After Hours with Amy Lawrence Podcast: Hour 4

Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. But when you finally decide to take care of you, there's Instacart. Just because that one perfect coworker of yours is attending all meetings, camera on while she's sneezing, coughing and aching, doesn't mean you have to do the same. Take it from us, trying to stay on top of things will only get you further behind.

Instead, get everything from tissues and teas to cough suppressants and comforting soups delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. 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. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Okay, I feel like some of you are holding out on me, unless every single one of the listeners is married or so happy in your current relationship that some of you are just lying.

Wow, that's a lie. Because not one of you has mentioned a dating app or website yet, not one. I don't use them, I'm being perfectly honest.

However, there are a hell of a lot of you that do, how come not one of you has mentioned that you're using a dating website? Amy, first let me say you're a boss. Shut up! Light up Amy's phone lines now. 678-2982 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. Now you know I miss you, I just wanna kiss you. Well I tell you how many friends of mine reached out to me on Wednesday to say, it's your first Valentine's Day as a married woman.

I guess that's significant. I mean it is, it was different, I'll tell you that. And my husband and I, because we're total goofies, we spent the day trying to do each other. And so I made him a special dessert while he was out getting his oil changed, and he had flowers and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the house and hid them both as surprises until he was ready to present them. We both gave each other not one but two cards, is what I mean. We were trying to one up the other, but also it was special for the both of us to be able to have our first Valentine's Day together just shy of our two month anniversary.

Oh yes, we're gonna celebrate it. We also had a special dinner which he made, but I told him by far, and I know I mentioned this on my last show but also put it out there on Twitter on Wednesday morning, as much as I love all those sweet gestures. And he wanted me to be sure that my first Valentine's Day as a wife would be memorable after he told me he thought the whole thing was a sham before we got to Valentine's Day.

By far the most generous and memorable gesture was him coming outside in the cold with windshields in the teens when I had a broken windshield wiper and couldn't figure out how to get it back on and couldn't leave the driveway to come into work until it was fixed. I didn't know how to fix it. I was frustrated. He apparently saw me out in the driveway with the flashlight. That's how he realized something was wrong. And so he pulls on his pajama pants and he gets out of his warm bed and he comes outside with his slippers on in the snow to help me figure it out. And that by far was the sweetest thing that he could have done.

Also, when I woke up on Wednesday afternoon, I had a brand new windshield wiper. So he earns major brownie points as the hubs on Valentine's Day. We had spent our entire last show talking about all the reasons we love sports, right? The reasons that we continue to watch even when we're heartbroken. The reasons that we crave these big events and we can't turn away from the NFL and the numbers are astronomical coming out of the Super Bowl. Many of you told me that it's because you need the escape, you need the distraction, you need a break from quote unquote real life and from the pressures and stresses of work or family or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Some of you just said it's fun where a lot of the rest of life is not fun, where it can be confusing and it can be frustrating and it can be a lot to deal with and even then kind of making the delineation between the news and sports.

And yet what do we know? We've worked in this business now for, gosh, 25 plus years. I am so old and there are times and I'm not going to tell you they're more frequent now because that's not necessarily true. Maybe they are different in nature but over the course of my career there have been nights or shows that I'll never forget because I was talking about someone passing away. This is just an example but I was on the air the night that Whitney Houston passed away. Was also on the air the night that Joe Paterno passed away with all of the controversy around him as the Hall of Famer and the long time football coach and everything that happened at the end of his career and how he was forced out and the Jerry Sandusky mess and the tragedies. But still having to talk about it as a member of the sports media. I was also on the air hours after the Newtown school shooting and that happened not even a half hour away from where I was working in my studio. I was on the air the night that we had the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and if I remember correctly it was also the same night as a Stanley Cup final game and this dichotomy between talking about one of the biggest events in the major pro sports in our country but people dying in a nightclub shooting. And I could go on and on about the different tragedies whether natural disasters or whether man-made tragedies and here's another one at the Chiefs victory parade on Wednesday and while we still await some of the more defined details about how and why and when and who.

We're even waiting details on the victims though we do know a little bit but not everything that we need to know that we will know. And you all have jammed my phone lines tonight and you have sent me your tweets and your Facebook posts. I know it helps in some ways to talk about it. In other cases I know that it's hard because we want sports radio to be that distraction that escape but it's one of those times when the tragedy of quote unquote real life intersects with our sports euphoria and no more than at a victory parade. No more that you could possibly imagine where people are so unsuspecting and where it's joy and it's excitement and it's maybe the thrill of seeing these players in person for the first time according to some of the descriptions and. Vahe Gregorian is a reporter a Chiefs reporter for the Kansas City Star and I had invited him to be on the show he's been on the show before but he said he was still going to be writing at the point at which we would like him to be on the show. We have been through his reporting and his writing as well as some of the others for local media outlets there in Kansas City piecing together a picture. And one of the things that Vahe wrote about in his article is that there was this group of kiddos. Like young young people not like young adults but actual like kiddos and they were playing a kind of pick up football game and there's a photo in one of his columns of a four year old and his seven year old brother and they're wearing their Chiefs uniforms and they're so excited and probably had dreams of being the next Patrick Mahomes right being the next Travis Kelsey or Chris Jones.

There were two young men friends who had gone to this parade together and they were both sporting Chris Jones jerseys. And as one young man Gabe Wallace tells Sam McDowell who is a reporter or columnist for the Kansas City Star he and his friend got separated in the fray and he was initially missing his friend in the chaos. And can you imagine not just the fear of trying to run and get to safety but then you can't find your friend and so this conversation is particularly poignant. Like the security guard was like get over the damn fence right now there's a shooter we hop over I hit my face on accident.

But then so I had it in there I had no idea where he was I had in there there's like an FBI agent they made and she's like are you okay just like find your friends and everything but then so I just had it all the way over here. It was like second shots in Union Station and she's like get out of there right now. So we had no idea but it's just your shots inside Union Station to that. That's what I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I heard shots in Union Station they might have been a little bit outside I'm not sure though.

I'm pretty sure when I stand outside here just like boom boom like real quick. And then the security guard was like get over the barricade get in Union Station or just like get over here right now just come on come on let's go. And then so we went into like we went into Union Station I had no idea if my friends were okay like it's just terrible. This same young man was in Union Station as he's telling a story again to Sam McDowell we got that off his Twitter account. The same young man apparently was wrapped up and embraced by Andy Reid and he said that Andy was speaking to him and that Andy was trying to comfort him.

And that even said to him just breathe just take a breath just breathe. And if you didn't respect Andy Reid before then you should now knowing that he was there inside Union Station could have been gone with his wife I'm sure she was there too. Celebrating having it rudely interrupted like this and so scary a situation that he as well as the team they could have just been whisked away. And they were by the way put on buses. The governor and his wife were there the mayor and his wife were there. Nearly 900 police officers who by the way hit the ground running immediately if you haven't seen the video right away.

Going toward the gunshots and toward the center of the shooting as opposed to what everybody else was trying to do which was get away. So I appreciate them so much. Yeah you've got Andy Reid there in Union Station in the middle of it all trying to comfort people. And he gives this 15 year old a hug and encourages him and tells him he's going to be okay.

And thankfully Gabe did find his friend a man. Just snapshots and images of these scenes. I mentioned this earlier but there's a hotel a Westin hotel that is on the corner across from Union Station. And people had rented out rooms up on the higher floors hundreds of them who are standing on balconies and watching the parade out their windows. And then as you can imagine they start seeing people scurry all around and the chaos that ensues and law enforcement running in and people running out. There was a video and Colton and I were talking about it earlier, Colton's in for producer Jay, talking about it earlier where it comes from kind of a high angle. And the video is, you have to watch it multiple times or at least I did to kind of see what's isolated which is a man who's running and gets tackled by two bystanders.

And in that moment either drops or throws what appears to be a weapon that's then picked up by people. Now I don't know whether or not, I have no idea who he is, don't know whether or not he is one of the shooters. Maybe he was, there is a chance and I'm not saying this is true but only because we don't want to jump to conclusions. Maybe he had a weapon on him and in his fear and trying to get away pulled it because he thought he was going to protect himself. Or maybe he was involved and maybe he was a shooter.

There's a variety of different reasons why he would have dropped or thrown the gun or been running with a gun. But I hope that it's one of the people that we know that he's been detained along with two other men for questioning, I hope they found one of the people responsible. Because they need to be brought to justice but that video may have been taken from the hotel because it appears to be coming from a high angle and kind of a distance. Yeah their police are piecing together as much as they can. It is pretty crazy to hear what was unfolding. Now this is a bit of a long clip but it's KSHB channel 41 news and like a lot of local TV and radio stations they're broadcasting live from Union Station as the parade is wrapping up. And they're trying to process what's happening in the moment.

He said he was a cage tiger piecing back there. We've got crowds are dispersing. I think they're trying to, a lot of them are trying to. It looks like they're running. Yeah we might have a situation here we're trying to keep an eye on. Yeah so we'll keep an eye on what's happening out in the crowd here at Union Station and we'll be sure to let you know the crowds are dispersing rather quickly and it looks a little different than in normal. Yeah a lot of people run a lot of people rushing to their vehicles or to the shuttles or if there is some sort of disturbance but we'll definitely let you know I can see people jumping the fence right now.

And I'm not sure exactly where it is they are going to. There has been a heavy police presence here all day. And we certainly thank those law enforcement officers who are on the scene trying to keep people safe but at this point we don't know if there is a safety concern quite possible. Some people in the crowd are telling us to get down.

Yeah they're moving everybody indoors here as well. So that's their processing in the moment. And I'm sure it's not that different from what a lot of people were thinking and feeling maybe they didn't hear the shots maybe they're not close enough to know exactly what was happening. But on KSHB channel 41 news they're broadcasting live and they start to see people run and they're thinking maybe it's just people trying to get out of there as quickly as possible and beat the traffic. Instead they have people at the end of that clip telling them get down get down evacuate the area. So right in the middle of all of this you're talking media you're talking kiddos you're talking players and coaches and the mayor and the governor. And whether they were close enough to hear or not eventually this kind of the fear and the emotion spreads and and people start to figure out what's happening and understand it as much as they can and then people are running in all different directions.

And when I was in Las Vegas last week we were staying at the Luxor and we were working at Mandalay Bay and the way that my hotel room faced out the Luxor I was looking directly at Mandalay Bay in the beach. The concert area where what was it 60 people that died in a shooting a few years back and I couldn't help but think about it and I know some of you who've called or reached out to me on social media have indicated that either you know you have been a part of this or this has happened in your city and that it brings back these emotions that are all too familiar. Rob says on Twitter a law radio listening on the drive home from work and he says the gentleman from Kansas who called spoke of feeling violated.

That's exactly how the tops shooting in Buffalo made me feel. And so Rob then thinking of those people who are now affected by another one of these tragedies and another one of these incidents. And of course all the Chiefs they were shaken the reports they get on their buses and they're they're really in shock they don't know what to do. This happened right at the end of their parade and the update that we got from the chief of police Stacey Graves and this is a few hours old but she was the one who was telling us as much as they know at this point.

At the conclusion of the Chiefs rally today. There were shots fired on the west side of Union Station. Immediately officers responded to the area took 2 people into custody and also immediately rendered life sustaining aid to those victims. We're still gathering information on the number and the status of victims.

But like I said, we know that one of the victims is deceased. I'm angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration. Should expect a safe environment. We had over 800 law enforcement officers, Kansas City and other agencies at the location to keep everyone safe. Because of bad actors, which were very few this tragedy occurred. Chief Stacey Graves and many people are speaking out.

So my thanks my appreciation. I'm sure many of you in Kansas City appreciate the work that law enforcement did my goodness 850 to 900 police officers from the area. Not to mention first responders fire department just in case anything happens and they were quick to rush to the aid and to to try to contain the situation. The latest that we know and and there are some conflicting reports about whether it's one person one woman who has passed away from a gunshot wound. There is a con a confirmation from her employer, which was a radio station. She was a DJ in Kansas City.

Her name is Lisa and not only did she do radio work, but she was a mama to I believe and we know that she passed away at the hospital. So again, her friends and her employer has confirmed that she passed away during surgery at the hospital after she was shot in the abdomen. What we don't know. And again, there are conflicting reports coming out of Kansas City is whether that's the person who passed away that the police are referring to. But there are some reports that a second person has passed where that she was the second person and there was someone else who died on scene or who was shot and killed there at Union Station. And so we don't know about that yet. At least one person is probably the safest way to put it.

And I hate to say this, but I hope she's the only one. Please understand what I mean that there isn't a second victim. We know that there are at least nine children who were injured between the ages of six and fifteen, some from gunshot wounds, some from just getting mixed up in the crowd and being knocked over. And right now, all of those littles are expected to survive. But there are others who are listed in critical condition and right now are immediately critical.

Hospitals are working to save. Other than that, we just know there are three men who were detained. And actually, at the time that Stacy Graves was delivering her comments, there were only two. Now there are three men that have been detained and at least one weapon that has been recovered. But we don't have many details beyond that. So maybe Thursday will reveal more. On Twitter, A Law Radio, on our Facebook page too, good morning to you.

It's a crazy kind of interspersing of Valentine's Day and love and excitement and victory and the Chiefs are celebrating. And now this that I didn't intend to talk about for the majority of the show. And yet we had so many of you that wanted to call in, including a conversation with a Sacramento police officer who, as he needed to talk, he did, needed to talk and just kind of process. Sharing how powerfully these moments impact people and how it's so hard to let it go, especially if you're a member of law enforcement, to get away from it, not to carry it with you. So I asked him what it is that he does when he needs to get away from it just for his mental health.

And he mentioned walking his dog and he's listening to the show and was going to take his dog for a walk. And then another trauma surgeon from four different tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who also talked about how quickly these moments can regurgitate their past and what they've been through. And I know it's not unique or restricted to those who've served in the military or law enforcement, but certainly the encouragement of them to get help, to speak to someone, to not try to carry this on your own.

Mental health is it's so important and these can be such triggers, these tragedies. And so we appreciate that you're listening and that many of you have called and you want to talk. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing that with us.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. But when you finally decide to take care of you, there's Instacart. Just because that one perfect coworker of yours is attending all meetings, camera on while she's sneezing, coughing and aching doesn't mean you have to do the same. Take it from us. Trying to stay on top of things will only get you further behind.

Instead, get everything from tissues and teas to cough suppressants and comforting soups delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. Make this Valentine's Day one she'll remember forever with an engagement ring from James Allen dot 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 percent off with promo code podcast. That's 25 percent off at James Allen dot com promo code podcast. 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. 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. Good morning to you.

We have had three hours of full phone lines and got to as many calls as we possibly could. I'm sorry if we didn't get to yours, but I do appreciate you weighing in eight five five two one two four two two seven eight five five two one two four CBS. Still waiting on more details to come out, but some of the names that are being released. Paul Contreras, a man from Omaha who tackled one of the suspected shooters at this shooting in Kansas City at the Victory Parade. And then Gabe Wallace, who was a young man, a 15 year old whose photo and interview has gone have gone viral because he was looking for his friend.

And Andy Reid comforted him. And these individual stories. And I would encourage you to check out the Kansas City Star on social because they've got photos of lots of kiddos and families who were there at the event. And a lot of different interviews and first person perspectives.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There's so many videos out there of the surveillance footage, either officially or unofficially, because they're people that had their camera phones out or were watching from balconies of hotels that wanted to capture it as a memory and it turned into something that they never expected. I mean, we even had the accounts of a woman and her daughter who flew in from New Hampshire to be there because she grew up in Kansas City. And just various people who were at different places and were trying to be reunited either with people that they knew or were just trying to get out of the fray as much as possible without knowing what was happening.

So you're going to hear and see more of that on Thursday. But something that strikes me is, and I know we've talked about this in the past, where safety is kind of a matter of perspective. We want to believe that we're safe at home or at school or at church or a place of worship or at the grocery store or in a big event like this where you're celebrating. And yet all of these various walks of life and all of these various places that we go have now in some form or another been involved or been the scenes of tragedies like this. And I was saying earlier, even though I've not been involved in one personally because of where I live and where I work, I'm really careful and I've actually changed my habits when I'm in crowds. And now and then you'll hear notifications or you'll hear reports in the news about New York City police asking people to be more careful or New York City police investigating the potential threat at this particular event. And it used to be that I would ride a train or a subway or I'd stand on a platform and I'd wear my headphones and I'd listen to music, especially if it was a day after a night where I didn't get a lot of sleep.

And now I don't do that anymore. I always want to be really aware of my surroundings to the point where I am open and I'm listening, not talking on the phone generally, not wearing headphones, not blasting music. But wanting to be really aware of what's happening around me, understanding that a couple extra seconds of hearing either chaos or gunshots or something along those lines, people yelling could be critical in terms of getting to safety or helping other people to safety. Yeah, I'm sure I'm not the only one, even though, again, I haven't been through one of these personally, I've only covered them as a member of the media. But knowing that as much as we want to believe we're safe and as much as we may take precautions, we're talking about a bunch of families now whose lives will never be the same, who are just wrong place, wrong time. It's after hours on our Facebook page, as well as on Twitter after hours, CBS. Before I get to the update here at the bottom of the hour, producer J is gone on vacation for the next week with his family.

So taking a trip. And he wanted to be sure that he finished up the montage video that he put together from Las Vegas. So we wanted you to see Super Bowl week through our eyes. And so he was while we were both taking pictures and videos the whole time, and he took our our photos and our reels and even some of the this is pretty incredible. I didn't know he did this. Some of the footage of him taking off from Las Vegas on Friday afternoon and he's got video out the window of the airplane.

He's sitting next to a window. I had never seen it until I watched the video before he posted it, but it's on our YouTube channel. It's really cool. I'm proud of the montage of the sights and sounds that Jay put together. Again, these are our personal photos and videos.

In some cases, you'll see the interviews that are taking place and radio row and others. It's about being out and about on the strip, the photos of the dirt dogs that we ate. And so Jay wanted to be sure that he had that posted, cleaned up, edited, posted before he took off on vacation. It's brand new on our YouTube channel.

I did post the link on both Twitter and Facebook, so it's there if you want to check it out. But since it's almost Jay's birthday, Jay's birthday is at the end of the month. And I'm not kidding about this. Nothing makes the dude happier than when you like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. So like the video, subscribe. He's all about the numbers, the analytics. I don't think he could do the analytics when it comes to a sports team, but boy, is he about the analytics when it comes to our YouTube channel.

He's very proud of it. And since this is the first one we posted in 2024, the most recent ones, gosh, you blew them up. They were the series of videos leading into my wedding. So ask Amy walks down the aisle, part one, two and three. You all love those. We still haven't done the post wedding one, but we will at some point. But this is after hours takes on Las Vegas.

My first time there, his first time as an adult. And the video is great. It's just fun.

It's goofy. It's again, behind the scenes, the sights and sounds so you could see it the way that we saw it. So the link is up or you can just go straight to our YouTube channel. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence from the new heights podcast, speaking about something lighter, not that it was okay. And I do appreciate that older bro, Jason Kelsey tells younger bro, that was not acceptable.

What you did was not acceptable in knocking your head coach like that in getting in his face and taking your anger and frustration out on him. So I am glad that they were able to talk about it in a way that did not sugarcoat. And then of course, talking about the relationship, Travis even says, Hey, if he retires, I'm done. That's it.

I'm hanging it up. It's a little bit like Rob Gronkowski, right? Who told us that he would never play for anyone, but Bella check. No, no, that he would never play with anyone. But Tom Brady, excuse me, I got that one wrong for a second, just a brief second.

And so yeah, you've got this emotion that boils over, and the optics are really bad. And I've said it multiple times, if Andy Reid had fallen over, Travis would have been crucified, like absolutely crucified because that's an older gentleman. And as much as Andy Reid is top of his profession, and as another Super Bowl ring, he's still 65 and is not in great health. And that's not acceptable. So it didn't look good. It wasn't something that they can gloss over. So they did both apologize. Well, he apologized, and did apologize to Andy Reid. And so I hope that people at this point are willing to accept that he knows he screwed up in his intensity, but that their relationship still is one in which Reid can come to and say, Yo, I have cameras on me all the time. You know that was going to be on camera. Too late.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4227, a number that you were employing liberally throughout this show, and we're glad to talk to you on Twitter, A-Law Radio, and then also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I hope that you did enjoy your Valentine's Day. It was a sweet day as a newlywed, as a new wife.

Honestly, I don't know that I expected it to be that different, but it really was. Chocolate-covered strawberries and flowers that he hid in the house, and then he made dinner, but I got him good because I had made a dessert when he was away getting his oil changed, and he could smell it, but he had no idea what it was because it was in the oven. He could smell it, and then also an ice cream to go along with it, and each of us thinking that we were going to one-up the other had a card in the morning when I got home from work, but then also pulled one out in the evenings thinking that, Oh, haha, I've got a second card. Well, each of us had a second card because we are totally sappy and goofy, but also because we kind of wanted to see if we could outdo the other. We do that. We do that with cooking. We do that with Valentine's Day too, apparently. So it was nice. Thank you for all of your messages, a bunch of you responding.

I know my husband is a keeper, and I am very grateful for him. Also, Colton is filling in for Producer J, and Colton, I got to tell you that the clock that I'm looking at and that we're looking at that will take us up to the top of the hour, the official CBS Sports Radio clock that's synced all over the department, is not synced with the timer on my computer. So as I'm looking down, right, I keep seeing the time and go, like, stop talking, stop talking. But it's actually eight minutes fast. And so I'm looking down. This happened earlier when I was prepping for the show and thinking, like, where is Colton? Why are we not starting the show right this second? And then realizing that, oh, well, it's eight minutes fast.

So that's giving me minor heart attacks every now and then. I'll make sure I give you a heads up. Yes, please.

Please give me a heads up. Thinking Colton's not doing his job and why we're still talking. Also, you know, last week people got really upset when we did not have the boom at the end of the show. Are you fully prepared and equipped to drop the boom at the end of the show? People actually, this one guy, you're going to laugh at this. I don't think I told you this because I haven't seen you since last or talked to you since last week. One guy sends me, I think it was a Facebook post, telling me that he really enjoyed the shows, but he lost all respect for me that I stopped doing the boom at the end of the show.

And what is wrong with me? Do I think I'm too good for myself because I'm in Vegas and so now we can't do the boom? I mean, people get very upset. There is no other mistake or omission that you can make that people get more upset about is that we don't have the boom at the end of the show. Oh, we've never had a boom boom.

We've never had a double boom, so to speak. Oh, now Colton feels fired up and ready to go. That's good. I'm just glad you're prepared. Even though my clock currently tells us that I should have stopped talking two minutes ago.

You got time. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Today is a big day for Tiger Woods. For those of you who love Tiger Woods and are ready to see him play again, he is teeing off in the Genesis Invitational today. He's never won it.

I think he started 14, 15 times. Seemingly won every other tournament on tour, but not this one. And so he was speaking on Wednesday as he gets ready to tee off and gets ready to get back to competitive golf again. We have an absolute blast today to be able to play with Aaron and Josh out there and couldn't ask for a better, more perfect weather day. And we just had a bunch of fun talking trash, telling stories and just enjoying one of this company.

And it was just a really fun, fun day. So able to get out there and get back to the camaraderie, which he enjoys now. Earlier in his career, he would never socialize with the people who were in his group or with other golfers and their caddies and that kind of stuff. But he was very closed off. He was very private. He used that as his way to intimidate other golfers.

And I think generally it worked a lot. But once he went through everything with his family breaking up and really being exposed as a fraud for a while. And once he went through all of his injuries, the back surgeries, the neck fusions, and then the accident, now he just appreciates any chance to be out there on the golf course.

You know, he still anticipates being competitive. And so to that end, he teed off in the Masters last spring and had to then pull out because he couldn't make it all the way through. It's a severe pain in his right leg, his right foot and ankle. That was the one that was so severely damaged in the car accident that goes back to, shoot, was it January of 22?

Maybe January 22? But he's still dealing with some of the arthritis that he suffered in that wreck even though the injuries have been intended to. And so he has this operation, this procedure that takes him completely out of commission for eight months. And so now he's just trying to practice and find that muscle memory again. But really the aging process he talks about on a pretty routine basis. But he does say since he had his ankle fused, it's kind of different. What he can do, what he can manage, what he can handle.

And trying to get used to what he calls the new feel of his body. Now because this is his first tournament or his first start in a PGA sanctioned event. So PGA event, right?

I know he participated in the Hero World Challenge which is his event in the Bahamas. But this is a PGA event. He was asked about the PIF, the Saudis and this, I'm telling you, you want to talk about a sham.

It's a sham. It's not a real merger between the PGA and Liv. I've decided that it was just about the PGA getting the money and getting the lawsuits dropped. They never really intended to merge with the Liv tour and the Liv tour is never going to fold.

In fact, it was in Las Vegas when we were there last week. Anyway, he talks about the whole idea of this merger and what it means. At the end of the day, we're trying to provide the best entertainment and in order to do that, you have to have the best players play. And we wanted to have the history and acknowledge the history and the traditions of the history of our tour. And how we have the pathways, the accessibility, have all the intangibles as made the PGA tour what it is right now and what it has been. And hopefully what it will continue to be and to be even better.

And how do we do that? And that's the whole idea of why we have a group like SSG to provide us with information and help and trying to create the best tour we can possibly have. The PGA tour reached this deal with what Tiger identifies as SSG. It's the strategic sports group.

And it's actually, get this, a group of billionaire team owners in multiple sports including John Henry and Tom Warner who are Fenway, so Red Sox. And they're going to invest in the PGA tour. And they've launched this company, so again a deal, they've launched this company. And it's making players part owners and it infuses a whole lot of cash, grants and all this kind of stuff.

And so along the lines of me believing this whole merger business is a complete and total sham and was a farce and was never truly intended to be a merger. Now they've got this money coming from a different source. And as for PGA and PIF, the investment fund, the Saudi money, they never did reach an agreement, a framework by the way is what they're after they say, on New Year's Eve. And so they've extended the deadline but I'm telling you a month has gone by, now another month and a half and they're nowhere closer.

And I just don't think it's ever going to happen, especially now that they have a different infusion of money and investment. So we'll see Tiger Woods today, I think it's 1225 Eastern Time and you can follow him and we'll talk about it tonight. So join us later on this Thursday, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!

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