After Hours with Amy Lawrence Hour 4

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You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. When in doubt, talk football. It carries the country. People care about what's happening in the game of football, even if it's not their team.

Even if it's not their part of the country. They're always storylines and it's now become year-round. I have some very urgent and important breaking news.

It's so much more all-access and people care so much more about every little detail. To the point where it's no longer just the head coach's fault. Now it can be the offensive or defensive coordinator's fault. Or that, well, of course it's always the referee's fault.

Not the ref's. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. If you really want to wake up on a Monday morning, this is the way to do it. I just told Ryan in our Private Talkback channel that I'm a huge Backstreet Boys fan. And there was some kind of a smirk on his face. I don't know what that means. But I feel like you are missing out if you do not know the boy band era, Ryan.

Well, I know the boy band era. But I'm more of an in-sync person. Oh, are you? Okay, so you would claim in sync as your peeps. Yes.

Okay, gotcha. Well, I have been Backstreet Boys, though I'm a huge JT fan. He's obviously amazing. They're very talented. They all made a ton of money. So there's that.

There was plenty of room for them. And my goodness, I am a huge fan of Mark and Donnie Wahlberg as actors. They went on to become very successful actors, both TV and film. So yeah, boy band is just launching pad.

But it turns you into a huge superstar, because there is a voracious appetite around the world still. These guys are still going, well, Backstreet Boys are still touring. Obviously not with the whole group anymore, but they still do tours. And I just read that in sync is actually putting together, or at least considering the idea of a reunion tour. They need money. Oh, you think? Besides for Timberlake, they all need money. Right.

That's true. JT is extremely successful. Didn't he get to start as like a Disney Mouseketeer or something? He was.

It's great. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Actually, I think. Aaron Carter might have, too. I could be wrong, but I feel like it was Aaron or Nick. Which one was Nick Carter was the Backstreet Boy, right? Yeah.

Aaron was the one that dunked on Shaq. Yeah. So I feel like there are others of them that got their start on Disney Mouseketeers or whatever they were. Was it wasn't Britney Spears? Yeah. Britney was part of that, for sure.

Oh, yes. They were on the same cast. And now she can't stay off of Insta or whatever it is that she does. She scares me a little bit now. Gosh, it's crazy to think about. But at least she's still alive. That's more than we could say for all of them. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio.

I have no idea. That was not how I was going to start the hour. But you know, me and my spaghetti plate brain. I mean, we do all love spaghetti linguine. And you start to twist some linguine. If you're Italian, you know what I'm talking about. You twist some linguine.

You got a meatball in there, too, but you're twisting linguine. And as you pull one or two strands, all this other stuff just comes off the plate. That's me and my brain. I start to pull on one or two thoughts in the nether reaches of my brain.

And then other things just come tumbling off the plate and out of my mouth. So yeah, I guess it makes for entertaining radio, the stream of consciousness. A few of you weighing in on the quarterbacks in the NFL, which I think actually will be a fun discussion to have. So let's do it this week just to kind of look at the possibilities of kind of scratch the surface of this morning just a little bit.

But it definitely is a question. And it won't be long before we start to hear a lot more rumblings. Especially if, for instance, as we get closer to the start of the free agent period, or actually the new league year comes up in early March. You've got the franchise tag deadlines, too.

And then you've got these dates where the bonuses kick in. You're gonna see teams attempt to trade some of these guys. And if they can't trade them, they're gonna have to release them. And I think most of the teams around the league who are interested in a veteran or might be considering one of these guys, well, they know. They know that if they just wait it out, that these players are likely gonna be unrestricted free agents so they don't actually have to give up assets to get them.

The only challenge is that if there is one that is more attractive than the others, well, what if that other team hops in front of you and grabs him instead? But then you still have to know, what are you willing to give up, right? What are you willing to give up for a Jimmy Garoppolo?

Probably not a whole lot right now. What are you willing to give up for Russell Wilson? Well, that could be a steeper price, except that the Broncos are going to have to release him regardless. And I can't imagine any team out there, even if they want Russell Wilson and they think he's the best option available, the contract is an albatross.

It's an albatross. And the Broncos are desperate to get rid of it. They tried threatening the guy to see if he would change the terms of his contract.

And that didn't work. Cosmo wants us to know that Dan Marino is available. Actually, no, no, he's not. He's busy working on his tan. Have you ever seen that guy without the darkest, deepest tan? I'm starting to wonder, because I saw him on Radio Row in Las Vegas, if that's fake.

It might be. You think he'd spray tan? Either that, I can't imagine Dan Marino goes to a tanning bed, but maybe he has one in his home. Because even guys like Tom Brady, who played in Florida too, they're not that tan year round.

I think it's, I don't think it's legit. Maybe he just loves the beach. Maybe, or maybe- Or tanning beds. Right, I was gonna say, maybe he just believes he looks better that way.

I don't know. You, have you ever seen an older person, and I wouldn't say he's older, but get a few years older, who spends a lot of time in the sun, and their skin just looks- Wrinkled. Weathered, leathered and weathered, right? And definitely wrinkled.

So I don't know. I'm not sure that that's the best look for Dan Marino. But yeah, it was so stark on Radio Row. And this is not a comment on the man as a person, just it stands out to me every time I see him. He was so much darker than any other person in the building, in terms of tan. He was so much darker. He's golden. He's glowing golden, yes.

That's for sure. A dark golden. So I just, it stands out because you just don't see anybody else there that has the same tan at this point in the year. Tan Marino, that's a bad one. Tan, that is a bad one.

And yet, something I've never heard before, but it applies. It's after, he's not available. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio and our Facebook page. If you haven't seen the behind the scenes video from Las Vegas, producer Jay gifted it to you just before he went on vacation with his family. He's fine, he sent me photos of volcanoes from his mom's phone, don't ask, but he is doing well. They made it to Costa Rica and they're enjoying a vacation in the rainforest. They're having a grand old time.

Let's see. We had Daytona pushed to Monday, which I mentioned before the top of the hour is kind of a bummer for NASCAR because this is the marquee event, but they won't get nearly as many eyeballs and ear balls. And actually, a lot of people will have gone home. Now it is a holiday weekend, so a lot of people will stay, but my mom and her husband went, or they had tickets to the one in, was it 12, where it was canceled and pushed to a Monday and they had to leave because they had to work the next day.

And so they weren't able to stay and there will be people who can't stay. So it's just a disappointment for Daytona, but rain is starting to impact that event and that weekend more and more. So they have two races they have to do on this Monday and that means the 500 won't start until four o'clock Eastern it will be broadcast live on Fox. So Fox is pushing whatever other programming it has and is making room for Daytona, but it's just not the same buzz on a Monday.

And so that's coming up. Also our weekend, speaking of buzz, to me has almost none, but I loved Saturday night with Sabrina and Steph. Sabrina Ionescu and Steph Curry in their own version of the long distance shootout, it was tremendous because fans were engaged.

There were a lot of NBA players, obviously that were in the arena as well as celebrities and they were up and hyped for this matchup. Sabrina did herself proud, but if you know Sabrina Ionescu, she's got the clutch gene. She has hit countless huge shots. She's been in the spotlight going back to her days at Oregon and her friendship with Kobe Bryant.

So she's had microphones in front of her face for a long time. Think Kaitlyn Clark, it was the same thing for Sabrina. Everything Sabrina did when she was at Oregon was on TV or was a highlight reel, highlight package. She broke records, she drew new fans to the sport, and then she was the number one overall pick to the New York Liberty. And so this Sabrina Ionescu that people got to know maybe for the first time on Saturday night is the one every time she steps on the court, this is who she is. She didn't get lucky, she just hit a bunch of shots and, oh wow, they were going in.

No, she's dead eye. And for her to go out there and hit, I think it was the first six threes that she tried, to clear her whole first rack from the left corner without missing was huge. And she put the pressure on Steph.

He was trailing her as he was heading into his final rack in the right corner. 10 seconds. He got it. He got it. He got it. He got it. Look at, oh, he got it. The greatest shooter this game has ever seen.

That was amazing, just to be able to have this be the first of its kind event and come out here and put on a show, but understanding what this means and excited to change the narrative and be able to do it alongside the greatest to ever do it. Steph Curry is the NBA's greatest three point shooter of all time. The numbers say so, but also you can just tell when you watch him. Reggie Miller, by the way, on the broadcast, so he's the one that Steph passed on his way to the top. So along with Kevin Harlan and I think, was it Kenny Anderson that was part of it? It was Kenny Smith.

Kenny Smith, oh, sorry. So Kenny Smith was part of it too. And I don't know, I don't love the commentary, but I do think that the hype and the buzz in the arena there in Indy was worthy of this moment.

And Sabrina mentioned it. My favorite part, what stood out, was not just the three point shooting, but the fact that they were very supportive of one another. The camaraderie was memorable. They were cheering for each other.

There were hugs, there were smiles, there were laughs. And it's clear that they have a mutual admiration for one another. Steph Curry is an established worldwide superstar. But beyond the fact that he makes a ton of money and everyone knows his name and he's got four rings and how many scoring titles and he's a perennial all star, despite the fact that people buy tickets to see him play, he loves basketball and he appreciates talent. And for him to get out of the league's long distance shootout, so an event he's won more than once, and to go toe to toe with Sabrina wasn't just, oh, a nice gesture because girls play too. No, it was him respecting Sabrina Ainescu for what she does in the WNBA. Again, if you're surprised that she hit all those shots and put the pressure on Steph, you haven't seen her play because that's who she is. She was, well, I mean, we could go back and talk about all the various stars, but more recently you've got women's college basketball stars that are becoming household names too. And again, because of her friendship with Kobe Bryant, she was featured in his memorial service and his, I would say, mentoring of not just Sabrina, but the Oregon women's basketball team.

He kind of took them under his wing, kinder, gentler Kobe at the end of his career and toward the end of his life and it certainly meant a lot to her. And for that reason, she was in the spotlight, not just for her own game, but because of that friendship. And she handles herself so well. I just love the big smile on her face and she is just like Steph in that they can both perform under pressure. And she says, you know, why we do this. And I think that's the key.

Why do you put yourself in this situation? Now she has confidence in herself, but let's be honest, should she, and this is how sports fans work, this is how society works, should she have fallen flat on her face and made one or two threes? There are people out there that would say, well, that's what you get with the WNBA. Like, oh, that's the best you got?

What are you kidding? So there was pressure on her that, and she's good at performing under pressure, but pressure on her in that she was representing her league, fair or unfair, she was representing her league and people were going to take her performance and use that as a kind of a transposition on her league. And so there was pressure there and yet she stepped into that knowing what that felt like.

Just continuing to use my platform. And I think a night like tonight shows a lot of young girls and young boys that if you can shoot, you can shoot. And it doesn't matter if you're a girl or boy.

I think it just matters the heart that you have and wanting to be the best that you can be. I mean, when I got to the top and I missed the two three-pointers, I knew I had to get hot. This couldn't have gone any better in the sense of us two taking the chance in front of this stage, one round, with all the hype and to deliver like that, she set the bar, it was unbelievable to watch.

So this might be something, I don't know if anybody can fill these shoes, but it might be something that you need to do more often. Now here's the thing. I actually believe Steph would have been okay losing to her. Not that Steph ever wants to lose and he always rises to the occasion.

So for him to drain his last rack of basketballs, I think he finished up with maybe six of his last seven, seven of his last eight, something like that. And he mentioned he missed the couple big money balls at the top of the key, which would have guaranteed extra points. But so he is clearly comfortable in a pressure cooker, but I don't think he would have minded losing to her if it was legit, right? He would never have let her win. He respected her too much and respects himself too much, but it would have been okay if she had beaten him. And he was cheering for her.

And when she said, if you can shoot, you can shoot, he clapped and you heard the reaction from the crowd. And I love that as a female who has spent the majority of my career in a male dominated industry and how often I have heard, well, you didn't play football. You're a female, what do you know about football?

And I'm not saying it's legit. I'm just saying that's an argument that people bring to the table as if gender has something to do with how you know the game or study the game or talk about the game. And so as she was saying, if you can shoot, you can shoot. I was thinking, yeah, if you can ball, you can ball. If you can hang, you can hang. And if you can talk about sports and you can talk about football in an entertaining way, well, then you can talk about sports and you can talk about it in an entertaining way.

Who cares whether or not it comes from a male or a female? There are advantages to having played the game. I know that, but I don't sit here in this chair and go all X's and O's on you. I could if you wanted me to, because I've studied it and I've asked the right people, but that's not what you listen to sports radio for.

You've got a bazillion incredible guys who played the game who can give you film study. That's not what we do in the radio. So I just appreciate her and her attitude. Who cares? If I inspire young boys, great.

Because if you can shoot, you can shoot. I think that's awesome. So congratulations to them. Along with their personal three point shootout, I got to tell you, Luka Doncic attempting to pass to himself off the backboard of missing a dunk was my favorite moment of the All-Star game. Forget Kat and his 50 points, ain't a losing effort, mind you.

Forget Damian Lillard, one-upping Tyrese Halliburton, and we'll get to it, I suppose. I have zero appetite for 211 points for one team. I have zero appetite for nearly 400 points scored. It's just dumb. They aren't dumb.

But the exercise is just not interesting to me. I'm not telling you they aren't dazzling in their athletic skills and their abilities, but let's do something different. If all we're gonna do is have them just go out there and come up with circus shots. So yeah, Luka missing the dunk.

That was awesome. That's far more interesting to me than everybody else just kind of ready, aim, fire. We, gosh, we see that every night in the NBA.

Why is this any different? It's more about the intros. My goodness, the NBA makes a massive show of their intros. I don't know if anyone could top Cirque du Soleil, but they did that a few years ago.

They've had pop stars or rappers who've done the intros. They have fog. They have fog machine.

They might as well just do some snow, go somewhere where you can do some snow. They make a huge show of it and these guys have a lot of fun with it. But to me, that's kind of the highlight of the actual all-star game. After that, I don't watch it. It's a waste of time. I'd rather take a nap.

And I'm being completely sincere. When I'm flipping my schedule from weekends back to overnights, post NFL, I take naps on Sunday evenings until we get to NBA playoffs and stuff where you really can't. March Madness where you really can't. So I took a nap. But I did watch the YouTube package on the highlights. After the intros, I was out.

See ya, wouldn't want to be ya. So yes, I love Saturday evening with Sabrina and Steph. I love what the two of them did in collaboration. I certainly enjoy Star Power and I think it's fun to see their reaction to the players. I love to see them with their kiddos too. But otherwise, I would say the biggest headline of the weekend was LeBron in his 20th all-star game, a record-setting 20th all-star game.

Every season he's been in the league, that's incredible. And the R word, which we'll get to. Also, if you cannot hear my stomach growling, I'm glad the microphone, it's really powerful and might pick it up. If you do hear it, just nod and smile.

It may be a holiday, but my stomach doesn't take a break. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

In this year's 2024 Kobe Bryant MVP trophy goes to Damian Lillard. Yay! Being in the starting lineup, I knew I played longer stretches, a bit more minutes. I just told myself I'm gonna be aggressive and I'm gonna keep firing. I saw a couple go in and after that, it was just like I'm going after it. So that was it. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That was it.

When he decided, he decided he was going after it. Damian Lillard, it's kind of funny. One of our colleagues at our local New York affiliate fiddles with the TV channels and always at, I don't know, about 90 minutes to go in the show, one of the channels I'm watching inevitably turns to Telemundo. Don't ask me why. None of the guys that work on that show speak Espanol, but they say, and the volume is turned down when they're on the air, but they say they enjoy the dramatic effect and how expressive the hosts are on Telemundo.

Fine, whatever. But the funny part is I normally change it back just to play the game, but they're covering the Portes on Telemundo right now and I just saw the highlights from TNT with Dame Lillard winning the Kobe Bryant MVP award and getting booed, which I think translates pretty well in Espanol. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So Dame ends up with 11 triples. He got booed because the award did not go to Tyrese Halliburton who had 10 triples and actually hit, gosh, I think he hit six in a row to start if I remember correctly. So he was on fire at the beginning and putting on a show for Pacers fans and Damian Lillard end up winning with the 39 points and the 11 threes, but also he won the other three-point shootout.

Did you know there were actually two? The other three-point shootout from Saturday night and it was a big weekend for him, which as I said earlier, I find somewhat ironic, but yay, good for him. He and Doc Rivers are teaming up because Doc was the coach of the Eastern Conference in place of Adrian Griffin. So he and, well, actually not in place of Adrian Griffin, in place of Mike Budenholzer, right, from last year? Wait, why was he the coach? Because, oh my gosh, Joe Mazzulla who's in first place, he can do it back-to-back years. Oh, that's a dumb rule.

Okay, whatever. So he was in second place, they were in second place then. So it would have been Adrian Griffin who'd coach, but okay, see, this is how much I care about the All-Star festivities. I don't know if they still pick teams, if they still do the draft, I have no idea. I'm not a big fan of All-Star festivities outside of Major League Baseball, but anyway, I digress. So Doc Rivers and Damian Lillard have this very productive weekend together because Doc is coaching, which I think is somewhat ironic since they cannot figure out how to win yet together with the Bucks. Well, all right, at least we have All-Star weekend.

So yeah, be aggressive, be aggressive. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. LeBron James was asked questions about his future in the league now that he's got nearly 20 seasons under his belt. I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left.

I know it's not that many. I also don't know if I will, I was asked this question a couple of days ago, will you kind of take the farewell tour or will you kind of just Tim Duncan it? I'm 50-50, I'm gonna be honest because there's times where I feel like, I guess I owe it to my fans that's been along this journey with me for two decades plus to be able to give them that moment, whereas every city and whatever the case may be and they give you your flowers or whatever the case may be. You know, and that seems cool. That's a funny thing to say.

That seems cool. I guess if you're LeBron and now he went on to say he doesn't like being the center of attention. My mouth dropped open. Ryan just rolled his eyes. Yeah, are you kidding me? Has there ever been anything more disingenuous than LeBron not wanting to be the center of attention? Everything he does is for attention.

It is, everything. Now granted, he's damn good at what he does. He's one of the best ever, but for heaven's sakes, are you kidding me? No one believes that you don't wanna be the center of attention. It is always about LeBron. Anyway, so he did say that, which I thought would be like a disservice to even play that cut.

But I understand why maybe you wouldn't wanna go through that only because we've heard other guys who've done it and it can be exhausting, right? Because there's so much of the pomp and circumstance. But also because what the heck are you gonna do with all the stuff? He's like flowers. I was saying if he went back to Indy and he'd announced his retirement, they might give him a few bricks from the brickyard so you can get unique gifts, but he's gonna have to add an entire room on his house or he's gonna have to clear out a room on his house and he's already got memorabilia and mementos from all the different records and championships and blah, blah, blah. What are you gonna do with all the stuff? Just get him flowers, like you said.

Donate it for charity? Just flowers. Just flowers. I like flowers. No bricks, no wood, no basketball, no pictures. No chairs, no cars. Just get him one flower.

Every day. So he'll have 29 flowers from 29 other- Different colored, color coordinated. Okay, sounds good to me.

I like flowers. And so yeah, it seems like at this point, why would you want all that memorabilia? The people pretty much know now that your time is coming to an end, but will it end with the Lakers, right? So we don't know if it's this season or next season.

He said he wants to play with Bronny, but will it be with the Lakers? Now that's been the question. There's been a lot of talk that he's unhappy there. Duh.

I mean, there's always going to be. So that he actually might go to the Warriors, which makes me want to laugh my rear end off. Are you kidding me? That is ridiculous.

Ridiculous. I mean, you want to talk about a league that's like a caricature of itself, where it's the NBA, so everyone plays with his BFF. I mean, it's gotten so bad where guys are actually drawing up their own rosters at these all-star festivities.

Well, let's get together and play. No, it's like a mockery of the NBA, but they allow it. Adam Silver doesn't love it, but right now it's allowed under the rules if the teams make legit moves.

I can't even imagine that that should be a story, but whatever. So LeBron is trying to put the kibosh on that. I am a Laker, and I am happy and been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way.

But I don't have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I'll be in. Hopefully it is with the Lakers. It's a great organization and so many greats, but we'll see. I don't know how it's going to end, but it's coming.

It's very dramatic. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually didn't say anything, just kind of let it leak so that it was the top story for all of next season, maybe. I mean, I'll have to eat my words if he ends up retiring after this year, but I don't think he will.

I don't see it. Yeah, I don't see it either, especially since his son is likely to get into the league. So I would think that he might keep it to himself just so he can appear to be humble, and then kind of let it leak through his agent, Rich Paul, better known as Adele's boyfriend, or other various ways that he could just kind of let it slip, or other people could so it doesn't look like he's getting it out there, but people still know they better celebrate him. He should do like a, like wear certain clothes where it's like, I'm going home or something like that. All right, it's like, it's like what Anthony Davis did with the Pelicans where he's like put the Lakers logo or Disney logo, whatever it was. I like that. So drop us some hints, some breadcrumbs just to make people talk because LeBron does love it when people are talking about him.

He does. So we don't know what's going to happen essentially, but it's going to be a big topic of conversation. While the NBA was holding its All-Star festivities, I really wanted to be at MetLife Stadium, which is 15 minutes south of where I live, and I would have been thrilled to see my first stadium series games in person this weekend. It was just too much with some other stuff we've got going on at home, but there were nearly 80,000 fans at MetLife on Sunday for this, gosh, this really high-scoring outdoor game between the Rangers and the Islanders, and the Sad Sap Islanders give up a three-goal lead as this one heads into overtime.

And yeah, I mean, the fans there put on, or they got a good show, but they also put on a great atmosphere. Dobson under pressure, loss to Tenerian, moves and shoots. Dobson, did he score? It was close there. I think they're calling it a go.

Let's see. No indication the Rangers think this game is over. They have stormed off the bench. The referee did not seem to meet a point to the net. After review, we have a good goal on the ice. The Rangers have won the game for their seventh consecutive victory. Heartbreak for Patrick Waugh and the Islanders.

Just imagine if you're sitting there, you're one of the 80,000. First of all, it was cold. It was very cold. Temps were maybe in the low 30s, but the wind chills, I know this because I was walking my dogs 15 minutes north, 15 minutes north, the wind chills were in the teens and the low 20s in that part of New Jersey. So it was cold.

And the closer you get to the water, the more those winds blow. So it was perfect ice conditions as opposed to some of the other places where they've had warmer temps and the ice has been really soft. And even at, remember Lake Tahoe a couple of years ago, they actually had to postpone the game or put the kibosh on the game because the ice was so bad.

It was perfect there. But the 80,000, I love the reaction and yet anti-climactic because Artemi Panarin scores, what was it? Like a few seconds into sudden death or into overtime and the net comes off its moorings. And so they have to go back and review to make sure that the puck crossed the goal line before the net was deflushed, which meant that all those people were kind of sitting there waiting. But if you could do me a favor, Ry, and just play the part again from where the official is making the announcement so you can hear the roar of the crowd outdoors.

It was awesome. After review, we have a good goal on the ice. The Rangers have won the game. It's like three times what you would get indoor at most NHL arenas. And not to mention that it's a different audio outside than it is inside. Now that it can't be loud inside, I've been to a bunch of these games at Madison Square Garden and also covering the New Jersey Devils the last couple years, too. It can be loud, but it's a different roar when it's outside. That was louder than any Jets or Giants game this past year.

Good point, good point. So good for the Rangers. They had fun. And to a man, they all talked about how great it was that the fans were so into it that they were raucous, really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Even some of the Islanders were saying, man, that was awesome, despite the fact that we blew the lead. So love the stadium series and at some point do hope that I can get to one of these games outdoors. It just, the timing was kind of tough. Also, I didn't really feel like fighting the 80,000 people to get to MetLife Stadium. They pushed the start of the game back because of the amount of people that were there. Because they couldn't get everybody into the stands or into the stadium, security and all that jazz. My last experience at MetLife was during the pandemic when I went to cover a Jets game. And I'm not kidding, from my house, again, it's like 15 minutes north, into the stadium, it's a road that just goes around and around and around the stadium, into the parking lot, where I was able to park right next to the door, through security and up into the press box, not even a half an hour. From door to door, because there were no fans, right?

It was empty. And so that's my kind of experience, but that's not what was happening yesterday. From trains, buses, cars, people driving their own vehicles versus Ubers and Lyft, it was insane. So they had to, as Ryan says, push back the start of the game because they couldn't get everybody in in time. They didn't think it was fair to puck drop while the stands were half empty and people who'd purchased tickets. So it was a bit of a circus. I'm sure it was amazing. It looked amazing on TV, as much as I don't think hockey is a great TV sport, but it was cool to be able to hear it for sure.

That's the call, by the way, on Rangers Radio. On Twitter, A-Law Radio. Oh, by the way, my favorite celebrity sighting of the weekend is up on my Twitter. Couldn't help it. Was thrilled. Don't see him that often anymore. On our Facebook page too, and our YouTube channel named after the show, After Hours with Amy Lawrence coming up. Couple of you have suggestions for the NFL teams that are looking for quarterbacks.

One of them at least has piqued my attention. Hey, Mel. Bri here. Got to work from home today because the whole family caught a nasty. Daddy.

Hey, Mikey. If you're gonna 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 gonna 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. 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 near 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. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I hope that it was one, or maybe it's still ongoing. An extra long weekend was one that offered exactly what you needed. I didn't have any issues missing football.

I'm not there yet. As I say routinely, we can't miss you if you never go away. I was okay with not having games on Sunday. I understand that it was probably jarring for some of you who, like me, set your schedule around NFL Sundays, but yeah, I'm all right. We had an early taste of March Madness. Not only did Duke come up with a big win courtesy of a record-breaking number of threes by a freshman, Jared McCain. That was Saturday night when the Blue Devils were at Florida State. But also, if you didn't see Ohio State Purdue, this is maybe a taste of things to come this March.

Second foul shot, battle good, and that will do it. Mason Gillis just throws a baseball pass to the other end, and the game is over. Ohio State beats Purdue, the second-ranked team in the country.

73 to 69 is the final score. And this was actually the debut of OSU, Ohio State's interim coach. And so here are the Boilermakers, who kind of this NCAA committee early preview are actually a favorite to be the overall number one seed. Remember, last year they got upset.

It was bad. And so here they are. They've reracked, they've reloaded, and they're ready for maybe some redemption, a la Virginia style. And this is right on the heels of Ohio State getting rid of its coach.

And so Chris Holtman gets fired on Wednesday. Ohio State administration had seen enough. The Buckeyes had been tanking. They'd lost nine of their last 11. And I don't mean tanking on purpose. I just mean they were tanking. Nine of their last 11 were losses.

And here in this debut for their interim head coach, they end up taking out Purdue. I mean, pretty impressive. As you can imagine, that guy was kind of overwhelmed.

Jake Deebler, his first game as the head coach, and he seemed pretty exhausted afterwards. The motto all week has been stay aggressive and keep swinging. I told Roddy Gale after the game, I got no problem with you taking that three because you were open, you're a good player.

Like step up and swing and knock it down next time. And I think that mentality, you know, was our guys embraced that. And obviously, listen, Jamison Battle was clutched on the stretch, Bruce Thornton hitting free throws. I'm tired right now. I feel like I coached really probably too hard in a couple of instances. But, you know, one of the guys on our staff comes up to me, he's like, are you okay? I'm like, yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. He's like, well, you look a little flushed.

I'm like, well, I'm hot. And I've been coaching hard, you know. But I was nervous going into this game.

There's, you know, just full transparency. I was nervous, absolutely. They actually led a lot of the game and worked their rears off for this new, well, interim head coach in Jake Teebler.

So congratulations to him. But yeah, the Boilermakers just got themselves a little bit of a reminder of how easily it can all go down the tubes, especially in one game where you don't come out with a ton of energy. And the Buckeyes did, the Boilermakers did not until it was too late. And so, yeah, there was a big three for Purdue that tied the game with about 90 seconds to go. But Ohio State was clutch, had a couple of big shots. And Jamison Battle is who he mentioned, but also had their free throws too. And so that's an early taste of March Madness.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. A lot of you finding me on Twitter now, ALawRadio, thank you for that. I just did put this post up, and this includes a couple of your suggestions, guys that I hadn't thought of.

Shame on me. But I'm just starting to work out the NFL off season chops. So here are some of the potential veteran QB options in 2024. Kirk Cousins, though you can imagine Justin Jefferson would be fit to be tied if he ended up with some rookie in the place of Kirk Cousins, or ended up with Desmond Ritter.

I don't know, I'm just kind of throwing names out there. Kirk Cousins, who says he'd like to stay in Minneapolis and is not as concerned about the money because he says he's made plenty of money. And now what he's most interested in is winning.

Can they win there? Russell Wilson, who along with his wife are selling their home in Colorado, quietly, but it's a little bit like LeBron James retiring quietly. Jimmy Garoppolo, who now is serving a two game suspension for not taking care of his business and getting enough of, well, going through the proper channels and getting an exemption for a prescription he was taking. So he pops positive on the NFL's banned substance list. Ryan Tannehill, who along with Derrick Henry are likely to leave the Titans. Mason Rudolph is one that I hadn't heard.

And see, I like this idea. I think the way he finished is huge, right? Because he helped lead the Steelers in the playoffs where they'd had so little offense with both Mitch Trubisky, who's also available, or with Kenny Pickett. And apparently there is a lot of debate internally about Kenny Pickett. I think the Steelers want Mason Rudolph back, but if they don't make him a commensurate offer and he gets one that he likes better elsewhere, maybe he'll decide to leave. I think he did play himself into the equation, if nothing else.

And how about this one, Ryan? Ben on Twitter says, give me Joe Flacco over any of these other bums. Would you right now take a Joe Flacco who just led the Browns to the playoffs?

Over four of those, yes. I'd still take Russell Wilson just because I feel like he was productive, even though he was a mess in Denver. But Joe Flacco, I saw him too much with the Jets. He's just not reliable. True. He's not mobile.

His old one, if it sucks, he's done. Oh no, he's got cinder blocks for feet. Well, you don't need to be mobile. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady weren't super mobile. He has to be mobile now.

Okay. He was trying to move out the pocket through two kick sixes in the playoffs. No, he'll trip over his own feet before he'll be mobile out of the playoffs. Right, Patrick Mahomes, he is not. But he does have a big arm still and he obviously brings a veteran presence and he stabilized the Browns offense.

So give him credit for that. The comeback player of the year in the NFL. I think it's interesting that now Kirk Cousins has become one of the top options. But he's played really well in Minnesota the last couple of years. He's had great stats until he blew his Achilles. So Achilles, his Achilles. So when is he likely to be available?

That's the other question too is like how early could he play? So we'll talk more about it. Plus the NFL Super Bowl edition of Mic'd Up. We're gonna talk about it tonight. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on 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. 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. 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.

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