8-3-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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Crazy, right? Sign up today at BetUS.com or call 1-800-79-BetUS. Be like me, bet for free. It never gets old. I have missed you so much, Mike Tomlin. If for no other reason, I'm anxious to get to football season because it means more of Mike Tomlin and more of Dan Campbell. We did this show two weeks ago, maybe, in which we asked you if you could only hear from one major sports figure over the course of a full week, who would it be?

And I had a hard time thinking about Mike Tomlin or Dan Campbell in the NFL and who I would most like to hear from. The hype train. We're back in the dumpers again.

I mean, he's got so many that are just, they're classic. You're back in the dumpers again. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm just rambling now.

Doesn't matter if you have one ass cheek and three toes, I will beat your ass. Hadn't quite gotten to that one yet, but although I'm not sure, at this point, Dan Campbell's only been the coach for a couple of years. I'm not sure he's accumulated as many Campbellisms as there are Tomlinisms. I love me some Pat P is one of my favorites, but also there's nothing better than he didn't urinate down his leg. I mean, and he takes himself so seriously. He didn't urinate down his leg, man.

That's a great place to begin. I mean, that he takes himself seriously when he says these things. A shooter hostage, if you will. I'm not sure if that's politically incorrect, but I kind of feel like it might be a shooter hostage, if you will. It might be offensive to some component of the population, not the Steelers population.

The cut and paste component was the cut and paste component. Please give me some more Mike Tomlin, please. It's almost that time. I just love Pat P. That's just some of the news stuff. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're past the midway point of this year's show and we've got some QB news coming up. But do you know what's been happening over the last couple of minutes on Twitter? Tom Brady must be across the pond because he is busy tweeting. And now J.J. Watt is tweeting at him and the two of them are having a conversation on Twitter. But here's how it all started. Brady, not even an hour ago, put this out on Twitter, proud to be part of the Blues family.

So here's the deal. I'm officially coming on board at Birmingham City Football Club. And maybe you're asking, what do you know about English football, Tom?

Well, let's just say I got a lot to learn. But I do know a few things about winning, and I think they might translate pretty well. I know success starts with the work put in when the world isn't watching. I know that a team is nothing without the city that shows up and stands behind them. Most importantly, I know I like being the underdog. The road's been long for Birmingham, but these fans have never stopped believing. We got a song that says no matter what, you keep right on to the end of the road and I'll be on that road with you. I'll see you at St. Andrews soon. It's time to get to work.

Let's go. He does definitely know a thing or two about winning. Begs the question, though, while he's busy with all of his new business ventures, for instance, joining Birmingham City.

Again, there's multiple posts on Twitter, so you just check out Tom Brady's Twitter. He and J.J. Watt going back and forth, but he is now in a partnership with a management company. And so he's now a minority owner of Birmingham City, also getting on board with the Raiders, right? So that's another place where he's purchased the stake.

I feel like there's something else that I'm missing. He's got a production company that put out a movie last year, 80 for Brady, plus did the Man in the Arena series that was highly acclaimed, critically acclaimed. So he's busy moving and shaking. Is he going to be doing his podcast this season? He is. He re-signed with Sirius XM NFL Radio along with Jim Gray and I believe Larry Fitzgerald to continue the podcast that's called Let's Go. And after this one year of hiatus from NFL football, though, I suspect he'll be doing some guest appearances for CBS. No, it's Fox, right? He's going to Fox. I can't keep straight, all these athletes with their fat broadcasting deals. He's going to Fox and he will do that starting with the 24 season.

So he wanted a year off to prep, to prepare, to practice, probably. I'm sure Fox will have him on board for various sundry assignments, but for now he's going to be doing a bunch of other stuff. I just got a job at CBS. J.J. Watt, meanwhile, got a job at CBS and then quickly CBS realized that there was an opening and decided that they would go ahead and grab him from CBS.

So he didn't work for the drugstore giant for very long. We got benefits from CBS. We will do QB news, the AFC version coming up in 15 minutes here on the show. But even while we're talking about Tom Brady, how about this poll question? Will you miss Tom Brady on the football field in 2023 or will you miss Tom Brady on the football field this season?

I actually think I will. Definitely missed, even going back to say Brett Favre, missed Brett Favre. Missed Peyton Manning, of course. Definitely missed Drew Brees.

Missed Eli Manning, though his career didn't end on much of a high note. Sorry, J. It's true. It's true. I feel like we see him more now, though, than I did when he was... Well, we definitely hear more from him now than we did.

More interesting stuff. He attempted to keep his humor under wraps when he was still in the NFL, which is why I think it's so funny. Daniel Jones is a mini me for Eli Manning.

So let's see. Missed those guys. Philip Rivers, I mean, I missed his personality. He was kind of goofy but fun. Matt Ryan's not officially retired, but he's also doing broadcasting.

So we can't miss these guys if they never go away. However, they're not on a football field and I will definitely miss Tom Brady. It was must-see TV, even this past season, when the Buccaneers offense was so brutal and the offensive line was so porous that he was getting rid of the ball quicker than he ever had in his career. And that's saying something because he made a living. He won seven Super Bowl titles with his Patriots and Buccaneers and made a killing.

Won MVPs, all that jazz, by staying upright and not getting hit, which required him to get rid of the ball quickly. But with the Bucs last season, for a good portion of their games, he was getting rid of the football more quickly than he ever had with the Patriots or at any point in his career. So it wasn't real prosperous, but I still always wondered, what will we see from Tom Brady? What will we see from Tom Brady?

And obviously the Buccaneers ended up winning the NFC South, even with a losing record. So it's going to be different without a Brady patrolling any field, a field near you, pick a field, any field, the gridiron. So we'll put that poll up on Twitter. Jay's working on it right now.

It'll start with our show, Twitter After Hours, CBS, and we'll also make it available on our Facebook page. Even before we get to the AFC version of QB News and some Patrick Mahomes, he's actually not talking about himself so much as he is talking about other people. Did you all see what happened with Travis Kelce? Did you see what happened with the Chiefs?

And this is not a unique situation. Okay, this is not, hey, the Chiefs are the only team so far that have had any type of training camp altercation, right? I mean, we're hearing about them everywhere. We're hearing about them with various teams all the time. But for some reason, it's accepted in the NFL, but not accepted a lot of times in other sports.

Here's what I mean. Travis Kelce threw a punch at training camp, okay? Coach Andy Reid stopped practice, gave him a pretty severe warning, and Kelce, he obviously has got to abide by that.

I don't think this is something he would do in a game. He gets fired up, but they all know this is not a game. We don't see quite as many fights on a regular basis in the regular season as we do during training camp. And it makes sense because they're so tired of facing each other. I mean, I will say when I played college basketball, there were times where in two days and in training, we didn't call it training camp, but the run-up to the regular season, we were so tired of battling each other that we would get very salty.

We would get really annoyed. And there were times where we were pushing and shoving. And it's frustrating because whether you're on offense or defense, the other side knows your plays, they know what you're doing, there's no surprise, they cheat, they jump your routes to use the football terminology.

It just gets to the point where you're tired of seeing the same people over and over again. And so going back to Saturday, Kelce threw a punch after he felt like a teammate made some unnecessary contact, if you will. He had a catch in the end zone and there's a linebacker that he felt like kind of took some liberties. And so he threw a punch at him and there's a kind of a small fight. I wouldn't say it was a huge fight. You've seen the video.

It's out there. But Andy Reid isn't having it. He reminded Kelce that you get thrown out of games for stuff like that. But even as I was kind of watching and thinking about training camp fights, which again are fairly common, I couldn't help but think back to Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole. That also happened in preseason, did it not? And yet it affected that team so severely that after they bowed out of the playoffs in the second round against the Lakers, and they were tying a bow in the season or delivering the eulogy, if you will, Steve Kerr said trust was broken with this team.

You go back to our training camp, essentially. And trust was broken because you had one teammate who punched another. And a good portion of the season was spent trying to get that trust back in our locker room and it didn't happen.

It was never fully repaired. I'm paraphrasing the words of Steve Kerr, but that's what he said. Why isn't it the same with football?

It's interesting, right? Is it because there's fewer guys in the locker room? Is it because there's a great divide between offense and defense? Is it because in football it's a violent sport and so it's more accepted that tempers are running hot? But basketball is supposed to be a contact sport. I know it's not as much anymore in the NBA, which drives me batty, but it is supposed to be a contact sport.

There is contact. We know these guys jaw back and forth. We see it on the court when we're in the regular season. It's just not generally public when you're talking about training camp and two days and running up to the tip-off of the season.

But it's essentially a similar scenario. Now, we don't know all the details behind why Draymond punched Jordan Poole, but you can be sure that it had to do with some kind of contact. It had to do with some comments that were made. This is how guys get hot under the collar. They feel disrespected. There's fire. There's emotion. Maybe there's frustration because a particular practice or a week of practice wasn't going well. Tempers run hot. And so why is it that Draymond Green... Now, I know he has a reputation for being a little bit too fiery and over the edge and has a lot of technicals.

Even right now, actually, I'm seeing the video again. Kelsey did literally throw a punch at him. How come that doesn't seem to matter the way that Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole did? Is it because they're wearing helmets? It's just a rhetorical question.

I don't really have an answer. But it definitely feels like people cracked down and criticized Draymond Green so hard for what he did in the Warriors preseason last year. And then it was woven throughout the season. It came up over and over. And Steve Kerr talks about it at the end of the year.

Jordan Poole ultimately gets traded out. Why not the same in football? I suspect it is a combination of the factors that I mentioned. It's a violent sport. They expect contact. Tempers run hot.

Blah, blah, blah. But couldn't the same thing happen where fights undermine the trust or the morale of a team? I don't know.

It's a tough question to answer. From just a chemistry standpoint of a team and how could it affect a team, I think in football I could see it not affecting a team as much because most of the time it's an offense versus a defensive player. And they don't really have to converse that much after that. They do two separate jobs where they're not even practicing together half the time. They're not doing the same drills. If they see each other in the cafeteria or whatever, they might have to cross paths.

Dining hall. There's a whole bunch of other guys in there. Maybe the size of the team.

And at this point there's still what, over 100 people in training camp? And when it's Draymond and Poole, they have to literally share the basketball in every single possession. They've got to work together. In unison, where it's Kelsey and the other guy he fought, they only have to talk to each other if they don't want to. Yeah, good point.

All right, so Patrick Mahomes, he was weighing in on the Travis Kelsey altercation on Wednesday. I think we all have it. We have a lot of guys out here that are super competitive. But it's about just doing it the right way.

Trav punching the guy, not necessarily the way you want to do it, but you love the fire. You love the fire both sides of the ball of trying to finish to the last second. But that's just the type of guys we are. We're going to compete. We're going to argue out there on the football field. And then we're going to love each other in the locker room because we've got a lot of dudes that are super competitive on this team. I love that. We're going to punch each other or something along those lines.

And then we're going to love each other in the locker room. Travis Kelsey may have to address this on his next podcast edition, or maybe he did. I'm not following it the offseason. I cannot keep up with offseason podcasts. It's enough to try to keep up with them during the regular season. But he did tweet. This goes back to the weekend. This is directly from Travis Kelsey's Twitter. Got to be a better teammate. Got to be a better leader, plain and simple.

How about this? Liked 24,000 times on Twitter. Retweeted 1300 times. Yeah, Kelsey owning it. Putting it out there himself. Although more people want to talk about him trying to make overtures at Taylor Swift than really anything. We'll get to that story coming up a little bit later. But yeah, interesting. Just maybe think. Why is it that people lambasted Draymond Green for punching a teammate during training camp, but not Travis Kelsey or anybody else?

I mean, Trayvon Diggs yelled some pretty choice words at Dak Prescott during practice this week. You may have seen the quotes out there. I cannot repeat it here on the show.

But let's leave it up to your imagination if you don't want to look it up. All right. New poll. It's been a while on our show Twitter after our CBS or our Facebook page. Will you miss Tom Brady on the football field this season? I'm voting unequivocally, yes, but it's still early in the voting and I have no idea which way this will go.

Coming up, the AFC version of QB news. I have no knowledge of anything. We all have tasks we'd like to avoid, like mailing and shipping. It takes time lugging all those letters and packages to the post office. That's why you should try Stamps.com. For 25 years, Stamps.com has made mailing and shipping easy. You get all the services of the post office right on your computer anytime.

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Just go to Stamps.com and enter code PROGRAM. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

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Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com. All right, let's dive in with the AFC version of QB News here on After Hours. Sean Payton making waves and also issuing a mea culpa. After he said that Nathaniel Hackett's coaching job in Denver was the worst coaching job in the history of the NFL. All right, let's not get carried away.

It was bad, but it wasn't the worst ever. Actually, I woke up on Wednesday to some of you telling me what you thought was the worst ever NFL coaching job. But yeah, breaking a code, an unwritten code among NFL coaches and attracting attention for all the wrong reasons. He's getting back to football now.

And on Wednesday, he was talking about the difference between Russell Wilson 2022 and Russell Wilson right now at training camp. There were a lot of other factors a year ago, and we're really focused on what he's doing within the offense. Obviously, he's moving around well. His weight's down. He's in real good shape. He's working really hard. There are a lot of nuances still we're working through. You know, there's some good things in the running game today.

Each day, you know, you kind of look at the film and you start again with the corrections. But I've been pleased with his progress and where he's at really dating back to the offseason and to where we are now into our first full week. Best stick to football. If you talk about Russell Wilson, you quickly detract and distract anyone from bringing up the ridiculous comments made about Nathaniel Hackett. What did Aaron Rodgers tell us on Tuesday? He said, keep my coach's name out your mouth.

Right. We'll get to Aaron Rodgers coming up. Staying in the AFC West, a lot of hopes and I would say high hopes again for the Chargers, not only because of the Justin Herbert contract extension that's now out of the way, but because Kellen Moore is their brand new offensive coordinator. And Mike Williams wants to stay healthy, wants to be out there as the top target for Herbert this year. I know where he's going to put the ball now when I'm running downfield.

He know where I like it. So, I mean, that just comes with, you know, getting the reps in and also communicating. So I feel like from his rookie year to now, we've grown and grown on that a lot. So we're still looking to build on that. I love that.

I like to hear it. Now, will it actually result in a challenge, a legitimate challenge to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West? Remember, the Chargers made the playoffs last year, but they bowed out in what was a, well, a very Chargers-like collapse against the Jaguars in the wild card round. I'm not going to say dynasty yet. We're not done.

So I'm not going to say dynasty yet. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Thanks for having our attention to the AFC North. Kind of interesting to hear Lamar Jackson, who also got paid this offseason, finally, talking about the Ravens flying under the radar and not getting the attention in the AFC North or really the AFC as a whole. I'm cool with people not talking about us. You know, I like to be under the radar when we're playing out there on that field, you know, because I feel like once you get a height, there's a target on your back.

You know, everyone wants to beat you. And every time we out there on the field, the team give us their best shot. So it's like my brother just keep it low-key with us and just go out there and play football when the time comes. Yeah, considering how much attention has been around Lamar the last couple of seasons for Will here, won't he get a contract extension with the Ravens and the way that he was injured the end of the last two seasons.

If they don't have as much attention, if there's not a white-hot spotlight on Lamar and the Ravens, I think it behooves them to take advantage of that and kind of go about their business and not worry about who's getting more attention, who's got more nationally televised games. Yeah, just take care of your business and you know what? If you play well, the attention will be there. And I want to throw for like 6,000 yards. I want to be a billionaire and I want to be a champion. Those are his stated goals.

Being a billionaire and being a champion. Yeah, along with the 6,000 yards. Lamar talking to the reporters on NFL Network. All right, Kenny Pickett going into his second season, nearly a full season as a starter when he was a rookie, quickly replaced Mitch Trubisky.

And what do we hear from Mike Tomlin all of last year? He's getting reps. He's getting the kind of reps that you cannot simulate in practice. Can't say enough about our young cube.

Or on film. Kenny Pickett actually wants to see balance between the run and the pass. He believes they both can be weapons for the Steelers. I would say we're a really balanced team. You know, even last year, you know, after the bye week, I think our balance was great. I think that's what really helped us.

So, you know, adding all those implements of play action and getting me on the move in the naked game and moving the pocket. I mean, there's a ton of things that we can do to keep us balanced and I think we've done that so far. It's going to be the Browns who are making the preseason debut against the Jets on Thursday night. Hard to believe, but yes, it is the Hall of Fame game coming from Canton. And you've got Kevin Stefanski with a full season, he hopes, as long as Deshaun Watson stays healthy, a full season with Watson in year number two with the Browns. Deshaun's done a nice job, as we've talked about, has come back really into training camp, certainly ready to go. He's spent a lot of time over his break with our players, getting his mind ready for this opportunity, so he's done a great job. Thursday night, Browns and Jets on NBC. Again, the very first preseason game, we've got a long way to go still until the actual season kicks off. But there will be a lot of intrigue around Aaron Rodgers, too, who I can't imagine plays probably going to be on the sidelines.

Jets also the premier team on hard knocks on HBO, and he had a bit of a speech to kind of get training camp rolling in the right direction. Aaron, what do you got for us, baby? Oh, I got nothing, man. I'm just happy to be out here, excited to be with you guys.

I got nothing. All I'm going to say is this camp is a long camp, right? Let's just enjoy the little things every single day. Take time to laugh a little bit, find a conversation at lunchtime with somebody new, don't always sit with the same group. Get to know your teammates a little bit.

That's part of the leadership role. Just enjoy the little moments. Goes by fast, and you get to be really old and gray and savoring every little moment. So savor them right now. Q's on three.

One, two, three, Q's. I got nothing for you, man. Let's just very philosophical of Aaron.

Go out there and have fun. Hip, hip, hooray. Zach Wilson, we'll see whether or not he has fun this year. We'll see whether or not he sees the field this year in 2023. Going into now his third year in the NFL, and I'm stunned that he's still with the Jets. Well, I was.

I'm not stunned anymore, but I was. The fact that they keep him, they don't get rid of him. He and Aaron have a pre-existing friendship. So what does Aaron want for his, should we call it his student, his pupil?

His Padawan learner? As much as anything, I hope that this time for him is like a deep inhale and exhale. That he can really take a breath and pause and deal with the, sit with the disappointment of last year and the frustration and then channel it. And I feel like he has, but just rechannel it to a positive and focus on the opportunity in front of him to learn with a guy who loves him and cares about him and wants him to be great and wants him to do incredible things every day and to get better.

And then just go be himself and look at this as a chance to reset. Padawan learner Zach Wilson to Aaron Rodgers, the Jedi. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Preseason football coming up on Thursday night.

Wowzers. All right, also in the AFC East, I wouldn't say the Dolphins are forgotten, but with the Bills on top and the Jets getting so many headlines, Tua Tango Valoa getting set to return, hopefully healthy with the concussions in the rearview mirror. So what did he do this offseason to try to become more durable so that he can take hits, but also learn how to not take hits? That's been a major theme.

Just a lot of heavier weights, a lot more reps with the heavier weights, things like that. But everything that I did this offseason entailed to what would keep me on the field for the entirety of the season. We understand that, you know, freaky things can happen. You know, it's football.

It's a physical sport. Not everything that you prepare for is what you're going to get. So I did the best that I could that, you know, to get myself ready and prep for this season as far as injuries go. I'm hoping for him that he stays healthy the entire season. I want to see what that offense can do with him at the helm. Mike McDaniel, that creative mind of his. But mostly I just don't want his career to be cut short long before it needed to be because of concussions or head injuries.

That's really scary for any athletes. Bill Belichick, he's in midseason form, also in the AFC East. I mean, the question is out there.

Could the Patriots be the worst team in the East coming up this season? I appreciate the question. I really do. You're a liar. Oh, I'm sorry. That was so rude. You're not a liar.

That's probably not a true statement, though. I'm sorry, Bill Belichick. That's probably everything I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So are Mac Jones and Bailey Zappi in a competition for starter in New England? Everybody's out here competing.

All 90 guys. That's what we're all here for. Just go out and compete. So Mac Jones isn't necessarily everybody's out here competing. Everybody's out here competing.

That's what everybody's doing. We asked Mac the other day how his relationship. Is it good with you? And he said, I think so. Just curious. Do you what's your characterization of your relationship with every player? Well, that I don't think is true.

Judging by the reaction of some players who are expatriates, I'm not sure that is accurate. That's not my job. He's he's a football coach. That's all he does. He's not worried about relationships.

He's definitely not touchy feely. I'm sure he's different with his dog. Isn't his dog named Nike? Isn't that his dog's name?

I think so. Remember Nike made the debut during the 2020 NFL draft that was on Zoom from everyone's different homes. Nike. I think Nike is the name of the dog. So I'm sure he's very tender and sweet and kind and funny with Nike. Not so much with microphones in his face. We don't have time for that.

We really don't have time for the touchy feely. And Mac Jones reunited with Bill O'Brien after their time together at Alabama. Now Bill is the Patriots offensive coordinator. The first time I talked to him just down there at Alabama was great.

And, you know, getting a chance to work with him here has been awesome so far. Like you said, he demands a lot, but like he demands a lot. But he also has a lot of fun, too. Like, it's not like you're like scared or anything.

It's not like that. It's like he wants us to be the best we can be. He wants us to have fun doing it. And most importantly, he wants the players to be out there playing fast. And he just wants to be a guide to make that happen. And I think he's been a head coach. He's managed teams. He's managed people. He's a great communicator.

And I think that's the biggest part. Just don't tell the Houston Texans or any of their fans. QB News, the AFC version. Heard a little Patrick Mahomes earlier in the hour.

Yeah, can you believe it? It's the AFC that will be in the spotlight come Thursday evening in Canton, Ohio. The Hall of Fame weekend starts with the Hall of Fame game on NBC. Couple of minutes there of, oh, this sounds like football. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll be excited to tune in.

Don't get me wrong. But after, I don't know, a quarter, do you think we'll last a quarter? Should we? Do we last a quarter? A quarter is a long time. That is a long investment in the very first preseason game. The first few snaps, I'm all in. Like the pregame, the buzz, the pageantry. Yeah, I'm there for that. But then once you realize when someone makes a tackle and I've never heard of them in my life, it kind of ruins it a little bit. OK, we're going to miss Tom Brady in the football field this season. Actually, I'm going to. I can't speak for you. And right now, the eyes don't have it. So check out the poll.

It's on Twitter after our CBS or on my Twitter. One listener reminds us that Brady also has a stake in the the Las Vegas Aces. That's right. The WNBA has a stake in the Aces. One of the best teams in the league. Actually, if I remember correctly, they've already clinched a playoff spot.

So, yeah, Brady has the Midas touch. We'll see what that means for Birmingham City. So take our poll on Twitter or Facebook. You are listening to the After Hours podcast.

Still, Robert Taylor. It continues to go perfectly to enter Miami script. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Right now, Inter Miami CF is the hottest ticket in town. And I don't confess to know exactly what this in-season tournament is all about, but they are into the round of 32 games. I don't know.

This was Inter Miami in Orlando City. Great. It's convoluted. Mostly what I care about is that Messi is on a tear. Five goals since joining Miami. And if you've seen some of these games, or even if you just watch highlights, you guys, he is messing with them. Oh, I didn't even mean that. Messi is messing. Exactly.

He is messing with these dudes. Some of the guys who are back line of defense and goalies keepers in MLS, it's no match. Jay said to me last week that it's almost unfair what Messi is doing up against some of the top defenders or really not the top defenders in MLS. No, they are. That's the thing.

It's just not fair. He's just that much better than any MLS player. He's so good.

He's so good. So the calls there on, where did you get it from? Oh, Apple TV.

Oh, that's a bummer. Although, did you hear that Apple TV was actually one of the best offers, really the best offer that the Pac-12 received for broadcasting its games this year? Yeah, the Pac-12, college football we're talking here, is on the verge of collapse. Colorado bolting for the Big 12. We know USC and UCLA are leaving for the Big 10 coming up in 24. The Big 10 is now attempting to poach more schools potentially from the Pac-12. And I guess there's some hesitation by Pac-12 members because they realize if one or two more teams leave, the entire conference could collapse. But they don't have a TV deal.

Apple TV appears to be the closest thing they've got to a regular TV deal. And I do think that will happen because there is still money to be made with some of the markets in the Pac-12, especially while they still have LA on board with USC and UCLA for one more season. But yeah, you're looking at the Big 10. I just actually wrote a CBS Sports Minute about this. The Big 10 is considering expansion to 20 schools.

20. The name is the Big 10. And they could possibly have 10 teams or 10 schools in each of their divisions.

And they could be double that. But yeah, they're looking at teams from the ACC because they'd like to expand east, but they also want to expand west and maybe grab a few more schools from the Pac-12, which means the SEC is considering it as well. The Big 12 is in on it. With all the instability in college football, these schools that are maybe up for grabs represent insulation. It's like, the more schools we can add, the less likely we are to be susceptible to expansion. Or to, I guess I should say, the less likely we are to be susceptible to others conferences poaching us and creating the mess that is now the Pac-12, right? Because if one or two more schools leave the Pac-12, I don't know if they'll disband the conference, but they won't be able to hold a conference championship. I mean, it really would leave them with a handful of teams.

And then what do you do? And so here's the Big 10, the SEC, even the Big 12, who are kind of taking advantage of this instability and saying, hey, if we can insulate ourselves and make a money grab expanding into new markets, then we're big bads who don't have to worry about other conferences coming after us. They're bullies. I mean, this bully mentality in college football.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Take our Tom Brady poll. Yep, we've got one. We might be the only show in sports radio right now that has a Tom Brady poll, but that's why you love us.

On Twitter, ALawRadio, or on our Facebook page. Getting back to soccer, Women's World Cup, you know, the controversy, Carly Lloyd, speaking of Apple TV, she issues kind of a clarification of sorts, if you will, after she was very critical of Team USA following its draw with Portugal. Just for sake of argument, raise your hand if you're on Carly Lloyd's side. I mean, she's right about what she saw from Team USA, but I can also understand that she was on that stage. She's one of the best players in USA history, right?

And now she's watching this team possibly squander an opportunity to win another World Cup. I'd like to state that obviously I was very critical of the team last night. I've had some time to reflect, to sleep on it, and I want people to understand that I care deeply about this team. I poured my heart and soul into this team for 17 years. And it was based off of a legacy that was just passed down from generation to generation. The mentality, the DNA of what makes that team so great. And so my comments were reflective on me wanting to see that legacy continue to be passed down from generation to generation. And with that, it comes with hard work.

It comes with focus. And so my hope is that that continues because that is what makes the U.S. so special and so deadly. And that is what ultimately is OneUs Championship. So she makes those comments herself on Fox Soccer, and I understand that.

I can relate. There are a lot of former players at the highest level in their particular sports who could not coach and really have a hard time making the transition to broadcaster because it's too personal for them. They have played at the highest level. They have high standards.

And not everyone in the world can meet those standards or those expectations. But I appreciate Carly because she's done it. She did it. She lived it. She each slept and breathed U.S. soccer for years. She's part of the reason why there's now equal pay for women's soccer and men's soccer here in the United States. So I understand where the fire comes from.

However, it's created a bit of a rift, if not just flat out annoyance, from former teammates like Lindsey Horan, who's now the captain of Team USA at this Women's World Cup Down Under. Again, it is noise. Sometimes you hear it, you see it, and sometimes it's hard to get away from it. But again, it's your guys' job to have the opinion of our team. You guys are all watching us. Everyone in the world gets to have their opinion. And this is the World Cup. It's the biggest stage. And teams are better and better. Some of the most competitive matches that we've been a part of or we've seen. And you see some of these massive teams going out of the World Cup as well.

And it's crazy. But at the end of the day, it's the World Cup. This is what we're playing for. We're playing for these big matches. We're playing for these big moments.

These pressure cookers. And that's what we want to be a part of. And us being the U.S. national team, we're always going to have that. You guys always want to talk about us. And we're going to take that pressure. We're going to go with it. But we're going to focus on ourselves.

And look at everything internally and try to keep the noise out as much as possible. But use it to our advantage too. Because we're going to go out and we're going to fight. And we're going to do everything that we've done in the past World Cups, the past major tournaments to go win this game. They definitely have a target on their backs. They are the focus, obviously, here in the United States. But also because of the two-time defending World Cup champion. But again, Karlie Lloyd has the type of credibility that I can accept. And I hope they can too. Because she's been there. She's done it. Which means she can speak to what she sees. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.