Transcript
Pat McAfee (0:01)
Hello beautiful people, and welcome to this program on a glorious national championship Monday, April 7, 2025. This program starts right now. Sports are happening in a big way and we're so incredibly lucky that we get to cover it. Especially on a national championship day. Especially on the first day in which we get to talk about a record being broken that nobody thought was going to be broken. Especially on a day where there's numerous sports that are ris to the occasion to make sure we are all entertained with competition night in and night out. And I am live here at the Target center in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota for tonight's Monday night Raw live on Netflix. First Raw back in America. It's going to be glorious. It's 8pm Eastern. A lot of magic will be happening here. And then on Wednesday night we have big night and had a chance to do a little bit of a rehearsal for that yesterday, kind of a stage run through and it's gonna be a magical evening. 8pm Eastern on YouTube, TikTok live and also streaming on X. Big surprises, big sing alongs, big laughs and massive giveaways. I think Wednesday night is gonna be an electrifying evening, as will be tonight when the national champions of the men's college basketball world will be crowned. Will it be Houston, who somehow with less than a min left, were down six against Duke team that was supposed to be untoppable. And some people were saying that the Duke team tricked this one off. And I believe you're going to hear some people back in the Thunderdome that are going to say that. What I would like to say is this Houston team showed up in the biggest of times. Their defense is what anybody would talk about. Their defense was what people said that Kelvin Sampson does differently in his practices. He actually has his boys basically do football practice. If you're going to play Houston, it's going to be a long damn game. And obviously Cooper Flagg couldn't buy a bounce at the end of that game. I mean, he was rattling out bank shots, were banking out. Everything was happening. But Houston got fire and Houston's defense took over. That was an electrifying finish to a Final Four in a madness of March that hasn't had much madness until this moment being certainly the largest. Good luck and congrats to Houston, who takes on a Florida team that Seth Greenberg from SEC SBN has been saying has been the team all year long. They got a guy named Mark Clayton Jr who's doing shit that hasn't been done since Larry Bird averaging 30 points basically throughout the biggest Games of the season here. Down the tail took over. At the end of this game against Auburn, it was literally him versus Auburn. At the end of the game, Florida pulls away. Florida goes on to the national championship to take on Kelvin Sampson's team. Now will Kelvin Sampson's team foul the shit out of Walter Clayton Jr. I would assume. I would assume that that is going to be something that they will do, but they try to do that to Everybody. This Clayton Jr. Guy is electrifying. He's able to make his own baskets. He transferred. He is a veteran. And Florida team's fun to watch, as is Houston. Now back to the boys in the Thunderdome. 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone, tone, whenever we look at tonight's game, what are some of the gambling things we should be thinking about before we lay our shekels on one of these squads?
AJ Hawk (3:23)
Yeah, before we move forward, we must go back. And what's been the story of the tournament? The whole tournament it's been the favorites. The favorites just ripped out Boston Connors heart in the first couple rounds because he was betting on all the underdogs to win on the money line. And they did not. And that trend did not stop pat. For the first time in history, favorites went 120 straight up in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 before the Duke loss. Before that Duke loss, there was 15 straight favorites that had won straight up. Before that Duke lost. They were on a run that they could not lose. So story of the tournament has been of the favorites winning. Now Florida is the favorite tonight. If Florida were to win, they would be the greatest against the spread champion of all time.
Seth Greenberg (4:10)
What?
Pat McAfee (4:13)
Thank you for what you've done.
AJ Hawk (4:14)
Yes, thank you for what you've done. And 11 against the spread would the Florida Gators be this year? Now if you want to look at that Florida favorites, that's where you go tonight. If that's. If that's how you want to take this now, if you want to go the over under route, we know how Houston plays. We know how hard they play. We know the tempo they play at. We know the defense they play at. Houston Unders this tournament have gone 4 and 1. That's just kind of how they play ball, just kind of how their ball games go. But on the other side, Florida's four and one to the over. So if you think Houston can control the game tonight with their tempo and with their defense, maybe lean to the under. But if you think Florida is going to have your way, then it's a potential over game in that scenario. But the way the tournament has gone, favorites and unders have actually been the way to go this tournament. So we will see tonight.
Darius Butler (5:00)
Okay.
Connor (5:01)
Hell yeah. No, no.
Ty Schmidt (5:08)
Nope, nope, nope.
Connor (5:10)
One more. There it is.
Pat McAfee (5:11)
Can you hear me there? Okay, that's on me. I. I got a new keyboard over here that I'm trying to work with and I think I'm potentially free up as well. If that ends up happening, we'll just reconnect this zoom call. But whenever you talk about this Houston defense in the under would like that for the first half, wouldn't you kids? National championship maybe get a little bit tight, especially if you're a shooting team. Let's go to nine year NFL vet and host of everything, DB, good D, bad D from UConn. Obviously he didn't play basketball up there, but they're certainly tighten their greatness at this moment. What are you looking at for tonight's game? And Congrats to your UConn Husky women winning their 12th national team. Is that what the number is?
Darius Butler (5:48)
1212. First one came back in 1995 and now obviously 2025, another one. Just utter dominance from Geno Orem in the squad. Paige, Paige Buckets. This was for her, you know, this was to kind of put that, that cherry on the cake. Cake icing on the cake, all that good stuff, man. She's been an absolute dog, Had a phenomenal career and now she can go amongst all the other greats that play at UConn. You saw Taurasi, Sue Bird, they had the show obviously. And all the legends that were in the crowd, Bree Stewart, Maya Moore, but absolute, absolutely dominant. Run belt to ass over South Carolina, defending champs. But this was great to see Paige go out like this. Big Sarah, strong, dominant, dominant, best freshman in the country. So we'll be on her back for the next three years. Fudd as well put on the show. The big three did their thing. But tonight you talked about it. Houston, you know, their dominant, dominant defense with Kelvin Sampson, the other coach. A big 30 year gap between these two coaches. But Walter Clayton Jr. I don't know where he was ranked, where he is right now on the big draft board. But back to back 30 balls and the biggest moments of his career. Betting on himself getting to Florida. I think he was like the 69th ranked guy in the transfer portal a couple of years ago. So betting himself, sticking to the script. This game should be a banger tonight. I can't wait for it.
Pat McAfee (7:08)
Yeah, I can't wait for it as well. And the one shining moment video should be great. And we'll talk more about the national championship with J. Will, who will be joining us at about 12:40 Eastern. And then Seth Greenberg will join us in the second hour. And then we'll have the Moose captain Mark Messier join us in the second hour as well to chit chat about history being broke this past weekend. And the chase by the Great eight has been happening for the better half of the season this year and nobody really expected this particular record to ever be broken. Actually in 2016, Alexander Ovechkin said that the goals record set by Wayne Gretzky back in the 90s was never going to be broken because it sounds like a number that is absolutely ludicrous. Which it was. You know, there's a lot of records in sports, sports that a lot of people assume are never going to be able to be caught for one reason or another. What Wayno had been able to do throughout his career was unprecedented, obviously, and heralded as the greatest of all time, which is why he's the great one. Then this Russian goal scoring machine came over to the NHL and all he has done literally since landing here is score goals, rip net, clap bomb city. He'd sit in his office, bowl come or puck will come over. How's it going? Stick to net. Guaranteed. I'm Pittsburgh Penguins fan. So Sidney Crosby, Geno Malkin, Chris Latin Tang, Mark Andre Fleury and the boys, they were winning Stanley Cups at the beginning of OV's great career, but he was the biggest rival. Will he ever be able to get it done? Well, he did. He wins a Stanley cup, celebrates the hell out of it, becomes a baby face and now he's a man who's going to be remembered as the greatest goal scorer in the history of hockey. Congrats to him. Because not only is he a goal scorer, not only has he been around and putting the NHL on his back for a long, long time. Decades and plus almost two decades in this entire thing, but he is a dog. You're talking about a guy who's willing to fight. You're talking about a guy that was willing to stand up for his teammates. You're talking about a guy that has been loyal to the Capitals. You're talking about a guy that his teammates love. And you're talking about a guy who crack open an ice cold beer after having a great night. This guy is everything that you want to think of whenever you think of hockey, you know? And does he have the greatest smile? Maybe not. Is he the most handsome guy? Maybe not. Does he have a dad bod? Yeah. Will he house a couple vodkas if need be? Yeah. You get him on the ice, he's able to put the puck in between the posts better than anybody in the history of the sport. Wayneau was there, obviously, to celebrate him, and Wayne said that anytime somebody was to break this record, he wanted to be the first person to congratulate him. He obviously wasn't able to do that because his entire team celebrated with him on the ice, as did the New York Islanders fans in the arena at this away game. And it was such a perfect goal for OVI to break the record on in his office. A little bit of touch. Absolutely electrifying. And what the Islanders fans and the Capitals fans are in that building did immediately after it went in, just a superior moment in sports. And let's go to. Amanda used to host a show called that's Hockey Talk. Frankie skates in the back. Nick. Obviously this was a record nobody thought would be able to be touched. This dude's special, and I think we're.
AJ Hawk (10:11)
Lucky that we or dominant. And he is a massive piece of it. So it's. It's awesome to see it happen in real time. It's history in the making. It's great to see everyone come together and celebrate it because for a lot of his career, he was polarizing in the sense that, you know, he wasn't the best defensive player. He was Maybe a Kale McCarr, Nathan McKinnon, someone like that. But it's absolutely awesome to see and it's incredible for the sport.
Connor (10:34)
And I saw Wayno right after saying, you know, hey, you get to 900, I'll buy you a car. So maybe, oh, veteran keeps going. Do you think this is it, Nick? Like, is he done? Has it been been talked about? Is him kind of retiring, sailing off into the sunset after this run? Or do we think maybe, you know, OV runs it back one more time?
Pat McAfee (10:53)
I think.
AJ Hawk (10:53)
I don't think he's done. I think a while ago, maybe this might have been it. This might have been the only thing to play for. But now the Capitals are a good team again. They kind of went through a mini rebuild a couple years ago where they were not playing well, and now they're back on top. They're poised to make another cup run. So why walk away now? I mean, at the pace he's going, you play two more seasons, you got a shot at scoring a thousand goals and making this record almost absolutely untouchable for certain. And there. There's no One else like him, he doesn't. He's not the hardest trainer. He's not the hardest worker.
AJ Hawk (11:23)
Look at him, just pounded.
Connor (11:25)
Gotta love it.
AJ Hawk (11:26)
Allegedly drinks, you know, diet Pepsi on the bench, eats his Flamin Hot Cheetos and, you know, just still goes out there and crushes and dominates the game. He's one of one. There'll never be another like him. He does it his own way. He takes all the criticism and just keeps going through it. He's been healthy his entire career. Like I said that. That just goes to show the breaking the leg thing earlier this year. Absolutely insane to come back and play through that and recover from that so quickly. And it's uncanny. And I don't know, I don't know how you match it. I don't know. He's a unicorn. He's one of one.
Darius Butler (11:59)
The great eight.
Connor (12:00)
Yeah, if he was done him and beer league would be pretty sweet. I mean, if he's just going to call it, maybe he goes back, you know, KHL in Russia or, you know, hangs around Washington and just crushes a few beer league hockey games. Who says no? You know, why not?
Darius Butler (12:13)
Any other records and reach Rovi?
AJ Hawk (12:16)
I'm sure there's like some power play goal records and things like that, but this was the main one. This was the focus. And you could kind of like. The Capitals haven't been winning a lot of games lately and I feel like this may be something that was hanging over the team's head. I'd look for them to go on a bit of a run here now that we got what, four or five games left down into the playoffs. Because now that this is over, I feel like everyone can breathe a lot easier and just go out there and have fun.
Pat McAfee (12:41)
This was just like whenever Steph was trying to break the all time made threes record. Do you remember that? They're like kind of forcing them it. Steph was kind of forcing it a little bit. Not as many were falling and whenever they. They literally had a tracker just on Ovechkin and he. Even when he was sitting on the bench, I tried to watch the game and it was just an oven Ovechkin cam and then the game cam and I appreciated it because obviously I love greatness and I love whenever people make magic and whenever history is broke and records are seemingly untouchable, become touchable and become like almost human. But it was the entire focus of the NHL was seemingly on OV breaking this record. And if you're a teammate of his, you got to Feel that pressure, too. Like, do we got to give him the puck? Not that you shouldn't be getting him the puck, but I'm just saying, like, we're in the middle of a moment that's going to be remembered forever. And I don't want to say the attention gets taken away from the games itself, but they definitely did. I mean, they're losing these games. OVI scoring two goals and it's still like a happy night for hockey fans because it's like Ovie's about to get there. This Capitals team can win another cup this year. And since they got this out of the way, what a weight lifted off of their pads. What a, what a relief. I assume to get it out of the conversation before the most important part of the hockey season, which is obviously the playoffs. As you see Bettman out on the ice with old Wayne. Oh, all the hockey greats obviously celebrating. We'll talk to Mark Messier in the next hour about it. It's just like, what a perfect dude for it and what a perfect time for it. Good for hockey. Hockey is awesome now. Not only hockey, not only college hoops. And we'll talk NFL here in a matter of moments with Ian Rampel. Sport. But there's a, there's a sport that's called a pastime. That might be our new time. Baseball's happening. Let's go to the toxic table at Boston. Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Ty Schmidt. Baseball had an electrifying weekend. Is that what I heard?
Ty Schmidt (14:23)
Yeah, absolutely. There were five walk offs yesterday. Five walk off wins, which again, you know. Yeah, massive, massive. You're especially early on. First one we got here. Wilmer Flores walks off the, the Mariners for the, the Giants. A lot of people you want to talk about the, the Dodgers and rightfully so. The Giants have only lost one game this year. That NL west is absolutely ridiculous. So, you know, a single. Not, not, you know, we're not Talking about a 800 foot walk off Homer, but anytime you're ending the game in the last inning, it's, it's, you know, it's absolutely phenomenal. Next one here, Jonah Heim for the Texas Rangers. They walked off the Tampa Bay Rays in the ninth inning. Same deal, walk off single. The, the Rangers, another one of those teams. Not a lot of people talk about. You know, they made it to a World Series a couple years ago.
Pat McAfee (15:13)
One one.
Ty Schmidt (15:14)
They have the best record in the AL right now. So we, we, when we stayed down for the national championship, their brand new ballpark was right there. It's Beautiful. They got a fun team. And then, you know, this is going to make, this is going to make Connor kind of come back into the fray. Will, you're Abreu with a walk off single off the Green Monster. This one was in the bottom of the 10th. This was the first of a day night double header that the Red Sox and the Cardinals played. So again, you know, we're not, not a whole lot of walk off bombs which could be a little bit more exciting. But then you got, you know, something like this. The Detroit Tiger, Spencer Torkelson, former number one pick who's kind of been trying to find his way and solidify his place in the mlb. The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the White Sox. And I mean, you just see, look at that. You know, I don't know if they're throwing like baby powder that didn't really look like water.
Connor (16:10)
But the Detroit.
Ty Schmidt (16:11)
Yeah, exactly, it's Detroit. The boys get really juiced up and then obviously the last one, unfortunately we knew, Yep. We knew this was going to happen when Roberto Clemente junior's son basically said like, hey, if you guys don't put my dad's number back on the outfield wall, we're gonna disgrace and ruin the Pirates. And then like moments later, Tommy Pham, what with a walk off single to send home the Yankees and salvage potentially getting swept. So again, you know, we're not talking about. It's not like the Torpedo bats and we're not getting a bunch like the 500 foot home runs, but having five walk off wins in one day, pretty solid for baseball. When you got the Ovechkin stuff going on and the final four in the national championship, like baseball kind of, you know, I'd say they held their own this weekend when, you know, a lot of the other sports had, you know, pretty, pretty big storylines happening.
Pat McAfee (17:04)
Baseball hasn't sucked this year. No, I'm like very happy about that. You know, I was talking to Michael Cole about it. Sure. And you know, Cole loves baseball. But it's pretty simple is what it kind of bear down to when your stars perform.
Pat McAfee (17:21)
Your league's in a good spot like that. That is any league, like if you have stars, better if your stars perform well. Best case, situation baseball right now, they're stars. They're stars in New York, they're stars in la, they're stars on small, small market teams. Even the bats have become stars. These torpedoes. And all of them are showing up. You think about like Paul Skeens, he Shows up. I think his next time pitching is on Tuesday. I think it's going to be 38 degrees.
Pat McAfee (17:49)
I think it's going to be 30. I think it's going to Be 38 degrees or whatever. But he's going to show up. We know he's going to show up. Shohei Ohtani, he's going to show up. Just like whenever it's the bottom of the ninth and it's a tie game, Shohei Ohtani is going to walk right into the batter's box and he's going to do his thing. When you start, Aaron Judge is going to show up. Juan Soto. Now, I know Yankees fans don't want to hear this and I saw a cut of him playing out in the outfield. I guess they say he doesn't show up.
Ty Schmidt (18:12)
Yeah, they're not very fair to his, you know, his defensive prowess. But at the dish, you're right, he is always going to show up.
Pat McAfee (18:20)
But that's a big deal, I think, for your sport. You know, just like the NHL stars, Alexander Ovechkin star showing up in a big way. Connor McDavid obviously running through last year's playoffs to get the Stanley Cup. And on when it shows up, you know, Tachuk and the boys show like when your stars are showing up for your sport. I think you have a great sport. It's whenever your stars like kind of, you know, don't home play or you know, do some things that make people hate them. Like that is when I. What's that?
Connor (18:49)
It's a little tough. I think I know what sport you're going to, but does make the sport.
Pat McAfee (18:54)
What are you talking about?
Connor (18:55)
I, I, you know, when you say those things, maybe you weren't but kind of a, you know, a light goes off in your head like, oh, the NBA, of course.
Connor (19:02)
I think that, I think that's what everybody kind of.
Pat McAfee (19:04)
No, all the stars are showing up in the NBA. The NBA had a. For the most part.
Connor (19:10)
For the most part. I mean, look, a lot of people are talking about OKC now. Last week, you know, okc I heard Mike Greenberg talking about.
Pat McAfee (19:19)
They're great.
Connor (19:19)
They're one of the best teams ever. Possibly one of the best regular seasons of all time. Yes, he did. He said the 85.
Darius Butler (19:25)
He didn't say that.
Connor (19:26)
Said one of the Lakers teams had the nice and fools. Then he said the OKC Thunder because OKC Thunder's point differential is over plus a thousand. But then the Lake show comes of town, they go to that tiny shithole Oklahoma City. Oh, guess what LeBron and Luka Donkic are doing? No, look, passes all over the yard and they beat the piss out of the Thunder. And I know if you're a Thunder fan, you're going to say, what, we're going to win 70 games, then you guys are only going to talk about when the Lakers come to town and kill us. That's kind of unfair. That's also not true because we talked about when the Thunder beat the Celtics, so I completely get that. But no, basketball is also in a, in a pretty good spot, Pat. I mean, the Western Conference, we're talking about a playing game, I believe happening this week. And those play in spots right now. I mean, between the eighth seed and the six seed, I think there's half a game difference between those teams. And some of those teams are very legitimate. I know the Clippers are right on the edge there. The T Wolves and Ant right on the edge as well. And then some of those matchups already in the first round in the west are incredible. We're kind of moving towards the, the Warriors, Lakers again, not so much the 5, 4 spot, but you know, 3, 6 now, and then the Nuggets, Clippers, that'll be another incredible little matchup there. And of course, OKC still, still very, very well ahead of the pack. They kind of locked in to that one seed, but the basketball is heating up. And also on the east, you know, I have to say, yes, The Celtics covered a 19 point spread last night. No big deal. 19 points, who cares? We got it. Celtics also broke the record for most three pointers in a single season. But look, this is Indiana, baby. This is the state of basketball. The Pacers went over to the Denver, you know, and who knows if the altitude helped them. I assume it did, but they got a massive victory over Yokich and the boys. Russell Westbrook actually almost murdered a kid on the, on the court because he dove over trying to try to get a loose ball. Gave the kid a swift, swift elbow to the job, but it didn't really matter. Kid was a true champion about it. He was unfazed. But seriously, the Pacers, Hal Burton, all the boys, they're kind of playing their best basketball at the perfect time. Obviously, Denver's one of the better teams in the league and they kind of took care of business. Especially in the fourth where you thought, okay, here comes Denver. Maybe, you know, the Pacers kind of let this one go. No thanks. They hung on one by five. And if you are a Pacers fan right now, you are Kind of getting that feeling of, you know, 2024, like last year where they got very hot and you know, the matchup there, them versus the Bucks. Them and the Bucks have had some bad blood. So it would be a fantastic time for the NBA to have those kind of matchups in this first round.
Pat McAfee (22:14)
Well, listen, I appreciate the breakdown there. Great work, Connor. We've been saying since the All Star break that the Pacers are the best team in the NBA. Now, were they? Maybe not. Maybe a couple other teams up in there. But the Pacers have been balling. Tyrese Halliburton is on like a record break streak right now. Something like 200. Yeah, here it is. 201 assists, only 20 turnovers. Moggsy Bogue's dog is the only other person to do that since 1983, 1984. Tyrese Haliburton is the man. And look at his paw fect. Puma shoes. You know, he's so clever. I love everything that Tyrese is doing. What a win against Denver. You go back to that OKC game. ESPN research sent over. The Oklahoma City Thunder have spent all season long 12 minutes and 17 seconds trailing by 20 plus all season. And then against the Lakers, they spent 28 minutes and 54 seconds trailing by 20 plus. So crazy to talk about a one game anomaly and an ass beating of this Oklahoma City team. The Lakers certainly did that. And now is Lucas still done for? Is he still a waste of a pick or are we okay with him now?
AJ Hawk (23:17)
I think he's good now.
Connor (23:18)
I think he's pretty good. Saw that. No, look past is ridiculous.
Darius Butler (23:21)
All right.
Pat McAfee (23:22)
I love Austin Reeves and LeBron James talking to each other afterwards in the locker room. I mean, I. I really like how this team has seemingly come together. I like how LeBron and I mean, maybe I'm paying attention to it more. Maybe because we're a little bit closer to the whole situation. Feels like since the LeBron versation, he is, he's been a lot more loose. Yeah, feels like him talking to Austin Reeves, him talking on the sideline, him chit chatting with replacement reporters, him laughing him. I've really enjoyed watching braun since the LeBron versation. And I'm not saying anything has changed, but I'm just saying it feels like there is a vibe shift for that Lakers team. From my perspective, whenever we watch them, I think they're not. I think they're likable. What happened with Dallas, with Luca, obviously Braun for what he did for us, we like him. Austin Reeves talking his and doing his thing, dressing the way he's dressing, it's like JJ Redick is. Is an animal. It's. Is a likable team somehow in la. And yeah, we'll continue to cover the NBA season. We're lucky to be doing it. Shout out to the NBA performing and once again, stars showing up. That's a big deal. Joining us now is a star from NFL Network, senior insider for the NFL, friend of the program, ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rapaport. Rappy. Thank you for joining us, Bob. I know you're super busy. We just talked about all the other sports that are happening. What's the big news around the NFL? Shador and the Tyson Titans canceling their workout. That feels like that's the big news. A couple retirements. What is the big NFL news of the day here? Rap Sheet. It.
Ian Rapoport (24:49)
It kind of feels like the Shador thing, right? So, obviously on Friday, Colorado had its showcase. Not a pro day, but a showcase, which.
Pat McAfee (24:57)
It was awesome.
Ian Rapoport (24:58)
I think it was pretty awesome. I would agree with that.
Pat McAfee (25:02)
Scouts. Dion yelling at scouts, telling them, hey, you don't tell my guys how to run 40s, okay? You just got here. Get the hell out of the way. I think Shador did a great job. I think Travis ran some great routes with no gloves on his hands. I feel like it was a win for everybody at this showcase. Go ahead.
Ian Rapoport (25:18)
Yeah. No, well, there's a lot on Travis Hunter, and I want to get to that in a second because him deciding to run routes but not doing DB drills is interesting, but hold that for one second. The Shador Sanders look good, and if you're someone who wants to draft him at two or three or early, you saw enough where you're like, all right, like, obviously the town is there. The arm strength is. I don't know who said he couldn't throw deep. They were all angry about somebody saying that. I've not yet found the culprit of such accusations, but he has proved that that is not the case. And then, you know, you sort of get word that the Titans mutually canceled a visit with Chidor, which I would say to me makes sense, because it looks like the Titans are going in one direction. They haven't officially confirmed or announced, but it looks like they're going in one direction, which would be to select Cam Ward at number one. And then if that's the case, then I'm not sure what the point of a Shador workout anyway is, especially when it worked out for the whole world, like, three days before. So that makes sense. But in the Context of like giving us an idea for what the Titans want to do. I think that's why it kind of stood out to everyone as maybe the biggest news of this weekend.
Pat McAfee (26:29)
Cam Ward going number one to the Tennessee Titans, seemingly signed, sealed, delivered. Big convo around NFL players. Was Shador patting the ball? You know, patting the ball. Obviously that is fun on the Internet. And if you follow the Internet, a lot of things are going to become storylines. Darius Slayton in there, Mike A in there, numerous others chit chatting about Shador. And that is kind of what Shedor is. He is a lightning rod. Anything he does, people are going to talk about. He actually said that in the press conference. He goes. Anywhere I go, there's a spotlight. I've been kind of followed through it all. And Andre Cisco says, boy, better stop patting up ball. We breaking on it. And I like the way he types out his words. I appreciate that. Then Darius Slayton of the Giants. Okay. Potential teammate here of Shador. I promise he could pass ball be just fine. Okay. He throws me 15, 20 balls a game. There's going to be no problem if he's padding it before it leaves his hand. But him, Shador even mentioned it. Like, everything he does gets followed. Everything he does get clicks. I mean, he's got people talking about his pro day and whether or not he's patting the ball. I just saw a video of Drake May working out. I think he patted the ball a couple times. I think a natural. I think Aaron even every once in a while will do that. But is he doing it as much as Shador is doing it? You know, like, this is like Shador Sanders. Football teams know that they're signing up for a lot of attention. Teams, teams know they're signing up for, you know, all eyes on their brand. What do you think happens with Shador after the pro day and what do you think he. I don't want to say kind of earned after his pro day or. What is the convo about him? I thought he looked good while I was watching a pro day. I actually thought to myself, like, you know, they say open competition quarterback here in Indianapolis. Why don't we. Why just. I like the way he looked at the pro day, but what is the kind of the convo now with him?
Ian Rapoport (28:17)
Well, a couple things I would agree with what Chador said afterward. And he's talked about this publicly before. Like he is in the spotlight. Everything he does, no matter what, more than any other draft prospect. It's not like unprecedented. There's a couple of these draft prospects every year. But it does seem because of his last name, that it's ramped up a little bit. So I want to tell you guys a quick Shador Sanders story. And I mentioned this during our combine coverage on NFL Network. So the lead up to the combine, I was trying to figure out what Chador was going to do at the combine. Was he going to throw there or was he going to wait for his pro day? So I contact someone who kind of works with the Sanders family, and I say, you know, who's the point man? Like, he doesn't have an agent who's kind of the person that media talks to, so I could figure out if he's throwing. And the response I get is, coach will contact you directly. And I'm like, coach, okay, well, there's not that many coaches. I'm like, would probably be Dion, but that's kind of strange. But okay, five minutes later, I get a FaceTime from a number I don't recognize. I answer it, obviously, Deion Sanders. Which was fun because I had my kids in the car and they got a big kick out of Deion Sanders FaceTiming.
Pat McAfee (29:24)
Oh, Dad's famous. He's got Coach prime calling, right?
Ian Rapoport (29:28)
By the way, Max then told people at school, and they were like, yeah, sure, Max. Pretty funny. But anyway, so he's like, you know, what do you like? What's going on?
Ian Rapoport (29:38)
What do you need? And I'm like, I want to know what Shador is doing. He goes, hold on one second. Gives the phone to Shador, and he goes, talk to Rap Sheet. And so we talked, told me what he was doing, told me why, explained the plan, and talked about a couple other things that he was focusing on the next couple weeks. Hands the phone back to his dad, and he was like, you good? I was like, I'm good. And it was just an unbelievably mature, level headed, grounded way of handling what could have been a huge issue. But, like, Dion wanted to make sure that Shador handled it himself. And I was like, this is not normal. And so, like, whatever comes at him, like, this is someone who really is trained to handle all of it. And I was pretty impressed by that.
Pat McAfee (30:19)
Yeah. And there's a lot of people bringing up, you know, well, how many wins did they have? Colorado and yada, yada, yada. And it's like they. They literally rebuilt a program over there like they. Now, granted. Did they have a reality TV show happening at the same time via social media? Yes. Did they have a documentary happening at the Same time? Yes. Coach prime, is he one of one? Yes. There's like a lot of outliers. Travis Hunter, Heisman winner, obviously, might be the number two overall pick, which is what everybody's saying. It's like, that certainly helps, but they had to rebuild an entire program. His toughness obviously shined physically and mentally. It's just whether or not Chador is the guy for your team, I guess comes down to a couple people enjoying his personality. Is that kind of what it is now? Like, because that was like a little bit of a chatter. What do you think it is at this point? And it might have been Orlovsky that they were getting mad about saying, because Orlovsky said he wanted to see him step on one. That's what he wanted. He said he wanted to see the ball come out of Shadors. Remember?
Ian Rapoport (31:11)
Is that what it was?
Pat McAfee (31:14)
Pop, pop out of his hands. He said he wants to see the ball come out of his hands and he wants to see him like step on one, really drive one, you know, like, Orlovsky said that. So I don't think he was saying he didn't believe it. I think he was just saying 55% of Shador's passes in college were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. He wanted to see him open it because Dan Orlovsky is super, you know. Analyst. Yeah, super analyst. So, like, I think that's what Orlovsky said. But I do appreciate if they got pissed off about it. Could have been others, but, like, is that what it is? Is it, like, are you ready for like, kind of everything else that comes with it, the teams are trying to figure out. Or is it whether or not teams are trying to figure out they want a quarterback early still?
Ian Rapoport (31:52)
Well, there are teams that need a quarterback no matter what. Like the Browns need another one from somewhere. The Giants don't need another one because they signed Russell Wilson. But they don't have a quarterback of the future. They could definitely have one. There's plenty of others. It's really just, is it worth the selection? Right? Or like, if you take Shador Sanders and you. Let's say you think he's a mid first round pick, let's just say pick out a random evaluation. Let's say you think that, but you take him at 2 or 3 or 6 or wherever the Saints pick or whatever it is, like, is that a reach or is that worth it? And are you passing on a generational talent? Like, let's just say Travis Hunter. I mean, these are the conversations about the value and what it's worth. I don't think it's like, as far as the personality goes, there's a lot that goes into drafting a quarterback. And I now, I think, going into my 13th year doing it, and I really have no idea what differentiates a great quarterback prospect who's going to succeed and one who does not.
Pat McAfee (32:54)
Oh, man.
Ian Rapoport (32:55)
Like, I don't. It's been. And obviously, like, teams.
Pat McAfee (32:57)
There's a lot of bus, brother. There's a lot of buzz. There's a lot. There's a lot of bus. Yeah, agreed. You got to figure out the mental makeup. That's why you would think a guy who's been a professional since he was a child would be good. But nonetheless, let's. Let's move past Shador. Let's move past Camp Ward, let's move past Travis Hunter. There's been some news about somebody attending the draft. D Butt has a question for you.
Darius Butler (33:19)
Yeah. You're talking about these quarterbacks coming out. We pretty much got a good grip on who's going to be the top two, but what are you hearing as far as Jackson Dart and then Jalen Miro taking the invite, Accepting the invite to go to the draft in Green Bay? I know. Green Bay. I know. That surprised some people. What are you hearing about his stock as well as the draft gets closer?
Ian Rapoport (33:38)
All right, so first of all, on. On Milroe, I have not confirmed anything about a draft invite. And at Animal Network, that is. Those will get announced when they get announced.
Pat McAfee (33:49)
Whoa. Oh, no. Yeah, there we go. Here we go. We got a little source off.
Ian Rapoport (33:54)
All right, I will not confer. I mean, it makes sense, but I will not. I do not touch this. Those will get announced.
Ian Rapoport (34:04)
If a player. If a player gets invited. Let's just say if a player gets invited, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going in the first round. It means plenty of teams view him as a first rounder or whatever it is. Right? Like, because every year there are players who get invited and then don't get taken in the first round. You said, oh, well, this is a first round pick. But this other guy fell to me. I'm going to take him instead. And a guy falls. Falls out of the draft. So, like, it was interesting to me when I saw the report. I don't necessarily know that that means Jaylen Milro is definitely going in the first round, but it does seem to mean that he's in that conversation, which, like. Like you're saying D, but does that make us Kind of go like, all right, hang on. Like, is he in contention to be the third quarterback taken? Sounds like he is. So it'd be like Jackson Dart, who could potentially be the third. You have Jalen Milroe, you have Quinn Ewers. Like, the evaluations are all over the, all over the map. And that's why, like, I was, I was not surprised when I saw the report, but I was like, all right. Like, this really is more all over than I even realized and was going to lead to an unbelievably wild first and maybe second round of this draft.
Pat McAfee (35:14)
Yeah, the draft spectacular should be just that. And you know, maybe we'll see out there in Green Bay because all the branches which are happening all over the place, I would like to say in my life, even though, you know, some happening sooner than later. But yeah, draft night should be incredible in the reason why the college conversation about quarterbacks coming into the draft is so big is because what is the veteran quarterback market? Well, it's kind of already settled in a little bit, except for one guy. AP Tone has a question for you. Rap.
AJ Hawk (35:41)
Yeah, Ian, a a local Pittsburgh Steelers accumulator account took your video from this morning on the latest on Aaron Rodgers and said that you said if Aaron Rodgers is going to play in 2025, it's going to be for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So does that mean things have changed where the vikings are now 100% out instead of 99% out? Or what's latest on Aaron?
Ian Rapoport (36:06)
I appreciate that. I would say the Vikings are as out as they could be right now. Like if Aaron is not signed by like August and something terrible happens to either the Vikings or someone else, he would be the top guy available by a lot. I think Ryan Tannehill was in the situation last year. Tannehill ended up not signing and kind of that's where it stays. Well, I don't. I would be very surprised if Rogers waited till after the draft. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't the Steelers if he plays. What I have not 100% been able to nail down is, is he absolutely, definitely playing? And I think that's why this conversation is sort of still ongoing. Plus, like, as you guys know, unless I am inside and Kyle Brand actually asked me a great question on Good Morning Football was like, how do you report an Aaron Rodgers because his circle is so tight and it's like you do it by sticking to what you absolutely know. And so like, what I think about Rodgers, what he's doing isn't really as meaningful as what I know. And what I know is he had a good visit to the Steelers. And what I know is that he has not signed yet. That's basically it. And so that's kind of why I said what I said. I still believe that it's probably headed in that direction, which is what Art Rooney said. But until Rogers comes out and says it in whatever form, in whatever show or format, broadcast.
Pat McAfee (37:28)
Rap. Rap. Why don't you rap? Why don't you give Aaron some opinions or your advice? Why don't you do that? I'm sure that'll work out, too. You know, you talk about knowing or opining on upon. Why don't you tell them, like, exactly what you think he should do?
Ian Rapoport (37:42)
You think he's watching right now, probably, right?
Pat McAfee (37:45)
No, but a clip will get to him for sure. He might be. Yeah. He's not watching right now, but the clip will make it to him. Not from us, but from somebody, I would assume. Why don't you just tell him? Tell them what you think you should do. Tell them exactly how you should handle, you know, his career, his legacy, his. I have opinions.
Ian Rapoport (38:02)
Do you want to know my opinions?
Seth Greenberg (38:04)
Yeah.
Pat McAfee (38:05)
Yeah, quickly, because we got to get to J. Will the national championship here soon. But, yeah, what are your opinions? You think you should go to Pittsburgh? You think you should sign with Pittsburgh? You think they should have a hell of a team next year and go on, run.
Ian Rapoport (38:15)
Take as much time as you need talking about it on.
Pat McAfee (38:17)
Okay. All right. Complete opposite. That's good play. That's a good play. All right, last questions here coming from the toxic table, back to back. Go ahead, boys.
Ty Schmidt (38:27)
Hey, rap sheet. We had Trey Hendrickson on the show last week, and he basically just said, like, he was kind of surprised by Katie Blackburn's comments. He thought it was like a April Fool's joke, essentially about her saying, hey, like he, at some point, he just needs to be happy with what we offer him. Do we see there being any kind of resolution with this, in this, in, like the near future? Like, is it. Is there a potential that something's going to happen before the draft, whether he gets a deal or he gets traded?
Ian Rapoport (38:53)
First of all, great interview. I thought the whole thing was, like, very, very compelling and excellent.
Pat McAfee (38:59)
Thank you. Thank you.
Ian Rapoport (39:00)
It got weird. Not your interview, but the. The hearing. Katie Blackburn, who rarely does media say that was. Was really interesting. I mean, I was like, I kind of thought the same thing. Not April Fools. I hate April Fools. But, like, I was like, wow, look, it's. It's been a little spicy. There's been two trade requests. One last year, one this year. This year actually is permission, but no trade has happened. So, like, yeah, it's a little messy. I believe the Bengals would like to keep him and pay him and make it work. They are not in the business of letting good players go. So even when they granted him permission to seek a trade, I believe their best option was to sign him and pay him. We'll see if that happens. I still think it is very, very possible. And if that happens, despite all the mess, it'll be a really, really good offseason in Cincinnati.
Pat McAfee (39:49)
Absolutely. And you know Kelsey Conway, incredible reporting there with Katie Blackburn over in Cincinnati. Trey Hendrickson seemingly does love the Bengals, and he said he was told last offseason that they'll get a deal done this off season. And he not understands Jamar Chase T. Higgins got to do what they got to do. But I think he's like, you guys are telling people that you're going to get a deal done. You told me you're going to get a deal done. And then we haven't even talked. So I don't know how that works out. Hopefully it does work out because Cincinnati has a stud sack King. Last question here from Boston. Connor.
Connor (40:21)
Yeah, rap sheet. Another guy who's kind of been floated out there is being traded. Tyreek Hill. What's going on in Miami with him? Is there a chance he actually does get moved again? Or are they probably going to come to some sort of agreement? Because I believe it was Mike McDaniel who said last week at the league meetings, like, hey, Tyreek's been in the facility more than any other off season this year.
Ian Rapoport (40:44)
Yeah, I saw he posted something where it was like, mimicking a phone call. Then it was like, yeah, this one. And I'm like, are we still doing this? I would not be. Nothing that would happen in the NFL ever, ever, ever. Gotta make your bed before you make you do this. Social media. I mean, I'm just saying. You know what I'm saying? Like, at least, like, do the thing fold over and, like, the pillows are there.
Ian Rapoport (41:11)
I'm a big bed maker. I make my bed every day.
Connor (41:14)
Yeah, I bet you do. Yeah.
Pat McAfee (41:16)
Yeah, I bet. I bet it's definitely you. Yeah. No, I does everything for you.
Pat McAfee (41:21)
Yeah. No, we don't know.
Ian Rapoport (41:23)
I know. I fold the laundry and I make the bed every day. That's it. I have very few other chores, but that's what I do.
Ian Rapoport (41:29)
If it were A little close.
Seth Greenberg (41:30)
Never made.
Ian Rapoport (41:31)
It's ridiculous. Mess.
Pat McAfee (41:33)
Okay. Nonetheless, nonetheless, I appreciate the fact that you're watching. This is going. What is this about? I thought we were already past this and now we're potentially right back in it. And he needs to make his bed in the hotel that he's in.
Ian Rapoport (41:44)
Yeah. I mean, that's basically sums of my thoughts. Like, I would never say never on anything. I would be surprised. And also make your back.
Pat McAfee (41:52)
All right. Hey, we appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thank you for keeping us updated. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Rapapore. So not a lot happening in the NFL right now. Julio Jones announces his retirement. Congratulations, Julio, on a hell of a run. You know, Coach Saban came on the show and talked about how Julio reset the standard basically at Alabama. Told people like, hey, that's not how we do it around here. Everybody that talks about him says how great of a teammate he was, how great of a leader he was. Obviously he is a guy that is built differently than everybody else. Could have one of the greatest catches in the history of football, but his team gave up the biggest lead in the history of the Super Bowl. So whenever you talk about Julio Jones, you talk about a physical specimen that changed games that everybody loved. And I appreciated the fact that he was just so damn dominating and. And 2011. Got to see it up close and personal. And I don't know how he caught that. Still to this day, I have no idea how he caught that ab right there on the coverage. Great work out of him and I do appreciate that throwback. YouTube decided to have Colts highlights on here, and that was the one we went with. But, yeah, watched him go bonkers one day in Lucas Oil Stadium. D But he was different, man. He was just a different athlete. You could obviously speak to that more than anybody else.
Darius Butler (43:11)
Yeah, he was a different dog. He's absolute the epitome of a game record like his size, you know, whatever. The Falcons, I remember they traded a bunch to jump up in the draft and go and get him early in the draft. But his size, speed, quickness, combination, then you can see here his ball skills, actually being able to go up and catch that ball. So week in and week out, he's a game work. I believe the most games for a wide receiver over 250 yards, an ultimate separator, an ultimate game breaker. And then a great guy, a great character guy in the locker room and off the field. He never really caused any problems or real big concerns off the field for his team. Teams that he played for in the NFL. But yeah, Julio Jones, he's right there in the top tier of wide receivers. When it's all said and done and we know how tough it is, you know, when you start getting the hall of Fame conversation with wide receivers especially, he will definitely be in there and it'll be a conversation about if he gets in first ballot or not. But congratulations to Julio Jones on a phenomenal career.
Pat McAfee (44:08)
What was the platform he announced it on?
AJ Hawk (44:10)
Great question. Something I never heard.
Pat McAfee (44:15)
Squat squad maybe? Is that what it was? Whatever the case, if he's a part owner of that, congrats to him doing it his way legitimately. Okay, let's pivot away from the NFL. Let's go to the national championship happening tonight. Joining us now, national champion Duke legend. Obviously a host of college game day basketball version and all over ESPN during basketball season. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, J. Will. What's up boys?
J. Will (44:40)
What's up boys? I missed you guys.
Pat McAfee (44:42)
Hey, I know you have a big production meeting that's currently happening and the fact that you're missing it to chit chat with us, we are grateful for big day for college hoops. Let's talk about it. Your Duke Blue Devils had it. Your Duke Blue Devils had it. And I know Cooper flag couldn't buy a damn bounce at the end. I mean his last shot wasn't his best shot. But before that we're talking about out. We're talking about bank shots out. It felt like the tide turned. The basketball gods blessed Houston, but that's because they're great defense and obviously being on top of it. What are your thoughts on the Houston comeback win and how do you describe it? Because a lot of people are saying Duke choked it away. I think Houston won it. What are your thoughts on it all? Jay?
J. Will (45:21)
My first thoughts are I was on the court before the game and I saw the referees and I tried to hand them something. I was like, hey, maybe I should have offered more. I should offer more PM that's, you know, that's, that's the first up on my part.
Pat McAfee (45:34)
But lesson learned, lesson learned going next time around.
J. Will (45:38)
You know what is crazy about it? The, the one worry and I'm talking subjectively to you guys because you have to. You guys are my boys, right? Like, and obviously I could do the whole objective thing and like break down basketball. We all know I was worried about my squad not having real game pressure experience and like PM all you guys know this. Like there have been moments in games where we have all gotten tight as Hell, like really tight. And if you don't have real game pressure experience over the course of the season, all of a sudden to be on this stage with 55,000 people, everybody going wild to like, they. They didn't throw inbound passes. They tried to place the passes right. And all those are little things of like a young team with a young finish or lack of experience. And Houston just has dogs. Man, that stayed in it, that didn't quit. Cooper's still dope. He's still great. You wish he would have made the shot that would have immortalized him. I still think he's on some of the greatest players to ever play at Duke. But, man, it was just. I was sick. Literally. I was with Ken Jong the whole time. We were both sick the whole game watching it.
Pat McAfee (46:50)
Dr. Ken Jeong, obviously massive Duke fan. Coach K was in the building for it all. I saw him walking through the back. And this Duke team was supposed to be unstoppable, and it felt like they were going to be that way. And Kelvin Sampson and Du Bois, just so much grit. And I can't help but respect the hell out of it. They're taking on a Florida team that might have one of the best college Hoopers. What the last 10 years of Walter Clayton Jr. This guy makes shots whenever he has to. Took over the game late against Auburn in the Final Four. Does something that hasn't been done since Larry Bird did it. What are your thoughts on his Florida team and are they going to be able to handle Houston's pressure coming? Calvin Sampson's dogness that Houston has. Look at that life.
Darius Butler (47:28)
Can you see that?
Pat McAfee (47:29)
Ah, pretty. Yeah. He's saying, I. I said.
J. Will (47:34)
I said this a couple of days ago, my friends. And like, once again, like, you always gotta put this caveat because people start running away with things. Like, I'm not saying he is these two players and their pinnacle because these two players are the best players in the league. His game reminds me of elements of what they have. Think about a marriage on the college version of Steph Curry and Dame, right? Like, there's a shiftiness that he has. He can move. He gets his shot off. And also like he does. We were talking about Steph the other day. He just does shit on the court where you're like, that's. How did you do that? Like, why did you try that? You know? And he has a lot of that to him. And he's on a Kimball Walker, like, run better though his numbers are better than what Kimball Walker did in 2011, where he took them through the Big east and then obviously to a national championship. And what Houston has to do PM is, look, anybody can beat you, but this dude, this is the one. Cat get the ball out of his hands, blitz him on every ball screen. And Houston has the dogs and the discipline mentality wise to stay in his pocket. Like, you keep your cash in your pocket. Like, they have to stay in his pocket like that 24, because you can't allow him to get a breath because he just pops off for like 10, 15 points out of nowhere. If they can do that and they can have a good offensive game, they have a legit chance to win. But if they can't, Florida's going to walk away right with it.
Pat McAfee (48:54)
Yeah. And the question about the Duke Houston game was if the ref is calling it tight, it'll be for Duke. If it's not, you know, it'll go for Houston, which is kind of like the way you talked about it. And then Cooper flag gets called for the biggest foul of the entire game. Interesting little dynamic there. With that being said, DBUT has a question about that Houston tactics.
Darius Butler (49:16)
Yeah, we're going to talk. Obviously, big matchup to come down to them. But. But how abnormal you've been around the college game, you know, forever now. How abnormal is Kelvin Sampson's approach and his practices? We've seen some clips of his practices. We've seen pictures of the team. Damn, they look like a football team. Their mile, you know how fast they all run the mile. Like, how abnormal is that from what's typical in the college realm?
J. Will (49:39)
Damn, D, I don't know if I've been around forever. He make me feel like I'm over there, like Benjamin Button, man.
Darius Butler (49:44)
We aren't standards right now.
J. Will (49:46)
Okay, I'll be OG status.
Pat McAfee (49:49)
I'll take.
J. Will (49:50)
You know what it is?
J. Will (49:51)
In a day and age in which everybody's getting paid, like, all right, the story about. He told about Juwan Roberts. I love this so much, man. It's so obviously he's a. He's not a good free throw shooter, right? And he told him that last year, every day throughout the summer, we have to make 150 free throws daily. 150. And I don't know if you guys caught it. If you guys got video of the free throws that he made. Like, you're talking about a 55% free throw shooter. Like, I was above that and I was tight when I went to the free throw line with the way my college career ended when this dude made the first one. Here's a sign of a bad free throw shooter. Even at that mark, like you make it, you still trying to take a second back. Like you're nervous. This dude, when he made the first free throw, he told everybody, yo, calm down, calm down. I'm like, what? Bad free throw shooters don't do that type of shit. They don't tell everybody else to calm down. You're the one telling him, yo, calm down.
Pat McAfee (50:46)
You got this. He's telling him.
J. Will (50:48)
And. And that's it. That's how Kelvin Sampson gets these dudes. He. There's some real life. He talk about being born in the 50s and dealing with, like, racism and real things. Like, there's real life experience and. And dog, that he brings to the table that I. I'm glad to see has risen to the ultimate platform of the national championship game.
Pat McAfee (51:09)
I appreciate their practices. Just as football people watching those videos of how they kind of go about it, there has to be a mental toughness that is built up. And obviously it showed up in the Final four. Will it show up in a national championship? We shall see. Let's talk about that Duke team a little bit more. Connor has a question for you.
Connor (51:24)
Yeah, J. Will, obviously there's been some fodder around Duke, you know, in the last 10, 10 years with coach K and John Shire and just not being able to kind of win in the Final Four. And they ranked him against all the other teams that have. But with that being said, do you think the way Cooper Flag is, the way, you know, his relationship is with John Shire, just kind of the bond that this Duke team seems to have? Do you see a reality where any of those guys come back? Or do you think this is a lot of one and dones on this team? Or do you think maybe, you know what? Cooper Flag still going to be the number one pick next year? Washington sucks. Who wants to go there? Maybe we just run it back and hang out and, you know, kind of do this whole thing again and maybe get the job done.
J. Will (52:07)
I mean, as much as I wish that was the case, I just can't see it. I mean, first off, any team that's going to be up in the lottery.
Pat McAfee (52:13)
Is going to suck. Yeah, right.
J. Will (52:15)
That's how they're in the lottery. And ever since they put in the salary cap, it's hard for me to tell anybody not to come out because I just economically. Right, see, how soon can you get to your next contract do you get? Like, think for Cooper Flag. Think about how many max contracts he can get.
J. Will (52:35)
So if you're getting to your next contract, three years, fourth year team option, he's gonna be 22. And if you sign another four year contract, you're gonna be 26. You sign another max contract, you'll be 30. You'll be in your prime. You could probably sign, you could sign four max contracts. So, like, I'm trying to start that, that process as soon as possible. And, you know, if that means I'm in Utah, that means I'm in Washington. We've all seen this before with Eli Manning. Like, you could try to force different things. That's why you have an agent. He has Caa Boy. Shout out to my boy Vino. He probably could do some of the best things they could do with it. And that's what you have to do. I don't see anybody coming back.
AJ Hawk (53:14)
Shout out.
Pat McAfee (53:14)
Shout out. Be know. Shout out. You know, he's the best. We say that too. In football, if you, especially if you're projected to be the number one overall, like, let's go ahead and do that. Hell. Hell yeah. NBA question. Randy Orton coming out right now. Let's go. They talk. All right, Tone has a question for you about the NBA before we get out of here. Hell yeah.
Darius Butler (53:45)
Yeah.
AJ Hawk (53:45)
Well, when you were on last week.
Pat McAfee (53:47)
What up, T?
AJ Hawk (53:48)
What up? When you were on last week, we, we talked about the Lakers demise because luka went over 60, can't play defense. Well, guess what? They just blew out okc. So is. Is OKC dead? Are the Lakers going to win a championship now?
AJ Hawk (54:01)
Realistically? Because a lot of people were talking about OKC and the Cavs because they, you know, they were the best, best number one seeds in both, but now they're kind of, you know, after that loss, the Lakers and the, and the Cavs, I believe, are 6 and 6 in the last 12. Are you worried about those teams at all or is that just one loss?
J. Will (54:14)
No, man, I mean, it's the same thing I said the other day with the Lakers, right? I was like, yo, man, like Luca, obviously I know who he is defensively. I just said, look, if he's going to be marginal defensively, he has to be prolific offensively to give him the best chance to win, right? Most people like, oh, you're jumping off the band. Like, I'm like, come on, man, we just talking real basketball here. It was prolific the other night.
J. Will (54:32)
They do have 22 points in the first half. And I, I highly doubt OKC is going to keep switching. Poor Hartenstein. Remember that moment I told you guys, about the other day when I was guarding White Chocolate, I was like, that's the real Jason Williams. He had so many possessions defensively like that where he was just on the island by himself. But this is who the Lakers are when they make shots. They shot 63% in the first half.
Pat McAfee (54:53)
They're.
J. Will (54:54)
They're killers now. I don't think they're going to shoot 63%, you know, for the whole game from the field if they were going against okc. And also guys like OKC is kind of in cruise control a little bit here. Like they got number one seat locked up. They're not stressing but still like this shows you the ceiling for the Lakers. So I, I'm not concerned about okc, but I like seeing Luca play this way offensively down the stretch going into the playoffs.
AJ Hawk (55:19)
Thank you, Jay. Well, Pat froze so we got to get him back. But we're coming up on a hard out. We appreciate you, man.
Connor (55:24)
Hell yeah, Jay.
Pat McAfee (55:25)
Thank you, J.
AJ Hawk (55:26)
See you guys. We will be back in three. Come on back.
Pat McAfee (55:34)
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Pat McAfee (57:39)
Sports are happening in a mass massive way and we're so lucky that we get to talk about them mostly every single day. We'll be off the rest of the week after today, obviously the Masters Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, big night. Wednesday night, 8pm Eastern on YouTube, tick tock live and x re air on Hulu with behind the scenes footage on Thursday, April 10th. And then obviously tonight, the national championship between Houston and Florida is going to be exhilarating and magical as somebody tries to chase a shining moment. Kelvin Sampson, an absolute dog with a team that is gritty and it came back from six with less than a minute left in the final four against Duke, taking on Todd golden in the Florida Gators and Walter Clayton Jr. Who is, you know, he's a mix of steps Curry and Tyrese Halliburton and Luka Donche and everything good basically in this basketball world. We'll talk to Seth Greenberg here in a matter of moments to chit chat about tonight even more after our convo with Jay Will. He looks super cool. Obviously he was heartbroken because of what happened with Duke. And then we'll talk to Mark Messier at the tail end of this particular hour to chit chat about the great eights chase and inevitably, notably catching of Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record that nobody thought would be broken this past weekend in New York on Long Island. It's a beautiful time in sport. The talks at tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Boys, how you doing? Start with UConn. Man. Sweet shirt today, pal.
Connor (59:18)
Yeah, thank you very much. It's a Red Sox shirt. Everyone here knows, you know I'm in it for all 162. I've been a baseball guy since day one. I love baseball. But I am all in on the Red Sox. Last night, Sunday night baseball. Ty mentioned the walk off in the first game of the doubleheader, the second game. I mean, the Red Sox scored 18 runs. I don't know. Is that entertaining? Yeah, it is. Not to mention they had a pitcher get called up. Hunter Dobbins in his first ever major league start. And, you know, the camera kept cutting to his parents. His mother and dad were in the crowd. She was crying after his first career strikeout. It was just a full spectacle of baseball. But, yeah, I'm a baseball guy now. You know, this is me. This is the life I live. I'm gonna start carrying around a bat and a glove and, you know, just probably have a bunch of catches with all the boys who love baseball just like me.
Pat McAfee (60:08)
So Sunday night baseball was a good watch last night, you're saying?
Connor (60:11)
Yeah, it was great. Ravi and the lads crushed it in the booth. And they are still doing the cool, like, mic up the outfielder while he's out there. They actually had the guy miked up during one of the Red Sox massive innings. So it lasted like a half hour. This guy was in the field talking. He actually turned out he got like two or three kind of like grounders to right field, a couple singles that he had to rally while being miked up. Devers is coming alive. And Bregman, the guy who came over from the Houston Astros and may I add there, I can't confirm Bregman was not part of the cheating that went on in Houston. He never did anything.
Pat McAfee (60:52)
No garbage cans?
Connor (60:53)
No, he didn't. Garbage cans. The boys asked him, hey, do you want the garbage cans? He said, no, no, I'm an honorable man. I play baseball the right way. He's still great. He hit a moonshot to center field. Actually huge for the people who bet on him to hit a home run, which some of us did, so. So hopefully, hopefully the Yankees in the Sox. That rivalry heats up. Gonna need Jaren Duran to use his frugal language a couple times at the Yankees, perhaps. And also gonna need maybe a couple guys to get beamed in the head. Judge, you know, I'm putting the hit out on Judge. We're gonna need that to happen. I don't care.
Pat McAfee (61:31)
Middle finger fastball said Aaron Judges head.
Connor (61:34)
Yeah, Middle of the back. Yeah, sure. Head, calf, you know, let's get this guy where it hurts. Jazz, chisel him. Hope you're wearing knee guards, buddy, because you're getting a fast ball to the kneecap because Yankees the patella pitch.
Pat McAfee (61:48)
You're saying you want this to get a little heated, huh?
Ty Schmidt (61:50)
Yeah, we need scumbag.
Connor (61:52)
It'd be the best thing for Baseball, I think everybody would agree Yankees Red Sox is one of the best rivalries in sports, baseball especially. So if they were to get, you know, maybe a Pedro Martinez, you know, DZ situation where the oldest fattest man in the Yankees dugout runs out in a, you know, benches clearing brawl, we can have Rafael devers who's just DHing now, maybe hit him with some sweet chin music, you know, maybe a uppercut to the gut of one of these fatsos that works for the Yankees. It feels like that rivalry can kind.
Pat McAfee (62:24)
Of be back early in the season. For all that to happen would be pretty wild if that's how they treated game 11 of a hundred and sixty two game season. Ty, Baseball is doing it and I think it's good for our program. I got a text from Michael Cole just a few moments ago. You guys really talking baseball? Ty, you've been wanting this for a long time. I don't know how long it'll last, but it feels like we are a little bit of a baseball program right now.
Ty Schmidt (62:47)
Yeah, I mean it's one of those things where like especially right now, I don't know, maybe it's just recency bias because it's going on right now, but it seems like stuff in the football world has, has kind of like slowed to a stop. Maybe it's because free agency wrapped up so quick and like this year with the draft, it seems like outside of Shador Sanders, like there aren't as many question marks in the past. So like in years past like when the baseball season starts, Hearts, we may mention it but it kinda, it just whimpers away because then we have so much to talk about with football and everything there are still guys out there. But like you said like when the stars are actually performing and for the most part like guys like Shohei and Judge and Soto, guys like that are always going to perform. But what really helped baseball this year was the torpedo bat stuff in like the, the early running because I don't want to say it kind of like took over the sports world over opening weekend. But like that, I mean we talked about it a bunch that following Monday everyone was kind of talking about it like wow, look at this, you know, offensive outburst that all these teams are having where we'd kind of been talking about in the past, like one of the issues with baseball is like you're gonna get the big time home runs from a lot of these teams. But like pitchers were just dominating. Guys strike out so much and then boom, first weekend of the year we got, you know, like like the Yankees hit nine homers on the second day of the season. We got all these other teams that are scoring a bunch of runs, like big time players are, are moving cities. I mean the second weekend we have here we have five walk off wins like Paul Skeens with the Pirates and some of these other small market teams. Like there are stars everywhere and it's one of those things where if there's really you know, like there, there's, there's still good basketball games on right now obviously as like the playoffs get closer. But if, if you're in the middle of the week and there really is nothing else to watch and you want to watch sports and you don't want to watch one of these TV shows that like are on basic cable that you know, some people just can't, you know, can't get excited about. Like there are baseball games every single day. And we've been lucky enough now through the first week and a half, two weeks of the season where like at least one or two awesome things has happened every single day in base baseball. So I, I do hope we keep talking about it. Now granted the Pirates need to keep winning because I think that will kind of fuel and like fuel your interest a little bit more, which certainly will help. Yeah, but, but again it's tough. Like you mentioned it like yesterday, Pirates, Yankees, there were, I think there were like 21, 000 people there. It looked so cold. It was like 32 degrees. Everyone's wearing like sweatshirts. It's like so yeah, Paul Skeens is going to go out and pitch. Like he's going to be absolutely miserable out there. So like as long as we can come, he will be. Man, it's, it's ridiculous. It sucks playing baseball when it's that cold. It just absolutely.
Pat McAfee (65:36)
Now it's gonna suck. It's gonna suck to have to try to swing a bat at a Paul skeens pitch at 38 degrees with I have good authority after just looking and talking, looking at and talking to Paul Skeens, he's gonna say it's 38 degrees for everybody. Now if that's 99, 100 degrees, is it easier to get little loose, stay loose, kind of let the arm do its thing? Certainly Paul Skeens is built for it, which is why he wants to take the Pittsburgh Pirates to a World Series. He said it, not me. He said it on me. Okay. He said wild card not enough. But it does appear, yeah, to Connor's point, it does appear. Some of these teams certainly a little on back end a little bit more than maybe the Pittsburgh Pirates. Have you seen all the clips that came out of Pittsburgh Pirates opening day? You're talking about the ownership walking through the stadium saying, you know, one, I want to come, I want to be a common man. I want to go walk out there. And as soon as anybody recognized his face, which is very recognizable, I sell the team, Chance started. And then there was a Paul Skeens New York Yankees jersey, which everybody in Pittsburgh was like, yeah, that's kind of what is probably going to happen here in a couple years. So I think we all kind of understand. But I do appreciate the fact that you understand that the reason why I'm talking about it specifically is because Pittsburgh Pirates are in a part of a convo with Paul Ski, the next great one. So I can't wait to continue to talk baseball, especially if baseball continues to show up. But this week is different than any other week. This is Masters week. Let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone, Masters is obviously something different. It's special. Whenever they go down to Augusta, it's so beautiful. It's so competitive. It's a nice weekend of listening to the birds chirp, Jim Nance do his thing and all the golfers from all the different brands of golf competing. That's a big storyline here, right? Tone?
AJ Hawk (67:17)
Yeah, it is. And you talked about the birds chirping and the Aelas are blooming. And we'll go down Azalea Lane and Magnolia Lane. Sorry. And we'll tee off Thursday morning with Tom Watson, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Those will be the honorary starters on Thursday. And you see the odds on favorites to win the tournament. Scotty, Rory Morikawa, Oberg, Shoffle, jt. Yep. And there's the other ones. Bryson Day, Shambeau, John Rom. The live guys will be here. All of the greatest golfers in the world are playing starting Thursday on espn. Yes. It's time to download your Masters app so you can watch that on Thursday morning. And I just looked. John Rom, we were, we've been talking in the office like, is John Rom playing golf? We weren't sure.
AJ Hawk (67:56)
What do you mean, yes?
Darius Butler (67:57)
Yes, he's playing golf.
AJ Hawk (67:59)
Miami, his results, he has not finished worse than ninth in live this year in five events. I don't know how many guys play. I don't know if it's 10 to 15 to 20. But he is not finished lower than ninth on so I'm, I'm pumped to see Rom out there.
Pat McAfee (68:12)
Well, I think he was, I think he was 10th once. And then they did a super cool coin flip on the 18th green and he ended up in ninth, I think. Okay, there was a lot of people talking. You don't think so? Okay, there's a lot of people talking about live this weekend, by the way. It was on fox, I think 1pm Eastern. They had the entire thing. Some people watched it, I think some people saw it. And then obviously it was a stacked leaderboard. And you said John Rom a little bit hot in this live golf season seemingly is what you're kind of alluding to here.
AJ Hawk (68:38)
Yeah, I looked it up. So this year he has finished second, sixth, sixth, fifth and ninth. Hasn't won an event, but you know, top five of top 10 in every single event. So I assume he's coming in hot. Bryson's been like top 15 in all the events once again. I don't know if that's good or not on the live tour. I assume it is. Waiting for someone to correct me if it's not. Obviously Patrick Reed always plays well in the Masters. Walking Neiman's coming over. Like all the big dogs are going to be there. That's all we've ever wanted. All we want every week is be able to watch the greatest golfers in the world compete against each other. And for the first time this year, we're going to be able to this week.
Darius Butler (69:09)
Oh yeah.
Pat McAfee (69:10)
Nine year NFL vet and live super fans Darius J. Butler, obviously into Thunderdome debuts. You can wrap up the live convo with the boys and how they're going to do with the Masters. But also you should pivot to college hoops. Obviously UConn something special. I don't know if we've ever paid enough attention to the women's college basketball season, men's college basketball season or the women's college basketball season. But I always expect UConn to be great. Then they weren't there for a little bit. You guys are back on top. What a storyline. Is this all because Paige Buckets is an absolute dog? Is it because Oriemma is all the way back in his bag? Here's a stat Hembo sent over to me about this UConn team and Gino Oriemma 20 point wins in national title games. Okay. John Wooden has three, Geno has five. No other D1 coach has done it more than one time. So when you're talking about just dominating, whenever you get to the end of the road, whenever you beat the hell out of everybody and you have your last opponent, this is the one that's supposed to be your biggest challenge. This is supposed the one who has earned their way to the championship. This is the one who's also been dominant all year. This Yukon ladies team just did what we've seen them do in the past and just beat ass. What are your thoughts on that debut? Are you guys all the way back or is it over now because Paige is leaving?
Darius Butler (70:31)
No, I think as long as Gino is there we'll, we'll be all right. And look in the early parts of the dynasty, you know we got, you know a lot of people say hey they just got the best players year in, the year out. I think about women's college basketball. Basketball is those best players are going to stay there for four years. But over time, you know the Tennessee's, the LSU's, the South Carolinas, Notre Dame, Stanfords, all these different programs have grown got top tier talent in it. But what Geno has done from the Top Geno and CD like I said their first championship since 1995 and all the greats over all those years whether it's Rebecca Lobo, you know Barbara Turner Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Bree Stewart who worn four natties in a row like this was huge for Paige. We know she's been through injury wise and I saw on the Internet I'm sure everybody's seen at this point that class that came out with Paige, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark Cardosa I believe Cameron Brink they all, you know pretty much all either played the national title or won a national title. So this was huge for her I think Taurasi when they was on the show and they put you know three time big east player of the year three time, you know first team all American and the last thing was 2025 national champ and Tausi was like that's the only thing that matters. So that is the standard for Yukon and everything Gino does for that program. Especially starting with the best player. The best player is always, you know the hardest worker. The best players always leading. They're always the tip of the spear. Whether it's practice rather it's playing running off the court to the bench, running into the tunnel, you know, not over dribbling bunch of pass and paying great team basketball both ends of the court court. So just impressive 12 and 1 in national championship games as a program men's and women's 18 and 1 overall. So once we get there we're going to get the job done. Once again just showing why we are the basketball capital world up there in stores Connecticut. So congratulations to the. I saw once again.
Pat McAfee (72:16)
Yeah, I saw coach early talking his too. You know, I saw that. I, I. Obviously Yukon celebrating. This is a magical thing. Thing. Congrats to the ladies winning and can't wait to see what Hurley does with the squad next year. Who will be the men's national champions? We'll find that out tonight as Houston and Florida play. Joining us now is a former college football national champion, a Super bowl champion, a Rider cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, A.J. hawk. What's up, Hawker? How you doing? What's going on? I'm doing great. It was 8259 in the national championship.
Mark Messier (72:48)
I'd say that's pretty damn good for.
Pat McAfee (72:50)
For Gino and the girl.
Connor (72:51)
So, yeah, congrats to your squad, but that's impressive.
Darius Butler (72:53)
Appreciate you, A.J.
Pat McAfee (72:55)
Five of those 12, he's won by 20 or more points in the national championship, which is pretty dominating. And I saw some people on the Internet saying pretty crazy that Iowa was even in this conversation for a few years there. Yep, I agree. You know, and I like to see. What's that?
Ty Schmidt (73:11)
Well, I don't know if you remember last year, though, Pat Gino actually couldn't get it done against the Hawkeyes.
Pat McAfee (73:17)
So, you know. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Ty Schmidt (73:20)
I know.
Pat McAfee (73:21)
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, you know. Yeah. Because there's a dominating. There's a couple.
Ty Schmidt (73:26)
No, but, you know, I mean. And what we're not talking about either is Gino, you know, whether this is true, whether it's been confirmed, that guy's absolutely cheated. No question. No question about it.
Pat McAfee (73:38)
You don't say that. I'm just saying, you know, you don't.
Ty Schmidt (73:43)
Win that many national championships by 20 plus points without, you know, bending the rules or cheating a little bit here. There.
Pat McAfee (73:49)
So listen, you're saying this guy's too good. This guy's too good at what he does is what you're saying.
Ty Schmidt (73:55)
That's kind of what I'm saying. Exactly. So, you know, again, I won't give him his flowers today. Hey, that's an unborn.
Pat McAfee (74:01)
Didn't sound like it. Didn't sound like it at all.
Darius Butler (74:03)
Unbelievable.
Ty Schmidt (74:05)
I'm just saying, you know, and, and that's not something we need to, you know, look for today. We don't need to, you know, dig into his past and his recruiting or anything. We don't need to do that today. History will do that down the line, so. You're right, you know, hats off to Paige Buckets. I'm glad she's she's kind of finally got that notch in her belt because she needed that.
Pat McAfee (74:24)
Gina wasn't able to get Caitlin Clark. Huh? Wasn't able to land Caitlin Clark as. As a recruit is in. In Iowa. Iowa being a part of it. While Caitlin was on her run. After what we're watching now with, you know, Malky, I guess she had quite a performance. There's a lot of things being said there. Not a lot of people talking about that. Dawn Staley, obviously very animated during the championship, but she had her team back in the national championship yet again. Geno has kind of done his thing here. There is, like, levels, it feels like, to the women's college hoops, and UConn, obviously at the very top, has been for a long time. AJ as you look forward to tonight, you're a guy that was able to win a national championship. Obviously, you were young, but you were certainly able to show up in a big moment. The defensive dominating team feels like they have. Have quite an advantage in a national championship because anytime your nerves are making you tighter or whatever, you can always give effort. You know, you can always give, like, maximum effort. It normally shows up on the offensive side. I'm not saying that Walter Clayton Jr. Hasn't had a lot of pressure and isn't prepared for the moment, but I'm saying national championship, biggest moment of your life. Defense seems to travel a little bit more, and this Houston team has that in spades. Not the Florida doesn't, but it's like the Houston culture, basically. AJ yeah.
Mark Messier (75:34)
Think about. You don't have to count on, like.
Pat McAfee (75:36)
If you're a great. Let's say you're counting on a three, the three ball. Like, that's what your team has count on all year. You don't have to worry about, hey, are we gonna. Are we gonna have an off night.
Mark Messier (75:43)
Or a defense gonna force us into an off night?
Pat McAfee (75:45)
Like coaches, the old cliche, you can. You can only control your attitude and your effort. And I feel like that's kind of what defense is when you talk about basketball. And I mean, like, I. You know, I've told you before, I grew up a Duke fan. I wanted Duke to win this game. But, man, like, I have a hard time not having a ton of respect for this Houston team and Kelvin Sampson, obviously, with all the stories and you see the clips of how he has built this whole thing since, what, 2016. Like, it's pretty awesome what Houston's been doing, I think. Yeah, absolutely. And culture, you know, I heard him give a press conference about all of his assistants have basically been within his program forever. He doesn't hire outside. He keeps all the guys within. He said there's only like one. One word that they have around the building is just culture. That's it, just culture. The word culture is out there and it's like that stays for what it. What it is. How you do anything's how you do everything. Feels like he's old school guy and everybody that coaches with him, old school, everybody that's manager for him, old school. And his team plays that way. You got to find the right players. Joining us now is a guy who coached college basketball for a long time, 100 years, we'll say now. He's on college game day for of the program and he is basically the face of college basketball coverage throughout the entirety of this tournament on ESPN because of how he's gotten it right. He loved this Florida team from the very beginning. We can't wait to hear what his thoughts are about tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, coach Seth Greenberg.
Seth Greenberg (77:07)
What's up, boys? What's up? What's going on? We got a big game here today. I think a little game, little hoops going on today.
Pat McAfee (77:13)
Yeah, I think, I think there's a. There's a little bit of a throwdown, if you will, on a basketball court happening this evening. This Florida team, you've talked about them since immediately upon the bracket being announced. And we didn't follow the college basketball season as a whole, but whenever we heard the SEC drama and how many teams are getting in and obviously the bubble madness and the conference championship stuff, we tried to pick up all the information we could as quickly as possible. You came on our show and were like, florida, Florida, Florida, Florida. Florida's the team. And as we watched them go through this, you know, March Madness run that they're on, that guy right there has been so much fun. Walter Clayton Jr. You talked about him from the beginning. He shows up in big moments. He seemingly leads the team in a great way. They got athletes all over the court and they're dogs. I assume that's why you like them taking on this Houston team. Are they a good fit for Houston? Do you think it's a good matchup for Houston? What are your thoughts on your Florida team? And I'm saying yours because you've loved them since the beginning. Taking on this, this Kelvin City Sampson style team. What is the matchup that needs to be kind of watched?
Seth Greenberg (78:14)
Oh, when you play against Houston, you got to take care of the basketball. You got to rebound the ball. Now, people don't understand, like this Florida team is elite defensive team and they are actually even a better offensive rebounding team than Houston. So that's going to be interesting. Who's going to win the war on the boards? Can Florida get to the offensive glass and get extra possessions against the best rebounding team? People think in college basketball. So that's one. And then the battle of the backcourt. So you saw what happened against Duke. Ten threes made in that game. If Houston makes 10 threes, Florida's not winning. You've got to run them off the three point line because they just don't have a lot of other ways to score. Juan Roberts can get some putbacks, he can finish around the basket. But what those guys really do is offensive rebound, kick it out for open threes. So I still like this Florida team. Obviously Clayton's been just phenomenal. You know, he's a former football player and I, I, I always don't talk to my teams about next play mentality. That's what that dude has. He's got a mixed play mentality. Get back then huddle. Let's talk it over, let's come back out, get to the next play and make a play. And that's kind of how he plays in the biggest moments. The dude has no fear. Kelvin Sampson is going to take the ball out of his hands or he's going to try. I think it's going to be hard to do that.
Pat McAfee (79:20)
Yeah. And you talk about no fear and former football player and next play mentality. He took over down the stretch against Auburn. I assume he's done that a lot of games. He goes back to back 30 point performances this late into the tournament. First time since Larry Bird special, special player. Fun to watch. AJ Has a question for you. Coach. You mentioned this Houston team's going to try to keep the ball out of Clayton's hands. That's like we hear about in football. Like Bill Belichick always does a great job of taking away your number one option, say, make you play left handed or whatever.
Connor (79:49)
How is Houston?
Pat McAfee (79:50)
Like, what should we watch tonight when we see this Houston defense? How are they going to attack him? And are you able to find a way to, to, to kind of slow Clayton down?
Seth Greenberg (79:58)
I think the first thing you gotta do is you gotta make them guard. I mean, you got to go out and make them guard. I think one of the best ways to defend someone is make them guard. So what does that mean? Screen the hell out of them. Put them in ball screens. Attack him, attack him, attack him. And you know, one thing about these Houston guards, they can beat you off the dribble. Be interesting to see how Todd golden matches up. Does he match him up on Crier? Well, you know, Crier is more of a jump shooter already. This is match him up on, on, on Sharp because Sharp will take it down the lane. If you start the end of the Duke game, Sharp took on Cooper flag and took him right to the front of the rim. So I think the first thing you got to do is make him guard. The second thing you got to do is you got to meet him in transition. Like, you've got to get good shot selection so you're balanced defensively. So your point of picker, it's got to be a little bit higher. Got to get the ball under control. And then any dribble handoff, ready, ball screen, you're going to blitz the crap out of him. I mean, you're going to blitz the crap out of him and then you're going to what I call top side, not let him get the ball back. Like you're going to extend catches out. So the further he catches it from the ball now you can build your defense behind that. So I think those are things. Make him guard, scream the hell out of him. Anytime he comes up in transition, meet the ball early. But any ball screen or any dribble handoff, boom, you got to trap him, get it out of his hands and then extend that next catch. You got to wear him out trying to get open.
Pat McAfee (81:16)
Coach, I don't know if you know this, but you might be a Sharp. You know, when you came on the show the last time, you said, I like this, I like this, I like this. AP tone, what's the over under for tonight's national championship for these boys?
AJ Hawk (81:27)
The over under tonight is. Let's see if it moved. 140 and a half.
Pat McAfee (81:32)
140 and a half. You know, 71. 70 is the score that would obviously beat that. So in your mind, that's kind of how I look at it. At least whenever we're trying to pick that, it's. Are they going to be tight here? What do you think that 70 points a lot for this college basketball season? It's like some games, yes, some games, no. I. I genuinely don't know. What are your thoughts on national championship with these two squads?
Seth Greenberg (81:52)
I think. I think it's. I think it's over. I think it's over. I'll tell you why people don't understand the force and the pace that Florida plays with. Florida brings it at you so fast, so they don't give you a chance to set and they kind of flatten the defense out a little bit. If you watch the game the other day, how many times did Clayton just come down, navigate in transition and get to the front of the river, gets the good Albert de. So the pace that they're going to play with, I think there's going to be more possessions in this game than people think. So my gut feeling is this thing's going to be over. Even though they're two elite defensive teams, I think both teams are going to be forced to play and make plays. And I also think that the three point shots can have an impact. You talk about a Florida team, they get over at 64% of their points from the perimeter. A lot of those points are obviously threes. To me, the number of guys that can make shots on the perimeter of both of these teams, whether it's crier, whether it's sharp, you know, on the other side, obviously you've got. You don't just have Walter Clayton Jr. You know, you have Elijah Martin who can have that shots. Well, Richards didn't make a three the other day. Dude's gonna make threes. I mean, that's just, that's just the way it is. And then Milo use that. He didn't really play well against Duke. He's gonna score it. So these backwards are too dynamic to have on the under, in my opinion. I think the backcourts are just a little bit better than people think. Offensively, I think we're going to see a significant number of threes. That's why I would go with the over. But I would say the first four minutes of the game, first four minutes, game. I would say that Houston has the advantage. And you guys know, in football, I don't know how you compare it. What's a team that kind of punches you in the face early and it takes time to settle in against them and then once you settle in, you kind of have a better feel, but you can't simulate that in your practices. That's what this Houston team is in terms of, of especially a quick turnaround where you got 36 hours to kind of get ready for this rock fight. I think that's going to be an interesting first four minutes. I like, I like Houston.
Pat McAfee (83:45)
First five, last five is what we chat about. And that's whenever you find out if what you thought you had on film is reality and you talk about that Houston team. They seemingly are relentless by design. AP Tone has a question for you, coach?
AJ Hawk (83:58)
Yeah, I do, Coach. I saw a tweet or a post from their director of sports performance, Alan Bishop. Their average mile time was 5 minutes and 19 seconds. And as you could see from this picture, every single dude on their team has a 12 pack is absolutely jacked. Like, how. What does that do for a team.
Pat McAfee (84:17)
That looks like a football team, AJ that looks like a football team in there. Oh, yeah.
AJ Hawk (84:21)
And obviously they come down from. They come back with the. The late performance yesterday. Like, they obviously just don't run out of gas last late, I assume. And how big is that for them?
Seth Greenberg (84:29)
Oh, I think it's huge. I mean, just look, that's their identity. That's their mentality. That's Kelvin's mentality. You gotta stand. Kelvin's an underdog himself. I mean, he was a graduate assistant to Judd Heathcote at Washington, at Michigan State. He went from Montana Tech to Washington State. I mean, that guy is. His journey's been unbelievable. Two coaches with two very different journalists. But the one thing that's always been consistent with Calvin, the physicality is of his team. And he challenges a mentally, emotionally, physically. And he gets incredible buy in. Like, those guys think that the baddest ass is on the floor. All right? I mean, yeah, look, they practice with their rebound bubble. So I want to put this in perspective. So they practice with a bubble on the rim. Now, Pat, when you have a bubble on the rim, you can never make a shot. All right? So every shot is a mission. So when the ball comes off, it's absolutely the funniest thing to watch because you got just bodies flying all over the place. You know, old days, Thomas will talk about practicing in shoulder pads. Like, their whole practice, there's right and wrong. There's no in between. Almost right is wrong. Like, Kelvin Sampson coaches those guys. He is not afraid of anything, nor are they. You're watching this video. That is a typical practice. This isn't made for tv. All right? This is, like, real. Like, if you don't hit the floor, you have a problem. And Calvin, he might be a little older, but he can get as nasty as anyone. I'm just telling you. Yeah, he can get right up here.
Pat McAfee (85:59)
I assume that's the case. I watch him. Yeah. Is he getting the ball? Is he chewing him out? Probably. I watched him do a press conference after the Final Four, and he talked about how we don't have a bunch of cliche sayings, always assistant coach have come up through his program, and he says there's only one word that's out there, and it's culture, and it's like basically everybody understands what it is. You see that weight room photo? I mean, look at him coming in, dancing. That's an awesome moment with his team. I assume that feels immaculate, especially smacking your team into the national championship. Good for Houston, especially down there in Texas, San Antonio. But whenever you see this team and you hear everything about it and you watch that practice, it's like, that's a brotherhood. You know, Duke talked about a brotherhood. Not that is. But that's how you kind of build the bond. That's how you build the chemistry. If you, you know, sweat together, bleed together, I assume as they're diving on the board and work out together, that's where you really build it. I'm pulling for them. I'm. I like this Houston team. Not that I don't like the Florida team, but I like the way they're built. DBut debut has a question for you, coach.
Darius Butler (86:54)
Yeah, coach, I want to ask you about these coaching matchups. We're obviously talking about Kelvin Sampson, been around the game for a long, long time. 69 years old. On the other side, you got coach Todd Gold Holden, 39 years old. Both very tough teams, but a big age gap. Who do you kind of. I know you've been high on Florida since the beginning, but who do you kind of trust more? Coaching side? We always talk about nerves from the players in. But what about the coaches in this matchup? Who are you leaning to in that matchup?
Seth Greenberg (87:18)
Yeah, yeah, that's tough one because, like, Kelvin Sampson, like, think about a minute, 14 to go, they're down six points. He didn't foul. He trusted his culture. He said, we're going to get a stop. Technical foul was made. They're down six. Tugler gets a block. They come down, knock down a three. I mean, Kelvin orchestrated. He's going to manipulate matchups. That's why I talk about going at Clayton. Todd golden, and I know him pretty well, he's got some swag to him. Like, that dude, he can really coach. I mean, like, really coach, but he's like the next generation. Like, he's got a standard. There's an accountability. His practices are brutal. Very similar. Not as physical, but that dude is cutting edge. In fact, I talked to a guy that he worked for when he was an assistant at Columbia, and he had to bring him into the office. And Todd Gold's a real analytics guy, so.
Seth Greenberg (88:04)
And his former coach, Kyle Smith, who is the head coach at Stanford now, he said when he was first at Columbia. He came to the office one day, said, you know, if you guys worked as hard at working guys out as you did with your fantasy baseball lineups and figuring out all the numbers, said we'd have a better damn team. He was in analytics way back then, like working on his fantasy baseball team. So, like he's cutting edge when it comes to analytics. He sees the game through an interesting prism. He totally changed the system playing for Randy Bennett, who's kind of a coach that really controls, plays tempo. Kyle Smith's been a little bit more progressive. This dude went from playing that but having a little bit of a swag and a little difference to him to basically playing like old school Arizona. Three guards that blaze fast, they play with freedom, they attack you. And those two bigs that protect the rim are screeners and rim rollers. So I like, yeah, Kelvin's got more experience. This guy on the left of my screen, probably the right of your guy's screen, he don't fear anything. Like, he don't feel, I mean, like he's got something in him.
Pat McAfee (89:05)
I also like that he turns to the crowd and does this number. You know, he is a. Hey, let's make some noise, boys. Todd Golden. Yeah, it is LA floor, like. And you know, I was introduced to him during the tournament. I'm like, wow, that's a child there. Okay, so he's 39 years old. He must lotion. He does. Well, he is. He must be a moisturizer. He. He looks very, very good.
Seth Greenberg (89:29)
Arizona guys from Arizona moisturizer.
Pat McAfee (89:32)
A lot of vitamin D. Yeah, it makes sense. Haven't seen the sun in a while. Okay. Four ones make their way to the final four. Obviously that was kind of the discussion of this particular tournament which leads to. Con man has a question for you, coach.
Connor (89:47)
Yeah, Seth Early. Everyone's pissed off. No, Cinderella's. It's all chalk. This is the worst March madness. But now it feels like, especially, you know, last weekend and this weekend, that these games have just been unbelievable. Do you feel like because it has been all chalk, that this has turned into one of the most competitive, best March madnesses that we've had yet? Or do you think people are always going to, you know, bitch and moan about something when it comes to sports.
Seth Greenberg (90:13)
People are going to bitch and moan about something. But look, to me, this is good on good, man. I mean like, you get. You work your way to the super bowl, you want the two best teams. I mean, if you look at these teams body work during the course of the Year. What do you say they separate themselves? I want to see the best dudes play against the best dudes on the biggest stage. Plain and simple. Yeah, that's fun. We can get some upsets in the first and second round. That's great.
Seth Greenberg (90:34)
In the end, I want to see good on good. Like when we practice, I didn't practice against this, you know, like the gold team, you know that a bunch of walking. So I wanted my goods against the other goods to find out just how good we were. This is.
Pat McAfee (90:47)
This is what?
Seth Greenberg (90:48)
This is the future of college basketball. If you look at the rosters, there's not a freshman, not a freshman playing in this game. There's not a freshman playing this game. You got 13 of the 16 guys that play are retained, which means they stayed in school at the same school. Now think about that state at school, but stayed at the same school. Right? These teams are invested. I'm all into the good on good. I'm all into guys having shared experiences. But I'm also into let's put the two best teams that earn their way in and let's, let's throw that thing up and let's get after it.
Pat McAfee (91:23)
We always want to find out who the absolute best is in any tournament and feels like we're going to. We got everybody's best team, Duke the hell out. You know, everybody was talking about this Duke team being untouchable seemingly. And now they're gone. Which I liked Shire coming on the show. I liked the Duke team. I enjoyed watching them. But that Houston win, everybody's saying Duke choked away. It's like Houston also was prepared for the moment in a big way. Can't wait to see what they do against Florida tonight. Can't wait to watch game day. What time are you guys on? We're on.
Seth Greenberg (91:52)
And what are we on? 5 o'clock here. So 6 o'clock back back there. I think that's what it is. I think that's right. I don't know. They're going to pick me up at 3:50. I don't. I just show up, the light goes on, I talk and then they send.
Connor (92:05)
Me on my way.
Seth Greenberg (92:05)
Hey, Pat, by the way. Okay, your deal, your deal. The London and back. I have to admit, you talk about a beast. Dude, you're a beast. Like you could play for me.
Pat McAfee (92:13)
All right, all right.
Seth Greenberg (92:15)
I never coached a kicker. I never coached a kicker. But if I, if I had a kicker on my team, you'd have no problem playing for me because like, you understand the grind.
Pat McAfee (92:24)
Hey, and I will smack the. Smack the wood, you know, and anything you need for me, 3 and D. You got it. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll watch him at 6:00 Eastern, we think on college game day before the national championship, ladies and gentlemen, coach Seth Greenberg. They put me in a car, they drive me over there, they turn the camera on and let me know when I need to speak, okay? That's what I do, says coach Seth Greenberg. College basketball season's wrapping up tonight, A.J. but that is not, in my eyes, the most legendary thing that's going to happen over the last few days. Alexander Ovechkin breaking that record on Long island with how that building erupted for him. Islanders fans were in there. They knew they were part of history. Capitals fans were in there, obviously chasing alongside Ovi's great chase of the Great One. And it's like they're down 2:1 at that moment. And the entire team understands the assignment, the entire league. There's Gary Bettman, the commish, obviously. Wayno. I believe the FBI is represented up there as well. It was. It was a moment. I think I don't know enough about it, but I. I think. I think that is who that was. Yeah. Okay. All right, good. It was. It was a magical moment. And it happened, Nick, in the exact same amount of games that it took Wayne Gretzky to have the previous record. Feels like the hockey gods were written all over this one. Great for hockey, great for the sport, great for sports. As a hold, Nick, honestly, it felt magical as I was watching from afar and I couldn't even imagine what the building was like inside, Nick.
AJ Hawk (94:02)
Absolutely absurd, Pat. A bit serendipitous, as you mentioned, in the amount of games played. Also happened to be the same day 20 years prior in which the Capitals won the draft lottery and earned the right to select Alex Ochkin number one overall. When they didn't finish the season with the worst record in the league, I believe they were second or third.
AJ Hawk (94:21)
The team that finished first in terms of finishing last for the lottery odds was actually the Pittsburgh Penguins. So a bit of fate, how it could have been reversed there. You could have seen Ovechkin as a Penguin, and maybe you saw Sidney Crosby as a Washington Capital the following season. But here we are, Ovechkin shaking Wayno's hand. He's the greatest goal scorer of all time, not just of this generation. You can put that debate to rest. There's still a goat debate in hockey that I don't think will ever be settled because we get into it all the time with basketball in terms of the eras. But you've got Wayno, you've got Mario Lemieux, you've got Bobby Orr, and you've got Gordie Howe. Those are the four mainstays of the older generation. Now you've got Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, probably Nick Lindstrom, and whoever else can earn their way into that fourth spot for the new era. So it's a great day for hockey. It was an awesome celebration yesterday, and it's been really cool to watch the sport come together to watch OVI on this chase.
Pat McAfee (95:15)
Yeah, I've enjoyed it all. And I also like the fact that he goes and cracks open a cold beer immediately afterwards. AJ you know, whenever he tied Wayno, there was a video of him just going right to his locker and just cracking open a beer. And everybody's like, enjoy cold beer after you do something great. Which is why we like hockey. Hockey is like an old school feel, old school vibes. And Alexander Ovechkin represents all that perfectly. He doesn't have an eight pound. He's gonna have a good time. Here's a beer, sir. Here you go. Yep, welcome. Here's another beer for you to enjoy yourself. When he won Lordo for the first time, we watched him with the Stanley cup literally across state lines just having a blast. The guy is committed to his sport, he loves his sport. And I think everybody in hockey believes that he represents it very, very well. AJ It's a beautiful thing. And you look at all the records, you know, you look at everything. 149 game opening goals, which is an NHL record. Okay, game time goals. Any record, go ahead. Goals. NHL record. Game winning goals. NHL record 30 goal season. NHL record 40 goal seasons. NHL record 50 goal seasons. NHL record seasons. Leading the NHL in goals, nine NHL record. It's like this guy was able to find the net on a regular basis. And that only comes from a massive amount of hard work whenever nobody's watching. The amount of hours this guy has had to put in with his stick in a puck, whether it was just, you know, on the street or inside your house growing up over in Russia, whatever it was just to get to this point where you have this much control of the puck, this much confidence, this much respect, and this much greatness. It's a massive tribute to the work ethic to get there. And I think that needs to be celebrated as well, alongside all the records. Yeah. Think about, like, why does it feel it's so easy to root for? OVI is it because he is like.
Connor (96:58)
What we call a throwback.
Pat McAfee (96:59)
And in an era where we don't see a whole lot of guys do it, I guess the way, like be completely authentic to who he is and still be the.
Connor (97:06)
I mean, it's unbelievable when you.
Pat McAfee (97:07)
When you put up all Those records, what, 100, 140 something go like game.
Connor (97:11)
Winning goals or whatever.
Pat McAfee (97:12)
He had like 291 go ahead goals. Is nuts to me to think, hey, what game's tied. Here we go.
Mark Messier (97:18)
This puts us in the lead, like.
Pat McAfee (97:20)
Everything the guy does. And then obviously the old. This little swan dive situation was just a perfect celebration for Obi, but this.
Mark Messier (97:25)
The game was too warm at the moment.
Pat McAfee (97:27)
What happened the rest of this game? They had to restart this thing. What did the rest of the guys do after that? I had to be a tough transition celebration. This was like when Drew Brees had that record right in the middle. He did the passing thing down there in the Superdome, brother. And they stopped the game basically and had a full celebration. I appreciated the fact that everybody in NHL, everybody in hockey, everybody in the sports world was like, yeah, they should stop the game. Yeah. This is. This is absolutely unbelievable. To go back to the point in the conversation in the first hour, look at Wayne. That was a good clap. Seemed like he was genuinely okay, you know, Seemed like he was genuinely thrilled that a record of his was broken because he's going to be remembered as the greatest of all time. Regardless. I'm happy that he's confident in himself enough to have that, especially with what we've learned from other sports potentially in the. I'm the greatest of my generation. You're the greatest of your generation. Can we get along? Probably not. Because there's a little bit of drama and egos and everything like that. So once again, hockey nails it. I appreciate in the first hour in Con man, you might be able to talk about this because, you know, you used to be a fan of the Bruins and then obviously the Bruins have certainly tried to change up a little bit this year.
Pat McAfee (98:36)
But taking away the pressure of him having to get the goal record before the playoffs, I think is huge. Like him, his whole team not having to worry about just getting the. One of the hardest records of all time now just being able to focus on hockey. Not that him scoring isn't good for their team, but that's a good pressure, I think, to have off of their shoulder. Con Man.
Connor (98:52)
It's also great vibes like, of course, the get. Get the pressure out of there, but also just for Everyone on that team, like, I know the, they, they just brought in a kid from B.C. who they signed Leonard. And you know, for him, he scored his first goal on the way to this chase. It was the empty netter. But just for that guy to understand how cool it is for the history to be made and being a part of the team, but just the vibe of the entire, you know, of the entire boys, of the entire bench, the coaches, everything, it's like, okay, now we don't even have to think about this anymore. Now we can just go out and play hockey. And they are one of the best teams in the league, you know, so it's not as if this was one of those situations where, you know, a guy's on the team, you know, similar to Steph Curry, really, like you mentioned before, where, you know, they have this record looming, but also they know, hey, we have a real shot to win, you know, Lordo, this year. It wasn't one of those situations where you're kind of limping to the finish and then, you know, happy. You get this kind of consolation prize in a bad season. It's like, no, this is one of those things they check off on the road to going to win the entire thing. And you know, we mentioned before too, Ovechkin, of course he broke his leg earlier in the season, but like, who says this is it? Hopefully he comes back in, he has another two years. You know, like, this was really cool. Imagine him getting to a thousand.
Pat McAfee (100:10)
How cool that would be, would be very cool. And I don't know if I froze or not, if it's just on my side, but would be incredibly cool. Tax act knows you probably don't need help filing taxes, but if you get.
Seth Greenberg (100:25)
Stuck, we have live experts you can talk to.
Pat McAfee (100:28)
And who knows, you could hit it off and become long term tax friends. Staying up late at night talking about deductions, refunds, personal exemptions. Heck, you could even fall in love and create a little dependent of your own one day. Or they could just answer your filing questions. Tax Act. Let's get them over with.
AJ Hawk (100:50)
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Pat McAfee (101:29)
There's somebody that's joining us now that we're kind of dealing with the tech issue that his opinion worth a lot more than any of ours. Ladies and gentlemen, six time Stanley cup champion, one of the goats, Mark Messier.
Connor (101:42)
Yeah, Moose.
Pat McAfee (101:46)
How you doing, buddy?
Mark Messier (101:48)
Doing. Doing amazing.
Pat McAfee (101:49)
What a.
Mark Messier (101:50)
What a day for hockey yesterday. It was incredible, actually.
Pat McAfee (101:54)
Okay, so let's talk about it. Your feelings on basically the full focus of the NHL, at least the coverage. I'm not saying every team has been focusing on it, but has been this great chase. Has this been something that has just been deemed an impossible record to ever be broken? And how do you feel about the NHL embracing OV's chase entirely, seemingly through it all? Moose?
Mark Messier (102:15)
Well, I have to say that nobody thought anybody would break Gordie Howes records of games played, goals, points. Sure enough, Wayne came along and did all that. I don't think anybody would have thought that Alex Ovechkin would have been able to catch Wayne for 894 goals. It was unthinkable. I mean, we were talking about the statistics last night. 45 goals for 20 straight years, averaging. The longevity, the durability, the focus, the commitment. I mean, you can use all the superlatives that you want to describe Alex and what he's been able to accomplish. It's unfathomable.
Pat McAfee (102:55)
But here we are.
Mark Messier (102:56)
Records are made to be broken, as Wayne had always said. And sure enough, he always said he'll be the first one there to shake his hand when he does, if and when he does break it. And sure enough, he did.
Pat McAfee (103:08)
Yeah, it was a cool moment watching the Great one and the great eight embrace each other as opposed to what some other sports might do. Now, we don't know hockey anywhere near as much as you or anywhere near as much as we know our sport. But we have chatted about this a couple times. How good do you think it is for the Capitals, who have a great team this year, that they kind of get this out of the way now as they look forward to the playoffs? Do you think there was a weight on that team to get this done for ovi because how much they love him? Do you think it was something that was a distraction? Or do you think they were just excited to get this done for their guy and OVI and what do you think, think it means for them going forward now into the most important part of the season?
Mark Messier (103:45)
Well, I can speak Firsthand of being in this similar situation with Wayne and Edmonton, chasing 50 goals in 39 games, being a part of all his records, 60 some records that he was chasing. There is some element of, and I don't call it a distraction. I actually think it's one of the things that really galvanized this team this year. And I think one of the, the most important factors that we can look at through this, Ovechkin's race to 895, was how well the team had played, how well they galvanized together as a team. There was a, there is a common thread that got that team together this year. Yeah, they made some trades in the off season and they improved their team and a lot of players had great years. But you can't discredit how important this was to the team's success this year. And I think it even made it that much more special that the team, team was playing well and they were, you know, leading the team, the league and in points for most of the year and maybe we'll have a chance to win the President's Trophy. You know, I just think it's been a magical year for so many reasons for the Washington Capitals. And I think one of the things I'm most proud of, to be honest with you, is how far Alex has come as a leader. You know, it always wasn't a smooth ride for Alex as a player. Obviously is always scoring goals and doing great things and they had some great teams back in the day, but they had a hard time trying to figure out how to win. And leadership is critical in order for a team to have success. And Alex has become an incredible leader on and off the ice for that team this year. And you can just witness it by the way they talk about him, their body language, their facial expressions when things are like this are happening. He galvanized, encompassed everybody in this moment, which I think made it so much special, so special for the whole organization. The players, managers, coaches, trainers, anybody in that ecosystem, fans alike shared in this moment.
Pat McAfee (105:43)
Yeah. Hell yeah. And that's the hockey difference, you know, that's the beautiful part of your guys sport. It does feel like everybody's more together than any other sport in the current moment. You only played for 25 years in the NHL as a captain, so what the hell would you know? AJ Has a question for you. Mark.
Mark Messier (105:58)
Yeah, speaking of that, playing for 25.
Pat McAfee (106:01)
Years and being one of the all time greats in the NHL, I guess for former stars like you, how does it feel with Ovechkin breaking this rule, it feels like for me, at least as an outsider, kind of a casual, like it's so easy to be happy for the guy because he seems like.
Connor (106:14)
He does it his way.
Pat McAfee (106:15)
He's like you said, he's grown into a great leader, but he also seems like a tough dude that will stand.
Connor (106:20)
Up for every one of his teammates.
Pat McAfee (106:21)
And could play in any era. So for you as former players, like, how does it feel knowing hey, this, this is a great guy that actually beat Wayne's record?
Mark Messier (106:28)
Well, you know, for me it was emotional watching it yesterday because of the. My history with, with Wayne as a friend, as a teammate, winning championships, watching history, watching genius my whole career on a day to day basis. With Wayne, I learned so much for him. His ability to put everybody else ahead of him the way he put the game ahead of everybody, including himself. And I think, you know, when Gordie Howe was there to greet Wayne and shake his hand when he passed Gordie Howe, that resonated with everybody. I think in our sport. It certainly resonated with Wayne because he was a big Gordie Howe fan and he understood the magnitude and gravity of the moment yesterday in the history of our game. And he, Wayne did such an amazing job, you know, as an ambassador to the game his whole career. He did. But then again, yesterday was on full display and it couldn't have been a better moment for our league. It couldn't have been more inspiring for our boys and girls that you know, have their own goals and aspirations. And this is something that the new generation of players should be hanging on to because wow, when you talk about the greats that ever played the game, Alex Ovechin is going to always be recognized as probably the greatest goal scorer of all time. And that is something that not to be taken lightly.
Pat McAfee (107:54)
I like that you 25 years in the NHL, six time Stanley cup champ, know Wayne on a personal basis and everybody else, you go probably the best goal scorer of all time. Because you know it's going to be a debate amongst people. Everybody else is like greatest goal scorer of all time. Stamped, signed, sealed, delivered. I appreciate your perspective. Now what is your perspective as a man who played for 25 years in the NHL? Connor has a question.
Connor (108:16)
Yeah, Moose? Do you see this being the kind of to Ovestin's career? Obviously, you know, who knows what happens in the playoffs but let's say, you know, the Capitals go on and win. Lordo, do you think Ovestrin kind of sails off into the sunset or do you think he might still have a few years left here with the Capitals especially because, you know, they kind of made it out of the rebuild and they're a great, great team again.
Mark Messier (108:38)
Yeah, it's amazing how quickly come out of this rebuild. I don't think anybody in hockey saw the success that Washington's had coming into the year, this year. But you got to give everybody, another organization, a ton of credit, especially the players. It's funny how teams can grab traction sometimes. You never know what that's going to be or what's going to galvanize a team. Clearly they galvanize around this case with, with Alex. But I think for, for me, if I was a guessing guy and I don't know Alex well enough to know what his plans are, but I would, I would have to think that he's going to come back at least for one more year. I think his contract, his contract is up after this year and then I think it'll be determined where he's at. You can see his kids on the ice, his wife. Whether he wants to go back to Russia and, and make a family life there for himself or go back and play there, I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows. But I know one thing, that he'll be back for another year, which is just going to increase that goal lead by even more.
Pat McAfee (109:36)
Yeah, up over a thousand, obviously. Inevitable, seemingly, if he's going to play another year. And hockey seems like such an interesting sport because, you know, like basketball, we were talking to Bron a couple weeks ago, they had Luka, so he's able to go off ball a little bit more now. He's still doing windmill dunks at the age of 40, which is absurd. I mean, he's 6 foot 9, so people are going to say should be able to do. It's like at the age of 40, though I'm 37, I just pulled a hammy taking a dump before the show started. But nonetheless, in hockey you can't really hide, right? Obi's playing his best season, having his best stuff still, and he's playing the same way he's been playing his whole career. Or is there a way that you can adjust as you get older to be able to keep up with the young lads game.
Mark Messier (110:18)
Yeah, I think his game has changed. I don't think he covers quite as much ice as he used to. I think he conserves his energy. He's a smarter player now. He still gets into the same positions the score as he always did. It's just a Different look for him. I don't think he's quite as physical. And let's be honest, he's almost 40 years old. If he doesn't have some young guys around him doing the carrying chop on the wood and carrying the water, they wouldn't have had the year that they have had this year. He's a. He's an incredible weapon, a goal scoring weapon, and that is how they're using him this year. And I kind of compare it to Michael Jordan later in his career. It's not like Michael Jordan couldn't get to the dehoop and dunk and do all the crazy things that we had seen him throughout his whole career. But he also developed an incredible outside jump shot from 20 or 25ft, which made him even that much more dangerous. And if you think about Ovechkin, he can still score from the inside when he wants to. He can still get to the inside. Nobody can move him because he's so big and strong. And of course, one of the best weapons that he's had his whole career is his shot, which he can score from the outside. So he's still a double threat in that regard. His game, I would say if there's anything, he just does not cover as much ground as he once did. He uses his energy, probably smarter than he did when he was younger. He had more obviously more giddy up and more horsepower probably then, but he still finds a way. And you got to evolve. He's played 20 years now. If you don't change, if you don't evolve as a player and as a person in the game, the game will pass you by. Him and Sidney Crosby, both who came in at the same time, have been able to evolve as players keep up with the times, keep up the up with the technology, and have remained incredibly relevant in what we consider a young man's sport.
Pat McAfee (112:04)
You're the best. We appreciate the hell out of you. That's Mark Messier. We'll be back next week on espn. We continue on digital. We'll see you there. Hey, Moose, we appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thank you for taking the time on this historic.
Mark Messier (112:16)
Thanks for having me on. Thanks for having me on. We'll see you guys soon. The playoffs are starting soon.
Pat McAfee (112:21)
Hell yeah.
Darius Butler (112:21)
Oh, yeah.
Pat McAfee (112:22)
Yeah. Let's go, Moose. 25 years in the NHL. Deep debut. 25 years in the NHL. Hard years, they're running sprints. Hard years, they're running sprints.
Darius Butler (112:37)
That. That's insane. We all know I'm a new NHL fan, but I Mean, I understand the physicality game. So to play that two and a half decades. I saw obviously a conversation this morning about comparing OV to LeBron and how the records compare. You know, how physical. Different sports in any sport you can play and dominate and play at anywhere near the highest level for two decades is super impressive. But I didn't know. I know he was coming up and playing the same time as mj. I didn't know Moose knew ball like that.
Pat McAfee (113:07)
Yeah, Moose. Moose knows ball. Moose knows. Moose knows life. Moose. Moose knows leader. Leadership, too. That's why him talking about Ovi's leadership. You could see, like, Mark Bessier, like. Yeah. And he became like a guy, you know, in a change room. That is a guy that wants to win. Had to change up their style in Washington so they could win Lord O'Stanley cup because it was just the Pittsburgh Penguins, baby. Now the end of Ovi's career. Vastly different than seemingly the end of Sydney's career. Nick, what's going on with the Pens? Are we. Are we. Is there any chance of make the playoffs? Pittsburgh Penguins. I almost wanted to ask Moose that, but I didn't want to embarrass myself for not knowing.
AJ Hawk (113:44)
No, no. Officially eliminated from playoff contention. They did get a win over Gumpy's. Texas hockey, though. Sydney Crosby scored a hat trick. Still doing it at this age. Still point of game player. Hey, Sid.
Pat McAfee (113:56)
Still the goat? Okay, thank you.
AJ Hawk (113:58)
The minor league team is on a great pace. They're gonna make the playoffs. They got some dogs coming next year. The dogs are coming next year. The boys will be ready to run.
Darius Butler (114:08)
Talk about you.
Pat McAfee (114:09)
Can't say that. Oh, you're going to get us. Oh, what happened with the Rizzler? I saw him throwing baseballs. Is that right? Firing that thing?
Darius Butler (114:17)
Stop. 12, 6G.
Ty Schmidt (114:18)
Bo, stop it.
Pat McAfee (114:20)
I thought it was a splinker.
Ty Schmidt (114:21)
Kid's 12 years old and he can't.
Darius Butler (114:23)
He.
Ty Schmidt (114:24)
He's two. Hopping a ball from fet away.
AJ Hawk (114:27)
Look like Baro out there.
Pat McAfee (114:29)
That's a good throw. That's a good throw. No, it's not good throw.
AJ Hawk (114:33)
It was an 02 count. He was trying to get too many sweatshirts on under his jersey.
Ty Schmidt (114:38)
You gotta get it there.
Pat McAfee (114:41)
No. Rizzler. That's good throw. Rizzler. They set you up. He should move closer. He wanted to move closer. He knew his distance. He's a Rizzler.
Ty Schmidt (114:47)
I don't know.
Pat McAfee (114:47)
They told him he had to back up a little, but. Yeah. There's no way he's more than ten years old. Whatever the case, four or five.
Ty Schmidt (114:54)
Well, if he's four or five, Whatever the case.
Pat McAfee (114:57)
Seems young.
Darius Butler (114:58)
Seems young.
Pat McAfee (114:59)
Rizzler is eight years old.
Pat McAfee (115:01)
Hey, R, I'm proud of you stepping up there, delivering that. And also. So. Exactly. Riz needs to just keep on growing, keep on going. And, Ty, you should be happy that it was with the Mets, not with the Yankees, because isn't that your guys's thing? They came to the Yankees and they ruined us or yada, yada. He went to the Mets, where everybody said it. Don't worry about what the Riz is doing.
Ty Schmidt (115:20)
That wasn't the Rizzler. That was the Boom family. And if you notice, they weren't anywhere around Yankee Stadium opening weekend when the Yankees, you know, were hitting homers left and right. So I think maybe someone in New York, you know, heard what I had to say about a potential, I don't know, blood sacrifice or, you know, something to kind of reverse the curse.
Pat McAfee (115:39)
Okay, but listen. Yeah, Big Boom is gonna be around. Well, Big Boom's gonna be around.
Ty Schmidt (115:44)
I don't know, because he's.
Ty Schmidt (115:45)
You know, listen, I love big boots. Game gold medalist. I just can't have him, you know, four. Hopping it from 15ft away.
Pat McAfee (115:52)
Yeah, they set him up for failure. You saw it, we saw it.
AJ Hawk (115:56)
Agree. I agree.
Ty Schmidt (115:57)
But then, you know, then that's the Met scum.
Pat McAfee (116:00)
How would you set him up for success? I'm sorry? How would you set him up for success on that one, Pat? Yeah, move them closer. You just. Just move them closer. Hand and. And do a handoff.
Connor (116:10)
Like, what are we going to do? I mean, you can get him some pitching lessons with one of the goats, Michael Rubin. Have him. Got to show him.
Pat McAfee (116:18)
Okay, that was better than that. Exactly. Exactly. His kid's 8 years old, doing his thing. Let's talk about. Let's wrap up all the news of today. Toronto Armstead retires from the Miami Dolphins. Congrats on a hell of a career. He and Julio Jones announced their retirement. Let's go to Miami Dolphins super fan Bubba Gumpino. And then we'll obviously get Darius Butler's thoughts. Dolphins in a good spot or what do we think here, Gumpy?
AJ Hawk (116:47)
Tehran, Armstead and Calais are two leaders of our team gone in the same week. It's.
Pat McAfee (116:53)
It's tough.
AJ Hawk (116:53)
Someone's gonna have to step up for these boys. And I think we got 1D tackle heading into the draft. You know, we need some safeties, we need some quarterbacks. We need a lot of things for. But two is having a Good off season. He was having fun. It's good to see Boom.
Darius Butler (117:08)
Yep.
Pat McAfee (117:09)
Anytime you lose a legend, D, but anytime you lose a legend, it's gonna affect your team. Obviously, Toront Armstead's retirement. I don't know if any of us retire talking about it, offensive line stuff. Who knows if you're doing that. What a hell of a career by this guy. Legitimately 12 years or whatever at the top of the goddamn field. Yeah.
Darius Butler (117:22)
Great run towards the end. He was, you know, always battling, you know, not. Not only like one injury. I felt like every week it was like three or four different injuries that he was battling through, trying to get out there and play. So, yeah, we're, we're, you know, we're in a tough spot right now, but it's April, you know, Chris Greer, he's still there. He's, you know, got a chance to figure it out. We still got Mike running the show. Still got Tua. Tyreek is still on the team for now. We'll see how he stirs the pot. Continue going forward. I'm sure we'll see more tweets, more tiktoks, more shit from Tyreek, but hopefully we can get him back at an elite level.
Pat McAfee (117:54)
Good acting. That was good acting. That was good acting. He didn't give anything away there.
Darius Butler (117:59)
Looks ashamed.
Pat McAfee (118:00)
He didn't give anything away. Always going to be in shape, always going to be fast. You know, Ian Rapport didn't love that he didn't make his bed. But I will say, you watch this video, you can't take it either way, which I think is why it was good acting. I think he probably recorded this, sent this around, said, what do you think this mean? He got four different responses. It was like, perfect. Doesn't mean anything. Then if it means four different things, it doesn't mean anything. Sends it out. Let's go ahead and stir Paul a little bit. That's Tyreek Hill football. Speaking of football, maybe Tyreek should put some hockey skates on. You know, maybe Alexander Ovechkin, since he's got the record, if he sails off in his sunset, maybe he plays American ice football. Did you see what was hitting the Internet this weekend? AJ Hawk. Yes, I am. I am here for this. I would like to attend a game in person at some point. Well, it's west versus east. Not 100% sure who's representing where, but I know if you're spinning it on the ice and you're high knee and high heel in it, this is exactly where you want to be. Bye, Bye. You know, we've obviously had the run on frozen streets before, growing up in four seasons. I like how, like, hesitant they are. Very, very, very hesitant runners. But I also appreciate the athleticism that's on display and the possibilities of pain that could happen here as you slide in for a tud. AJ Hawk. Yeah. Can. I just want to know, can I.
Connor (119:21)
Wear, like, old school golf spikes? You know, the old metal golf spikes.
Pat McAfee (119:25)
That would give me a big. I like that. The ref is on skates, though. These guys have got linesmen working the crew. Are these.
Darius Butler (119:33)
What is this?
Pat McAfee (119:34)
Oh, he breaks two tackles. He breaks three tackles. This man is unstoppable. He's at the seven, then a three and a half. Now he's at the touch. That guy. What a hero he was. Bad snaps, avoids disaster, breaks three tackles, hits it up the sideline for a tug. That guy's a hero. That might be the American ice Football MVP for all we know. But AJ you gotta have good footing. It's hard to break. Defense kind of sucks, but if you get a good shot at him, you got to take them down. Yeah. Good luck.
Connor (120:07)
Good luck.
Pat McAfee (120:07)
D. Butt. Getting into a backpedal and the guy breaks across your kick. Good luck. That's the first time seeing the kick. That's the first time seeing the kick. Right there. Has to be as slick as possible to go back to your question if they're wearing bowling shoes, because you could also. You got a neck tattoo. That guy is going to be tough to stop. And the face. A couple face tabs. I like the way that guy looks. I'm betting on that guy in American ice football. Curling, you know, curling, they have that one shoe that has, like a couple cleats on it, and then the other one is a slider. Feels like they probably make rules that you got to have the bowling shoes on. So it's as slick as possible. D. But how would you fare at American ice football? You think?
Darius Butler (120:47)
I. You know, I don't know. I would be very, very afraid of falling. That I. Ice taking a bad fall. The footing, I'm not sure. The footing. Double moves, impossible to stop. But how do you run them as well, Guy? I haven't seen one guy get out of the post yet, so. A lot of bad. D. I thought from the first few highlights, I for sure thought these were elderly men and possibly women as well.
Connor (121:10)
Until I saw.
Darius Butler (121:12)
Yeah, because, I mean, I mean, like, what. What do we. I'll never be this. This. This down bad. I did see some Indiana freak straight highlights that were Electric.
Darius Butler (121:28)
Zero Respect Undefeated Fish. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Fisher spray. I need to put some respect.
Pat McAfee (121:33)
So. Yeah, that. That's.
Darius Butler (121:34)
Somebody get into that right there. I'll never be that down.
Pat McAfee (121:37)
Come on. It does feel like that is a Caucasian sport there. The American ice football follow up on the Fishers Freight. That team's home arena is actually in Bruce Brown's parking lot. So he has kind of taken them as his team. He is now a season ticket holder. He was on the field for the Fishers Freight home opener.
Darius Butler (121:59)
What?
Pat McAfee (122:00)
The other night they kicked an onside kick. They had some electrifying stuff. Bruce Brown, how's your front yards football team doing? To Fishers Freight.
Mark Messier (122:08)
All aboard the Fishers freight train.
Pat McAfee (122:10)
We are on a straight ride to.
Mark Messier (122:12)
Tucson, Arizona for the IFL championship.
Pat McAfee (122:14)
We actually do look like the team to beat in this league. We got Stokes a dog. Bit of a devo Samuel comp at at wide receiver J Rights our quarterback.
Mark Messier (122:25)
Out of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Darius Butler (122:26)
He's a dog.
Mark Messier (122:27)
All grit, sandpaper jam running it in there. And then, yeah, our kicker kick the onside kick, the McAfee special.
Pat McAfee (122:35)
Perfect execution, right to himself. Look at the crowd. Oh, we were going crazy. We were going crazy legit. He.
Mark Messier (122:44)
He did miss a couple field goals, though. Might have to get those dialed in. But still stole the possession here to get us up 14, nothing early. It was an absolute blast, to be honest with you.
Pat McAfee (122:55)
Bruce was on the field, A.J. he was posting pictures. There was nobody in front of a Bruce. So you sat front row. How much were you paying for that? He's in. Aren't you, Bruce? Where?
Mark Messier (123:04)
I. I was right there. Yeah, you ran it in right in front of me. Those were 80 bucks a pop. Front row, end zone.
Pat McAfee (123:11)
Hell of a view. You're right into the action.
Mark Messier (123:13)
The guys around me were talking a little bit too much to the other team's players.
Pat McAfee (123:18)
So they were kind of turning around looking at me and I was like, guys, look like I'm just here having a good time.
Ian Rapoport (123:24)
I'm not sellout.
Pat McAfee (123:24)
Right. I'm not talking to you. I think it was close.
Mark Messier (123:27)
The.
Pat McAfee (123:28)
The fuel recently had a sellout that I think was 7,000 strong. This was about 6,700.
Darius Butler (123:34)
Okay.
Pat McAfee (123:35)
On that note, if you want to get tickets to see the Fisher Freight in Bruce's backyard, why don't you use our friends at SeatGeek, the greatest ticket buying platform on planet Earth and the moon. The moon. They have 28 million downloads, AJ. 28 million. That's so many downloads. Okay. And they're still the number one rated ticketing app across the board. That's because each ticket that they sell is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. So look for green dots. Green means good, red means bad deal, red means hey, it's a low scoring on their AI scale. You can get a cheaper, better ticket somewhere else. Maybe not even on seatgeek. But if it's green, it says, hey, our AI super smart. Scan the Internet. It's a good deal. It's a good ticket. You'll never get catfished with our friends at SeatGeek. And the men's national championship game is tonight. The NBA is heading towards the playoffs. Baseball is electric. And the Fisher Freight are just getting started. Started on their journey to Tucson for the IFL championship. But it's not just sports. It's all anything. Live get 30 off tickets with code PMS2025 right now. Doesn't matter if you're a new or repeat purchaser. 30 off with code PMS2025. Restrictions apply. Which is it gives the tickets cheaper than 30 bucks probably. All right, boys, let's get out of here. We got Wednesday night, big night. And 8 o'clock it'll be on YouTube, TikTok live and X re air with behind the scenes footage like a documentary style. On Thursday at Hulu, there's gonna be massive surprise. I mean, I can't say this enough. Massive surprises, massive giveaways, massive sing alongs, hopefully some big laughs. And hopefully a night that'll be talked about forever and will be an additive to society, which is all we're trying to be. I gotta get out of here. Get ready to roll. The boys gotta travel over to Pittsburgh. We will see you all on Wednesday. Enjoy tonight's national championship. Enjoy the masters. Enjoy life. And hopefully you'll enjoy Wednesday night alongside of us. And if not, we'll see you next Monday. We're all in this thing together. Let's never forget it. Every single day, trying to be an additive. Hopefully that's my mission. Hopefully that's yours as well. And let's remember, we might disagree on some things, but we got to live here together as a whole. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're gonna sing together. Team on me. Team on. Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye.
AJ Hawk (125:51)
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Pat McAfee (126:55)
Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a king maker. He had wealth, fame and power. Until it all came crashing down.
AJ Hawk (127:05)
Federal employees investigators raiding two homes owned by hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
Pat McAfee (127:10)
I'm Brian Buckmire, an ABC News legal contributor. As Diddy heads to trial, we trace his remarkable rise and fall.
AJ Hawk (127:18)
And what could be next?
Pat McAfee (127:19)
Listen to Bad Rap the Case Against Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
