9-6-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. I know I haven't been here and it was a holiday weekend, but we got to mark the hump show because even as we look ahead toward the weekend, it's a different kind of weekend, peeps. It's NFL weekend numero uno.

Oh, my goodness. And it starts with Thursday Night Football, which will not be on Amazon Prime. It does start with Thursday Night Football. It's here.

It's real. Let's hope it's spectacular. I can't believe it's almost time for football to begin the NFL level.

We know NFL drives the bus. And yes, there is some good college football this weekend as well. After all the traveling I've done over the course of the summer, including really the last few weeks, I am ready to do nothing but be home with my home and be prepped, have the house clean, have some food made. Of course, take care of my training since my half marathon is just over two weeks away. But really, I'm going to hunker down.

Is that a thing? You hunker down with football? Both college and the NFL coming up this weekend. So yes, it's the hump show because we're looking toward the horizon, the weekend horizon, which is jam packed with America's pastime.

Sorry, baseball. Speaking of horizons, I don't normally do this because typically my phone is off while I'm flying, not just in airplane mode, but actually off. But as we were taking off from Houston early on Tuesday morning and the sun was coming up, I always love the views above the clouds. And on Tuesday morning, the horizon was so clear and brilliant. And you could see the curve of the earth. It's funny because the people who would make the argument about the earth being flat either have never flown before or don't care that there's evidence. You can actually see the curvature of the earth and the horizon. So check out the photos.

I'll retweet them now. A law radio, but yeah, gorgeous blue. And the sun was coming up. And so I turned on my phone.

I put it into airplane mode and it started snapping photos. This is one of the reasons why I always sit on the window. The other is that I don't want people walking over me while I'm flying. I just like to nestle into my corner. Funny enough too, I was carrying a special cargo on Tuesday morning.

I've never flown with this in my carry-on before. So we'll do some stories coming up at the bottom of the hour, I promise. But yeah, check out those photos. And while you're on Twitter, we've got a spot where you can send your questions for Ask Amy anything. So look for the bright orange box.

Our Facebook page too. So when we get through this hour, I promise I'll have producer Jay help me put up some photos from my flight home on Tuesday morning. And you'll see the curve of the earth and the gorgeous, I mean brilliant blue sky in the distance over the top of a blanket of clouds. It looked like such a soft blanket as though you could just lie down in the blanket of clouds and not go plummeting through, right?

As though they might support me. So pretty neat. I do love flying. And since I can't sleep, might as well keep my eyes open and find some good photo ops. I also read a chapter of a book, made some notes in my wedding book, updating my wedding book for everything that we had accomplished over Labor Day weekend.

I hope that you enjoyed your holiday weekend. If you were off, it's good to reconvene. It's good to get back together and think ahead to 48 hours from now when we'll be talking about the Lions and the Chiefs, the season opener in the NFL. Now, Dean Campbell, you know, he believes that there's a hype train running through Detroit and he's not thrilled about it.

How does he get his team ready? What's the message for the opener in Kansas City? Man, to go on the road to a place like that, I just, what I told my guys, man, embrace it, enjoy this. This is not as stressful. This shouldn't be stressful. This should be, man, just, you know, man, take it all in, enjoy the sunlight, if you will. I know it's at night, but I mean, it's just, you know, when you're a true competitor to go on the road in an environment like this, man, I think it really brings out the best in you. And so we know what we have to do communication-wise. That's the big piece of this. And honestly, it's no different than any other game. Once you get through this early portion, even the openers on both sides of the ball, now you're into the flow of the game. And so, man, we just got to stay steady, consistent. No, don't get too high, don't get too low.

Dean Campbell leading the Detroit Lions into Kansas City. Yes, it is a night game. Enjoy the sunlight, if you will. I know it's at night. He meant spotlight, but whatever.

I say words that I don't mean all the time. So we are counting down the hours to the NFL season. And when it kicks off, we'll cover it. You know, we do our Sunday night shows, wall-to-wall NFL. People ask me, why don't you cover college football on Sunday nights? Well, because it's a show that I vow to you, we're going to get to every single NFL game. And because it is the NFL Sunday night show, we'll get to college after the fact. But on Sunday nights, that is our promise to you. It's four hours, wall-to-wall, and we go fast.

It is chop, chop. It's all gas, no brakes on our Sunday night show, but we immerse ourselves in the NFL. It's going to be chaotic.

Guys are going to be, their heads going to be spinning. Already. We're already there, coach.

We're already there. If you missed it, I had a chance to catch up with longtime scout and player evaluator. In fact, he was the VP of player evaluation with the Giants when they won a couple of Super Bowl rings. Mark Ross is now with NFL Network. You can catch him Sundays, actually, as part of the coverage once the games kick off. And he's also on NFL Total Access periodically throughout the week. We wanted to bring back part of this conversation because it's really a good setup for some of the storylines and also a good preview for what's to come NFL week one. I started out by asking Ross about the Colts and their star running back, Jonathan Taylor, and what is the best case scenario for the two sides?

Wow. I mean, they've really kind of gone painted themselves into a corner really well. You know, the running backs have no value, but you better give us a lot of value when we trade for this guy. It's kind of the way they've done it.

It's kind of oxymoronic the way they've done it. But yeah, if you have a rookie quarterback, you want a Jonathan Taylor to play, to at least alleviate some of that pressure. And you know you can rely on him to not put it all on Anthony Richardson. But it looks like he's not happy.

It looks like they're not happy. And I could see this kind of going on lingering for a while, unfortunately, for Jonathan Taylor. And all backs, it's what's going on. I never thought when I first started scouting and the importance on running backs and how valued they were throughout the league that, say, 20 years later, 25 years later, whatever it is, running backs actually have no value at all.

And it's really unfortunate for that position group. But again, we're talking about the evolution of football and how things change. And now the passing league and the importance of the quarterback and wide receivers is just kind of where we are right now. So for the Colts, it's, hey, it's Anthony Richardson, you got to go do your thing, and we'll make do at running back without Jonathan Taylor. And yet you think about the teams that succeeded last year, almost all of them had a quality running back or at least a quality running game. I mean, we really did see the passing numbers drop last season and a much more of a balance between run and pass.

Right. But the way the NFL is like, yes, we can have a quality running game without investing a lot of value and resources and assets into the run game and or the running back position. And you've seen that the Super Bowl winners over the past X amount of years, 20 years, 15 years, where the fourth round pick here, there's a seventh round pick. There's a free agent where they just last year, Isaiah Pacheco, from from KC, seventh round pick, the leading rusher and big, big plays in the Super Bowl.

So, yes, you want to always have that balance. But teams figured out we don't need to have that balance by investing a top 10 pick in that. We don't need to have that balance by spending the highest at the market for a running back. We can use our resources elsewhere, get quality later on in the draft or lower in the free agency market and still produce in the run game.

If, if you have that quarterback who makes it all go and takes the pressure off of it. Big if right there as we get set for the 23 season, we're excited to welcome Mark Ross back to the show. He's with NFL Network on Game Day Live, one of my favorite shows, and then Total Access on Fridays. And his background is player evaluation and scouting for a long time in the league.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. All right, with that player eval hat on Mark, we've got three rookie quarterbacks all selected in the top five who will be starting week number one, Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young, of course, and then CJ Stroud. Which one do you think is in the best position to succeed right away? Well, Bryce Young, and I've been saying this about Bryce Young since he got drafted, since the Panthers were going to draft him and two, two, it's two, well, two, three, four fold.

I'll just kind of break it down. Number one, I just think the guy's a supremely talented, poised, rare sort of playmaker with himself. You know, just the guy, quarterbacks, franchise quarterbacks is more about what they do on the field.

It's how they command everything around them. And Bryce Young, from the day he was two years old, whatever, played football, he's always been that guy. He's always been that one that can handle everything. Big time high school recruit, Alabama national champion, highest control, everything that you throw at the guy, he's handled it and thrived in it. So just his talent and his skill set and his makeup, I just think he's going to be a star no matter where he went.

And then now you're dropping him into a Carolina team where it wasn't a typical first pick in the draft team with absolutely no talent. They've got a lot of talent on that team and at all position groups sort of on the offense, with the old lines very strong, the receiving core is solid, they got good running backs, tight end, Hayden Hertz is in there now. And even on the defensive side of the ball where they've got a lot of talent led by Brian Burns and Chen and the crew. So you've got talent all around him. And then you got the coaching staff where you bring in Frank Wright, but it's not just Frank Wright, you got Thomas Brown Oak, the offense coordinator, Deuce Daley, Jim Caldwell's on that staff. And you just got a ton of experience and talented individuals on the coaching staff. So you've got that foundation there for Bryce Young. So with those three, kind of the three-prong attack of, I just think he's a supremely talented young man, that's what would be a star anywhere. You've got talent on the team and you got talent in the coaching staff. He's just in an optimal situation to thrive this year.

What's the biggest challenge for a rookie quarterback, even one who has the skill set and is prepared the way Bryce is? Really it's the speed of the game. You just never see that. And then even up to this point, you know, there's only so many practice reps that you can simulate a game speed. There's only so much in the preseason game. There's only so much in the season. You don't know it until it hits you game one.

And where it totally goes up, tons of levels there. And he's always been in control. He's always had that poise and a vision and controls everything around him. And it'll be interesting to see just how soon that he'll be able to just adjust to the speed of the game. And you see that with any quarterback that really enters the league and some can handle it, some thrive in it, some are average and some crumble under that pressure. And we'll see how Bryce Young does, but I think he'll thrive in it. We've seen most teams resolve their holdouts or guys get back into camp. We talked about Jonathan Taylor a little bit. He is obviously with the team, just not able to play. What about Nick Bosa though?

Who has the leverage in that situation? Wow. Yep. I think Nick Bosa does. I mean, everything with Sam Fran is predicated on what he does and with franchise quarterbacks, how they raise the level of everyone else and it makes the whole offense, makes the whole team better. Well, same thing on the other side with the pass rusher and how they raise the level. You look at TJ Watt at Pittsburgh, when he plays, they win.

It doesn't matter what else is going on. He plays, they win. He doesn't play, they lose. And it's the Micah Parsons effect with Dallas. And so those guys and Bosa has the same effect on that D where, all right, we're predicated, Sam Fran's predicated on our defense, dominating people and our offense being innovative and getting through making plays here and there. Well, if you take him out of the mix, that's not the same team. That's not the same defense.

It's not the same team. And they know that and everyone on that or everyone in that organization knows that. So I think for sure that he has the leverage to say, you guys got to take care of me because I'm the guy. It's not, and comparing it to the typical teams of the franchise quarterback, he's the guy on the whole entire team.

So it's not Brock Birdie, it's him. So I think of any player and you look at the situation that needs to get paid, I think he's got the leverage for sure. Mark Ross of NFL Network is with us. So looking ahead to kickoff, Wowsers, it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio.

Mark, we like to have this discussion on my show before every season starts. Roughly half of the NFL playoff bracket turns over every year. Who are a few teams that you think could make a splash this season and crash that playoff party? The aforementioned Carolina Panthers. I think that just when you look at the landscape of their division, number one, but the NMC as a whole, I think the Eagles are head and shoulders above everyone else.

And then it's wide open, except for a couple of teams, I think will struggle. But when you look at Carolina, you look at the South, you got Tampa, you got Atlanta, I don't know. And New Orleans, Derek Hart, we're really putting that faith in him. So when I look at that Carolina team, and I think they'll win that. I went to their camp this year for the network and I predicted them to win the division then. And I'm going to stick with it just because of all the positives I've talked about before with Bryce Young and the staff and the talent.

So I think they'll definitely be in the mix and surprise people. And the AFC, I got to go with Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin, he just wins. No matter what circumstances, no matter what happens, no matter what quarterback, no matter what he does, he just wins.

And now you should have a better Kenny Pickett this year. If they stay healthy, TJ Watt namely stays healthy. That division I think is the best in football, just that Central is the best in football. So he wins, Pickett will be better. They stay healthy and Pittsburgh will be right in the mix with all those teams.

And he still never steered the Steelers to a losing record in his entire tenure there in Pittsburgh. Can I interest you in the Detroit Lions considering how they finished last year? Well, I might want to pick them because everyone's picking them, Amy. They're the easy, they're their little hanging fruit that everyone thinks, yeah, Detroit, they finished so strong.

They're so fun. Well, we'll see. But of course they'll definitely be entertaining and they'll be in the mix and they could knock on the door. But I want to go a little bit more unconventional than the team that everybody is picking, the media darling team of the Detroit Lions. We've seen the NFC East every year for, I don't know, two decades have a different champion from year to year. Who would be the best candidate in that division to unseat the Eagles? I've still got to go with the Cowboys, even though I just don't think they'll do it just because I think their D will be nasty again and led by Micah and all the talent that they have on defense led by Dan Quinn and their offense is going to roll and score points and they'll be competitive and everything. But just when it comes down to it, I just don't think they're as good as the Eagles and they haven't shown the DNA, particularly Dak Prescott, to win big games. The Giants, I think kind of, they supremely overachieved last year. Brian Dable, I said, start to finish just from game one when they beat Tennessee going for it on that fourth down with coach of the year.

Easy. And I don't, I just don't think they're at that level. The commanders are going to be, they're commandering again this year.

So I think they'll be at the bottom. I'd still have to go with Dallas, but I just don't have faith that they can actually get it done. So look for the Eagles to be the repeat NFC champs, barring any major injuries to Jalen Hurts for the first time in X amount of years. Mark, you were an executive vice president with the XFL, a season just completed not that long ago. And I saw on your Twitter that there are 50 different players who have gone from XFL to NFL. How proud are you of not just the season that was, but also seeing these guys find homes in the NFL? Well, that was the goal. That was the goal to say, okay, we're going to find this, this underrated, unidentified talent, develop those guys. And hopefully they get a shot in the NFL. That was a whole entire goal of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to work with the NFL.

And I think it was, it got up to almost 54, I believe 54, 55. We'll see after all these cuts, how many guys actually make the team, but just the fact that so many got signed over a hundred got signed initially, not signed, but brought into camps and then over 50 got signed and we'll see how many make the team. But it's just a testament to all our personnel directors and coaches of how they found talent and how they've developed talent. And now we're just really proud of that. And we thought we had an outstanding product on the field, entertaining games with a high level of play with a bunch of talented players. And this just really shows the goal of year one of this is what we thought. And we'll just only get better from here.

Definitely was a lot of buzz around the XFL with a nice window there where people are craving their football. And now they can follow these players to the NFL, which is awesome. Couple of days left here, a couple more sleeps as we say, what are the emotions from the front office through the players as the season is staring us in the face? Well, you just, you just ready, you know, you just ready all the off season planning. And now we go through the training camp grind and you just like, all right, it's here.

All right, we're ready to go. And I won't say all 32 teams have Superbowl aspirations. Some got to be a little bit more realistic of just getting better, but a large chunk of the teams have Superbowl aspirations. And at this point you think, man, we're ready. This is the best team we've had years.

All these guys are going to crush it. And then week one comes in reality kind of slaps you in the face. But right now is the golden period of feeling good about yourselves and thinking this is going to be the year. So that's really how all these teams are feeling right now.

Like, this is it. We're going to get it done. And there'll be no better feeling than this feeling right now leading up to game one. And then when reality comes, it all changes, but it's a great time for the NFL. And I can't wait for it to kick off again on Thursday, the hope Springs eternal as we get set for those first games. All right, Mark Ross, long time scouting director and VP of player evaluation in the NFL.

And now you can hear the insight on NFL network with game day live total access on Fridays, plus a new show on NFL plus called the insiders and on Twitter at Mark with a C Ross. Well, this is awesome. Always good to catch up with you.

We'll do it again soon. But thanks so much, Mark. My pleasure.

Anytime. Of course, anytime you miss an interview, you can always go back and find it on the after hours podcast. And the link is posted every weekday morning on our show, Twitter after hours, CBS on our Facebook page too. And if you open up the link, you can just scroll down and find any of the interviews that you may have missed. For instance, we had a chance to speak with Antonio Gibson, the running back for the commanders late last week.

And that's posted there. He was looking ahead to the start of the commander's season as the only team in the NFC bees to not make the playoffs last season, Mark Ross too. And then if you miss Boston, Rob, he was awesome. So much fun to talk to him about the Demar Hamlin edition of secret celebrity renovation. I hope you guys caught it on Friday night at a chance to get a sneak peek of the episode.

It was really cool to see Demar honor his grandma by renovating her house and they gutted it and gave her almost a brand new house. Pretty amazing. Love to hear your reactions.

See your reactions once we have a real good conversation. So again, our podcast on Twitter and Facebook. And speaking of that, send your questions for ask Amy anything. We've got a book about an hour and 20 minutes before we answer the questions. Well, I answer the questions that producer J poses to me.

It's our home show after hours. This is upper hand fantasy. What about JK Dobbins? I think he's going to be the breakout running back of 2023. I love the fact that he's a year removed from a bad injury.

I love his price at the four or five term. I'm happy with him as my RB two. But I do think he has RB one upside man. I think he is a dark horse candidate to lead the league in rushing. I think he has a talent. He has a great offensive line.

He's averaging 5.9 yards per carry so far over his career. Upper hand fantasy available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast with Amy Lawrence, CBS sports radio. You are listening to the after hours podcast. No, this is after hours with Amy Lawrence. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Sometimes it's just a big fat. No, it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. I'm not sure if you guys are as excited as I am for the return of the Monday night meanings. I cannot wait.

Um, but we are a little confused as to how the show might change. Actually, not sure if you saw the video, the, well, the true footage, Peyton and Eli trying to find themselves a co-host. Now my response to that was don't do it.

Don't do it. I don't want you to have co-host. I don't want you to change anything about the show. I know they do have some guests and that's fine. Generally do have some fun guests that, uh, will tell quirky stories and will get old video or whatever, whatever. Um, I really don't want them to have a third member of their actual broadcast, but they were doing auditions.

This is the video from Twitter. And I know it's a video, but a lot of the voices you will recognize, or based on what they say, you'll recognize who in fact they have standing in front of them. So picture Peyton and Eli at a table.

They are watching, listening, talking to potential co-hosts for the Monday night meanings. Hi, I'm Jared Goff quarterback here to audition. So Jared, how excited are you about the opportunity to be on the most popular show on television?

Isn't this for the Manning cast? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I play quarterback quarterback. We like that. You like that. I just said that we liked it. You like that. I mean, what is this guy's deal?

No, but did you, did you like it? How do you feel about audibles? We generally just want the quarterback to run the play. That's called that's the play. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams head coach on this team. We tear ourselves to pieces.

This is how you guys dress in real life. You guys are terrible evaluators and go f*** yourself. Are you right? Who are your broadcasting icons? Another one. What would you say are your strengths? We the best.

I'm just here because you guys have the most punchable face in the history of punching faces. Wow. Reese Witherspoon. I mean, we're honored you didn't even consider auditioning for the Manning cast.

Manning what? Oh no, I was calling to bundle my home in auto. Aren't you the insurance guy?

So what would we know you from? Have you heard of TikTok? Sure.

Really? No. Hi, Lil Wayne, Wheezy Baby, President Carter. I'm Peyton and this is Lil Brother.

Let's get some sleeves on you, big boy. I don't think I, I don't think the job's for me. I have no idea what this is, but I don't think I'm the right guy. Well, we tried our best.

Guess it's just the two of us again this season. Unless there's someone on that list who is just perfect for the job. Nope, not on this list.

You've been waiting here a long time, too? In case you didn't catch it or didn't recognize it, that last voice is Tom Brady sitting outside of the audition room outside of the auditorium, just waiting, waiting with a dog, actually, with a dog. And so what you can't, what you can't, you can hear it, but what you couldn't see is Peyton Manning at the end, crossing Tom Brady's name off the list before they ever allow him to audition.

Anyway, Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, Sean Payton. Sean McVeigh might be my favorite because he's holding his clipboard and his play sheet up in front of his mouth. He's holding his clipboard and his play sheet up in front of his mouth so you can't read his lips. Mike McDaniel is the one that says, go bleep yourself. Mike Tyson in there, Pat McAfee. He's the one that didn't have sleeves.

Lil Wayne as well. I'm just here so I don't get fined. There was a lot of fun cameos in there as they were doing auditions for the Muddy Night Mannings.

All of that to say Omaha, courtesy of Omaha Productions. I cannot wait for the Muddy Night Mannings to return, but I have to make this deal with myself. I can only watch them for the first half of the show because after that, I'm not paying attention to the game and I really need to catch up on what's happening on the field. I'm just here because your guys have the most punchable face in the history of punching faces.

And then he does a quick shadow box. All right, producer J, we think it's just gonna be Peyton and Eli again, which will be fun for Muddy Night Mannings. Speaking of though, football and what's to come. You already had your fantasy draft.

How did you do? Who was your number one pick? Justin Jefferson, number two overall. Justin Jefferson, number two overall.

Who went number one overall? Christian McCaffrey. Huh, see that makes me nervous because of his injury history. However, he had a great season going from Carolina to San Francisco in 22.

Maybe he can replicate it and he obviously is the highest paid running back in the NFL. So Christian McCaffrey, dual threat. Justin Jefferson, number two. Who, if you remember, was the first quarterback to come off of your board? Oh, first quarterback Mahomes went in late second round actually.

Whoa, that seems early. A little bit I would say, but my friend who took him has had him for like I think three or four years in a row now. It's kind of just like his thing that he takes Mahomes and doesn't let anyone else have a shot at him. Well, last year he set a new record for most yards from the line of scrimmage over the course of a season.

Did your friend win last year? No, no, I don't even think he made the playoffs. Even with Mahomes? Even with Mahomes. Huh, well because it's a, is it a PPR league?

Half. All right, gotcha. My draft is on Wednesday evening.

I have not done any research yet, but I do know it's coming up within hours, so I need to get ready. Of course, Thursday night is the start of the NFL season and next hour we'll do some QB news including a guy who's not playing because no, actually what you don't hear, Jay, you cut it off at the end of the video. What you don't hear at the end of Omaha Productions in that video with Peyton Eli is that Tom Brady says, I guess I'll just have to go back to football. Did you miss that part? Did I miss that part?

I saw it cut to the end credits and I didn't realize that there was an end credit scene, I suppose. Yeah, they flash back to Tom Brady and the lights have gone out in the venue and he says, he's on the phone talking to someone. I didn't get the Manning job, so I guess I'll go back to football. Yeah, you need to go back and grab it so we can let people hear it.

So Tom Brady did not get the Manning's job and may or may not go back to football, but he does have his podcast this year and Let's Go returned earlier this week in advance of the kickoff to the NFL season. Straight ahead though, a couple of stories. Some funny, some completely gruesome from my long weekend away. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Amy's taking your calls at 855-212-4CBS. Good morning, Amy. Thanks for taking my call.

I love your show. You help keep me awake and alert. Hey, Amy. How are you doing? Good morning. Good morning. I'd like to congratulate you by the way that you have been the program tonight.

I woke up about one something. I've been with you ever since. Hey, God bless you, Amy. Good morning. How are you? I'm great. Hey, Amy.

I love listening to you. Hello. Hello. Hey, Amy. How are you doing?

First time caller. Love you show. Love you wonderful.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Hey, hey. Back and we hope it's a better than ever NFL season. Mere hours away from kickoff and to that end, we'll do some football news at the top. Mike Tomlin, who doesn't want to Mike Tomlin to get you hyped up, but not just Tomlin.

Tom Brady is back on his Let's Go Podcast, not on a football field, despite the tease at the end of the Monday night Manning's video. If you haven't seen it, by the way, Jay, you want to retweet it from our show account After Hours CBS, our Twitter account, as well as our Facebook page right now, taking your questions for Ask Amy Anything, the majority of which will not be about the wedding or my future marriage. My goodness, so many of you don't have the answers to your questions that are now making assumptions. It's highly amusing the types of things that you've come up with about what will I be doing when I'm married or how that's going to go. We're going to do a video version of Ask Amy Anything later in September that will drop when the wedding is three months away and so you'll just have to wait a couple more weeks and producer Jay says it's going to be the longest Ask Amy Anything video in the history of the world. It's not going to be that long.

It is. And the longer we're waiting, the more they just keep coming, like all the wedding questions. The wedding questions. Well, there were some wedding questions answered in my trip to Houston.

So again, Ask Amy Anything, Twitter After Hours, CBS or our Facebook page. There are new photos up. Actually were some incredible views above the clouds when I was flying back to the New York City area on Tuesday morning. But for those of you who are on Facebook, it was pretty sweet view from my seat, actually. You'll have to go and look at the photo. I didn't even share it on Twitter.

It's just for you, Facebook, to know exactly what I'm referring to. I've never traveled with that carry on item before. Anyway, you go check it out on your own time and we'll get to Ask Amy under an hour from now.

It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So wedding things from the trip to Houston. We did our caterer tasting, which was amazing. So much food. Bob and I, my mom and her husband, and there was so much food. There were four entrees and my mom thought it might be small portions.

Oh, no, no. These were, it was family style, right? So huge platters of our four entrees that we had picked. And then four different appetizers. Oh, Jay, I just want you to know there will be bacon wrapped scallops at the wedding. Well, the reception, bacon wrapped scallops. They were melt in your mouth delicious.

I'm very hungry. So this is, oh my gosh, it was so good. It was so good. The food was all amazing.

It was hard to choose. It's kind of funny too, to eat knowing that one or more of those dishes would be served to our closest family and friends. And we wanted to be very, not critical, but very picky about what we would choose and how we would do it. Not to mention you're putting together a menu that you hope will appeal to a lot of different people. So we have three different appetizers.

Well, we'll deal with that more in the wedding video. Three different appetizers, one entree, a carving station, which is really important to us, and two different sides. One of which I would have said, heck no, that's never going to be at my wedding reception, but it was so delicious. We met with the chef who will actually, oh, the garlic butter rolls. When this, I don't want to call her a waitress. When the, what would you call her? Waitstaff?

Server. When our server brought out the food, she said, the rolls are going to steal the show. The rolls are always everyone's favorite part. They were phenomenal. They were puffy. They were warm and they were slathered with garlic butter. That might be the best three combination of words I've heard.

Seriously. Absolutely amazing. We were inhaling the rolls.

They were so good. So those will also be at the wedding. Anyway, so the chef came and sat down with us and we put together a menu and we were pretty selective about what we wanted.

Each family member wanted something different. So it was kind of cool to put that together. I really enjoyed that process.

Also, and this is just a girly thing, so guys, you don't have to pay attention for about the next 30 seconds. I went and met with the hairdresser who will be doing my hair for the wedding and she went ahead and practiced the style that we chose. So I ended up wearing it the rest of the day on Friday. So I have photos of what my hair will look like for the wedding, which is pretty incredible. And Bob was allowed to see my hair. Now he's not seeing the dress. He doesn't know anything else about anything for my outfit or my style on wedding day, but he was allowed to see the hair. And it was kind of fun to send it to my female family members, my nieces who are my bridesmaids, and then also some of my friends because it was just fun. I felt like a princess with the special wedding hair all done up. So that was neat.

That was Friday. We did our wedding invitations. How about that? We designed them. Now we're going as affordable as possible in many ways.

And so we did our wedding invitations on Shutterfly. Picture this, if you will, my mother with her input, me having a different idea, and then Bob having to play a mediator of sorts and fix it. And I was, we were all sitting around his kitchen table and underneath the table, I'm kind of like poking you like, help me, help me. You have to be on my side.

He was great. He stays calm. His relationship with his mother is obviously different though they're very close. And he thinks, this is his word, it's hysterical to watch us interact, my mom and I. No, my mother gets something in her head and she will not let it go. And she has different ideas about how things are supposed to go. We talked about this with Italian mamas who are up in your grill all the time.

They have an opinion about absolutely everything. And she's astonished that I would even consider a different option than the one she likes best. Didn't she say that wasn't going to happen? For my dress. She said, I said, mom, what if I like a different dress than you do?

Oh, that's not going to happen. The food that was totally going to happen. Well, the food, yes. She was opinionated about the food. When it came to the invitations, she also had some very specific ideas.

Here's a fun thing though. I'll give you a preview. I actually may have them by the time that we do our video.

So maybe I'll show, I don't think I will. There are four photos, four candid photos on the back of our invites with a little message from Bob and I to the people that will be coming. Candids, I like that. And it says, cookies required. We'll explain of course, but cookies required. Yes.

So we did our invites on Shutterfly and now waiting for them to show up. I have checked three, four, five times to make sure there were no spelling errors. No, I can't imagine. Anyway, so spelling errors, I was petrified about. We started doing, Bob has a lot of stuff in his garage, a lot of stuff. And so we started weeding through his garage, even consolidated, made some piles to donate, to sell, to keep, to, yeah, so to move. So there's, there's a lot.

Yeah, there's a lot that has to be done. It's almost hunting season and football season, which means that he will have some obligations on weekends and I of course will be a little busier, but it was good. It was a little bit crazy. We also spent time with his family, which was a lot of fun.

His brothers, sister-in-law, and parents. So that was enjoyable. Yeah, it was just, it was a whirlwind, but we got a lot of items checked off the list. Met with someone who's going to help us decorate the chapel where we're getting married and details are falling into place.

Really are without a whole lot of stress. It was just a very busy four days, but thank you for missing me and thank you for caring. Coming up next, well next hour, Ask Amy Anything. So send your questions into Twitter or Facebook. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio.