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Visit chevy.com to learn more. Here's the 33rd overall pick, Carson Swessinger, the linebacker at UCLA, who made a nice play. Earlier on the show, ESPN Senior Writer Seth Wickersham. MLB Senior Writer for the Athletic Jason Stark. Coming up, NBA Writer for the Athletic Mike Vorkanov. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano. Hey, everybody. It is amazing here as I sit in for Rich, and I'm grateful to be here. Thank you, Rich, who is back tomorrow. Grateful to all of you. Chris Brockman and Mike Del Tufo and TJ Jefferson.
Just amazing as I've never been diagnosed with ADHD, but I just talk about what I see. As we come back from break, SportsCenter beginning a new hour on one of the televisions here in this beautiful studio. And they come out two shot meeting two people on one camera, two shot of the desk and over their shoulder graphic for Stanley Cup finals singular that begins this evening, Edmonton, Florida. NBA finals begins tomorrow, Oklahoma City, Indiana. And then right in the middle, Cleveland Browns helmet OTAs.
Excuse me? You're on par with the championship series. We are down to four teams remaining after eight months of competition in basketball and hockey. And the Cleveland Browns are OTAs today. And another thing, you got the most famous pick in the NFL history. Oh, my God.
It's great. By the way, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco still taking the reps. They're the veterans.
Shudora Sanders, Dylan Gabriel, Dylan Gabriel, Shudora Sanders, whichever order you want to put them in. One, a third round pick. One, a fifth round pick. Also out there taking snaps, making throws. Everyone's okay. Yay. We're good. Mandatory minicamp next week.
It ramps up a little bit. And then training camp for all the teams, not just the Cleveland Browns. The other 31 as well get going the third week.
Generally speaking of July. Righteous realized I have jury duty. Like what am I doing? I just realized that last night. Oh, come on, man.
No, no, I had it a few months ago. Then I go in there, but I had a really important meeting the next day. And they're like, there was a chance I was going to get called and you're halfway through the day. And I'm like, I go in there. I'm like, hey, by the way, I have an important meeting tomorrow that I can't miss. And then Wednesday, this is a true story. I had to fly to Cleveland for rookie minicamp. I'm like, I work there and I leave.
What should I do? Do you think we're going to get a call today? And she's like, just postpone it. I'm like, all right.
And so she hands me. July 21. I'm like, oh my God. Oh, you and rich July 21 that week. Rich is doing that week. Really?
Oops. The sports judge, the sport. Hey, do you think rich goes in there? And when they get them in the jury box for the void to your process and, and. Sir, could, could you be an impartial arbiter in this case? I don't know. I've been the sports judge.
I usually get in there and I go, Hey, could you, they, could you do this? And I say, my father's a former prosecutor. Now he hasn't tried a case in 40 years, right? When I say he's a former prosecutor, if you're watching, hi, dad. Like he was a JAG Corps prosecutor overseas in wartime, much different than his, his like legal job.
When he came back and left the army much different, but I use it for a prosecutor. Sometimes it's worked. That one time it didn't one time. It didn't gave four days of my life. Were you the foreman? I was not.
I can see you being the foreman. I was, I was not, I was not, Hey, it's very important. Everybody. Like it is part, part of what makes our country great. Truly the legal process. Everybody should serve on a jury.
Just not a jury with one person that decided that a clearly, clearly drunk driver who demanded a trial shouldn't be convicted because quote, cops don't tell the truth. I'm like, good Lord. She's on camera doing double birds to the officers screaming at them like, and wobbling while walking. Nope.
Cops don't tell the truth. I'm like, and the other 11 people are like, excuse me. Did you like, like, did you see this tape?
Can you see this? Anyway, I digress enough of that. Let's get to the show. There is NBA and NFL and NHL content. We will preview the NBA finals coming up shortly with Mike Vorkanov from the athletic that's in about 15 minutes. In the meantime, let's get the football stuff here. Saquon Barkley is on the cover of Madden. I do not in any way believe in the Madden jinx.
We discussed this yesterday. I am somewhat skeptical as to whether or not the Eagles and Saquon specifically can do what they did last year on the ground. Jerrion James is the Jaguar he's jumping over. I'm told by those that have already played the game, that the new Madden is ridiculous. Some of the new stuff they roll out there.
No. Cannot wait. Friend of the program, Nick Shook, flew to Orlando last week. Nick at NFL.com. Uh, he got an early, uh, early preview and his early review is it's going to blow you away.
So good stuff. Also what blew me away are some comments that Saquon made to our friend, friend of the program, Chris Long, the green light podcast, Chris Long, the super bowl winning defensive lineman, that Chris Long, not the Chris Long that helped build the studio, different Chris Long. Saquon was asked how long he's going to do this. And I don't mean jump over defensive backs. I mean, do all of this. Listen. So fast forward to however long you want to play.
You're one of the best ever, maybe the best ever. Do you want to be like an Aaron Donald where AD says, Hey, I want to get out of here playing at the highest level. Uh, I want to leave a little early or do you imagine yourself as one of these guys that wants to do it until the wheels fall off?
That's a great question. I'll probably one of those guys that it'd be out of nowhere. Like I'll probably just wake up one day, whether it's next year or two years or four years, like, and just be like, yes, it's over.
Um, I don't think, uh, I will ever lose that passion. Um, I'm just a competitor and like if you come to my house and we play cards or we played it, what's that game you put on your head and you gotta, you gotta imitate it and heads up. Like we almost get into brawls in my house and games like that. So it's like category. Yeah. The competitive nature is always going to be there. But I like, like I'm one of my favorite players of all time is probably my favorite play all the time is Barry Sanders. So probably similar to that.
Maybe one day like it'll be out of nowhere. I'll probably be balling and just be like, yeah, call it quits. Barry Sanders was 31. Saquon's 28.
Okay. Saquon will turn 29 the day after Super Bowl 60, which is in Santa Clara this year, which is somewhere near San Francisco. So he's 28. This will be his eighth NFL season. The idea that he may just retire out of nowhere, that, that isn't that surprising. I mean, plenty of people surprise you with their retirement.
I can tell you candidly the Rams were not in any way surprised at Aaron, I'm sorry, Aaron Donald retired. They knew it was kind of sort of common. It had almost happened the previous year. So they, they were ready for it. That announcement had been prepped for weeks. That video was put together.
It was not a stunning surprise where they hit send on a random, whatever Saturday morning, whatever that was. He just said, I may wake up one day and say, I'm out in a year or two. It might be next year. It might be in two years.
It might be whenever. Saquon ran for 2,005 yards a year ago. Again, seventh season, 28 years old. He'll play his eighth season, his 28th.
He'll be 28 the entire year. Kind of find it surprising. Now it's not when you say that his favorite player is Barry Sanders, but I get it, man.
It is a tough game. Like it is a, we did the whole car crash thing yesterday. Like for, for a guy playing running back made, no, we didn't do that here. I talked about that with a buddy on his Lions podcast, talking about Frank Ragnow how offensive lineman, defensive lineman, there's contact on every single play.
So when a guy wants to tap out, like I get it. Cause every play is a car crash. Well, for a running back, taking that kind of pounding, Saquon last year, 345 regular season carries. Regular season.
Yeah. Another 91 in the playoffs. 33 regular season receptions. Those are just the plays that counted where he got tackled.
That counted where he got tackled. So if you want to tap out early, I 100% get it. But Saquon right there basically told you, I am not going to be Emmett Smith. I am not going to play until the wheels come off. I am not going to be Frank Gore.
I am not going to be known for my longevity. Saquon right now, hall of fame? No.
Right now? No. He is not. Saquon has four 1000 yard seasons. One of which was a 2000 yard season, but he has also had plenty of injuries. Obviously 2020 played only two games. The next year played 13 games, wasn't himself. And 2023 played 14 games. But the idea that Saquon could tap out by 30 to me is surprising, but it isn't.
It truly isn't. The Eagles just tweaked his contract, gave him a little extra money, deserved it. Glad he got it. Any running back that can get paid, you earned it. Do it. Get paid.
You earned it. But he is not going to play until the wheels come off. He's going to play until he feels that he's good and he doesn't want to take a beating anymore. And I don't blame him.
I don't blame him at all. It is tough out there for a veteran running back. It is tough out there for any running back. And there is this talking head social media idea right now that because Saquon got paid and because Derrick Henry got paid, that it is a different world now for running backs.
No, it is not. Nobody wants to pay a running back. The list of running backs that get paid is minuscule. And this year's running back class in the draft, 2025 NFL draft was as good as we've seen maybe in a decade. There are six or seven running backs that got drafted back in April, including guys on day three that will be lead backs within two years and have really nice careers. So why pay the veteran running back?
You've got to be the elite of the elite, elite of the elite when you can go buy, again, I'll do the car analogy, a brand new car with no miles on it. None, go do that. Go to that. The Browns took Dylan Sampson in the fifth round. He is the SEC offensive player. They scored like 22 touchdowns last year.
Fifth round. I'm not saying that the kid's an all pro as a rookie, but it's a brand new car. And that's why you understand James Cook being like, Hey, I need to get my money now. Yep. You ever lease a car?
Anybody do it? It's maybe not the most economic thing to do, but I lease cars for years. Me too. Right? After three years, turn in the keys. Here's a new one. Hey. Here's a new one.
I'm starting to feel like that's the best way to go. Of course it is. Oh, in the cars? I don't know. I mean, interest rates who like, whatever. It depends. It depends what's included like with your lease. Again, on your maintenance.
Like there's a lot of, a lot of stuff there. And like, what's the buy-off, what's the residual? Are you going to want to buy it off? At the end, don't do like a four or five year lease because then just buy the car.
Like you do a four or five year lease. Oh yeah. They win.
You lose. So three. Three bang at the max.
Three that is absolutely the max. Right. And don't put anything down either.
Someone's like, Oh here. So here's a lease and now you're going to put 10,000 down. No, I'm not.
No, no, no. Tax and tags, baby. What's my drive off? What is the minimum that I'm paying you to get this car registered and get off the lot? That is it. Because if you go crash that car three blocks away and that car is totaled, that $10,000 cash is in that dealer's pocket and you're never getting it back.
And they're not lowering that monthly number that much at all. A little bit. Who cares? All right. There's your car buying tip of the day. I'm just going to ride the bus.
You do that too? Public transportation. It's a real thing. I was in Westwood two days ago. Westwood LA that is like where UCLA is. That Wilshire underground project, subway project.
That is legit. They're actually doing it. I don't know that anyone that lives in LA will ever take it.
But they're doing it. Isn't that going to be Olympic village, right? UCLA? Is it? Yeah. I'm not sure.
I think there's that too. Big construction project at Veteran and Wilshire as we continue. California. The Californians.
All right. NFL headlines here as we continue. Other than Saquon Barkley, I think it's interesting what Mike McDonald, the head coach of the Seahawks said yesterday, or is it two days ago, about Sam Darnold's performance and the quarterback, is it a battle in Seattle? It was roughly a 90 million, a hundred million dollar three-year deal for Darnold. But if you look at the numbers and you pull it back, the Seahawks can get out cleanly after a year and probably pay like 37 million, which they don't want to do their cap implications.
But it is not the over the top guarantee that it is always reported during the frenzied free agency coverage at the opening of the new league year. Sam Darnold. And as I caution you to not read into the Browns quarterback day in, day out stats in OTAs, I would say don't do the same for the Seahawks.
Darnold two days ago threw two picks in three throws in the red zone. Mike McDonald was asked, is there a chance that 90 second overall pick, Jalen Milro, could push to be the starter? I guess I almost have to ask, but I hate asking this. Is there anything that could happen other than an injury between now and the beginning of the season that would lead to a different quarterback? You guys are crazy.
There's no way to ask the question without sounding like an idiot. I respect you're going to ask it, but you guys, this is a crazy question. Sam's our starting quarterback. We love him.
He's doing a tremendous job. I think it's funny that the media is out there for the first day and all of a sudden they know exactly how good we're going to be and how good all the players are and all the tempos. We haven't even put on pads yet. We haven't made one tackle.
It turns out in practice, it's a great way to build culture by letting guys know that they can't make mistakes. That's exactly what we're shooting for. Go out to practice. Be tight.
Make sure you don't make a mistake because then, God forbid, you're the worst player of all time because you made one bad throw or one bad decision. That is not what we're trying to build. We want these guys to go prepare the right way and then when they go out on the practice field, go freaking let it rip and then we'll go fix it. We'll go. It's June. It's June 3rd. We'll go.
They're going to get plenty of reps. We'll get those things fixed. Sam made a grill. I bought a lot of great throws yesterday.
He's gashing us on third and goal to start the day out too. That's kind of a crazy question. So, he's right.
You got to give credit to the defense and Sam Darnold also made some really good throws and come on, people. It's the first week of June. He's right. Now, is it a crazy question?
No, it isn't. I don't know if you're going to get an answer that you wanted. Mike McDonald is bright enough to avoid giving you the answer you want. The cliche coaching answer is, hey, every job's a competition, but we really believe in Sam Darnold. That's why we went out and signed him and paid him and he's our guy. But a little defensiveness there. Jalen Milro is going to play.
It's malpractice if they don't. They need to use him. Not that he is just a running quarterback. He is more than that. Jalen Milro has an amazing arm. He's an exceedingly bright young man.
Exceedingly off the chart leadership. Maybe the quarterback's still on the draft. If he can develop in the passing game.
If, if, if he can do that, right? There's a big gap there between his run game and his pass game. I'm not trying to be cliched like college quarterback running. Yes, throwing, no, but just turn on the tape. It is there.
Daniel Jeremiah, friend of the program, NFL Network's lead draft analyst, tells you that Jalen Milro runs with the football better than any quarterback in this draft through the football. Pretty much. I'm paraphrasing. Like he's that good.
It is a superpower. Put on the tape. So they're going to use him. It'll be malpractice if they don't use Jalen Milro in some way this year.
They will. Sam Darnold is inevitably going to have a bad game. It happens. Now it didn't happen really last year until late in the year. It happened at the worst possible time. Had the worst possible time.
Yeah. The worst possible. Worst possible time. I mean, I was watching something week two yesterday actually.
Don't ask why. I was doing a project for Sirius NFL Radio, but turned on the 97 yard touchdown. Sam Darnold, Justin Jefferson against the Niners, week two. Kevin O'Connell audaciously calling play action in the end zone. Sam Darnold, deep drop, stepped up in the pocket at Justin Jefferson for a 97 yard touchdown.
Right? So right out of the gate, he had something. Well, when he has a bad game this year, has a bad quarter because it's going to happen. Get ready for the Jalen Milro stuff.
And by the way, same goes in Dallas. I said this in March and people laughed at me. I'm going to say it again right now. You're going to love Jalen.
I'm sorry. You are going to love Joe Milton in Oxnard. You're going to love Joe Milton in the Cowboys preseason.
You're going to fall in love with Joe Milt. And come September when Dak Prescott inevitably has a bad game or a bad quarter because he's a human being and the other team gets paid well as well. Monday morning or Friday morning, because every Cowboy game this year is on Thursday, there will be screaming head shows in which the topic bar says, should Joe Milton start for the Cowboys?
Is it time for Joe Milton? Call me because I guarantee you it will happen or your money back. I'll just change the channel because that's what's going to happen. Don't change the channel now, TJ.
Because my working office coming up from the athletic will preview the NBA Finals. That is coming up next on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll be right back. You're all set. Even better, Brunt lets you try all their products on the job, risk-free. After your purchase, they'll just ask where you heard about them.
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Call 562-314-4603 for details. We have a game that we play here called Start Bench Cut. Okay.
Sort of like the, you know what, marry kill game. Okay. Keep it clean. We try. Well, start bench.
Well, we make the, of that, you know, the marry part is the bench part. Okay. Okay.
So we give you three. Here we go. Start. Start down. Bench.
Sit down and be quiet. Or cut. All right. Start Bench Cut here with Kevin Hart. Here are your three choices.
To play basketball, it happens as a teammate. Okay. The rock, cube, or Will Ferrell. You have to start one of them.
All right. Well, I'm going to start one. Or if you've been in movies with all of these guys.
Yeah, I have. I'm going to start Will Ferrell. You start Will Ferrell. Yeah. Jackie Moon gets to start.
Jackie Moon gets to start. Just because I know that he's got the passion behind the game. Okay.
His spirit is always high. I'm going to cut the rock. I'm going to cut him. He's out? Wow.
He's out. Why? His attitude. His attitude.
His attitude. I don't like his attitude. You're going to bench cube. You're going to bring cube off the bench? I'm going to bring cube off the bench. I'm bringing cube off the bench because cube is too cool to play the whole game. There's going to be moments where cube looks at his sneaks and he's like, I just realized I'm messing these up.
I'm like, you write cube. You sit down for a second and get your new pair of sneaks. You got to keep him calm. You don't want him giving you yeah, yeah.
Just getting upset. I got to make sure that tomorrow's going to be a good day. He'll have sunglasses on.
It's too dark. Yeah. And plus, it's a smart move here with Will's the tallest of them all. Mike's inside out game with you.
Yeah. Me and Will, me and Will are going to dominate. I got to start Will, but the rock's out of here. He's coming.
Bye. It is the Rich Eisen Show, everybody. Kevin Hart, hysterical. Also a huge fan of Kevin Hart because because of the height thing. Let's just be honest.
I saw him at the gym once and I'm like, oh, wow, really? Yeah. You're posting him up.
I mean, I think I think I'm taller. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I am. There's no, there's no thing. I am. So I'm at the gym in L.A. maybe five, six years ago and I'm like, OK, feel good about myself.
Always do what I'm in here. Game one of the NBA finals. Manana 8.30 Eastern time. ABC. Indiana. Oklahoma City. Game one in Oklahoma City. Let's go.
I don't care what size markets these are. Watch people watch. Like do you ever turn on the chiefs and the bills and go, you know what? This game doesn't mean much to me. It really doesn't. Like I, I wish more people lived in these two metropolitan areas. I just, not enough people in Kansas City. There aren't enough people there. And are we including, you know, Kansas and Missouri in the DMA and Buffalo. Buffalo is just a small town. Like I don't want to watch this game. So shut up with the market size.
It's going to be a great final. Mike Voronoff knows that. Covers the NBA for the athletic. And Mike joins us now. How are you Mike?
I'm doing good. I've been on this anti-ratings screen as much as you the last few days. Why does it matter?
I don't know. You know, I, one of our colleagues, one of my colleagues, Andrew Martian, I think he has a thing he likes to say on social media that everyone wants to cover sports media. Everyone wants to talk about ratings and talk about how it, how a show or a game or finals or whatever will rate and how many people will watch it.
And just, it doesn't matter to actually enjoying the thing itself. Listen, I know it does matter in our bubble. And I do think that we in the sports media maybe lose sight of what the average fan and lose the perspective of what the average fan cares about by constantly.
And it's worse in social media in this era, because we're always seeing the people, our peers talking about it and people like Andrew Marshawn, who obviously I follow and I respect talking about it. It does matter at Pico and motor here in LA at Fox. And it matters in Bristol with ESPN. I get all of that, but I don't know. It's really about star power. I think in the NBA, Mike more than market size, I guess it is fair to ask, is there enough star power in this series to get the casual fan? Because that, that does matter.
We know it's a great matchup on paper and Tyrese Halliburton and, and Shay Gilders, Alexander, your MVP are two fantastic players, but is there enough to get the casual fan? Yeah. I would just like to say, I guess I'm a giant hypocrite because I wrote a story about this whole ratings thing.
So whatever I just said five minutes ago, obviously I'm being hypocritical about. I think you're right. That star power probably matters more.
Having done some reporting about this and just talking to people about it. Like when Cleveland was in the finals, they're roughly between 15 to 20th largest market in the country. When they were in there, the finals ratings didn't suffer because LeBron James was there. Right. We've seen this repeatedly that if the right stars in the finals, people will tune in, people watch NBA games with them.
And I think that's what people respond to. So I think you're right that the stars have to be big enough. I don't know if they are this year. You know, Shay Gilders, Alexander won the MVP award. He's a big star for NBA fans.
I don't know if he's a large enough star for more casual fans, right? And that's what the finals are trying to bring in. And same thing for Tyrese Halliburton. But I think in the NBA, they're kind of looking this at this as a situation where it's maybe a little bit of short term pain or maybe the ratings will drop, although it doesn't really matter for them. Because again, they have their next media deal already locked up.
They'll get seventy five billion dollars over the next eleven years, no matter what. And they can see that payoff over the next few years where this platform allows and makes more people want to tune into Thunder and Pacers games for the next few seasons. Talking to Mike Vorkanov, who covers the NBA for the athletic and a lot on the business side as well. Mike, I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago, 10 days ago, walking down the street passing the NBA store.
And obviously it's not just unique to Paris. It is an international game. I'm curious without a huge name international player in this series, what's the international appeal? Because the NBA has obviously gone far, far, far, has a far bigger reach internationally than what the NFL is trying to do or Major League Baseball has.
Yeah, that's going to be interesting for sure. We don't see Giannis Antetokounmpo. We don't see Nikola Jokic as we had in the previous few years. Obviously Steph Curry is a brand name all around the globe, right?
Shea Gilders Alexander is Canadian, but that's on the same side of the Atlantic Ocean as the United States of America. And so I think in that case, you're kind of hoping if you're in the NBA that fans tune in because it's the finals and they're in for the teams and NBA teams have gone to Europe over the last decade, let's say, trying to build up their own profiles and build up their fan bases and followings there that are, you know, where fans are watching for them instead of for the French player that's on their team. If you're in France or the German player or the Spanish player, whatever that may be, they want to build kind of like their own independent fan bases. And so that will help in that regard too. You know, the Pacers were in France in January for two NBA games there. So we'll see if there's any carry over for them and the Thunder are so good and they have a few really good players and maybe fans tune in just to watch them play and see the next generation of stars. Yeah.
Interesting point. I'd forgotten about the trip to France earlier this year for the Pacers. And as for the Canadian thing for SGA, I bet you there are a whole bunch of fans that didn't realize he was Canadian until the Olympics last summer. Oh, wait a minute.
He's Canadian? Okay, cool. Hi. Oh, wow. That's a good team.
Okay, cool. Anyway, talking to Mike Vorkinoff Mike, from a pure basketball perspective, curious you're two cents. You got two teams that, you know, play great fast break defense and two teams that love to run.
Styles make fights. This one's fascinating. Yeah, I think the actual basketball could be awesome. Everyone talks about the Pacers and how fast they play and speed and pace were such a big key for their victory against the Knicks and the Knicks couldn't keep up.
Well, guess what? OKC's played faster all year long, right? Like this could be a track meet type of game. And in terms of aesthetic, that's a really attractive type of basketball. And they're both great passing teams. The Thunder have the ability to lock you down defensively. So that'll be a friction to this game, to this entire series, really. And Hal Burton is such a fun passer and shooter and Pascal Siakam to me is a fun type of player because he likes to get out and transition and dunk and do all those things that are nice for fans to watch and for NBA fans or casual fans to watch. So I think this has the potential if it goes long enough and that's the big kind of qualifier hanging over all this. If it goes long enough, the games could be great to watch just because the type of basketball that the two teams like to play and because they can play with depth and you know, it's it can really lean into playing fast, rotating guys in and being able to score.
But in a way that, you know, there's enough friction there that it still looks entertaining instead of too easy. I also think for those two guards you just mentioned, obviously one just won an MVP. This is their stage. This is their moment. This is their, from a purely business perspective, this is their chance on the biggest stage to cash in, to make their name, right? This is their like, go get the brass ring and the Larry O'Brien moment.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And look, you know, this is the type of thing where I think if you win the title, it can really stamp you as one of the NBA's biggest stars for years to come. And there are just so many marketing possibilities downstream of that, right? The NBA seems to produce the biggest kind of like cultural icon types of athletes because the players are all visible. You can see their faces that, you know, basketball just tends to be that type of sport that attracts marketing interest. And we haven't seen SGA in that many commercials outside of that one AT&T commercial that I hope I never see again. You know, and so this could be a way for him to, you know, get a much bigger shoe deal the next time around or be in a lot of commercials. Heck, even Nicole Jokic, who who notably hates doing any kind of media, started appearing in a commercial after the Nuggets won the NBA title. And so for Tyrese Halliburton, who has this great personality, this vibrant type of personality, this could be a way for him to jump into the national mainstream as well.
And so Jalen Williams, Chad Holmgren, Pascal Siakam, as I said, Andrew Nembhard, like these are all potential jumping off points for any number of these guys to then use in the next few years going forward and for America to really get to know all of them. Mike Vorkinoff from The Athletic, are you not a Christina Aguilera fan? Come on, man. No?
See, the nice thing is... Of all the spots that ran every single break, that is definitely one of them. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Yeah, I'm done with it as well. All right, moving on. Let's, I want to tap the base on the Knicks as well because when the Knicks are good, and it had been a long, long time, I think it's better for everybody. It's better for the NBA. I'm not one of these people. Going back to our initial conversation about the ratings, it thinks that it has to be New York or it's awful.
I'm not that person. But you know what? I'm happy for Knicks fans. And the celebrations on 7th Avenue were great. They were good TV and I think it's good for everybody.
But what happened yesterday, I don't know if it's good for anybody. And now James Dolan's looking for a new head coach. Mike, how is the rest of the league viewing a decision to blow out a head coach, two wins away from the finals, 30 million left on an extension that hasn't even kicked in yet. And unless we're all missing something, no obvious replacement in hand.
Yeah, that's the kind of the interesting part, right? If you're going to fire a head coach after a team does the best it has done in a season in 25 years, you would think that maybe someone had been lined up already or there's an inkling of it. To this point, that hasn't happened yet. I think the response I got from people around the NBA yesterday when I talked to them was not so much surprised that Tom Thibodeau had been fired. I think there is some uncertainty about his job status going into the playoffs. You know, some belief, maybe the win over the Boston Celtics would help him keep his job.
But obviously, the Eastern Conference Finals also wasn't a great showing for Thibodeau. So I don't know if there is, you know, some kind of like great shock that he got fired. There's obviously some belief that he could have kept his job, but you know, that's a choice that the Knicks made.
President Leon Rose, owner James Dolan, that's their prerogative. But when you do this, you would think that you have somebody lined up, but it looks like they're going to be going through a search process and you really have to make sure you nail this next coaching hire because Tom Thibodeau, and he has some warts, like is a great NBA head coach. And so you got to make sure that the guy you get to replace them is at least as good, if not better, and will do things demonstrably better than Thibodeau would have done. Because what Thibodeau did was basically rejuvenate the Knicks, right? Like if his first season there, they were in the playoffs when everyone thought that there'd be a lottery team, they got him to the Eastern Conference Finals. Again, something they hadn't done in 25 years.
The results have been pretty great. So now you got to find the guy who will optimize this roster, which also has, you know, some faults of its own that the front office built. So it's, you know, it's going to be interesting choice.
It's going to be an interesting choice for the Knicks to see what they do next. You got a name? Give me a name here, Mike. I think the ones that jump to mind are, you know, Nuggets head coach Mike Malone, Taylor Jenkins, who was fired by the Grizzlies in April. I'd be interested to see, you know, if James Brago gets a chance, I'd be interested to see, you know, some other names that are obviously not coming to mind right now. But I think those are the first kind of names that jump out to me. You know, those guys who have pedigree, I don't know. Do you hire a first time head coach when you're a team this close to the finals and you have title aspirations? That seems like it might be a little bit difficult to do. And I'm curious to see where this coaching search goes.
Yeah, I'm with you. I wouldn't do that. You hire a first time head coach. He's gone by Christmas. Just me.
I mean, it could be, you know, you could hire a Hall of Famer as a first time head coach, but I don't know. The whole thing doesn't make sense, but I get it. It's just, you got to go find something better. Mike Forkenoff, appreciate your time. Enjoy your NBA finals and who cares about the ratings? Just my humble opinion. But I thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Happy finals to you and yours. Thank you.
To you and yours as well for those who celebrate Mike Forkenoff, everybody. It is fascinating though. And we always get this in the World Series, right?
Oh no. If it's these teams and not those teams, no one's going to watch. Baseball has some issues, right?
Yes. The Yankees and Dodgers absolutely help. It's a regional sport during the year on a day in, day out basis. You're trying to bring more people out for the post season. Post season baseball is amazing. The NBA, I don't think it should be about market size.
It should be about star power. The NFL is not immune to this, but generally speaking, these rules do not apply. Like how I introduced Mike, nobody has ever talked about Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. That game's coming up on Sunday or Monday or Thursday or in the playoffs and gone, man, those are small markets.
Small markets. I don't know. Like if Buffalo made the Super Bowl. Oh man, could NBC handle that this year? If Buffalo made the Super Bowl. I don't know.
Would people watch? Such a small market. Buffalo market 54.
I mean, market 54. Kansas City, 33. Kansas City, like, I mean, heck, the president a couple of years ago didn't even know what state it was in. Like, would people even watch a Kansas City Buffalo AFC Championship game? Like, I don't know. Like if Buffalo made the Super Bowl and played, I don't know. Like New Orleans. Like, would anyone watch?
Yes, they'd watch. Because it's the Super Bowl. Imagine, you're talking about baseball. It is different in baseball. Last year, Dodgers, Yankees, obviously, Fox doing, you know, somersaults at that.
But the year before, Arizona Ranger, Texas Rangers was an awesome World Series. Amazing. Even though, you know, it's a really big market, people. It's a really big television market. What is it?
Do you have it in front of you? Dallas is four. Four! And people went, eh, no one's gonna watch the Rangers. It's market four, but no one cares. Phoenix is twelve.
Phoenix is twelve. It's a big city. Giant cities, giant markets. You know, people only live there like half the year and half the home. But it was an awesome World Series, which is really what you want. You want the games to be good and exciting than Dodgers, Yankees. That's the truth. That is the truth. The NFL is in many ways immune to the market forces and the television market forces that the other leagues have to worry about. But that's because of betting and fantasy. Betting and fantasy certainly helps. Certainly helps.
Certainly helps. And remember, betting is not fantasy. And fantasy is not betting. Betting often brings fantasies. I don't bet. Betting can also bring knocks on your door late at night, but you know what? I'm contractually forbidding from betting. I'm contractually forbidding. Also not interested.
But that's just me. Might be a cat with a kendo stick outside your door. You mentioned a kendo stick today. Thank you.
Close the door and chew a little bark. You mentioned kendo and like Brock went over there with his kendals. Wow. Okay. Really? I made that up. I'm just really trying to stop him from betting so much, Andrew. That's all.
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Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. First up, Celebrity True or False with Bullbond. True or false, you eat soup every single day. Is that true? Yes, true.
Why is that? Yeah, because it's a big deal in my country, soup. And we eat soup every time. This is like when you're growing up to say, first you start your meal with the soup and after that you can eat whatever you like. Okay.
It's not, basically, it's like how we do. Like when you eat soup, basically you feel like you're healthy because a little bit full of your stomach and not hungry too much. So do you at some point during the day, oh, you know what, I haven't eaten soup yet. I need to have my soup. Yes.
You have had that. Yes. Okay, what is your favorite soup?
My favorite soup here, buttermilk squash, chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, mushroom soup, everything like. Okay. Have you thought about that? No, like this is a good idea. I will think about it.
Here, let's pound that out. I will think about it. Very good.
I will think about it. Next one for Boban, a celebrity true or false with Boban. False. You do not like cake. You do not like cake. No cakes. I can eat, but not big fan.
Why? What's wrong with cake? No cakes. I like like small desserts. Like if I eat something, I will eat like something like really like to enjoy because small. They are all small to you.
Yes, they are all small to you. So what is your go-to dessert if you do not like cake? You know, if I go to dessert, I really need to like it. Like I really need to like it.
What is it? When they come in restaurant, they say, we have the best cake. We have the best, I do not know, like whatever you say, chocolate cake here. And I say, okay, bring me the chocolate cake. Chocolate cake is like, you know, like it's not special.
And I was like, in that time I figured out like why I need to order the cake because it's not special. But the, when I go to, it's crepes. Like I go with the crepes, like Nutella crepe. A crepe.
A Nutella crepe. Yes. All right.
So, so I figured out, okay, so if I have you over for dinner, soup, Nutella crepe. Yes. Okay. That's the easy combination. That's very simple.
It's like this, like a couple of bucks. Nothing too much. Last one for you. Boban, true or false, do you shake hands?
Actually? Well like, to be honest, people more like to shake my hands than I can shake. You know, every, every time, you know, like, every time, you know, like when somebody, somebody come to me, like I just, I just come from the restroom. I wash my hands.
I ready, I ready, I ready to eat food. And I was like, I was like walking like this. I hope somebody not shake my hands. And that time, like somebody comes, hey, how are you? And I was like, I know, I know, but I don't like fist bumps because I feel like, no, no, no, no.
I say, because it's, I feel like he's not too much respect because, like, I just like, you know, like it's shaky. Everyone just wants to see how big, see how big your, your hand is. I mean, I think that's what people want.
You know, that's maybe why they want to do it. We on, this is, this is lie. I just asked you a question. This is live us, us meeting me and Brockman. I would love to try to figure out whether or not we can go. That game is, uh, so Syracuse plays at Notre Dame. Notre Dame this year. Have you been to Notre Dame? I've never been. You should go.
Which is why I want to kind of November 22nd. The man, I can't make that one. The Browns the next day are in Vegas.
That's almost, last year I had for Peacock, Michigan state hosting Ohio state on a Saturday evening in East Lansing and had to get to Vegas the next day for a game. And I made it somehow barely. Right. Right.
It was close enough. Hi, back of the rich. I enjoy Andrew and fridge. Um, I don't know. We're just like planning our fall here.
Brockman and me. I don't know that I can make it from South bend and get to Vegas the next day, especially late in the year. I mean, that's right before Thanksgiving. Like you're, you're dealing with weather there too.
Potentially. You got to get out of South bend. You got to get South at least a midway. Where do you fly when you go to South bend? You can technically fly to South bend, but what most people do is fly to Chicago and then you drive down. Got it.
Yes. Um, there's no, a middle Southern middle state that you can drive up to middle state. I'm just saying what Illinois border each other. What about Kentucky?
Can you do that? Tennessee is nowhere near South bend. Tennessee. I don't know about that. No, look at a map buddy. You could fly. That is a far longer drive. Far, far longer. Well, you're in weather in Chicago, no matter what.
You want to drive to Chicago. We're planning a fall again. Everyone. The schedules are out. That's what we do.
Right. Hope you're doing well. Thank you for joining. Hi. My name is Andrew.
Rich mercifully for you is back tomorrow. Also, Kentucky is directly underneath Indiana. What are you talking about? South bend is nowhere near Kentucky. It's all the way that way. Like like Cincinnati. Kentucky. That's a different conversation. Cincinnati is in Kentucky.
Don't yell at me. It's a joke. That's different. It's totally different. Like when you fly to Cincinnati, you land in Kentucky. The airport's in Kentucky. Oh, I guess I was mistaken. Then it should be called North bend. Cause it's Northern Indiana.
Oh yeah. It is Northern Indiana. Correct. Where is the South coming from? I don't know.
Is it on the South side of a body of like a river there? I don't know. All I know is that you should go.
It is totally worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Totally worth it. I have not been in many a year, but it is absolutely worth it. Like I went to the French open this past weekend, two weekends. I've lost track of days. I'm jet lagged still.
I wanted to check that box. It's a great sporting event. Any Notre Dame game, go for a football game. You should go totally worth it. Speaking of which you should also go to an NBA all star game. If you have the opportunity, I've never been to one.
Ooh, they're fun. I went to one in LA recently. It was announced and the NBA all star game is coming back to LA, the Intuit dome, the Clippers new arena, which I went to a couple of times this year. It is a data mining operation that also has basketball.
It was announced this morning by Adam Silver on FS1 new format next year. It's us against the world, team USA against a world team. Your thoughts. Meant to. I like it. I like it. The all star game this year was not good. It's been a trend. It's been bad for awhile. It's been bad. Let's find something to shake it up. Also a weekend is fun in general, but the game itself on Sunday, which used to be the world's greatest pickup game, you had no defense, but it was fun.
People cared guys are sleepwalking out there. So now they're going to try us against the world. Hey, why not? Why not? You got to do the game. You got to have the weekend, right? You got it. You have to have a break and it's a great TV event overall and a sponsorship event, which all these things are corporate events, but you got to make the game interesting.
And no one cares about the game at this point, because it's gotten that bad. So maybe us against the world. Sure.
Why not? Remember? SGA is the world. As you get ready for the finals tomorrow, he's team Canada. Team world is pretty stacked SGA is Giannis.
Does he play for, is he technically a world guy on the bead plate for team USA and the Olympics? Yeah. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, give me the world. I mean, don't take the world. Give me the world. Give me the world.
And the points. You're going to hammer it right now. Hammer the world. Hammer it right now.
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