REShow: Rick Stroud - Hour 2 (2-2-2023)

Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream.

I would change the thing. This is the Rich Eisen Show. His first Super Bowl was the 9-11 Super Bowl. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. A day with Tom Brady just here gives me goosebumps. The Rich Eisen Show.

Brady goes out there and wins the Super Bowl. Earlier on the show, Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira. Coming up, Tampa Bay Times Bucks writer Rick Stroud.

Plus, your phone calls and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Yep, our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on the Roku channel. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial.

Get that phone number handy. We're about to do what we say in the radio business as a call to action. Which is come up with a concept and idea and say, you chime in and you give us yours. React to us. React.

Didn't think you'd go hacksaw with me at the top of the show. But at any rate, we're having a lot of fun here. Our number one, we talked with Mike Pereira, the head of NFL Refs from back in the day. About what we just saw this past weekend.

So many people still talking about the officiating. Andy Reid is talking right now. His first press-wide availability since winning the AFC Championship game. And I'd imagine today's the last day he's asked about Mahomes' ankle, right?

What's to ask him about? That looked pretty damn good in the freezing cold. Now he's going to be indoors in Arizona. Interestingly enough, the season ending for the Chiefs where it began, if you remember, week one for the Chiefs was the boat racing of the Arizona Cardinals. Where it was like, prior to kickoff, all the concept that even I took this cheese a little bit by saying the Chiefs wouldn't win the division but still make the playoffs. No Tyree kill, how's this offense going to look? I mean, to say they smoked the Arizona Cardinals, they filleted them, they smoked them.

However you like your ribs is how they cooked them up. And it began the whole season downward spiral for the Arizona Cardinals. Both, by the way, the Eagles and Chiefs beat the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona this year. And I guess they both measured the drapes and checked on the way things will look in that room for themselves for Super Bowl 57. And that's part of the reason why J.J. Watt's our first guest next week. He played them both.

Played them both. He's now a retiree sitting there in Arizona. I think he tweeted at Tom Brady saying that the tee time is 10 a.m. every single day.

Be out there, be there, be square. And he and Tom are going into the Hall of Fame together. Kind of will ask J.J. about that. So much to talk about with J.J. next week.

And we had Joe Banner on yesterday saying this could be the first of many times these two teams face each other in the Super Bowl. That they're built in a way to last. They've got dynamic young quarterbacks who can run and pass and have hearts of lions to lead. Defensive players who can affect the game. Offensive players who can flip the field.

And coaches who are pretty darn smart and dynamic with their offenses. And so there's that potential for a Groundhog Day in that front. 844-204, rich number to dial here on the program. Let's take a phone call. Waiting for a while. Our friend Jeff in Detroit. What's up Jeffrey? How you been? What's going on?

What's on your phone? First of all, while you were sitting there talking to Mike, something just dawned on me. When a coach messes up, he has to get in front of a microphone and explain himself. If a player messes up on a play, he has to get in front of a microphone. Why doesn't a referee have to do the same? If he makes a blown call or something like that, if the NFL trusts your judgment enough to put you in charge of the game and making a play that could possibly cost a person a game, then you should be able to get in front of a microphone and justify why or why not you did something.

Or say, hey, I made a mistake. How many times have coaches had to do that? I think referees should have to do the same. At least in playoff situations.

Before you move on to what else you wanted to ask, Jeff, just to hit on that. All leagues make a lead official after a game, certainly when there's a controversial call, available for one pool reporter to ask a question or series of questions of the official. And they do have to account. But it is not in some mass press conference mosh pit. It is just one person, member of the media, who has chosen that night prior to the game to be the pool reporter talking to the official.

That's all of it. It's any league. The NBA, you see it. The NFL does it. I think Major League Baseball does it as well. That's the way leagues handle it. They don't want to put their officials out there in front in the same manner that you say a coach or a player has to take account.

That's just the way it goes. So what else is on your mind? I wanted to talk a little bit about Brady. 43.4%. That's the percentage that that man was in Super Bowls.

23 years playing, went to ten Super Bowls, won seven of them. That's crazy. He's an example of what you're perceived as, working to what you want to become. Extraordinary. Extraordinary. Didn't have extraordinary gifts physically or anything like that, and it's possibly going to be the best thing that we've ever seen on a football field, which started us kicking around a conversation in a barbershop. We said to ourselves, what if, and this is just purely hypothetical, what if Michael Vick had the work ethic, study, and discipline as Tom Brady.

What would we say about him in history? Because he had all of the physical gifts, but everything else, the on-field situations with Michael Vick. Where would he be if he had that type of discipline and that work ethic that that man had?

Great question. Thanks for the call, Jeff. I mean, Jim Mora once told me, he told the story, was it on this show or was it on NFL Network? Thankfully they all mesh together, is that when he was coaching Vick and saw that Vick wasn't, I guess, showing the attributes that our friend Jeff in Detroit just said Brady showed and had Vick had the difference. So the coaches knew that and once upon a time gave Vick a DVD. Interestingly enough, as you remember, the Duck It Done Vick years was called DVD. They gave him a DVD and they said, all these plays, you need to look at them.

This is exactly what we think you can do to get better. And he put a hundred dollar bill in it and Vick gave it back to him the next day. And he's like, I watched it all, coach. And he goes, good, let's go over it later on.

Sure, no problem. And he got the DVD back and he opened it up and the hundred dollar bill was still in there. He hadn't watched it. So you can't teach it. I mean, you can try.

You leave the so-called horse to water, but can't make him drink. And I think Vick has admitted that too. And we, as we all know, you know, he's come on the air and he's admitted to that. You could say that. And I'm not going to go down the road of, well, I think this current player should take note.

I mean, we can all sense who's out there right now and has some incredible physical attributes and may not be up to their potential. But you either wake up or you don't, as I think Brady showed. 844-204 rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. It is Groundhog Day. It's Groundhog Day. So Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his crevasse.

What is it? His home, his little, his little, his little home emerged. He kind of got pulled out. And he saw his shadow. How can they tell? How can they tell that this beast has seen his shadow? They know?

Sounds like a scam. They said he saw his shadow. Oh no, Chris, it's very accurate. Which means six more weeks of winter.

But I'm like you, TJ, I believed this for so many years of my life. Like, oh my God, this Groundhog is going to snow some more? So it's six weeks past what the date? Yes. By which you turn from winter to spring? Is that official solstice? Is that what it is? No, I think it's from today.

That's a good question. Six more weeks from when you thought it was going to end. Six weeks from today. If he didn't see his shadow, then winter's over on the spot. First week of February.

That means early spring. Who the hell knows, right? But anyway, as you are currently doing right now, you're watching the brilliant film. The brilliant Bill Murray fronted film, OK, that was was directed by Harold Ramis, who a lot of people may remember. He was in Ghostbusters. He had the glasses on. He was also Bill Murray's friend in Stripes. And he wrote I believe he wrote this and directed this film.

But at any rate, it's brilliant. Wakes up, lives the same day over and over and over again until he gets his life straightened out and then lives out the day. You know, in the most positive way possible and wakes up the next day. So, Chris, yes, I have a question for you and everyone else out there at 844-204-rich.

Number two dollar. If you could relive one sports day in your life, what day would that be? And I will give that give that to you first. What's the one day I had a lot of great sports days, you know, just professionally. My team's won a lot in the last 20 years. Guys have heard all that sort of like his basketball team basketball. Even college.

Syracuse won a national title in 2000. So you have a lot to choose from. A lot to choose from. An embarrassment of riches. There was the day I hit seven threes in a high school game.

Could be that if you'd like. A school record for a long time. The Al Bundy of Maine prep.

I even threw a game winning touchdown pass in overtime once and I took my helmet off and ran around the field like Brett Favre. But I'm going to choose the most recent of my sports team's championships. The fourth Boston Red Sox World Series title. October 28th, 2018.

Why might you ask? Well, it was the only one I was in person for. It was out here in Los Angeles.

Game five on a Sunday. I went to the game and more importantly, it was who I went with. I went with my long time friend. One of the first friends when I moved to Maine when I was 12. He was my college roommate. We played sports together in high school. He was my college roommate. And then he was my roommate out here in Los Angeles for eight years. And so him and I went to the game together. Both obviously die hard Red Sox fans. And we watched him win the game. It was awesome.

Right down to Chris Sales striking out Manny Machado to end the game. Now the question I have for you, because this is Groundhog Day. And you'd be reliving it over and over and over again. Would you at one point go up, run out on the field?

Because you know you're going to it starts from scratch next day. You're not going to wind up in jail. Would you run out on the field, go up to Mookie Betts and say to him, you can't leave.

I know you're looking around here. By the way, this is where you will go to. You cannot leave no matter what. Just in case you do wake up the next day. It is the next day and you save Mookie Betts from leaving. Would you do something like that?

One thousand percent. I'll probably do that every single time just to really drive home the point. I'll also probably run out into the stands in left field where Steve Pierce's first inning home run lands.

I'll probably catch that. I might even, knowing that Manny Machado is going to swing at such a terrible pitch to end the game. I'll probably rip the ball away from Chris Sale and throw it in the dirt because I know that he's going to swing and miss. Geez, this guy.

He's pretty terrible. Just so I can get the game-winning save, I'll probably do all of those things. But you'd hope to prevent Mookie from actually staying in Los Angeles. That would probably be the most important. Yeah, I don't think that would help. I don't think it would stop it.

You never know. Good try. Mike, what's yours? Sorry, what's yours, Mike?

We actually spoke about mine yesterday. Super Bowl 36. I would love to go back that day when the Patriots and Tom Brady won their first. Right. Of the many Super Bowls.

Look at you on the left. Oh my gosh. And what's great is that I did not go on the field the entire week. I had a big, like, you can't go on the field thing until the morning of the game. You mean your own personal superstition? People told me because it's your first Super Bowl that you're doing.

You got to wait. That Sunday I went out. It was like one of those, yeah, you can't go out. In the same way that when we do COVID testing here every week, you've got to be the last one to test because otherwise you're going to have it. I'm very superstitious like that.

So that upright that I took that picture on is the upright that Vinatieri kicks the ball with it. And of course you two and Paul McCartney being in there. I would change a lot of things those days. I did not leave the truck for halftime because I'd do the halftime show. But this is Groundhog Day, wouldn't you? I would go to see you two on the field, which I didn't get to see.

I watched on a little monitor. You'd go up to Bana. Like you'd go up to Bana. You'd go on the field, on the stage and just play guitar. I would go on the field. You could take Edge's guitar away and start playing. Actually, that's not how Groundhog Days work.

You'd have to do the same thing that you did that day. Well, at some point, as you know, in the movie, Bill Murray starts driving. He's driving angry, right? I mean, one point.

He learns how to play piano. He stole the Groundhog. Yeah, but I mean, this isn't Back to the Future.

We're not changing the future. No, this is Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day, you can do whatever you want. It doesn't matter. When you wake up, it's the same day again.

That you get your life right and at some point you're moving on, but you get to relive it over and over again. I smashed a really nice watch, a Breitling watch. Oh, take your watch off. I would take the watch off.

I destroyed a Breitling. You could run on the field and catch a touchdown. I'm going to call Terry's field ball. You could hear Summerall going, who's this guy on the field? Touchdown.

Maybe they should play for overtime. I'm going to try to get the first ball. Wait a minute.

It's that guy, that sound guy that always comes up to me whose name I don't remember. Touchdown. What do you got over there, TJ?

What's yours? I thought we were talking about sports memories. This guy's talking about watches and busting watches. No, this is Groundhog Day. He's talking about hitting seven threes in a rec league game. That wasn't rec.

It's high school. I mean, look, you know, I had I've been fortunate enough to be alive for four of my team's Super Bowl wins. I do remember, you know, one basketball, couple one baseball. But, you know, if I was going to say there's something I could go back and relive, it would be time spent with my grandfather because that was my best friend. And we you know, we watch baseball together. And yes, I'd learn how to like, you know, really read by reading box scores to him from Dodger game.

Nice. He's the one who got me obsessed with wrestling. So I would say to go back to March 29th, 1987. Look at Jaffa mosque in Altoona on closed circuit TV before they had pay per view. Me and my grandpa went and watched WrestleMania three. And in front of two hundred ninety five thousand people in the Silver Dome, Hulk Hogan slammed Andre the Giant. And it was the greatest thing that ever happened in wrestling.

So I would go back and just relive that moment with my grandpa because that was awesome. In the Silver Dome? Yeah, that's where it was. Ninety thousand people. Well, I mean, the attendance varies anywhere from ninety thousand to like one hundred and fifty thousand, depending on.

I just said two hundred twenty thousand people. Remember they used to have that curtain, like the probably like probably the largest curtain ever to curtain off half the stadium, probably for WrestleMania. That curtain wasn't there that day. But for me, it was just like, you know, me and my grandpa to share those, to go back and just like, you know, watching a baseball game with him or watching basketball with him. And he's a guy who like he predict things. We were watching the Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson fight. He called in the fourth round that Mike Tyson was going to lose the fight. And I was I'll never forget it. I was like, are you out of your mind? Mike Tyson can't lose any last. You know, he he he'd predict stuff.

So I don't know. But going back at that moment would be pretty dope. I like it. Well, my my moment does involve the state of Michigan. And I would if I could choose a sports moment to live over and over and over again, the day it would be would be the day. Michigan beat your Seton Hall Pirates there.

OK. It would be the day that Grand Rice, you know, shot the lights out. He was the most outstanding player of the tournament. Remiel Robinson made the free throws. And and the reason why, first of all, I'd be back in college. I was about to say you were there. Number one, I was in college. Well, that night I had I watched the game with my fraternity brothers in my fraternity. But earlier in the day, I had drawn the short straw at the Michigan Daily, the greatest student publication in the history of higher learning. I was part of the sports editor group that wasn't at the game. And I drew the short straw of locking the newspaper up.

So I had to take in the copy from Seattle, edit it and make sure that the newspaper locked. So I was running to there as everyone else was running to the center of campus to celebrate. I was like a salmon going upstream and I wasn't, you know, drinking at the fraternity house like the rest of my fraternity brothers. But you had one or two I bet.

I don't know. I mean, no, I had a job to do, you know, like. And so I would go back and if I had to relive it over and over again, I would get bombed. OK. One time I would totally like screw the newspaper and just go to the center just to see what the celebration was like. Another time I get bombed, I'd probably find that one girl I was too afraid to ask out, you know, just to help. You know what I mean?

Just go for it and just go just go for it. Since I was, you know, another time I'd probably rip out one of those parking meters and throw it, you know, like everyone else was doing that night. Oh, yeah. I'd go back to college and just keep reliving that night over and over and over again.

Yeah, I know. And that was my first taste of of winning in a big championship in college. How long did it take you to finish work before you could then go join the celebration? It was over. Oh, really? They had a party all night? TJ, it was on the West Coast. Yeah. So like, you know, the game didn't end till like midnight. And then the copy would come in after the press.

I think I got home at like three in the morning that night. Wow. Yeah. And this was back in the day when they had to like set the type there. Oh, yeah.

You know, and run the press press that smell. But I would relive that just so I could be back in college. You know, I'd go say hello to Desmond when he was a freshman. You know, I mean, I'd I'd I'd I'd live my best life back in college one more day over and over and over again. Do you think we need one more? Thank you. All right. We'll get one more. Here's one more. Mike, I know yours is very heartfelt.

Yes. But here it is. This is I think collectively this is the day we we prefer to all live together just to see if this is true or not. Go up there on the screen. It's the day that Mike Del Tufo invented the K-Corner.

April 19th, 1984. We would want to go there just to see Mike Del Tufo. You are telling us the truth. I showed you the article from the New York Times. The New York Times did quote you as saying that you were in charge of the K-Corner, but you didn't create it. No, I told you I never created these guys. The other guys left.

Mike was still there. So I would go there just to tell these guys, don't leave. The New York Times is about to get there.

There's a reporter parking his car right now. You're the one who's been bringing these backward Ks for Dwight Gooden's starts. Don't leave. You've been schlepping here to Queens on the 7 train with your backward Ks and your frontward Ks against the Phillies, against the Padres. The Times is about to come and do a story on you and you're leaving and you're going to let this jamoke from New Jersey take the credit. I would have gone in the outfield and caught Gary Carter's winning home run. There you go.

At the end of the game. Yeah. Now that I think about it, I might have done different things now that my mind is not racing. There you go. All right.

Okay. I did love the Andre Hulk Hogan moment, but when you talk about going back to college. There's still two hours left on the show and you give us yours.

What's your Groundhog Day moment that you'd like to relive? 844-204 riches, the number to dial here on the show. Well, when we come back, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, let's get him on the phone. We're a little late for him, but hopefully he'll understand.

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See sleepnumber.com for details. I didn't understand your sign. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, the Rich Eisen Show desk. That's where I'm sitting at. Furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Our friend from the Tampa Bay Times, Rick Stroud is back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Rick? Sorry, we're a little late. We were talking about Groundhog Day and what day you'd want to relive, you know?

You know, if we could change here, Rich, I got one. I swear to God, this happened. One of my better friends at the time, best friends, whatever, made a play on a girl I was dating. And then we got in a fight and he broke my nose. And then that night my dog died.

It was like a country music song. It was the weirdest thing. It was literally, that was the day I'd like to relive. Oh, my God. You don't want to relive that, Rick. There's going to be something. I want to change the outcome.

I don't know if I can save the dog, but I want to change the outcome. Okay. All right. Very good. Understood. But I got to tell you, your nose looks great on the photograph we have up on the screen. Just so you understand. It's all good. It's all worked out. I've met your wife. Your life looks great. No, everything's fine. Great. Fantastic. So were you, let's put it this way, were the Bucks caught surprised by Brady's video yesterday?

I don't know about the video. They were told two hours or so before that. I think they're surprised by the timing. I think they thought, you know, he had said he was going to take a little more time this year than he did. And he actually, you know, it was Groundhog Day, right?

February 1st again. So from that standpoint, maybe a little bit and disappointed a little bit. But surprised, I mean, Rich, if you lived what Brady experienced and like we saw him every day, and I know people in the organization were much closer to it than even we were coaches and whatnot, it was a lot. You know, it was, he suffered. And all that went on in his personal life, trying to prepare, you know, the football team wasn't good enough for him to excel. He was in a lot of areas.

And it was just really a heavy lift. And, you know, I'm not surprised because I, and we talked about this when I talked to you last time, I really think that maybe the best, possibly the only option was becoming, going back to Tampa Bay. And, you know, he was disappointed in how things went and probably disappointed a little bit. And Todd Bolts probably really disappointed in the offensive line. They fired a bunch of coaches. He'd have to come in, learn a new system.

That's not a big deal. But, you know, all that considered was, you know, was he going to go out west? You know, according to his dad, I read a column in the Boston Globe where his dad said he decided a week ago.

Well, that would have been before Brock Purdy got hurt. I obviously didn't change his mind. So, you know, it seemed like he was sort of running out of options and it was just a really, really hard year for him. So, I'm happy if he's happy with his decision. It doesn't surprise me. People around him, and I had written this, really thought he was going to play. They thought it was very likely he would play again. So, do we know what caused him to sit on the dune and flip the phone around and hit send on the video? Do we know at all, Rick?

What do you think? I'd love to be the person that was watching Tom Brady or walking by. Remember that day we saw him out? Yeah, he was actually retiring that day. I was saying it's like some 75-year-old former teacher from New York who, you know, moved down there with his metal detector looking for some precious metals and like, oh my goodness, look who this is, you know, like, you know, could be one of those. Looked like one take to me.

I don't know. No, I don't, you know, again, nothing Tom does is spontaneous, really, at this stage of his life. And I love the way he did it.

I love that it was simple and, you know, less than a minute. And he let himself get emotional and into his feelings a little bit so we could see that. But I don't know that there was, you know, an actual tipping point, so to speak.

I just think that probably Rich, he probably was headed that way during the season. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'll never go – I mean, you go back to the scene after the Ravens game.

They lost two games in four days and they were three and five. And honest to goodness, you know, it felt for the guy. I mean, he sat there literally in full uniform with his head between his legs and not talking, not acknowledging anybody.

And Gabbert was sitting there trying to talk to him and didn't get up for like 20, 25 minutes. And then, you know, the next day his divorce was final. You know, he announced his divorce.

And so, you know, that was the low point. He certainly bounced back from that. When you saw the weight loss, you saw so much stress on this guy. And he battled, man. He just battled. And he got him in there. He got him back in the playoffs.

This has been a magical run in Tampa. He said he wouldn't change anything. I think there's some things he definitely would change, especially in the last year. What are those?

What are those, Rick? Well, I think he would – I think he would probably want a better football team. You know, and I don't – listen, I'm not blaming those guys. I mean, I think Jason Light did whatever Tom sort of wanted him to do. But once Ryan Jensen went down, that took a huge bite out of their offensive line. And then he had the retirement of Ali Marpet. And listen, you know, think about the teams he played for here in Tampa. But the ones he wound up playing for last year or playing with last year, you know, no Gronk, no Antonio – no AB, no Antonio Brown. I mean, regardless of his sanity at the end there, he was a hell of a player. You know, no Ali Marpet.

You can go down the line. You know, they lost Alex Capita for the agency. I mean, there's a lot of things that occurred and that football team was not very good. And so I think he might have, you know, misjudged what they were building.

And there were some bad breaks along the way, you know, with Godwin coming off an ACL, with Julio Jones getting hurt in the first week and all that stuff. But, yeah, I think he probably – and obviously he regrets having to, you know, miss 10 days of training camp. I mean, that is not the best recipe to get, you know, in sync with your receivers and some new guys that have come aboard. And it's just not the way Tom Brady works. It's just not the way he's prepared.

So I think all of that is probably something he would change. Tampa eight times, Rick Stroud right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's start turning the page here. Him retiring as a buck. I know, you know, Robert Kraft went on CNN today saying, you know, I'd love to have him sign a one-day with New England. Normally that sort of formality is just done and written off. But there's some serious cap ramifications, right? Like let's talk about the unwinding of the Brady relationship in Tampa.

What's the scoop there, Rick? Well, I think there's a process at some point. He would probably have to, you know, sign a one-year kind of minimum deal. They've got to move money, you know, with the bucks. He's got to go on a retirement list at some point. When that process is done, his, you know, $35 million, $11 million of it would count on this year's salary cap.

$24 million on next year's salary cap if they wait until after June 1st to put them on the reserve retired list. And so I think he'll be agreeable to that. I don't get the whole ceremonial one-day contract business. I mean, in my mind, I don't think Tom thinks that's necessary. We'll see if he does that, you know, to help his buddy Robert Kraft. But, yeah, procedurally, I think he's going to stay on the roster for a little while even though he's announced his retirement to the world just to get them some cap. It's similar to what Drew Brees did with the New Orleans Saints, you know, when he bowed out to reduce their cap stress. So actually by retiring and not playing more, the Bucks will get some relief out of that rather than if he had gone somewhere else it would have been the full $35 million.

And of course they'll seek it, right? I mean, and Brady's the type to make sure that they're not hamstrung or caught on a hook for it. And I guess, you know, the entire time with Brady, the journey, the trip, the venture, everyone knew that the clock would strike midnight at some point. And it appears to finally be doing so right now because the for now, you know, for good is not a for now. Last year kind of did still feel like a for now, like we couldn't believe it. And then he came back, as we all know.

This for good seems real. So now what's the plan? What do you got for me at quarterback for this team right now?

I don't have anybody. I mean, I got Kyle Trask, you know, who's the only quarterback under contract. And, you know, Kyle has been here two years trying to learn a system that he's no longer going to play in.

Wow. He's not been a quick study anywhere he's been. He's always been that guy that had to grind his way to a starting job, whether he's at Florida or wherever. So, you know, the plan before Tom retired, unretired the first time was to bring Blaine Gabbert back and let him and Trask battle it out. You know, that's why Arians bowed out, didn't want to leave him a bad team, whatever. I think now a lot will depend, Rich, on who they hire as an offensive coordinator.

And, you know, they've interviewed a lot of guys, like seven guys. I think the guy that's probably the best for the job might be Todd Monken, although I'm not sure why he would leave Georgia after two national championships. But, okay, he makes $2.1 million. If they gave him $3 million for three years, would that do it? I don't know.

But the one thing I know about Todd is that he worked a year in Cleveland, loved Baker Mayfield, loves him. So do you go that route? Do you go the free agent, let's see if we can catch lightning in a bottle, Geno Smith type thing? Or do you swing for the fences, which is what the Blazers have wanted to do. They want to stay relevant, right?

But at some point you've got to get your house in order, too. So, you know, if Derek Carr were to not be traded and become the free agent sometime before March, you know, are you trying to get him? Or, you know, I don't think Aaron Rodgers is going to be traded to an NFC team, so that seems unlikely.

There's just not a lot of great options. So having said all that, you know, there are guys out there that they can maybe live with that will, you know, function with the football team. But the first thing is get the cap right. They don't pick. They have the 19th overall pick. They have to knock it out of the park in the draft somehow. You probably would want to maybe bring a quarterback with you. I mean, that's the other thing, Stetson Bennett was very functional in Moncken's offense. You don't know if that would be an option for them later in the draft.

So they're looking at everything and anything, but I tend to believe that they're also going to have to, like I say, get their house in order. But it was worth it, Rich. It was worth the ride, man. This was Brady's second act. He'll always be a patriot and he won all those Super Bowls and played all those years there, but it was a pretty damn good second act. And I think he enjoyed his time here. And if you look at what he did, he threw for 15, what was it, you know, 15,000 yards or something like that and got him to the playoffs three years in a row.

Won two division titles in the Super Bowl. Not too bad. Not too bad at all. Unbelievable. Spectacular. I mean, worth every moment, worth every ounce of getting him and, you know, waiting out last year and, you know, this past year and whatever the next iteration at quarterback is going to be, whoever it's going to be.

Worth every single dime or time spent or blood, sweat or tear, all of it. I totally agree. But when you say big swing for the fences, you know, I'll throw a name out.

You tell me if this is totally insane or not. But, you know, he wants to play in the state of Florida. He's from the state of Florida.

I know it's not South Florida, it's Central Florida. What about going in the complete opposite direction and seeing if Lamar Jackson's available? And if the Ravens do want to somehow move on or they can't come to some agreement that this is hammered out for the next quarterback to be the exact stylist, stylistic opposite of Tom Brady. Any thoughts on that at all? Well, I mean, he would definitely fall under the, you know, the big swing. That's what I'm saying.

Biggest, right? I mean. I'm kind of sitting here about what big swings, if they are interested in one, I think Rogers never would the Packers want to trade him in conference. No, Lamar Jackson makes sense because he's coming from the AFC and he's a Florida guy. Somehow they got stuck.

You'd have to make that phone call, right? See where they're at. Because, like I said, some of these coordinators, they're looking at like a Shea Tierney, for example, you know, the quarterback's coach for the Giants. I mean, what did he do with Daniel Jones?

That looked pretty good, right? So you can do some stuff depending on who you hire as a coordinator and make an offense that works for Lamar Jackson, no question about it. And look, there's still some pretty good players down here. Last time I checked, even though Mike Evans will be in his tenth year, which is hard to believe, Chris Godwin will be a year removed from the ACL injury. You know, they've still got some guys and that would be okay. You know, if he did that, you'd still be calling me next year.

That would be fine. You know, I knew you would say that. Look, Rick, you and I, just because Brady's not there doesn't mean that I'm like new phone who dis, you know, with you, okay? Like, I am fascinated by the Buccaneers, no matter who is the quarterback, all right? You have my word, all right? I'm not going to be one of those, like, look, man, thanks for the Brady years, but see you later. Trask, get out of here, you know what I mean? That sort of thing.

I'm not going to do that. Yeah, I understand. We had a good time together for three years. We should stay in touch, absolutely. And I'm there for you, Rich, and hopefully they'll make this interesting. I hope they learn something from these Brady years and they can stay relevant, but there's only one goat, so it may not be as frequent. But yeah, absolutely.

I hope we hear it from each other a lot. You know, look, Rick, I think I called you when Winston was the quarterback, right? I mean, didn't I? No, you did.

You've never. Did I? I'm loyal, man.

You'll never lose my number. I mean, are you saying you wear the scars of the Shaun King years still? I mean, is that what you're saying? Even though he did play in an NFC championship game, you know what I mean? Look, Winston was not an easy ride. You know, there were 33 interceptions in there somewhere that I had to endure. That was the last year?

That's why they went to Brady, right? I know. Yeah, absolutely. And that was five years of my life that I will not get back. But then, you know, for 12 years, they didn't make the playoffs.

So who am I to complain? I just, you know, we had this carpet ride and it'd always be part of the, you know, Comrade would always be part of the Bucks' lore. And listen, if they erect a statue of them, and I think they probably will, it better be not the classic quarterback pose. They need to have him tossing that Lombardi Trophy over a stream of water to Cam and Brady, who, by the way, had two of the biggest receptions of Tom Brady's career.

The last touchdown pass he ever threw and the Lombardi Trophy across the Hillsboro River. So there's the guy you need to talk to. See, this is why I'm calling you.

Even if Josh Freeman comes out of retirement and takes the job, I'm calling you. Okay? You hear me? That's my word. And it is bond.

It is a bond. Thanks for the call, Rick. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Anytime. All right. Talk to you in 10 years. Take care, Rick. Thanks for the call.

This is Rick Stratton, everybody. Where's that ball? Where's the last touchdown ball? Hold on. Let's take a break. We're coming back. We're going to talk about it.

844-204-rich number to dial. And Groundhog Day. What sports Groundhog Day would you want to relive? I know. I know. I know there's one on the phone line. We'll take that. And there's a couple more to come. 844-204-rich number to dial.

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NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. All right, so it's been well established that Mike Evans takes valuable footballs thrown to him by Tom Brady and flips them in the stands, because he flips them all in the stands. We had him on prior to the playoff game against the Cowboys, and I'm like, dude, what are you doing? And he says, that's what I do.

He said he wasn't going to stop doing it. And sure enough, this wound up being Tom Brady's last game. Thankfully for Brady, Cameron Brait grabbed the ball. I'm assuming that ball is in Tom Brady's possession or the Buccaneers possession, except they went for two, right? They went for two, yes. And it went to Evans, right? Went to Mike Evans.

And what did you, what have you gleaned? Well, after watching it, Brait caught the touchdown, right? So as you watch Brait go through the celebrations, he's still holding on to the ball. So I'm assuming that ball made it to the sideline.

No one knew it was going to be the last one. Evans caught the ball in the right corner of the end zone. He caught the two-point conversion.

There's a camera shot from behind him. He catches the ball, he stands up and just chucks the ball away. So it did not make the stands?

It did make the stands. He just dropped it off in the corner of the end zone. What's with him?

What's with him? We don't know where that ball is. Wow. But that's not... Somebody had to grab it. That's not the ball that's going to go to auction and get like a million dollars. But that was his last scoring play, though. It's his last scoring play, but it's not a touchdown. It's actually a dead play. It doesn't really, it doesn't count for anything.

Of course it does. Yeah, if you have the ball, it counts for two. No, no, but it doesn't count.

The last points scored by... He doesn't get two yards for that. He doesn't get a completion. But he gets two points on his points total, doesn't it, for his entire career? Only in fantasy.

Yeah, maybe not. Mike Evans does. Mike Evans gets the two points. But the number of points that he has put on the board... You want the touchdown ball. Yeah, you want the touchdown ball. I would agree the touchdown ball is far more valuable than the...

Probably, yeah. But the last one, Evans did not throw in the stands. He didn't. Like he did like career touchdown 700 combined for playoffs and regular season. Right.

Now if that guy who got that 700th football, that 700th touchdown football, flipped to him and got all those, you know, got a lot for it, would he want to relive that day? Was he named Byron? I think so.

Right. Wasn't it Byron Kennedy, was it? Yeah, he called into the show, yeah. He called into the show. And he would relive the day and sell his crypto on the spot.

On the spot, yeah. Because he got money in Bitcoin, right? He got one Bitcoin, which is like 60K at the time. And just say, bro, don't hold on to that.

It's not 60K at the moment. Don't hold on to that. He'd relive that moment. Mike Evans comes up to him each time.

24,000, Mike. But look, he got season tickets, I think so. He'd hold out for more. He'd hold out for more on like day 10. Well, you couldn't hold out for more, Rich, because it turned out to not be the last one, so he couldn't hold out.

No, no, no. That was a different one. That was a different one. Byron caught the 600.

No, this guy caught a milestone 700th career touchdown pass for Brady, regular and playoff seasons combined. There was a dude who caught the, who got the one. That we thought was the last. That we thought was the last one in auction. It wasn't flipped to him. He bought it in auction for a ton of money.

And when Brady unretired. He got his money back. He got his money back. Right.

Because it was just a regular old football. Now it's the Cameron. Brake caught one. That's the one.

Where is it? He had a, I'm sure either Brake kept it or gave it to Brady. Right? Usually the player keeps it.

Yeah, I doubt. How do you not give that to Tom Brady? Brake probably wouldn't have given it to him at the moment because he had no idea knowing. But Brake 1000% did not spike the ball. He didn't chuck it. He had it in his hand for a few seconds. I think everybody in that building knew this was the end. Let's just ask him.

Do you think? I'm going to tweet Cameron. Didn't they all say, didn't Ian's report said the day after they all thought like Brady was talking and acting like it was over? We need Cameron to come in. I remember we talked to Rick Stroud. I got the podium after it felt like he was saying goodbye to the media room.

His parents. Goodbye. You say goodbye to the media room. But at the time when he grabs the ball, I would be holding on to that if I'm Cameron Brake. Oh yeah. I mean, look, that ball is going to put Cameron Brake's kids through college if he held on to it. He's giving it to Tom Brady. That ball is on Brady's shelf.

By the way, I saw, and if the NFL tweeted out or Instagrammed out as well, Brady's first career touchdown pass. And I got it. I got it from my two Buckeye honks. Terry Glenn. It was Terry Glenn. Yeah.

Rest in peace. I got it in my text exchange from the money manager to the stars. Don Weir and Breier texted it to me saying, Michigan man threw it in with a Buckeye to start his career.

Like, okay, God. Do you know who called it? Ian Eagle. No way. Ian Eagle called Brady's first touchdown pass on CBS.

If I'm not mistaken, a few years ago, there was a big article about what happened to that ball because Terry Glenn threw it in the stands. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's right. That's right. I forgot.

And that's right. I just had the same reaction that I'd probably, I think I had last year was like, why are people taking Brady's footballs and throwing them in the stands? Well, Terry Glenn's a little understandable.

I'll be back then. He didn't know if Brady was going to start the next week. Oh my God. He was still wearing the emotional scars of the Parcells years. Can you imagine if a coach referred to a receiver these days as she, because he thought the player wasn't tough enough. Could you imagine if Parcells had done or some coach had done that today? They'd probably get fired, right?

Well reprimanded to say the least. Hour three coming up. 844-204-rich is the number to dial. I see all these phone lines lit and it gives me great pleasure because we're going to do this whole business of Groundhog Day for sports.

Outstanding 844-204-rich being the number to dial right here. Did you see the Super Bowl uniforms have been tweeted out? I saw that in case he's wearing white, right?

Yeah, because there it is. There's Mahomes wearing it right there. I saw they were putting the patches on.

Putting the patches on and they sell them. The Eagles had a video of the patch being sewn on. The Eagles wearing the green?

Eagles are. They're the home team and said, we are wearing green. They wore green against the Patriots, right? I'd imagine so. I think they did, didn't they? That's what I'm trying to remember. They did. Yeah, they did. Yeah.

So they're the home team, quote unquote, home team that switches back and forth and they say they're wearing green. It's going to be a great game. I'm pretty excited.

So many people are asking me for my opinion. I was on Rex Chapman's pod. It came out today. I recorded it yesterday from home and I can't tell. Right now I have no idea and everyone thought, what a cop out.

I have no idea. Either one of these teams can win. Who do we get in? We have one prediction so far, right? We have. From Eli, right?

We have one, yeah. Eli. Eli chose the Chiefs. Eli said Chiefs. It felt like Chris Long was leaning Chiefs. Well, he's coming on Monday, so we'll get him there. Oh, we didn't ask Jesse Palmer. I'll text him. Yeah. Eagles are still the favorite. One and a half points. Good to know. Power 3 coming up.