6-8-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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$10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. Good morning to you. It is Thursday. Oh, we're so close to Friday.

We are so close. And for a lot of people, the majority of Americans, it was a full work week. Like last week when many of you slackers took off Memorial Day weekend. No, it was a full work week. It is a full work week. And so we're getting closer to, oh my goodness, the second weekend in June. Just to say that out loud is nutso.

Second weekend in June. And we'll see how long the NBA Finals last because the Denver Nuggets maybe, just maybe, have figured out the way to slam the door in the face of any heat fourth quarter comeback. Now, just because they did it once doesn't mean they can do it again.

But that has been their major issue. And last night, problem solved. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Twitter, ALawRadio. Always good to hear from those of you who've just found the show for the first time.

Like Brian, I've been listening for a couple of weeks. I very much enjoy it on the road every day at 2.30. Now, I'm not sure what time zone that is, but oy, we are glad to have you. If you must keep these hours and you must be on the road in your car, regardless of the time zone, we are happy to keep you company. I don't know how people wake up in the middle of the night to go to work because I couldn't do it. Or even worse, middle of the night to work out before they go to work. I definitely couldn't do it. I'd rather be up all night than to wake up before dawn.

No, thank you. But we are always happy to connect with new people. On our hump show, someone posed the question of how did you continue to host radio shows during the pandemic when there were no sports? And obviously, anybody who worked in TV and radio and who is still on the air was shifting. We were all shifting. Everybody was shifting, regardless of the industry that you work in. But in the sports industry, even as athletes and coaches and team staff members and workers and volunteers and stadium workers, everybody in the industry, marketing, we all had to pivot. But in TV and radio, there was this idea that we had to fill the time.

I tell you what, some of the best shows that we've ever done on After Hours came during the pandemic. Not because I was filling time. Certainly, I'm a talker and I didn't have any trouble talking. But the shift for me in my focus was about connecting and conversing. So it was connection and it was conversation.

And those became my two goals. And yeah, we had sports news that we would drop in. We did some extended interviews. I was no longer worrying about making the interviews fit into a particular time slot, no longer worried about keeping them to a certain length.

We did a few extra interviews and we took our time and we talked to people. But that was part of connection and conversation. And so ultimately, that's what radio is.

It's talking. And if we can make a connection and we can draw you in our conversation, well, then I feel like we have done the job and I have done the job as I see it. That may not be the case for every other radio host, but after 20 plus years in sports talk radio, after 25 years in this industry, that's where my focus is and will remain.

So it shifted during the pandemic. And that's still my goal for every show is to connect as part of a conversation and so that people know that I'm into connections and I'm all about the conversation. And really, that's how for me anyway, I've been able to expand the show.

I've been able to stretch myself as a host, but also how our show appeals to people beyond just the sports realm and beyond just the sports industry. So we're always glad to hear from you on Twitter, a law radio and then our Facebook page to Jay did share a photo of New York City, actually the Bronx. And it was afternoon when the air quality was really bad. I shared a time lapse video from the weather channel that shows you the deterioration in the air quality and the color changes that took place from 11 a.m. Eastern Time in New York City.

So it's lower Manhattan or Manhattan from 11 o'clock in the morning yesterday until two in the afternoon. And it's eerie. The skies turn orange. And so there are photos out there. Check out our show, Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or like I said, I shared the video from the weather channel that blew that just blew me away. It's quick.

It's about 10 seconds, really in a gift form. But it was eerie. And the smell of smoke, it's acrid and it's prominent. And the forecasters keep extending these air quality alerts. So New York City schools are actually canceled on Thursday. And they may cancel them on Friday as well because they don't want kids out and about walking to school.

A little pandemic like, right? Every outdoor event that I know of was canceled in New Jersey and New York. And this is just because I live in the area. I know that there are more than a dozen states that are under air quality alerts because of these wildfires that continue to rage in Canada. More than 200 of them now in the eastern half of the country between Nova Scotia and Quebec. A lot of people are in the same boat.

Some of you are sending me your own photos as well. So please be careful. I've seen more people in masks than I have in quite a while outdoors. And I decided not to run yesterday and really couldn't have. I took Penny out for a walk for just a quick short walk around the block because the dog will not do her business if we don't walk.

And so I took her out just three minutes while we were outside and then we turned around and went back in. And within those three minutes already my eyes were stinging and I could feel it in my throat. Now I'm pretty careful about my vocal cords anyway, but I could feel the smoke in my throat. And one particular scientist who studies air quality and the impact on humans said on the Weather Channel, this is crazy, and I heard it again when I was driving into work listening to New York news radio. If you spend an hour outside in the air that was as bad as it was yesterday in many parts of the Northeast and the Upper Midwest, an hour outside is like smoking a half a pack of cigarettes yourself. And so I decided not to run. I stayed inside. Well, I would have loved to have all the windows open because the temps were in the mid 60s and then by the time I came into work last night temps were in the low 50s. That's my kind of weather. I love it, but not with the smoke, not with the haze and the really thick air quality.

You couldn't see the skyline in New York at all. It really just smelled badly. Actually, Jay, I turned on to get some fresh air in my car because it started to smell and then obviously realized that's not a good idea because it was then filtering the smoke into my car. I was just going to ask if you put on your air. And so then I put on my AC.

It's 50 degrees outside. I've got my air condition on, but that was the only way to get some fresh air into the car and to have it through the filter as opposed to getting it from the outside. But even initially when I turned on the AC, I could feel it kind of I could smell it filtering out the air from the outside.

So, yeah, it was nasty. Then I thought, well, can I open my windows? No, can't open my windows. So I was thinking the same exact thought process in my way in with like I had the AC and I turned it on. I started to smell the smoke.

I was like, oh, let me open the window to get that smell out. Oh, wait. I was only putting more into it. Exactly.

Exactly. So, yeah, ultimately the AC did chase out the smell of the smoke. But yeah, I wasn't planning on using AC. In fact, I'd rather use the heat.

It was like 51, 52 degrees, but I had to get rid of that smoky smell somehow. Because and I'm sure it's just me being nervous about my vocal cords, but it almost felt like it was I could feel in my throat. That's not it's thick. It is really, really thick. So check out again the photos, the video that are up on our Twitter accounts and also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence, Denver, Miami. Not in the mile high altitude anymore and thankfully not dealing with the smoke or the wildfire residual smells. It was all clear in Miami.

I was a little bit jealous. And so this was a game so critical, right? If you know the stats essentially in a tie series, whether it's game three or game five, both games three and game five are major indicators of who goes on to win the series.

Now it's kind of funny, right? Because if the series is tied after two and the winner of game three is supposed to be an indicator, well then why do you need game five as an indicator, right? But you do because a lot of times you do see a tie series then, but yes, big picture going back and looking at the NBA finals and the winner of game three in a tie series often as in three quarters of the time goes on to win the series.

Now Miami Heat could come back to tie in which case game five will be the major indicator, but you can understand why these two teams were fighting and scratching and clawing early on and it was a good back and forth. Now he rips it from Joker. Caleb has it. Climb up, reverse it, bounces in for the bucket.

There should be an and one, but this place is exploded because they'll take the points. Heat up 37-33. Murray behind the nail, lost the basketball, got it back, throws it off over to Joker, down low to Jeff Green, kick out over to Murray and a three. Yes, that's a big bucket there, boy. Now drives, gets it tough, mark the reverse, puts it up, Miss Banff does not.

He cleaned it up, Adebayo cleaning service at short service. The Heat go up 44-42. Jamal Murray throws it to the high post to Nikola Jokic, guarded by Adebayo, he gets double teamed, kick out three, Murray.

Good, nothing but net on that one. And Denver's back in the lead by one. This was a good tug of war in the first half.

You hear both Jason Jackson on Heat Radio, Jason Kosmici on Nuggets Radio. Denver left some points out there. They missed a couple of bunnies at the rim in the first half. Miami actually jumped out to a five point lead initially.

The place was rocking. And then even after Denver took the lead, Miami would reel the Nuggets back in with five straight points here or a couple of buckets there or a steal and a good defensive stop. So Denver is only up five at the half. Now, the Nuggets start to pull away in the third. And it seemed like every time the Heat would make a mini run and would string some points together and the fans would get into it, a member of the Nuggets would come up with a big shot.

That's what the Heat could not do. We saw them make a ton of threes and really spread the offense and spread the floor in their Game 2 comeback. But the Nuggets, even though at times they were shaky, Jamal Murray had seven turnovers in this game. Jamal was amazing. He had a bunch of clutch threes in the game. And his threes seemed to be answers every time the Nuggets needed them. But he did have a bunch of turnovers. And so the Heat would, as I say, keep close and then the Nuggets would pull away. It was kind of like that. I know that we're going to focus, and we should, on the fact that you've got two teammates with triple doubles for the first time in an NBA Finals game.

Huge. And I talked a little bit about Joker and Jamal in the first hour and why their tandem in this duo is so effective. But there was a little extra something something for the Denver Nuggets off the bench. Mike Malone tried a lot of different combinations. Did you see Reggie Jackson come in the game in the first half?

I think he tried 12 different guys in this game and was working various combinations. The one that stuck, the guy that gave the Nuggets a spark when they desperately needed it, a rookie by the name of Christian Brown. Nineteen seconds on the shot clock.

Extended minutes here for Christian Brown, the rookie out of Kansas. Inbound goes to Christian. Christian brings it back out over the point. Goes to the left hand. Hands it off to Joker. Little floater's good.

Eighty-six to seventy. Jamal Murray has it up the left sideline. He's guarded by Caleb Martin. He gets a pick for Mikola Jokic. They switch the pick and roll. They jump Murray.

Down low to Christian. Layup is up and in and a foul as well. The rookie coming to play in the fourth quarter tonight for Denver.

Here comes Christian. Christian runs into Butler. Shoots over and he got it to goal. That was a foul too. He went right into Jimmy Buckets.

Bam Bam Buckets. I have to give Christian a lot of love. I felt his play.

What a bad press room by the way. I felt Christian Brown's play was fantastic. Did not look like a rookie. Aggressive, strong, physical, confident and his 15 and 4 off the bench in 19 minutes were very very impactful.

So good win for us but we did not come down here to get one win. He knows what to do to stay on the floor. He's solid on defense. Shoots the gaps. Plays hard.

In the right spot he crashes. Plays solid defense. He knows the offense will come when he's doing those things. He's playing with a lot of confidence. We're finding him like he's a five year vet. He's just playing the game the right way.

Every game. Even if he makes mistakes he knows how to bounce back. I think that's huge for a rookie especially in these kind of minutes. He's got a lot more game to come.

Not just in these finals but for his career. We're excited to see what he can do. Those guys trust me so I can't really fail if I go out there and play hard. They don't expect much from me as far as the offensive end. They just expect me to go out there and give effort on defense, rebound, whatever it is. Try to get extra possession for those guys to score. So they trust me. They put me in the right spots and all I got to do is lay a ball in and get a steal.

My job is pretty easy and those guys make me look pretty good. Christian Brown. 15 points, 4 rebounds, a steal, an assist, a pretty impressive dunk and the guys raving about him. Not just Michael Malone but Jamal Murray.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS 4. Do you think he would say that about our studio? Mike Malone? He stops in the middle of his comments about the post game or at the post game. It's like what a bad press room.

You put that in your pipe, you smoke it. He's been so grumpy lately. I think he needs a nap. It's gotta wear on you. The long hours, watching tape, not sleeping, stressing out over how they have not won the 4th quarters. He's not used to being in the playoffs this long. He's not holding back these days, Mike Malone.

No one is safe. Mike Malone has found his groove and he's in his bag. I should never say that ever but I feel like it applies to Mike Malone right now.

He is taking aim, ready, aim, fire. What a bad press room by the way. What happened to grace? What happened to grace and professionalism? That'd be like me going into a visiting studio when we take after hours on the road and being like what a crappy studio this is on the air. He's talking about the Nuggets winning game 3.

Man, what a crappy studio this is. Where did they put me anyway? You think they spruced it up for him in game 4? No, I think they put him in a closet.

Will they make it worse? The war of words, bulletin board material if you will. Okay, you snot. He's big timing the Miami press room.

Oh, you go down the hall and make a right? That's the janitor's closet. Oh yeah, we know. Oh my goodness.

I tell you, he's been salty for the last couple of months. He's got his ass on the prize kind of until he gets distracted by a crappy press room. Did you ever find a picture of it? I saw a still picture of it just like kind of with more of the room. It just seemed to me like a normal press room.

I don't know. I mean it wasn't like a full 360 shot. I couldn't see the whole thing but to me it looked like a normal standard press conference room. I mean they're not getting well. They might. In some places the press rooms are the same or the teams use the same one, the same media workroom but not everywhere.

Sometimes they separate them. You've always heard the stories going back you know 80s and 90s especially in Boston. I know this just because I was cutting my teeth on late 80s Boston Celtics and into the 90s. There were all these rumors that at the old Boston Garden they would jack up the temperature in the visitor's locker room and so it would be like a sauna or the opposite. They would turn off the heat so it was really cold in there. And I'm sure there is some gamesmanship. Don't even try to convince me that there aren't teams out there that put their visitors in poor conditions or that bring visiting teams in and attempt to smoke them out. That's probably a bad metaphor today.

But they attempt to make them uncomfortable as possible for a little bit of gamesmanship she said. Maybe allow the rats to run rough shot and maybe actually put out food. They forgot to clean up the night before.

The rats are running around in the locker room. It's a crappy press room by the way. What in the world Mike Malone? What a bad press room by the way. Maybe a little bit of professionalism.

It could go a long way. Did somebody spike his coffee or something? Or maybe he can't find any coffee and that's the problem. Maybe he's looking for coffee and that's why it's a crappy press room. They win. They won the game too. Why is he worried about the press room?

Imagine what he would have said if they lost the game. Exactly. They're throwing something. Alright. On Twitter, A Law Radio, our Facebook page too.

I just got this tweet. If it's a crappy studio, you got to let them know. Absolutely not.

No. Professionalism dictates that you don't bite the hand of a host that's allowing you to use their studios. You put that in your pipe, you smoke it. I have been in closets before.

Like actual recording closets and I just make do. Doesn't matter. I mean I'll tell the story on the radio but I'm not going to say it's crappy. What? I can't do that. No.

Never be invited back. Alright. Glad to connect with you this morning. Thursday morning, Denver Nuggets.

They do withstand a rally by the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter and for the first time ever, a pair of teammates with NBA Finals triple doubles. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. What you watch depends on what kind of mood you're in. Sometimes you're craving comedies like Friends or South Park and sometimes you're more into dramas like HBO's Succession and House of the Dragon.

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You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. It hit the very tip of the glass. Forget the stats for a second. I felt Jamal Murray's presence, his energy. He was here. He was in the moment. And for him and Nicola to do what they did tonight in the game that we needed to regain control and home court advantage of the series was special to watch.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It was special to watch and it was exactly what the Nuggets needed. 32 points from Nicola Jokic. 21 rebounds is a major reason why the Denver Nuggets out rebounded the Heat by 25. Now there were a lot more missed shots in there, but 58 to 33. That's the rebound edge.

Wowsers and Joker a big reason why. So 32-21 and 10 assists for Joker. 34 points, 10 assists and then in the final 30 seconds Jamal Murray snags his 10th rebound for a triple-double.

So first time in NBA Finals history that two teammates end up with triple-doubles in the same game. I felt like I didn't bring the intensity that the moment called for. Even though I didn't play terrible, I felt like I could have done a lot more.

Most people that have watched the Nuggets play when I have a game like that, I'm most likely going to bounce back. He's playing phenomenal. I think the whole playoff and we're just following him.

Like I said, he's a really good leader. His energy is amazing and we're just following him. What he does is he makes it look so easy. He grabs 21 boards and everybody's talking about he can't jump. He's out there battling everybody.

He's physically strong. 30 points, people say he doesn't want to score. He gives you 32 and then 10 assists. He just makes the game look easy throughout the game. Like I said, it's just free-throwing. His touch, his creativity, his no-look passes, his IQ.

I could go down the line. He's a special, special, special player. Jamal and Joker. That duo is uber productive and now two wins away from spearheading a championship, the first in Denver Nuggets playoff history. And I do love that they actually care about each other. They actually want the other to succeed. You remember what was always the friction between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

Both incredible players, both all-stars. And they made it work for a long time. But we knew that they weren't BFFs and we knew that they tolerated each other. These two guys actually want the other to succeed. It's a relationship that's comfortable.

It's easy. They respect and admire what the other brings to the table. And while it's not impossible to do a job if you don't like your co-workers, in this case your teammates, think back to shows that I've done with co-workers that I actually didn't like at all and couldn't stand. I mean the shows still were okay.

They were fine. I could be professional. I could suck it up. But man, it's so much better to go to work. You're so much more confident. You just feel so much more comfortable when it's teammates or co-workers that you like.

That you also want to succeed. And that's these two guys. And you can see it on the court.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Real quick, a couple from the Miami Heat. No one's saying they're buried. Or if you are, you should know better.

To your own peril. It's interesting that Eric Spolstra lamented the lack of energy and effort on the hustle plays. I feel like the Nuggets were putting in more effort and energy, which is really what Mike Malone called them out for in Game 2 on their own court.

And now Eric Spolstra is saying, hey, we didn't have the same effort and energy as did the Nuggets on our home court. But of course, they're not done. Our guys are built to compete. Built to get out there.

That cadence of playing every 48 hours. We'll get to work tomorrow for sure. But our guys, they want to get out there and compete.

And have a better showing. For sure. Maybe we're at home. We think we did something. I don't know. It just can't happen.

It won't happen again. It starts with myself. I got to lock in on a defensive end. I got to go up and get loose balls.

So I think if I start playing and doing that, then everybody else has to follow suit. He also did say, we're going to do this in the next game and we're going to win. Jimmy Butler.

He is unwavering in his confidence. But they didn't shoot well. Just three heat who were in double figures. And I hate to say that's the deciding factor because it's not that simple.

It really isn't. They got nearly doubled up in the paint, meaning that the Nuggets nearly scored twice as many points as they had in the paint. And that's with the Nuggets missing a bunch of point blank shots. They got royally out rebounded. The length and the reach of the Nuggets were a major problem for them in Game 3.

And yeah, the intensity wasn't quite there. Now they did pull within nine in the fourth quarter, but I think they're just about 90 seconds to go then. So the game was out of reach. Mike Malone said, you win the fourth quarter, you win the game. That's the first time the Nuggets have won the fourth quarter. And in doing so, they won the game. Now they only won it by a point, but it was on the road and they regained the home court advantage, which was what they were after. Other NBA news, Chris Paul getting cut by the Phoenix Suns, even as Frank Vogel is introduced as coach.

They could. I've seen the speculation, or the reports anyway, that they're talking to him and potentially will bring him back. But I said to producer Jay, one too many playoff injuries.

You can't count on the guy in the playoffs. That's what it seems like happens over and over again. And so if they are going to break through and be a winner in Phoenix, if they are going to obtain that elusive championship, because they keep getting close, they flirt with it, but they're just not able to quite get through. Frank Vogel certainly has a message for the team. I hope that he says this exact same thing to Kevin Durant.

I really do. Our guys are going to hear that the number one habit that we develop all year is that we have to play harder and tougher and with more hustle than our opponents every night. Because if you if you develop that habit over 82 games, boy, when you get come playoff time, you know, when every team's trying to ratchet it up, like it's already going to be there for us. You know, so it's just something it's going to be a way of life for us, you know, from the beginning of training camp all the way into the playoffs. Frank Vogel has got a message actually listening to him.

No, he doesn't have the same goofiness as Dan Campbell. He didn't talk about biting kneecaps, but he has a very distinct message that he wants the guys to hear toughness. We're going to hustle.

And there's another word that he used that I that I loved it. And and so he's talked about how he's going to stand in front of the team and he's going to ask for them to have a different attitude. This is the beginning of a new era in Phoenix Suns basketball, and and it's going to be an exciting one. And we are committed to to bringing in championship level talent. I will be committed to to bringing a championship level culture both on and off the court. When we get out there and play, we're going to be scrappy as hell. We're going to have talent out there, but we're going to be a scrappy team that plays harder than our opponent every night. And we're going to be a team that makes this community very proud. I love all of it.

All of it. I would say potentially stay away from the word scrappy when you're addressing the team in your locker room. Scrappy? Scrappy?

Sounds like a little league team. This is scrappy. We're going to be scrappy. Well, it sounds like the Miami Heat, actually, though I don't know that they would call themselves scrappy. They would say tough. They'd say resilient. I could see tough, disciplined, focused. We're going to hustle. Scrappy?

Can you imagine Katie scrappy? He's an idiot. Oh, well, that wouldn't be a great place to start. No, seriously. Do you think that Kevin Durant will respond to Frank Vogel when he asked them to be scrappy? No.

That simple answer, no. Hey, maybe maybe drop the P.Y. on the end and just be scrap. We're just going to scrap. Now, that's a little different. That would fly, I think, in the Phoenix Suns locker room. The Suns scrap.

They're scrappy Suns. No, it just it's different. You keep those two letters there and it just sounds a whole lot different. Grow up. You grow up. Don't tell me to grow up and definitely don't tell Frank Vogel to grow up. I think he was talking to Frank Vogel.

You think he was talking to Frank Vogel? We're going to scrap. That seems cooler, I guess.

It seems, you know, fresher. Scrappy? Nah. Maybe not. Maybe not scrappy.

Good stuff, though. So Frank Vogel and the Suns have to decide what to do about Chris Paul. But he could. Well, he is a free agent.

They may end up with Phoenix again. All right. Coming up, we have a lot to cram in. I'm not kidding. First of all, Messi is headed to Miami.

How about that? Tyreek Hill has a message for it's his new BFF. In addition, we've got a brand new quarterback on the cover of Madden. I promised you, Kyle Shanahan, to make you laugh because if you ask about Brock Purdy, he's as salty as Mike Malone. I don't like playing this game. He hates us when we ask about quarterbacks. But I mean, how about get one then and stay with one? We don't ask anymore.

I would guess so. The finals are here and the biggest assist is happening off the court. BetQL has the best sportsbook deals, bonus offers and exclusive access to risk-free bets, giving you more bang for your basketball buck. Visit BetQL to unlock special offers and finish the season on a winning note. Whether you're riding with the Joker in Denver or playoff Jimmy in Miami, BetQL's bonus offers can be the alley to your sports betting oop. Go to BetQL.com slash hoops to take advantage of these exclusive offers.

That's BetQL.com slash hoops. After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I don't actually believe in curses, but I wonder if there's some Bills fans that are pretty nervous on this Thursday morning because Josh Allen is the new cover boy. Oh, sorry, cover athlete. Cover man? Cover girl? I mean, if we say cover girl, can we not say cover boy? He's the new cover model. He's the cover boy. He's the cover boy.

Someone's going to get mad at me. For the Madden 24 video game. And so this is kind of a dream come true really for a lot of athletes. Josh Allen, obviously, has been one of the stars, one of the best quarterbacks in the league now for a few years.

John Murphy there on Bills radio. And so he hears the news, the big reveal, and I don't know, I kind of feel like he's gushing a little bit. This cover is going to be awesome. Western New York is going to be extremely thrilled for this. And I'm so happy that, you know, they're going to feel like they get some of the respect that they deserve and to the city that's contributed a lot to football. And it's such a great fan base and they deserve it a little bit, you know, and I think most importantly, they deserve a Lombardi Trophy. And that's what I'm trying to bring here.

And that's that's I'm going to work tirelessly until me and my teammates get that done. He is the first Bills player ever to be selected for the honor of covering Madden. And I like what he had to say. If you would have told me in high school that this would be an honor, that I would be on the cover of Madden, I wouldn't have believed you. Madden has such a special place in my heart and really neat if you haven't seen his tweet.

I don't know if you want to retweet it, Jay, from our show account. He's called it a childhood dream come true. And there are a couple of cover shots from him on the Madden, the Madden game.

So it's pretty amazing. Good for him. He said he grew up a Madden gamer and that often he would play with his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers.

And every now and then, this is kind of funny, he would sub in his offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey, for Jeff Garcia. That's cute. Anyway, good for Josh. Congratulations to Josh.

But if you do believe in curses, then are you nervous about something happening to Josh and or the Buffalo Bills because he's on the cover? It's rhetorical. You don't have to answer. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio.

All right. You know, a lot of times when we're heading up to the top of the hour, we want to make you laugh just a little bit. Rory McIlroy may not make you laugh, although we'll get to him before the top. Did mention, we'll say in the AFC East here, Tyreek Hill welcomes Lionel Messi to Miami. And this is a big surprise. Really excited. We actually talked to Jose Pineda, who's the Spanish play-by-play voice of the Miami Heat, earlier in the show. He joined us after Game 3 and he was all fired up about Messi.

And so, yeah, everybody now getting in on it. I'm psyched that he's going to play for Inter Miami because I want to see him on U.S. soil. And Tyreek Hill, he wants to see him too.

Hey, what's up? This is Tyreek Hill. I just want to say welcome to the 305 Lionel Messi. Now we got two number 10s, but I just want to know which one is the fastest.

But anyways, congrats to you, man. And shout out. Welcome to Miami 305. Maybe he'll learn about his first name or maybe he'll just call him Lionel. How many Americans do you think are calling him Lionel right now? More than half. More than half.

Yeah, it's fine. I'm sure he answers to that too. Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi. Fantastic. Lionel, Lionel, just Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi. That's what you need to call him. I'm sure that it's going to be a really neat thing.

Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi. Exactly. Do I need to credit that? Oh, the Madden thing was on Yahoo Sports.

Sorry about that. For Tyreek Hill, it was just on his Instagram account. For Miami, they've already seen a massive surge in tickets. Even though Messi's not here yet. But they were already seeing the blowback.

Well, the fallout, I should say. Just people getting all excited to buy tickets for Miami. Alright, I promised you some Kyle Shanahan. Welcome to Miami 305.

I don't know who's crankier these days. Is it Mike Malone? And actually he's two wins away from an NBA Finals championship. Or is it one Kyle Shanahan who just can't stand talking about his quarterbacks, right? And so he was asked about Brock Purdie.

And to give us an update on his second year QB who's recovering from the UCL surgery. I don't watch him, to tell you the truth. He's right on pace. I think he throws three times a week.

I do not sit and watch those. It's part of his process of getting back. And he's continuing right on the track. He's always been on. No setbacks. And it's been very good so far. Is it your understanding like once training camp starts that he'll be able to do stuff on the field with the team before he's fully cleared to go play football?

I haven't asked any of those yet. We're taking it very slowly. It's not like you just jump out and push stuff. You're only supposed to throw on this date at this percentage this many yards. And then you do a certain couple days later. And if you stay on track, it should heal the right way. And right now everything's right on track.

And so we don't go any – I don't ask three weeks ahead. You just keep trying to stay on that trajectory. Have you talked to him? How's his mental state? Great.

I thank you. I didn't ask him. But I don't ask him how his mental state is every day. I see him every day. And it's pretty good. Just normal. Everything's normal.

I know we want updates. I totally get it. But there are none. So I can make something up.

But there are none. It's like just the next day of working out and rehabbing. And I don't get too involved in that. See him in the meetings. Talk to him about football and stuff like that. Things – what will happen when he's healthy. And we're just waiting for him to get healthy.

We don't have time for that. He can't stand answering questions about his quarterbacks. I mean, he's actually told us before if I could survive all these press conferences where you asked me about our quarterbacks.

Well, I mean, whose fault is that exactly? It's been a revolving door of quarterbacks for San Francisco. That sounds like you can keep surviving press conferences. When he took over as the head coach, remember at the time it was Colin Kaepernick, but was it Blaine Gabbert?

I believe. Okay, it's been a revolving door since then. They used three quarterbacks last year. Now they've got two of them back.

But a different one is in their QB room in Sam Darnold. So, yeah, I mean, forgive us. I love how he says we, too, because he doesn't mean we. At the end of that, he's like, well, we could talk about it. But actually, he said we would like answers.

I mean, so sarcastic, although sarcasm is my love language, so I'm okay. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. All right. A little bit of Rory to finish up your morning, because this time yesterday we were talking about the bombshell news about the PGA and Liv merging together. Yeah, Rory says, hey, stop it.

This is not about Liv, actually. In fact, those guys should still have to pay the consequences for ditching the PGA. There still has to be consequences to actions. You know, the people that left the PGA tour irreparably harmed this tour, started litigation against it. Like, we can't just welcome them back in. Like, that's not going to happen. And I think that was the one thing that Jay was trying to get across yesterday is like, guys, we're not just going to bring these guys back in and pretend like nothing's happened. Like, that is not going to happen. No matter what, it doesn't matter if the money is good for the PGA tour, which Rory does acknowledge. He says, I refuse to accept this as a merger with Liv.

And he understands those fans who are disappointed in this move. It's not Liv. I think that's the thing. I still hate Liv. Hate it.

Like, I hate Liv. Like, I hope it goes away. And I fully expect that it does.

I hope it dies. And I think that's where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the PIF.

Very different from Liv. All I've tried to do is protect what the PGA Tour is and what the PGA Tour stands for. And I think it will continue to do that. So, like, going forward, I hope that there's, you know, there may be a team element. And you're going to see maybe me, maybe whoever else playing some sort of team golf.

But I don't think it'll look anything like Liv has looked. And I think that's a good thing. Whether you like it or not, the PIF, we're going to keep spending money in golf. At least the PGA Tour in life controls how that money is spent. You know, so I'd, you know, if you're thinking about, you know, one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world, would you rather have them as a partner or an enemy?

At the end of the day, money talks, and you'd rather have them as a partner? Ultimately, he says if I take my emotions out of the decision, though he admits he feels like a sacrificial lamb after everything that's happened over the last year, the money will be good for the PGA and for golf in general. All right, we'll talk to you tonight after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!