After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Cannot be combined with other offers. See additional terms at 1peloton.com. Good morning to you. It is a Wednesday. It's a Wednesday. It is the penultimate Wednesday before Christmas. Do you know this is the third to last? That sounds weird.

I always hated that phrase when people use it. There are only, let's try that again. There are only three Wednesdays left in 2022. Say that out loud.

There are only three Wednesdays left in 2022. Jay, I didn't see your lips moving. I said wow.

That's not what I said you had to say. Say it out loud with me. There are only three Wednesdays left in 2022. It's just, I make Jay do all this dumb stuff. But yeah, it's kind of crazy that we're getting so close to the holidays. Well, we're in the holidays getting so close to Christmas and the New Year's and the fact that 2022 is nearly done.

I'm blown away by that. Thank you for your questions for asking me anything always part of our hump show. I do go back and answer many of them although sometimes Jay warns me away from from them because he says there are questions here that I didn't get to that I want to get to.

So he tells me you can't answer this one you can't answer that one. Just as significantly as all the questions that you posted on social is the barrage of answers we're getting guesses really estimates to the number of M&Ms in the Christmas mason jar, the after hours Christmas jar. We talked about this yesterday morning and then because of an equipment situation.

Because of the equipment limitation, Jay had to had to take the video home and post it from home, but just fine it was up soon after the show is over, so I apologize that we didn't have it done during the show but it is available now for you to see. And here's my suggestion. So that you don't guess 1000 M&Ms in a jar in this jar. I mean, there may be some jars that hold 1000 M&Ms, not this jar.

I would suggest that you watch the video before you guess how many M&Ms are in the jar. I just love the noises that it makes. I'm like a little, I'm like a penny with one of our toys. Cats play with balls like that have or the balls within a ball, you know, I don't have a cat so you'd know more than me, but my cat chases anything that smells even remotely like catnip. And she's 13 years old and still 14 years old, sorry, and still chases any type of toy I throw on the floor. And every single time I fold the laundry. She's trying to snag the socks out of the laundry basket. Oh, that would drive me crazy.

No, no, nonstop. So you know how the laundry basket has handles but then has holes like cut out in the plastic. Yeah, she sticks her paw through there and tries to grab the socks when I'm pulling them out of the basket. She knows she'll be in a dead sleep and I get the laundry basket out and all of a sudden the cat is is snagging my socks. Now she doesn't have claws in the front, but she tries to bite the socks when they're going by the hole. Yeah, she tries to grab it with her paw and then bite it. Well, at least you know where your socks are going after they disappear from the wall. Probably underneath my couch.

So that's the cat. She loves the laundry, but only socks. She doesn't try to catch anything else, just socks. She knows what she wants. She does. She also kills spiders.

So she is welcome in the house. Spiders and mice. Now in my new house, there have been no mice. I found the secret to keeping the mice out of the house. Peppermint. Peppermint tea leaves.

Do you like that? No, mice don't love anything to do with mint and I've had no signs of any mice in, even though there's obviously a lot in any neighborhood really, but in the Northeast to be sure. And I've had no signs of any mice in my new house because I keep tea bags full of peppermint leaves in various closets and parts of the house and also in big vases in my attic.

So there are pots, sorry, not vases, pots. There's a big old chunk and I change them every year so the peppermint leaves stay relatively fresh. Very potent. They smell amazing. If it works. Keeps the mice out.

But when I did have mice in my last house, the cat would bring them to me. Thanks. Just what you wanted.

Thank you, Sugar. But here's the latest story really quickly and then we'll get to sports. We have a lot to get to. It's a busy night slash morning here on the show. I was putting up my last strand of Christmas lights. Jay saw them. They're so purdy.

Not Brock Purdy, just really purdy. That was an accident, but it sounds good. They're the all white lights and I have them strung up over the top of my bay window on the inside and with the curtains and the window reflection, they're beautiful.

I love them to make me happy. In fact, I did yoga by Christmas light on Tuesday night. Anyway, I don't know if it was in the box or if it was on the bottom of the bin that I used with the Christmas decorations, whatever it is. I go to plug in the Christmas lights and lying next to my power strip is a gigantic dead, thankfully, spider. Like its legs. It wasn't a daddy long legs either. Its legs were an inch and a half long. Its body was bigger than an M&M. Its body was an M&M.

It was huge. Anyway, it was dead. Do you want to know why? Probably the cat. She loves to play with spiders. She chases them and tortures them.

She smacks at them on the floor until they just give up and die. And it was missing a couple of its legs. So I assume that it was the cat. But why are there huge spiders in the middle of December in the Northeast?

It's cold. Right, but it was in an attic probably for most of it. So I'm saying it might have come off the bottom of a bin because I pulled the Christmas decorations out of my crawl space and I assume the spider came with them, which is freaking me out just in and of itself. But anyway, the spider was roaming the house until Sugar found it. Do you ever wonder how cats can hear spiders? And yet I don't know how she finds them. She does. I wonder why cats do a lot of things.

Yeah, but that's why she earns her keep. No mice. They spread the word among all their family and friends.

Don't go in that house. And the spiders don't make it very long. I catch them.

I have to get them dead then. I stepped on it anyway, just to be sure. It was missing two legs. I had to confirm the kill. And it wasn't moving, but I stepped on it anyway.

I probably would have done this too. Oh my gosh. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Good morning to you. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. I'll put down the mason jar.

Do you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can, so can Sugar. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS, send your guesses. After you watch the video, send your guesses for the number of M&Ms in the mason jar. And the top three answers, closest answers, even if you go over, will win After Hours swag. So check that out. It's got a musical interlude to go along with the video.

It's on both Twitter and Facebook, pinned to the top of our Facebook page, so easy to find. Also, we've got some more fun stuff coming up before the week is over. Jay is letting me borrow a Christmas sweater.

How about that? I don't have a Christmas sweater. I have ugly sweaters.

They were probably gifts, but I don't have a Christmas sweater. I was going to buy one, then I realized, that's dumb. You're paying peak price right now for it.

And Jay said, I have two. You can borrow one of mine. I'm not giving it back.

It's so great. I'm never giving it back. I just want it to be my Christmas present.

Please? It's got a dinosaur on it. I mean, I think you're going to like it. It's a T-Rex. Probably more than I do.

How often do you wear your Christmas sweater? It's literally got the tag on it still. See?

You could put it in a box and I would never know the difference. You're right. Damn. Damn it. That's a good idea.

Anyway, we're going to do a Christmas video for you here because I'm making Jay wear a headband with Christmas lights that light up. I haven't seen these yet, so. And? We'll see how they look.

Or how intense they are. You're hyping them up. We will see how they look. No, I'm wearing the felt headband with the reindeer antlers. You're wearing the Christmas lights on your head. Of course.

So we promised a video. Also, there's Grinch slippers. And I told Jay, if he will be a good sport, he can borrow the Grinch slippers.

Also, kind of funny, I did say to Jay, if you want to pick the Grinch slippers over your actual Christmas gift, without knowing what it is, you can take door number one, which you'll know, or door number two. Are they that nice? No, they're Grinch slippers. They're really fuzzy and warm though. And they got a nice cushion on the bottom. Good for a set of slippers.

Yeah, they're very comfy. I stole them in a Christmas swap. A Yankee swap? A Yankee swap.

Or a white elephant, whichever. Alright, you came out okay there. I got number one, so I got to steal from anybody at the end. And I took the Grinch slippers, plus some other stuff like, let's see, there was Swedish Fish, there was a little Christmas bin, there was a stocking with Sour Patch Kids, and then the two headbands. Because I thought, oh that's perfect, Jay and I need headgear for our Christmas video.

You should see Jay's face, it's fantastic. So anyway, we're gonna have more Christmas goodies before the end of the week. I'm not sure that you're going to see it until the weekend, because Jay is our editor extraordinaire, and I'm actually gone for the weekend, because I've got family obligation in Blacksburg, Virginia. Woot woot. Good thing there's a Nor'easter to keep me company while I drive. But we will definitely reconvene next week, and we'll let you know where to find it.

I suggest you follow our show, Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or friend us on Facebook, and that way we are connected. It was an interesting night in the NBA, that's just part of what we have to cram in through these next 45 minutes. Also, in addition to NBA, we have the highlights, actually we'll call them highlights, of the night. Because Alex Ovechkin, can you dump that please?

You always dump your mistakes, can you dump my mistakes? Alex Ovechkin, she said, with the highlights of the night. A little bit about the NFL, and of course the tributes continue to pour in for Coach Mike Leach, a self-described pirate, one of a kind in college football, and the sport will never be the same.

We had a chance to talk to a college football reporter who works in Starkville, Mississippi, covering state and the Bulldogs, and he was very generous with his time as well as his memories and his interactions with Coach Leach since he covered him on a regular basis. So we're going to do all of that this hour here on CBS Sports Radio. We will start with what was the last game on the NBA slate, and weirdly enough, it looked like a blowout for both teams at different junctures. At halftime, the Celtics had a sizable lead in Los Angeles against the Lakers, but in the final five minutes, it was the Lakers who had a double figure advantage. Tatum to the right, pulls up on LeBron, they're isolated, right side of the floor. Tatum spins on the baseline, turns, fades, got it! The Celtics have tied the game, they've come from 13 down in the final minutes. With my apologies to every other NBA play-by-play announcer out there, and there are many of them that I consider friends, Sean Grandy is the freaking best.

He's amazing. Sean Grandy and Cedric Maxwell on Celtics Radio from the Forum, not the Forum, Staples Center, whoops, that's a throwback right there. I don't think it's Staples anymore, actually. Oh, that's right, it's got a new name! Shoot, a throwback and another throwback.

Okay, it's just L.A. for now. So they go into overtime because the Celtics chipped away and chipped away and kept the Lakers at bay, were able to erase a double figure lead in the final four minutes, and it was no contest in OT. Smart up the right side, Reeves got picked off, so Smart drives, throws to the left corner, open, Grant Williams for three, and the Celtics have the lead. They've come from 13 down with 3.40 to go to take the lead in overtime, 1.15, 1.14. Jaylin moves straight away, takes a deep three, got it! Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, get off my dongle, Tom Lakers, ew! And while the entirety of the NBA said maybe the Celtics are and all that, Jaylin Brown and Jason Tatum just made a monster statement.

We are who we say we are. Joe came in, I mean, before the game and set the tone for us, told us that we needed to get our s*** together, and we started out the game great. I think we got up to a great start. It was moving the ball. We got a little stagnant in the third quarter that led to the Lakers getting out in transition.

They got some superb athletes still, which is crazy. We was able to manage it, make some big plays down the stretch of the fourth where it looked like we was out. I think we were down 8 points or 10 points in the fourth quarter.

We're still able to come back and win, so that's a tough and a perfect way to close out the road trip. The Celtics had a 20 point lead, so there's that. They blew it in the second half to the point that the Lakers were actually up 13, as you hear there on Celtics radio. Jaylin Brown added 5 of his 25 in overtime. Of course, Jason Tatum breaking out of, I don't know if you call it a slump, but a couple of games that he would prefer not to repeat. He had 44 points.

Good name, dude. Jason Taylor. Jason Taylor, an MVP candidate.

But here's the biggie that you need to know. Marcus Smart nailed 4 three pointers. That was huge because he was part of that comeback. So the Celtics are back with that best record in the NBA and avoided the first three game losing streak of the season.

Joe Mazzulla, who's their interim head coach, he likes what they were doing in the late stages. I saw us be organized. We knew exactly what we wanted to do. We had two timeouts, 28 seconds left. I saw a great player make a great shot and a guy that had wanted the moment.

I thought that sparked, for overtime, him embracing that moment. Our team fed off of that and our team embraced the moment for the rest of overtime. We gave ourselves a chance to win. We didn't close it out. Loved our effort. I loved our tenacity in the second half and put ourselves in a position to win a ball game. Playing is a very good team.

We weren't able to close it out. This is a tough shot making ball club. From Tatum to Brown, Marcus Smart always makes timely shots. Graham Williams makes tough shots as well. But you want to just try to make them take tough shots.

You tip your hat off to them when they make them. But you just try to be physical with them and, like I said, make them take tough shots. Lebron played 43 minutes, had 33 points, nearly a triple-double, 9 boards, 9 assists, Anthony Davis 37. The only other Laker in double figures, though, Russell Westbrook played 35 minutes off the bench and had 20 points and 14 rebounds. So, actually, if I finish out his stat line, Russ had 20, 14, 5 assists, a steal, and 4 blocked shots and only 2 turnovers. How much you want to bet this was his best game of the year so far coming off the bench?

But the Celtics right the ship. They're now 22-7. Straight ahead, Mike Leach, one of a kind, opinionated, unconventional, atypical, eccentric, funny, goofy. No topic was off limits and very often he used the shock jock technique, like when he called his team the most constipated offense in football. We had the chance to travel to Starkville, Mississippi, and talk with a reporter who had covered him as recently as the last couple weeks. Two-time National Coach of the Year, a self-described pirate.

College football will never be the same. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Many of us are already planning our New Year's resolutions to work out more in 2023, but let's face it, they rarely stick. Well, Peloton's got a gift for you.

Get up to $200 off accessories like non-slip grip dumbbells, cycling shoes, heart rate monitors, and more with the purchase of a Peloton bike, Bike Plus, or Tread. Don't wait. Get this offer before it ends on December 25th. Visit onepeloton.com. All access membership separate offer ends December 25th. Cannot be combined with other offers.

See additional terms at onepeloton.com. Being Gifty? My calendar can be a chaotic place.

Three birthdays and my anniversary all in the next month. That's why I use Celebrations Passport from the 1-800-Flowers family of brands. Celebrations Passport gives me free shipping on thousands of amazing gifts. And the more gifts I give, the more perks and rewards I earn.

Giving is easy with Celebrations Passport. Learn more at 1-800-Flowers.com-slash-listen. That's 1-800-Flowers.com-slash-listen. Being Gifty? My calendar can be a chaotic place.

Three birthdays and my anniversary all in the next month. That's why I use Celebrations Passport from the 1-800-Flowers family of brands. Celebrations Passport gives me free shipping on thousands of amazing gifts. And the more gifts I give, the more perks and rewards I earn.

Giving is easy with Celebrations Passport. Learn more at 1-800-Flowers.com-slash-listen. That's 1-800-Flowers.com-slash-listen. You got your coffee?

It is early. How do you take your coffee? What's the best way to take your coffee? Well, coffee tastes terrible anyway, so don't put anything in it to obstruct the harsh bitter taste.

Then just put it down one sip at a time, you know. So it's just all about the effect, the taste. It's not about the experience at all. It's about the outcome.

No, the experience is terrible. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You didn't give me a credit, but I think that's Marty Smith. Is it not a ESPN? A little bit of an exchange there.

We'll try to get that credit. It sounds like Marty, though. I know his voice. And certainly Mike Leach always had an opinion about everything. Our favorite rant ever from Mike is his one on mascots in the Pac-12 when he was a coach at Washington State. And in fact, we, meaning you and I, we immortalized Mike Leach for that mascot rant in the After Hours Hall of Flame. Thanks so much for hanging out with us this morning, for listening as we're kind of running the gamut.

The highest of the highs, but also some real lows on Tuesday in the sports world. As the news broke that Mike Leach passed away at the age of 61 after being airlifted to Jackson, Mississippi on Sunday. Had a chance to catch up with Stavon Kriesnick, who is a Mississippi State Athletics reporter for the Clarion Ledger. And he was very kind and generous with his time and his thoughts about Mike Leach. I'm sure it was a really long couple days. Wanted you to hear part of that. We'll pick it up where I asked him when was the last time he saw a coach.

I would say probably after the Egg Bowl. We haven't really had too many media opportunities or anything like that. But I will say I'm originally from Indiana, so I was out of town last week back home visiting my family. But on Saturday night, this most recent Saturday night, there was a Christmas party with a lot of local media members.

We usually get together around the holidays because a lot of us are out of town, so we like to meet when we have the opportunity. And I wasn't there, but I had a lot of friends that were there. And some of the coaches that we cover are invited to that event if they so desire to come. And no one really expected Mike Leach to show up to that event because of the recruiting stuff that was going on. With sign day coming up on December 21st, and he actually wound up showing up for a little bit. And from all accounts of the people that were there, he was in high spirits. From all accounts of recruits that were on campus that weekend, he was his normal self. Pigeon them to come to Mississippi State and talking about whatever it is that he felt like talking about, which is still on brand for Mike Leach. And that's why I caught so many people off guard because just less than 12 hours before the news broke of him being airlifted to the hospital in Jackson with a medical emergency.

He was really just being his normal self. So for you personally, Stefan, what's it been like to cover a team coached by Mike Leach? Yeah, and I got to ask that question so many times throughout the years that I've covered him here in Starkville, and it really is.

And, you know, at the time it was exciting, and now I look back and I even consider it a blessing. I mean, he was a guy that, you know, people see the press conferences and the viral moments, and he knew how to work those. He knew how to answer questions in a way that he wasn't really answering questions. He knew how to go on, you know, these long rants where he probably lost our attention about, you know, two minutes into the 10 minute rant or something like that. But he knew how to work. He was very media savvy. He was smart. He, you know, has a lot of green for Pepperdine. You know, if it wasn't, you know, if he wasn't going into football, I'm sure he would probably be a world class lawyer or something along those lines. I mean, he's a smart guy, and it was always really cool to just, I always loved when the press conference ended and he would walk off the podium and, you know, he would always stop and have some random conversation with us, you know, on his way out.

We went on a rant about whether turkey sandwiches were better than ham sandwiches one time because it was what we had for the media spread that day that they gave us. You know, we talked about, you know, his time at Texas Tech, and he didn't really recruit Patrick Mahomes just because, you know, he got fired from Tech in 2009. So he didn't really recruit Patrick Mahomes, but he knew that, you know, Patrick Mahomes was this kind of standout baseball player, and he kind of heard from people that he knew that stayed at Texas Tech about how he was making his way up through the ranks and Texas Tech was, you know, pumped to get him to potentially play football, and, you know, now we see what Patrick Mahomes' career has turned into. I mean, there's just so many, you could talk to him about anything and have a conversation for hours, and that's just what made it so fascinating, what made him so cool to cover. You knew that he was always going to give you the time if you wanted it and was always going to, you know, be willing to not just have a conversation with you, but ask you by yourself. I mean, there's times where I've had conversations with him, and, you know, he's dove into my family background and talked about my family, and I'm like, I'm supposed to be interviewing you. How did you put this on me?

How did you do this? I mean, he was just so curious and so interesting, and it was really, really fun and really a blessing. Stevon Krajnic is with us from the Clarion Ledger, covers Mississippi State athletics, and Mike Leach, who passed away Monday night, Tuesday morning after what was a very short stint in the hospital, but a lot of tributes, a lot of support over the past 48 hours for this well-known coach, two-time coach of the year, but really more the personality and the unique way that he viewed life, and so we appreciate you sharing some of your insights. I know a lot of times when I think about my job in sports radio and talking about events and headlines that are big in the sports world, they tend to pale and become so unimportant when we're talking about a life-or-death situation like this, or like Grant Wall passing away in Qatar, who is a well-known reporter who had covered soccer for years.

For you personally, what have these last couple days been like? It's been tough and it's been emotional, just like I'm sure a lot of people who knew Mike Leach would probably say the same thing, but at the same time, it's been really cool to see the outpouring of support for Leach and the people that knew him well. When you cover someone from day to day and you see him every week at a press conference or you talk to him after every game and things like that, I don't want to say it ever became routine, but I think the past couple days have really been a reminder of Mike Leach was a really special person to cover and a really special person on a national level, and you see just with this outpouring of support how many people really were intrigued with what he was going to say in a press conference, what he was going to call in a game. He's really a special figure, and he's a tough guy to lose just because as a college football fan, we've all lost someone that made the sport a really tough sport, but also a really cool sport to celebrate and watch from week in to week out.

It sucks because you know moving forward, whether you be a fan of a team in the Pacific Northwest or a fan of a team in Florida, you know that the sport got a little more dull, and the sport you love got a little more dull. 20-plus seasons, Mike Leach provided something to sport that means a lot to a lot of people. I saw a quote from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in which he said, every conversation with Mike made you think. Did you often come away from your encounters with Coach Leach feeling like you had a lot to think about?

Yeah, it made me think that I had better pick up a book and start reading because this coach is going to beat me in any argument we could possibly have, but it also sometimes made me think of what exactly was he talking about there? So like I said earlier, he was so smart and going back to my conversation with Jackie Sherrill, Jackie said that if you ever got into an argument with Leach, you were going to lose because he was going to say something that you didn't know. He could lie to you and you would probably believe him just because he's so smart and he could just pull out any facts that you never knew. He really was smart and if you asked him something or if you brought up something, he would walk away thinking about it too and he'd be curious and maybe he would follow you up with you down the road and be like, hey, I'm still thinking about that thing we were talking about. So he really was. Greg Sankey put it in a great way and I think Greg also said either in the tweet or in the statement, one statement is not enough to describe who Mike Leach was and that's also another really good way of putting it.

He was nicknamed the pirate because he loved pirates and I didn't know this but read about it that he had a life-size statue of a singing pirate in his office when he was at Washington State. So as you say, many unique wrinkles to coach Leach. Before I let you go, Stefan, is there one maybe press conference or one conversation, one story that you'll remember that has stuck with you more than any other? Yeah, I'll remember this and I got the opportunity last year to be part of one of those iconic late-night Leach phone calls. I was interviewing him for a story about Pepperdine or his time at Pepperdine Law School and I texted him and I was like, hey, what time can we do this interview? He's like, I'll call you around 9 and typical Leach fashion. He ended up calling me around like 1030.

So I'm thinking, all right, let's do this interview real quick so we can get to bed and the conversation of going until about 2 a.m. or something like that. Oh my gosh! It was just such typical Leach fashion. He was so interested in me and my family and obviously I was interested in him. I told him that my family's from Europe and he talked about all the places that he's traveled to and all the things he's done. That's the thing that will just always stick with me. I was a reporter fresh out of college covering a beat for the first time. I'm covering this coach that's been coaching for more than two decades and is maybe one of the most successful coaches in college football history. There we are on the phone in the middle of the night talking about my family. It's just something that sticks with you for a while, whether it's someone you're covering or just someone you run into.

When someone shows genuine curiosity for you in a setting where they probably don't have to and you wouldn't be surprised if they didn't, it just sticks with you. I think for a lot of people that have shared their stories, I think Leach is just, how humble he was for someone who was that successful, it really does stand out with you. Part of my conversation with Stefan Kreiznick, who joined us from Starkville, talked a little bit about campus as well as how the team is doing. The team has decided it will play in its bowl game coming up on January 2nd. It's the ReliaQuest Bowl against Illinois. The team wanted to play to honor Coach Leach. And I saw this tweet from Gina, I really appreciate this Gina, bittersweet and fitting that the Bulldogs will be playing their bowl game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneer Stadium, Raymond James, as it has a pirate ship in it. He had a huge affinity and a lifelong love for pirates.

I didn't realize he had a life-size pirate in one of his offices, a self-described pirate who used the phrase swing your... Many of us are already planning our New Year's resolutions to work out more in 2023, but let's face it, they rarely stick. Well, Peloton's got a gift for you. Get up to $200 off accessories like non-slip grip dumbbells, cycling shoes, heart rate monitors and more with the purchase of a Peloton bike, Bike Plus or Tread. Don't wait, get this offer before it ends on December 25th. Visit OnePeloton.com. All access membership separate offer ends December 25th, cannot be combined with other offers.

See additional terms at OnePeloton.com. Being gift, my calendar can be a chaotic place. Three birthdays and my anniversary all in the next month. That's why I use Celebrations Passport from the 1-800-Flowers family of brands. Celebrations Passport gives me free shipping on thousands of amazing gifts. And the more gifts I give, the more perks and rewards I earn.

Giving is easy with Celebrations Passport. Learn more at 1-800-Flowers.com slash listen. That's 1-800-Flowers.com slash listen.

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So swing your sword coach. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Music Murphy in for the blue line battling Milano and then a puck set the distance all the way down into the Chicago zone. Blackhawk starting another turnover in front and Manta feeding it to Kuznetsov and Mrazek diving. A shot they score and it's Alex Ovechkin and it's 800 goals in the National Hockey League. The bench empties Alex Ovechkin is the third player in National Hockey League history to score 800 goals. He does it here in Chicago, Illinois on the 13th of December 2022 history here at the Madhouse on Madison. Alex Ovechkin, Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky are now the only three skaters ever in National Hockey League history to score 800 goals.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. John Walton on Capitals radio, a hat trick for Alex Ovechkin. He had two goals before 10 minutes had elapsed in Chicago. And then before it was all said and done, a third goal to get him to 800.

And it's very exclusive club, as you hear with John. So congratulations to the great eight Alex Ovechkin, obviously a future Hall of Famer. But he's not done. Not sure if you heard the conversation with the owner of the Capitals this week.

But he actually alluded to the fact that the goal, the stated goal of Alex is to pass Wayne Gretzky, which is another 97 goals. So maybe five years or so, depending upon the pace that he keeps. And to that end, the Caps have promised him they will not go full rebuild. They will continue to put pieces around him so that they can be contenders. As long as he's there, as long as he's chasing that record, they've promised him that they will field a contender as best as possible.

I love that. The trust, the partnership, certainly the relationship between the most iconic player in franchise history, the most accomplished. And this franchise's front office that desperately wants him to go out on top and wants him to be successful.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So with a hat trick, 800 goals, all of them coming with the same franchise. He's the only one of the three to ever score all of his 800 goals with one team. He's 37 years old and he achieved this milestone in his 1,305th game. It's a big number. It's the best company you ever can imagine since you start playing hockey to be in the category 800 only. I'm the third person who ever scored that many goals. It was great.

I would say it will give me a nice pass and I just have to put it in. Puck wasn't on my curve so I knew I just have to put it up and it's in. When something big happens like that, to be a part of it, everybody inside the room, the coaches, the trainers and the fans watching back at home, it's such an unbelievable experience. So I'm really happy for him. The voice of Peter Laviolette, and actually if you watch the third goal, Jay and I went back and watched it a few times. He knows. He knows. He waits patiently for that puck to bounce up to his stick. I mean, the goalie's a sitting duck. He's out of position and all Alex Ovechkin has to do is take a deep breath and give it a whack. But he knew. He knew in that moment that puck was his and that goal was about to be his.

What's up, babes? We love, love, love his championship celebration when he finally got a chance with millions of his closest friends. We're the Stanley Cup champions!

To let loose. I was on the air that night doing a show from Atlanta, actually, when the Capitals closed it out against the Golden Knights in Vegas. They took that Stanley Cup on a tour of Sin City and everywhere they went there were fans taking photos.

He allowed fans to touch the cup. They were drawing a crowd everywhere they went. And I remember my show was just about done.

So this would have been close to 6 a.m. Atlanta time, 3 a.m. in Vegas. And they're just walking back into the hotel with hundreds of people just kind of hanging out, running around with Alex Ovechkin, his teammates, and the Stanley Cup. It's yours, boys and girls and babes.

Let's go! So good, so good. Congratulations to Alex Ovechkin. Pretty amazing.

Just a couple of other things we want to get to before the top of the hour. The news confirmed that Kyler Murray has a torn ACL, so that stinks. And who knows how long it will take him into next year.

I would say just the baseline is nine months. He's healthy. He's young. He's obviously a world-class athlete.

He'll have the best care and technology that money can buy. So hopefully he's able to participate next season and to get back. Cliff Kingsbury was talking about how he's encouraged. He's disappointed, but he's encouraged and believes that, hey, Joe Burrow is a great example of a quarterback who returned from an ACL surgery and was able to lead his team the next year, actually, to a conference championship.

Cliff Kingsbury also played for Mike Leach at Texas Tech. We'd be watching film, and you'd throw it to the wrong guy. And he'd circle each guy, say, this guy's open.

This guy's open, which they really weren't, right? And he said, this guy probably scores a touchdown. And then he asked the back of the team, he's like, who would y'all throw to? And they're like, that guy. And then you threw it here.

See, you threw it here. But that was kind of his beauty. He truly thought that his offense was unstoppable.

And he made you believe in yourself more so than you did. If you missed that conversation, it was Stefan Kreisnick from Starkville, Mississippi, about Coach Leach and about the team moving forward, certainly about the legacy. And he had some great conversations with various former coaches and players that worked with, played alongside Mike Leach. I encourage you to get that on our podcast.

After hours, AmyLawrence.com. It was also an emotional night in Houston where the Rockets beat the Suns. They got up by 23 at one point. So the Suns are in a bit of a spiral. Houston played well.

That's really not to me. The bigger story here is that Stephen Silas returned as the coach of the Rockets on Tuesday. He had missed the previous game because of the death of his father, Paul Silas, who was a longtime NBA stalwart. And afterwards, Stephen wanted to honor him, certainly by coaching, but also by talking about him. The toughness that he had as a player and a coach, that was, I've heard a lot of stories like that about him.

And it's amazing. But like I said, it's the, everything that everybody's had to say about him has just been about him as a person. And that's like the best part for me. Coach, what's the biggest thing you hope that everyone always remembers about your dad? I'm very proud to be my dad's son. I'm very proud that people see him in me.

And I want that to continue. I want to be, you know, whenever it is my time comes, I want people to say the same things that they said about him over the last couple of days that hopefully they'll say that about me. Stephen Silas postgame, but he also addressed the crowd and spoke about his father before the game there in Houston. And of course, blown away by all the support he's received since his dad passed away on Sunday, I think it was.

Paul was 79. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. We always try at the end of our hump show to give you a couple reasons to smile. Do you remember when Jeff Saturday took over as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts?

It was considered to be an eight game tryout. Well, even though it's not going so well for the Colts and even though they're at this point, well, fading, they're becoming irrelevant even. He's excited about the opportunity in front of him. I've loved it. I've had a great time. I know I'm the most popular guy in the room right now. This has been fantastic.

It's crazy for me because I went from being in the media to not paying any attention purposely, right? Because I know. I'm sure not everything written about us or me is positive. I'm good with that. I knew kind of what I was signing up for. I plan on interviewing as long as they give me the interview. Yeah, hopefully. But yeah, I enjoy the heck out of this and have had a lot of fun doing it. And again, I'm not discouraged at all. I know I have a vision of what this could look like in the future. I plan to work that way. And that's what I do every day is work towards that goal, understanding what that looks like.

Well, here's my suggestion, Jeff Saturday. Just don't publicly accuse the ownership or the front office of tanking like Steve Wilks did after Carolina's win on Sunday. Everything that we've gone through, they've gone through with the different coaching changes, getting rid of players or the organization trying to tank it. You know, all those different things. And to see how those guys respond and came out and played today, it is pretty thrilling and emotional.

Yes. One of the chances that Steve Wilks actually ends up with the permanent head coaching job, permanent in quotations, after he publicly accuses his team of trying to tank. Oh, well, getting rid of players or the organization trying to tank it. Oh, my God. Maybe he had a chance before that.

Maybe he already knew he had no shot and he thought he'd go out in a blaze of glory. Finally, I don't know how many of you like liver. I like it even less after hearing what Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey had to say about it. This offseason, I was trying to get back from injury. I went got some raw liver and it tasted gross. I'm not going to lie. I just kind of tried to take some chugging with water.

Obviously, I don't look completely jacked, so it was maybe it did not work. Raw is just tough. I mean, I don't know how to describe that. I just tried to swallow it whole. I tried to chew, but then it just gets pasty like mad.

There's no way to describe it. I've never nothing I've ever had. But I don't recommend. OK, good to know. So if you're planning your Christmas menu, he does not recommend recommend that you have liver, either raw or cooked.

Also, he's not jacked, so it doesn't matter. Gross. But, you know, I guess it's not going to be as cool as M&M's regardless. The M&M jar is available for your viewing pleasure with a Christmas song on Twitter. After hours, CBS on our Facebook page. Guess the number for After Hours swag. Talk to you tonight here on CBS Sports Radio.

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