2-8-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence Podcast : Hour 1

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Additional terms apply. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Hola! How are you? I hope you've had more sleep than we have in the last 24 hours. Since we last reconvene, I think Jay and I are running on pure adrenaline and dirt dogs. Oh yeah, that's a story. How I went to dirt dogs and didn't get a dog. Uh huh. I got duped. No, I seriously did.

I got completely duped. We've got a dirt dog story for you. We've got photos for you. We actually got outside on Wednesday.

No joke, on Tuesday, other than me arriving from the airport and then us grabbing a rideshare to get to our location where we broadcast from. We never saw the outdoors. It's something that I do not like about the casino life. You have no idea what time it is. You never know the weather. There are no windows anywhere. There are no clocks either.

It's a little disconcerting when you're stuck inside this maze and, as Jay called it, a labyrinth of various casinos and hotels because you never get outside. But I know there's an outside because at the hotel, as I was trying to take a nap just a few hours ago, the beach at Mandalay Bay was, and I'm not kidding, bumping. The music was thumping so loudly. The bass was thumping so loudly. My hotel room at the Luxor, which is right next to Mandalay Bay, faces the beach and it was so loud. This is 8.30 in the evening, local time. No one's bumping at 8.30 in the evening. I know I'm not cool. I'm not cool at all. We have got some incredible guests to share with you on this edition of the show from Las Vegas, the home of Super Bowl 58.

We're at our local affiliate 98.5 HD2 The Bet. We had some, well, I don't want to accuse Jay of being starstruck, but he does love Baker Mayfield and Baker Mayfield was within two feet of Jay on Wednesday. But if I hadn't have given Jay the heads up, Baker would have walked right by him and he never would have seen him. So this was what I said to Jay. Jay, be cool right behind you, your boy Baker.

But I had to be quiet because Baker was so close that he would have heard me right there. So we have to tell you the stories of who we saw on Radio Row on Wednesday. I got to tell you though my favorite, even with all the athletes and the general insanity, and it was at least quadruple the craziness of what we saw on Tuesday.

Thursday will be wall to wall bodies and nearly impossible to move around. The Thunderbirds, the Air Force Thunderbirds were everywhere on Radio Row Tuesday or Wednesday, excuse me, see that's already happening. And they are my favorite. We have got a treat for you, because they were a couple dozen members of the Thunderbirds team. And that doesn't just mean pilots. There are only six pilots who fly over the Super Bowl at the end of the National Anthem, only six of them. So they're engineers. There are various manner of support staff. It's a team, a large team that gets them up in the air.

There are of course standby pilots in case one of them can't go. But you know, we got the best of the best. Had to be my favorite conversation of the entire day except Mark Ingram was pretty damn good as well. The longtime NFL running back who always wanted to be a broadcaster. He's really good at it. He ripped the NFL. He raved about Nick Saban. So that conversation is coming up in 15 minutes here on After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Sponsored by Rudolph Foods and our friends at Southern Recipe Pork Rinds. We actually will be attending the cigar party that's hosted by Mike Ditka and Ron Jaworski coming up on Thursday evening. So we didn't have much sleep on Wednesday. We're going to have even less sleep on Thursday with no chance for a late afternoon nap. But it's all right.

That's what we're here for. We're in Las Vegas to bring you all the sights, the sounds, all the smells. It smells like smoke. That's what it smells like in the casinos.

It smells like smoke and more and more cigar smoke on Wednesday. I could get lost in the casinos. So we have a bunch of photos for you. We took photos of the bling and the pings and the rings inside the Mandalay Bay Casino. Jay's got videos. We took photos with all of our various guests except one. For some reason Jay forgot about her.

I know he was busy sending emails. We also have, what else do we have? We have photos from our walk. We struck out and we're able to find dirt dogs on Wednesday afternoon. And so we took photos of the south end of the Vegas Strip. It's, you're not going to believe, so the site, the site that we walked by is the site of the future Las Vegas A's stadium. I don't know how they're going to fit it there. They're going to be within one square mile. There are going to be five stadiums, five stadiums at the south end of the strip and the traffic's already completely ludicrous. It's Wednesday evening.

There's still Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to go. It's a mob scene. It's wall to wall bodies inside the Mandalay Bay shops and malls and the casinos, not to mention Luxor where we're staying. It's so different than Tuesday. Jay and I were blown away by the number of people. They opened up the NFL experience on Wednesday, which meant there are a lot more fans coming in. Radio row is a lot busier, a lot busier. And coming up on Thursday, it's the Hall of Famers.

It's the NFL honors. You have more of the current players as well as some of the legends who are in. As we get closer to the weekend, there are more parties, there are bigger events. And not to mention, you've got the influx of fans and corporate sponsors who only come in for the weekend, various volunteers. Now, most of them are probably local, but there are certainly still others coming from all around the country. This place is about to get fruitful and multiply.

The people are everywhere. And so we'll tell you about the site. We actually found out from our Lyft driver where they're putting the stadium and now having the context of knowing because we walked the area.

We walked it. And it was already insane. And now it's about to be even more jam packed with places to see, signage, events, all of those things at the south end of the Las Vegas strip.

We're not even sure how they're going to fit it there, but apparently that's the plan. So yeah, the more that we get acclimated and now having been outside and seeing the mountains off in the distance, southeast of the strip, they're beautiful. People keep telling us to have fun, which I so appreciate.

We're burning the candle at both ends, right? We were back on Radio Row before noon on Wednesday. So we slept a couple hours.

We went right back. So we do have some great stories to tell you, some funny stories. I got duped by the lady at Dirt Dogs, but also who we saw and what we witnessed and who we heard.

Oh my goodness, you won't believe who was holding court on Radio Row and everyone in the entire convention center could hear him, which I think is the plan. Anyway, already one photo up on Twitter, ALawRadio. Jay's put a few Twitter photos and videos up on our show account after our CBS. We also have a reel up on our Facebook account after hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm even forgetting the name of my own show. So check those out. Jay, at some point we have to put a video on YouTube because we promised the peeps that we would use our YouTube channel as well.

So we'll do that before the end of day on Thursday, before we get back and we reconvene. But here is our guest list for this edition of the show. Mark Ingram, I'm telling you, don't miss him. He's recently retired. He played for Nick Saban. He won a Heisman at Alabama. So now he's on the big noon kickoff, which is Fox pregame show for college football. He always wanted to be a broadcaster. So we got to talk a lot about college football and certainly Nick Saban in light of his recent retirement. But I also asked him about the league devaluing running backs and all I had to do was sit back and listen.

He had some choice words for the NFL and the teams that devalue his position. Also on this edition of the show, remember the name Jen Welder, first ever female coach in the NFL. She was with the Cardinals and Bruce Arians. She has turned herself into an entrepreneur that has camps and teaches football. And she played it as well. She travels the world as an ambassador. And her mission is to get more and more people to understand the game of football because she believes it serves a great purpose.

And she will tell you about it. Our friend Solomon Wilcott had a chance to run into him. He wasn't even on the schedule.

We ran into him when we were walking into Radio Row on Wednesday morning. And he's always partnering with doctors and medical firms because he wants to leave football better than it was when he played. Remember, he played in the Super Bowl with the Bengals.

That goes back to the days of Boomer Esiason and Chris Collinsworth. Those Bengals. He had a doctor in tow and a bear, actually. I've got the bear.

Oh, I think I forgot it. I left the bear. We had a photo with the bear, though, on Radio Row.

I left the bear in our hotel room. But there is a cutting edge surgery that allows athletes to recover from torn ACLs. Not just much faster, but without the fallout that comes later in life after having that injury. You'll hear them talk about it. And of course, Solomon is great because he loves football so much and he's super popular. He's the man of the hour wherever he goes. Also on this edition of the show, Colleen Wolf of NFL Network. You guys, I'm so jealous. She flew with the Thunderbirds earlier this week.

It was special to her for a different reason than me, but it was a bucket list item for her. We got the whole story. And then the Thunderbirds, as I say, we got the best of the best.

You'll hear them. Boomer Esiason, actually, will join us live in our final hour because he is here, but he's at Radio Row doing his morning show on our New York affiliate WFAN. And so he's calling in, but he is live. And we just have a lot of different questions for him, too, because we're seeing it so upside down from where we are. Because they're doing a morning show in an empty Radio Row where on the East Coast, if the Super Bowl is on the East Coast or even Central Time Zone, it's much busier on Radio Row in the morning, but they're actually starting their shows at 3 o'clock Vegas time. And it's essentially a ghost town on Radio Row.

So it's just it's a complete dichotomy for what we're experiencing when we're there. And so Boomer Esiason, he's going to join us live and he's covered. Oh, gosh, I think it's more than 30 Super Bowls now as a broadcaster.

Forget the one that he played in the year he was an NFL MVP. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. I know these shows are different. In fact, my husband just said to me so completely the opposite from what I expected. These shows are so different. Yeah, they really are. But it's the few shows out of every year where we get to be face to face with people. We don't normally bring you this much taped material, but it's worth it because we have access and we have an audience with some of these kind of off the beaten path guests like the Thunderbirds.

We would never have them at any other point. So that's awesome. And being able to connect with people in person, especially the other women that we've had on the show.

It's a goal of mine always to share my microphone and to share my show with other accomplished, intelligent, smart, successful, savvy and creative female colleagues. And on Wednesday, I got to do it in conjunction with National Women and Girls in Sports Day. So that's awesome. Colleen didn't even know.

I actually didn't know until I saw it on social media. So it's not like I had it marked on the calendar, but it was neat to be able to share the stage, so to speak, to share our desk with her. A lot of fun. We laughed a lot.

We took a lot of photos, got to run into some people I haven't seen in years. And it's always funny when Jay and I are having the same experience, people that we've emailed or people that we've spoken to on the phone, and then we see them in person and they don't look anything like what we expected. But honestly, Jay, don't you think that's the same for us? I'm sure there are people that say, oh, my goodness, as they walk away, she's nothing like what I expected. I'm sure people looked at me like, oh, that's him. That's what I've been talking to.

Yeah, I get it. So find us on Twitter, A Law Radio and also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. As we're playing back these recorded conversations from earlier on Radio Row, we'll be working on our social media and we're posting photos. We're trying to get organized because we have, oh, gosh, maybe 50 photos between Jay and I, photos and videos.

We want to be able to share them with you. And then we're trying to repurpose some of them during the daytime, too, because it captures a completely different audience. If you have not checked out the podcast, I know it wasn't the case for last night's show. But moving forward the rest of the week, we're going to have all of our guests podcasted separately.

Just you can go and you can pick and choose. And thank you so much for your reaction on both Twitter and Facebook. We've had a bunch of you say, I loved your shows. So much energy. The conversations were great. Yeah, it's worth it. It's worth it to be tired. It's worth it to eat nothing but. Fried food, fried food. The Dirt Dog was the best meal we've had.

Oh, like in terms of nutrition value. So let's say something. So before we take this first break, when Jay and I left our Las Vegas affiliate and got back to the Luxor Hotel at three thirty on Wednesday morning.

So three thirty a.m. local time. We were famished. My stomach had been growling for two hours. I had not eaten a full meal since Monday night.

So now we're talking about more than 24 hours. And what was open, a little place called Backstage Deli. Right in the freaking middle of the casino. So we're walking through the smoke.

There's people still playing their tables and everything else. But we were starving. So we go to this backstage deli. The guy is cooking right in front of us, which was amazing. And I had this huge everything bagel with egg, sausage and cheese and tater tots. So I ate that at four a.m. and then fell asleep. And I'm not kidding.

I think I inhaled it in three point two minutes because I was so hungry. But that's essentially been the only meal other than the dirt dog. But you had a dirt dog.

I actually was digging through mine. There was no dog. So like I said, we'll explain coming up because I got duped by the lady at the counter.

I just I don't understand. She knew we'd never been there before. Jay, what did you have at three thirty in the morning? I had some fries last night. No, that's not all you had. What else did you have at three thirty in the morning? What else did I have? Oh, a soda. A soda. Yeah, that was a play.

That was aggressive. I wanted to get like a Gatorade or something out of the thing. Like I said, my story about my Gatorade being seven dollars.

I wasn't going to get that. He was Gatorade shy. I had like a fountain there and I was like, I'll get a fountain, like maybe a little be some sort of like iced tea or lemonade in there. No, it was like Pepsi root beer.

Don't let Jay dupe you. He's a soda addict. Soda is his vice. He didn't finish it, actually. But that's why you were awake until how late or how early?

I don't know. I was watching Star Wars till like five, maybe. Neither Jay nor I has slept well because we're completely out of our routine. But that makes for funnier radio segments. So we're here. We're upright.

We're back at our Vegas affiliate ninety eight five HD to the bet. We've got some awesome conversations to share with you. They're all unique in their own way.

That's another thing I love is that we don't have any two guests that are the same. We're asking them all different questions, all different topics. Long time NFL running back. Former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram is straight ahead on Twitter after hours. CBS on our Facebook page. We're going to be sharing photos and videos the next four hours. Our thanks to Colton back in the studio, of course, because we couldn't do it without him keeping us on the air.

And Dan, the engineer here locally who's given us a key and let us have a run of the place. Jay stealing cokes out of the fridge. Right. OK, sorry. He's borrowing them.

Turn them. Great. We actually both went shopping and put stuff in the fridge because neither one of our rooms at the Luxor have have fridges. So I brought food and put it in the fridge here. So this is our home for the next couple of nights. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence from Super Bowl week.

We are excited to share everything we saw and heard on Wednesday. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

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Ten dollar minimum per order. Additional terms apply. 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.

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Yeah, Graybar does that. From our Las Vegas affiliate 98.5 HD to the Bet. We're pleased to be back on Radio Row during the daytime and then in the evenings bringing you a show that is unlike any other. We know that we're upside down and inside out, but we've got stories, we've got photos, we've got videos to share.

And of course, we've got great conversations. We look forward to this all year. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Had a chance to catch up with Mark Ingram. Twelve seasons in the NFL, a three-time Pro Bowler. He retired in July of 2023 and he joined big noon kickoff on Fox Sports, fulfilling a dream of his to be a broadcaster. Also played for Nick Saban during his days at Alabama.

In fact, Saban's early days at Alabama and won the Heisman in 2009. And we had a chance to sit down with him and hear what he's like behind a microphone one-on-one. So Mark, you've done this as a player. Now you're working as an analyst, but a retired player. What's it like to be back in this NFL convention setting?

Man, it's smooth, man. You know, just running around, making the rounds, talking to great people like yourself. Seeing some familiar faces and just catching up with people you haven't seen in a long time. So it's always good to be around good people and celebrating football.

So it's similar, but just different that I'm doing something different with my life now. How was your first year as a broadcaster on Fox big noon kickoff? How'd you enjoy it? Man, it was amazing. What a tremendous blessing to be able to step into a prestigious show with a great network, with some great teammates, some great coworkers. And it was an amazing experience and a lot to improve on, a lot to grow from. And I'm just going to continue to get better.

So I'm excited about it, but I definitely want more. I want to keep getting better. I want to keep improving.

Everyone tells me that they enjoyed it, that we had some good ratings, that I did a great job. But I know I could do a lot better. And that's what I'm striving for. I'm striving to be the best, like, you know, like all you guys here right now.

You know, you guys are the best in the business. I'm in a new avenue and I'm just trying to grow and improve at it and be the best at it. What was the best piece of advice you received as you were making the jump to the dark side, as I call it?

So welcome to the dark side. Yeah, yeah. I think the best advice was just to be myself. Don't try to be something that I'm not, you know.

They said that they hired me to be myself. Lean on my expertises and my experiences as a player in college and professionally and see the game through my lenses, you know, and that's why they hired me. So I think just to be myself, you know, be true to who I am and not try to be like outstanding myself too much, like, you know, trying to do too much stats. Right. But just see the game and speak about the game through my eyes and through my experiences.

And I think that was some great advice. Recognizing that a very small percentage of the United States of America who's watching you has ever been in your position. So you have something to offer that most viewers cannot really relate to and you can kind of take them inside the huddle and onto the field. I mean, that's what fans crave, I think.

Right. And I think that's the main thing is like personalizing it through my experiences, you know. I think that's what, like you said, I think that's what gives me, you know, a different viewpoint as opposed to someone who hasn't done it. So I think leaning into that and being true to who I am and true to my experiences and to what I'm seeing through my eyes, being that I played 12 years in the NFL, being that I was, you know, on a national championship team and all of that, I think, you know, leaning into that, leaning on some of those experiences, being able to relate what I'm talking about on the show to some of the experiences, personalize it.

I think that was huge advice and I think that's what makes a difference for me. Well, he is Mark Ingram, also Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama. Didn't mention that part of his resume. A long-time NFL running back, a Pro Bowler. We're happy to have you here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.

I want to ask you about Alabama because it's going through a major shift. You played for Nick Saban early in his tenure in Tuscaloosa. What made him one of the all-time greats? He's just a perfectionist, very meticulous when it comes to preparation, the detail, being situationally sound, knowing that whatever situation arises in a game, whether it's a one-time situation or a 30-million-time situation, that we've went over it, that we've practiced it, that we know what to do in that situation. Knowing the process, the commitment, the winning in the film room, winning this rep, winning, if you're not in, winning mentally, getting a mental rep, always just trying to be the best version of yourself that you could possibly be, and that takes, like, what are your thoughts? Your thoughts affect your actions.

Your actions affect, like, show who your character is, you know what I mean? So those decisions, what matters to you, you know, what's important to you, and just doing the things the right way and being disciplined to be able to accomplish your goals and listen, it's not always going to be sunshine or rainbows. There's going to be valleys, there's going to be adversity that you have to overcome, but just staying level-headed, never getting complacent. If you be where your feet are, you know, like, if you're looking ahead, like, it gives you anxiety.

If you're looking behind you, you're being complacent, so just be where your feet are, trust the process, and just be the best version of yourself each and every day. Sounds like a full mind and body experience to play football at Alabama. Yeah, I mean, it really was, like, it was, he's like a psychiatrist, too, like, you know what I mean? Like, he just, like, has a way of, like, tapping into, like, the mental and, like, the emotional, and he just had a great way of, like, being able to connect with his players, like, okay, like, some players you can be tough on, some players you need to encourage a little bit more, some players you need to take to the sideline, okay, come on, let's go, like, he just had a great knack for kind of diagnosing that and being able to coach and assemble a group of young men, 18-, 19-year-old dudes, and get them to buy into one purpose, which is be the best version of yourself, to be champions, you know what I mean? And that's what made him the best coach in college football history, that's why he has seven national championships. Alabama will never be the same again, but will always be great, you know what I mean? Because we do have another guy at the helm right now who's doing a great job, it's just a short amount of time, so we're all excited about what Coach DeBoer could do. I've heard other Alabama alum, and they've said this to me, that playing there for him was actually tougher than some of the places they've been in the NFL, in terms of what you're talking about, that there's no room and no margin for error and that he expects you to be all in.

What's your perspective? Yes, I think depending on what team or what system you go to, it might be that way, but I think being for coach prepared me for the NFL that I was not surprised at anything that I was dealing with, because what I had practiced, what I had studied, the habits I had created, helped me be successful in the NFL. But I had went to some old school coaches, so Bill Belichick and Coach Saban were tight, he's from that Bill Belichick tree, but I went to Sean Payton who was part of the Bill Parcells tree, and then Harbaugh, so those were like hard-nosed, old school, tough coaches. So I feel like what I learned and what I gained from being in Coach Saban's program, it helped me succeed in those atmospheres. When I was with some old school coaches that practiced hard, that practiced tough, that's all I was accustomed to, that's all I knew, so I was able to thrive in those situations. And I think being in the Alabama program with Coach Saban and how he ran it, like a professional system, prepared me to be able to have a long career in the NFL with some old school coaches with that mentality. No accident or coincidence that so many Alabama alum have succeeded in the NFL, not just because of the talent but because of the preparation.

Yes, the mindset, the commitment, the discipline, the dedication, all of those things, man, and it rounds out who you are, your decision-making, your priorities, what's important to you, who you are as a person, as a player, what matters to you. I think all those things, what he develops, what he creates, the environment that he creates, and that's who you are, that's your character, that's like your DNA, and that's what carries you through the NFL. Mark Ingram is with us on Radio Row. So over a decade in the NFL, which is longer than a lot of running backs, survive. Why do you think, I'm asking you to put your analyst hat on, why do you think the running back position is devalued by some teams in the league? Well, for one, it's a passing league now. For two, they like to do running back by committee. And for three, they use your production against you. So it sucks because any other position, if you catch 150 balls for 2,500 yards, they're like, oh, we're going to pay this man more than anything else. Back up the truck.

Yes, yes, yes. Back up the big truck. If you're a DN and you pay 300 snaps and you get 19 sacks, they're like, oh, back up the truck. But if you're a running back, you get 300 touches and you get 2,000 scrimmage yards, they're like, oh, maybe he has too much wear and tear on his tires now.

Maybe he won't be able to do it again. But look at what Christian McCaffrey is doing with the Niners. Look at, even like Saquon Barkley, he was on a franchise tag, but the Giants are clearly a different team when he is healthy and playing as opposed to when he's not. They pay other players, but they don't want to pay the catalyst who makes that engine go for that offense.

Josh Jacobs, the same way. It's just unfortunate what they're doing to the running back position, and I think it's going to have greater ramifications than what it is already. I think some of the younger players who are in middle school and high school who are running backs, I would encourage them to change their position. Play corner. Play receiver.

Be an athlete. Go to a different position because if you have the good fortune and the talent to make it to the NFL, you're not going to get paid because they are devaluing the position. It's one of the most devalued positions in the league right now, unfortunately. Derek Henry is a free agent. He was the highest paid running back in the NFL. He is worth his weight in gold. He can still stiff arm any defender.

What do you think is going to happen with him in free agency? He was never the highest paid running back in the NFL, unfortunately, even though he was the rushing title guy at least twice. But McCaffrey and Alvin, I think, were the two highest. Nick Chubb, too, is up there. Fortunately, Nick Chubb was able to get a bag because we saw the detrimental injury that he sustained last season.

Fortunately, Alvin and Christian got their money. It just has to be the perfect timing for a running back. You have to go to the right system, to a coach who likes you, to a team who likes you, to a team who will utilize you to get enough production but not have so much production where they hold it against you. It's like a double-edged sword for running backs.

Even with the CBA, how it is set up, you won't be able to do anything about it for another five years when they renegotiate the next CBA. So it sucks right now for the running backs. All they can do is control what they can control, and you have to be able to do everything. You have to be able to come out the backfield, catch the ball, prove your value as a pass protector, run inside, run outside. You have to be a jack of all trades and not be a one-trick pony.

I think that's what you have to do in the NFL to be able to be valued as a running back position. Thank you for sharing that insight. Before we let you go, because they're giving us the wrap-up, last year the American Gaming Association estimates $16 billion spent on the Super Bowl, and I know you're partnering with them.

Try to give people some tips about being smart. We've got the marriage of Vegas and the Super Bowl, so what do you say to people who are entering this week going, okay, I want to put some money down? Yeah, I mean, legalized sports betting has transformed consumer entertainment, and just where it was five years ago being only in Las Vegas, it's 38 states now, including D.C. So it's just huge now, and like you said, last year it was $16 billion. This year they're estimating 68 million American adults gambling nearly $23 billion on the Super Bowl.

Oh, my gosh. So it's huge, and it's great, and we're just encouraging everyone to bet responsibly. Set your limit.

Don't go over it. Know what you're betting. Understand what you're betting, and it should be enjoyment. It should be added entertainment for you. It shouldn't be anything else.

Stress? Yeah, it shouldn't be taken away from your enjoyment of the game. So we're just encouraging everybody to bear responsibly and be knowledgeable about what you're betting, and enjoy. It should be added entertainment for you. Awesome. Well, I enjoyed this.

Very entertaining for me. It was great to meet you, Mark Ingram. Pleasure to meet you, too. For all of your insight, and again, welcome to the dark side. You're doing a great job.

Welcome to the bright side. Yes, ma'am. Thanks, Mark. Thank you.

I appreciate you. If you haven't seen the photos with Mark Ingram, as well as a video that Jay took, he put a reel up on Facebook, and there's photos on Twitter, ALawRadio. It was really neat to be able to connect with him, and I appreciate his passion. He actually studied broadcasting at Alabama, because he always wanted to go into TV, and now he's doing it on Fox, and I think he's done a tremendous job growing as a broadcaster. I didn't have a chance to ask him about the hardest part, but considering that we're about to see Tom Brady in a broadcast booth, there's a lot of critics out there, and yet he, as well as other former athletes, are prepared because they're used to being in the arena where the pressure is heavy on their shoulders.

And his passion about the way the NFL has devalued running backs, it stood out among the various interviews and conversations that we've had in the last couple of days. All of our conversations from Radio Row, part of our podcast, it's updated every weekday morning. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for those of you who are listening live, as well as catching us on the flip side and listening on demand. These are some of our favorite shows of the year, and we're working hard for them. We're glad to share them with you. From Las Vegas and 98.5 HD to The Bet, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

It sure is this portion of the show. In fact, our entire trip to Las Vegas is brought to you by Southern Recipe Small Batch Pork Rinds. Between this pork rind giveaway and delicious recipes, you'll want to ask your friends to pass that pig skin, baby.

Do it at porkrindday.com. Thursday is the day we finally get to connect with Mark Singleton of Rudolph Foods. He's been our friend and a supporter of the show. In fact, he listens to the show every morning when he's walking his dog. He's been an ally since Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco.

When I first was introduced to him along with Bobby Bell, the Chiefs Hall of Famer, since then it's been a steady stream of Hall of Famers every Super Bowl week and also during the football seasons. They love the conversations that we have and the fact that we highlight the difference in eras. And for the first time, we're going to the cigar party hosted by Mike Ditka and Ron Jaworski. We can't stay for very long, maybe about an hour, an hour and a half, because we do have to do the show tomorrow night. We're not skipping out on you to hang out at some party with a bunch of famous people.

Apparently there's a red carpet and so we're going to be taking photos. I don't want to be intrusive, of course, but seeing what we see like we do on Radio Row, we take care of our own business, but we also like to look around and people watch as well. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4227.

That's our toll-free line. Though we're fairly limited in the open segments that we have, most of them or half of them at least are full with conversations from Radio Row today. So unique in this particular week.

It's really the only time of the year that we do this, but we love to be able to blanket you with the coverage. However, we got to tell you a couple of stories before we get to the top of the hour. And Jen Welter, Dr. Jen Welter, who is a coach and she is a former player. She not only had time in the NFL, but is passionate about diversity in football. And that doesn't just mean the NFL.

It means football at every level. And she's a lot of fun, too. She has a couple of camps here in Las Vegas for people who are coming in for Super Bowl weekend. And if you're around or you're coming in, you may want to take advantage because it sounds like, in addition to the football, there are plenty of adult beverages and food.

And so that could be right up your alley. So Jen Welter at the top of the hour. Haven't talked to her in person since Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, believe it or not.

So a lot has changed in her life and in ours, of course, too. Jay and I set out from Luxor to Mandalay Bay and the convention center around 1130 a.m. on Wednesday. And before we even got back to Radio Row, we're passing by a small crowd of people at a shop in the mall that connects the two hotels. And we hear a voice and we see a bunch of TV cameras and then we hear some laughter. And Jay says, that's Marshawn Lynch.

He never goes out of style. He was holding court. He was right there in the mall. He was doing some type of a commercial or a video.

I don't know what it was exactly. So that was his store. That's his store? That store is called Beast Mode. And I didn't know that until like last night. And I saw I don't even remember where I saw Twitter or something. Just, oh, Marshawn Lynch has a store in the mall between Mandalay Bay and Luxor called Beast Mode. I was like, oh, wow. And of course, as we pass it the next day, a couple hours later, I learned that there he is in his own store. Oh, he was having a great time. We actually did get photos.

Maybe we can share those. So that was before we ever got to Radio Row. We stopped. And I don't mind taking photos when there's a large crowd of people. I don't generally take photos with our guests. They're busy.

We're busy. Jay takes the photos while while I'm talking. But if there's a large crowd of people, I don't mind standing in the back and snapping a photo.

That's actually how I got a great photo of Michael Jordan from an event going back a few years ago. I was within a couple feet of him and I was standing behind some people who was able to hold up my phone and get a really good photo of MJ. So Marshawn Lynch, he's the same.

He's still Beast Mode, to be sure. In addition to Marshawn, we get on to Radio Row. We're prepping for our conversation with Mark Ingram, who was first up. I hope you appreciated that conversation.

He was first up. And while we're transitioning from Mark and getting ready for our next guest, it kind of cleared out, weirdly enough. It was so crowded around our table. And you can see it on Twitter, A-LOL Radio. You can actually get the videos on both Twitter as well as on our Facebook page.

Jay posted a reel. We're right there along a very crowded walkway. And instead of people dispersing and moving away and finding an open space, they're all kind of crowded right there at the gate.

And so it was really loud and there were a lot of bodies. Weirdly enough, we stand up, kind of stretching our legs, we're getting ready for our next guest, and there's no one behind producer Jay. So I'm standing at the table. Jay is opposite the table from me. The aisle is right behind him. Along comes Baker Mayfield with about four or five other people, maybe an agent, definitely PR people.

They're shuffling him from interview to interview. And Jay doesn't see him. Baker is two feet from Jay. And I say, Jay, your boy Baker is right behind you. So Jay nonchalantly turns, realizes he's taller than Baker Mayfield.

Considerably, actually. And then nonchalantly turns back. But yes, Baker was close enough to shake Jay's hand by the time you passed him. He looked so casual, didn't he?

Oh, yeah. No, he's a casual dude, for sure. Wearing sweats? He was wearing sweats. He was, right? Yeah, the athletes don't tend to dress up.

Some of them do. Mark Ingram looked really nice. Cam Hayward, he was all over our space there in Radio Row. Not only was he walking from site to site to do interviews, but he was also doing interviews for his own podcast. So standing right next to our table, I did grab a photo.

Again, we're going to share more on Twitter and Facebook. Cam Hayward is interviewing his former teammate. So now Cardinals running back, but former Steelers running back, James Connor. So the two of them are doing a funny back and forth standing right next to us. And we can hear most of it.

Cam's so much fun. He's awesome. We also saw Michael Pittman, the wide receiver. We saw Max Crosby, who is a large man.

He is a large man. He was wandering around as well, and he does a podcast, so he was busy doing his various interviews. And then coming up next hour, we'll tell you who was holding court and making the most noise right in the middle of our area. From Las Vegas, 98.5 HD2, the best sponsored by Southern Recipe Pork Rinds. We're glad to be here. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Forge Radio.

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