2-1-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

The Sultan of Sizzle. The Titan of Toastiness. The Kingpin of Kindling.

These are the admired ones. Those who've created the prime place to gather. They don't just have a backyard. They have the backyard because they know a Solo Stove Fire Pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit. It's a place where friendships are forged, football is revered, and food is enjoyed. Solo Stove. The perfect flame for the big game.

A Peanut Butter M&M's Production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll.

The Ring of Comfort. Coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. We have a surprise for you. Do we have a surprise for you? You guys, you don't want to miss the last, oh say, five minutes, ten minutes of the show. We've got the big tease, well, one of the big teases about our trip to Las Vegas next week. You're gonna laugh. Just trust me, you're gonna laugh. Often, when you hear some of our production that we use to start an hour or come back from a commercial break, it features the iconic voice god.

Well, the voice god, who does have a name, but we only refer to him as voice god because he's a voice god. He actually put together some fun stuff for us in advance of Las Vegas. Oh, the cool kids are doing it.

I mean, that's what they say. I just kind of go along with the cool kids. He's a cool kid, producer Jay's a cool kid, our friends at Southern Recipe, they're cool kids. I'm just trying to blend in.

Increase your cool quotient. The best part is when we get to hear some of the bloopers, which we're not going to share with you. But every now and then, he'll be recording and he will record some bloopers and they'll just get left on the production.

Not what you hear, but what we hear in our files. Anyway, so we've got some new stuff in advance of Vegas and Jay can't stop grinning. Because essentially the voice god, he does take some liberties, some creative liberties and he'll record some fun stuff and he'll use different inflections. But he reads and he records what we send him. We ask him to record things for us. And so Jay and I were doing this in advance of the trip to Vegas and we did the divide and conquer where I came up with some and Jay came up with some. Let me just tell you, Jays are sublime and the voice god crushed it. It worked out. Oh, it worked out well. But to not hear it in context with music or anything like that, just to hear him all by himself is even funnier. After hours swagalicious. We've got your midsummer swag. That's an old one.

Listen to that voice though. Right? Was that this summer or last summer? I think that was last summer.

Are you sure? I think it was this summer. Did we ever give out some, we did give out some midsummer swag. Also, did you ever connect with our Survivor Island winners who want some swag? I have.

Did you send them their swag? More than one, yeah. Yeah, that's nice. They bullied you.

You got bullied on social media. I don't know. I was happy to.

Oh, that's nice of you. How much swag do we have left? A good amount actually. Do we? Oh goodness.

Is it all like extra small? Maybe if we go to, if we do the idea we're talking about in Vegas where we could first want to guess it right. What if we take some with us to Vegas to give out? That's actually a really good idea. Oh yeah, we need to hang it up or lay it out at the desk on Radio Row and we'll see if anyone comes up and asks for it. First people come to us in Vegas at the CBS Sports Radio desk and spot the after-hours swag and ask for the after-hours swag.

It's yours. Simple as that. Simple as that.

Simple as that. I like it. Alright, what about if we are out and about? Do you dare wear your after-hours swag on the Vegas Strip?

I don't know. It's pretty bright. It might fit in though. Isn't it Bright Lights Big City? That's what I'm saying. Alright, you might fit in perfectly on the Strip.

I think so. Go sit down at a nice table, a blackjack table with the after-hours shirt. I need you to Google something for me. You're going to laugh, but I'm a little bit nervous about replying to people when they tell me, go visit this street or go visit this section. So I've heard a lot of people have said to me, visit Fremont Street. I'm a little bit nervous that someone may give us a suggestion and they actually will lead us right into, I don't know, the Blue Light District, if you will. The district where there's much activity on the corners.

I'm looking at Fremont Street. Looks like a cavalcade of fun. Not going to lie.

Nice. It's very bright. There's a lot going on. It looks like at night it might be a little... Frisky? A little sleazy. A little frisky? A little slimy? Never been there, but maybe. Okay.

Just by the looks. But it looks like it could be worth checking out. Apparently there's a pinball museum or pinball... I don't know if it's an arcade. It's just the history of pinball. Google pinball history or pinball museum because someone recommended it and we could go and play pinball. Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas? Could you imagine the audio that would come from us playing pinball?

Let's do it. All right. I haven't played pinball in a long time. Me neither, but you remember all the bells and whistles and the ding ding ding ding ding and the balls bouncing all around?

Oh, yeah. It's amazing sound effects. Could you imagine you play pinball and I'll just record the sound effects? You're not allowed to swear while you're playing pinball. I can't make any promises with that.

Yes, you can. We somehow have to mute you, but the audio, could you imagine using that on our show? Just nothing but pinball sound effects. You got to find some. Find some on YouTube. Find some pinball sound effects on YouTube. Jay loves YouTube because I'm telling you that would be perfect. We went to the Pinball Hall of Fame. We obviously can't. Well, we could take a video of us playing pinball, but even funnier would be us recording the noise of a pinball game.

And then bring it back on the show. We have a lot of machines. Oh, yeah, they do. Apparently, it's a tribute to pinball lovers everywhere. That's that's one sound.

There's more, though. I liked how you did it. It goes through the little gates. The ball bounces all around and goes through the gates. When was the last time you played pinball? Oh, heavens. That was a lost ball. That wasn't a great one. When was the last time you played pinball?

Oh, man, I can't even remember. I went to a place, I don't know if you've ever heard of it, it's called Barcade. I don't know if it's just in Manhattan. They have a couple, actually. So it's like, it's a bar, but they have all like just old video game machines. Do they have Frogger?

Yeah, definitely. Why have you never taken me there? I haven't been there in a long time. We should go when it starts to get a little warmer outside.

Oh, my gosh. They have a Frogger? I would imagine, yeah. Do they have BurgerTime? Because that would be another one. I probably would imagine that. Anything you could think of, they probably have.

It's pretty big. Frogger, BurgerTime, Ms. Pac-Man. Definitely Ms. Pac-Man, yeah. Were the games that we played when I was a kid. Oh, my gosh. It's cool, yes. You go there and like have a couple drinks and like play old games.

So that might have been the last time I played. Okay. I can't believe you've been holding out on me.

You never told me about this. That sounds phenomenal right up my alley. But they have pinball? That's it. That's the gate right there. The little flappers.

That's the little handles. Oh, we're so going to the pinball hall of fame. So anyway, all right. I'm a little nervous.

Jay's having fun in there. I'm a little nervous when people suggest that I go visit someplace because I think there's a chance they could be leading us astray as a joke. So you and I are going to have to do our fact checking and do our research before we go anywhere that people direct us on social media.

Because not everyone has our best interests at heart, Jay, let's be honest. And yeah, we're new to the area. Exactly. We're not familiar with the various sections or the streets in Vegas. Yes.

Easily. But my nieces and my brother's family were there a couple years ago and they were telling me how you could just walk in and out of all the hotels and the casinos. And we're going to take pictures. Jay and I are going to do a whole video just kind of walking up and down the strip and in and out of some of the hotels because he is excited about putting these videos up on our YouTube channel while we're there in Vegas. He'll have the time and the resources to do so. And then also we're going to play a couple of games with you via videos and pictures.

Where in the world are Amy and Jay? And you'll have to figure it out. Playing one of the 700 pinball machines in the museum. 700? Can we play them all? We can play every single one of them.

How long would that take? Let's find out. It's a purty party.

It's a pinball party. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So yes, if you have your suggestions for Vegas, we'd love to hear from you. Jeff sends us this tweet, A-Law Radio. Fremont is great. Just leave before 10.

Yeah, I got that vibe from the picture. We have to be on the air by 11 Pacific time, so we're good. We'll already be in studio. Jay and I will be safely in studio. We will not be experiencing any type of Vegas nightlife, because by 9.30 at the latest, we're in studio at our Vegas affiliate, our Odyssey affiliate. Also on Friday, I'll be walking the strip in the daytime, and then Bob and I are going to see a Cirque du Soleil show. But he has promised me that we're going to go see the fountains at the Bellagio.

I've heard you need to see those at night, though, because of the lights. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, but I, yeah. You don't remember that? Did you go when you were a teenager? A long time ago.

I mean, it wasn't that long ago. Yeah, but I was only there for one night. It was really just, like, a quick stop. We were on the way from Arizona to the Hoover Dam to go to, like, somewhere else in California, and we just kind of stopped there on the way.

Okay. Hoover Dam's also on the bucket list. It's awesome. So Cirque du Soleil and Hoover Dam will be two more bucket list items that I'm checking off, but also the fountains and the lights, the Bellagio.

I mean, how many movies and TV shows have been filmed right there? Oh, it's like, I feel like I've been there. I've seen them, and, you know, right. Is that, are those the ones by Treasure Island, do you know?

Because then if that, then I remember, but if not, then I had it. Oh, okay. I just know that Treasure Island's the north, northern, far northern in the, we're on the southern end. Right, that's where I stayed the last time I was there, was that other end, so.

Okay, yeah. I looked at Treasure Island because they had really good deals going on, but it was, like, two miles away from Mandalay Bay, and so we're staying across the street from the stadium and Mandalay Bay. We're connected, actually.

Our hotel. Is it really? It's got a tunnel. You can just, you only have to go outside. Right. No, I like to go outside.

Me too, but. We are staying at the Luxor. Other people are recommending the Sphere. Didn't you Google the Sphere? Yes, I'm very interested in the Sphere. Can you go up in the Sphere?

It's like an IMAX on steroids, is what it is. So you, I was actually getting the whole lowdown about the Sphere from one of our colleagues outside before. Oh, okay. He was just there recently, so he said it's $100, and you go in. It's $100? It's $100.

Oh my gosh. And it's one hour of you interact with, like, robots. It's $100 for an hour? No, well, there's two hours. So the first hour is, like, you interact with these, like, robots and AI who are pretty creepy.

I saw them. Oh no. But it's, like, kind of cool, and there's other stuff. It's like a museum.

It's kind of creepy, but it's kind of cool. It's like an interactive science museum, so, like, I was seeing stuff, like, they play music and you stand in one spot and you only hear, like, the piano, then you stand, like, two feet over and you only hear, like, the guitar, so, I don't know, it's, like, science stuff how they do that. And then the other hour is an IMAX show of, like, planet Earth, and it's, but it's more than IMAX. It's, like, it's the sphere. Now, see, I do love IMAX. I dig those types of shows, but $100?

Yeah, it's a little, it's new, so I guess they realize they can. Here's the thing. Would you rather go to a recommended, pricier, upscale restaurant, because we're getting lots of suggestions for food, or the sphere, for the science exhibits and the science experiments, to say that you were at the sphere?

I really want to go to the sphere, but a restaurant in Vegas that's highly recommended sounds delicious too. See, now, I would hesitate to say this only because I know you never follow through. For instance, what did I tell you I was getting you for Christmas? TSA. Pre-check.

Which is still on my, on my browser. Right, so he has not yet ordered his TSA pre-check. He could have had it in time for Vegas. Chose not to. I was gonna pay for it. I'm gonna pay for it. You leave in, like, three days.

I think it takes two to four, I read. No, you have to get, you have to, did you already get the appointment? No. So you haven't filled out the application.

I did, actually, but just haven't submitted. Oh my god. I don't know. Things happen.

Things happen. Anyway, so Jay has neglected to take advantage of my Christmas present, which is TSA pre-check. I'm paying for it. I can't go to the appointment because they can't fingerprint me for you. So you have to go to the appointment. You have to get the appointment before you can go to the appointment before you can get the TSA pre-check.

Anyway, it will help you so much. It's Vegas. Super Bowl week.

It's insane. Number one. Number two, I would offer to go to the sphere with you as your birthday gift because your birthday's in February, but yeah, I would even take advantage of, well, I would do one or the other. Either the nice dinner or the sphere. That's such a tough choice at the moment to make right now. It is, but that's your birthday gift. I appreciate that. Right.

Well, that's your birthday gift, so decide at some point before we get to Vegas. Are you interested in the sphere? Not at that price, probably. That seems a little bit- It sounds a little steep, right? Yeah, it sounds a little steep to me. It's going to be incredible for that price, right? If I'm going to spend 100 bucks on something, it probably is going to be a nice meal at a place where people are recommending it. So I've gotten multiple recommendations and they're saying, well, yeah, it's a little pricey, but it's worth it.

What's the name of the place? Well, we'll decide, but I'm just asking, would you rather do sphere or pricey meal? Upscale pricey delicious meal. That sounds good.

It does. I'm already taking you to the cigar party. Yes. We're working. Yeah.

No, we are. We're working. I need the dress code for that, by the way. Oh yeah, I got the dress code. I want my after hours shirt.

No, that's not allowed. It's no t-shirts allowed. At the very least, you have to wear a coat. A lot of people will be dressed to the nines.

Yeah, I'll have one. You have to wear a coat. You cannot wear jeans. And Jay, no Nets hat, no Rangers hat. I won't wear a hat the whole time. No Giants hat. Good.

We'll get some photos and some videos of Jay with no hat on his head. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Your hair's going to be done. Does that mean you need a haircut?

No, actually it looks good right now. Oh, good. Well, I need a haircut and I don't know if I have time between now and Vegas. Anyway, sphere or, or pricier dinner.

That's your choice for birthday. I will. I will. Jay's so indecisive.

I'm sorry. He's going to continue thinking. Because the sphere just seems like it has to be like, it would have to blow me away. Like something I've never seen before at all in order to make that like worthwhile.

So in a dinner is always going to be good, especially at a highly beautiful place. We can walk by the sphere and get photos. Yes.

Yes, definitely. Because the outside is like, does stuff too. It's a sphere. Yeah. It's more than that. Oh. It's.

Can you touch it? Is it like a planet in Star Wars? People refer to it as the death star, or that's a stadium too.

A lot of things look at the death star in Vegas, I guess. Okay. All right. Well you get to decide. It's on record.

You get to decide. Uh, also on record, the Seattle Seahawks have found their man after a second interview. Mike McDonald, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator has accepted that job and we got the deets. This guy is a wonderkind.

He pretty amazing. And this is what happens when the Ravens have a defense that's best in the league. They start to lose people that they have. So we'll hear from our Seahawks insider coming up, even as today, Thursday, February 1st is the introduction, which means only the commanders are left without a head coach. Huh? What do you think of that?

Commander's head coaching job. Anybody? Anybody? Bill Belichick? Mike Brable? Anybody? It's not going to be Ben Johnson. Johnson's actually decided to stay in Detroit as we talked about. Oh, this is kind of fun. Uh, I'm in Ross A. Brown.

He does a podcast with his brother on the 33rd team and he found out the news directly. The Sultan of sizzle, the Titan of toastiness, the Kingpin of kindling. These are the admired ones. Those who've created the prime place together. They don't just have a backyard, they have the backyard because they know a solo stove fire pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit. It's a place where friendships are forged.

Football is revered and food is enjoyed. Solo stove, the perfect flame for the big game. Hey, Mel. Bright here. Got to work from home today because the whole family caught a nasty.

Hey, Mikey, if you're going to puke, find the popcorn bowl. But my availability is 110%. Coincidentally, so is my fever. Kidding.

Mel, I'm so cold but hot. But I'm going to get you that budget just as soon as Mikey popcorn bowl. Press one to use Instacart and get your family sick day essentials delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. Press two to keep working. Do not press two.

Just use Instacart, Brian, a peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing. One retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll.

The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Get ahead of postage rate increases this year with Stamps.com. It's like your own personal post office. Sign up with promo code program for a four week trial plus free postage and a free digital scale.

No long term commitments or contracts. That's Stamps.com code program. I'm sleeping and I hear my phone buzz and I'm like, bro, who's calling me? Ben Johnson's calling me. I'm like, wake up.

I answer. I'm like, so what's up with you? Like, are you leaving? He's like, you know what?

I'm on my way to the facility right now. He said he couldn't sleep last night. He was thinking about it and he said there's unfinished business. He wants to stay. I was on the team, shoot, he said me, Jared, Frank, Panay, Decker, all the guys, I mean, he said his heart is in Detroit.

He wants to stay. So I found out like 930. At least he found out directly from Ben Johnson, his offensive coordinator. Again, that's Amenrah St. Brown. And he said Ben told him there was unfinished business, which is awesome because, you know, not everybody needs to find out their boss is staying or leaving or their coach is staying or leaving via social media.

All right, we'll give you what you need to know about Mike McDonald, even in advance of the press conference coming up in a few hours. Happy February. It's actually February 1st. We fell down a rabbit hole with leap year babies and actually spoke to some leap year babies earlier on the show because I wanted to know how they celebrate their birthdays.

Apparently there's a secret society of leap year babies in the United States of America. Who knew? On Twitter, A Law Radio, I love your suggestions for Vegas and also your warnings about Vegas. Jay, I'm getting more warnings about Vegas.

Jerry says, OK, the zip line on Fremont Street. Caution. What? Yeah. He says, OK, the zip line on Fremont Street. OK.

But then he says caution, a little sleazy at night. That's what I said. Yeah.

I got that vibe. Right. OK.

Almost. All right. Got to leave before 10. We've got a show to do anyway. So it's all right.

Don't worry about that. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. I think they're getting a great leader, a relatable guy, you know, somebody that's very smart, calculated and cool and everything that he does, you know, very intentional. And he's going to be a great coach.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Baltimore All Pro Kyle Hamilton endorsing Mike McDonald as the brand new head coach of Seattle Seahawks, but he leaves the Ravens after serving as their D coordinator, Kyle on Sirius XM NFL radio and then KJ Wright responding to the news that McDonald will be hired. He raves about the guy as well. The proof is in the pudding when it comes to his defense. We're talking a bad, bad defense this past year, doing it with a bunch of just I'm not to say Jags, but doing with some guys that not just high profile type of defensive players. He did it with those group of guys.

See his personality. See that he did at the college level, at the pro level. He comes from a phenomenal culture, a phenomenal organization, the IZ Newsome's, the Harbaugh's.

I believe that everyone in the city of Seattle would be on full board and full go with bringing them in. That's KJ Wright on Seattle Sports. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We had a chance to catch up with one of our favorite insiders.

I swear his mind is like an encyclopedia. Greg Bell of the News Tribune, who will be at the introduction today with Mike McDonald. But I asked him a couple questions about this change in regime there, starting with what do we know about him, Greg?

A couple intriguing things. One is he still has a LinkedIn page. What NFL head coach has a LinkedIn page, he still has his grade point average from grad school. That's fantastic. A 4.0 in sports management from the University of Georgia.

It's interesting. He quit playing football after high school. He was in suburban Atlanta in high school, Centennial High School there. Then he went to the University of Georgia to be a college student. While he was there, he got a job across town from the UGA campus at Cedar Sholes High School in Athens, Georgia.

It was known as a downtrodden program where the kids weren't really invested in football. He became the freshman coach while still a college student in the high school. The coaches there loved him. He instantly bonded with the teenagers and motivated them and got the program all jazzed about football to where he went right to the varsity. He got so much that the Georgia coaching staff at the University of Georgia across town began to hear about this college kid as a coach, a football coach at a local high school. Mark Rick at the time, in 2010, hired him to be a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia staff. That's how Mike McDonald began as a college kid, his coaching career, and then from Georgia became a quality control coach, and then in 2014, John Harbaugh hired him to be an intern with the Baltimore Ravens, and that's how he got into the NFL, and then after being a position coach for a few years, and a trusted one, John Harbaugh said, well, we have Wayne Martindale as our defensive coordinator here in Baltimore, but my brother needs one in the University of Michigan. And they hired, Michigan and Jim Harbaugh hired Mike McDonald to be Michigan's defensive coordinator for the 2021 season, and Michigan went from 113th in defensive efficiency in the country to 13th, and they won the first Big Ten title at Michigan since 2004.

And it was an instant success there, the disguises, the blitzes, and confusing offenses, so then maybe John Harper said, we got to get you back to Baltimore and change you out, and they fired Wayne Martindale and Mike McDonald, the defensive coordinator, before the 2022 season, and that's how he got to where he is today after having the first defense in NFL history that had the most sacks, the fewest points allowed, and the most takeaways in one regular season this past year. It sounds like a Wunderkind. It does. He sounds like Doogie Howser football coach.

Yes. He looks like him too. He doesn't even look 36.

I'm interested to meet him for the first time tomorrow, but he looks more like 26. It's such a juxtaposition, Amy, after having Pete Carroll for so many years, 14 years of dealing with Pete Carroll and his stories about Bud Grant and Lou Holtz. Pete Carroll had been coaching since Nixon was the president, and now we've got Mike McDonald here half his age, the youngest coach in the NFL.

It just underscores how much they wanted to change. How much team chair Jody Allen told John Schneider, we're firing Pete Carroll to be completely different and get younger, newer, find the newest ways. The only surprise in all that is that they didn't hire an offensive coach, but a defensive coach to continue what was Pete Carroll's style for 14 years. What was your reaction when you heard about Pete Carroll getting fired, because I was surprised.

No, we were surprised too. The only indication out here, Amy, was that Jody Allen, the team chair, did not want a regime change, that she was going to let Pete Carroll coach as long as he wanted to. He was under contract through the 2025 season, an option year.

He could have coached past his 75th birthday, would have been the oldest coach in the NFL history. It looked like that's what was going to happen, because Jody Allen has an estate sale going on with her brother's estate, including the Portland Trailblazers and a ton of the assets that her brother Paul Allen had, her late brother who died in 2018, underwater sea exploration, space exploration, philanthropy, clean water in Africa, finding cures for cancer, you name it. And the Seahawks are a part of that, and it's going to take years for the estate to come around to selling the Seahawks, but it is destined to be sold.

That's what Paul Allen wanted in his will. So the thought was that because of an indefinite win, but an eventual sale of the Seahawks, they wouldn't want to change the regime and start with a new coach in a new direction before that might happen. But this past season was so galling. The defense that they had spent so much money, tens of millions of dollars in new contracts, a generational draft pick, fifth overall in defense, and it actually got worse than it was in 2022. They were worse against the run, 31st. They were 30th overall in defense.

One of the worst NFL defenses got even worse this past season. And Amy, there's the game when they played Pittsburgh. Out here in Seattle, the Seahawks had to win the last two games of the regular season and went to walk into the playoffs, clinching it by themselves, controlled their own destiny. The Steelers came out here on the ropes trying to fight for their own playoff lives, and they absolutely punished the Seahawks on their home field.

The whole lower deck was full of gold, terrible towels. It was a really embarrassing day, 202 yards rushing for the Steelers. The Seahawks knew it was coming and still couldn't stop it. I think that was the day that Jody Allen and her right-hand man, Burkhold Balkaninks, vice chair, decided, we're making a change, that this isn't going to work anymore, and it's not going to get any better. They were getting tired of just being 9 and 8, and this franchise, for all its history they had with Pete Carroll, hasn't been past the division round since 2014, their last Super Bowl season. And that had to change in Jody Allen and John Schneider's minds, and Allen picked Schneider's ways over Carroll. Carroll fought for the job, he was open and sane, he wanted to keep coaching and didn't think he should be fired.

But they wanted a new direction, and that's why they made the change, and they got younger with the most innovative defensive mind in the game. What is his role with the team now? That was all PR spin about the advisor, and we're just moving his roles. Carroll has no interest in that.

He keeps getting asked about it, and he's like, I don't even know if it's fine, I don't really care right now. And John Schneider has since been asked about it, and he's very equally nebulous, and wow, we'll figure that out. He had no role in this hiring of his successor. It's his replacement more than his successor.

They're going in a completely different direction. I'm not surprised if Pete Carroll would just go out on his home on the North Shore Hawaii and stay there for a year with his wife, Klena, and then see if some coaches' openings might appeal to him this time next year. But no, he wanted to stay and they kicked him out. He got fired no matter what they called it.

I love how he laughed when I asked the question. I genuinely thought that they were being sincere about Carroll having a role with the organization, but apparently that was all a sham, as much of a sham as the PGA Tour live merger, also complete and total sham. There's more with Greg Bell about the Seahawks, and I specifically asked him about the quarterback situation because Geno has one more year under contract, but they don't have Drew Locke next season and they really have no answers. They don't have a high draft pick.

They're about middle of the road, and so that's a really intriguing answer. And then, if we have time after the break, so we'll see, Jay and I have a big surprise for you, but he also dropped a bit of a bombshell about the Kalen DeBoer hire at Alabama. So I had no idea some of the details. In fact, a couple times when he was answering the question about Kalen DeBoer going from Huskies to Tide, all I could say was, wow, wow. Anyway, the podcast features all of our guests in a separate link. We post it every weekday morning on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on our Facebook page. I know thousands of you listen via podcast, so thank you. You're hearing this right now. That includes the husband, my husband, so I'm glad that the podcast helps you listen on your own time. It actually takes less time because the commercial breaks are not the same. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Okay picture this, it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild, conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. Make this Valentine's Day one she'll remember forever with an engagement ring from JamesAllen.com. James Allen knows each love story is unique. That's why they make it easy to custom design engagement rings at up to half the price of a traditional jeweler.

Choose from tons of conflict-free diamonds, both natural and lab-grown, then pick your ring setting and metal. Shop the James Allen Valentine's Day sale and get 25% off with Promo Code Podcast. That's 25% off at JamesAllen.com Promo Code Podcast. Says here that Graybar is a distributor? Yeah, we support electrical and datacom projects all over the country.

So you can get me the products I need, where and when I need them? Yeah, thanks to our national logistics network. Any industry? Yeah, construction, industrial plants, schools, hospitals. So you could say Graybar is much more than a distributor. Yeah, you could say that. When you need a hand powering, connecting, or maintaining your operations, join the thousands of professionals who rely on Graybar to help keep them up and running.

Yeah, Graybar does that. Damian Lillard had his chance ball knocked away from Simons, picked up by Lillard, lobs to Giannis who fucks it down on the alley-oop. Dame feeds the Greek freak. And how about that fitting response from the Bucks? You expect Dame to hit the big shot.

This time, he's got another weapon in the arsenal. Giannis gives Milwaukee their first lead since the third quarter. Lasers down one, ten on the shot clock. Simons dances around up top, he takes off, he drives, steps through, runs it up and in! And for the Simons, 17.6 left. Milwaukee takes a time out, they advance the ball, 117-116, Anthony Simons gets it to go. Here we go, 2.8 to play, second free throw is up, it's no good, it's deflected, and Brogdon's got it! Cluck runs out, no, it does!

Cluck runs out, it's a Rip City winner! The Trailblazers have spoiled Damian Lillard's return. They win it 119-116 over the Milwaukee Bucks.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Damian Lillard back in Portland for his first game as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks following his offseason trade. He does have family there, and in fact his twins are there, so it's not his first time back in the city, but first time in front of all of those fans playing in a different uniform. As you can imagine, they did quite a pre-game video, pre-game tribute that was full of those moments that give you chills. He says he wasn't crying during the tribute, he managed to keep his emotions at bay. Like the whole game I was trying not to like, sometimes when I sweat, I get sweat in my eyes and stuff, and I was trying not to wipe my sweat because I didn't want nobody to be like, man, I think he crying, you know? So I literally was trying not to like, even do that, but I mean, it didn't, I just was wiping my sweat off.

Oh, okay, got you. Pre-game, this is kind of funny, he walked into the building like he normally does. It was weird.

You know, I walked in and as I was coming in, I was instinctively about to just keep walking down the hall, and you know, everybody was kind of, you know, having the cameras out and I really didn't know where to go. I'd never been in the visitor's locker room until today, so walking in there, it just felt weird to be in Portland and to be in this building and not be going to the home locker room. So that was a little bit different. Now we did hear that he hasn't ever had a conversation, even communicated with the general manager Joe Cronin, who traded him, and remember, it got a bit acrimonious. It was fraught with friction because he asked for a trade first and then Cronin didn't give him the trade he wanted, which was Miami, and then didn't give him the trade that he wanted when he wanted it.

And so for that reason, they're not on speaking terms, at least right now. But Damian still talks about returning to Portland someday. I think because of how I feel about Portland, how I feel about the organization here, my time that I spent here, in my mind, I've always felt like that's how my career would end. And right now, I'm just in a space of like, this is where I am now, you know, I'm in Milwaukee. I wanted the opportunity to contend and our team has the opportunity to contend for this year and years to come.

And I'm just living in that, you know, but I definitely, like I said, when I was traded, I see a day where, you know, I'll be in a Trailblazer uniform again, you know, before I'm done. I love that he was always so dedicated to Portland and wanted to win there. He wanted to win there.

They just couldn't get it done. And finally, he could see the writing on the wall and after a decade decided he needed to pursue a ring. And so now he's with the Bucks and of course, they've already gone through a coaching change and blah, blah, blah.

25 points, seven assists, six rebounds for him. You hear the calls on both the Bucks radio network. And then Travis Demers on Blazers radio.

He doesn't tweet very often, but he's a friend of mine, so follow him. And he said he loves his job every night, but last night had to be one of the coolest nights at work ever. There was nothing better than having Dame back in Portland.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Funny enough, Kevin Durant was back in Brooklyn on Wednesday night and he also got a tribute video. He wrote on social that he didn't want the team to do it, but the Nets are done listening to you, KD. It is what it is, you know. Like I said, I can't control what other people feel and think and do. That wasn't going to stop me from just doing my job regardless of how I was honored.

But it's classy people here. They appreciate everybody who donned the jersey on, cared for before 10-day. And that show is a great organization where you can appreciate everybody who stepped foot and put their blood, sweat, and tears into your organization, so I respect that. At least he has some self-respect enough to know that a tribute video is not warranted for him in Vegas. And he wouldn't really define whether or not his time with the Nets was a success.

It obviously was not a success, so I don't even know how that's a question. But I think people were wanting him to define it, except he bailed, Kyrie bailed, James Harden bailed, like it was a total cluster. And now he's with the Suns, and he feels like they have a better chance to win.

Still, though, he's not going to miss his opportunity to go John back and forth with the fans. Even though I love these people here, I love to shut them up, because it was some annoying people just trying to get my attention. I hate you, KD, but now I look over.

I love you, man. I ain't got my jersey on, you know. So it's good to, like I said, it's all good. It's all good for the game, that relationship you got with the crowd. Right, not the same fanfare, although it was a nationally televised game, which is kind of funny, that the KD return to Brooklyn would warrant that type of attention.

OK. 8.30 Eastern Time start. They wanted the primetime audience. Insanity.

Insanity. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So we played the Travis and Jason Kelce responses to Justin Tucker earlier on the show. They're out there on the New Heights podcast.

You can listen to them if you want to. But trust me, when I say we have a Hall of Flame induction coming up to wrap the week, and Travis Kelce will be part of it. But even more than that, I wish we could get the unbleeped version.

We can't play the unbleeped version of Patrick Mahomes after he throws the initial touchdown to Kelce in the AFC Championship. Go all day, boy! All day, boy! He can't guard you! He can't guard them! He can't guard them, dog!

OK. He can't guard them! He can't guard them! We're here!

We're here! It sounds like it's a loop, and it's not. It's just him losing his mind. This is the kind of stuff you get on NFL films.

Mahomes loses his mind, and we've seen him on the sidelines before where he's marching up and down, his hair is flying. Let's go! Ah! Ah! Ah!

OK. There he sounds like a Muppet. But like, during the AFC Championship, maybe Justin Tucker deserves a little thank you because they fired up him and Travis Kelce. I love it. I love it when he loses his mind.

It cracks me up. And other than everything that happened with Justin Tucker, I actually really appreciated Kelce, Travis, opening up about being in their fourth Super Bowl in five years and being AFC Champions again. Feels like it's a little bit sweeter, man.

I don't want to rip out anybody's heart in KC. This road to where we are now has been more of a challenge, which means you have to overcome more. It kind of means a little bit more. Although I cherish all the games that I play in Arrowhead, every single one of them, baby, this one meant a lot, man. It meant a lot because the guys we had and how we persevered through a lot of the things that we weren't doing during the season. It just felt that much better with those guys. You could feel it in the locker room afterwards. You could feel it on the plane ride home. We got to have an entire two-hour flight to ourselves where it was just us partying on the freaking plane back home, man. And it was electric. It was awesome. We had the coaches coming back to where the players were and just reminiscing on this season and enjoying every single bit of being around each other and what we had just accomplished yet again for the second year straight.

That's why this one feels that much better. I actually really like that cut from Travis Kelce and Jay and I watched a good portion of the new Heights podcast because you have to listen to so much just to get to the football part. They do look at 30 minutes of other ancillary elements before they... They got a ton of sponsors now, too, they're going to get through. It's like 15 minutes of sponsor readings. There's now speculation about who they might sell this podcast to and make Boo-Coo Bucks or what platform they might join to make Boo-Coo Bucks.

They're going to translate this into a lot of money, not that they don't already have it, but his woman makes a lot more money than he does. Oh, and yeah, Jay pulled this, which is kind of fun. Jason Kelce talking about the family being on the field in Baltimore. We had the whole family down on the field. We had me, mom, dad, and Taylor.

Everybody was down there. That's sweet. I love that they've accepted her.

I hope that she feels just like Taylor, not Taylor Swift, but just like Taylor. That's official. That's as official as it gets. With the Kelce family. Oh no, it's absolutely official.

Can there even be any more... I take that back. This woman on our Facebook page this week said that she still thinks it's a sham. I don't know for what reason, but she still thinks it's a sham. I mean, they like made out on national television, but... All right.

I mean, let's not get TMI here. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Thank you for so many of your suggestions that we're receiving about Vegas. Now the stratosphere has become a very popular suggestion. So as we wrap up the show 24 hours from now, wrap up the week 24 hours from now, we will make sure that we share some of those because you guys are all in on our trip to Vegas next week. Meanwhile, the voice God has decided he wants to participate. And so Jay and I sent him... This is your surprise. Jay and I sent him some fun liners to get ready for our trip to Sin City. No jabronis.

That was not mine. That was Jay. Jay decided that we needed the voice God to say jabronis. So yeah, no jabronis.

Watch out for the Bosa Constrictor. Here's the thing. Jay's playing all his cute liners because he came up with some very creative ways to talk about the stars in the Super Bowl. You want one of yours? I want one of mine.

I want the purty party. Wait, what about the one about shoot after hours goes to Vegas, that was fun. But there was another one that you did that was really funny, Jay. It was... Are you not going to... Padawan meets master. Thank you.

The padawan meets the master. We even got the voice God to do some Star Wars drops for us. Jackpot. Ka-ching.

That's money. Next week is going to be so much fun. All right, more when we wrap up the show tonight. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing. One retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all wheel drive and three row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. 2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. Nobody wants a surprise in their jelly donut.

It's toothpaste? That's because the middle is the most important part. At Graybar, we're at the middle of electrical and datacom jobs across the country. Connecting installers, facility managers, and business owners with smart solutions for their most challenging projects, which means stocking and delivering crucial products on time and on budget with no surprises, thanks to our nationwide logistics network. Yep, Graybar does that.