After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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You'll be glad you did. We are off and running in week one of the NFL preseason. No, the Hall of Fame game does not count. And it's a good opportunity, not so much to see position battles, at least not this early, or even starters in many cases, but just a good opportunity to see what it looks like when these teams get back to football for the first time in months. And in many cases you're talking new faces, new quarterbacks, new coaches that have moved around the league and there's been a lot of playing against each other. So offenses and defenses that know the playbook, that know what the other side is attempting to do.

So line up and take snaps against people that don't necessarily know what's coming next. So we're off and running into week one. We're heading into a preseason NFL weekend, which means real games that count cannot be far behind. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Happy almost Friday.

You can find us on Twitter, After Hours CBS, and then on our Facebook page too named After the Show. We had two games on Thursday night. Seattle Seahawks hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the late game. And to talk Seattle Seahawks training camp, we're pleased to welcome our friend Greg Bell who covers the team for the Tacoma News Tribune. Greg, let's see.

Three things that you'll take away from the Seahawks first preseason game. And hello. Hello Amy, how you been? It's been a while. Good to talk to you again.

You too. The first is Drew Locke, backup quarterback Denver Broncos fans might remember he used to be a starter in this league. Played for the first time in a year and played since the last preseason game of 2022. Geno Smith took every snap last year. First one to the Pro Bowl for the first time, made his first playoff start. And Locke said it's the first time since he played football that he never took a snap in a season.

Wow. But he played a 90 through two touchdown passes, two really sharp passes that basically won the game after they were down 10-0 in Minnesota. He did throw an interception where he just didn't see a safety over across the middle of the field. But he said it just sounds great to play again and that, yeah, he really wants to play.

But he understands the situation here and although he still really, really wants to play. And the second thing is the Seahawks defense, Amy, really subverted everything Smith and the offense did last year. And the Seahawks got to the playoffs despite their defense, especially their run defense. The run fits for better tonight with the reserves.

Now Bobby Wagner and Chenon Wosu and Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams is still in the public. None of them played. It was only three starters on defense played.

Only seven of the 22 starters on offense and defense played for Seattle. But the run fits for better. They were in the right places. They didn't always tackle and they had a bad time tackling, especially early in the game. But it looked to me like the run fits for better. And after the game, the players said they were in the right positions more than they were last year. So that's an improvement for them.

And the third thing, Amy, is now that I'm a father of two grown 20-year-olds, I really love these type of stories. After the game, Esau Winston, he's a fourth-year player, has bounced around practice squads in the league for a couple of years. He caught his first touchdown pass in the NFL tonight. That was a preseason game.

And after the game, he was carrying the ball around the locker room into the press conference and out of the press conference and into the parking lot. And I said, who are you going to give that to? And he said his mom. And he said, you know, Renee Winston, his mother sacrificed so much for me to get to this moment.

This is a really big deal for me. I think it's only right to give it to mom. And I said, well, hopefully you told her that already. Call her. No, I haven't told her yet.

I'm going to call her right now. Just in a preseason game, a 24-24 five-year-old guy, that's real stuff and that's pretty cool. Congratulations to Esau Winston. Welcome to the NFL.

That's amazing. So, Greg, we saw, as you say, Drew Locke, which is cool. We sometimes forget about the plight of backup quarterbacks. And very often, and I would say usually I keep track of this, two-thirds of the NFL has to use multiple quarterbacks because of injuries or ineptitude. So it's rare that you get one QB who takes every snap over an entire season. But Geno needed that. The Seahawks needed that as they were making him the starter. How have you seen him grow from the point at which he took over to start last season to where they are now? Geno Smith?

Yes. Oh, he is so much more settled. This time last year, Amy, he was trying to throw every pass perfectly. He was looking sideways at what Drew Locke was doing next to him in training camp practices.

Everything was a competition, every throw, every drill at practice. Now he's a guy. We gave him a three-year, $105 million contract, and he is settled. And people ask me, what's the one difference and how would you describe Smith now, and I'd say settled. And after ten years in the league and seven years of sitting on benches for four different teams, he's finally got a team. He's finally made a pro bowl. He's finally played in the playoffs, started a playoff game. And he knows now not only is this his team, but he's done it for this team now. He's done it in the playoffs to get him to the playoffs. So much more comfortable, much more in command, and the players believe in him. I mean, they liked him last year, and they liked him for three years as Russell Wilson's backup, but they didn't believe in him because they never saw him have to play. And now they believe in him because he's done it. As I said, he did it despite a defense that really almost subverted the whole season. And so if the defense can improve, the Seahawks think they, by adding Jackson Smith and Jigba, Zach Charbonnet, second-round pick of running back from UCLA, they've got the weapons on offense they think to win if their defense can just hold up its bargain more than it did last year. Pete Carroll has the same enthusiasm for preseason games.

Did you saw that? Yeah, he cracks me up. I mean, it's amazing because, and I know we've talked about this in the past, he really is able to communicate with guys who are obviously a lot younger than him. He still has incredible energy, even as one of the oldest coaches in the NFL. And he genuinely finds joy in it.

I mean, it blows me away. This guy never seems to run out of energy. If he finishes his contract, he'll be the oldest coach in NFL history. He'll be past 75, past Coach Howes.

He's 71 now. Amy, tonight, they were down 10-nothing early, and then they came back and scored 24 the next 27 points. And in the fourth quarter, he was jumping up and down, screaming, yelling, running onto the field, running down the sidelines on the last defensive stop. He ran about 50 yards down the sideline on the last defensive stop and a minute and a half left of a preseason game on August 10th.

And he said, it warms my heart, man, to see young guys that we give a chance to and featured and said, this is the game tonight to compete like that and come from behind and have the energy and the grit and all of that. Amy, one thing that I always think about Pete Carroll is when the Seahawks practice, and I'm talking practice in August, in October, November, December, January. Every practice, they start with kickoffs and kickoff return.

The special teams of the very first period and the rest of the guys are stretching or doing individual line drills. And Pete Carroll, every day, lines up at the goal line, and when they kick off, he runs from one goal line to the other 100 yards. Oh, my gosh. Then he waits. Maybe they'll let him kick it back the other way and he'll skip a turn. And then he'll run 100 yards back. And then he'll run 100 yards back. He does about 10 100-yard sprints at 71 years old.

Oh, my gosh. Every practice. And the players see it, and he eats really well. I don't even know what his latest diet is.

He only eats seaweed. I don't know what it is, but his usefulness and enthusiasm really does infect the team, and it rubs off the new guys who come in, the rookies. They can't believe it. They're like, we heard stories about this guy. We can't believe it. He's even more than we heard. It's crazy how enthusiastic he is. But, yeah, I definitely noticed tonight how many preseason games he's coached in, from the Patriots to the Jets to the Seahawks, that he's still doing that run down sidelines, jumping on the backs of defensive players.

I have never heard that story before. He actually does gassers at the beginning of practice. Yes, 100 yards. Not 50 yards, not 40 yards, not the lengths to kick. Oh, my gosh.

100 yards, goal on the goal line. And I see it, I watch it every day, and I just shake my head and I laugh at him. He kind of smiles and wipes his brow and goes in air monarchs and in khakis. So he's actually running fast. Well, he's 71. I might be able to take him to 53, and I'm not very fast, but I didn't say he ran fast. I said he run. As fast as he can go, though.

He breaks a sweat. Oh, my gosh. That is fantastic. I have never heard that before.

Thank you for sharing that story. Greg Bell is with us from Seattle after the Seahawks open the preseason. Covers the team for the Tacoma News-Tribune.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. All right, you mentioned the defense. What specifically about the D, right?

They were porous. Where have they improved on that side of the ball? Well, they at least have some guys now, they think, in the front seven in particular, that they think can stop the run. They spent up to $124.5 million on defensive front seven players.

Whoa! They went $51 million on Draymond Jones in the first day of free agency. The Seahawks never pay in the first day of free agency, and they have never, from the outside, signed someone for $51 million in the whole Carroll-Schneider regime. They did that for 26-year-old Draymond Jones to be a defensive end, not just to rush the quarterback, as he did in Denver, but to be a 3-4 run stopper. They brought Jaron Reed back, who they had drafted and had for five, six years.

He had a year in Green Bay, a year in Kansas City. They just signed him back, and they're going to make him a nose tackle, which he's never been before. He's been a 4-3 defensive tackle out by the guard and tackle.

They're going to put him over the center. They drafted Mike Morris from Michigan, an edge rusher for the Wolverines, that they're trying to make a big, stout, run-stopping defensive end. They're going to make Boé Mafé, who was a pass rusher at Minnesota, a run-stopping outside linebacker.

They're asking Chenan Woese to get bigger and stronger. He was the leading sack guy at nine-and-a-half sacks last year at outside linebacker. They're asking him to play the run more.

It's all anyone on defense is talking about. Oh, by the way, some guy named Bobby Wagner plays for this team now. He's one of the best inside, run-fit guys that the league has ever seen.

Yeah, he's 33, but he still knows where to go between the A, B, and C gaps when he has to stop the run and get other guys there, too. Jaren Reed's a big part of this. They need a nose tackle. They tried Al Woods for the last couple of years as a big, 360-plus-pound nose tackle.

Reed's only about 307. They want him to be quicker to beat the center off the snap. They're also going to have him more head up on the center than shading into a gap and asking him to just control the middle, the center, and disrupt from there. We'll see how it works. Amy, they're not going to know really truly if they're better at the line of scrimmage on defense until they play San Francisco. We just steamrolled them three times last year, including in the playoffs. They don't play the 49ers until Thanksgiving night here in Seattle and then 16 days later down in Santa Clara. So we may not know until Thanksgiving night and into December if this team got better where it really has to be better against San Francisco at the line of scrimmage.

Is that a positive or a negative, Greg? Is it better that they don't have that benchmark against the best team in their division until that late in the season? I think so, barring injury. This system, the new players in it, the guys I just mentioned in the comeback. Bobby Wagner's never played in a 3-4 in Carroll's scheme. He was in a 4-3 for his illustrious decade in Seattle before he had that one year off with the Rams last year.

So this is new to a lot of guys up front, and it's not going to work right away. Devin Witherspoon, their fifth pick in the draft, the cornerback. They've moved inside to nickel because of his tackling ability here in camp. He's got a hamstring injury, and they don't know when he's going to be coming back.

The freak woman has yet to practice since January because he had an arthroscopic knee surgery, and the Pro Bowl cornerback from last year hasn't practiced in camp yet either. So they may not be holed by the first game September 10th against the Rams defensively. And even if they are holed, they don't have everybody playing in the scheme and the run fitting and everything that Carroll wants them to do. They haven't done it yet for real. So it's going to take them a while, I think, defensively. And that's why Smith and Jigba and Kenneth Locker and D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Locker, they're going to have to keep them afloat for, I think, the first part of the season.

It will help if they don't have to play the Niners until later. What has Bobby Wagner said about returning to Seattle after his one-year sabbatical with L.A.? He said this was always home to him and he was always going to keep a home here anyway, even if he hadn't come back. He was surprised he came back because when he left, he thought it was done. He didn't leave on his own accord to see how it's cutting to save $16 million in sorry cap space. They didn't even tell him he found out from a third party instead of directly from Carroll or John Schneider, the GM.

And that irked him. So he thought he would never come back. And the Rams did what the Rams did last year and completely imploded and didn't need a 33-year-old with a big contract in the middle of defense. And when they let him go, he wanted to come back. Seahawks wanted him back. They knew they could get him back on their terms, not a $16 million cap hit of last year. So they signed him for about five and a half million in just one year. But he's beloved in the community.

He still has all the ties here and the philanthropy and the civic things that he does. And the players love it. I mean, the young guys like Devin Bush, they signed from the Steelers this year.

The rookies, Kobe Bryant, Nickelback last year, Greek Woolen. They say they're playing with a Hall of Famer. And they're probably right about that. And they revere him. And he's a teacher and an example setter. And he still gets to the facility at 5.45 in the morning.

And all of that is still applying. It's the same thing it was two or three years ago before he left. Greg Bell is with us from Seattle here after hours.

CBS Sports Radio. You mentioned the name Kenneth Walker had a phenomenal rookie season. Even though he didn't play every game, missed a couple, but over 1,000 yards. How much balance do they want between the run game with Kenneth and then the passing game?

And you mentioned a couple of the veterans that are still around, Geno. Well, Carroll wants to run the ball as much or more than anybody in the league. And that's why they drafted Jack Sarbonneau in the second round from UCLA.

It's why they drafted Kenny McIntosh in the seventh round from National Champion Georgia. People are wondering, what are they drafting two running backs for when they have a 1,000-yard back coming back? Well, running backs, as we all know in the NFL, get injured a lot of times. And a lot of guys get hurt. The Seahawks run through them as much as anybody in the league. I remember a few years ago in 2016, the Seahawks had 18 different ball carriers in the game.

I mean, that's how many times they want to run. And that's how many times guys get hurt out here. So Kenneth Walker's hurt. He had a great injury on the very first day of training camp and hasn't been on the field since July 26th. They don't know when he's coming back.

They think he's going to be okay for the opener. But it's a reminder of, hey, we don't need Kenneth Walker to touch it 20 times. He shouldn't have 300 carries. It's not a Derek Henry situation, which is why they drafted Sarbonneau.

It's why they had DJ Dallas coming back. They are going to use a host of running backs. And Sarbonneau is going to get a lot of touches. DJ Dallas will get his on third down because he's a good pass blocker. McIntosh has looked really good in training camp and they're going to give him runs. It won't be a 25-carry guy with Kenneth Walker. He may not get a 1,200, 1,400-yard season just because they need to spread him out and use him for the longer haul. When you think about what's happened in the offseason, the various moves made in the NFC West, what are your impressions in August of the division?

Well, sometimes we're fully sharing, right, Amy? Because of the injuries and how things change as soon as the quarterback gets hurt. But Brock Purdy is as healthy as it looks like he is already back in San Francisco. The 49ers are the favorites. And until I see the Seahawks absolutely transform on the offensive and defensive lines against San Francisco, they aren't beating the Niners. And if they're not beating the Niners, they're not winning the division. That means they're not going to have home playoff games.

That means they're not going to the Super Bowl. So until I see Seattle against San Francisco and if I see them improve under the line of scrimmage, it's still San Francisco's division. The Rams are pretty much starting over, albeit with still Matthew Stafford a quarterback.

And Arizona's completely starting over, from Regime to Coach to everybody but Kyler Murray, pretty much. So it is no longer, obviously, the most competitive division in the league. And I could see just two teams with a winning record again this year, and that means Seattle's in the running. But Seattle's going to have to be better again at the line of scrimmage and specifically stop in the run because Kyle Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are coming right at them until they prove they can stop them. And their schedule is no joke, Greg, not even just talking about the NFC West and the fact that those teams are so competitive, but they play the AFC North this year, which has got three teams, maybe four, we'll see, that have playoff aspirations. They also have a game at New York, and the Giants were a playoff team last year. In addition to that, they've got the Eagles and the Cowboys on their schedule. I mean, this is a tough schedule for the Seahawks.

It is, and it's always the travel when we're out here in southeast Alaska and it's 500,000 miles everywhere they go. All of that plays into it. They don't have back-to-back East Coast games that they sometimes have had in the past. They don't have as many 10 a.m. starts as one in Detroit early in the season, and that's about it. So the schedule does have soft breaks there. They're home for later in the season. Their bye comes a little bit earlier than they'd like, but still not super early. The schedule's opponents, yeah, they're going to have to play it over. They line up and have to play against, but it really is going to come down to the San Francisco games because if the division goes as it looks like it's going to, Seattle has to beat the Niners to win the division, and maybe splitting would help, but they can't get boat raced like they did last year. That's the biggest challenge, and that's been the theme of this entire camp.

The way to not get boat raced by San Francisco is to be better at stopping the run and running the ball, specifically stopping the run, and that's been the whole theme of the Seahawks' offseason and preseason. I was just saying on the show that as much as I do enjoy summer and a little slower pace and the kind of cool outdoor activities, man, there's just a different energy around the NFL, and even just hearing it in the preseason gets my juices flowing. So what about you? Are you ready for the long haul?

My wife asked me that. I've been doing this long enough that preseason games are like, okay. But yeah, I'm ready to go get back at it. It does get to be a grind, not just for us doing it outside, but on the players, of course, in 18 games or 18 weeks, 17 games, and deep into January.

But yeah, let's do it. I still have most in 2000 covering the NFL and the Raiders. To see how the interest, everyone was always interested in the NFL, but just the insatiable appetite for information about the NFL. It grows almost by the week and the month, so that's still kind of amazing. Yeah, and it doesn't go away. It really doesn't take a break.

I mean, we were talking about it throughout the course of this offseason, but the NFL has specifically planned league meetings or some type of event every single month, so we can't ever forget. Manufactured. Yeah, exactly. Manufactured. Made up.

Yeah, it's made up. It really is. The free agency and the combine and league meetings and then OTAs and minicamps and drafts and the draft runout.

Oh yeah, exactly. Tell me about it. How seasons have changed in the last 10 years for sure.

Definitely have. Brilliant marketing strategy, though, because as you say, the NFL really never goes away. All right, well, we're off and running. You can find Greg on Twitter at G Bell.

Seattle covers the Seahawks for the Tacoma News-Tribune. He's got lots of various chapters to his past, too, which I always enjoy seeing on your Twitter and looking at some of the photos. So we appreciate having you, especially after this first game. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Thanks, Amy. Appreciate it. Good talking to you again.

Take care. Yeah, he's, I mean, I didn't want to talk about it when he was on the air, but I'm always impressed with the fact that he's got so many different layers to his career. He went to West Point. He served in the Army and was a leader. He's a father to twins. He's a teacher at the college level. He coaches high school baseball. I mean, yeah, he's one of the more accomplished guests that we ever have.

And I'm kind of in awe of him. And now he's covering the NFL. So make sure you follow Greg at G Bell Seattle.

I know we went a little bit longer, but that was fun. And I think the Seahawks are flying under the radar a little bit, which is exactly where they, I think they can take advantage of that. It's exactly where they can really sneak up on other teams. I know they made the playoffs last year, but they were only nine and eight.

It wasn't like they were so super impressive that anybody really gave them a shot to run to the Super Bowl and for good reason. But Pete Carroll is sneaky like that. He can coach a water bottle and a pair of socks. I mean, that's what he does.

And he will use any little motivation. And now with the additions to the defense, the return of Bobby Wagner, love that story. The fact that they've got Geno Smith in year number two, I mean, there's a lot of things that could fall the way of the Seahawks. And yet how many times did Greg say it?

Three, four, Jay. They got to beat the Niners to win this division. That is the road to making their climb. That is the road to establishing themselves is you got to go toe to toe with the Niners and not get run over. All right. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS, we're heading into what we consider kind of a soft free for all football Friday. But, you know, we got to start practicing pretty soon.

It'll be for real. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. They have sports radio in Dubuque, Iowa.

I have no idea. Apparently, there is sports radio in Dubuque, Iowa. Michael, is that where you're listening?

Yes, I heard you mention our city. I've never called sports talk radio. I'm a huge fan. I love that.

I, honest to God, have never had a caller from Dubuque, Iowa in my whole life. I'm a newbie. I found your radio show about a week and a half ago. I love it. You do. Are you hooked? Oh, big talk.

I'm in the Pensacola area. This is sort of like a sports wasteland. There's no sports. This is my outlet. That's always great. We get people to call. We love it.

But I would walk 500 miles And I would walk 500 more It's the beat of my heart Amy's taking your calls at 855-212-4CBS. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la Alright, we'll do a lot more football. We'll work in a QB News to wrap up the hour and get you set for what is a full slate of pre-season games.

Already two in the books. Everything this weekend that's actually being televised is on NFL Network, so none of the broadcast, over-the-air broadcast networks. They had the, let's see, Hall of Fame game was on NBC. And moving forward, you'll get these various networks get practice games, right? And so that'll happen a little bit later in the pre-season. It's not just the players that need to work out the kinks. It's also broadcasters who need to shake off the rust. And in some cases, there's new producers, new directors, even new partners. New broadcast teams.

So they all need a chance. Matt Ryan will be making his broadcast debut this year. So these guys, it's a chance for them to find a rhythm, if possible, during a pre-season game. So there will be a few that are on the broadcast networks. But this weekend, if it's on TV, it's on NFL Network. So you just want to keep your TV tuned there. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Actually, we're also into the first round of the golf playoffs.

I know, I know. It's the FedEx Cup playoffs. And they're taking place in Memphis this opening round. Jordan Spieth is the leader.

That's not really why I'm bringing it up. Lots of rain. Lots of rain in Memphis. So they had a ton of rain in the early morning.

They had a delay. And then everything was extremely soft out there on the course. Not just soft, but also sloppy and kind of muddy, as you can imagine.

So not the best day to be out there. You could score. You just couldn't get the ball to run. So that's kind of the thing is you're having to deal with heavier ball, heavier course, not nearly as much run on the ball. And also, I don't know if you've seen the photos or anything out there, because it was so sloppy and muddy, guys were getting covered in dirt and mud and just nasty. It was one of those days where you didn't come home from the golf course looking clean.

Guys were even rolling up their pants when they were having to go into, whether it be sloppy areas, areas that were kind of inundated with water. Anyway, kind of funny to see golfers with their pants rolled up like there's something out of, not tin cup. What was the other funny golf movie? Caddyshack? Yes, Caddyshack.

Something goofy out of a movie. Tin cup's great though. I do love tin cup. Oh my gosh, Kevin Costner in tin cup.

It's got to be one of my favorite Costner performances. The reason that the golf world is buzzing right now is actually not because of the opening round of the FedEx playoffs. No. Did you hear about, gosh, it's like deja vu, another Phil Mickelson book, another book written about this controversial golfer, who of course is extremely popular as well. It's a book written by a professional gambler.

His name is Billy Walters. And right there, the fact that Phil Mickelson's name is in this book, written by a pro gambler, a long time pro gambler, well then you know there's trouble to be had, there's trouble brewing. Not that anybody is surprised that Phil Mickelson is a gambler.

I think we've known that. He's been fairly open about his gambling, though maybe we didn't recognize the extent of it. So the book is called Gambler, Secrets from a Life of Risk. And even as the book is getting released and people are reading it for the first time, one of the revelations, now this is according to the book, okay, I don't know if it's true or not, it's in this book by pro gambler Billy Walters that, and he has a relationship or did have a relationship with Walters, he and Mickelson. Walters is a Las Vegas businessman.

And I know nothing about this because this is not my area of expertise, but some consider him, Walters, to be the most successful better in the history of American sports. According to his book, this is crazy, these numbers are astronomical, he looks back at records as well as what he says are two very reliable sources. Walters writes in his book that from 2010 to 2014, Mickelson placed nearly 1000 bets of 220 grand each and another 1100 bets of over $100,000 each. According to Walters in the book, he's estimating that Phil Mickelson has bet more than $1 billion, that's billion with a B, $1 billion over the past 30 years. Also according to Walters, Mickelson lost roughly 100 million. However, if you can do the math, which I'm pretty sure that you can, if you bet over a billion and your losses are only at 100 million, that means 90% of the time you are on the winning side. I think most betters would take those odds.

Wowzers, seriously Jay, that's crazy. And the numbers, he's estimating based on what he can find out about Mickelson and two quote unquote very reliable sources. But if Mickelson truly has bet more than $1 billion over the past 30 years and his losses are, and I say only, but please recognize I'm using this in context, his losses are only 100 million, he has made himself a lot of money in gambling. Yeah, you're thinking that, you have to think that some of the bets that he's made have covered that loss alone. You know, some of his winnings have covered, have been more than $100,000, $100 million. Well, obviously if he's bet more than a billion and he's only lost 100 million, he's made a hell of a lot of money at gambling. Now the numbers could be wrong. Walters could be completely off and his sources could be off base and just be feeding him erroneous numbers. I get that. But even if the numbers are ballpark, he's bet a hundred or he's bet a billion, he's lost 100 million.

Even if he's lost half a billion, he's still coming out on top a lot of the time. Oh my gosh. Wow. Walters says, the only person I know who ever surpassed that kind of gambling volume, that kind of betting volume is me. So he says that Mickelson, the only person he knows other than himself, who's ever had this much action.

Wow. Now there's more in the book. According to Walters, in September of 2012, Mickelson called him from the site of the Ryder Cup while the Ryder Cup is going on and asked Walters to place a $400,000 bet on Team USA to win. So Mickelson is part of the Ryder Cup team. He's calling from the site of the Ryder Cup, asking Walters to place a $400,000 bet on Team USA.

Walters writes in the book, and I'm reading this because I have not read the book, but I'm reading off of a story. He says he responded to Phil Mickelson, have you lost your bleeping mind? Don't you remember what happened to Pete Rose? You're seen as the modern day Arnold Palmer. You'd risk all that for this.

I want no part of it. Now here's the interesting thing. For those of you who don't remember, at Medina Country Club, the Americans lost the Ryder Cup to the Europeans by one point. So did Phil Mickelson find another place, another outlet with which to place his bet? Or did he drop it and not place the bet because Walters wouldn't do it?

Now Mickelson said in a Thursday statement, so he released a statement, he would quote, never undermine the integrity of the game. I never bet on the Ryder Cup. While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course. A friendly wager?

Worth a billion dollars? While it is well known, I digress, that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game. I've also been very open about my gambling addiction. His word, not mine.

I have previously conveyed my remorse, took responsibility, have gotten help, have been fully committed to therapy that has positively impacted me, and I feel good about where I am now. Even if he's clean and sober at this point and no longer gambles, one billion dollars? I mean, is that Phil Mickelson's legacy in addition to golf? Is that he was a voracious gambler and bet over a billion dollars? Would that maybe mean he made more money gambling than being a professional golfer?

It's possible. With those kind of stats. With his endorsements and everything else, yeah. And we know that he's been named in lawsuits in the past with illegal betting, insider trading, all that kind of stuff. He's never been charged, he's never served time, he's had to reimburse some money in a couple of cases, if I remember correctly. But wowsers, he swears he never bet on the Ryder Cup.

But once again, his past demons and his past transgressions popping up in a book. Coming up, Clayton Kershaw returning to the diamond, returning to the mound for the first time since late June. How do you do? It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. It's 10 after 7, 74 degrees, tonight's time and temperature brought to you by Bank of America, the official bank of the Los Angeles Dodgers. So here's Kershaw making his first start since June the 27th and the first pitch to Juris and Profar as a call strike. It's nothing in one.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Clayton Kershaw is back, returning to the Dodgers on this August 10th, Thursday evening after 35 missed games with a left shoulder soreness. Originally, remember, he had talked about how he didn't want to go on the IL at all, and that if it was up to him, he would have been right back out there after missing one start. Remember, it was right before the All-Star break. He didn't end up pitching in the All-Star break, though he was there.

I remember him being there. But he had talked about not wanting to hit the IL, just wanting to rest it for one start and then turning around and going right back out there. And Dave Roberts said at the time, we need the roster spot because we've got so many pitchers who are down and unavailable, we need that spot for someone else. And that was kind of the idea given for why Clayton hit the IL, except it's been six weeks and 35 games, and he's just now coming back.

So I'm relieved, and he looked good. They limited his pitch count. He only threw 67 pitches, but he allowed just a run on three hits.

He did strikeout four, and so we'll hear from him coming up after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles. They're actually trailing late in this game, 1-0. Dodgers have tied the score at one.

Well, the crowd is standing now. Three balls, one strike. Bases loaded, two out. Tied at one.

Daniel Bard set and delivers. Muncie takes low and inside ball four, and the Dodgers take a 2-1 lead. Muncie walks with the bases loaded.

Hayward trots home. That's Charlie Steiner on Dodgers radio. Yeah, they get the solo home run from Max Muncie in the seventh inning to tie it, and then the inauspicious bases loaded walk from the Rockies, and that's the game winner in the eighth inning. So yeah, the Dodgers have so much experience that they're not going to let a measly 1-0 score affect them.

They're just going to keep working toward it. And I also like the fact that now the Dodgers can win games that are close, and there's not a ton of offense because their pitching staff is rounding into form. The bullpen has been better, but nothing like the return of one Clayton Kershaw. It was really good to see him back out on the mound. We missed him.

You know, the guy's competitor, he went out there and brought it tonight. It's just fun to have him back, and hopefully we can keep him through the rest of the season. It was great to be back. You know, no fun to sit on the sidelines. You want to be out there. You want to be a part of what's going on here. You want to help your team win.

So yeah, it was a great feeling. One of the things I love about Clayton is that he can't stand being sidelined from injuries, and I know he's dealt with a few of them. He's in his mid-30s now, and so he generally misses a handful of games throughout the year. He's had back injuries. He's had other muscle injuries. And they're pretty careful with him because it's such a long season, but he can't stand it when he's not available to pitch.

It really still bothers him, even at this point in his career. If I'm here, I want to be pitching. I don't believe in the taking the break thing in the middle of the season or whatever. If you're healthy, you should just go pitch. Go do your job. It's no fun to not do your job.

I want to be a part of it. We're playing great. Obviously, we're in first place.

We're doing a lot of things well. He does not believe in load management like that because I think load management is not great for pro sports. I understand why teams do it, but it's certainly a point of contention with commissioners, with fans. In some cases, it doesn't work anyway. I mean, think about what the Lakers did this year.

This is what load management is about. With Anthony Davis, and by the time they got to the playoffs. Now, they did knock the Warriors out, but by the time they got to the playoffs, Anthony Davis and LeBron James were so exhausted that it didn't matter anyway. The baseball world has a way of kind of sorting itself out over the course of a 162-game season, and as much as the Dodgers were predicted as a team that would be sink, sink, sinking this season because they really didn't do much during the winter season, during the hot stove season, the rest of the NL West has been so bad since the All-Star break. I heard this because I was listening to Charlie Steiner on Dodgers radio. Other than the Dodgers, the Giants are the only team with a winning record since the All-Star break, and they're only one game above.500. The other three teams, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies, are below.500 since the break.

The Giants have only one more win, and so the Dodgers are running away with it now, up six and a half games in the division. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. The official Winning Time podcast from HBO is back. I'm Rodney Barnes, executive producer on the show. Magic and the Lakers are back to defend their title. Join me as I break down each new episode with sportswriter Jeff Pearlman and the actors, directors, and key collaborators who brought the 1980s Showtime Lakers to life. It's not about basketball. It's about winning. Listen to HBO's official Winning Time podcast on Sundays after the show airs on Max.