After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCASTL: Hour 3

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Sometimes the girl is a problem and the girl owns it. Totally fine. It's fine. It'll be fine. Everything's fine. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

That's the girl to whom I am referring, I suppose, in a bit of a third person roundabout way. Right now looking up at the screen and Kyrie Irving is holding the microphone and speaking passionately about Luka Doncic, about a frustrating weekend for the Dallas Mavericks, about how they have now dropped out of the 710 tournament with four consecutive losses. It's seemingly going from bad to worse for the Dallas Mavericks. And Luka just picked up another technical foul, which means he will miss the next game with an automatic suspension if that tee is not rescinded upon review. As I say, in the Western Conference, it only takes a loss here, a loss there. It only takes a couple of them back to back for you to not just slip into the precarious tunnel, kind of think of it as a tunnel, that is the 710 tournament, but you're in danger of falling out of the playoff picture altogether.

And with just a handful of games remaining, the Dallas Mavericks are running out of time. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Good morning to you. If you're waking up on your Monday, ow, but ow, but we're here for you.

Hello. I'll try not to make too many really loud noises. Now, see, I can't even pretend to make that problem or make that promise.

I don't have an indoor voice. I really don't. The revelation dawned on me. So I was getting ready for the show.

This would be a few hours ago, setting up the laptop and opening up the windows that I want and getting my notes together before I started listening to audio that Jay gave me. I realized, I look back at my tweets and realize I didn't even post a single tweet on Sunday. Wow. Really? Really? Throughout the games?

Not at all. I was watching, obviously. I was taking notes, but I didn't have anything that I felt compelled to put on Twitter. But I didn't have anything that I felt compelled to put on Twitter. But I didn't even actually realize it, because I was tweeting during the games on Saturday, right, because I was doing my taxes and I was paying attention.

I had plenty of thoughts. Don't worry. Nothing's wrong.

Nothing's broken. I just didn't tweet. And I really didn't open Twitter much on Sunday. Maybe in the morning, I think I retweeted our YouTube video or the link to our YouTube video, but that was pretty much it. Because I went from teaching my kiddos at church to going to church service. I got home and started working around the house and was cleaning floors and vacuuming and just picking up the house and then basketball and I don't know. And that's fun.

And that's fun. Thank you, Aaron. I feel very validated.

Thank you so much. So didn't have any tweets out there, but don't you worry. I still have thoughts.

My brain is not broken. At least not today. Maybe somewhere down the road, but not today. So you can find me on Twitter if you like, even though there's new stuff now.

There just wasn't new stuff yesterday on Sunday. And then our Facebook page too. I see a lot of you are weighing in on our Stairway to Seven video, which ranks our post seasons in sports the most compelling, the most bang for your buck in the playoffs.

Think about it that way. When you start to watch a playoff season, whether it's NBA, Stanley Cup is coming up, those actually happen. Both of those begin in mid-April, so they're on the horizon. We're just about to crown champions in men's and women's college basketball. We've got the college world series, the women's college world series. We've got, I mean, if you're looking at golf and every tournament is a one-off, well then you've got the masters ahead.

The most coveted prize in sports is that green jacket. So much happens in the month of April. We're going to be crowning a bunch of champions over the course of the spring. So we thought it was a good idea to capitalize on the fever of March Madness and do a new Stairway to Seven. So we counted down our most compelling post seasons in sports. Now I just want you to know Jay picked his own.

Jay was entirely on his own. I don't write these things. Well, we don't clearly don't write these things.

You can tell just by the video. We don't write them. We do a little planning, but the left hand and the right hand don't know what the other one is doing. So Jay and I just briefly compared notes so that he knew what I was doing, but he decided he was going to go off the beaten path and do something completely different. And let me just tell you, it's different. I like that Jay is different. Yes, it's different.

And we did leave out one of the major pro team sports. We explained that at the end. So you'll have to go check out the video. It's actually short. It's only, what is it, five and a half minutes, six minutes? Yeah, about five and a half, six minutes. Right.

It's super easy to watch and just kind of goofy anyway. So we're, I would tell you the background, we're sitting on the floor in an office, like in a corner and there's a chair in front of us that's got the phone on it that was serving as our video camera and it's blocking us in. So we were kind of crammed into a small space.

I mean, I think my dog's, Penny's original crate was bigger than the space we were sitting in. But it worked. It worked well. Good acoustics for sure.

We're really happy with the acoustics. So check that out. I see that there are people already over the last couple of hours recently subscribing to our YouTube channel or newly subscribing to our YouTube channel. And remember when we get to 4,000 subscribers, producer Jay has to eat a boatload of broccoli. I mean, a lot of broccoli. I see it getting up too. And you know, just counting the days that I have left.

It's happening. You're going to turn in, you're going to turn green from so much broccoli. Any vegetables over the weekend, any vegetables over the weekend. Hmm.

Let me think. I had pizza, tomato sauce. See, that's the sad thing about Jay. He actually thinks that that's a vegetable. He thinks that tomato sauce is a vegetable. It does have lycopene in it.

I'll give you that, but it's not it. No, it's not a vegetable. No vegetables are not your processed foods.

That's a processed food. It had to go through a process to get to the fact that it was pizza sauce and not just tomatoes. There's no way you would eat a pizza that just had tomatoes on it. No, no, exactly.

Yeah, no, you wouldn't. I mean, I've had, it's kind of white pizza is what it's called. And so you get tomatoes, not the sauce, but that's what you think. Like you actually think that's a vegetable. It's not far off. I mean, it's like in the same, it's right there.

I had salsa. That's close. Yes, sir. You are right. From now, I'm just going to say you're right.

Absolutely. Like a tomato blend, some onions in there. Any green, any green in your diet this weekend?

Some peppers in the salsa, right? That'll do it. I give up. Like I seriously just give up. I'm done. You do whatever you want. I don't care. I don't care anymore.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. All right, let's talk about these Dallas Mavericks because we're talking about the NBA and they are a disaster. The D in Dallas stands for disaster. Do you know that they've gotten worse since Kyrie got there? No, part of the problem is that Kyrie hasn't been on the court the whole time.

Luca missed some time as well, but now Luca is back. Kyrie is back. The two of them combined for 58 points against the Charlotte Hornets and yet it was still a dismal, disastrous day for Dallas.

A word to P.J. Washington throwing the lob. Dennis Smith, junior high above the defense hangs and throws down a two-handed Dr. Pepper dunk. Time out Dallas. Seven on the shot clock. Goes to Hayward.

Hayward will drive. Bounce pass to Mark Williams. Wait for the flyby and lays it in for two. What a find and what a finish from the rookie.

Here's Luca against Washington. Side step left. Will try a three. That hits the front rim.

The back rim falls away. Tipped by Kleba. Goes over the rim. The rebound taken by Hayward. He'll get it off to Dennis Smith and the Hornets will dribble out the clock and the Mavericks for the first time since Thanksgiving week have lost four consecutive games and they have lost seven of their last eight.

That's Chuck Cooperstein with the cold hard truth on the Mavericks before that same Farber on the Hornets radio network. So again Kyrie has 18 but the Mavericks waste a 40-point performance from Luka Doncic. Jason Kidd's talking about their defense. It's unfortunate that we let these games go so if you're looking at the Dallas Mavericks in their last four games on their schedule, they dropped two in a row to Charlotte. They lost to the Warriors.

That was a home game for Dallas by two points. Then they just dropped two in a row to the Hornets who are not a playoff team. Now going back to Friday, Luka Doncic expressed that he's really not having fun right now which makes sense to me because they're on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.

It's really frustrating you know. I think you can see it with me on the court. Sometimes I don't feel it's me you know just being out there and I used to have really fun smiling on court but it's just been so frustrating maybe for a lot of reasons not just basketball. I think winning brings joy when you win games you're happy the locker room's happy and you're just having fun on the court and playing together.

So Luka admits he's not having fun. The fans are booing the Dallas Mavericks. Jason Kidd is saying we should have been booed.

This goes back to their game their first game against Charlotte in the home and home. He accuses them of having an effort that is awful and equates to dog bleep. Dog poop essentially is what he said. He said our effort was dog poop with a different word. Get this quote.

This blows me away. The Mavericks have everything to play for everything because right now their playoff position is precarious at best. It's pitiful at worst but it's precarious but because the standings are so tight they can still make the playoffs. In fact they could actually get out of the 7-10 tournament if they put a bunch of wins together in a row. I don't think given how they're playing right now that's going to happen but it is possible. Anything's still possible for this team because the west is is such a crap shoot. It's so jam-packed that you're talking about a couple of games separating nine or ten teams but this is what Jason Kidd said about his team. The interest level wasn't high.

I mean what do the else these guys have going on? It's the last two weeks of the NBA regular season. If you're not interested now it's not January.

It's not December. This is not early February before the All-Star break and mentally you're worn out. This is late March and you've got seven games left and you're not interested? Boy that's a problem and if Luka is the only one interested now that I don't know that seems weird to me because a lot of the guys other than Kyrie are role players.

They traded away two of their great glue guys. Another awesome scoring option in Spencer Dinwiddie though Kyrie was supposed to fill that and he has in some games and other games not so much. So Luka talks about how he's not having fun, how he's frustrated, the fans are booing and then Kyrie needs to weigh in and he essentially starts talking about the pressure on Luka and the media attention and the fact that people are fixated on this one little thing as opposed to seeing the big picture.

He gets lost in the weeds so often. But for me again I've said throughout my whole entire year this past year of just really paying attention to the human element the wins and losses come and go but the kind of nitpicking of judgment of what's going on when someone says I'm having human emotions and then it goes to what's the what's the blame or who's the blame and then it starts pointing fingers and you know that's the aspect that I don't enjoy about this sport at all like because there's a human element that goes into this where we perform every single day you know this is 24-7 job I don't think people realize that at times that are not entrenched with us but again I'm grateful that he was honest but we just got to help him and support him as best we can and I've been going through personal things myself as well and we just got to really put our arm around him as a brother and as a human being and as humanity we should care too you know the wins and losses will come and go but I just want him to be okay and at peace so. Well right now there's a lot more wins that are going than there are losses I mean that just is that what you want to hear from the guy that you just gave up all this stuff for all the players and draft capital you just gave up to try to bring him in if you're Mark Cuban if you're the Mavericks front office if you're Luka Doncic they gave up two really solid players to bring in a superstar for a short time he's not under contract when the season is done if they don't make the playoffs he's got seven more games with Mavericks and then that's it he's not re-signing there and his point is the wins and losses come and go I just want Luka to be okay Luka would be okay if there were more wins Luka's frustrated because he feels like no matter what he does the Mavericks aren't winning Luka can't do it by himself and plus he was injured too so I'm sure there was frustration surrounding him not being able to play when he wanted to wins and losses are the name of the game that's why you're getting paid is wins and losses and while I do agree that when an athlete a pro athlete expresses something that's off the beaten path okay so it wouldn't matter if it was Luka Doncic if it was Shohei Ohtani if it was Josh Allen it wouldn't matter we as media and fans both we tend to raise our eyebrows talk about we tend to get our radar up when when athletes talk about something other than sports right I mean that's kind of the interesting stuff and certainly when an athlete admits to being unhappy frustrated it's it's compelling that's why we let you hear it that's why we feel like it's worthy because it's not the norm it's not coach speak it's not a prepared kind of vanilla media statement no Luka is speaking from the heart he's being passionate but is Luka not okay this is not a mental health crisis for Luka he's just pissed pardon my language I don't love that word in fact I don't like that word at all he's mad he's frustrated he's getting technicals he's gonna get suspended again now if you don't know why he got this latest technical do you remember the end of the game shoot now it's gonna there was a foul called at the end of a game recently I'm gonna have to go back and look at the exact moment because I know we talked about it here but I don't remember the exact the exact context but in response to the call that was made he flashes the universal money symbol like so he's rubbing his thumb and his four his four fingers together like Johnny Manziel used to do money money money money money money money money in other words to say I mean his his implication is that the the officials were on the take that the call was made deliberately because they were throwing the game that was his implication I get that it's a gesture in the heat of the moment you can't do that the NBA is not going to stand for that you cannot accuse people whether it's indirectly or directly overtly or covertly you cannot accuse officials of of taking money to throw a game or taking money to to orchestrate an outcome first of all you have no proof it's one call that's a I mean that's the that's slanderous to an official's character but what happens fans take it and run with it and that gives them fuel for their fire so he deserved he deserved to to he was fined $35,000 for it oh that was the protested game that's what it was we talked about it was the protested game against the Warriors and that was something that happened late in the third quarter and they were mad about it late in the third quarter that was the possession that's what it was it was the possession that was given to right out of the timeout that was given to the Warriors where they inbounded they had an easy dunk because the Mavericks were all at the other end of the court that's okay that's what it was anyway so Luca's incensed about it but to do that you kind of cross a line so he is now acknowledging that he's as frustrated as he's been during his five-year career well you know what that's okay too it's been a lot of sunshine and roses for Luca since he got into the league part of the growing up process part of getting better part of fighting through and being a superstar is figuring out a new way to do it you're attracting all the attention of the other teams because you are the star you still had 40 points in their loss I mean this is part of the growth of Luca Doncic into a mature basketball player he came into the league as a teenager it was instant success instant spotlight and he deserves it seems like every time he steps on the court he breaks another record great you want to have staying power you want to last for a long time you got to be it's got to be deeper than just your talent and so he's learning and he's become he's going to become grittier he's got to stop complaining every single call or non-call Luca's like Lebron maybe he idolized Lebron that's it's it's now becoming a problem because officials are his reputation precedes him right officials know this about Luca he's going to bitch about every call or non-call that's made so he's got to fight through this he's got to become more mature there's nothing wrong with that that's what real men do so he he got another technical foul and he's now facing a suspension because it's his 16th technical foul so on top of everything else yeah I mean life careers they're not all balloons and puppies I mean sometimes your line of work is hard sometimes it happens to every human being who works for a living at some point you're going to run into a tough boss a tough situation maybe you're going to get fired I've been fired three times just so you know I mean it just you know sometimes careers are tough he'll figure it out I think he's got good leadership around him but also I like the stuff he's made of he's just going to have to he's going to have to figure it out keep on going and it may come at the cost of the Mavericks making the playoffs this year all right coming up if you did not see the performance of one Caitlin Clark best player in women's basketball whoo she saved the best for the regional final as Iowa makes a final four for the first time in 30 years and also on the women's side a familiar face a familiar voice just a different team that she guys at the final four it's a little bit of women's hoops as well glad to hear from you on twitter a law radio also on our facebook page it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio you are listening to the it's March that can mean only one thing the madness is here not in front of a tv on game day listen to every round of NCAA March Madness live from Westwood one free in the Odyssey app catch all the biggest moments of the tournament no matter where you are from cinderella's a 15 seed we'll head to the elite eights to buzzer beaters Atkinson scores 1.4 seconds left to champions for the fourth time search for NCAA March Madness right here in the Odyssey app to get started planning a wedding is intimidating but finding the perfect suit shouldn't be design your dream suit at Indochino.com and use code podcast code podcast for 10% off any purchase of $3.99 or more that's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O.com code podcast here's Martin controlling point for the Hawkeyes left half court in front of coach Bluder at the far sideline triggers up top for Clark guarded by Jones she lets it fly hand in her face she buries it 10 feet beyond the arc Caitlin Clark has 36 new tournament record for Caitlin Clark with points it was 35. What a left elbow leaves it Vanlith right of the circle records are falling in Seattle this is after hours with Amy Lawrence on the westwood one NCAA radio network that's Matt Chasenow and Krista Blanc as the Iowa Hawkeyes in women's basketball we're talking Iowa women's basketball reaches its first final four in 30 years and Caitlin Clark she just gets better and better incredible performance a triple double with 41 points a dozen assists and 10 rebounds she and her coach Lisa Bluder they had a dream and to see it now come to fruition gives them an opportunity as a duo a formidable duo at Iowa that has built something special they can now look back on what's been a journey that was unlikely at best really hasn't sunk in yet um probably won't for a while but I mean she about the only people that believed were me and her when I first committed to her and it was you know being the locker room to believe and then everybody in the locker room believed and um the rest is kind of history but a lot of people told me it would never happen when I came to the University of Iowa um but she believed in me and that was really all that mattered and you know we made our locker room believe and you know when you dream and work really hard a lot of really cool things can happen I love this this moment that Caitlin shares with her coach Lisa Bluder because it is powerful to have even one person believe in you one person who believes in you and gives you an opportunity sometimes is the start of not just an incredible partnership but in this case history having been on the receiving end of that of different bosses who quote-unquote took a chance on me who told me they believed in me who told me what they thought was possible and a mentor as well it's powerful when someone believes in you and not just believes in you but takes a step of faith with you it's not just words in the case of Lisa Bluder it's actions and look what she and Caitlin Clark have been able to build together and Caitlin references we had to get the locker room to believe it and once we did that and we had a group of people who were bought in of course it was possible it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio apparently Caitlin got rid of the basketball after the game pretty quickly so she she wanted that basketball but had to make sure that the NCAA didn't take it from her I did want the game ball so I chucked it to my dad I hope the NCAA I hope they got out of the arena in time so that I told him to run I'll get it later at the hotel could you imagine her dad like tucks it under his coat or something like ducks out so that they can get they can smuggle they're smuggling the game ball quite literally smoke yeah but the problem is that she already told everyone so now the NCAA knows exactly where to get it they're gonna send the college basketball police to retrieve that game ball come on she definitely has I just don't know what the rules are you know the NCAA they're stickler for some rules not others once it's out of the arena yeah so congratulations to Caitlin to Iowa to Lisa 41 points 12 assists 10 rebounds she's been must see TV for her career at Iowa but really the last two years she's become just ever since Sabrina I Nescue graduated and was drafted into the WNBA and is with the Liberty now right so so ever since Sabrina kind of vacated that spot in college in women's college hoops Caitlin Clark has taken over but man she is an amazing player to watch so congratulations to Iowa for making the Final Four for the first time since 1993 and get this familiar face familiar voice familiar passion Kim Mulkey who led Baylor to multiple national championships in women's basketball takes the job at LSU two years ago and it only took two years for her to lead LSU to the Final Four what I love about coaching is I want that kid to think she can't go any further but man when she does she looks at me and go God thank you for pushing me I want to look at that kid that everybody says will be an academic casualty or somebody that's really gonna struggle academically and I can watch that kid get a degree and a diploma every kid I've ever coached that finished playing for me has a degree do you think they're all 4.0 students that's what I will remember when I sit in the rocking chair someday is that I took teams players that maybe others didn't want to coach couldn't coach and we competed and we won and but they have to buy in they have to say I love this woman's personality man she laughs with us she cries with us she yells at us but she's tough as nails it doesn't ask us to do anything that she wouldn't do for us and it's been a great year Kim Mulkey is she's fire there is no one in college basketball like her I have done games multiple games where Kim has been the coach now this was back when she was at Baylor I've sat in one-on-one conversations with her she does nothing without her entire self and she loses her mind on the sidelines she even says because she goes crazy I mean she throws things she stomps she I mean her hair is like coming it's like sticking straight up on the top her head she yells and everything and everyone but she'll say and I've heard her say that she said it to me directly I lose my mind when I'm on the sidelines I don't even know what's happening it's like what John McEnroe used to say when he was in a tennis match but he just he it was like an out-of-body experience he didn't even know what he was saying Kim's passion though translates to her players and what she's saying is so true and I've said this before high expectations I think when when the high expectations are are correctly applied not unrealistic but high expectations are an indication of how much a person believes in you if they didn't believe you could do it they would lower their expectations I would rather have a coach a leader a boss a partner who has high expectations because they believe that we can accomplish the goals the dream Kim has that she is so hard on her players I mean she's just as hard on herself she's so tough but those standards those expectations are born in belief and confidence that we can do this so that what she inspires in her team so often is this incredible chemistry and togetherness and sisterhood it happens everywhere she goes you just gotta look at her track record she has a gift for communication a gift for coaching certainly but she has a passion that I don't think it wanes from the start of the season until the end she actually admitted that she had no idea how to get a team to the final four in year number two but that's how quickly it happens she's now the third coach in women's college basketball to reach a final four with multiple schools she went to the final four with Baylor four different times three of those trips resulted in national championships so don't put it past her in college sports and we're speaking about hoops right now but in college sports the coach is it's a different role leader teacher administrator guide judge a lot of times it encourage our supporter in many cases a parental figure that role of coach is so much more critical than it is in pro sports and a lot of times the coach is the most famous person on the team the most recognizable she brings a reputation again for being half crazy a lot of the times if you ever watch her during a game it's passion something that I absolutely understand I can empathize with that all right you can find me on Twitter a law radio also on our Facebook page did you know the NFL can't stand it when you start to talk about anything else guess what's happening this week as we head into the final four an opening day in Major League Baseball this is the week the NFL is holding its annual owners meetings in Phoenix because we never can hear enough from the NFL my goodness although I do love hearing from Mike Tomlin in March so I'll be honest about that you are listening to the after-hours nothing's better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star or a techno mad working from anywhere Allbirds wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes to their wool runners pipers and loungers are so cozy you might forget you're wearing them and they're crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on our planet so get comfortable in your shoes get to know the wool runners pipers and loungers at Allbirds.com that's A-L-L-B-I-R-D-S.com We were an evolving group and that evolution continued even into today but I'm just appreciative of the collective I'm appreciative of the men not what they're capable of but what they're willing to do in the face of adversity man that football presents in the face of adversity that life presents. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Hello Mike Tomlin oh how I've missed you I would say you're one of the only people in the NFL that I actually miss because I can't miss you NFL if you never go away.

It gives you that tingle. Shoot the hostages if you will so here's the thing the NFL can't stand it if if for any length of time more than say a couple of days a weekend really if football is not the top headline in sports and so it stands to reason it's been a few weeks three probably weeks since the combine wrapped up in Indianapolis and that was our last football convention which was roughly three weeks after the Super Bowl and that football convention in Phoenix now they're back in Phoenix for the annual NFL owners meeting but don't be fooled when they say it's the owners meetings they really mean the owners the general managers the coaches that's where Mike Tomlin is right now he's speaking from Phoenix. It's going to happen we're gonna hear from almost every coach and almost every general manager and owner this week. What are the chances that we don't get questions about Aaron Rodgers?

Probably none nil slim to absolutely zero. That deal is not done yet so it's gonna be a zoo around the Jets and the Packers. Packers of course don't have an owner they have a president and then they have their GM. We just heard from them what could they possibly have to say that's new three weeks later but I will say we haven't heard a ton from Mike Tomlin so that at least makes me happy. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio Pittsburgh Steelers. What about the offseason to this point coach?

I feel good about it but I don't know that I have anything to compare it to I'm not one that that pays attention to the Joneses and looks at levels of activity of others relative to ours or how much money people are spending relative to ours. You know we generally have an agenda about needs that we want to fill in an offseason there are two major ways of doing it free agency in the draft we try to prioritize that based on the depth of the draft at certain positions and so forth and so it's just a continual melding of information and continual conversations. Melding? I feel real good about where we are and the people that we've been able to add to this point knowing that we still have a means of continuing to do so throughout the remainder of the spring.

I love that he just used the word melding I use that word and I feel like a dinosaur because I never hear anyone else use that. Is it possible that Mike Tomlin and I are kindred spirits? Is that possible? It's possible it's possible I'd say. Okay more possible then we're not gonna hear about Aaron Rogers this week? No we definitely will. That was my point it's like it's more possible that Tomlin and I are kindred spirits than it is that we won't hear from I won't hear about Aaron Rogers this week.

Yeah right over your head but totally fine it's totally fine it's totally fine like as in really fine. Thank you Aaron I appreciate that every now and then I feel very validated by Aaron Rogers. Patrick Peterson he is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers so as Mike Tomlin is saying hey we operate in a bubble we're not worried about what other teams are spending we're not worried about keeping up with this team or that team what we're focused on is us and let's be fair the prototype for the Steelers has worked for a long time we take care of our own business we don't care what anybody else is doing I mean that works its stability its consistency think about it they just bid farewell to their Hall of Fame future Hall of Fame quarterback for the first time in 18 years they have to start well they have a quarterback competition they turn to a rookie and they still nearly make the playoffs but they don't have a losing season I mean it requires a foundation a base to be able to stay consistent to the point where you're not completely rebuilding you're just you're replacing pieces that you lose either through retirement or free agency or anything else and so they do have a system that they stick to it works for them the latest veteran to join them is Patrick Peterson and obviously Mike Tomlin is well versed on what Patrick does in the field. It's a beautiful story I just love Pat P first of all I admire his talents the things that we all think of when we think of Pat P the things that allowed him to go so high in the draft the things that allowed him to play at a high level for over a decade in this league at the cornerback position but over his time and even his time before the before the league I just have always been appreciative of his love and passion for this game and his football character that's continually on display in everything that he does I'm as attracted to him for those reasons as I am his resume and his physical talents you're talking about a veteran guy that a lot of these guys grew up on admiring and his style of play they'll get an opportunity to be around him day to day and see that none of it is mystical that is that is very scientific how he builds his preparedness and that his love and respect and appreciation for the game is continually on display in his prep and what type of teammate he is and his respect and how he plays the game. At one time in my life would I like Mike Tomlin to rave about me that way and then I could just I could die happy I would retire if Mike Tomlin ever raved about me that way that I mean that'd be the end of me I'd be done I there would be no greater compliment I would just I'd be done I could hang it up and and live happily for the rest of my life. I just love Pat P. I love Pat P. I love Amy D. That's my middle initial by the way Amy D. It works well I love Pat P. and I also love Amy D. He is incredible he's like what are the what word he used I am so attracted to him he's a man in touch with his feelings his emotions and what he wants to say mystical mystical mystical melding there was some mystical melding going on there oh my gosh I love that man we I take it back NFL never go away if this means we get more of Mike Tomlin in March it's a March for Mike Tomlin that on Steelers Twitter by the way I just love Pat P. I just love Pat P. Okay in all of my years covering the league not as long as Mike Tomlin's been in the league but well close in all my years covering the league I've never heard anyone call him Pat P. before Pat P. it's so good Mike Tomlin there is no one like you and I am here for it. Can't say enough about our young cube. He didn't urinate down his leg that's still got to be one of my favorites that and don't shoot the hostage shoot the hostage if you will yeah he's shoot a hostage if you will I mean there's there's no one like him there's no one that even comes close to Mike T. All right really quickly did someone say Aaron Rogers Allen Lazard and he's not worried that the deal isn't consummated yet. There's no worry on my end especially knowing that Aaron has his full-on commitment to be a New York jet this year and realizing that it's really just kind of on the the guys upstairs to kind of handle the business side of things and figure out what's uh payable or compromiseable for this whole thing to go down so you know I think a lot of us are obviously eager just for it to kind of get through I know I was especially last week before I kind of had all my stuff going down and everything but the beauty the beauty is is that you know we don't play a game until September right and you know we haven't really started we haven't started OTAs yet so there's no no rush and and getting this process done and everything and I know once it goes through um and and we're able to get in the classroom together we're able to get on the field together we're gonna start cooking up something special. Allen Lazard on TMZ Sports of course because nothing says serious sports news like TMZ tell you what they know how to find it and they know and they tracked down Allen Lazard so he said he was he was really excited last week anybody worried at all that it might not get done anybody anybody also I love this tweet from Emily I too love me some Mike Tomlin in March I especially love Mike Tomlin at 4 50 a.m on the road thanks ALaw Radio oh thank you Emily for listening he's the best it's after hours CBS Sports Radio. 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