Should The Pittsburgh Pirates Trade Paul Skenes?

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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. Today's guests, ESPN Senior Writer Seth Wickersham, MLB Senior Writer for the Athletic Jason Stark, NBA Writer for the Athletic Mike Vorkanov. And now, sitting in for Ridge, it's Andrew Siciliano. I came here right from Dodger Stadium.

That's how bad the traffic was last night. Another extra innings game. This time the Dodgers win. Freddie Freeman kind of sort of off the wall and left.

I mean, could have, should have been caught. Anyway, great game, fun times. Baseball is fun with a packed house and great energy, even on a Tuesday in June.

It just may be an episode of the Californians here the next hour explaining how I got to and from said game on a weeknight in which it not only rained in Los Angeles. Ladies and gentlemen, we're okay. Thank you for asking.

I appreciate everyone's concern on social media. There was thunder here, maybe even a flash of lightning. That is a big deal here. Joking aside, this whole thing's a joke. I don't remember the last time we had thunder in Los Angeles and no, not Shay, Gilgis, Alexander. Go ahead.

I saw those jokes as well. I mean, you go, wait a minute. Is that, is that, is that thunder? It was actually thunder, but they played the game. The Dodgers own a tarp.

They had it out briefly in the 4 p.m. hour and then they played the game. Either we're happy to be here, everyone. Thanks for being here.

I am happy to be, you know, invited every time. Rich is back tomorrow. This is the Rich Eisen Show. My name is Andrew Siciliano and let's go around the room and say hi to our merry band of friends. Hi, Chris Brockman. Hi, Andrew. Brockman, traditional spelling, as you used to say. Yes. On my name is traditional spelling.

It's nine letters and a bunch of vowels. Sound of that. If you ever took Spanish, French or Italian in high school, it's not that hard. Really? It isn't really not that hard.

Brockman. Not hard either. Not hard at all.

In any way, difficult. Neither. Yeah, Larry King botched your name.

Famously. What do you call you? Del Fufo. Del Fufo.

You're not Jewish. Del Fufo. Good morning, Andrew. I got a haircut, Mike. Good job. Yeah, I got a haircut today. Look at that. I buzzed.

All of them. You got them all cut. I got a lot of hair.

Yeah. You and Andrew, first team all hair. You should let yours grow out. I don't like long hair. You're blessed at 60 with great hair and you're buzzing it for some reason. I sense anger. Is this you lashing out about your lack of hair?

It's jealousy, man. Okay. 24 was over for your boy.

24? It's over. Wow.

Speaking of a good head of hair. Oh, yeah. TJ, what was Brandon Nemo doing in left field last night? That's a good question.

By what? He lost the ball, clearly. Yeah. Lost the ball. Look, it happens. It happens. Fly ball left field.

Catch that ball, though. I'm probably still a Dodger stadium. Right now.

Probably still there. Well, maybe it's for the best thing, because you wouldn't be here, you know, and we wouldn't call on this. So let me say this about your favor. I get it. And I appreciate that.

Let me say this about your New York match. They're damn good baseball team, sir. Yeah.

I mean, they are going to be in it. What's his face? Soto went out last night. He's heating up. What's his face? Sorry.

I didn't mean that. Frankie Lindor. Yeah.

Real deal. That's a good team. That is a very good, especially considering that people thought our pitching was going to be the weak part. And now we're pitching staff got like 16 to 17 like to finish it out. He didn't finish it out, but I'm saying the performance. He was better than Kershaw last night.

He got out of the first inning once you get out of the first. Yeah. Fun time and good seats as well. Well, you're Andrew Siciliano.

Of course, I may. Somebody's sleeping. Some good seats was able to sit in the front row there for a little bit. You know, they're good seats when people are texting, saying, Is that you?

What side were you going to be? I was first base side between the on deck circle and the Mets dugout actually right behind the on deck circle. We had like that. We I didn't get him, but like the group I was with, they had like four or five in the front row and like four or five a couple of rows back.

So there were times there I was in the front row, very grateful for those seats and a great time. However, that said, and we will get the sports in the second. No matter how hard I try. First world problem.

Do you guys have the same issue when you go to a ball game? Like you say, I'm going to be healthy. It's impossible. It's impossible.

It's impossible. I don't think I don't go to a game thinking that because you know how tough it's going to be. I don't go for the helmet nachos. Like I don't I don't need a toxic or cheese in a in a molded plastic helmet. I don't need that.

I mean, we did this yesterday. So I did like the Yama club, like the club beneath, you know, behind the home plate. Very grateful for that. And there's a smorgasbord. I had a healthy dinner. Okay. Bartender's a great guy. Healthy dinner. Yeah.

I told him I knew you. And then but then there's there's chips and then there's cookies and then there's cakes and then there's brownies and sure. I'll have a beer like just one like get home safely. Right. And like it all of a sudden you're a healthy Tuesday at home. Yeah.

Turns into a right. A thousand a thousand calorie rather bomb for dinner or fifteen hundred calorie bomb per dinner. You know what? Traffic's going to be a disaster. I will take a bag of chips to eat in the car on the way home. I will. Why wouldn't you?

I will. Because normally on a Tuesday night, I'm going to eat a bag of chips at eleven o'clock, but I'm going to sit in traffic. So now I'm going to eat a bag of chips. Of course, I haven't had a bag of chips in a month, but I'm going to have one tonight. You didn't snag a cookie for the ride? I did have two cookies.

Again, first world problems. If it's free, I'm going to eat it. But even if you're in the stands, I'd be like, not the stands. Even if you're like in the poor seats.

Even if you're in the seats in which you're slept in the concession stand and waiting in line. It's yes, I will have an order of twenty three dollars chicken fingers for dinner. And you know what? I will have a beer. Get me the big one. Right.

I will have a beer. Yes. Right.

And then it's hey, it's the ballpark. I had a good time. Like, I'm happy. I had a great time. Great game.

Two good teams. Great seats. Good people. Good company.

Loved it. But then it's like, what did I just consume? What did I just consume?

Wasn't good. Like if it's an average Tuesday night, like, hey, sit down at the table. Andrew, here's what we prepared for your dinner this evening. Oh, you have chefs and things?

No, I'm just saying hypothetically, TJ. So, TJ, here's what we prepared for your dinner this evening. We'll switch it to you. OK, here is a plate of chicken fingers and french fries.

We will wash this down with a 32 ounce beer. Here is a brownie cake. Here are two chocolate chip cookies.

Here are two bags of barbecue potato chips. Right. And you're like, you're a little guy.

How do you eat so much? So much. Oh, I can pack it in. Hey, it's it's hard to look this good.

That's true. You just gotta wake up like this. You gotta work hard. Why do you think I'm always out on the beach talking to myself? Running into Del Tufo.

On his electric bike. No, you don't. I mean, I see. See me. You're like the guy on the motorboat with the oar every now and then.

Just go and your electric bike shaming me now. All right, let's get to sports. There is sports that was sports sports or Stanley Cup finals. Final. Oh, my God. Really? Yes. Yes.

Really? We'll hear about it in the comments, bro. So you got to say it right. OK, because they'll get on us. So for the record, as we talk about the Olympics, because this is one that they get that gets pounded into your head for the Olympics. What happens that that big party they do, everyone walks around the stadium.

I'm just being vague here. So I'm asking you guys with the flags and the jumpsuits. What is that called? Opening ceremony. Opening ceremony. Exactly singular ceremony ceremony. I said ceremony. Right. They are not the opening ceremony. You say opening ceremonies.

That is a demerit. Yeah. You are off the podium. Right.

You did not make it through out of qualifying. All right. So tonight is the Stanley Cup final. Tomorrow, the NBA finals. Correct.

Open up. Good chance the Knicks still don't have a head coach when the NBA finals begin tomorrow. Absolutely. However, I can guarantee you this. They will still owe Tom Thibodeau 30 million or millions of dollars. They fired him before the new extension even kicked in. Think about that. Well, maybe they'll go get Malone.

Right. He got fired. OK. Just so you know, the Nuggets owe him like 20 million. So I mean, it's coaches that don't have to work for a thousand please. And the Knicks have to find a head coach.

You should have seen the responses I got when I posted on Threads and Twitter and X and all those things yesterday. Hey, I hope the Knicks had a plan in place before you fire a coach. Because if you fire a coach as successful as this one, a guy that brought them back from the dead.

Right. A guy that won more games in each year than he did the year before his entire tenure there. A guy that got them to within two games of the NBA finals. A guy that knocked out the Celtics.

I know Tatum got hurt, but it was already over at that point. Right. Oh, yeah, we're going to fire him. OK, cool. Now, sure. Death by a thousand paper cuts, rotation issues.

Maybe people were grinded down and and they maybe some some guys on that locker room in that locker room had had enough. OK, that's cool. But who are you going to get that is better?

We're going to get somebody young. OK, cool. Sure. And you're going to win a championship that way? Maybe. Maybe it could happen. Jeff Van Gundy's not walking through that door. I don't think Jay Wright is walking through that door.

So you better have a plan. Because if you're an owner that just fires and then tries to figure it out, you are destined to go through this cycle over and over and over again. And just when you thought that the Knicks had kind of turned the corner, that the years of dysfunction were over, that they figured it out. I mean, the parties on Seventh Avenue during that playoff run, I'm not a Knicks fan, but that was good for the NBA.

It really was. It was good for those Knicks fans, because everybody, like if you've ever been to New York for five minutes, you know, and forget about the Yankees for a second and forget about the Giants and the Jets for a second. It's a Knicks city at heart. It's a basketball town deep down inside. Like that guy on the subway, that doorman, that every man in New York, no matter if you're living in a penthouse or in a basement of a walk up. That makes no sense. You get my point. Everybody is a Knicks fan.

Everybody. They're back. And then they took a step back. Think about that. They were back and the future was bright.

Could still be. But now they got to dig themselves out of the hole. And it all goes back to ownership.

And ownership decided, eh, you know what? Blow it up. Blow it up.

OK, great. You have a plan to put it back together? You do?

Do you? Because if you don't and just kind of make it up, oh, we're going to fire them and the phone's going to ring. Good luck with that. Good luck with that. Maybe you'll find somebody better.

Maybe. But Greg Popovich ain't walking through that door at all. So sorry, Knicks fans. I got excited for you this year.

You're you're not Yankee fans. You kind of deserve some success. You do like you've been wandering in the desert for a long, long time. And now this.

So I feel for you. And now you're National Football League. Let's get to that. There is no Aaron Rodgers news today. Seth Werkersham is going to join us in about 10 minutes. He has the new book on quarterbacks coming out.

We'll talk Caleb, but, you know, more other stuff as well. Around the league, we could still have a John Smith trade that is allegedly being discussed again because Donald Parham, the tight end, the Steelers picked up in the offseason, tore his ACL reportedly during OTAs. So injuries are a real thing. Injuries do happen. Sam Darnold got picked again. Mike McDonald says it's ridiculous to think he may not be the starting quarterback in Seattle.

We'll unpack that a little bit later. There's also the Micah Parsons story. So Brian Schonheimer, we played it for you yesterday. The new Cowboys head coach says he's been talking to Micah. Micah's been in the building. He's doing some traveling as well. Fear not, Micah will be here during mandatory minicamp. And then Micah came out and put on social that, yes, he will be there. A lot of people are making this into news. I get it.

I work in this industry. I know how anything that happens in Dallas becomes news. But tip of the cap to a friend of the program, Jamie Erdl on Good Morning Football, when they led with this for one of their hours this morning. And Jamie kind of said, here's the non-news news that we're going to lead this hour with. And that's exactly what that is. Can we put it up one more time?

I beg your pardon, Hoskins. Thank you. I will be there. I haven't missed a minicamp in four years, even though the contract is not done. I have teammates in a playbook. I'm preparing as if I will be on the field the first week of camp.

But it's in the owner's hands. I'm ready to win a Super Bowl. Of course, he's going to be there next week. It's mandatory. He's not going to Egypt with Aaron Rodgers.

You get fined if you don't show up next week. It is not news that Micah Parsons or any player goes to mandatory minicamp. Although he said the right thing.

I'm glad he did. It's news when you go to camp and you don't practice. And that is what Micah Parsons should do. I don't talk to him, another man, about his money.

But it's pretty obvious. Micah should hold in until he gets that deal. Like TJ Watt has done in the past, like Brandon Iuch did last year, like many others have done in the past. Because with the way the CBA is now written, it is not cost effective to hold out.

Matter of fact, it's really bad. You're going to get fined. CBA says you can't rescind those fines. Oh, they'll just take it back when I get the new deal.

No, they don't. Right? So I'm just here so I don't get fined is a real thing. Just don't practice. Right? You've got a hammy. You have a tummy ache. Or as Rich likes to say, ooh, my arm, my arm, my arm. My leg.

It's a good one. Or like me today, I have a migraine. Guys, I can't.

Yeah. How are they going to prove that you've got a headache? Honey, I have a headache. Sure you do. OK, prove that I don't. Prove that I don't. Well Andrew, I think the nap I took under the desk here this morning. Did you?

I missed that. Yeah, you were in the back. TJ's definitely not. Are you OK? TJ, you plain hurt. I'm a power through this baby. OK, that's what we do.

Much respect. Yeah. OK. Are you holding out for a new contract? We're holding in.

I might have to. OK, that's how you do it. We've got things moving. You know what I'm saying? You want to know Shay's number? I'm an agent.

Anyway, you get my point. It is in news that Mike is going to be there. It will be news, however, when he gets a new contract. And that contract, the longer you wait, it is only going to go up. Jerry Jones knows he should do the contract before the Steelers figure out what they're going to pay TJ what. Now, if TJ goes first, your price goes up all the way up. What are you waiting for now? You could not do the deal and let him play it out.

But the next year you're paying forty five or the tag. By the way, I would not put that past Jerry or Jerry waits until one o'clock Eastern. At ten a.m. Eastern week one last year when he paid Jack, remember, I've flown overnight, got to Cleveland, tried to get a nap, turn on game day morning. And there is rich going and I have a cowboy that bronze Cowboys that day rich going. And here's Ian with breaking news. And Ian goes, Dak Prescott does have a new deal. I don't have the patience to Jack with you today. No, take it coming up. Is Aaron Rodgers ever going to get to Pittsburgh? And also, what do we make of Roger Goodell and the NFL office wanting the push to go through band wanting playoff receding and it not happening at the latest owner's meeting? Seth Wicker show was a fantastic new book is coming up.

This is the Rich Eisen show today, not with Rich Eisen. Let's talk about Brunt work boots, people. When I got my set of Brunt work boots sent to my house, open the box, my first thought was, wow, these look amazing.

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Learn more at NavyFederal.org. I got a recruiting story. You want to hear a recruiting story?

Please. You're saying Harbaugh's crazy. So I'm recruiting, right, for Cal. Is that fire real?

It is definitely not real. So I'm... It's a television set, Steve. I'm recruiting back in Minnesota, and it's like January, all right? And it's snow and it's cold and everything like that.

This is when you were the HC of Cal. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, so we're sitting around at a home visit, right? Family visit. So the kids there, the mom and dad, little sisters are there. Grandparents are there, and we're just kind of having hot chocolate, right? Yeah.

And so it's kind of, you know, we're talking about let's go to Cal, you know, great school, the best in the world, and all that stuff. Yes. And so when you sit there for several hours, sometimes the conversation's good and sometimes it drags, all right? So it started to drag, and I was running out of things to say, if you can imagine that.

Yeah, right. And so it was snowing out, and it was cold, and it was cool. It was just awesome being in there, you know? And there was a cat sitting over by the fireplace, right? Just like this fire.

Just like this fire, when it was a real fire, Rich. Yeah. And it was a cat, and it was all curled up and looked so cozy, so awesome.

Yeah. And the conversation was dragging a little bit, and I went, wouldn't you just love to be that cat right now? And everybody looked at the cat, and just as everybody looked, it rolled over and started licking himself all over the place.

Grandma looked at me like, what? I didn't get that kid, all right? It didn't go well after that. It kind of went downhill. Oh, yeah, but that cat just kind of screwed me over a little bit. Wow. Timing is everything.

It looked like it was screwing itself over, if you were telling me. Oh, man, I looked cozy for a while. Oh, boy. It is the Rich Eisen Show, everybody. Hi, it's Andrew, sitting in for Rich. Anytime you could bring back Uncle Mooch. Uncle Mooch. Yeah.

He's one of my favorite humans of all time. You can call us. Oh, by the way, 844-204-Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. You can watch us on the Roku Sports Channel. The Infinity Sports Network is how you can listen. Sirius XM 375.

You could stream for free on the Odyssey app or odyssey.com. We're on the X. We're on the Instas. We're on the Facebooks at Rich Eisen Show. My name, Andrew Siciliano. It's at Andrew Siciliano and all those socials other than the TikTok, where there's a dot between my first and last. I don't know who had the other Andrew Siciliano, but there's a financial guy that sometimes on CNBC, maybe he took it.

There's also this geology student that sometimes I get like stuff from him, but that's another issue. I also found out there's like a local sportscaster in Missouri named Jacob Siciliano yesterday, and that blew me away. Relation? I don't know. It's actually not that uncommon a name.

It just means you're from Sicily. Yeah. Congrats.

Thank you. I digress. Do we have a guest? We do.

We do. The new book is coming out. It comes out week one, September 9th, I believe Seth Workisham to be official. It's called American Kings, a biography of the quarterback. There is no more fascinating, no more interesting, no more disgust position in all of North American sports than the quarterback.

And we've already seen some massive headlines. Caleb Williamson, most notably from the book. Seth, how are you, my friend? Good to see you. It's good to see you too, but I got to be honest, like after that cat clip, I really didn't know what I was walking into. I mean, if we want to go down that path, I'll try my best.

I don't know that you're at a loss for subject matter to write about, but if you ever wanted to do a story time with Steve Mariucci book, it's a gold mine. Yeah. I kept waiting. I kept waiting for like a punch line in that to say like, and then, you know, Aaron Rodgers walked out of the living room.

Or whatever it was, I kept waiting. That's, that's what I was kind of hoping it would be. If, I don't know if you've seen the new Farve doc on Netflix, I think it has its issues, but all I kept watching going, I need Mooch popping up, like in the corner, telling a story about like Farve and, let's put it this way, not being able to make it to halftime to get to the bathroom in time. How about that?

Mooch tells a really good story about that and the way Mooch tells it with the arms waving and the this and the that. And then if you could put it like Dan Tannas in West Hollywood with the setting, it's a gold mine. That would be good. That would be good. Yeah. You mentioned Aaron Rodgers. I know he's not necessarily in the book that much, but we'll go there first. Why not?

Because you brought it up. Just as an NFL observer, somebody that knows people, you have a gut feeling as to how this thing will play out in Pittsburgh? I have a gut feeling that he'll probably end up there. I have no idea what that does to team chemistry, to the program that Mike Tomlin wants to implement and has implemented successfully for a long time. And I have no idea what that means for his ability to get on the same page with his teammates and play at a high level.

I think that if he were to walk away, I think we would have known by now. I don't know if I'm in the minority or not, but I think that he has a lot of good football left in him. And I think that going to a place like Pittsburgh is the right idea because there's a program in place that isn't really dependent on him to be the face of. The issue with that, of course, is that like there's been an entire team that's been practicing there and he hasn't been one of them. And so we can debate all we want about the merits of the offseason program. And even to a certain extent, a lot of training camp when it comes to Aaron Rodgers, I guess we'll just see.

We will see. And hopefully we see it soon for the sake of the Steelers. They have one, two, like four or five days on the field of the offseason program remaining.

And then it's on to training camp. Let's get to Caleb Williams, because that obviously got the headlines a couple of weeks ago with the first excerpt in which, in essence, you're right. The Carl Williams, his dad, in the days and weeks leading up to the draft this past year, basically tried to break the draft and that Caleb didn't want to go there. Eventually he did go there.

Maybe Minnesota would have been a more favorable option, but he went there. Last season was what it was. What did you think, Seth, of Caleb going to the podium and doing four minutes unscripted, kind of just owning it and saying, yeah, you know what, I'm cool now. But yeah, pretty much all that is true. Yeah, well, first of all, Carl, I think he more studied the draft in the year leading up to it, not really the days and the weeks. I think at that point, yeah, at that point, I think that, look, it was Caleb driving the bus. I mean, he's his own man and he was going to make his own decisions.

I didn't catch his press conference live, but I did watch it. And, you know, I think he came off like the person that I write about in the book. And that's he's an incredibly thoughtful, studied, cautious. And, you know, I think there was a lot of sincerity in his answer. And, you know, that part of me, I wasn't surprised to see it because I've heard about it from others and witnessed it a little bit up close. But I also thought that it was kind of good for the world to see because, you know, he knew. And I think that, like everybody kind of involved with that knows that, like, you know, this is a small portion of my book. And even so, I captured a fraction of percentage of the conversations that happened, you know, about that draft. And, you know, what, if any, Caleb Williams could do to try to have some agency over his future employer, kind of like how Eli Manning and John Elway did. I thought he could have taken the, hey, this is dad, not me.

Like, this is all dead. I thought he could have done that. That would have been the easy way out. If I were his old man, I might have said, hey, just blame me. But he didn't. I thought his answer, as you said, he's a thoughtful guy.

I thought his answer was great. But go back to his dad here, because, listen, as you well know, he talked to any labor lawyer that would listen, like, hey, how do we get around this? Seth, do you think we get to the point, and if so, how quickly is it coming, where somebody in this NIL world where players, this generation want more control, understandably, when someone can find a way to, quote unquote, break the draft?

I think it's going to be a while. Maybe in the collective bargaining agreement, there might be something where the league and the owners give, but I kind of doubt it. I mean, first of all, it's a phenomenally successful event for the NFL. And second of all, there was that run of contracts that the super agent Tom Condon engineered that happened before 2011. And those quarterbacks who were getting picked overall were getting massive deals and often holding out for those massive deals and more power to them. But it was affecting team dynamics, and I think it affected their ability to be successful, given that there's a salary cap and given that if you're paying a rookie quarterback that much money, you're limited in what you can surround him by. And a lot of those teams, speaking first, aren't good.

There's a lot of staff turnover. That affects quarterbacks, too. I think that if you go back and you look at John Elway's press conference that he gave with his dad in April of 1983, it is really something. And you can tell that John's a little nervous and he knows this isn't going on well.

This isn't coming off well. But it's really like, you know, if that happened today, it's hard to imagine the waves that it would create. I mean, at one point, Jack Elway kind of mocks the Colts for having the right to pick first overall. He forgot Ernie, of course, his name and kind of rolled his eyes as if it was irrelevant.

You know, it was it was a really it was a really amazing moment to go back and watch now. And when you look at like, you know, what Carl and Caleb Williams considered, I mean, that was completely different. I mean, they did everything with them, you know, within small circles and, you know, some advisors.

But it was mostly, you know, a pretty small circle of people that were debating these things. And, you know, at the end of the day, I think that it fell on them to say the only way that this might work is if we create an untenable situation, kind of like the Elways did with the city of Baltimore. Ryan Paul, the Bears GM, had told Caleb, we're drafting no matter what.

And I think, you know, there was some deliberation about, you know, if we do try to force a trade by making this untenable, what if they still pick me anyway and I have to deal with it? And at the end of the day, after his visit at the Bears facility, you know, Caleb liked his teammates. And he was excited about where the Bears organization was going to go. And he was excited to be a bear. Obviously, a tough first year.

I mean, a lot of their fears came true. But now I think they have what they wanted all along, which is an innovative offensive mind whose success is tied to Caleb's success. Seth Workisham, the book is American Kings, a biography of the quarterback.

Seth, you also have Kirk Cousins in your book. You use the word untenable there. Many thought that the current situation would be untenable in Atlanta. And that is why would you pay a guy to be a backup here, all this money? I think the flip side of it is the Falcons go, Michael Pennix had a lot of injury issues in Atlanta. We're paying him anyway.

Why wouldn't we keep him around? From your time with Kirk, any unique insight as to what he may be going through right now and where this could lead? Well, I take a little bit of a zoom back on Kurt and that's that, like, look, he, his gift, I think, and his curses in a lot of ways is self-awareness. I mean, Kirk Cousins knows exactly who he is and exactly where he ranks on, you know, the list of elite quarterbacks. And, you know, the time I spent with him, I really wanted to know how religion helps him as a quarterback and how it helps him. You know, we hear about religion all the time and people might, you know, thank God in postgame interviews. But I really wanted to understand, like, when you're a quarterback and you're trying to control things in an inherently random coin flip of a game, you know, how do you do it? What's the outlet and how does Christianity in this case help you? So how does that help him in this current Falcon situation?

I don't have a great answer for that, but globally, you know, that was the kind of thing. And that was the essence of the pretty deep discussion I had with Kirk about that. I want to go to kind of non-quarterback topics, if you don't mind here. Number one, I assume you're following the, I hate to use the word drama, but the Belichick thing in North Carolina. We are post-June 1 now, so he could potentially get out, potentially.

I don't think that he would. How, Seth, when you're talking to people around the league, how is the rest of the league viewing this? Yeah, I mean, I think that, like, look, if you're in North Carolina and you hire Bill Belichick, I think the one thing you think you're getting when you make him the state's highest paid public employee is a low drama buttoned up football program.

And so far it has not been that way. And some of that is not because of Belichick's fault. And, you know, but look, he bears some responsibility for this. And, you know, I kind of as someone who's written a book about him that was largely about him. And studied him and thought about him for a long time. I mean, I kind of feel for him because, you know, his book came out this year.

I think that he was really proud of it and had worked really hard on it. And, you know, the stuff with his personal life just completely overshadowed everything. And I think that people around the league, when they're looking at Bill, I think that, you know, the sense is that, like, he's created the distraction that he would chastise his players for creating. Is he at all a sympathetic figure? I mean, I've heard some people, and I don't know that I agree with it, hostage is the wrong word, but that, like, he's lost his age. He's lost control, right?

Does that make sense? Yeah, I mean, I think that when you're looking at someone who's, you know, I wouldn't say he's controlled the narrative of his career or tried to. I think that he's controlled the narrative when it comes to trying to win games and, you know, how they react to things. But, like, he's, I mean, has there ever been a coach of a professional sport in the history of American sports that has gotten this much attention for his significant other? Like, I can't think of anybody. And I think that when you look at Belichick's personality, which I think is quite, you know, he's quite comfortable speaking publicly in a professional sense, but it's quite reserved in other ways.

I think that, like, his personality is uniquely ill-suited for this type of attention. That's a great way to put it. One last thing. Go back to the league meetings. Generally speaking, you know this, if 345 wants something to pass, it will go through. So when the tush-push ban doesn't pass, and I think equally as significant when there wasn't the movement, and I was surprised that it got to this point when you look at the standalone TV games and they need better matchups if networks are paying all this money in December and January, I get why they want it to change.

When the reseeding faced resistance as well, what was your reaction to those hitting a wall in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago? Because like I said, generally speaking, 345 can whip the votes when they need to. Well, I think the thing that interested me the most was that, you know, like you said, I mean, most we think about owners is, you know, each of them sitting in their own throne and kind of controlling their own kingdom. But when they get into those types of meetings, usually group think prevails. I mean, you really don't see a lot of votes that aren't like, you know, 30 to one or 31 to one, you know, the Bengals usually abstain from voting. But for the most part, you know, this stuff isn't really contentious and isn't really debated. I thought that it was interesting that Jeffrey Laurie spoke for as long as he spoke, kind of expecting this to go down and for that play to be banned.

And then, of course, it was not. I mean, I think that like the league will probably take it up again next offseason. I'd imagine that Roger will be able to get the two votes he needs if if he wants this pass.

But it was interesting. And I think that it's a reminder that number one is powerful as Roger is. And as great of a job as he's done for owners, it is an owner driven league.

And number two, owners do not move quickly unless there is a profit at stake. If there is something like that to be held, you know, they will move quickly. But when it comes to other things, you know, I think that it's a little bit of, hey, we're not going to like, you know, rock this ship too much. Let's let it play out a little bit more. And I think that's what you saw in Minneapolis.

But I think, you know, look, I think a lot of us were surprised that, you know, the band failed because, again, it's it's unlike the league, you know, especially the past five years or so to bring up a contentious topic, you know, without it, without them having a sense of where this thing was going to land. Yeah. And when you push it from Palm Beach to Minneapolis, because in Palm Beach you don't have it. But then, hey, we'll probably have it in Minneapolis talking, you know, different annual not annual meetings, owners meetings. Yeah.

Yeah. It normally does go through. What should go through is your order of American Kings, a biography of the quarterback. It comes out week one, September nine. Go preorder now.

Can't wait to read it. Seth Wickersham, appreciate your time. Talk to you soon, sir.

Great to see you, man. Thank you. Likewise, Seth Wickersham, everybody. The the thing other than the tush pushes, the receding, I have said for years, I don't think owners will ever give up the idea that, hey, if my team wins a division, my team gets a home game. Right. Home playoff games mean something. Right.

And I think they mean something to the fan basis and coaches and players like you want to play at home. Right. That's why we bust our tail all year. And so the idea that you would ever give that up, I'm like, no way.

No way. But I can tell you last year and I'm sure Rich can as well. They had trouble trying to figure out the prime time and standalone schedule late in the season with more and more standalone games. Black Friday and Christmas and a network tripleheader week 15 and the Peacock standalone game on Saturday evening, week 17.

You know, people writing checks for those. You need a big TV audience and you need two good teams and a big meaningful game. The ESPN week 18 doubleheader on Saturday. The two AFC North games last year, the Browns were three and 13. But we didn't, I tell you, nobody in Cleveland expected. We, we did not expect to be on that Saturday, but we were because they decided to put two AFC North games. The other three teams were playing for something. We got to give ESPN a doubleheader that means something. Connect the games.

Bam. Well, the reason, one of the reasons they would reseed now is to try to make those games in December and January truly more meaningful. Right?

Because you need to make sure you have the inventory for the standalone games and just week 18 and 17, 17 in general, not just the standalone game for one o'clock Eastern as well. But maybe if you reseed, maybe if you give these teams incentive to play your guys, maybe just maybe it isn't as hard to figure out the prime time and to figure out that Friday night one-off or Friday after, you know what I'm saying? I think it's going to happen.

Just not this year. You do think? I do think it is going to happen. Six months ago, I would have said no way ever. I left Palm Beach and the annual meeting going, yeah, I think it might happen. Wow. I think it might happen. All right. Coming up. Do you trade pole schemes?

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Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. That's OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. This is the plaintiff, Brittany Simmons. She went on a date to a Dodgers game and says it turned into the worst night of her life. She wants to be compensated for the price of her ticket and the money she spent on concessions. This is the defendant, Alan Langhorne. He says he has absolutely no idea what Brittany is talking about.

In fact, Alan says that he had the time of his life at the game and he has the evidence to prove it. All rise. Here comes the judge. Litigants are ready for the next case, sir. This appears to be a case of a date night gone bad.

Ms. Simmons, you start first. What's your recollection of the night in question? Your Honor, from the time I picked him up until the time I dropped him off, he was nonstop texting, Instagramming, live streaming him.

I don't think he took his eyes off his phone once. Mr. Langhorne, I think I already know the answer to this question, but could that be possible? No way. He said that?

That's crazy. Mr. Langhorne. Yes? Right here.

Oh, do you see what I mean? He probably doesn't even know who won the game. Mr. Langhorne, do you know the final score of the game that night? Of course I know the score of what the game was. Siri, what was the score between the Dodgers and the Angels?

The Angels narrowly defeated the Dodgers in the freeway series by a score of five to three on June 11th. Ms. Simmons, that is the accurate final score. Do you have anything to add about this evening? Sure. To top it off, a foul ball fell right at his feet, but he had his nose in the phone, so the guy next to him got it.

Mr. Langhorne, was the foul ball really that close to you? Your Honor, do you mind if I live feed my answer? Live feed? Yeah.

The proceedings here in the sports judge chambers? Yeah. How many followers do you have? 100,000. 100,000? 100,000. Ms. Simmons, how many followers do you have on Instagram? 50. 1,000? Just 50. Just 50. Salif, bring the phone to me.

Are we live right now? Oh, yes. Wow, you do have a following. Okay, here's my verdict. Despite your large following, sir, I'm still going to rule in favor of Ms. Simmons, but only for the cost of the ticket. As far as the concessions that you incurred on that night, I'm going to waive that as long as you tag the sports judge. Wait, what? That's more than the cost of the ticket.

The guy had six beers. All I can say, it's the 21st century. If you want to come to the sports judge with a following of 50, you're lucky to just get the ticket. I've got to get out of this. It's hot. All right, come on in here.

Come on in here. The plaintiff, Ms. Simmons. Ms. Simmons, are you happy with the verdict? Not really.

The beers cost more than the ticket. So there won't be a second date. Absolutely not. Okay, okay. Thank you. All right, move along. Move along.

Good luck with love. Yes, sir. Come on in here, please. Yes, of course.

Very important phone call. Are you happy with the verdict? Oh, justice was definitely served. Speaking of over-serve, would you like to go on a second date? Did she say something?

She did not. You're a horrible person. Get out of here. All right, that's it for the sports judge. Thanks for watching. A referee blinded by love?

Next time on the sports judge. Let me tell you, Del Tufo, that is quite a get-up. That is quite a get-up.

Yeah. Man, you look great now, Mike. I do. I mean, can you wear that tomorrow? I wouldn't fit in. First of all, I don't have khakis, number one, but I wouldn't fit into that.

Well, I'm not going to be here. I just think you should wear it tomorrow. I'll take a picture for you. I'll take a picture for you. Brockman, I'm told that you have statistical evidence of something for us.

I do. Paul Skeens did something, and it's old Jen Statworthy hit it. Old Jen Stats. Paul Skeens, good at the baseball. However, lost yesterday, the Astros beat the Pirates 3-0. Paul Skeens, this is courtesy of at Jay Hey Kid on Twitter. Paul Skeens joined an illustrious group of seven now. Pitchers to lose twice in a single season when starting eight-plus innings, only giving up one run, one walk or less, and eight-plus strikeouts. Paul Skeens joins a list of Ed Walsh in 1910, Walter Johnson in 1913, Mike Prendergast in 1914, and Jim Bunning in 1967, Mike Scott in 1986, and Pedro Martinez in 2000. Pitchers to do this twice in a year.

It's only June 3rd. Can we get Paul Skeens some help, please? Yes. That is the question we should be asking. Not the, should they trade Paul Skeens because they're not good and there's nobody in the building. Don't ask that question. Please don't ask that question.

Like, get him some help. Don't trade him. You know when Paul Skeens is eligible for free agency? Like 2032? 2029.

Oh, that too. We may not be here, but like an asteroid, like we may not be here. Paul Skeens is eligible for free agency in 2029. Don't trade him. I'm not a pirate fan. Like I don't have any like soft spot in my heart for pirate fans, but I am a fan of a smaller market baseball team. If you trade Paul Skeens now, like you just don't care about winning.

Ever. Build around him. That's why you take this guy at the top of the draft to build around him. He's a once in a 50 year pitcher.

Auction him off after two years. No. Jason Stark from The Athletic will be here in 30 minutes, probably to tell me that I'm wrong, but we'll ask him about it.

It's The Rich Eisen Show, everybody. It's happened three times since 1967. So he, he entered last night's start with the 215 ERA. Yeah. Strikeout to walk ratio. Ready for this? Before last night. What was his line last night? He went eight with one K, one walk, one run, eight Ks, right? Eight Ks?

Yeah. So his strikeout to walk ratio is now 85 to 19. He was seven scoreless and gave up a solo homer to Nate.

85 to 19 in 82 innings. You're going to trade him? So here's where this comes from. Other than like the obvious, they're no good. And all the big market teams are like, you think we can get them? Like the Dodgers or any other team, the Mets, TJ, you mentioned the Mets. Anybody like, Hey, what do we have to, like, we'll give you everything.

You'd have to give up like a dozen guys. The Nationals traded Soto to the Padres for half of Southern California. It worked out okay. Right? For us.

TJ Abrams. Yeah, sure. Skings would get more. More. More than Soto? No.

Yeah, for sure. No way. Not a pitcher. Jeff Passan said there are no comparable pitchers who have been traded within two years of their major league debut. So interested teams know that they would have to make a godfather deal, right?

An absolute godfather deal. But he didn't, he basically said, they're not going to do it, but I understand why you would think about it. And I'm paraphrasing like, if you think about it, if you do the deal and you run the pirates, it is not reasonable to expect a fan to come to your ballpark the rest of the year.

I know that's dramatic. I know, you know, look at, look at the Mavericks fans will come back eventually. Paul Skeens is not Luca, right? Paul Skeens has not taken them on his back to a world series.

Luca obviously took the Mavs on his back to an NBA finals, finals plural, not final. Different sport. But he's the reason you go. He's the reason by the way, on Paul Skeens bobblehead day back in April, that you saw the overhead, the bridges, right?

Like bumper to bumper, shoulder to shoulder. And yesterday was Skeens day and he was unbelievable. There were less than 16,000 people at the game.

What are we doing? I mean, guys, this has been going on in Pittsburgh since the mid nineties. Yeah, but they haven't had the guy like this. Well, look, they had Barry Bonds. I know, but this is an event once a week and people aren't going. You know whose fault it is clearly in Pittsburgh?

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