After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

What makes your skin crawl, no matter how absurd? I want to know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums? I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio.

Season two, the Dixie Mafia available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Good morning to you. Am I annoying yet with my countdown to USA versus Iran? I have to start saying it right, too. I generally do change how I say it from day to day, not on purpose.

Sometimes I say it the way I hear other people say it, and sometimes I say it a different way. And so as you'll hear coming up this hour, there was a reporter from Iran who corrected Tyler Adams in his pronunciation. And the class with which Tyler handled himself was role model worthy. This is a young guy. He's 22 years old and he is the captain with no World Cup experience before they got to Qatar. And he has impressed me at every turn, certainly the way he's played.

The speed of Tyler Adams was on display going back to their game against England. But also the leadership. You see him talk to his teammates, rally his teammates, keep his teammates going.

It's obvious what Greg Berhalter sees in Tyler and why Tyler is the captain. So that's on the schedule for this hour. Also, we'll do... You know what? We'll take a little bit of time to look at the Denver situation, because one of the burning questions about the last six weeks of the season is what can be done about the Broncos offense?

What can be done about the Broncos in general? And I'll explain as we get to that coming up in, say, 18 minutes here on the show. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there.

For home loan solutions that fit your life, Rocket can. So please find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, or if you'd like to vote, actually you can... Not an or, you'll have to pick. You can vote by going to my Twitter or our show Twitter, After Hours CBS, TD of the Week. I love the responses we're getting already on both Twitter and Facebook.

It's great. It's a popular poll that we do every week, as is Mortification Monday, which I think the poll is probably just wrapping up now. But you can always check. We'll go back and we'll reveal those results to you. But you can always find those polls on our show Twitter. We generally pin the most recent to the top of the Twitter account. And also on our Facebook page, it's easy to scroll, scroll, scroll your boat gently down the stream.

Oh, scroll, scroll, scroll your boat gently down the feed. I am a weirdo. I had to get up early for the dentist on Monday. So I guess that prepared me for getting up early for the soccer game on Tuesday.

Do you want to know what torture is? Having to wake up early and not being able to drink coffee. That is torture because I only woke up, the dentist is in my town. So I didn't have to go very far.

It was only a mile. But I didn't want to have to drink coffee. Well, I didn't want to have to brush my teeth after I drank coffee. And so I just went to the dentist and didn't drink coffee.

What's the difference though? They're cleaning my teeth, I guess. So they should, yeah, I guess like in retrospect, there was no need to worry about it. But I didn't feel like it was right to go with coffee breath.

It's nice of you. But I'm sure they've smelled worse. Oh, I guarantee it.

Yes. And so I had to walk the dog, feed the dog, get in the car, drive, all of that without coffee. Then, this is a true story. It's still required at my dentist's office to fill out a COVID screening and to wear a mask. And I just assumed that I had one in my car.

I forgot about that mask burning party. I did not have one in my car. So I also had to call up.

You still have to call before you're allowed to walk in the door. Nowhere really that I've seen in the last couple months, a year, have done that. I spent the weekend with 200 people. We were all kind of jammed in. We were sharing a couple buildings and sharing meals.

No one mentioned it. It doesn't seem as though, at least the people I was hanging out with, that it's a concern anymore. But at my particular dentist's office, you still have to go through all these steps. So when I called up, I said, hi, I'm here in the parking lot.

It's 2020. I do not have a mask. Sorry, I don't keep one in my car anymore. And she said, oh, don't worry, I have a mask for you. So I walk upstairs. I open the door. She right away hands me the mask. I know.

Real intense about it. I probably didn't need to worry about coffee breath because I was wearing a mask. The funny part is you take off the mask when you walk in to get your teeth cleaned. It really doesn't make sense.

To put it on just to take it off when they're as close as they can be. However, can I tell you a really cool story that made up for the fact that I had to sit there in the lobby with a mask on? There was a gentleman who was in the back getting his teeth cleaned or talking about his teeth with the actual dentist. And he was talking really loudly because he was older.

Maybe that's not why. Maybe he just has no indoor voice like me. Who am I to talk about loud voices or loud noises? Anyway, he he was I could tell he was an older gentleman just by the way he was speaking. They were recommending to him that he get a root canal and he was asking for a recommendation. He was trying to understand what it was that he had to have done. So they were answering all his questions.

But out in the lobby, I could clearly hear everything that he said because he was speaking more loudly. So the man walks out into the lobby and he's getting ready to leave the dentist's office. And the woman at the counter says, oh, you forgot your coat.

He was going to walk out without his coat. And when he spun around to find his coat, he made a joke about how he was getting old. And then he said, actually, I'm already old. And I realized he had a hat on that said U.S. Army veteran. Not only did it have several pins on it, but it also had Vietnam and Korean War printed on it. And so I said to him, even before I saw his hat, you're not old.

My grandmother lived to be 100 and she wasn't old. And he said, I'm getting there. And I responded with something along the lines of it just means you're getting there more slowly.

Take your time. And then I saw his hat and I said, thank you for your service. And he was talking when I said it. And I just felt so strongly about saying it again. So I repeated it.

Thank you for your service to our country, sir. And he said to me, I was just a 19, 20 year old kid. That was 60, 70 years ago. It was just it was this kind of introspective moment that I I don't know.

I just felt like he was remembering and even as he was saying that I was a 19 and 20 year old kid. That was a long time ago. But still, it was an honor for me to be able to meet him and also to thank him because you don't very often run across men or women who fought in those wars.

Certainly World War Two is even more uncommon to run across veterans who are still alive, though I have before. And it's it's such a privilege. So, yeah, it was it was really neat. So worth it to wear the mask to be able to speak to this 80 something year old veteran who was who was really sweet. And I don't recall if he said thank you. I think he just responded with, man, that was a long time ago as a 19 year old kid.

Yeah, interesting. That's tremendous. It was it was really it was really cool just to be able to interact with him and tell him thank you. So I hope he heard me. I think he did, because I don't think he would have mentioned that it was so long ago if he had heard you.

OK, it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of interaction, Lamar Jackson had. A moment of indiscretion in his interaction with a I don't know if I could call it a fan on Twitter that I'm sure he regrets, though we haven't yet heard from him. But it was out of character for him, to be sure.

Generally, Lamar is beat. He's positive. We know that he does so much in the community. Do you all remember the video that went viral a couple of weeks ago where he agreed to show up in a conference room? It looked like it was a hotel of some sort and surprise a young fan. I think the little boy was eight. Brady, if I remember correctly, little boy was eight. And as Lamar comes through the door, this little boy grabs him and embraces him and really can only reach up to his waist.

Right. But Lamar is hugging him and talking to him and laughing. And he spends time with this young man to encourage him.

He's battling some health challenges. And what an amazing moment for Lamar. And we don't see all of those right every now and then they're on social or the team will promote these interactions or these, you know, these.

It's opportunities in the community where players will interact with, say, cancer patients or Children's Hospital patients. This was something that Lamar didn't have to do. He took his time to do it. And that's that's who he is. But also, I love hearing from him. He's pro Ravens. He's pro teammates. He even when he's upset at himself, he usually keeps it pretty upbeat and always clean. Now, I'm not with Lamar personally, obviously. And so I don't know how he speaks away from a microphone or away from the field. But what I do know is that he generally interacts as though he's above the fray until Sunday. He no doubt was upset and frustrated at the way the Jaguars were able to come back and win, not necessarily just on the defense.

Certainly there were missed opportunities for Lamar and the offense as well. And a fan tweets him or tweets. Now, if you don't want the quarterback to know, well, then you don't include his Twitter handle. It's amazing to me how people tweet directly at athletes.

Just it blows me away. Why can't you just keep your opinions to your own Twitter and not include an athlete? It's embarrassing.

I'm so embarrassed by people who do this. But it was a response. Lamar responded to a guy who essentially said that the Ravens should let him walk when the season is over and not give him the money.

Lamar, and I cannot repeat it all, used some inflammatory words and language and insulted the fan by saying you never have smelt a football field, shut the bleep up, and a couple of other inflammatory phrases. I can only speak for me. I did not believe that it was a homophobic tweet in any way.

I saw some headlines that labeled it that way and labeled it as an anti-gay slur. Again, I can only speak for me. But it did not in any way appear to be that type of a response from Lamar.

But I'm not going to absolve him. It was certainly anti-inflammatory. I'm sorry, it was certainly inflammatory. It was certainly not him living his best life and definitely was rude.

It was rude and I say this a lot. There's a double standard for public figures on Twitter. I'm public figure, like Z-level. I'm nowhere near Lamar's level of profile or popularity. But I know that there are separate rules that exist for those of us who have a platform and those of us who are in the public eye. And Lamar lost his cool and he responded in a moment of anger and frustration and then later deleted the tweet. But it was too late, obviously.

It had been screenshotted, it had been retweeted, it had been seen by millions of people before he could take it down. Again, this doesn't seem like the Lamar that we know and that's exactly what we were hearing from John Harbaugh on Monday. I just talk to these guys. We talk a lot. We talk a lot about football.

But we also talk a little bit about that stuff too, you know, what goes on in terms of the media and everything. And really, you know, it's just bad guys not to, you know, not to get into the Twitter world right after the game, especially after a loss. It's never going to be positive. It's not going to be a nice place, you know. And I think that's kind of reflected in Lamar's response because what he said was just so out of character for him. That's not the way he speaks. It's not the way he talks. It's not the words he ever uses. I've never heard him say things like that before. But like you said, Bo, he wants to win. You know, I'm sure he's frustrated just like we all are.

And that's just a place you just don't want to live right after a game. Lamar Jackson, you know, you've been around him. He's got one of the biggest hearts of anybody I know.

You all have seen him, the way he treats people, the way he treats kids, the way he treats the media, you know. And he's also one of the biggest competitors I've ever met. So those kind of conversations he takes very seriously, you know. So you get trapped sometimes by someone that's baiting you just a little bit and you can't live there.

It's not important. I appreciate that so much from the Ravens head coach. And when I am asked about social media by young broadcasters or young people that I mentor. Now it applies more to broadcasting or there is that element that pertains to this Lamar situation. I remind them that many people on social media are just looking for a response. That's what they want. They're trying to get you to respond. Otherwise they wouldn't be sending you their comments that are rude and uncalled for. And just generally the type of comments they would never say to your face. I remind young people, young broadcasters, that person gets no pub unless you retweet him or you reply.

He and his eight followers, she and her six followers, are essentially a dead end. That tweet, that rude comment, it's dead in the water if you don't respond to it. And here's the kicker. People don't know if you see their tweets unless you respond to them. I still on a daily basis get such rude comments. People are, they're just rude when there's no accountability and they believe they're anonymous. They will say anything. Very often, and I don't do it anymore, I just ignore it now and mute people like it's going out of style.

But very often if you respond to someone or you quote tweet them and reply, they delete it before long because they can't handle the heat. They don't like getting called out by other people on social media. They don't want to be in the spotlight. What they wanted was to get under your skin. What they wanted was to be a jackass. But once the spotlight's turned on them and people are coming after them, they often melt and cave and disappear. I've even had people not only block me because I responded to their rude tweets, but delete their tweets and then lock their accounts so that nobody can come after them. It's cowardly, right? Again, when you believe you're anonymous and you believe there's no accountability, people generally will allow their true colors to come out. And Lamar messed up by responding in a moment of frustration and anger.

He took it out on this tweeter. And I certainly understand that. I'm not telling you I've never done it. There are times in the past where I have replied to someone and then deleted it, hopefully before they saw it.

And my general rule of thumb is do not reply to a troll, period. There is absolutely nothing that he or she can say to me that I haven't already heard. And what's to come of it? What positive could ever come of responding to someone who comes at you with something like this? Nothing.

There's no positive. In fact, you're the one who's going to be held accountable, not that other person. So I'm not really faulting Lamar because I understand. It's just that there is a double standard on social media for public figures. It's why I never talk politics or, in general, never get into serious discussions with people on social. Because people can take what you write and twist it into something that you never intended it to be. And not to mention, you can't defend yourself. As a public figure, you cannot defend yourself. It's like sharks circling for chum on social media.

It's a cesspool. And people are out there just waiting for public figures to screw up so that they can get their five seconds of fame. And so that's what happened with this particular fan. He got Lamar to respond. He incited Lamar to respond. And it's a tough lesson to learn, but I appreciate the sensitivity of Coach Harbaugh.

I appreciate his compassion for Lamar, recognizing that he's in the spotlight all the time and rarely gets a break. As I say, I still get comments from people that are insulting and offensive almost every single day. And there are times when I have to physically take a breath and then emotionally remind myself, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter what that person thinks. Even if what they said was hurtful, even if what they said in the moment feels like I'll never forget it. You know, the great thing about being a public figure is that you're inundated with this crap, which means that it all blends together after a while. I've honestly gotten to the point where even if it's something that stings and hurts, I can go to bed and wake up and not remember it because they all blend together. I've seen it all.

So they all just kind of blend together into one big stream. It's amazing. I don't know when I developed that because I will tell you, the first time I ever saw people criticizing me in a chat room, I cried. It was mean. It was ugly. It hurt. There were lies about me that weren't true. I couldn't do anything about it and I cried my eyes out.

And even when I started this job 10 years ago here at CBS Sports Radio, I remember people came at me pretty hard and there were times when I replied, but I've just stopped doing it all together. Nothing to be gained. And Lamar's still young. He's still in his early 20s. I'm sure he wishes he could take it back. I appreciate that his coach is willing to work with him on this and to kind of stick up for him, to vouch for him. This is not who he is.

I love that John Harbaugh was willing to stand there in the gap for his quarterback. You can find me on Twitter. Haha. Just kidding. So my biggest fear is there's going to be sneaks in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10 minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from.

A rat climbed into my toilet. And learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurt people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, the Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. It's unacceptable, bottom line. This organization, this tradition here, everything else, we've got to honor it. We've got to honor it by winning. We've been inconsistent. We've had some good runs. We've had some good passing plays. We've had some good moments, some really good moments. And then we've had some bad ones, too, that allow us not to be successful. And so we've got to get the losing out of our system. Off the field, on the money, and after hours. It's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. Is this rock bottom for the Denver Broncos?

I'm not sure. Russell Wilson calls it unacceptable that they lost to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in the return of Sam Darnold. Many other teams look exceptional against the Denver Broncos as this was not anything like what John Elway, George Patton, Peyton, George Peyton, the new family, the Walmart heirs family, the Walton Penner family who paid, how much did they pay, 4.5 billion? What was it, 4.6 billion?

Will you look up that number, please, Producer J? This is not what they had in store. They're not the ones who traded for Russell Wilson, but the organization did go all in on Russ. And it's not just the draft picks and the capital, the players and the picks that they gave up. It's also the fact that they signed him to an enormous contract extension, the one that the Seahawks would not give him before they ever saw him play a down, a meaningful snap or a meaningful down in a Broncos uniform.

They went ahead and bet the farm. And now their wagon is hitched to Russell Wilson's star for better or for worse. Tell me one team out there that is going to take that contract from the Denver Broncos.

If you're thinking trade, no one, no one in his right mind would do it, unless the Broncos are willing to pay every last penny of the contract, which doesn't help them at all. I'm not saying that Russell Wilson is entirely to blame. That's not fair.

It's never that simple. But the frustration is starting to boil over. We're going to talk with the Denver Broncos insider coming up later in the week. But if you were watching the game between the Broncos and Panthers, not sure why you would, but if you're watching the game, you may have seen that there was a, I don't want to call it dust up because that's not fair. There was a bit of a yelling match, a screaming match between Russ and Mike Purcell, who's a defensive lineman.

It was caught on camera and they were both asked about it after the fact. It's not as though every teammate of Russ's is yelling and screaming at him, but there have certainly been rumblings coming out of Denver that his teammates don't relate to him very well, that he doesn't make himself one of the guys. We talked to our Jets insider earlier and he gave us the anecdote about Mike White playing cornhole with the offensive linemen during press conferences because he's just one of the guys.

That matters on a football field. Mike Tomlin uses battle analogies all the time. And you'll hear those war analogies. For better or for worse, you may not like them.

I understand if you don't, but you will hear those fight and battle and war analogies in the trenches. Guys going to battle lined up shoulder to shoulder. In the heat of the moment, you've got your brothers with you. But that doesn't appear to be the type of camaraderie or relationship that Russ has established in Denver. And there were also those reports coming out of Seattle that they couldn't wait to get rid of him, that the locker room couldn't relate to him, especially after he got married to a model and an actress and a singer. And I'm not begrudging him that. But there is definite disparity when you are a superstar of his caliber, or you were, and you're married similar to a Tom Brady, right? Except for he makes himself one of the guys.

But yeah, it's different. Guys in the locker room don't think, oh yeah, it's just me and Tom hanging out, we're BFFs. Nah, he's a completely different level unless he chooses to be one of the guys. And the reports are generally that Russ does not choose that. So this encounter with Mike Purcell was a big topic of conversation because it represents to a lot of people, both in the industry and then fans watching, that there are a lot of cracks in the stand here.

They're halfway through a season, the first season with Russ, and already the lack of leadership, the disconnect is being exposed. Mike and I are on the same page. He came off after they kicked the field goal and he was pissed off. He just said, we've got to F and go. And I agree. So me and him on the same page, there's no animosity there at all. We're on the same page, we've got to win. We've got to come out here and have some grit to us, some mentality to us. We've got to be able to win these football games. So those guys are out there battling every play.

On offense, we've got to be able to capitalize. So yeah, there's nothing there at all, me and him. There was nothing there. Frustration. We want a spark on something.

We're all in this together, period. So that's the quarterback of our offense. They're about to take the field. Obviously, we let up a touchdown, so we weren't doing our job, but got to get a spark somewhere.

So they're about to take the field. So that's all it was. When we were up there, obviously it was addressing Mike on the personal foul that he had. Talking with him as he passed by me, heard him say, let's go, and did not know that it was directed to any specific person. It looked like it was just he wanted everybody to start going and wanted to get a spark. So that was really all that I heard. I talked with Mike after, talked with Russell, everybody.

Everybody's good. Part of it, it's an emotional game. I do agree with that.

I do. But also, there are reports that there is growing frustration and also a growing rift. That's the word I've seen used, that there is a disconnect between Russ and his teammates. And if you exacerbate the gap between your socioeconomic status and your superstar status and that of your, say, offensive lineman or your running backs, well, that makes it worse when you're losing. I tell you a lot, winning tends to bring everyone together.

It's kumbaya. But losing, either it does one of two things. It either highlights your leadership and gives your leaders a chance to step up and lead through adversity, keep everybody together, despite the fact that losing wears on you, or it does the opposite.

It exposes your lack of leadership. I can't really speak yet to the leadership of Nathaniel Hackett, only to say that I think he's over his head. I don't know that means he can't figure it out, but I don't think he was as prepared to be a head coach as what they were hoping. In the case of Russell Wilson, I know he's expressed some frustration of his own, but it certainly seems like he still keeps on this pasted smile with the let's ride, Broncos country, let's ride.

Just it's odd at times. But it doesn't matter what we think. It matters what the locker room thinks. And certainly it matters that every five seconds, there's a question about Russ, his leadership, his play, how bad the offense is, and it's bad. So Nathaniel Hackett was asked on Monday whether or not this comes back to Russ' lack of confidence.

It's a combination of a lot of different things. There is some semblance of newness with this whole group, and we've had a lot of changes throughout the offense with different people that have been out there playing with him. And we need to give him the confidence back to be able to make the plays that he can make. But he's out there, and he's fighting every single play. I give him so much credit. He's taking a bunch of hits, and it's because he's trying to do everything he can to make a play. So I appreciate that on how he's doing that, and everybody's got to play better around him.

It's just not something that you see or hear in every locker room. Do you guys get along? Do you like him? Is it fine?

How's your chemistry? And I'm not telling you that the media is right about this, only that the reports are out there and that the questions persist. And that in and of itself is a distraction the Broncos don't need. And remember, these players will talk to reporters on the DL. They'll send text messages. They've got a rapport with guys in the media.

And if they can stay anonymous, a lot of times these things will leak. The Broncos, if this is not rock bottom, I don't know what is. Lowest scoring team in the league. They gave up so much to get Russell Wilson, and they really can't get rid of him.

It's not all on Russ. They cut Melvin Gordon because of the fumbles. They've had injured receivers on and off the field.

Jerry Jeudy hasn't been able to stay on the field in the last month. He's their best receiver. The offensive line is better. I like the O line. So it's not just Russ.

But he's the one they're paying. 14.3 points per game. Lowest scoring team in the league. Ninth time this season against the Panthers when they've scored 16 or fewer points. And they now have eight losses.

And it sure does seem like the playoff drought will continue despite everything they gave up. We're going to talk more Denver Broncos with our insider Troy Rank, who will join us from Denver coming up on Wednesday night. We've got to get to the bottom of this. Like we did, a little investigative reporting about the Cardinals on last night's show.

You can find us on Twitter after our CBS, also on our Facebook page. Vote for TD of the Week coming up. Speaking of droughts, it's been eight years since USA Soccer reached the knockout stage, which is the group of 16 in the World Cup two four-year sessions ago. My gosh, it's been so long.

Eight years in the making. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team, your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real-time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football. Live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want.

And did we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. Is there something really absurd that skeeves you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball? A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid down my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. Coming up on Tuesday, their chance to get back to the group of 16.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. I believe! I believe! I believe that! I believe that! I believe that we! I believe that we! I believe that we will win!

I believe that we will win! This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence okay I just got crazy chills as in I'm so nervous but I'm so excited about what's to come This is the biggest game for the US men's national team in eight years, obviously, since the last time they made the knockout stage at the World Cup. And here they are in Qatar on the verge, a game against Iran looming in mere hours.

In fact, we're talking about what, nine hours from, well, nine hours and 13 minutes from now, nine hours from the top of the hour. It's, yeah, this is gonna be an opportunity for the US to not only establish this young team as a group that can compete on the grandest stage in sports, but also give them incredible confidence. They are ahead of schedule, the youngest US men's national team that we've ever sent to a World Cup. And here they are, after playing to a draw with England in front of 20 million people, second most watched US men's soccer game in history. They did it. I know it was a draw, but that was, that was the game they dominated. They were so close to scoring opportunities and just weren't quite able to get it done, but England didn't score either. I loved every minute of that game, except for I was a nervous wreck the entire time, and now Iran.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There was some question marks about Tyler Adams being named the captain of this US men's national team, 23 years old, no World Cup experience before this past week. And yet you can hear, and it's an exchange with an Iranian reporter on Monday, why he is in this position of leadership. You say you support the Iranian people, but you're pronouncing our country's name wrong. Our country is named Iran, not Iran.

Please, once and for all, let's get this clear. Second of all, are you okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders? And we saw the Black Lives Matter movement over the past few years.

My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. Yeah, that being said, there's discrimination everywhere you go. One thing that I've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in in different cultures, is that in the US, we're continuing to make progress every single day. I grew up in a white family with obviously an African-American heritage and background as well.

So I had a little bit of different cultures and I was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures. So not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that. And obviously it takes longer to understand and through education, I think it's super important. Like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. So yeah, it's a process.

I think as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing. Tyler Adams impressing in his captain's role for the US Men's National Team. Responding with class, with grace, even with professionalism, though those are not questions you would generally expect to field when you're sitting on the eve and the cusp of biggest game of your career. Now there was another controversy. Maybe this is why the Iranian reporter was upset. Iran has actually requested that the US Men's Team be suspended from the World Cup because briefly over the weekend, there was a post on social media that featured the Iranian flag scrubbed out. And this was brought back to the soccer team, even though Greg Berhalter, the manager, says that it wasn't us.

I can only reiterate that the players and the staff knew nothing about what was being posted. And sometimes things are out of our control. We believe that it's gonna be a match that the result will depend on who puts more effort in, who executes better on the field. And, you know, we're not focused on those outside things and all we can do on our behalf is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff, but it's not something that we're a part of. We're all human. We understand that there are things going on that are out of our control. And so that's where we find ourselves. We didn't know anything about the post, but we are supporters of women's rights. We always have been. We always have been. We're, you know, focused a lot on Tuesday from the sporting side as well, you know? So you mentioned as a distraction, I think this is such a focus group on the task at hand, but at the same time we empathize and we are firm believers in women's rights and support them. We understand and empathize with the Iranian people.

And at the end of the day, you know, we are still having to focus on what is our job, what we've been, you know, preparing to do, what we've been focused on for many, many years. This is the youngest team in US history and one of the youngest at the World Cup. And yet they have the opportunity to advance to the round of 16.

They have multiple scenarios in which they can advance, but here's the deal, you win and you are through. That's what it takes. And so back to Tyler Adams talking about actual soccer, there's going to be maybe some extra emotion on the field because of what's on the line. They've got to be ready.

It's great to know that we've put ourselves in a position to decide our own fate. I think that going into this game, we need to be mentally prepared. Iran played an unbelievable game today against Wales. We know that they're going to have, you know, some strength, some power, some energy coming into this game, because they know also that if they get a result that they're in, so most likely. So for us, we need to control what we can control, but we're going to be ultra aggressive to go out there and play our game. What is on the line is advancing into the knockout stages. And if that's not enough to get our guys up, then, you know, I think we have issues, but I don't think that's going to be a problem in getting up and understanding what this game means to the team. Maybe I'm the only one who's nervous, but I feel like in the past, there have been some pretty massive matches in which the U.S. has not performed well. It's not the same team. It's not the same manager. It's just, I'm almost afraid to hope because of what happened against Trinidad and Tobago, but you hear Tim Rehm, as well as Walker Zimmerman, these guys are as prepared as they can possibly be. And they've been working toward this for quite a while. So what is the mindset heading into this Tuesday game?

I don't think it changes, to be honest with you. I think we all knew it at some point, you have to win a group stage match to move on. And so the fact that it's now the last game, we know, again, we have to win and that's what the knockout stages bring.

You have to win the games to continue to move on. And so I think it's a good position for this group. I think guys are excited. They're embracing it and mentally prepared for it. And I think that's a good place to be. Oh yeah, bring it on. Two o'clock Eastern time.

Are you trying to throw me off? I have been to U.S. men's soccer qualifiers and the atmosphere is awesome. 20 million people watched the game against England.

They played to a draw, but it was a huge, huge victory for the U.S. because they were a massive underdog. They've got to get a goal. They've got to get a goal and prevent a goal.

How hard can it be? I'm just, I'm totally kidding. Cause I'm nervous. I say stupid stuff when I'm nervous.

It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Throughout the sixties and seventies, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

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