overall pick.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, the lottery is on Sunday, so

[Tone Bell]

how come you aren't going? How come TJ's gone?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I've went before. It didn't really bring us the time.

[Pat McAfee]

Look what happened.

[Peter Schrager]

Oh, really?

[Pat McAfee]

So this. This is like a coin toss type thing. You've gone out there and it's been ass. Let's send somebody else.

[Ben Stiller]

Not ass.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We didn't go up, we didn't go down. We stayed at our.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, that's not bad.

[Connor Rogers]

What happens if OKC gets number one overall pick?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That'd be rough.

[Pat McAfee]

One year ago today, this is what we were celebrating. Ha ha. He.

[Jet Passage]

How quick you look.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

See?

[Pat McAfee]

Ha. Just getting started. People had no idea what was about to come. Next round and then the next round. I mean, it was an unbelievable. This is what we're working back towards. This is why we appreciate you showing up 35 seconds before the show started because you had a three and a half, four hour workout this morning. Get back healthy. We appreciate you. Talk to the table at Boston, Connor and one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone, love everything about what you got going on. Ty Schmidt, we miss you. Live from Anakin, Ohio, as a college football national champion super bowl champion. Ryder cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. hawk. Yeah, Hawker. This guy's a guy right here. Tyrese. Aj, have you been watching Tyrese kind of handle himself in the entire first hour? Didn't like his lack of pizzazz about Skip and Stephen coming back tomorrow.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. I don't know what his problem is with. With skipping. Stephen A. But, Tyrese, I do have to take your side. I do not think you are a theatrical guy when you're on the court. I know maybe that's a compliment off the court, but I think on the court, you're not theatrical.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Thank you, aj.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but he does have the theatrics inside of him. You're saying deep down inside. Yeah, which is good.

[AJ Hawk]

That's a compliment. He's talented. Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You were trying to use the wrestling market in a negative way.

[Ben Stiller]

Way.

[Connor Rogers]

No, no, we were talking about, like, your celebrations. Like that one right there. You did the big ball.

[Tone Bell]

Nobody said pizzazz has never been.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Chris. It's a showman. I like showman better. Theatrical. You're trying to make me, you know, sound the type of way.

[Pat McAfee]

No, if I was saying dramatic, that would be different. Theatric is like, this guy's got an eye for the theatrics.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

So you meant theatric in a positive way.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I love shows, okay? I go watch shows all the time.

[Tone Bell]

He saw one with the.

[Connor Rogers]

The Hamilton.

[Jet Passage]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You've been.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Twice. Two different Kings and two different. Yeah, two different. Everybody. Yeah, I've seen two different casts. I have depth. I'll go watch.

[Tone Bell]

You saw that one with Sudeikis?

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. The one where Robin Williams. Yeah, Robin Williams.

[Connor Rogers]

That Poet Society.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. Yeah, so I'll watch whatever.

[Tone Bell]

The south park one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So I'll do whatever. I saw Michael Malone eat 100 needles. Right. Right here.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Right here.

[Tone Bell]

Coach of the Denver Nuggets.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he's coaching North.

[Connor Rogers]

He's a magician.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a magician out of Ohio that ate 100 needles right here.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

100?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I just like. I like the theatrics.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I never saw that.

[Connor Rogers]

Awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It's part of the draft spectacular. Years before we went to the actual draft, we bring him some absurd things. This guy came in here, dropped 100 needles in his throat, started hitting him.

[Tone Bell]

AJ punched him in the stomach.

[Pat McAfee]

He walked away. That was the trick.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

How did it come out?

[Pat McAfee]

Huh? We don't know.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We.

[Pat McAfee]

We still don't know. We said this could still be inside of him. He might be a man, just never poops. And he kind of took advantage of that by putting needles.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That might really hurt?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think so. I think he'd have a problem. But what I'm saying is I like the theatrics. It was a compliment. If I was to say you're a dramatic flopper. That's. That's me trying to condescendingly tell you that I hate everything you're about. Theatrics. I like the show sga. Theatrical. I don't think you are a theatrical ball player, but I think with inside of you in your game, there are some theatrics.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

You agree?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a showman.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I like to think so.

[Pat McAfee]

Are there nights where you're kind of tired, kind of off, you're like, maybe I don't want to do a no look past tonight?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, no, that doesn't exist.

[Pat McAfee]

Always want to know look.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Always.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Always want to put one in between somebody's like, always want to be at the last second with an inbound pass with somebody standing right in front of you with 0.2 seconds left. Ah. And then just throwing it to the person. Bob, you love all that pass off of somebody's ass. Ass coming inbound. You love all that stuff every night.

[Tone Bell]

High iq.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a. There's a video going around to saying you're a super genius. Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Great montage.

[Pat McAfee]

Did your people put that together? Probably.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I have no idea.

[Tone Bell]

What video is that? A puma thing?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What video are you talking about?

[Pat McAfee]

It's. They're talking about you being a super high IQ basketball player.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You saw it?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, just all great plays from, like, just one playoff run last year.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I think I'm a pretty smart basketball player.

[Pat McAfee]

I think so, too. Have you heightened that from sitting out for a year at this level of your game? Like, what do you think you're going to take away of this year? Year. Having to watch the game?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You know what I see more than anything is why coaches think the way that they do on certain things. You know, like when a guy. When a guy is like, challenge that.

[Connor Rogers]

And you're like.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

And. And, you know, as a player, it's hard not to. Like, you have a foul, you don't think it's a foul. You're like, challenge it. Then you realize, like, it's the first quarter. Does it really matter? Stop being an idiot. You know, like, I think that's kind of helped a little bit. I see it from coach perspective a little more.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I like that you're a little bit more of a. How about your leadership? Will that change Your leadership style, you think?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Not necessarily. I think this year was hard though, because it's like when you're not playing, like, you're like. Can I really say something? Like, what can I really say if I'm not playing? But, you know, you figure it out because guys, they know the work that you put in, so it's not that big of a deal.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, how about Zubok? I mean, there you had Miles Turner for a little while and then that, that went how that went, especially with Milwaukee this year. But how about them still like making moves. Moves for you basically for next year? Because, you know, this year when hell went, even at the trade deadline, I feel like the Pacers going to get. Zubock was kind of out of left field, but clearly they're like kind of still all the way behind you. Like, how good did that feel amidst, you know, one of the worst seasons the Pacers have had that they're still kind of at him for you?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Well, I think that's exciting. I think that he, he brings a different dynamic to our team than we've had in the past. I think you guys are going to like Big Zoo lot.

[Pat McAfee]

I like the name already. Big Zoo is certainly something I like. I like what the NBA is doing as a whole. I like what the NHL is doing as a whole. I like that the NFL is always cooking as well. I don't know if you've been keeping up with some of the NFL headlines, but I hope.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What would that be?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, there's one that I kind of cooked up this morning because of things that I'm seeing. Drake. Drake May. May be the next one.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Let's not talk about Drake. Drake May. May. Okay. Just being a guy who took his team to the super bowl in the second year. Drake. Drake May may be the next one. One he was at the truest PGA event this weekend, which is in Quail Hollow, North Carolina. He's obviously North Carolina, but this is for Eagle. This is a quarterback that just took his team the super bowl and that's a big fucking burn.

[Connor Rogers]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead and drop that thing. Yeah. Okay. Obviously he's been working. Also he is having to answer questions for some other stuff going on around the New England Patriots orchestration organization. Patriots quarterback Drake May said he doesn't believe Mike Vrabel's off field issues will be a distraction for the defending AFC champions this upcoming season. Story. Vap. Also going to say that he loves him and he's a great leader and this, that might actually rally the boys now there's a boat involved in the entire story.

[Tone Bell]

Okay, that's new.

[Pat McAfee]

It's getting. It's getting louder and louder by the day. But Drake may seemingly face up franchise quarterback. Always the person to do that, handling this. Well, this is a lot on a young quarterback right now with what's going on. Everything. Literally every day more things coming out. And it feels like not only is he burying eagles, he's also burying narratives that are potentially happening behind the scenes. And that makes me say that Drake, Drake may maybe the next one when it's all said and done. AJ yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Don't you think this is all part of being a franchise quarterback? You have to deal with stuff I guess you never would have foreseen having to deal with. So.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

At a young age. Age to be able to kind of figure everything out like this and do everything somehow the right way off the field and say the right things. Yeah. That's why, you know that this guy is their franchise for the next 12 to 15 years.

[Pat McAfee]

Probably just putting fires out. He's young. How old is he? 23.

[Q Rich]

23?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

23 years old. Having a.

[AJ Hawk]

There's no media training for stuff like this either. There's nothing like, there's no textbook to

[Connor Rogers]

go off of, like getting asked questions about other stuff other than yourself.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, like what kind of.

[AJ Hawk]

You just want to play ball. You're just trying to play football.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Connor Rogers]

And if we talk about boats, there's some more serious things. There's people stranded out there on a boat right outside.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so we're talking about boats. No, that's not the boat we're talking about. We're talking about a brand new boat trip that we just learned about down there in Tennessee.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And on that note, every time we hear about a new boat or a new this or a new that, Drake May, 23 year old quarterback, has to somehow just go in there and be like, hey, this is all going to be okay. Hey, like this is all going to be. That's what a quarterback actually has to do. That's crazy in my eyes that this is something that he's going to have to like literally prove. Because remember, Vrabel was the guy helping him be a leader. Not that he's going to stop doing that, but Vrada was like teaching them, hey, got to go talk to the wide receivers. Got to go do this, got to do this. And now he's in a position where anytime he's in front of a microphone, which is going to be a lot anytime this year for the foreseeable future, for his entire career, there's always going to be a chance that a question is going to come, come that has a lot of people's interest, but also families involved and kids and stuff. And he's going to have to give the right answer.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's doing it seemingly very early and while doing it burying eagles. He's so clear minded.

[Tone Bell]

Got a pretty swing.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy might be a real one out here. Con man.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, he's unbelievable at golf. If we just go back through kind of the greats of the game, they all seem to have a buttery swing, which is exactly what Drake May has, I'm assuming. Hopefully once the season gets rolling a bit. Little bit. You know, granted, primetime games, there might be some national narratives, but we've seen also what has happened with Vrabel around Gillette, around New England, standing O's, things of that nature. It will definitely continue to be a narrative, but I still am under the belief that Vrabel completely said everything to the team and that maybe that this is just stuff that is slowly coming up. But the team is well aware and hearing stuff like that from Drake May from other players on the team. Christian Gonzalez also was asked about about it at a charity softball game and he basically echoed the same sentence. I mean, like, hey, we're all behind our coach, which we are. And so hopefully we can just get to football once July.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And tyrese, on that note, you're a franchise player. Everything you say could potentially be used against you in the court of law and also in the locker room. Okay. That is very real. Especially as one of the most powerful people. Has there been an instance where you had to learn about like, ooh, the power of my words is really real? Or is that something that you're kind of naturally taught in basketball because it feels like you guys are all kind of deemed superstars in like, if that makes sense. Do you have like media training coming in high school? Like, hey, everything you say is going to potentially sway how people are talking about our team.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh, yeah. I think that's just media training in general. But I think at the same time everything that we say as athletes can get twisted and construed in a different way for a headline. So understanding that. But I think when you're a franchise guy in any sport, basketball, football, hockey, baseball, that's just what comes with the territory. It's kind of the price you pay to live your dreams a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Kind of just part of, of the job.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like here is A part of the job. There's some things that I've had to realize that are just a part of this particular job. Like, hey, and I just have to accept that this is what it is. Whenever I fire off a thought about somebody, okay, that person's gonna hear it, and there's potentially gonna be people that are friends with that person. They're also gonna hear it. So now I start mini war with, you know, 30 people. It's like, okay, I have to kind of realize that that is what comes with the territory. You as leader for the Pacers. Great job, brother.

[Tone Bell]

Great job. Unbelievable job.

[Pat McAfee]

With some theatrics, too.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, big time.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Is that why you're talking so positive about this debate tomorrow?

[AJ Hawk]

Why don't you want to see this? I thought everybody wants to see this debate tomorrow.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Who is everybody?

[Connor Rogers]

Everybody.

[AJ Hawk]

Everybody I talk to.

[Pat McAfee]

I, I, to be honest, I've not talked to anybody about it, but me personally. Excited to watch those two to work. I, I, I like public speakers, so I like watching people do their thing. They're going to play the hits.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I mean, what do you think the topic is going to be? What do you think the first topic is going to be?

[Pat McAfee]

Definitely Braun first, because the Lakers played. Okay, so we got to talk about it. Hey, where are we 10 years later? Where do we find ourselves, you know, in the entire LeBron conversation? Excited to see where it goes. Couple twists and turns. Shay Cornette's going to be in there guiding the entire ship. And then where do we go next? NFL Straights? Cowboys?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Nope.

[Pat McAfee]

Where?

[Tone Bell]

Maybe to the greatest quarterback of all time that's ever thrown a football.

[Pat McAfee]

Aaron Rodgers.

[Ben Stiller]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I don't know if Aaron Rodgers should be number two.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I love that right there.

[Tone Bell]

I love Aaron, too. He the goat.

[Connor Rogers]

He is not the goat.

[Pat McAfee]

What's going on?

[Peter Schrager]

Aaron's a goat.

[Tone Bell]

And he's maybe back to lead a Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, for who?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I like that.

[Tone Bell]

I like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you heard what he's been like over the last since the draft?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I haven't. I haven't.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Since the draft, he has sat in that seat right there with that microphone right in front of you and said, aaron Rodgers needs to get the hell out of Pittsburgh. That is, that is what he said. Yes. It's not what he said. Numerous times.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Is he a friend of the show?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, he's a good friend of the show.

[Tone Bell]

Like, like you, like, like you just said the media taken my words and

[Pat McAfee]

construing the new media.

[Tone Bell]

In a way, I just said that, you know, I Love that he's sitting back and let Will Howard get some reps to make him progress as a quarterback. Maybe the future of the Steelers. I like that he wants to know if the refs are going to be real refs for the season because he doesn't want to come back and play with jabroni refs. You know, maybe, maybe I'd like that. He was waiting for the next pandemic to come back.

[Ben Stiller]

Okay.

[Tone Bell]

And he needed to come back and do that. But no, I mean this guy deserved to take. He's 22 years, four time MVP, Super bowl winner. He deserved to take some time.

[Pat McAfee]

This is unbelievable here. Just come out of your mouth. This is crazy, isn't it, A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

it's wild. It's like it's a completely different person sitting over there now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Really change a tune if you will. We go see what you guys are doing. Trying to do. Sounds like you're backpedaling right now. Feels like you're playing a little defense,

[Tone Bell]

you know, that's not me.

[Pat McAfee]

And why is that? Well, there's a lot of reports coming out of Pittsburgh. Okay? Mixed reports, mixed reports. Doran Dickerson, morning radio show, former pit football player, NFL football player, stud legend, cool guy. Doran Dickerson has stayed around Pittsburgh and does media. He reported this morning that Aaron Rodgers was going to be traveling to Pittsburgh to kind of get it all sorted out. Shout out to Doran. Doing that. Shout out to 93. Seven the fan. Used to be B94. Yeah, B94. John Dave and Bubba Shelley, they're so good. I mean just playing the hits. Just top.

[Tone Bell]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Just top hard all the time, you know, so many good times. B94. Now it's 93. Seven the fan because sports are really the only thing that carry anything anymore. Shout to Doran. Dewey doing that. He reported, hey, his source says town of mayor was coming in doing the entire deal. Then there was a counter report coming saying, well, if that's happening, nobody told. From Mark Caboli who has been reporting for the Steelers for a long time. He is by title our Steelers correspondent. By title, he is our. We're in constant communication.

[Connor Rogers]

We talk to him every morning.

[Pat McAfee]

We love Martin. We love Martin. I'm pretty hands off leader Mark just kind of does his thing. I'm thankful he's still doing his thing. He's saying Stewart's have no idea what you're talking about. So then there's a little bit of a whoa, whoa, whoa, Aaron Rodgers stuff happening. Then Ian Rapaport comes out and goes, actually Aaron Rodgers, who is expected to visit the Steelers Friday and this weekend will likely play for them in 2026. A deal is not done and there is always caution until things are signed. But Rogers plan is to play for Pittsburgh and these are the steps towards. Okay, so that was after it was like kind of rebutted, I guess. And then he comes out and says that what it sounds like, especially if Rapaport's reporting this. Az Aaron's going over to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Sounds like he's probably doing what everybody in the Steelers organization seemingly has expected, which is come back and play. And now Tone Diggs, AJ Yinzer, Steeler Die Hard fan, has to walk back everything he has said since the draft as he was was just echoing the Yinzer statement.

[Tone Bell]

Well said Patrick.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Is what he was saying. But with that being the case, it's like Yinzers were getting sick and tired of waiting around and being held hostage. I think that's kind of like, hey, we're the Pittsburgh Steelers here. If this guy doesn't want to play for us, what are we doing? Last year he's never been in a building, never been with a guy. Cool. This year it's been in the building. He knows the head coach, he knows a lot of the people in there. He knows exactly what it's going to be like. We're Pittsburgh stewards. Can you, can you at least have a little bit of respect? Respect for who we are. That is how Yinzer started feeling. Okay. We, I think multiple times have mentioned this guy's committed his whole life to football. It's probably a pretty big time decision on whether or not he wants to do it. Now it sounds like we're getting closer to a resolution and I think Yinzer's fans, just like Tone will do exactly what Tone did, which is like he was the best option all along. We'll hide, get another year. I think that's how it'll go. You think Aaron understands that and what do you think the validity of all this is?

[AJ Hawk]

AJ Yeah, I do wonder what the validity is. And it sounds like that they, whether Aaron is in town, he's coming in town soon. They act like he's going to sign at some point here in the near future, whatever that means. Like near future. What is that, three weeks, four weeks? I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Who knows?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I mean maybe, yeah, there's, there's no telling what could happen. I would, I would hate if anyone took, you know, all of Tone's takes about this are on camera and recorded somewhere. I would hate if someone cut those together, you know, made a little mashup of tone flip flopping on this whole situation, that would. That would not do well for. For tone, I feel like. But if Aaron comes back and he wins games and they take some on a deep playoff, no one, no one cares. And none of them, no one remembers this big go.

[Pat McAfee]

We do have to act accordingly, though. And what Tone was trying to tell you, Tyrese, about your words being taken out of context and misconstrued. What? The video that AJ is kind of encouraging somebody to put together to make. It would not be like that at all.

[AJ Hawk]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, he was rude to Aaron Rodgers. I mean, it was bar for bar.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Why did you do that?

[Tone Bell]

If AJ thinks that would be bad for my character, he's got another thing coming. That'd be great for me because I went on the same merry go round last year. I did the same hokey pokey pokey dance, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, really? You're doing a polka over there?

[Tone Bell]

When Aaron was taking his time until July last year, I was doing the same thing. If you don't want to play it for us, you don't want to play for us. Blah, blah, blah. Once you become. Once you put your name on that line. Yeah. You're wearing black and gold. We're family, brother. That's just how it works, okay? Brothers fight. Brothers can disagree. Once we're on the same team, once we're fighting that same rifle four. Okay. We're together.

[Pat McAfee]

You professional athlete need to understand that this is how some humans, most humans probably operate, actually.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We're family, brother. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Speaking of family, feels like we have a friend of the program, okay. From the Chicago Cubs. After yesterday's conversation, we were incredibly lucky that we got a chance to chat with him after he signed his mega deal, his first mega deal with the Chicago Cup Cubs. And we are also lucky that we got a chance to watch him work. We created a new segment about it actually called Life's Good. Pete Crow Armstrong is standing on top of the world. Let's just do a quick rundown of his last couple months, shall we?

[Connor Rogers]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

World Baseball Classic. He becomes hero. And everybody's bummed out that he's not playing in the finals. And if he was playing in the finals, we probably win. Is our overall thought about this guy coming out of World Baseball Classic. Well, everybody else loses world baseball classes, and everybody's bummed out the of about it. B. Crow Armstrong actually comes out a lot of our minds going like, hey, who knows what would happen if we Would have b. Crow Armstrong out there. So kind of an upbeat. Then signs a mega deal, signs a monster deal. This kid's 23, 24 years old, whatever it is. Signs a huge deal. They go on a 10 game win streak at the beginning of the season. Now they're currently on an eight game win streak because him last night, bottom of the ninth, full count, no way down two. Man on first, Oppo Pete Crow. Armstrong couldn't fathom how that had to feel. Golfing one out in the bottom of the ninth, tied up in Chicago. He mentioned to us yesterday that there was an hour and a half delay and 34,000 people were still in the same. Look at that crowd on a Wednesday night in the bottom of the ninth in a game in which they are losing. Chicago's going crazy. PCA is deferring to everybody else as being a hero as opposed to himself. Himself. Feels like they got something special. It does feel like that lovable reunion. Yeah, it does actually, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a person who might be able to give us a little bit more insight in detail on all of it. The senior baseball insider in Face for us in our generation, ladies and gentlemen, from espn, Jet Passage.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Love the shirt. Love the shirt.

[Jet Passage]

John Shambi and Project Main street going toward Lou Gehrig's day. Uh, it's such a good cause. And this is available, by the way, in every team color, so you can find it online. And I would encourage everyone to get a shirt like this. In the meantime, may. May I just say,

[Pat McAfee]

tone, why are

[Jet Passage]

you just so constantly full of shit like,

[Tone Bell]

well, guess.

[Pat McAfee]

ALS shirt. Incredible. Now let's pivot to something else. This guy in the cowboy hat never stops lying.

[Tone Bell]

It's kind of in the water where we're from. And then I'm just naturally a spineless chameleon. Say whatever. Whatever is best for me.

[Pat McAfee]

He became a cowboy because he got Covid, which, who knows what's next, potentially. He went into a Covid hole, isolation. He watched Kevin Costner be a cowboy in Montana. He came out on the other side and showed up at work in a cowboy hat. And we've literally never seen him in anything else since then. So when you talk about kind of going with the wind, tone is that. But he was a good indicator of how Pittsburgh felt about Aaron, though. I, I think because we talked to a lot of people that are kind of sick of the waiting and allegedly that's going to end this weekend. Via mixed reports, it better.

[Jet Passage]

But, but now he's, now he's Family now he's family.

[Tone Bell]

So it's all good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Jet, get over. What don't you understand? Just like Rapole at the Kentucky Derby. I said a lot of bad things about you, okay? We're family. Family one today. That's what Tone's doing. Aaron, let's talk a little bit about what the Chicago Cubs have going on. 8 game win streak now. I guess all of their pitchers are hurt. This Pete Crow Armstrong kid is so cool on our show Sherman Oaks, California bruh whenever he comes on. Very, very humble. Deferred to everybody else as being awesome. But they're also in the middle of a great win streak. And it feels like if the Cubs are good, that's good for baseball as a whole, Jet or no.

[Jet Passage]

Oh, it's great when the Cubs are good and it's great. Just the atmosphere at Wrigley Field right now. They won 14 straight games there and you know, Wrigley already is a fun place to go watch a baseball game. But getting to watch a team like this, what I love about the Cubs is that they are so good at everything. They are the best defensive team in baseball. And you go not just up the middle with Pico Armstrong in center field, Nico Horn corner, maybe the best defensive second baseman in baseball. Dansby Swanson's been incredible at shortstop and the catchers they've got back there as well. But you go out to the corners, they're fantastic there too. They put the ball in play, they hit for power. Their lineup is good one through nine. And whether it's Nico Horner up at the top or a guy like Moises by Esteros who's come up and really been huge at DH for them this year. The Cubs are, I'm not going to say they're a great team yet, guys, but they have potential to be great. And if they can, whether at the trade deadline, go out and get an arm or get some of their guys healthy, they have a chance to be a real problem in October and a real thorn in the Dodgers side.

[Pat McAfee]

I love everything about it. I love anytime great environments are happening for sports in the middle of the week, it feels like Wrigley 14 straight is going to continue to be that. And we love this pet Crow Armstrong guy. And I love any time the Reds lose. Turns out I've had a great six times they've lost six straight. Reds fan AJ Has a question for you. Jet. Yeah, dude.

[AJ Hawk]

You know, the Reds are on a little bit of a slide, but that doesn't matter. We know it's May 7th. We got plenty of time to make it up, but I wanted to pivot. What's the plan for Shohei going forward? What's the rest of this season look like for him? I know there's all this back and forth. What is he pitching, hitting? What am I doing? Both just gonna be individual pitcher. What's going on here? What does the rest of the season look like, you think, for the Dodgers and for SH

[Jet Passage]

I think they want SH Otani to pitch a full season for the first time in almost half a decade now. And look, the last time S.H. ohtani was a full time pitcher and through 160 plus innings, he had his worst offensive season, you know, in the last five, six years. And I'm not saying that pitching as much as he is is directly affecting him at the plate. I don't ever doubt anything with Shohei Ohtani anymore. I don' doubt that he can do both at a high level. But we've seen through the years that when he's pitching and when he's focusing as much on it as he is right now, the hitting does tend to suffer a little bit, and that's okay. Shohei OTANI, it's. It's May 7th. Like you said, he's still got an ERA under one at this point. He's been absolutely brilliant this year. And the Dodgers have enough thump in their lineup where when Mookie Betts is back and you know, a couple other guys get hitting, they're going to be just fine. They, they, you know, the Braves have a better record than them right now. The Yankees, the Rays, the Cubs, all better record than the Dodgers. The Dodgers are still the overwhelming favorite to win the World Series this year just because they're not a fully formed team yet. They still don't have Blake Snell back. They're missing Mookie Betts, they're missing Edwin Diaz. Like real stars who are going to make them that much better when they get back.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so they got some thump in their giddy up over there.

[AJ Hawk]

Fair.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, so SH gets a little cold for a little bit while he's pitching. Who cares? One, two for four last night. And then also, also there was this moment, especially with the team that is known for this, allegedly. Now the Internet has a conspiracy that this sweeper that just broke altove by an alto ve in one swing of a bat, somebody on the Internet and AI probably helped, did have Altave swing and Altave and I think he's still short. So that's how far he missed the strikes that Then there was people starting to cook up a conspiracy that Jose was told a fastball was coming, so he's going to swing it, whatever. And then that's why Shohei gunned down, because he said, oh, you think you're smarter than me? Yeah, right. Is there any truth to all of that? How much is that happening? Because remember, we all remember the garbage can exoskeleton rumor, like all the shit that got crazy with the sign stealing. How much of that is still happening? And is there a chance that this is what took place in this particular situation?

[Jet Passage]

There is a chance that that's what took place. I don't know that definitively. As for sign stealing, it's extremely prevalent. And, you know, you saw it a couple days ago, right? Runner on second base for the Boston Red Sox and Franber Valdez is tipping pitches from his glove. Like when you have a guy on second base base, he is trying so hard to. To look in. And when you're looking at the glove. Right. Think about it. I'm going to turn around. Think about it from this perspective. When you're looking at the glove, what you're looking for is his grip on the pitch. And when you see what his grip on the pitch is, that's when you can signal it. It happens any number of ways. You know, a little helmet tap, something on the leg, you can signal it to the player at the plate in any way that you want. You know, you thought that pitchcom was going to get rid of sign stealing.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Jet Passage]

It's baseball, Pat. And in Major League Baseball, you are going to do everything you possibly can to get every little marginal advantage you can. And, you know, sometimes it's as simple as tipping a pitch and you're holding it like this. And that's an interesting point because, you know, if a player or if a pitcher is holding his glove like this for a fastball ball and tilts it that little for when he's throwing a breaking ball, teams will pick that out. Teams will find that. And they use markerless motion capture now, right? So you have these cameras that have guys, essentially their limbs on a screen. And the markerless motion capture can. Can look and see what the difference is with a guy's glove position. And that right there is using technology where in the past it just had to be guys with their eyes figuring it out.

[Pat McAfee]

You had no idea it was curveball. Nobody knew that was curveball. That was curveball the whole time from here. Had my fingers on it all the way through the. The leverage, the momentum spot the point all the way.

[Jet Passage]

I actually saw it because the tip of the ball was out there, and if you were throwing a fastball, your index finger would have been.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I didn't see, Jet. You didn't see.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Shit out there, Jet. Baseball's numbers.

[Jet Passage]

You suck. And you tip. And I will take you deep, McAfee.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Jet Passage]

That's all I'm saying.

[Connor Rogers]

Pass it.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't know that. You should see me getting to work on this mound right here. Right here on this bump. I'm throwing Wiffle balls at that strike zone over there every day. I found my slime. I'm a little bit down here. I'm a little bit down here.

[Ben Stiller]

That's.

[Jet Passage]

You know what? That good? Like, that's. That's a. That's an impressive. That's a tough way to throw a whiffle. You got the slider action going on. You throwing a little splitty?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, a little bit. One of these keys here. Yeah, a little bit of one of those skis. I don't know where it's going yet, but once I figure that out, it will be lethal, and I'm certainly going to work on that. Ratings for baseball up and to the right. Tell me about it, Jet. All the rules changes, obviously huge. And we were just talking to Matthew Tkachuk about the NHL. Obviously, hockey ratings are up as well. I think the Olympics helped hockey. I think the World Baseball Classic helped baseball. I also think sport is good right now. You agree with that? And what is kind of the talk behind the scenes amongst you Big J journalists about the boom that baseball is currently having?

[Jet Passage]

It's great to see because I think people are finally catching on that baseball's fun and baseball's interesting. And baseball's regular season, even though it's six months long and feels interminable at some point, there's so much parody in the game right now. This is a wild stat, Pat. We are. What is it? May 7th. May 8th. We're May 7th. Right now, there are 10 teams in all of baseball over 500, and five of them are from the National League Central. Half the teams over 500 in MLB right now reside in one division. And that one division, which for the longest time was looked at as almost a comedy show, BNO Central is ruling baseball baseball this year. So I think every. Every fan, except for a couple teams, actually feels like their team is in it. The Chicago White Sox right now are within striking distance of first place. And this was a team that was just, you know, two years ago. They lost more games than any team in baseball history. And. And here they are now. And it all informs to me the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on December 1st.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, don't do it.

[Jet Passage]

No, I want to bring it up because I think every. Every time I come on here, I want to point out baseball's in a good place right now and they could screw this thing up badly. And every indicator of the game at this point would seem to suggest that it is going in the right direction and that fans are responding to it and that owners. I understand why owners want a salary cap. I get it completely. But if that's the thing that's going to take baseball off the field and potentially ruin this momentum that. That the game has right now. Now the ultimate in cutting off your nose despite your face.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I like that. Just. And then.

[Ben Stiller]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

And then maybe even the back of them too.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, Achilles.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, shoot. Sorry. Ear muffs. Ear muffs.

[Connor Rogers]

Ty, that had nothing to do with you.

[Tone Bell]

I just.

[Jet Passage]

Audience. Oh, my God.

[Pat McAfee]

He said. He tried to say your must beforehand, though. We should have tried to get that. We apologize that you had to hear that word around you and just know that yours gonna be stronger than ever.

[Connor Rogers]

Don't be scared of the word, man.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I'm not scared of the word.

[Jet Passage]

Free to guess like that. That's rude.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I felt like a dig.

[Connor Rogers]

No, no, I genuinely.

[AJ Hawk]

That had nothing to do with you.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Okay.

[Connor Rogers]

It's just if you're shooting the back of your legs, that is where you would. That's where the back of the foot would be.

[Pat McAfee]

Would be Achilles.

[Peter Schrager]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Shoot through the heel. You could have said.

[Connor Rogers]

Which also would be.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that? What's that?

[AJ Hawk]

You have to slice it with a machete or something. It could be tough to shoot it.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember, there is a stat. What is it? All serial killers come from Midwest and are Caucasian. Indiana, aj. No, A.

[Connor Rogers]

Old machetes.

[Pat McAfee]

So do you, Jet. Let's not get too crazy here, aj. Though things like that will certainly sound some alarms. Age. So if you're doing that, I think a machete.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Check out his pets died.

[Pat McAfee]

Disgusting.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's kind of crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, last question for you, Jet, about the baseball. Go ahead, Tyrone.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

All right, let's get. Let's say there's a hypothetical, Jeff. There's just. It's a hypothetical. It's not real. Who knows if it's real?

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, A friend of mine. Friend of mine. Let's say he's a baseball free agent. Doesn't have any team. He just likes the sport. He's trying to find a team and he gets invited to throw the first pitch for Chicago Cubs as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which one do you think would be the right choice?

[Pat McAfee]

Is a friend of yours?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

A friend of mine? Yeah. Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

Does he have ties to.

[Jet Passage]

It's a great question. And it depends on what your priorities are and what your level of being willing to take grief from other fan bases is. If all you care about is winning and you don't care that people look down on you for it, if you want to pull, let's say, the Kevin Durant move, then you go with the Dodgers. If, however, you want history and you want, you know, being a Cubs fan. Being a Cubs fan can be hard. They spent a century without a World Series. It's almost like struggle and stress rife are built in to that organization and to being a fan. And, and here's the thing. The likelihood of the Cubs winning World Series is a lot lower than the Dodgers just because the resources that the Dodgers ownership puts in as compared to the Cubs. But both have great stadiums, both have great histories. And it's just a matter. If you're a Dodgers fan, you kind of look like a bandwagon jumper, but that's okay because you're getting rings. If you are a Cubs fan, then you are in it for the struggle and for the. For the time at the ballpark as much as anything.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I appreciate that. I'll pass that along to my friend.

[Pat McAfee]

Sound like there was some bias.

[Jet Passage]

I hope your friend makes a sound decision.

[Tone Bell]

What about the Brewers?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, it sounded like you were pretty biased in this entire thing though, the way you were giving your advice to his friend that this is certainly for at this exact time.

[Jet Passage]

No, there's no bias at all.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you could be just a punk if that's what you want to do. Or you can be a part of a good fan base that's had to go through some stuff. No, the Dodgers.

[Jet Passage]

The Dodgers fan base is fantastic. They just get worn out by everyone else in baseball. It's essentially like being a Yankees fan back in the 90s. You know, when you have the most resources, when you have the best player in the world, when you're excellent at everything you do, which that franchise is, you're going to wear it a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, Zito, obviously Chicago Cubs fan, fan, also good with the graphics. He said, what do you think? Well, if this is for you and not for a friend, obviously you put your friend in here as opposed to just you. What do you Think you know which. Which one do you, I mean, look

[Connor Rogers]

happier on the left.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But look at the right, though. Kind of super cool.

[Tone Bell]

He knows he's going to win it all on the right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, super cool. On the right side, you're going to have to have the. I think you're going to have to have the hat backwards there because you're going to be doing a lot of jousting with people telling you that you guys are cheating and deferring to payments for 14 years from now and able to pay everybody on earth and you just win all the time. On the. On this side, you're like eight straight.

[Connor Rogers]

Good one. Pca.

[Pat McAfee]

Go up to Wrigley. Wrigley, they say, is a great time. There's a bunch of bars right outside of Wrigley.

[Connor Rogers]

So cool.

[Pat McAfee]

They say it's a blast.

[Tone Bell]

What about the team where if. Let's hypothetically say it's that friend lives in Indianapolis and the AAA team is for the Pirates. What about. Why not throw first pitch for the Pirates?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What if he didn't get into invited.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, boy. All right, let's stop.

[Connor Rogers]

How did Garong get invited to all these different.

[Pat McAfee]

It's crazy. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's inside joke. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. Jet passes. Why is it wrong? Is that. Is he going to be out there with you?

[Tone Bell]

Why would the Dodgers.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I wore the Dodgers jersey.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, so the Dodger's like, hey, would you like to come out? And you said, actually, I don't have a baseball team. They're like, oh, do you want to throw first pitch? Actually, they'll probably have a full setup for you, too. Oh, my God. You're going to get so many Dodger Dogs in the back that they're going to create a Halaburger, I assume, for you out there in la, meet Shohei,

[Connor Rogers]

have a full conversation in English.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That could happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, so why'd you immediately say inning? Do you know. Do you know. Do you speak Japanese as well, or.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I do not.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Connor Rogers]

It's just Clayton Kershaw said on the program that he knows English much better than he lets off to be.

[Pat McAfee]

And why. Why does that matter? Why does that matter?

[Connor Rogers]

Because you would think, like, in your head, well, if I go to the Dodgers game and be the first pitch, then maybe I won't actually get to talk to Shohei. So it'll be kind of a letdown. But in reality, just so we all know, he could have a full conversation with him so he wouldn't be let Down.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, hopefully I get a chance to have a full conversation with Shohei in Japanese and also in English as a go. Dom. Ohio.

[Ben Stiller]

See,

[Connor Rogers]

what.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What was that? Did you say.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Got it said.

[Connor Rogers]

The only.

[Tone Bell]

Only. The only language I know is Spanish, besides.

[Pat McAfee]

So I said C. Yeah, but see, that's why we have depth. How many different languages are being spoken? How many languages will Stephen A. And Skip speak tomorrow?

[Tone Bell]

You know French and Japanese and. And unito espanol. I'm fluent in Spanish. Aino's fluent Spanish. He knows Irish.

[Pat McAfee]

We got a fashion designer here. I know Irish.

[Connor Rogers]

I know Latin. I know also a little bit of Mandarin.

[Tone Bell]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

He's been to China.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, way.

[Tone Bell]

Your turn.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who knows. He knows all things about all things. You. Have you done the China tour for basketball? I heard they love the sport over there.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I was supposed to, and then I tore my Achilles, so that didn't help.

[Tone Bell]

That keeps getting brought up, huh?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Stop bringing it up. Next summer, though. Next summer or what?

[Pat McAfee]

Was it a sword? Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who knows all those languages and more. He is an Emmy Award winner. He is a guy who showcases sports in such a beautiful fashion. Formerly of NFL Network in Fox, now espn. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, Peter Schrager. Schrager. I like that. Siegelman stable. They got good ponies. Oh, yeah, that's it.

[Connor Rogers]

That's the one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I like that. That. I like what we're doing here repping the Knicks. Hey, I. Every time we talk about celebrities making appearances at Madison Square Garden, we always say, Peter Schrager's in the building as well. You know, he's got eyes on. Greeny was courtside.

[Peter Schrager]

Greeny was courtside. Schrager doesn't get courtside. No, I am. I'm in a different spot. I. I'm usually with a pal, and we're sitting in the 200s and we're just going blue collar, grinding it out. Greeny, though. I'll give Greeny credit, though. And Halberton, I love that he's here because he broke my heart in a million ways last year in that series. Greeny. There's a little sneaky thing here. At halftime, all the celebrities, they run off to this thing called the Delta Club, and they come in the third quarter with, like, six minutes left, and it's obnoxious. You see these empty seats, and for all the celebrities, they're out there hobnobbing. Greeny was in his seat for the start of the second half, and I text him, I said, you're legit. I'm here. Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that Greenie did that on purpose, too, by the way. He knew what the optics were. He's probably judged others for it in the past. Delta Club kind of sounds like a bop, though I will say, it kind of sounds like it's probably a great time. I couldn't imagine the food or the booze that are potentially available back there. Ty did tell us that he could feel your presence at those games. So even though you're up there in the 2002, Tyrese said he could feel the Schrager energy with the lads. Before we dive into all the NFL news, let's talk about your Knicks. Is this the year, Strikes? Is this the year you guys are going to go on a run? Is this the year that Jalen Brunson maybe finishes it and we got a pulled hammer Hamstring, I do believe.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

OG Right.

[Peter Schrager]

We actually, in the last six minutes, our mutual friend Shams Chart Charania just came out with a vague sort of good news update that after me not breathing for the first, you know, eight hours, I've been awake today, we got this one here that it seems to be day to day, which I think is a lot better than out for the playoffs. I think we'll take that day to day. I'd like to hear that he's completely free. Fine. I. I would love to hear your thoughts, but if you've been watching these Knicks the last few weeks, there is no more valuable player than this man right here and no more beloved New York Nick. He does it all. He is so good on defense. He covers everyone. Paul George has been silenced this series because of how good OG has been on defense. And I just pray that he is healthy enough for this stretch run because he is one of one right now in the NBA.

[Pat McAfee]

So from our sport, we could see a hamstring from a mile away. Everybody can. It did appear whenever he was coming around to pull and then even more pull later. Day to day. Tyrese, you were shaking your head. Why you were shaking your head. Just because the hamstring so volatile.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh, hamstring's the worst. And he did that in our series, what, two years ago too. He did his hamstring in that series as well. So that's not day to day with a hamstring strain is a little. A little worrisome because it's a hamstring strain. So I would be worried. I'd be worried. I hope. I hope he's okay though.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, and then Joel Embiid, he goes out because of hip and ankle. Additional believe. Is that what it was?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. And also OG from that series as well. It was day to day and remember he like basically taped one on. He had like a makeshift hamstring and he kept playing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And you, I think you had some injuries throughout the playoffs last year and is it because you guys are just running so much it's like inevitable that somebody's going to get hurt in your guys playoffs?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I mean it's soft tissue. So I mean the argument that people would make would be that we play too many games or whatever, but.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, soft. This is that young. I wouldn't make that argument.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I would not make that argument. I like the games we play. I'm a fan. I'm not.

[Peter Schrager]

Two days rest. Two days rest seems so quick, like the quick turnaround here that these guys have to play and 80. I have so much respect for that guy in the studio right now because I know he played through pain.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Appreciate both those series.

[Peter Schrager]

But it's like we, you know, all NBA season it's load management. We rest, we wait and then in NBA playoffs it's like every night they have a game. So it's it. You got to figure it out, man.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

All right. I appreciate Shrek's fandom. I like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Flew out here last year. He was willing to sit up in the last row.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He said PG was silenced last night. I thought PG played pretty well last night. I like the energy though. I like that. Keep it up, Shrek.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like Paul George back in the playoffs.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, I think he mentioned big shot.

[Peter Schrager]

He airballed the big shot that he's looking at his teammate like, what? What happened?

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, that was you.

[Peter Schrager]

You missed that shot.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's a real. That's a real Nick fan, right?

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, things will happen. Yeah, buddy. Let's go ahead and put that blame on yourself. Little kids. Accountability. Love Paul George. Love Tyrese Maxey. Joel Embiid whenever he's playing great. It's good to see the Sixers trust in the process for this long and finally getting a little shine. Great. Until the Knicks just kind of go ahead and destroy him in front of Shregs. Let's go to some NFL news here quickly. Aaron Rodgers, mixed reports he's going to Pittsburgh. What do you know? Have you known and how do you feel about it all? This is the big story of the day. Don't feel obligated to give a full diatribe if you've already unloaded on this 10 times because this seemingly is an everyday situation. But now we get some news. He's going this weekend. Allegedly.

[Peter Schrager]

Allegedly. And 93 7, the local radio station was the first to report that he was in town. It seems like Rapaport's confirming it. I'll tell you this speaking of sealer sources, they're there for rookie minicamp today through the end of the weekend and there's no sign of Aaron Rodgers yet. So I think we've learned that we don't start pegging. Aaron Rodgers is going to do this, going to do that until Aaron Rodgers does this or does that. I have not been on the ground in Pittsburgh. I have not seen him flying in. But the local radio station is and Rapaport has since confirmed it and it's like the Loch Ness monster to me though. I don't, I have learned too many times until I see that guy in uniform or on site, I'm not putting anything in ink yet.

[Pat McAfee]

I love it because remember last year there was a disguise in a Toyota Camry or something.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, the poopy rental car.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean this is sweet. He is a one of one type human. He is a one of one type quarterback. And what is situation is over there in Pittsburgh? I don't know if you heard Shregs Tone Diggs has been burying Aaron Rodgers since the draft because he talked to a bunch of people that have kind of given the green light to do as such as the injures feel. And then this morning he hears Doran Dickerson on B94 the Fan and he goes I love Aaron. I'm so happy. I mean completely flip flop. Let's move to some other news around the NFL that's happening. The Eagles promote Adam Barry, brother of Andrew Barry to assistant gm. Philadelphia Eagles always surrounded with some Dragons drama. The Cleveland Browns also. Is that what they said? Hey, you're the twin brother of the guy who had to deal with everything happening in Cleveland. You should be pretty good over here in Philly. How have we not known that Andrew Barry has a twin brother that looks exactly like him in all this? And why do you think Philadelphia did this?

[Peter Schrager]

Well, Adam, Adam was actually, he's been there for a bit here and he actually used to work at Goldman Sachs at a very high level and they brought him over after Andrew was already a established in the NFL. It's very funny though because I've gotten to know Adam a little bit. I know Andrew and you'll be at the combine and they won't be wearing team issued gear. And the amount of times Adam Barry has to talk to a reporter or talk to someone who comes up to him and just assumes it's Andrew Barry because he has no idea. That Andrew Barry has a twin brother is innumerable. Now I think he's getting a little more spotlight. Very well respected within that building. In the last two years they've lost two important voices. Voices. Jake Rosenberg who was there and then Alec Halabi who left this year. Two guys who were like Howie Roseman's right hand man. These guys are gone. Adam Barry gets promoted. Of course you saw Joe Douglas is going to have a bigger title there. He's a former GM of the jets and of course a longtime lieutenant in Chicago and in Baltimore and in Philly. And then I saw another one, Mike McCadnon is apparently joining that Eagles front office. Used to be GM of the jets as well. So Howie is always looking for different voices and different guys. But Adam Barry has been a mainstay and now he gets that assistant GM job and his brother is the GM of the Cleveland Browns.

[Pat McAfee]

And Big Dom gets a new deal too for all his jobs.

[Connor Rogers]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Super security, super coaching stuff, assistant GM stuff. He's a big Dom. Got an extension as well. Good to see that he's still going to be around. Let's talk about some other NFL news taking place a little bit more spicy. Yeah, go ahead, con man.

[Connor Rogers]

Speaking of edge, Barry Shrigs. It was reported that allegedly the Browns are doing their homework on Sorsby. The situation that's kind of unfolding down in Texas with the gambling, a lot of stuff still needs to get worked out. But him being kind of the first big name in the possible supplemental draft in a few years now. What are you kind of hearing on this situation? Do you expect him to be in the NFL next year if everything gets worked out legally and he doesn't have any more kind of right to play in college anymore? Do you think, think he could be one of those players that a team will give up a high pick for

[Pat McAfee]

and quick follow up on some precedent in this entire process? Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

I was reminded today that when this happened with, when Terrell Pryor was suspended by the NCAA and he decided to go supplemental draft, he had a, it was a five or six game suspension with the NCAA and the NFL was like, you're not going to be a safe harbor. We're not going to be a safe harbor for players where you can just jump and we're not going to find you or whatever suspend You So then the NFL up upheld the suspension for Terrell Pryor and also Jim Trestle who was with the Colts at the time. So there's a situation here where the NFL could also suspend Soursby.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead, Shrek. Sorry. We just want to make sure we had all the intel out there.

[Peter Schrager]

It's good. And I remember the Terrell Prior deal. Remember that was for getting tattoos at a shop and he had to pay such a price for that. If you look back in hindsight now, how ridiculous that was for Terrell Pryor. You look at this one, this is an interesting deal because there will be interest in him in the supplemental draft. We don't see the supplemental draft you utilized too often, especially for a quarterback. There will be interest. As far as the Browns go, I would take the meme of the dog with the laser. Just like looking at that's Browns fans. Anytime a quarterback can even throw a ball, that's how they act. As far as it is I'm told Browns right now Sorsby's name has not been in the conversation. Rather they're focused on what they have in in house at the moment. And that is a desean Watson revival. That is a Shador Sanders. Can you do it again? Can you get back on the field and can you win this job? And they are so ecstatic about their draft that they had this past last couple weeks that the Browns like. I don't know if Ssby being dropped into it is an actual legitimate thing right now.

[Tone Bell]

We'll see.

[Peter Schrager]

Tone digs his point. The NFL is going to have a say in this as well. But a fascinating, unprecedented topic now in the nil era, especially in this whole gambling pro gambling world that we live in.

[Pat McAfee]

Tyrese, don't be gambling on show.

[Tone Bell]

No, don't.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I've never gambled on a sport in my life.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that beast.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Hey, a little bit of blackjack though.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure. Certainly gotta play. Certainly have to play. Especially if somebody else is putting up all the money for it. Yeah, that was a really cool time for sure. Very nice of that person. Yes, it was a lot of money. Jelly Roll gave us a ton of money to gamble. Jelly Roll so much money. I sat down. I've never been a part of this. This is after he tried to break my neck. He was trying to apologize to me.

[Tone Bell]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

He was trying to pull apologize to me. I think he was trying to be kind. Hey, why don't you come over. I sit down. There's just so much chips, so many chips in front of me, so many Chips in front of me. What is this, like, show chips? No, those are your chips. Oh, There's a lot of pressure here. Got back to even with him. Shoved those over it before we went and saw Tony Yayo and 50 Cent. I mean, it was. That was a great Vegas. I mean, we did it.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, we had a time.

[Pat McAfee]

I think we did.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Too bad you were on the side of the wrong side of fucking WrestleMania.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, you were, Cody Crybaby.

[Connor Rogers]

Son of a.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Connor.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He won.

[Pat McAfee]

Your dad was mad about it. You were happy. And that's what I don't like about at all. You know what I mean? Because I was on your side. I was fighting for you against people that are megastars, people that have generated 6 billion at the box office, people that are notorious for being sports fans while also being super geniuses, not just in car comedy. How about we drop severance on your ass? Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, a man who I fought for you with, Ben Stiller.

[Peter Schrager]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, Ben?

[Ben Stiller]

How are you guys? Good, good. Nice to be here, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

It's an honor to have you. Obviously, I'm 39 years old, so you understand with your demographic now out in the world, you. You supplied our lives with a lot of incredible shit. So we. We appreciate you so much. Now, on that note, I also respect the fact that you are sports fan. You are die hard Knicks fan. They're in, they're out. When the Met gala happens, we got to talk about it, Ben. Okay. We have to. We didn't want to do it. We didn't have to do it. How was that decision for you? And honestly, what are you doing throughout the entirety? Are you watching Game on Phone? Like, how do you kind of balance all of that?

[Ben Stiller]

Yeah, it was a tough one. It was a tough one for me. And, you know, it's been a really interesting experience because I didn't even think anybody really would care that much about whether or not I was there or not, you know, in terms of, like, the reaction to it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Ben, you're Ben Stiller, Mom. Ben, you're at every game. Ben, you're synonymous with the team.

[Ben Stiller]

But can I tell you what happened? Yeah. But it triggered something for. It's been an interesting learning experience for me as a fan because I've had to process this, like, the reaction and how people sort of react, you know, knowing what the circumstances are in the context of it all, which. You know what I mean? And so, like, I can't explain the context to everybody in the world. So for Me, as a fan, I wanted to be at that Knicks game more than anything.

[Pat McAfee]

Have to be.

[Ben Stiller]

I had an. Basically in my life the last, you know, season or so. I've tried to work my professional work life around the Knicks and all the way through to making sure that as this playoff run happens and this final run, you know, could possibly happen, that I'm making sure that I am going to be there. But this. This Met Gala thing was something I had. A friend of mine invited us three months ago, and as the dates were coming up, of course, you don't know what the playoff dates are going to be as they come up. And about a week before, I started to see this, because I thought I'd thought of every other permutation in terms of clearing my schedule for playoff games, and this was there. And honestly, it was. It's a very good friend who got the table, who I felt I would be as a friend. It would be lame to cancel on our friend who we don't see for this thing now position.

[Pat McAfee]

Ben. That's a tough spot, by the way.

[Ben Stiller]

The world doesn't care. And I get it. So all I tried to do is I say, okay, we're going to wear our next colors. I'm going to try. I'm going to have my phone. I'm going to be. You know, Anna Winter doesn't like when people are watching their phones at the Met Gala. You know, she wants everybody's attention to be there, which I understand. I was watching the game, checking on it, but it was really, really tough. And I said to Christine the night before, I said, I think I'm gonna get some shit for this. And, you know, it's a. It's. And I don't know what to do. But she said, look, we have to do. It's our friend. We're gonna make that. We made this commitment. There's nothing to do. We can't cancel. Thought about canceling, and I said, I

[Q Rich]

can't do it now.

[Pat McAfee]

Ben, I would like to let you know you're a good friend. Great friend. You getting is a compliment because that thinks. We think you're, like, a part of the sports. Like we. You know what I mean? Like that. That's a compliment more than anything.

[Q Rich]

Yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

Again, I didn't think it would be such a hubbub, but I also understand that people need stuff to talk about. Right. The morning radio shows tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, all of us. Yeah. Everybody needs that. You're Ben Stiller. That's why it's such a big deal. And also you are synonymous with this team. Like you coming out to Indiana, you flying to Indiana for these games.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

So much respect for it. It's like you have been synonymous with this Knicks team. You, Timmy, everybody, literally.

[Tone Bell]

Timmy didn't help going to the game.

[Jet Passage]

Game one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Timmy, Timmy.

[Ben Stiller]

Well, that was the thing. The fact that, that, that he decided to not go. And by the way, I don't get invited to the Met gal. Timothy gets invited to the Met Gala every year. I've been. The last time I was invited was 10 years ago by the same friend who bought the table. And we went with him 10 years ago. And then I went once before, like 20 years ago. I'm not that guy. Guy. So the irony was I, I said to Christine, I hope Timothy was also going to the Met gal. And of course he wasn't.

[Pat McAfee]

So.

[Tone Bell]

And then I was like, all right,

[Pat McAfee]

well, we wanted to.

[Ben Stiller]

And then my. Then the thing that it, that it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

I just wanted to say the thing that it triggered then became this comp. The competition thing of like, who is the, you know, the more die hard Knicks fan. Right? And that for me, that was interesting because I realized that I had to be okay with the fact that you don't. You're not a fan to be in competition with other fans or to prove to people you're a fan. You're a fan because you love the team. So I had to live with the fact that I know. I think I even tweeted, like, I know what I.

[Pat McAfee]

Who I am. I know my fan. Hey, we have respect for that. We know that too.

[Ben Stiller]

You need to know my ego. Like, I'm the best Knick fan. It's like, it's not a competition. We all love the Knicks. Who, you know, people love the Knicks. So I couldn't, I had to let my ego get out of the way for them.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, okay, well, I appreciate you doing that. I appreciate you having to have that conversation. I also appreciate the fact that, like, this is sports, man. You're like so in sports, like you are a sports person and you know, we, so we like that. So the fact that, you know, people shit talking you. You becoming synonymous with a team whenever there's a celebration happening. Guess whose ass is going to be in a parade. Oh yeah, your ass won it as well. I think it's a, it's a great thing. And it's because we all have so much respect for, for everything you've accomplished. You know, it's everywhere. Can we dive into that? We're still live on YouTube, we're no longer. You go comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy. Okay. Sports, always your whole life. And comedy kind of help that. And then you go super serious with severance. This is like a whole different vein. And then your marketing is like super deep. Yeah, like super, super, super. Always been sports person. Pick up sports later in life. How does it tie into how you. You've kind of shaped your professional career? You think?

[Ben Stiller]

I'll give you my, my, you know, my honest history with sports is I grew up in New York City. You know, I was born in 65, right. So, you know, 75. I was one of those guys running on the field, Yankee Stadium. You know, I take the beat train with my friends. You know, I was there when Reggie hit the three home runs. I had a piece of right field in my bedroom that I ripped up, you know, from I think the 70s, eight series, the championship Series. So Yankees were my thing when I was a kid. Then I kind of. And the Knicks, I was a big as a teenager, big Bernard King fan. There was a guy named Mike Glenn on the Knicks. I don't know if you know, stinger Mike Glenn, an incredible three point shooter, played for the Hawks. It was my favorite player back in the day. Then I moved to LA from, I'd say like 92 to like 2010. And my fandom was there, but not as intense. And I never became a Lakers fan or an LA fan. Always a Knick fan, but just from afar during the 94, 99 run. Then I moved back to New York in 2010 and that's when I. I was like, oh my God, I'm back in New York. I can take my son to Knicks games like my dad, because my dad took me to Knicks games in 73, 74. I mean, I literally saw those teams.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of stories about that, like Michael Karl Cole, our friend from over there who's wwe, he talks about his dad, had him in the arena watching the Knicks. And it feels like with so many people, the Knicks are who everybody likes. You know, I know the Nets kind of did their thing for a little bit there, but the Knicks seemingly. And the Yankees, even though the Mets are spending a lot of money, but the Knicks are like the entire city's kind of team. You getting a chance to showcase that, I think is good. Can you tell me about your brain though? That other part of the question? I guess sports doesn't really help it out much. Can you tell me about your brain? Do you have thoughts going all the time? Is it tough to sleep like how do you get into these such radically different spaces? Legit? You smoking weed? You do an ayahuasca? You do what is your. You on dmt? All of the above.

[Ben Stiller]

You know, I'm like, I'm basically, I. It's a great. Sports is a great outlet. Right. And what I don't like, which I'm sure you feel as a fan too, is when you care about a team that much, the, when the, when they get to the point where they're not going to get to the next step, when they lose, finally, it's really painful and not fun. And that, that thing of like, it's fun, fun, fun, but then it always has to end. So for me, it's a great outlet and a diversion. It's become much more since the Knicks have become, you know, better in the last four or five years to watch that and then to have that history of all the years of them not being good because, you know, like, I'll watch every game, every, you know, every season. I watch every, every game because, you know, I'm into it. But when you start to see them actually doing well, it becomes so much more exciting because you have, you know, like 50 years of history there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, absolutely. Tell me about your brain not getting. Let's talk about the brain. Let's talk about the brain. Let's talk about creative. Let's talk about getting.

[Ben Stiller]

My brain is. I do go.

[Q Rich]

I do go.

[Ben Stiller]

Yeah, Pat, I do go. I, you know, I, for me, I love to, to be working on whatever project I'm working on or we have, you know, a few different projects to create a. I'm always, Yeah, I enjoy that. That's my, my relaxation is, you know, doing something that I feel is creative for me.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, on that note, Connor has a question for you.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, Ben Severance. I mean, Pat mentioned it. I think it's like the greatest show on TV right now. And it feels like if you land the plane here, it could be just one of the greatest shows of all time. With Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, those types of shows. Where did it come from? Where was that idea originated when you first thought of it? Was it something where you kind of had like a five season arc? Was it something where you knew, hey, it's starting here, it'll be in the middle here and end here?

[Ben Stiller]

No, I mean, this was a script that came into us by a writer named Dan Erickson, who had sent it as a spec script. A spec script is a script that a writer will send as a sample so you can have A meeting to maybe do something else. And I read the spec script and I was like, this is amazing. And we had the meeting and I said, is anybody making this? So this was like eight years ago or nine years ago ago, and he had never had anything produced. And so we connected and we started working together on building it. And it's been an amazing experience. It became my full time job for like the last, you know, five years or so doing it. And I was never, never been happier working on something. So, you know, I can't take credit for it. But the building out of the world and the collaboration of all the different departments and our, you know, our cinematographer, production designer, costumes are. Everybody kind of came together on it and, you know, and we're lucky enough to have the freedom to make it too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, home run. That's because you're Ben fucking Stiller. Go ahead, aj. You can make whatever you want, by the way.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, you can. Everything you make is gold. But can we get back to the Met gal? We see you guys walking up the stairs, we see the costumes, the outfits everybody's wearing. What the hell actually goes on once you're inside?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's a good question.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

Yeah, that's a good question. You know, basically you go in and. And once, you know, they take your phone and they cover up your phone so you can't take anything. Yeah. And then. Or like a little sticker. And then you kind of do this tour. It's for the Costume Institute. They raise money to support the Costume Institute. So it's designers who have done these different exhibits and designs, fashion designs related to the art at the Met. So. And it's pretty amazing. And you sort of mingle around and then it's weird because you see people that you would never see in real life, like Mark Zuckerberg or people, and you're like, okay, you know, and you just kind of have. And then all of a sudden there's like a faceless nun with a metal plate on her face. And it turns out, and you know, 20 minutes later, oh, that was Katy Perry. I just didn't know because she didn't.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, it's so weird.

[Q Rich]

It's just weird.

[Ben Stiller]

And you just like try to find somebody, you know, and you know, and then, and then get through, through it and then, and then. So basically there's like mingling and then, and then mingling in another room. And then you go and have dinner in the Temple of Bendur room, where that temple is and that, you know, like the Egyptian temple where they Built out of. You know, it's like this giant wing of the. Of the museum that's been there for, like, 30 years. And then after dinner, there's a show.

[Pat McAfee]

A show. Like a fashion show, and you're. You walking your ass up there like. No, no, no, no. Musical.

[Ben Stiller]

Musical. Musical performance. And Sabrina Carpenter played, and then Phoebe Nicks got up, I guess, and played also. But honestly, we left a little bit early before that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but you would say, had a great time mingling, looking, seeing, enjoying. You had a blast. Left early to finish the Knicks game.

[Ben Stiller]

Honestly, the best time was being with our friend Johnny, who invited us, and being sitting and seeing, because I don't see him that often. That was the reason we went. That was like. To be. To be there and, you know, connect with him.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, can the Knicks win it this year or no? You said you watch every single game. Is it different than last year? You know, whenever you ran into the big bad wolf, the Indiana Pacers, you know, Tyrese Halliburton's now sitting on this show. He's not in a playoffs, which I.

[Ben Stiller]

Tyree, how are you?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What's up, Ben? How you doing?

[Ben Stiller]

I mean, I was there as. You know, like, you know, last year when. When Tyrese hit the shot. Yeah, that changed everything. And I had the bad luck of being, you know, sitting. Sitting under the celebration, you know, under this. And then after. Then, like, making, like, eye contact with Miles Turner, like, just.

[Q Rich]

It was so weird.

[Ben Stiller]

It was just so scary weird. I was like, I don't. This is the one time I don't want these seats, because it was just. It was your glory moment there. So, yeah, the Knicks, I think, this year, you know, up until about three or four weeks ago, I was a little. I was. Or three weeks ago or so I was questioning it a little because I don't think we've ever, like, really found the rhythm. Last year, you know, there was, like, a team cohesion, but then there was also the. The fact that the rotation was so tight. I think, you know, that finally something clicked at Game 3. Atlanta series. After Game 3 of the Atlanta series, where I think the team started playing for each other, and obviously Mikhail, you know, started producing. And, you know, OG has been incredible. So, like, everybody is stepping up. I feel like. Like, there's a good vibe. You know, OKC Is really, really tough. You know, knock on wood, if we can. You know, OG now, this is a huge. He's a huge part of our, you know, our success day to day.

[Pat McAfee]

Sean's just saying it's Day to day, Ben. Day to day with that hamstring. I think that's good news.

[Ben Stiller]

As opposed to, like, what, a couple years ago? I mean, I remember, you know, when Julius Randall was on the team and OG went out and there was this incredible run, and then he went out and it changed everything, too, so. So we really need him. But I also feel like the role players have had more time to play as they didn't have last year, you know, in terms of, you know, the rotation. So, you know, if. If Deuce can step up, if Landry Shaman, who's great, can step up. Modara, you know, you know, we have.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We have.

[Ben Stiller]

We have some good pieces, so we'll see.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, well, good luck to you. Can't wait to see you at the games.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Get the job done.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Good luck. Good luck.

[Q Rich]

Are you.

[Ben Stiller]

Are you ever going to be of kind coming to msg, Pat?

[Pat McAfee]

So you did hear, right? Last year I tried to come and I was told no. That's awesome. I thought that was incredible, by the way. I thought that was.

[Tone Bell]

Who told you?

[Pat McAfee]

No, I think.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Tone Bell]

Mr. Dolan.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think there was a no. And I love that, by the way. I was, like, a massive fan of that move, just because. Just like, I like us talking shit to you immediately upon you missed the game, because that's like sports. But I didn't think about you actually having to kind of internalize all that. Like, fuck.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I got.

[Pat McAfee]

John, wait.

[Ben Stiller]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

Thank you for letting me air that out. Honestly. I appreciate it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, no problem. That's a tough spot for you, but we were definitely gonna talk to you because you're in the sports world. That's how we view it. You should know that. And you are very welcome to. We're very much appreciative of you, and good luck on whatever other you create for us to enjoy.

[Ben Stiller]

Thank you, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, Tropic Thunder 2.

[Tone Bell]

Will there ever be?

[Ben Stiller]

We'll see. I want to leave that one alone, because I think it's kind of lives in its own world.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you thought about some of the olds bringing back maybe another?

[Ben Stiller]

Well, I did. We just did another Meet the Parents called Focker In Law that's coming out Thanksgiving.

[Pat McAfee]

Focker. Can't wait for that. I like that. Have you found something, maybe with this, though, that you enjoyed? Maybe go back in time a little bit. Maybe we go back to fucking fat camp.

[Ben Stiller]

You know what? I love that. Heavyweight's one of my favorite experiences ever. I would love, you know. Yes, I'd be able to open to that. Look, I think getting people back in the theaters for comedies would be a great thing. Original or, you know, whatever sequels. But like let's get people back laughing together in the theaters because that was so much fun back in the day and you know, hopefully we can see that happen again.

[Pat McAfee]

Good community experience. It feels like people are buying stuff to go do stuff. Hopefully we can continue that. We just need you to keep making it. You know, you got to go to severance to this way. Let's let me up your brains.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, land that plane.

[Pat McAfee]

Let me go ahead and and up your brains here with severance.

[Ben Stiller]

No pressure, no pressure.

[Connor Rogers]

No pressure at all. Could be the greatest show ever if you don't it up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of. Yeah, no problem. I got faith. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Ben Stiller. Thank you, buddy.

[Ben Stiller]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Michelle's moment 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. Covered. Wherever the game is played or watched. PayPal moves with fans. You can send money through text, email or directly to your friends with eligible accounts on Venmo. Just download the PayPal app and share all the moments that matter. Account with PayPal is required. Not available in all regions where PayPal operates.

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[Pat McAfee]

Back to me. Holy. Did not expect that. We apologize. Shregs there.

[Peter Schrager]

I. I'm kidding.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm.

[Peter Schrager]

I'm. I mean, gosh, heavyweights too. Give me something about Mary too.

[Connor Rogers]

Give me dodgeball too.

[Pat McAfee]

Definitely. You mean dodgeball.

[Peter Schrager]

I'll take reality bites too.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't care.

[Peter Schrager]

Just give me more of those.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Those are great.

[Pat McAfee]

I. Something about. I mean there's just so many so Many.

[Peter Schrager]

How many great moments did we have in movie theaters with Ben Stiller's film?

[Pat McAfee]

So we talked about this yesterday. Ben Stiller and Sandman. Adam Sandler and Feral.

[Peter Schrager]

Will Ferrell's up there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Rest in peace, obviously. But we're talking about Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler have both made so many things. Like, so sorry, Not Will Ferrell who died. Sorry, sorry.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What was that?

[Pat McAfee]

Not Will Ferrell. Was there news since OG Chris Farley. Rest in peace.

[Connor Rogers]

I was like, I know, I know.

[Pat McAfee]

Will hasn't put out that many bangers lately. Now, Will, I thought Will Ferrell, hero, legend, icon. You're right. Will Ferrell. Apologize. I forgot about him. Oh, my God. I'm happy He's. That's 100% on me. Will, thank you for bringing me life for a long time. Yeah. I love everything you're about. But you're right, like, those three from that generation have created so many things. Like, so, so many things.

[Peter Schrager]

Sandler, what did you laugh harder in the theater at Something about Mary or the original Borat film?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I think. Or Jackass.

[Peter Schrager]

When I saw Jackass in the theater, it was revolutionary.

[Tone Bell]

We were young for Something about Mary.

[Pat McAfee]

Not young, but like, I will say, semi pro.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I went to the theater three times. Okay.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What a film. What a film.

[Tone Bell]

Me and you went to see Wedding Crashers at the theaters many times. Multiple times as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, cuz it was a heater. An absolute heater. I think that was a good one.

[Peter Schrager]

Super bad in the theater.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Super bad.

[Tone Bell]

Tropic Thunder was. Was my favorite comedy. Comedy is my favorite comedy of all time.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, Adam.

[Tone Bell]

And there will be net.

[Connor Rogers]

I know.

[Pat McAfee]

Adam Sandler just has so many bangers

[Connor Rogers]

and he has some that are underrated. Like, that's my boy, I think is one of the funniest movies.

[Peter Schrager]

Great one.

[Pat McAfee]

But he had such a big streaming deal. I think a lot of people know him for streaming.

[Matthew Tkachuk]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

As opposed to like going to movie theater, which I do.

[Peter Schrager]

Oh, I saw in year to year. I went Billy Madison to Happy Gilmore to. Then like, he got like soft with the Wedding Singer. Then Big Daddy was great. And then Mr. Deeds was just crazy and off the wall. Like, what was always the devil. Little Nicky.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So you're saying Sandler and Stiller, they're both what, New York Knicks fans? Is that right? Are they both New York?

[Tone Bell]

Sandler's a New York guy. I assume he's in it.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I think Stanley just likes the sport.

[Pat McAfee]

Great. Hooper.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Sandler, have you ever been diced up by him?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Before, and I've watched him play in our practice facility.

[Pat McAfee]

You and him kind of similar playing style.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, Me in the Sandman.

[Pat McAfee]

And fashion, too, I think. Kind of similar. Similar people.

[Connor Rogers]

He's got much better fashion than Tyrese.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I like the Sandman. Big Sandman.

[Pat McAfee]

We love Sandman.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Probably the coolest celebrity I've ever met in my life.

[Pat McAfee]

Sandman.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Clean dap. Handshake. What'd we do?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, Clean dap. Great conversation. Did a great job of, you know, introducing himself to Jade. It was pretty cool.

[Connor Rogers]

His comedy show was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we went to watch do you see it live on like a Tuesday? It was either Tuesday or Wednesday here in Indianapolis. Down in the arena.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I was there.

[Pat McAfee]

Sold out. The Are arena. And it was just him. Just an absurd Adam Sandler show for 90 minutes. I don't even know how to describe it. We're singing songs at one point, we're telling jokes at one point. We're putting glasses on at one point. Just.

[Peter Schrager]

Did you meet him?

[Pat McAfee]

No, No. I got a text.

[Peter Schrager]

One of my. One of my all time favorites. I. I grew up with the. With the records, the music albums.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, they were so somebody.

[Pat McAfee]

Somebody.

[Peter Schrager]

They're all gonna laugh at you. Like, cold booth Willie, Medium face. Hello. Like, these are hilarious, hilarious, hilarious moments of my life.

[Pat McAfee]

So have you seen the live show?

[Peter Schrager]

I didn't see it. I saw it on Netflix. I thought it was amazing.

[Pat McAfee]

He writes new songs for these shows, and it's just outrageous because he's like,

[Tone Bell]

actually, what was the donkey song? That was the best.

[Connor Rogers]

Click a D, Clanky.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What a stud. Okay, let's talk NFL stuff, shall we? Because we have an NBA guy here, so let's tell him about.

[Tone Bell]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, by the way, what.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What are you about to do?

[Pat McAfee]

We're talking toughness with other leagues, and your. Your league never got brought up.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah. That's ridiculous. Stop it.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't like it.

[Connor Rogers]

I don't like when you were talking about watching the games last year. I did want to throw that in. Like, you also with the SGA flopping stuff. Like, you forget how physical the game is itself because of the flailing. You don't realize, like, it is actually

[Pat McAfee]

so physical and how hard they're trying.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

The narrative is like, can't try too many points. Not trying. It's like everybody is dying out there. You're right. I need to talk about the that more. I need to talk about that more because what you guys have to go through with the amount of running, amount of reps, amount of games, amount of travel, lack of sleep, I think there is a toughness to that. We need to represent that a little

[Connor Rogers]

bit more in the skill of the game.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You're. You're part of the new media, you know, do a better job.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, Stephen A. And Skip are going to take it back.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Oh, my God. Nobody.

[Pat McAfee]

10:00am Eastern. ESPN.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You guys excited? Right here. Tony.

[Ben Stiller]

Excited?

[Connor Rogers]

Can't say nobody. Cuz I'm right here.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, soon me. I'm pumped.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

To watch a master debate yet tomorrow.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Wait, there'll be one topic. The whole show? Yeah, whole person.

[Pat McAfee]

Ten years of. He's got to say ten years about

[Tyrese Haliburton]

one person, two people.

[Pat McAfee]

Shregs, I know you're excited. You love television. Shregs loves television. Shregs loves the intricacies of television. Shregs knows more about the intricacies of television than anybody I've talked about. Shregs cares about the little things on television more than anybody I've ever had a chance to talk to. You got to be super pumped up about tomorrow. Because what tomorrow is is a representative of what the era that had been for a long time of sports media has been, don't you think? Is that kind of the bigger picture for tomorrow?

[Peter Schrager]

Kind of a full circle moment.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Peter Schrager]

Like it started with those guys and now every single person's got a podcast. Every single person has a screaming talking head show. And now it's like, we finished the full circle and they're back and I'll tune in. I'll check it out on Friday.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I like. Like that. I think that's tomorrow, right?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, it's tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

It's almost here. Tomorrow, 10:00am Eastern. ESPN. Just he and I. Well, also Shay Cornette. Showtime showdown. Pray for him.

[Tone Bell]

Make you score.

[Pat McAfee]

Pray for him.

[AJ Hawk]

Pray for him.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that? Shregs. Pray for him. Shregs. Okay, let's. Let's talk NFL with Shrek, shall we? Because he doesn't know what Skip's capable of.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. What happens if he does actually just put. Pull out a freaking gun?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't. I think there's a security camera. That's not what the prayers are. That's not what he's saying.

[Connor Rogers]

Who to go and answer.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, let's talk. Let's talk a little bit about what

[Peter Schrager]

happens if Johnny invites him to the Met gala tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're. There's a chance. Listen, Skip might have to take a trip. I appreciate Ben Stiller being like, it's

[Tone Bell]

nice that Johnny Depp to invite him.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that who that was?

[Tone Bell]

That's the only that I think of.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

There's no.

[Pat McAfee]

Not even who.

[Connor Rogers]

Johnny Depp ain't going to that we know what Johnny's doing.

[Pat McAfee]

How about Ben Siller following up with, I was not invited to the Mecca. I was invited by somebody who was invited. Not me.

[Tone Bell]

I'm not that guy. Timmy goes every year.

[Connor Rogers]

Timmy actually gets invited by these people, not me.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't think anybody would know that. I mean, who cares that I'm a. It's like, Ben, you're Ben Stiller sounds like he is all the way back in. All right, let's do some NFL talk, shall we? Shrigs and I, I think I don't want to break any news. We're not going to break any news. We don't know what news is news.

[Peter Schrager]

What do you got?

[Connor Rogers]

Especially right now, what do you got?

[Pat McAfee]

Going to see a lot of shrigs. Shregs. We love the strikes.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's move. Let's talk Stephen Jones on Micah trade a year later. The decision we made was one that one player is not worth four or five good players. When you look at what the Dallas Cowboys have cooked and what the Green Bay packers have cooked, should we look back in a positive light for this trade for both parties or how do you kind of view this entire thing? Shregs?

[Peter Schrager]

With any trade, it's going to be, see, let's see how it all works out. But they had a strategy in this to, hey, we're going to pick up defensive players. In this draft, they took defensive players and four of the first five picks and over the course of the last 12 months, they added Kenny Clark, Quinn Williams and Rashad Gary. Their defense is significantly better than it was when they took the field week one without Micah Parsons. The one thing I took away from that great doc that you guys talked about on Monday, the pick is in was the the Stephen Jones, Will McClay, Jerry Jones, Brian Schottenheimer of it all. Like, they all seem like they're on the same page. And then in this new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who, by the way, is 34, comes from the Eagles and was a defensive backs guru and is kind of the voice like, hey, let's get Caleb Downs, let's get Malachi Lawrence. Like, I know it sounds hyperbolic and it's easy to move the needle in May to say the Cowboys got significantly better and could be contenders. But I I can't see that roster today versus what we saw opening week last year with that Defense and not think this team has gotten so much better on that side of the ball.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Ball.

[Peter Schrager]

And if downs and Quinnan and Rashan Gary all play what we think they can do, you can start to justify that Micah trade knowing that they've spent the money on so many different places opposed to just one player strikes.

[Tone Bell]

I want to ask you about Christian Parker. He brought up there the new D.C. i saw you call him the most interesting man in the NFL and then I swear to God I have heard his name on like six to seven other shows. People talking about like him being a genius. Like he sees the game like. Like the way that all of the great coaches have seen the game. Like, is that. Where is. Where is that coming from? Is that just people talking about how good he was in Philly and stuff like that. But I. People are talking about Christian Parker like he's the next great coach.

[Peter Schrager]

I've gotten to know Christian a little bit. Not. Not well enough. He's 34. He was with the Broncos and then of course he's with the Eagles and he was their defensive backs coach the last few years and is one of the guys responsible obviously for what we see out of Quinon Mitchell and. And Cooper Dean. But he's a firebrand. He is up. He is up. It's energy. It is. It is. Wake up. Out of boundaries, bed 11 out of 10. Let's go. And the players seem to really respond to him in a real way. But what I heard was in this draft process he was very vocal as to what they wanted. And Caleb Downs was the number one guy that they wanted for his above the neck for the high iq. So he's a guy who is a player at I believe Richmond. He was a Richmond Spider and he's earned his way. And at 34, I think there's no more interesting new hire as far as coordinators go than the defensive coordinator of the Cowboys. Cowboys, whose team was awesome on offense and awful on defense a year ago.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And Shotty seemingly is very comfortable with the head coaching role. You know, maybe this guy's the next head coach, but as a 34 year old getting an opportunity to lead the Dallas Cowboys. A lot of opportunity. And the pick is in. Did you. Did you know they were shooting that when they were shooting that? I didn't. They got a lot of access.

[Peter Schrager]

There was a camera around and I know they got a lot of shefter. There was not a lot of Schrager and I loved watching it. I thought it was fantastic. They weren't in the The Bunker Boys Tavern for much of that draft. They didn't make it there.

[Pat McAfee]

No, the Bunker Boy Tavern did. We know he was miked up, though. We had no idea that he was miked up. And we like to let Schefter know. Shefty, you've been around the league long enough.

[Connor Rogers]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. When you're. When you're wired, you need to be letting people know. Now, I would like to see him backstage running into that puddle and wall. Oh, whenever he had that George Pickens was potentially signing his franchise.

[Jet Passage]

I don't know if that's how it

[Tone Bell]

was phrased, but that's why what he told us after.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he was signing it. It was great, that pick. His intro was fantastic. I think this is the new Hard Knocks for NFL Films because we very rarely get to see any of this and would never get to see any of this. I think this is a good one. Triggs, back to your point.

[Peter Schrager]

I kind of liked it more than Hard Knocks and I like the immediacy of it, that it came out just a week after the draft so he could watch it. One thing, thing I, you know, obviously Adam here with I gotta trade in my Wi Fi sucks and the whole thing, that was fun. One thing I loved was seeing the Cleveland war room and how they had three different offensive guys that they liked. Jordan, Tyson, cc, moa, Spencer Fano. They're sitting at six. They know the Giants want to go offensive tackle, so they can't trade behind them. So Andrew Barry really craftily moving just to nine with the Chiefs, who get their guy, and then they still get Fano. Like, that stuff is so cool to me. It's a chess board. And there's so much more to the draft than just best player available.

[Pat McAfee]

I love the draft. I had so much fun. We appreciate you joining us out there in Pittsburgh and we can't wait to continue to celebrate you, brother. Have a good one. Thank you for joining us. I love it.

[Peter Schrager]

And I'll tell you, Pittsburgh was an amazing city and you guys were great to me. Halliburton, how cool to meet you again. Pat, thanks for letting me in your world as always.

[Pat McAfee]

No, you're the best shrinks. We're all in your world, brother.

[Peter Schrager]

And you know what? Real Nick fan right here. Let's roll, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go. That's right. The hat off, off. Got me excited made. I want to run through a wall. Ladies and gent. Piercer.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Strager. You ain't never met anybody like stranger. He would lock you the up he bop. He bops wood.

[Connor Rogers]

He take you to the blocks.

[Pat McAfee]

Wood.

[Tone Bell]

He actually does have a nice jumper too.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's awesome.

[Tone Bell]

Don't.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's like 69.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

You can tell from that?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, as we wrap up today, what would be your big takeaway tomorrow, 10am Eastern. You got your alarm clocks that master debaters master debating all over your face.

[Ben Stiller]

Is that your big takeaway?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Move that workout.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I won't tune in at all.

[Pat McAfee]

Not even the clips. The clips are going to hit your algo. Like, let's see. I don't want everything that just napal. Yeah, there we go. What's good? That's what, that's what it's like the head of everything that is hit. That's what I didn't want to say. Yeah. Cuz that has kind of hit my algo right now in a heavy. And I don't like the percentage of that I'm seeing. I don't like any of it.

[Tone Bell]

I actually like.

[Pat McAfee]

I like the dates that I'm seeing.

[Tone Bell]

I was in a bit of a worry in the middle of the night and then the algo actually fed me some comforting news. So I like that the algo's kind of bringing me back down to earth.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, if the algo could do that for. Ah.

[Tone Bell]

Hey, I'm in a holding pattern. I'll. I'll send you the positive ones.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Thank you.

[Tone Bell]

It's actually too deadly to spread, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so since we brought it. Okay. With that being said, since we did just talk to your algo, you'll be forced to see clips tomorrow of two master debaters doing their thing on a stage.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

And I will scroll right past.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that your big takeaway though for today? Is that tomorrow is a big one for all of us and I'm hearing

[Tyrese Haliburton]

sports are in a great place.

[Pat McAfee]

Sports are in a great place.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I love that.

[Pat McAfee]

Ratings up for everything.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Ratings up for everything. Tone's excited about Aaron Rodgers.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, I got a lot of feedback. Would have done it the same exact way. Tone, you did us proud.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're saying. Everybody's saying, hey, listen, you did what you had to do a lot of

[Tone Bell]

these, A lot of hat tips today.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

The question is though, you said he's family.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Right. But when a player who is family. Everybody on the Steelers is family.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

When you guys trade that person, you can't trade a family member, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you certainly can is what they've done in the past. Yeah. And they've cut them too. Yeah.

[Tone Bell]

They still, they still hold a special place in my heart. I just don't think about them as much.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And if they want a title. If they want a title, I think

[Connor Rogers]

about it all the time.

[Pat McAfee]

They're certainly welcome back.

[Tone Bell]

Whenever they're done, I'll put pictures of them on my wall in my basement. Shout out, you7.

[Connor Rogers]

Troy.

[Pat McAfee]

It's been Ross.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That has been Roethlisberger. I get it.

[Pat McAfee]

And we'll do that here in Indiana to you whenever you win a title for the Indiana Pacers. Hard road. Hard road. They're saying rumors, rumblings the east is about to have a freak transfer over to maybe the city of Boston.

[Tone Bell]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

Those are rumors that are kind of probably brewing.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Kind of brewing right now.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Especially with everything that came out after the whole Jaylen Brown stream thing and

[Tone Bell]

don't do streams after you lose the game.

[Pat McAfee]

He's just building up his smackdown and raw roster.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

So don't worry about. I just play the game.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't you worry about any of that other stuff. We ain't with the theatrics with that whole stuff. We appreciate that. You do have it inside of you, though. But you choose to use it in the right times, which is why you are a great leading man for the city of Indianapolis. Now back to your point that, though.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. The Brad Stevens press conference, a lot of people are like, the Jalen Brown thing is, you know, one thing, but Brad Stevens, I don't know if I or anyone has ever seen him that, like, openly pissed off talking to the media at the end of a season. He also basically mentioned how, like, hey, there were eight to 12 teams this year actively trying to lose. The league is going to be much, much better next year because all those teams, Tyrese will come back. The Pacers have their top pick. They're going to be better. The Clippers, who knows what's going to happen? But there are a few teams up in that top tier that we're trying to lose that are going to get a good player and then immediately be a contender again. So, like, there are some moves that will be made in Milwaukee, might be calling Boston, and maybe Boston just thinks about, you know, making an offer or receiving an offer. Maybe a JLO feeling for giannis and A1. You know, we just kind of. We do that. You know, we do something. We'll even take Thanos. Okay.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Maybe we bring.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's part of it.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

By the way, vibes are immaculate with thanosis, from my understanding.

[Connor Rogers]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Connor Rogers]

And he's gonna love some of The Greek food we got in New England. I'll tell you what.

[Pat McAfee]

So much Greek yogurt. Yeah, you guys got Greek yogurt?

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, no, I'm talking real Greek food. I'm talking about the iros. Bingo. Thank you for saying it because.

[Tone Bell]

Because I forgot lamb kebabs. Sure.

[Connor Rogers]

Sheesh. All the kebabs.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Tone Bell]

Sheesh.

[Pat McAfee]

Kebab. All the kebabs. That's very nice.

[Tone Bell]

I love sheesh.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, before we get out of here, Tyrese, great job guest hosting today. Thank you for stepping up. If you'd like to do it again tomorrow, please let me know. If not, I completely understand.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

You should come back, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Before you get out of here, though, we need you to make your picks for backup.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Okay? Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Backlash. Backlash. Who's Dan Hing going to team up with to take on?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's a great question. Who is it going to be?

[Tone Bell]

Why Braun so tan.

[Connor Rogers]

Who's the Miz teaming up with?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Kit Wilson.

[Pat McAfee]

Kit Wilson.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Who? Toxic.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that Tarzan?

[Tone Bell]

That's Tarzan.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Kit Wilson.

[Connor Rogers]

No, it's Kit Wilson.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Respect.

[Pat McAfee]

Kit Wilson saved the Miz from punching a wall actually the other week.

[Tone Bell]

So Kit Wilson's muted.

[Pat McAfee]

So tell you, Dan, feels like this probably a video that we screenshot from ig. Yeah, it feels like we stole this from somebody. But on that note, Dan Housing, who's his teammate going to be and are they going to win over the Miz? The Miz has this phenomenal losing streak. I'm not sure he's ever really caught a dub in a decade.

[Connor Rogers]

2,000 straight matches. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So is the Housing going over or how's are we starting off?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

How can he not? I'm a big deal. A Danhausen guy. I like Dan Housing a lot.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We whooping that trick is the champion of the United States.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Of course we are whooping that.

[Connor Rogers]

Is that Sami Zayn these days, yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

He looks the exact same.

[Pat McAfee]

He looks mean, don't he looks mean today.

[Tone Bell]

I use it make this because I know it's a thing going on, right?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, I don't think they use. They are.

[Pat McAfee]

Listen, let's not judge people using AI to make stuff.

[Tone Bell]

Well, it's a big topic around this city.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you remember Pete Crow? Armstrong on Top of the World? Yeah. Okay, we don't. We don't need to be judging too much.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Drake May, Sammy versus Braun. Now that's a match. That's going to be a good match. What's that, Sammy? I mean, sorry. Seth versus Br.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy. They're not all the same.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, that was on me.

[Pat McAfee]

Sami Zayn and Seth freaking Rollins.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That was on me.

[Tone Bell]

Seth was on GMFB this morning, so I don't know if that matters to your picks or not.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Is he focused? He's not focused because he's very good at a lot of other things. Football conversation. He is good at. He's been doing a lot of it, obviously. Braun Breaker just came back more jacked than he's ever been. How do you feel it's going to go?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I got Braun winning. Maybe some vision antics.

[Connor Rogers]

Some Vision.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's on what team here at this point? Who's part of the Vision?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Logan?

[Ben Stiller]

Paul.

[Pat McAfee]

Love him.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Austin Theory.

[Pat McAfee]

Love him.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Paul Heyman and Bron Breaker. Love them.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the Vision right now.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That's the Vision.

[Pat McAfee]

Are they seeing 2020 or are they still kind of fractured?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

They have the tag team championships and Bron is after Seth, so I feel like they're seeing. Seeing. Well, okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Oscar and Iyo Sky. I know this is one that is near and dear to your heart.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Who do you like?

[Connor Rogers]

How do you know who I like?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Iyo Sky. Yeah, yeah. We're always picking goat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we do. Iyo sky, obviously phenomenal at flying around. Yes, Oscar, potential goat.

[Tone Bell]

Were they together at one point? Like, oh, yeah. Were they the Kabuki warriors?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Were they not?

[Pat McAfee]

So Kyrie Sane as well.

[Jet Passage]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Big, big. That was big name on the Internet, obviously, with a lot of things happening with wwe. Evolving, evolving, changing, developing, moving forward. Decisions get made, people get mad, fans get mad.

[Tone Bell]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Kyrie Sane, I believe, no longer a part here in Aleo. Sky and Oscar about to do battle. And then let's go to Jacob Fatu yada. I mean, all gas, no breaks, taking on our tribal chief. I know you're kind of torn on tribal chief because he just bullies all your favorite guys all the time.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Why would I be torn on trouble, Chief?

[Pat McAfee]

You acknowledge him at WrestleMania, which we appreciate.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I mean, it was probably arguably. You guys are gonna get mad at what I'm about to say, so I'm just gonna say it. Okay. Arguably the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time.

[Pat McAfee]

Really? You love what Roman was doing on?

[Tone Bell]

I'm sorry, were you not in Philly?

[Connor Rogers]

I don't think he was.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I wasn't in Philly.

[Tone Bell]

Oh, okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Great match. A lot of shenanigans going on in Philly.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, okay.

[Tone Bell]

Shenanigans.

[Connor Rogers]

Cena.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Kidding me, dude. Guys running in and it's historical story

[Tone Bell]

was finished and you're a crybaby.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We got straight grabs, no shenanigans. 1v1 mono. Imano.

[Pat McAfee]

Punk and Roman.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Punk and Roman.

[Tone Bell]

I thought they said Roman was done for the summer.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What's he doing? Backlash?

[Pat McAfee]

No, he's. He's done.

[Tone Bell]

I'm talking about the IWC saying he's

[Pat McAfee]

tyrese the IW time. I didn't say.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I didn't say he was done for the summer.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you acknowledging your tribal chief at backlash on Saturday?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Amen.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

I am acknowledging our tribal chief on. On Sunday.

[Pat McAfee]

Saturday.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Saturday.

[Pat McAfee]

Saturday.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Sorry. My fault.

[Tone Bell]

May 9th.

[Pat McAfee]

Man, you thought Seth was Sammy.

[Tone Bell]

Six Eastern is a good start.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

It was a 40 in slip or whatever.

[Connor Rogers]

How good he looks.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah, he did.

[Pat McAfee]

That is how good Sammy looks.

[Tone Bell]

I think 6 Eastern is a good start time.

[Pat McAfee]

Who you like in Fatu? Roman, aj.

[AJ Hawk]

Come on now. You know. You know I'm Roman all. All the time.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, how about Seth and Braun?

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, this is a tough one for me. But you know what? Give me Braun. How about EO Theo, sky all day? We know that.

[Pat McAfee]

The trick and Sammy?

[AJ Hawk]

I like trick. I really do.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, how about housing and has the

[AJ Hawk]

Miz really lost every match he's ever competed?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah.

[Ben Stiller]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

He's been champion before, but since then,

[Tone Bell]

yeah, Quite a run.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, he is due. Give me the Miz.

[Connor Rogers]

Like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Like that. All right, let's get on out of here. Thank you, Tyrese.

[Tone Bell]

Good luck with the Shingles Diaries.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Appreciate it, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it over?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Good luck with that. No, it's not over.

[Pat McAfee]

Shingles is not over.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

It's not over.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy. How long does this thing go?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

We're at three months now.

[Tone Bell]

You look good.

[Pat McAfee]

You do. You look good.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Appreciate it. You look like it's over. Yeah, it's getting there.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratul. Lessened.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, maybe I. I itch my eye less. Much less.

[Pat McAfee]

So you think end of light at the end of tunnel is near?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, I'm just hoping it's like, fully gone by wedding.

[Pat McAfee]

Every day you can wake up and it could be over. Is that what you've been told?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

What do you mean over? Oh, the shingles could be.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What did you mean?

[Tone Bell]

My eyes itching. Should I be concerned?

[Tyrese Haliburton]

No, you shouldn't be concerned.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. He did hold up a napkin earlier.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

Yeah, that was a little disrespectful.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what we do.

[Tone Bell]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

Be afraid. Tell friends something nice. We appreciate you. We'll see you tomorrow. Back here with another incredible sports preference program that somehow you choose to watch. We wouldn't be able to do this without you. You're starting to get it. Yeah. Starting to get it.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

This is new.

[Tone Bell]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, maybe two.

[Tyrese Haliburton]

That was good. That was good.

[Pat McAfee]

And we're so grateful for you. Will. See you tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in a sitting together. Two. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. 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.