3-1-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code PODCAST. Dead center of the work week right now and the weekend is coming more quickly for me this week simply because I'm taking off Thursday night. I'm flying on Thursday to Houston to see Ma. Ma, she doesn't really go by Ma, but for this particular occasion Ma seems appropriate. So going to visit Ma and we've got a couple of fun plans for the weekend.

It's kind of an early birthday celebration. It'll feel a lot more springy in Houston than it does in my neighborhood, so I'm not sure there will be any calling it spring in northern New Jersey. But that is okay. Not complaining. In fact, the snow was so beautiful on Tuesday morning that I was out taking pictures. Penny and I were traipsing. My dog at 13 and a half doesn't have a lot of get up and go anymore, but boy does she love snow. She loves the cold and so we had fun. She was prancing through the snow, a little bit of running. She was playing and don't ask me why she does this. She plunges her snout and her face into the snow. That's how she plays in it. She sticks her entire face all the way up past her ears into the snow and smashes her face around in the snow.

It's hysterical. She eats the snow too, but I think a lot of dogs do that. But yeah, she doesn't like it when I take her picture, snow or no snow. But I managed to get a photo of her with snow all over her face that I was sharing with my family and some friends. And there's another photo that is, it's artistic if I do say so myself.

I was really proud of it. I have this old rustic looking shed in my backyard. And I also have a row, really it's a border between me and the houses behind me, but it's a row of very tall pine trees. Probably three story tall pine trees. And the heavy snow, it was very heavy snow, it was wet snow.

And it was weighing down the boughs on this pine tree that were right over the top of my shed. And such a pretty photo with the snow. It almost looks like black and white except for the color of the shed.

I'll retweet it here, ALOL Radio if you want to check it out. As I say, very artistic. I love this photo. It almost seems like it couldn't possibly be my backyard. I didn't put it on Facebook, but I'll see if producer Jake can help me do that.

I'll try to share some pictures. But the snow was really pretty. We had four plus inches. It was still snowing when I went to bed. It just made me really happy. And after what was an extremely stressful work night on Monday for reasons that don't matter anymore, it was great to just be able to breathe and traipse around in the snow. Watch Penny play in the snow. Wear my snow boots, my big snow boots for the first time really since November.

And just to enjoy breathing in that clean, crisp air that comes along with snow. It makes me happy. So yeah, you can check it out on Twitter. I'll put up some photos on Facebook as well. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. We're a half hour away from your chance to ask Amy anything.

So looking forward to those questions. Kind of getting back into our routine after a couple of weeks. Big headlines from the world of sports. The Milwaukee Bucks have won their 15th consecutive game and now have the best overall record in the NBA. 100 career triple doubles for Nikola Jokic. Well on his way to a third consecutive MVP award. But only six players now in league history have ever recorded 100 triple doubles.

And so he is continuing to keep very elite company. He's an elitist in the NBA, if you will. Also the Nuggets win again and they have the same number of wins as do the Milwaukee Bucks but have two more losses if I remember correctly without looking at the standings. The Dallas Mavericks are going the wrong way. They've dropped now four games in a row. Coming up short in their game against the Pacers on Tuesday night. Meanwhile Kyrie Irving's former teammate Kevin Durant will make his debut on Wednesday as the Suns take on the Hornets.

Let's see. Oh, how could I forget Ja Morant. Speaking of some history. Ja with the most points ever for a Grizzlies player in a single quarter. 28 of them in the third quarter.

He ends up with a triple double as well. 39 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals as the Grizzlies manhandle the Lakers. But yes, 28 points in the third quarter.

And so Ja was flying high and putting on a show. Meanwhile the Lakers, they are stumbling and scuffling without LeBron. Not only did they miss him on the offensive end because he can create his own shot but they allowed 86 points in the paint to the Grizzlies. 86 points in the paint.

That's obscene. In a really good way. So they're just going to have to tread water without LeBron and hope that he is back before it's too late. But right now they don't have any margin for error in the West because the West is so tight. Now the combine is taking place in Indianapolis and even though it's supposed to be about prospects. Honestly I feel like the NFL, and maybe it's on purpose, the NFL has done these prospects a disservice.

Or maybe a service if you don't believe they should be in the spotlight the way that they have been. Now it's a made for TV event so the combine not only runs more days, it runs into next week. But a lot of what is taking place at the combine in terms of workouts and drills, sometimes even measurements.

This is now coming in prime time and you can see it on NFL Network. So it's become more of this event as opposed to a practical way for teams to evaluate prospects. It's turned into a high profile event.

There are radio stations and TV networks there. Like it's another radio row fresh off Super Bowl week. It's not even been three weeks. And now the convention, the football convention moves to Indy. But what we're getting, and I don't mind this, is an update from coaches and general managers about players. A lot of quarterback talk of course but that's not it. It's fun to hear from Andy Reid.

It's fun to hear from some of the other guys that we really haven't heard a whole lot of since the season. Ended the regular season. How about the Titans? How disappointing their season ended up and the quarterback issues they had. So we heard from their general manager on Tuesday. In addition to that, John Lynch is talking about the Niners moving forward.

And gives an update on Brock Purdy that we'll get to coming up. And Joe Shane, why haven't the Giants franchise tagged their quarterback, Daniel Jones? They're working on it. They're working on a contract so they can avoid using the tag.

It may not be the case. They've got a few more days but they are engaging in talks. In person as well as over the phone according to the Giants general manager. And then there are the Jets. GM Joe Douglas.

Well the secret's out. Everybody knows that they are in hot pursuit of one Derek Carr. Obviously you guys have seen reports about us bringing Derek Carr in about a week and a half ago.

I can tell you that was a fantastic visit. We really enjoyed spending time with him. Obviously he's the only quarterback that I can really shed any light on for you guys. Since he's the only quarterback that's a free agent.

He left a strong impression with everybody. Obviously we're going to be exploring the veteran quarterback market this offseason. We're going to look at every available option. We feel like when it's time to make the right decision, when everyone goes through their process, we're going to make the best decision for the Jets. It's so funny because not only have we heard Josh McDaniels of the Raiders, now Joe Douglas of the Jets talk about this long process.

We're going to take our time. When that's not really the case. Because once you get a decision by Carr or you get a decision by Aaron Rodgers, or you start to see what may happen with the Ravens and Lamar Jackson, it's going to become a little more fast and furious. And even if they don't speak as though it is, there's a level of anxiety and stress that is boiling under the surface because these teams understand how important these decisions are. And also, if you don't make your decision, make your choice, make your move, make your offer, get your man before another team does, rut ro, you could be on the outside looking in.

So I appreciate that Joe is speaking calmly and softly. But the Jets also recognize that there is a market for Derek Carr. And if they don't get him, what's their plan B? It's not Zach Wilson, I'll tell you that. Though, much to the contrary of what was reported at the end of the season, but also much to the chagrin of a lot of Jets fans, Zach Wilson is not getting cut, he's cheap, he's still under his rookie deal, and according to Douglas, they're not giving up on him. Obviously the first two years haven't played out the way that anybody's hoped, but we still feel like there's a very high ceiling with Zach.

In my time in the league, I've found that when players love this game and when players work their tails off, they usually hit their ceiling. And so I feel like Zach definitely has those traits. So I still feel strongly that Zach's going to be able to hit his ceiling. But he's not their number one option.

This is still a long shot. Actually, it very much sounds like the Jets at least hearing Douglas and hearing some of what we've heard from Robert Sala, who was Zach Wilson's biggest fan for the first year plus. Zach Wilson, he's a long-term project now. There's still hope yet. We're not giving up on him.

He needs some veteran tutelage. Now, a lot of the chatter around Zach Wilson has been his relationship with Aaron Rodgers. Apparently they're friends and they keep in touch. And not only that, but Nathaniel Hackett is the new offensive coordinator in New York. All of that to say it looks like they've got a couple pieces in place that would be attractive to Rodgers should he decide or should the Packers decide that they want to part ways. But we've heard nothing.

Nothing. He wasn't on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesday. In fact, I'm pretty sure McAfee, who lives in Nashville, is doing his show from Indy because I saw a couple of highlights. They've got a set around a basketball court. And Daniel Jeremiah, who's the great draft analyst for, I don't know if he's NFL Network still, we've had him on the show before. Move the Sticks is his Twitter handle.

There was a video where he was taking a three-point shot. Something to do with charity and winning money, something like that. And McAfee and his crew were screaming and yelling over this. So they're set up in a gymnasium, weirdly enough. But they're on the scene in Indy as well.

So right now it's all the rage. It's a football convention. Don't know when we'll hear from Rodgers. But the longer it goes on, the more you start to wonder what the heck. I think that he is going to take his sweet old time simply because he wants to. I'm going to my darkness retreat.

He wants to stick it to those people who think they know what he's going to do. Stop talking about me. But it's impossible, Aaron.

We're obsessed with you. But the Packers themselves are going to have to make some decisions sooner rather than later. We heard from Mark Murphy on Sirius XM NFL radio 24 hours ago. He was talking about how eventually they have to make a decision. Well, that is also the case that we're hearing from Brian Guntkuntz, the general manager, about Aaron's future. Yes, but the timeliness of this process. We've, you know, changed some texts and things like that, but we haven't had a chance to speak yet. You know, we're going through our process as normal.

So obviously, freedom she's coming up here, that's an important part of what we're doing. So it'd be nice to have some answers before then. But until we have any conversations, we're still in a good spot. Our feelings haven't changed about Aaron, but we need to have some of those conversations about our team, where it's going, where he's at, you know, before we go forward. Yeah, you would think so.

That would be paramount. The more I hear, though, coming out of Green Bay, the more it's about, hey, the only step left for Jordan Love is to actually play, is to get some reps. We got to figure out what we have, otherwise it's going to be, I don't want to say a wasted first round draft picker. Remember, they traded up to get him and they would have to decide on his fifth year option without seeing him play a full season.

That's a crapshoot. I know Jordan's played in preseason. We've seen him here or there filling in or spelling Aaron Rodgers. But for the most part, Rodgers has been even more tenacious about staying healthy or playing hurt since they drafted Jordan Love.

He's sunk his teeth into that starting QB position as much as he also keeps his team in the lurch whenever he has the opportunity. I remember the Packers, they struggled this year in the NFC North. They ended up finishing in third place, so they were below.500 overall, the big one being that last game against Detroit when playoffs were on the line for the Packers.

At Lambeau Field, they lose to Detroit. They lose the season series against the Lions and really struggled inside their division. They were 3-3, which is nearly unheard of for the Packers during Aaron Rodgers' tenure. The only team to finish lower than them in the North Division was the Bears.

The Bears at 3-14, they wrapped the season on a 10-game losing skid. They didn't have Justin Fields for all of that time, but we got to see an electric offense with a Justin Fields that was unleashed, so to speak. So as we talked about last night, the idea, what they're leaning toward is trading away that number one draft pick that they earned dubiously, keeping Justin Fields as their starting QB. And since they don't need to draft a QB, and there are several teams out there, in fact, multiple teams apparently have reached out, who want that number one spot so that they can draft. Most of what I hear is Bryce Young out of Alabama. He seems to be the one that teams covet like Houston. Houston is desperate to move into that overall number one spot. So as general manager Ryan Polz said on Tuesday, yeah, we've got some options here, and it certainly does seem like trading that overall number one draft pick makes the most sense. Nothing's changed there. I saw the deal from yesterday in terms of leaning one way or the other. I think that's always been the case. We've always leaned that way because Justin did some really good things. I'm excited about where his game's going to go. But at the same time, when you sit in our situation at one overall, you have to do your due diligence.

You have to investigate everything. You've got to spend time with those guys just to make sure we're making the right decision. What's important to me, and I think everyone knows me by now and how I want to treat our players, we'll be in communication with Justin along the way just to make sure that he knows what we're doing, and nothing's a surprise to him. So yeah, what they need to do is put some weapons around him. I definitely still am on the they-need-a-consistent-run game outside of Justin Fields.

He may end up being their top option just because he's so athletic and he's so explosive, but it can't just be Justin. Cannot. Because too many quarterbacks who run first or have a lot of designed runs in their playbook, you go to that well too many times and your quarterback gets hurt. It's just how it happens.

There's no getting around it. No quarterback is invincible, not even the most athletic. Eventually the pounding that you take as a runner, not as a quarterback in the pocket, but as a runner, eventually that pounding catches up with you. We've seen it with Lamar Jackson. We saw it with Cam Newton.

Justin missed some time at the end of this season too. I don't want it to happen for him. I want him to be in the league for a long period of time. So they've got to balance that, which means, yes, they need to have a viable run game moving forward. They need to have some good receivers around him. Certainly need to figure out what they want to do on offense.

Not just now, but for the long term and the health of Justin Fields. So there's a lot coming out of the combine, even more that we'll get to as we think about some of the quarterback, I don't want to say controversies because there's not all controversies, but some of the quarterback storylines around the league. For instance, the Atlanta Falcons released Marcus Mariota just a year after they bring him in. He wasn't their top option, let's be fair. I don't know that they were caught completely off guard when Matt Ryan requested a trade.

They knew that it was a possibility, but the timing of it all left them with fewer options. So that's what I'm talking about with the QB chessboard is you can't afford to wait too long. It's a balancing act. It's actually a delicate dance.

A one step and a two step and a forward and a back. And what is the rest of the league doing? But we can't wait on the rest of the league because if you do, you could be left without a quarterback option. There's always, well, this year and last year, there are more needs, more quarterback needs than there are attractive veteran QBs available. QBs that are above average. Derek Carr is one of those. We don't know if Lamar Jackson is available.

That question could be answered very soon. But now you're looking at a Mariota who I think belongs in a similar tier as, say, a Baker Mayfield, a Sam Darnold. I don't know about Carson Wentz. His numbers two years ago in Indy were actually really good. It was just the end of the season.

The sour taste. They would not keep him. Jim Irsay would not keep him after that. But he had a really good season for them behind a solid Colts offensive line and with a powerhouse Jonathan Taylor that year. You notice this year, their O-line stunk. So it didn't matter what Matt Ryan did behind, I mean, he's not going to avoid the rush very easily. But it didn't really matter which quarterback they used because you also notice that Jonathan Taylor, when he was healthy, his numbers were middling. This wasn't the monster year that he had the year before. So the O-line is critical.

Just ask the Chiefs how critical the O-line is to everything you want to do on offense. So all that to say, I don't think Carson is a terrible option. I think the shine has gone off of him some, though, in the NFL because of these last two seasons or really the last year and a half.

I would probably take him before I would take Sam Darnold. Baker Mayfield still intrigues me. Yep, he still intrigues me. Hello. Have we heard a word from him lately?

I don't follow him on social media, so I really don't have any idea. See you guys on Monday. OK. OK. All right.

Yeah. That was one hell of a Monday night, though. I can't help it. I was giggling. He was over the top fired up because it felt like I'm back, baby.

No, it didn't work out the rest of the way for the Rams, but it was fun to see him have that moment in the sun, so to speak. Good. Hey. Planning a wedding can be intimidating, but finding the perfect suit shouldn't be. Indochino makes it easy to get a custom suit right from home.

Fine tune every detail and design a suit tailored perfectly to your body and your personality. Starting at just $4.99. Get a wedding suit as unique as you with Indochino. Go to Indochino.com and use code PODCAST to get 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more. That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code PODCAST. Come on! Rams on three! One, two, three!

Rams! I'm here for 10 minutes, but I am home, baby. This is it. Okay, let's see. What do we want to do coming up next? Oh, big trade that had been rumored, that had been reported, but finally culminated. Wait, culminated is not really a word. Finally consummated. That's the word. Consummated in the NHL.

Yep, in the NHL. And then, let's see, what else do I want to do next segment? I don't have a ton of time left. Oh, you know what? Manny Machado getting introduced is a funny word. Getting his moment to speak about the second contract extension that lasts for more than a decade with the San Diego Padres. We talked to Jason Stark earlier about the Padres and what this means, the spending spree that they're on, why they're doing it, and what it says about where the organization is right now. And Machado, he's smiley, he's verbose, he's long-winded on Tuesday talking about this new extension. He's coming off a year in which he was second in the NL MVP voting, his fifth year with the Padres, and he's likely going to finish his contract.

Or finish his, well yes, finish his contract, because he doesn't have any more opt-outs, but finish his career there in San Diego, so you can imagine why he's thrilled. So we'll hear a little bit from him as well. Don't forget, a few minutes left to ask Amy anything. Send your questions to our show Twitter or to our Facebook page.

That's coming up following the update at the bottom of the hour, and try to get my snowy pics up on our Facebook page as well, because they're purty. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Going back to February 22nd, so now a week ago, last time Patrick Kane scored as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. John Weidman on the radio network as they were in Dallas. Now, over the weekend, the Blackhawks were in the Bay Area to take on the San Jose Sharks, and he actually left the team and went back to Chicago, the idea being that he was likely on the verge of being traded, and the Rangers were the destination that was being reported, except it took nearly a week for that deal to get done.

But it now has become reality. They officially send their longtime star wing, Patrick Kane, to the New York Rangers. The Rangers are giving two draft picks to the Hawks, one conditional second round pick that actually could become a first rounder if the Rangers make the East Finals.

But that pick would not come next spring, I'm sorry, not this year, not this summer, excuse me, I was thinking NFL draft, but in 24 or in 25. So New York was able to clear some cap space. That was kind of the idea is that they had to figure out how to fit his contract underneath their salary cap, though Chicago's keeping 50 percent of his contract and actually paying for 50 percent of his contract. And the Coyotes too, which is really weird, the Coyotes being part of the whole deal, it's kind of complicated and convoluted.

And so it's divvied up among multiple teams. It's very creative, if you will, to get under the Rangers' salary cap. And they wanted to be able to bring him in, the Blackhawks wanted to be able to divest themselves of him because his contract is expiring at the end of the year.

But still, he's owed a lot of money moving forward the rest of the way. And so Arizona kind of jumped in to pay some money and they're getting a third round draft pick from the Rangers, so it's odd. It's like money in exchange for a draft pick, even though Patrick Kane ends up in New York.

So he was there for a long time. He has been a staple there, along with Jonathan Toews. So he's supposed to make his debut Thursday against Ottawa.

The Rangers are actually playing Wednesday, but they're on the road. Kane brings a championship pedigree, three-time Stanley Cup champion. He was the number one overall draft pick by the Blackhawks going back to 2007. But he had a no-trade clause.

They weren't allowed to move him. And so he had the eight-year deal, which was like the max that he could get then. Now he's in his mid-30s, and he had a hand in picking where he wanted to go because of that no-trade clause. And so because of that, because Kane's control and his hand in the deal, the Blackhawks didn't get nearly as much for him as maybe they thought they should have, because the market was limited, because there were only so many places that Patrick could go. But according to Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson, this was the right thing for the franchise, and they had to get this done before the deadline.

Given the situation, I don't think the asset return was ever going to realistically be what we wanted it to be. It was a tough situation from that standpoint, but the main goal here was to put Patrick in a situation where he had a chance to go to a team that he really wanted to play for and get a chance at taking a run at the Stanley Cup this year. And we were able to do that, so you know what, we did right by a player that's done so much for us, and that's the main goal.

On NBC Sports in Chicago, general manager Kyle Davidson. Obviously Kane's legacy, his impact on the franchise, they'll never forget it in the Windy City. He's one of the most electrifying players we've seen in recent history in the NHL. So there was interest, but it came down to what Patrick wanted. And we wanted to make Patrick's request come true, and that was to go to the Rangers.

And so in reality, we had one team to deal with, and that's fine, because that's where he wanted to go, and we were able to make that happen. So this was about giving Patrick an opportunity that he wanted, and we were lucky to be able to grant that. The memories, the moments, they're going to live on in Blackhawk's history forever.

He's a Blackhawk great, one of the greatest ever to put on the Blackhawk sweater. The three Stanley Cups, a Khan's smite, a Hart trophy, all the amazing moments he's given us, you can go on and on. And so he's given the franchise so much, and it was a bittersweet day, but we're really happy to be able to find him a spot in New York. And we'll always have those memories from Patrick and all those great moments in the past. Once again, Kyle Davidson, the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, as they truly close the door on an era.

As they've been flirting with the rebuild now for a couple of years, and this signifies that they're in full-blown rebuild mode. Interesting wrinkle to this trade, and maybe it's one of the reasons why Kane wanted to be in New York. He's reunited with a guy that he played with, in fact, on his line for a couple of seasons in Chicago. That's Artemi Panarin. And so the Rangers bring him in, get an expiring contract, they're not even paying for most of it.

I don't know how much impact it will have, I hope that it does. He was kind of ticked off about the fact that a hip injury, which he said was overblown, was getting a lot of attention. It was one reason why the Rangers were hemming and hawing on getting the deal done.

And because he was angry, I mean it kind of plays out that way, he went on this tear just to prove that his hip was fine, thank you very much. Seven goals and ten points in his most recent games for the Blackhawks, but has not been with the team since the weekend. And now will land in New York and will try to help the Rangers push through and get back to the Eastern Conference Finals and potentially a Stanley Cup Final. On Twitter, After Hours CBS, also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, straight ahead, your chance to ask Amy anything. Now the producer, Jay, is back. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Time to ask Amy anything. Sort of. Hit me with your best shot.

Fire away. It is that time of the week again, actually that time in this little stretch that we've had. It's been a bit. Jay was out of town and last week we were kind of doing it off the cuff.

It wasn't nearly as organized. I tried to give him more time this week. I promised him the last time we did this that I wouldn't be so lengthy with my comments at the bottom of the hour.

So I don't want to spoil all the extra time here. So producer Jay, welcome back. Happy belated birthday again. And let's do this thing. Well, thank you.

And it is amazing to be back. Let's get right into it. So usually I don't ask Amy anything. We start with a lot of food or we get into a lot of food questions. And this one I hadn't seen before. It has to do with food. It's about your favorites and stuff. And this time, Joshua wants to know, what's a food that you just can't stand?

Oh, gosh, there's there's plenty of them. I really don't like meatloaf. Don't ask me why. When I was a kid, I used to eat it, but I don't like it anymore. So no meatloaf for me. I also don't eat sushi. I love fish.

I love seafood. I don't like it raw. It needs to be cooked.

It needs to be cooked completely through. I don't like cold seafood other than shrimp. But but that's different, like shrimp cocktail.

It's different. So I like my seafood and my fish cooked. I don't eat sushi. I also don't generally eat Chinese food.

For those of you who know me, you know my theory on Chinese food, but I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food either. So I do eat some Filipino food. I do eat Thai food. So this is not an Asian thing. My sister in law's Filipino.

My nieces and that's out of my family. We we do enjoy the Asian meals. But those are a few that I a few dishes that I don't particularly like. I'm also not a huge fan of lemon that flavor. And so I don't eat a lot of lemony stuff, though my Grammy Helen used to make the most amazing lemon bars. Oh, my gosh, they were so good.

I've never tried them because I don't think I could make them as as delicious as she did. But yeah, lemon is also not a favorite type of a flavor food. Move on here. You need to put the microphone closer to your mouth. It's hard to hear you. Is it? All right.

There we go. So David asks, I know you also speak Spanish, but what are other languages? What are some of the languages that you'd like to learn? Some of them, as in more than one, maybe one, I guess would be.

But if you had a couple. Well, I highly doubt that I'll learn a couple of different languages over the course of the rest of my life. But I would love to speak Italian. It's a romance language. It's very similar to Spanish. My grandfather was Italian at my mom's dad, and he wrote me letters in Italian when I was a kid. He passed away when I was 16, but he used to love to write letters in Italian. And because I could speak Spanish, I was able to at least understand parts of it.

So very similar. I think it would be a lot of fun to learn Italian. And actually, I think it'd be really interesting to learn Latin or Hebrew.

But again, I don't know that I'll ever do that. It's good for your brain, though. You learn a new language. Even if you learn how to read music or learn how to play an instrument, it's very good for your brain because your brain is having to function at a high level to acquire a new skill or a new language. So it's really good to keep your brain active. According to scientists, can delay any type of dementia or the onset of any type of mental health.

Well, not mental health, but mental challenges, memory challenges, too. So going off of Italian and Italy, Mike wants to know which country that you have not been to yet is next on your bucket list. Well, that's tough.

I don't know about next on my list as long as I have Penny. I don't think I'll be traveling internationally as much as I would like to, but I don't feel comfortable leaving the United States where it would take me a longer trek to get back in case something happened to her. But I will say that I've got a few countries I really want to visit.

Italy is obviously one. I've never been to England either. I've been to the British Isles, but not to England. And I want to visit the southern half of the country even more than I would like to see London. And I am at some point over the next few years, however long I have Penny, it will delay it. But I've got a few friends who are in on this trip.

Same thing with my sister-in-law. We're going to go to Jerusalem and do the Holy Land tour. So visit Israel and parts of Israel that were not only written about in the Bible, but that are huge historic sites. And Jerusalem for sure. I have so many friends who've been and they say it's a phenomenal opportunity. So yes, the trip to Israel, Jerusalem, the Holy Land tour, that's what I would really want to do if you're giving me my next international choice.

But it's going to have to wait because for now Penny is the priority. My sister did that trip. She said it was phenomenal.

And anyone I've heard said it's incredible. That's awesome. Alright, so Paul wants to know how is everything with your new class at Syracuse going? Well it's not going yet because I haven't started. It's a one credit version this spring. So it doesn't start until what they call this last one credit rotation, which is right before graduation. But it was cool to meet some of the students that I know will be in the class. That's going back to last week when I was on campus and was able to speak kind of in a Q&A session with the students. So some of them who were there will also be in the class.

I've heard from a bunch of the students that I spoke to, including one freshman young woman who says she's just like me and doesn't want to do TV, only wants to do radio. I gave her my number. She reached out to me and we're going to have a phone call soon. So yeah it was really neat to connect with students on campus. But the class does not start until early April. And then it's four Mondays in a row. So a couple of Mondays I'll be doing my show from Syracuse actually.

So moving on to television here in media. Grant, well we know we talk a lot of Star Wars on this show and everyone knows your love of Star Wars. And Grant wants to know. And if you don't you should.

You should. Grant wants to know what first got you into Star Wars. Why are you such a fan? Well because those were a couple of movies, going back to the original trilogy that my mom let us watch on TV. So we didn't see them in the theaters. I mean Star Wars the original was out in what was it, 77?

So that wouldn't have been something I saw in the theaters. So we were such huge fans of having seen them on TV that we started to collect an X-wing and a Y-wing and the figurines. And I think we even had, gosh, something from the planet Hoth. I remember there was something from the ice planet Hoth that we had too. We definitely had, what are the animals called from the Hoth system? The, oh my gosh, what are they called? Shoot that's going to drive me crazy.

I can see them. Ah! Okay, this is what happens when you spring movie trivia on me without any thought.

But whatever those animals are called, the ones that they would ride out there in the ice on the planet Hoth. So anyway, we had all kinds of figurines. We would set up our entire basement like a Star Wars universe. And so my brother and I just, we grew up loving Star Wars and loving just the whole idea of Star Wars. And so it was really amazing when not just the prequels but then the sequels came out too.

And having seen a bunch of those with my brother, it's really special. So yeah, now I'm into the books and the animated series. I just started watching Bad Batch which is amazing. It picks up right after Clone Wars.

So I'm all in. I'm submerged, if you will, in the Star Wars universe. And it just gets better and better.

It's like reliving some of my childhood now that I watch the new stuff. The Wampa? Is that the creature? I don't think so. That doesn't sound right.

Is that a Yeti looking figure? Okay, well someone will tell me on social. Alright, so we'll keep it TV here for a sec.

Alan wants to know, what would be your strategy to win Survivor? No. No.

Absolutely not. I mean I'm really nice to everyone so that's totally fine. But I don't eat bugs and I don't do well with bugs eating me.

And I wouldn't mind in terms of not being able to eat as much. But the, ew, just the, I can't sleep with spiders crawling. I have sleep troubles as it is in a bed.

Forget sleeping on the ground or in a shelter where things are crawling on you. So negative. That's something I would never do. I would do The Amazing Race in a heartbeat. That's less sleep too and all kinds of craziness.

I'm directionally challenged but I could have a partner who is good with directions. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's not happening. Ever. Zero desire to be a survivor.

I'm pretty happy not surviving anything. Go to music here for a sec. Ron wants to know, what is your favorite tune? Tauntauns! There we go. Oh my gosh, I knew it was a double word.

Tauntauns. Oh my gosh, sorry. Okay, now that I remember I feel better. Ron wants to know, what's your favorite tune from the 1970s? Um, I don't, that's not my music. I'm not a 70s person. Shoot, can you give me one?

I don't... Anything, you don't like The Beatles. No. I thought they were earlier than the 70s. They are in the 60s too but they get in there in the 70s. Huh.

Um, I mean I guess I could Google one but it, sorry, that's not my generation. Well, we all know you're going to Houston in a few days. And Tauntaun wants to know, do you have a favorite restaurant in the Houston area? I mean, we're really excited about going back to the Taste of Texas. So I do love the Texas Day Brazil Steakhouse there. We've been there a few times. But after going to Taste of Texas at Christmas, we've made another reservation and we're going to go on Saturday and just eat everything that we can. It's great steak by the way. Alright, there we go. Alright, close out with a little rapid fire. Kindle or hard copy?

Hard copy. Juicy Fruit or Big Red? Big Red. Gilligan's Island or the Brady Bunch? Both. I watched both when I was a kid.

Yes, absolutely love both. On reruns or syndication, not when they originally came out. Those were two of our favorites when we were kids. And shows we were allowed to watch. My mom was pretty strict about what we were allowed to watch and what we weren't allowed to watch. It's funny now to think about it, but she gave us some options.

I'm glad Star Wars was one of those options. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.