4-5-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. This is the hour that you get to ask Amy anything. You got about a half hour or so. I wouldn't wait, though, because producer Jay is putting together his list of questions and rapid fire.

Some of you now suggesting rapid fire options as well. That usually comes up right before the top of the hour and catches me off guard. And so here's your chance. Get your questions in.

We're looking for unique, original, creative. You can do that on our Facebook page. Look for the bright orange box after hours with Amy Lawrence.

It's right underneath the photo array of my latest spring flowers. And then also on our Twitter after hours, CBS. Glad you enjoyed the conversation with Jesse Bradley. We had him back in a different capacity with Easter on the horizon. It's a good opportunity to spread hope. And boy, is he good at that.

So if you missed it last hour from Seattle, well, you can catch it on our podcast. He's so good at promotions. He's actually offered to help if we ever want assistance or suggestions for our social media, especially our YouTube channel, because he and his producer, whose name is Joel, do a ton of social media elements as well as TV interviews and different podcast interviews. He's always sending me one link or another, and he never seems to run out of energy. So I admire him.

I think he is great at uplifting people, encouraging people, supporting people, and helping us see life through a different lens, if you will. So you can check out Jesse Bradley on our podcast. After hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Our toll-free number is 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's a quiet week in football, which is okay. Just trust me, though.

It's only quiet for a very short period of time. It's not as though the NFL is bowing out of the center ring of the circus and saying, hey, you know what? You all just go ahead and take your best shot. Now, the NFL is just regrouping, taking a big deep breath, and it's going to come back like a roaring lion. In fact, right now the NFL is kind of lying in wait in the tall grasses on the Sahara, just waiting for its chance to pounce and catch us off guard. We still do not have the latest with Aaron Rodgers, right? So we don't know what's holding that trade up. A lot of people expected it to be done by now. Other people think it won't happen until right around the draft. Other people think it won't happen until after the draft because there's really not much of a sense of urgency. You could imagine the Jets would like to have Aaron Rodgers around for their OTAs, but even if they do make a trade, there's no guarantee they're going to be able to lure Aaron from Northern California, which is where he makes his offseason home for the most part, to the New York City area to go ahead and start to work out.

That's not his MO, but maybe it would be if he joined a new team. So that's one question mark. We still don't have anything new on Lamar Jackson, as much as the bombshell was dropped last week that Lamar had asked the Ravens for a trade. So far, crickets. The last we heard from the league meetings in Arizona were a bunch of coaches and general managers indicating they were not interested, that they're happy with what they have, or they couldn't afford Lamar, or he didn't fit their system, he was a particular type of quarterback that wasn't what they were game-playing around. So that's all grown quiet as well. So those would be the two major question marks around quarterbacks, but did you hear the rumblings from New England?

Ruh-roh. Now, I would say take everything that you hear or read or see right now with a grain of salt. We're getting into that territory that revolves around the NFL draft where rumors are flying like nobody's beeswax, but the rumors coming out of New England reportedly not.

I don't know. I think people try to read between the lines with Bill Belichick, and it's really not a good idea. But according to Belichick, now, this does not surprise me. I didn't actually hear him say this, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. He doesn't hand gigs to anyone, and so if you try to press him about his starting this or his starting that, he generally doesn't commit to anyone.

So therein is the opening for people to speculate, for people to wonder, will Mac Jones remain the starting quarterback for the Patriots in 2023? Because Bill has not indicated that the job is Mac's beyond a shadow of a doubt. Again, I wouldn't read too much into that because Belichick loves to be cryptic. He does it on purpose because he thinks it's nobody's business. We don't have time for that. Exactly.

He doesn't think that anybody should know any of his business any of the time. But if you take that leap and you jump to, okay, Mac could be usurped as the starting quarterback of the Patriots, then what? We know they're making changes on their offensive coaching staff, right? So Matt Patricia will not be calling plays in 2023.

He had the responsibility in 2022. They are bringing back Bill O'Brien. Maybe they could go get a veteran quarterback, though there are not many who are available right now. Carson Wentz is available.

That does not seem like a fit to me. Teddy Bridgewater is out there. We mentioned the Lamar Jackson piece. If a team wants to trade for him, they have to give up two first round draft picks. There were some reports by Pro Football Talk that Belichick has actually initiated trade discussions around Mac Jones.

Again, I don't know if I believe it. I do know that last year we heard people calling for Bailey Zappi. Remember Bailey played for Mac when he was hurt? Oh, shoot, I don't remember his injury. But he was out for a bit, and so Bailey Zappi was in, and then when Mac came back, he had a really abysmal half, and there were fans who were yelling for Bailey Zappi in the middle of that game. Thank you, high ankle sprain for Mac Jones, that's right.

It's all coming back to me now. So Belichick, a couple weeks ago, actually not even a couple weeks ago, it would have been last week, right, at the league meetings, was asked whether or not Zappi will have a chance to compete for the starting job instead of Mac Jones. Everybody will get a chance to play the best player. So it's still kind of a competition. Everybody will get a chance to play. Is that specific to the quarterback, or do you view every position like that? Every position.

See what I mean? Everybody will get a chance to play if it's on a roster. If they earn the opportunity to play, then based on what they do in practice and all that, they'll get an opportunity to play certainly better in the players they've been on in the court.

If they're still on the team, they'll all get an opportunity to play. This is Belichick, this is why I don't think anybody should take it and run with it, because Belichick doesn't think, he doesn't think we need to know. We're on a need to know basis, and he doesn't think we need to know. Anything about his roster. He wasn't speaking specifically about quarterbacks. Now, the report from Pro Football Talk is about more than that. According to Pro Football Talk, who is citing sources close to the situation. Take it with a grain of salt.

If you want to believe it, fine. But the report is that Belichick himself has reached out to other teams about trading for Mac Jones. He's still with the team, that clearly hasn't happened. Remember Bob Kraft, though, went out of his way to tell us that he loves Mac. That he felt like last season, the team was experimenting, and those experiments did not work well with Mac Jones. He said that. But remember he also told us, this was his mic drop line, or actually, just a line that made me envious. Belichick is in charge of running my football team. Do you remember that? He said Bill Belichick is in charge of running my football team.

It's badass. I really can't control that. And so even as Kraft is speaking highly of Mac Jones, he defers to Bill when it comes to my football team. I kind of feel like the entire offense should get a bit of a pass last season because of what was happening on the coaching staff. That weird Joe Judge, Matt Patricia conglomerate with Patricia calling plays. Now it's not all on him, but there was a lot of disconnect there.

It was very easy to see. The question always becomes, if not him, then who? Maybe you're a big supporter of Bailey Zappi. Again, Bailey did well. We just got a limited sample size of Bailey. And so are there other guys out there?

Sure. It's just a lot of the best quarterbacks are either already spoken for, or were never really available, or come at too high of a cost. Once Mac Jones got his starting job back, Zappi wasn't on the field the rest of the way. I don't know if you know that Bailey did play really well, and there were a lot of people that wanted him to get that chance.

Bill essentially said he felt like Mac was the better option because of the experience. So it was just a rough season for the Patriots on the opposite side of the ball. They wasted what was a strong defensive performance. And now they've got transition there, too, with different guys who are retiring, older guys. It's always about, if not this guy, then who? You get rid of this guy, then are you content to go forward with what you have?

Do you have a viable option? Last year, I don't think should be on Mac Jones. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Rick is listening in Boston. What do you think, Rick?

Later on, Amy. Okay, for starters, I've been a season ticket holder going on 40 years now, and we go through this every off season. I know. Stop trying to read the mind of Belichick. It doesn't work.

He won't allow it. He does this on purpose to you people. Don't you understand this? You people? We're numb to it. We don't even try to read between the lines anymore.

We just sit back and say, what's Bill going to say next to aggravate the next reporter? The Bailey Zappi thing, I was in Green Bay when Zappi came in for, I think it was Hoyer at the time. Yeah, Hoyer started. Bailey looked good, but Bailey looked good against bad teams last year. He got the soft part of the schedule, and yeah, that's going to help your performance a little better. But Bailey Zappi is a backup.

That's all there is to it. Nobody in New England is talking about Zappi as an assassin quarterback. Matt Jones got thrown to the wolves last year with Matt Patricia. The only reason Patricia was even the offensive coordinator is because Bill O'Brien hadn't become available yet. Bill wanted to bring him in last year, but couldn't. So he throws Matt a bone. He's thinking he might get a few wins out of him.

That fell through. The only thing Matt Patricia did for Belichick was he got him eight wins closer to Don Shula. And let me tell you something about Bill Belichick, the absolute narcissist of all time, the massive ego.

Bill's got one thing left to do. He's won six Super Bowls here. I don't even think he's trying to win another Super Bowl.

You want to know what he wants? He wants to pass Don Shula, because Shula's joked about him, said some bad stuff about him, called him a cheater. Don Shula's had it in for the Patriots since the snowplow game in 82. I mean, I met Shula at Shula's stake in Florida one time. I got a handshake with him. He heard the Boston accent and winced. It's like, honestly, he actually brought up the damn snowplow.

No lie. Don Shula. Okay, so just to clarify, you're telling me and us as members of the media to not attempt to read the mind of Bill Belichick, but you are attempting to read the mind of Bill Belichick by telling us that the only thing he cares about is passing Don Shula?

Because he makes it so painfully obvious. I mean, there are some things Bill can't hide, and this is one of them. We just happen to know what interest Belichick right now, and all he's doing right now is writing out maybe the next two seasons, he's going to retire.

As soon as he passes Shula, he's going to ride off into the sunset, and he's going to hand the job over either to Gerard Mayo or Bill O'Brien, whoever wants the job at that time, who's ever the most qualified. I mean, that's honestly how this is all going to play out. I will call you in two years and told you I told you so, I promise you. Well, Rick, so here's the thing. First of all, I would be so tickled pink if you actually remembered to do that.

Second of all, I may not be here in two years. We don't count our chickens in this business, but I do appreciate that you are following your convictions here with Belichick. I don't think that's the case. I don't think Belichick cannot try to win. I'm not telling you he doesn't care about the all-time wins record, because he probably does. But at the same time, there's no way he's just playing out the string, so to speak.

That's ridiculous. He's so competitive. He can't stand it.

He feels like the losses are personal, and they're embarrassing to him. If a good team happens to fall in Bill's lap and things fall in the right place, of course he's going to go for it. He's too competitive not to. But what I'm saying is, I don't think it's his priority.

I really don't. Bill Belichick just wants to, he wants that record. He wants it worse than life itself. But why can't he, the best way to get that record is to be a winning team, which would then put you in contention for a Super Bowl.

That's when my theory bears a slight flaw. The only problem with Bill is, he's got this figured out. He's 18 wins short. 17 short of the tie, 18 short. That's two 9-win seasons. That's two 500 seasons, and he retires.

He's done. I say the best boost for his legacy is the wins record and another Super Bowl post-Brady. Oh, he'd love the Super Bowl without Brady. He really would. Don't get me wrong.

That's number two on his wish list, but the first one is most wins. Little bit of flawed thinking there, Rick, but at least you're willing to admit it. Listen, I didn't say it was perfect, guys.

Alright, good to hear from you. You try to be in a season to get over 40 years and see if your theories don't fall to the root of that. Okay, so I have to tell you this really funny story, Rick. I don't know if you were there, if this applies to you or not, but I remember one time, this is when the Patriots were bad. It was pre-Bob Kraft buying the team, I think, and it was when Steve Grogan was the backup quarterback. I went with my family to a game at the old Foxboro Stadium, and it was so cold.

The stands were empty. The Patriots sucked. And the guy, there was a humongous man who sat maybe four or five rows behind my family and I, and I was a kid. Every single second of that game, all he did was yell, we want Grogan!

We want Grogan! Oh, that must have been the Tony Easton years. Oh my gosh, I will never, I don't even know who the starting quarterback was. I might have been one of the guys yelling that if you want the truth, because I couldn't stand Tony Easton.

I hated stats. Yeah, I don't remember what year it was. I just know I was a kid and we went. Carl, he was the richest, washiest quarterback in the history of football. You want to see happy feet?

Oh my gosh, he's startled. All I remember is this drunk guy, enormous drunk guy, who did not stop singing that the entire game. That's why I remember Steve Grogan forever is because that guy was yelling behind us the whole time. It was freezing cold, too.

There was like nobody in the stands. It was definitely pre-Bob Kraft. Listen Amy, I'll leave you with this. Last season was not on Mac Jones.

I'll be the first one to tell you. Agreed. No, I said that. I think he should get a pass. What made me sick, and I was in the stands when they started doing it, I was not one of the ones yelling for Bailey Zappi over Mac Jones.

I thought it was one of the coldest things Patriots fans have ever done to a quarterback, especially since it wasn't even Mac's fault. Right, right. Agreed. I mean, if Patriots fans think that their next subo was coming off of Bailey Zappi, I got some bad news for people.

I'm sorry. That's just not going to freaking happen. Right. Right now, I would not be shocked if the bomb fell and Lamar Jackson came to New England. The bomb.

I like how you say that. The bomb fell. That would be a nuclear bomb of all time, the NFL. That would honestly be worthy of you-know-what. I'm not going to bring up the names. No, please don't. Okay. No, no, no. Bad example, but you know what I'm saying. I do.

All right. Well, Rick, we have a lot to talk about the next time you call back. I'm a 64-year-old pathoholic, and I mean, listen, we've had a great run.

You sound like you're delivering a eulogy. We've had a great run. It was good while it lasted. I mean, listen, everything comes to an end. Even who said it to the Yankees? When Joe Torre retired, I think Susan Waldman was in tears.

And I think John Sterling told her, listen, all good things must come to an end. Well, it's true here, too, you know. It doesn't mean you can't start a fresh streak. Oh, we're going to try like hell. I mean, Buffalo's already starting to get a little obnoxious about it, but... Rick, you're my favorite caller in a long time. We can shut them up in five minutes. Oh, okay. You're betting with money that you don't have, Rick.

No, it's not true. I got six flags in my south end zone. What's the last time Buffalo won anything?

All that and a quarter will get you a bag of chips out of the vending machine. Those are the lacrosse team with four toes. That's a claim to fame. All right. All right, Rick, you call me back when we get back to football season.

Bye. I love New Englanders. I am a New Englander. I don't typically have conversations like that about football, but you guys do crack me up. You're some of my faves. I have so many members of family and friend group that are Patriots fans. Boy, these last two years, you would have thought they're almost normal, normal football fans. How quickly people forget.

All right. Coming up next, speaking of quarterbacks, we don't have any news on Mac Jones getting traded. I kind of think it's a little bit outrageous, but Sean McVay is talking about a roster rebuild in Los Angeles. And Travis Kelce has an announcement. Oh, I'm always here for Travis Kelce. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, the hump show here on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Taylor Ralph closing it out. So many big time stops defensively. Van Jefferson, Ben Scaroni making plays.

All right. But to be able to come in here 10 minutes ago and help lead us to a victory. See you guys on Monday.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I mean, that was so much fun while it lasted. When last we checked in with the Los Angeles Rams, Super Bowl champions following the 21 season, Baker Mayfield was their starting quarterback. Oh man, what a difference a year makes. Baker went from Cleveland to Carolina to L.A., now to Tampa, where he continues to reassure everyone he's not going to be Tom Brady. Great.

Thanks for clearing that up. Baker Mayfield was the last starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Hey, I'm happy to be home, man. Rams on three. One, two, three, Rams! I was happy for him.

Jay and I were rooting for him. His very first game, there's a come from behind win orchestrated by one Baker Mayfield with a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Why do I remember that?

Because it was glorious. Those are the post-game locker room celebrations, if you will. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

All right, so here's the dealio, yo. It's not Baker Mayfield's job. It wasn't going to be Baker Mayfield's job. He was keeping the seat warm from Matthew Stafford.

Now, there were some rumblings earlier in the offseason about how the Rams might be shopping Stafford. Why? Well, because they're in rebuild mode. Why? Well, because they don't have a lot of money.

Why? Because they traded away pretty much all their draft capital. Remember when Les Snead wore the t-shirt F them picks after they won the Super Bowl.

Up your nose with a rubber hose, essentially, is what he was saying. And so now they're a little bit humbled because last year was an unmitigated disaster. They lost Cooper Cup, which was enormous. They obviously lost Matthew Stafford. They also did not have Odell Beckham Jr., so their offense looked so different.

They never really got going. Aaron Donald was out. He was hurt too. They took a lot of hits via injuries, but Sean McVay decided to stay.

Remember, that was the big question. As soon as they got done with the season, is this it for Sean McVay? He decided to stay, and ultimately, Matthew Stafford is still a Ram as well. But why, coach, why is he okay with kind of starting from the bottom again? I think just the competitor that he is. He loves the game. He loves to be able to go play. He loves to go compete, and I think when you look at some of the things that he had to navigate through last year, he's motivated to come back and respond and lead.

That's what he's done for such a long period of time. He certainly elevates everybody that he's around, and I think this is the first season in a long time, first offseason in a long time that he's actually feeling good. He's been able to throw. He's been able to kind of start his rhythm and routine a little bit earlier than previous years, and he's got a good look in his eye, and I'm glad he's leading the way for us.

Ooh, it's the look in the eye. It's the old look in the eye trick, and then you know for sure Matthew Stafford's locked in. There is something to be said for the fact that he had far less of a pounding on his body last year, far fewer snaps, which means that he of course is healthy. A lot of football players tell you that even though injuries are not what they would want, not what they would wish, if they get extra time off, they sometimes come back feeling rejuvenated, especially later in their careers. Sean on Sirius XM NFL radio, and yes, there is a big roster makeover for the Rams since they won that Super Bowl early in 22. I think we've got to be a little bit more disciplined with some of the decisions. We've got to let some great players go that were foundational parts of what we've done the last handful of years. Great men, great players that did so many great things, and some of them via trade, some of them not being able to re-sign them, some of them that we had to let them go their own way, and those guys will do great in their other ventures, but it's one of those deals that as you continue to accumulate experience, you're always learning, you're always applying it, and what we're going to do is we're going to try to figure out within the framework of the parameters that we have, with the cap, the cash, all those types of things, how can we put together the most competitive roster, and let's go see what the heck happens. I still say they're better than the Arizona Cardinals in that division, but that's maybe not saying a whole lot.

So last year, tough sledding, of course. Well, once they lost Cooper Cup, they weren't the same, but without Matthew Stafford, obviously, you're talking about DOA, dead on arrival. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I mentioned Travis Kelsey. Well, apparently he had so much fun at the Saturday Night Live rendition, in which he was a host, and he's decided he's going to get into the entertainment business, and around the NFL draft, he's got a brand new venture called Kelsey Jam. I've talked a lot about fighting for your right to party, and I think there's no better time than to throw a big music festival. Kelsey Jam is coming to Kansas City draft weekend. The draft being such a big event for Kansas City to host, I wanted to throw a music festival just for the city, and for everybody coming in.

Obviously, it's April 28th, but I've always wanted to do this for Kansas City, be able to throw a party just to show my appreciation, and have some of my favorite music artists and performers come out and show out. So who exactly are those favored media artists and performers who will be part of Kelsey Jam? I'm on with some of my favorite performers. Machine Gun Kelly, every time I've seen that guy performing on stage, it's been absolutely electric.

And then we've got the boss himself, Rick Ross, coming through. Kansas City-owned Tech N9ne jumping it off, and Loud Luxury is one of my favorite DJ sets. They always bring the juice. I'm a big energy guy. My favorite energy drink, A-Shock, is sponsoring it, as well as Wingstop. On top of that, we're going to have a lot of Kansas City's favorite foods in attendance, and just a bunch of fun stuff on stage that's going to be going on, and then on top of that, a bunch of games throughout the festival. Is there a hotter commodity right now in pro sports than the Kelsey brothers?

Everything they touch right now turns to gold. Build the beast. I think we did play it last week, did we not? When Jason Kelsey gave Travis a photo of all of the coaches in the NFL, and he could only name maybe half of them. Who the f*** is that guy? And he honestly couldn't really name them by name.

He could only name some of them by team. And it was one of those moments where you think, okay. Oh, that is, yeah, that's cincy. Alright, everything they do is either funny or prosperous these days. Their podcast, you don't want to talk about catching lightning in a bottle, their podcast, first year of it, they both go to the Super Bowl.

So yes, right now, you might as well ride the wave. Kelsey Jam, he's talking about it on Fox 4 Kansas City, as KC gets ready to host the draft coming up later this month. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS on our Facebook page too. Last couple minutes for you to ask Amy anything, so send your questions.

That's coming up next. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Looking forward to hearing what questions you pose this week on the Hump Show.

It is a staple, 10 years and counting. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Excited to be with you again. Middle show of the work week, cruising toward what is a holiday weekend. A lot of people on spring break next week or just have a long weekend with maybe Good Friday or Easter Monday off. Thanks for hanging out with us whenever you can and taking us with you when you go.

We like vacations. Alright, time to get to your questions on this edition of the show. So, Producer J, you are up.

Let's jump right in. So, in honor of the photos that were just posted on our show show of your gorgeous new flowers, Tim asks, what is your favorite thing about gardening? Well, it's the variety that I have in my current yard. There are new flowers that come out every single month.

It's crazy. I didn't plant them all. They were there planted by the man who sold me the house.

He'd been in this house for 40 years. Flowers were his baby. And so now I just try to take care of them, make sure that they have a home where they can flourish. I do love this about gardening though. It's really hard to kill plants that are firmly rooted and firmly grounded.

You really have to work hard at it. But to support them, sometimes they're in cages if they're heavy plants. Sometimes they just need to have food. Sometimes they need you to weed the area around them.

You take care of them and they just need sunshine and water and they're good. My big baby this year that I'll be watching though with particular care is the lilac. It's not really a bush.

I can't call it that yet. It's a lilac plant that was transplanted from a friend of mine in New Hampshire last summer. Lila is her name. I didn't name her.

My friend Carrie did. Anyway, she took root. Remember I had to dig a hole? I misfired on the first hole, had to dig a second hole, and now she's flourishing. She's got a bunch of different sticks and stalks coming up out of the root system.

She's got a few buds on her. I can't wait to see what Lila does her first full season at Casa de Lawrence. And how about Regina? Regina is just a one-time thing.

Tomato plants don't last through. I have to get another one. So I'll get Regina too maybe. I never said goodbye. You never said goodbye? Did you ever eat any of the tomatoes off of Regina?

I don't know. You don't eat tomatoes, so that would be a no. Don't try to lie. If you really cared about Regina, you would have taken some of her fruit as an offering.

Oh, I care about Regina. Moving on here, talking about food, we did mention the holidays coming up this weekend as well. Patrick asked, what do you like to eat on Easter?

Well, I'm a big fan of scalloped potatoes and ham if it's a marbled ham. But I'm not actually eating anything special on Easter, I don't think. So here's the thing, my family's coming. My brother's family is coming because it's birthday weekend in our family. So both my nieces are celebrating birthdays the next couple days. And we're going to be doing some hiking on Saturday. I assume that we're going to be doing some type of a birthday treat.

I don't actually know this. Easter Sunday is a work day. Oh, and I take it back on vacation. Never mind. I don't know, maybe I'll find some place to have some scalloped potatoes. But yeah, scalloped potatoes are one of my favorites. Maybe I'll make some scalloped potatoes, how about that?

Sounds good. This one's interesting because we know, I don't, does everyone know it yet? You're planning for your next half marathon, of course. Yeah, it's actually a month, it's a month from Sunday. So our guy Gut Boy checks in, it's been a while, and he asks, is 3319, I guess meaning 33 minutes 19 seconds, a good time for a first-timers 5K?

Sure, but time, time is relative. As long as you finish without falling on your face, tearing a muscle, and hating the whole experience, then I feel like it's a good time regardless of what it is. And now we'll go back to baking and the food for a minute.

I love how he just jumps all over the place. It really goes against my organized right side anal retentive brain, but okay. I don't know, I feel like I usually do a pretty good job of keeping it categorized, but this one we're bouncing. Jason asks, what is something that you baked but will never bake ever again?

Huh, that's a good question. I, hmm. I made cupcakes once, it felt like they were too time intensive, for the, and they were good, they tasted good, but I stink at the icing process, decorating cupcakes or cakes, and so I was, even though the cupcakes were delicious, I felt like they were a little bit too labor intensive, and then to turn around and have to deal with the icing, that, yeah, that was kind of a, I didn't enjoy making cupcakes. So maybe next time I'll just make muffins instead of cupcakes. And here's one from Rich who asks, what are your favorite cookies that you've ever made? Not your favorite to make, like is there a specific batch, or like one cookie that you've ever made, that was like that was the best batch I ever made. Oh yeah, the cookies that I made for your birthday last year, which were the double chocolate brownie cookies, so they were shaped like a cookie, and they had maybe a tougher cookie exterior, but inside they were brownie consistency and they melted in your mouth. I still don't know how you did it, they were incredible.

It's a secret. And one more here with the baking, Richard asks, does cooking or baking serve as more than food and just creativity to you? Well, not so much creativity, but what it does serve as a stress reliever. I enjoy baking for other people, and it makes me happy to bake, and because the recipes, they work out. Very often in life, it's helter-skelter, it's topsy-turvy, it doesn't work out the way you think it's supposed to, but baking does if you follow the recipe and you follow the directions. And so I like that baking not only is my chance to give to other people, which makes me happy, but also it works out the way that it's supposed to. So Mark asks here, had you had decided to attend Annapolis and not go into sports radio, what type of occupation would you have wanted to do as a naval officer?

That's a good question. I remember thinking about that, and there were communications, so there were communications fields that I would have gone into probably since I was someone who was good at communicating that, or something to do with stats because I also had really high math scores. I would have been miserable doing either one of those careers, but I did absolutely start the process of applying for the Naval Academy and actually got to the point where I needed the endorsement from a lawmaker in my state of New Hampshire and then realized, oh no, what I really want to do is talk about sports for a living, so time to pivot.

Here's another one just on career. So Chris says, I started listening to you during the heart of the pandemic. No sports going on, but somehow you still kept it interesting. Don't you love it when people told us to stick to sports during the pandemic and there were no sports?

It's great stuff. As difficult as that was, here's my question. What's the most difficult thing you've had to do as a broadcaster? Oh, this is a challenge that not only is really emotionally difficult, but it never gets easier. No matter how many times you do it, a lot of times you practice skills in this business or any business really.

Do you mind putting that down just a tad? And it becomes easier with more reps. What never becomes easier is this battle that wages in me when we see a tragedy or a natural disaster or a mass shooting, something along those lines, and I have to come into this radio studio and pretend like I care about sports. And I understand that people are looking for a distraction. I know sports have the power to unify and heal. We need a reason to laugh. We need a reason to connect. And it's not as though I'm doing anything wrong.

But I remember writing a blog post. I think it was after the shooting at the Florida high school that happened during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and I just had such a hard time trying to reconcile those moments when sports don't matter. Because sports don't matter in times like those, and really ever. Do they matter all that much? No, they're entertainment.

They're not life or death. So I really struggle with that. When sports don't matter, how do I get in the studio and talk about them as though they do laugh about something mindless that we encounter in the sports world? So that will always be my toughest challenge, is when my heart is not here, and yet I somehow have to figure out a way to make this show worth listening to.

And you always deliver. So we'll move on here. Mike wants to know, what are some of your favorites or your favorite underdog stories of all time in sports? Oh gosh, the St. Louis Blues a few years ago winning the Stanley Cup after being last in the NHL in January. That was a great one. Underdog stories of all time.

That's a good question. I mean, I love the 16 seeds over the ones, and for years and years we never saw that in March Madness, and now we've seen two 16 seeds topple one seed in the NCAA tournament, which is pretty incredible to watch, too. So always take a Cinderella during March Madness. Let's see. What'd you say? Underdog stories of all time. Hmm. Does Rudy count?

Sure. Hoosiers. Hoosiers is one of my favorite underdog stories of all time. I do love going back to, gosh, I don't remember what year it was, so please forgive me, when the eight-seeded Golden State Warriors took out the one seed. Was that the Run DMC group? I don't remember if that was the Run DMC. Let me see.

I'm going to Google it real quick. They beat the Mavericks, right? One seed Warriors. Yes, beat the Mavericks.

Way to go, producer J. 19, let's see, first round. Oh, 06-07 shocked many in the basketball world when they beat the Mavericks four games to two. First playoff series win at that point since 1991. So yes, that was cool. And if we're talking underdog stories, how about, oh my gosh, Mr.

Irrelevant. Brock Purdy. How about that as an underdog story, getting all the way to the NFC Championship with the Niners? All right, now we'll get into a couple of favorites before rapid fire. The only thing we ever got this one, Chip asked, do you have a favorite horse? Yeah, I mean, I like the quarter horses. So, you know, I like solid horses.

So I don't need a thoroughbred that runs uber fast because I'm not going to be doing that. I like the solid, the thicker quarter horses that can do the work and that can carry me around, that are respectable and trustworthy. David wants to know, who's your favorite Muppet? My favorite Muppet? Kermit the Frog here. Kermit the Frog here.

It's like a Patrick Mahomes. No, actually, Miss Piggy is my favorite Muppet. That was pretty good. I got a Miss Piggy kick, yes. And Diana wants to know, who's your favorite Looney Tune? Uh oh, Looney Tunes.

Weirdly got those both in this same round. Would that be Bugs Bunny? Is he a Looney Tune? He is a Looney Tune. Bugs Bunny.

And we'll end it here with some rapid fire. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Well, after we found out that there are cancerous-causing ingredients in dark chocolate, now I'm going with milk chocolate. I'm never eating dark chocolate again. Ever? You used to love dark chocolate. I did.

I think it's healthy for you, but not after we found out what toxic ingredients they're pumping into it. Well, speaking of which, Advil or Tylenol? Uh, Advil. Hero or mentor? Actually, Aleve is what I prefer, but okay. Hero or mentor?

Mentor. Sticky or smelly? What? Sticky or smelly? Uh, sticky. Cookies or cake? Cookies.

Swimming, although I don't do it very often, but I love to swim. Lost in the woods or lost in the mountains? Neither one. I'm not getting lost. What's the difference?

Lost in the mountains, you're likely to suffer from hypothermia, so there's that, or fall off the edge. Blind date or double date? Double date. Last one, IHOP or Waffle House? IHOP. I don't like waffles. I don't know why, but I don't like waffles. I love pancakes, though, and stuffed French toast. It's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.